We always choose a cruise that stops at Saint Martin so we can spend a great nude day at Club Orient. We live halfway between Port Everglades and Port Canaveral so there are plenty of cruises to choose from. We prefer Carnival because we feel we get the best value and we don't like those mega ships with 6,000 cruisers. We had a boarding time of 1:00 - 1:30. Boarding went smoothly and we were able to go straight to our cabin (8152) and stow our luggage - we get everything into a 22" carry-on and a 24" suitcase plus a backpack. We found that our balcony cabin was a little smaller than we've encountered on other Carnival ships - my wife could not sit at the dresser and apply her make-up due to the refrigerator being there. This was never a problem on other Carnival ships. Our cabin steward was great. I asked him to be sure we always had ice - and he did. The food was typical Carnival - not gourmet but good and there was always something on the menu that we found appealing - usually more than one item. We were in the forward dining room at table 157 for the early seating. Wait staff was very good. The shows were typical Carnival - entertaining. The adult comedy shows were very good. The atrium area was much smaller than on other ships and was often very crowded. Disembarkation was a disaster. We do self-disembarkation. We were waiting in the Lido restaurant waiting to disembark when our deck was called. It was very difficult to hear the announcements unless you were directly under the speakers. Decks 1 & 3 were called a little before 8 AM and nothing further was called. At about 8:45 we decided to leave and made our way down to deck 3 - our daughter was picking us up at 9. It was a mob scene - people had difficulty getting off of the elevators. When we finally moved it went smoothly until we got to the baggage area. We observed many people picking-up luggage and it was evident that they were not doing self-disembarkation as many of them were using porters for their luggage. There were only four customs agents on duty - took forever to get through. Read Less

We had this cruise booked for many months. Weeks before sailing we heard on the news about the "tilt" on the Sunshine. We also had a friend who was on that specific sailing and told us not to cancel our trip, that he had a great time. I personally was very apprehensive about going because of the ship tilting. But we listened and took the cruise. For starts, embarkation was "FLAWLESS". We were on the ship within 10 minutes. Here are the specifics: THE CABIN: We got an interior cabin with a king sized bed deck 7. The bed was amazing!! I wish I could've taken it home, along with the pillows and the comforter. The space was adequate for two adults. Closet space was plenty, but there could've been more drawer space. And also we found that the bathroom was too small. But... we made it work. The water temp was perfect. The shower was amazing, the water felt great. Everything worked perfectly fine including the television which gave us movies and continuous information about the cruise and activities. ROOM STEWARDS: I can only tell you that the service provided by our room stewards was awesome. We had no complaints. They were accommodating and very friendly, kept our room spotless, and they knew our names anytime they saw us. FOOD/DINING ROOM: The service in the dining room was almost always fantastic, especially our server MADE pronounced MAH DAY. He was outstanding!! We had dinner there most nights and breakfast a few times. The food was fantastic. We had the "anytime seating" so we could go eat between 5:15 and 9:30 I believe for dinner. It's a great option if you can get it. We also tried the Lido buffet, which provided a lot of different foods, especially amazing desserts, but the food wasn't always hot enough, but it did not disappoint us. We tried Guys Burger Joint - AMAZING, of course the 24 hour pizza, which also was really good. Food is available at any time. We also tried room service and it was great. Make sure you leave a tip because it's not included in the gratuities from what I was told by Carnival staff over the phone. ENTERTAINMENT: I cannot say enough about our cruise director MIKEY!!! He was AMAZING! He definitely is the right person for the job. He knows how to make you smile. He is infectious and friendly and fun! I highly recommend the Punchline Comedy Club. We saw 3-4 comedians and they were all hilarious. We went to at least 6-7 shows. We did a few activities on board such as trivial pursuit and karaoke and they were a lot of fun. STAFF: Overall, the staff on the whole cruise were friendly and accommodating. We did not have one issue with anyone. THE SHIP: The ship itself was better than what we had heard. For an older ship in the fleet, which did undergo a renovation I believe in 2013, it was very nice. It was clean. The staff was constantly cleaning. The decor was fun and classy at the same time. I loved the hallways to the cabins. The cabin doors were really cool. There is so much to see and do on this ship. Food everywhere, shows, entertainment, fun, and if you're too pooped to party, go take a nap in the amazing beds they offer. Overall, a very nice ship. PORTS OF CALL: We stopped at Aruba, Curacao, and Grand Turk. We unfortunately were unable to do any shore excursions so we made the best of it and did stuff on our own. We enjoyed all the ports, but our favorite was Grand Turk. Aruba offers a lot of shopping and dining and the beaches are beautiful. We did take a bus to go to eat at Hard Rock Cafe, pricey but had the best chicken wings I've ever had, and the fare was reasonable. Unfortunately we had a mishap in Curacao with an ATM (be careful of those), it ate our card. But the crew in Curacao came to our rescue and got our card out of the ATM within 15 min of being notified. Curacao was nice. Offered shopping in a really nice part of town, upscale shops, a casino and a hotel and some places to eat. The town seemed very eclectic, and had a very pretty view of the city from the ship. Again kudos to the people who helped us out. But again Grand Turk was perfect. The beaches are right by the ship, the shops are nice, and there's a massive pool right by the beach. They're all within a small area and you can walk to all of them. My only advice: Be careful when walking the beach. There are men offering to rent you an umbrella and two lounge chairs. We paid $20, but ended up asking him to take the umbrella because we didn't need it, still same price. Then a couple came up behind us and got the same set up for $10. And another couple told us they were charged $30. If you do not need an umbrella, ask them what the price is. Do not accept what they offer if it seems high, especially if there are a lot of people already on the beach because in that case they are more desperate to rent and will take whatever you will offer it seemed. If you are one of the first on the beach, expect to pay more, but I saw people bargaining so do not let them rip you off. Overall, great ports! ACTIVITIES: There were a lot of different activities available throughout the day, ranging from swimming (get there early because the kids will take up the pool, and if you go on the serenity deck, there will be tons of adults in the pool there), fitness center, activities on deck like basketball, checkers, water works (great for kids), and our favorite was the dine in movies. Blockbuster movies shown on a massive screen on the Lido deck minutes from 24 hour pizza and ice cream. We saw movies like Mission Impossible: Fallout, Jurassic Park: Fallen Kingdom, Skyscraper, Rampage. They offer blankets and popcorn. They offer two showings a day usually, two different movies. The shopping is fun as well. Multiple gift shops on board. LAUNDRY: They have, at least on the Sunshine, 3 decks with launderettes, 3 washing machines and 3 dryers. You use your sail n sign card to buy soap and to use the machines. Can get a bit pricey if you have a lot like we did for two adults. But at least they have it available, which I appreciated tremendously. DISEMBARKATION: Disembarkation was not as efficient as embarkation. I would say it took us about 45 minutes to get from the ship to out in the terminal with our luggage in hand. It moved a little slow, but it wasn't that bad. AGAIN, FEW NEGATIVES: Bathroom was small, not enough drawer space, a few spots on the ship it didn't feel air conditioned, like by the elevators, but everywhere else was fine, and the first few days the seas were a little bit rough but then it leveled out after day 3. TIPS: Take some sort of motion sickness medicine with you, even if you have never had it before. There were a few people who told us they never in their life had it, but did on this cruise. You never know. Be prepared just in case. Again, watch out for the men on the beaches renting the umbrellas and chairs. If you want to get to the pool or lounge chairs to lay out on the deck, get there early enough. They fill up fast. Make sure you have all your documents to embark. Most of all: Do not listen to all the comments you read on this site about how horrible this ship is. We read at least 5-6 reviews about the Sunshine and 98% of it wasn't true. You have to judge for yourself. OVERALL: This cruise was great. We had a lot of fun and enjoyed all that the Sunshine had to offer. The weather was great. We sailed in November and it was in the 80's in all the ports and had no rain. We would do this itinerary again and would sail on the Sunshine again. Thanks to all the staff on board and especially a shout out to MIKEY who made this cruise even better than it was! Read Less

We really enjoyed our cruise. The first night was rocky due to strong rip currents but after that smooth sailing. The weather was perfect the entire cruise. The food was delicious and the staff awesome. I do wish there had been a little more activities during the day other than that a perfect cruise!!! Mickey was very entertaining. Our favorite thing was happy hour at red frog haha. We did also enjoy the casino. The staff in there was super friendly. I made out ahead. The kids enjoyed the waterslides and waterworks area. The racer slides were really fast. We were surprised. The dinning room food was delicious every night. I will say the dream class ships are my favorite and I would most likely sail them before sailing the sunshine again. But it is a fantastic ship with a truly caring staff and cruise director. His parties in the atrium were absolutely fun! Read Less

Just got back and had a fantastic time! Somethings that I read and my thoughts on that: "Ship was rocking worse than others I have been on" It's a ship!! I personally love the motion and slept like a baby. However my wife and son were sick the first night. Again it's a ship in the middle of the ocean. We were running hard to make Aruba on time and taking 45 knots of wind across the bow. She was movin! "Food is poor" Everyone on our group (5 adults and 5 kids) loved the food "Dining was slow" We had my time dining and again with a large group of 10 that ate at a different time every night, we never felt it took too long. "Felt crowded" My understanding is our cruise was sold out. I never thought it felt crowded. Always managed to find enough deck chairs for our large group. We saw most of the shows and never had an issue with seats. "Entertainment was so so" I'm not a big show person, though others in the group are and felt the shows were very good. I did (as always) enjoy the love and marriage and quest shows. I enjoyed 2 of the 3 comedians, I didn't care for the magician. My personal thoughts: Onboarding was VERY smooth, no reason for Faster to Fun. Cabin steward was adequate and always provided what was needed though he had a very dry personality. The cabin itself was very clean and beds were very comfy! Shower pressure was surprisingly good. The ship just coming out of dry dock I thought would have had a little more spit and polish though it was clean and crew were always cleaning. It is an older ship. Water features were fun though the scoring system for the racing slides was not working. Slides are super fast! Guys burgers never disappoints, Pizza was ok, DELI was GREAT, Buffet was plentiful and dining room was good. Overall a very good value for the money and we had a fantastic vacation looking to book a future cruise!! Read Less

Did a Back 2 Back (B2B) with the first trip on deck 1 inside aft. Embarkation was extremely quick. Ship layout is a little weird, will get to that. Staff was excellent (like usual). Dining room was the quickest I've ever had. We had the first service and were out many days prior to 7 pm. Probably has a lot to do with the Main Dining Room (MDR) having so many two seat tables. That and the staff was just quick. The Limelight lounge (were comedians were) was the weirdest part of the ship. First it was tiny, I mean real tiny. That and a lot of the seats you can't even see the stage, you have to watch the TV screens. I loved the comedians (some of the best I've seen in a while), but to get in you needed to wait in line long before the show to even get in. Another thing, there are two doors on the side of the stage that have doors to a hallway and stairs. People walk through while shows are going on. The Liquid lounge (main theater) is small, but makes for some great viewing. If you want to sit close or for that matter on the main floor, go early or forget it, not many seats. The aft part of the ship is a little deck 9 (Lido) is a little weird. The Havana restaurant and a couple others are back there. They were ok, but just so much different than any other ship I've been on. Second part of B2B we moved to deck 12 a spa balcony. Loved the room for size (much bigger that our other one) and the ability for fresh air. Serenity decks are forward on this ship an multiple decks. Just above our room was lounge chairs and people would be our there early dragging chairs. If you are a light sleeper be prepared. Slept like a baby in the inside room, best sleep in months. Not so with the deck 12 experience. Theremal spa. This was our first experience. I'm hooked. We added the spa package to the inside room and it came with the second room. I have eigth move cruises booked and I've added the spa to each except one (one was way too expensive). The thermal chairs were out of this world to relax in and we used them sometimes multiple times a day. Only negative is some of the chairs didn't get very hot, so you had to check. Also, one of the steam rooms was intermitten on temperature. After a couple days I complained and they finally fixed it. That only lasted a day or so, if was hit or miss after that. Yes I'm still hooked, I hear some other ships thermal spas offer more (can't wait). Cruise Director was Mikey. I've had others that were favorites, I think he just took their place. He is so friendly and outgoing. I've seen him multiple times and he with stop you to shake your hand and see if you need anything. Chair hogs were in heaven. The Serenity deck overlooks the Lido and there are a few clamshel chairs. People were getting them early in the morning and putting hats, books, towels, ect.... and keeping them all day and night. I actually seen a guy getting up to leave and he told his friends in the next chair that they were going to dinner and would be back (classic chair hog). Dissembarkation was the fastest I can remember. A little trick, get a porter. They were so worth the tip. Cuised a couple months ago in Jacksonville (small terminal) and didn't use a Porter and it was crazy. As always this cruise was great. Staff was excellent, as most are. Ship layout is a little different, but not to bad. We will be back for a 13 day cruise in two months, so that said, I'd do it again. Read Less

First of all I booked this cruise 24 months ago and researched it for months. I read some reviews that were very negative so I went expecting all these bad things to happen and got the complete opposite a tremendous, great, pleasurable cruise. Embarkation was very organized and we were on the ship within 30 minutes of arriving. Debarkation also went great as you would expect very busy. The only problem was the inconsiderate guests that clogged the elevator areas instead of waiting for their zone to be called. The ship was also very clean and neat. All areas were constantly being clean. It took us a couple of days to get familiar with the layout. Our cabin was very nice, we had an issue with the air on the first day but they got right on it and no problems after that. The food oh my gosh, it was great, the buffets were good and always stocked,pizza was a little slow, and the MDR was fantastic. Our wait staff was over the top, food was good and quickly served. The entertainment and fun squad was top notch no complaints. Our service was great. First our cabin steward, Ceasar, was very good, any thing we needed, he was right on top of it. Guest services was always their to handle any questone and once again our wait staff was very good. Our ports were nice. Our favorite was st kitts. We found it best and a lot cheaper to find a local to tour the areas we liked to see. Read Less

We selected this cruise because it was an 8 day cruise to ports we had never visited before. Embarkation was fast and easy but the first day there was a leak in hallway that resulted in a foul smell but it went away after a few hours. The ship felt like something was wrong with it, it rocked all 8 days and I know it's had problems before.The cruise director was Mikey and he was very entertaining and he made himself very available all the time. The serenity area on the Sunshine is one of the best I have experienced, it spans 3 decks and has its own pool, hot tub and water fall. Our stateroom steward was wonderful, never disturbed us and always seemed to know when we were in or out of our stateroom so he could clean it. He also did a great job with the towel animals and always greeted us by name when he saw us around the ship. Disembarkation took way to long Read Less

Mikey was best cruise director on 7 cruises we have taken. He was very involved in everything. Always made passengers aware of all the activities, and so much energy. Crew was great; always greeted where ever we went, asked if we needed anything.. Room steward greeted us upon arrival, gave his business card, and we saw him daily, he was very good. Food was great, plenty of options. Would have been better if burrito place and Guy's was open longer. Italian and Asian restaurants were delicious and worth $15 per person charge. Only negatives; size of lounges for comedy and shows couldn't get a seat to adult shows, and getting to main dining room was difficult; from AFT having to go across deck 5 thru casino and down to deck 4. Embarkation and Debarkation were smooth. Would recommend not scheduling popular events during late dining, we had to choose; going to our late dining time or attending event. Read Less

I picked it for the numerous food venues. I knew it was an older ship and read it was difficult to navigate because of what some called chopped up decks. I watched a few youtube pointers and found the ship was fairly easy to get around as long as you knew Decks 3 & 4 were not straight through from front to back. DW and I learned our way around quite quickly by Day 2 of an 8 Day cruise. Room Steward and MDR waiter and assistant were very good and attentive through out the cruise. We generally found the ship's staff to be polite and helpful through out our cruise. I was able to sample the Blue Iguana, Guy's Burgers, Deli Sandwiches, Pizza and Market Place buffet. All were quite good and we were able to avoid long lines. Food in the MDR was very good too. Embarkation was the quickest and smoothest of all 10 of our cruises. Disembarkation was almost as quick too, a very pleasant surprise. We had a Deck 5 OV cabin behind the Alchemy Bar. Plenty of room/space and no noise from the bands that played. Now for the biggest cruise complaint on this ship and not so much the ship. Though we didn't hear sounds from the bands after hours, every single night, people were slamming cabin doors and I mean SLAMMING!! every single "blanking".night. On top of that, we heard people running up and down the halls yelling at the top of their lungs. Cue the noise around 11 PM all the way to 4:30 in the morning. I'm not talking about 5-6 cabin doors, I'm talking about in the 30s at least every night. OMG, what idiots do that all night long? I'd be willing to rate this cruise 4 stars but because of all the noise and lack of sleep, I dropped it to 3.stars. Would I sail on Carnival again? Yes but not on this ship. Read Less

Every year I have booked a cruise through Carnival and I always recommend the cruise line to my friends/colleagues however after the cruise that I took on November 2nd to Aruba, I will probably cancel my 2019 cruise that I have booked. The experience started with extremely large groups of people that taunted your guests, played explicit music, beat their girlfriends, fought with people at the port that were not like them, slept all day (Do not disturb signs on the doors) so that they could be up all night slamming doors, yelling, swearing and assaulting their partners. These people would cut in all of the lines at the shows, at dinner, etc. When you open your cabin door to see why there was yelling in the hallway @ 3:00 a.m., you were told "mind your **** business." There had to be security at the doors of the show because these "thugs" were walking to the front of a line that people had been standing in for one hour and daring anybody to say anything. Sitting in the shows, these groups were all around taunting people, trying to start a fight. When I complained at the Customer Service desk, all they did was to take down my cabin number. They wanted to know what the cabin number/s was of the offensive groups of people but since I couldn't identify all of the cabins where these massive groups of people were staying, they could not do anything. The staff at the comedy club had to put someone in front of the doors to stop the chaos. I did not feel safe for one minute while on this ship. This vacation was ruined and I think that about ½ of the people on that ship should receive a refund while the other half are the culprits. These people demonstrated hateful, thug like existence on this cruise from hell. Read Less