Spring break and it looked fun for my daughter. Enjoyed the act of cruising but I was not impressed with the service nor the staff on the ship. The security was a complete joke. I witnessed a couple of incidents and had a couple myself with rude, disrespectful teenagers. Even had someone attempt to steal or hide my mother's wheelchair that had been kept outside in the hallway. Nothing was done in either instance. The food was just ok, not what everyone told me to expect on a cruise. Long lines in the buffet line, bar, and java cafe. With this being my first cruise I would expect to have more guidance from my room steward. Couldn't understand the employees due to the heavy accent. The lido deck should have been better managed. There was never any lounge chairs due to people leaving their towels there all day long. I will book a cruise again soon but not through Carnival. Read Less

Loved our ocean suite cabin 5341 ! , room steward , food options , bar tenders at Red Frog Rum Bar , Alchemy & casino were awesome ! Son loved the slides & kids clubs ! Comedy shows hilarious (could be more seating though is my only complaint ). Serenity area is awesome !! My new fav ship !! All staff constantly going out of their way to make sure you are having fun & happy with everything . Seaday was only day we had trouble finding 4 chairs all together but we did . Staff was tagging chairs & removed items after 40 minutes . Should be more like 20 in my opinion , wouldn’t take you longer than that to get a drink or use the restroom . Anything else , give up your chair while your not using it & give others a chance . However , the Breeze was worse than Sunshine in this area. Read Less

We were excited to go on this cruise because two in the party have never cruised on a cruise ship before. The service was lack luster. The food was alright. The tacos and the jerked food were the best. Half Moon Cay was the best port that we pulled in to. Do not expect anything above average on this ship. They allow children to run around the halls all night with out holding parents accountable. Guess where the parents are... that is right.. in the bar getting hosed. The beds were nice. I would have picked a different boat if I could have knowing the info. They nickle and dime you for everything. I would choose your time dinning. This would insure that you get to see the shows. Comedy was one of the best things to due on the ship. The slides were fun and the ropes course was neat. Seems like some of the kids were having a hard time getting their safety harness around the bends though. The only 4 of the heated loungers worked. the steam saunas worked but the dry heat sauna never worked.. The Spa is only interested in selling you overpriced stuff after your over priced treatments. 170 bucks for 10 sea weed bath treatments.. 17 bucks PER BATH. no. Read Less

We booked this cruise to have a relaxing mental health break from our kids. No really. We are doing foster care and are given one week a year “off”. The kids are placed in another home, and we are off. This year we decided to take a cruise during Spring Break. Silly us. Never again. The last few cruises have been last quarter of the year, and has worked out much better. We flew into MCO on an early flight the day were were to pull out of port. I know, you are not supposed to do that, but we didn't want to drive, this time (11 hours). The Carnival-purchased transfer to the ship was uneventful and convenient. Would do this again. We rolled up to the terminal about 30 minutes past our appointment time. Thought, great, we would get right through. Ha Ha. Check-in was nightmare. Is this normal for Carnival?? Come to find out later, during the cruise, this is Spring Break and a good portion of the 2-person, but capable-of-holding-four- people rooms were booked with four. An additional 900 on board was the number I heard. Any way, we survived that, and were on board. Interesting thing was our sign-and-sail card was waiting at our stateroom; we did not pick it up at the check in desk. That was a first. During our get acquainted with the ship walk, were able to find the secret decks for sail-away. Thanks to tips found at www DOT thejellybeans DOT net. We were looking forward to the two days at sea to do nothing. During our initial stroll of the decks in the first morning at sea, we found quite a lot of towels enjoying the early morning sun in the lounge chairs. I was glad to see the lounge police on the Serenity deck. We were able to get a clamshell at about 2:00 in the afternoon, after all the first day initial sunburns set in. Great nap. Ports: Aruba. We had nothing planned, but went ashore to shop for the kids. With that mission accomplished, we headed back to the ship to be by the pool and sample the libations (Cheers program). Bonaire. We booked a snorkeling trip here on the Mushi Mushi through Carnival. This was a nice trip. One of the better snorkeling trips we have taken. Grand Turk. This port was a nothing-planned port. The port facilities were very nice. The beach area is also nicely laid out. Make sure you turn right off the pier for the less crowded beach. Food on board the Sunshine. All places we ate were good except the Lido Market Place. We lunched at Guys, the Blue Iguana, JiJi’s Asian Kitchen, and Cucina Del Capitanio. All good. For the most part, dinner was at the MDR. Food was good, and the wait staff was also good. For the first time, we did Your Time Dining. Not again, we prefer the late seating. Although we spent our time waiting for a table at the Alchemy Bar and put a dent in our Cheers program here. This turned out to be our go-to place. On our first night at the Alchemy Bar, I asked Katrina for “something made with Bourbon”. Wow, I have never tasted anything like that!! I was hooked; but could not talk her out of the recipe. My wife had a Tiramisu Martini. This was not her last during the trip. Along with a Chocolate Martini. Stateroom. We were in cabin 7270. Nice location to the stairs up or down. Stewards were good, they had my name down be the first evening. Debarkation: With the crowds on this ship, this was a nightmare also. I overheard one of the staff, that they have never seen that process that bad. The transfer back to MCO was quick and uneventful. The CD is Emma Nixon. She does a fantastic job (Hello Lovelies!!) I even found a Ship-on-a-Stick in our stateroom one evening with a card from her. No clue why. Nice trinket for one of the kids. Overall a good relaxing trip and itinerary. Read Less

Cruised on 3/24-4/1 - Aruba, Bonaire, Grand Turks Embarkation was very slow and we were told at 1255 we were late for our 1230-100 PM check in and may have to wait. We were late bc the shuttle from the airport that is run by Carnival was delayed! We had to wait at the airport for 2 hours for the bus to arrive. Somehow that is our fault. Disembarkation was very disorganized, extremely confusing and I witnessed about a dozen full out screaming sessions from guests bc they were told different things by different employees. I also was told disinformation. Basically carry your own luggage so you can get off the ship as quickly as possible. The ship is very old and looks its age even after a total rehab a few years ago. The pools and hot tubs are very small and can not accommodate the 3000 passengers. The windows are all dirty and you can even see out of them. They did clean after the first day but that was the last time. The lounge chairs are dirty, common areas are dirty, the entire ship smells of smoke even though only permitted in casino and certain lounge areas. Many parts of ship also smell constantly of sewage and mold. Kids play areas also very small and can not accommodate the numbers. Main dining areas and entertainment areas are outdated. Adult only area is a little nicer than the rest of the ship. Rooms (we had a 5 person) were actually a decent size but the 5th bed pulls out from main bed and then blocks access to the rest of the cabin - very difficult to move around room once bed is pulled out. The toilet flooded once and two times in middle of the night our room flooded through the ceiling and no one would fix it until the morning so not to disturb other guests. Then could not use room all day while fixing and drying room out. For this massive inconvenience they offered us a $150 ship account credit. The Main Dining has very limited selection and the food was cold both nights we ate there. Lido Buffet has warm food and decent selection but it gets old after a few days. Guys Burgers were decent also but again it get old after awhile. Japanese (which costs $15 per person extra) was very good but not worth the money. Luckily we received a freeby because we had to wait more than a hour one night for main dining room even though we were told it would only be 15 minutes. Italian was also more money ($15 per person) and food was better than average. Overall food was a disappointment and certainly not like other cruises I have been on. Complete rip off to charge more money for the other restaurants. The Entertainment was good and the variety was also good. Many different offerings for all age groups. The Service was down right TERRIBLE. The waitstaff in the Main Dining areas were unfriendly, unhelpful, slow, and miserable in every way. Our cabin stewart was friendly but he only came once per day and refilled our towels until they were overflowing form anywhere they would fit. We had to pull out and set up our extra bed every night and the bunk bed / couch was always left down so we could not use our couch. We tried to ask him questions and get help but all he said was "yes, yes" but nothing was ever done. As stated above our room flooded three times and in the middle of the night the help was very slow to arrive (30 minutes first time and an full hour the second) and when they did all they said was we will fix it in the morning. We had to literally mop up the water ourselves, clean and dry out all of our possessions and put everything back in order. Guests Services offered us a $150 credit after first flood but nothing more as they said that is max for the cruise. Main Customer Services when I got off ship told me I should have taken the credit on the ship because now that I am off the ship there are no refunds. We lost two full days of our cruise because of the room flooding and every employee was very sorry for our troubles but no one was willing to help in anyway. The same line I was told over and over and over was we will credit you $150 but there is nothing more we can do. Every employee agreed that it was ridiculous to have our room flood three times and to get nothing more. We also did a few island excursions - Jeep tour of Aruba was nice. Grand Turk Beach trip was nice also. On Bonaire we did a Cruise and Snorkel trip. We booked this trip specifically because we had an 8, 11 and 13 year old and there was no age limit like some of the other trips. When we were leaving the dock area an employee of the excursions told us that our 8 year was too young to do the snorkeling. We literally pulled up the description on the Carnival Website showing the no age limits but they told that the age limit is 10. We tried to book another trip but of course they were all booked. The Carnival Guests Services person said they would refund us 1/2 the costs for our 8 year old. With no other options available we had no choice. The excursion was also suppose to run until from 8-130. We waited until 9 at the ship until we were picked up - we cruised for less than one hour and snorkeled for 30 minutes and were dropped back off at ship at 1130 - really short trip not worth the money and certainly not for kids. OVERALL this cruise was a massive disappointment. Read Less

We chose this cruise for the ports. This was our third cruise and we were very happy with it. Unfortunately we didn't book in time to get our preferred dining time and that was the biggest inconvenience of all since you literally eat then go straight to bed. We booked an interior spa level and I LOVED the location with close access to Serenity pool, however I would not get an interior cabin again. Too small for a family of 3 and would have been better off booking midship due to a few rough sea days. Took advantage of the spa services. Be prepared for a heavy sales pitch for overpriced products at the end of every treatment. Overall, the ship was great and so were the crew. Never once had any issues with anything. First sea day was able to snag chairs on the Serenity level but after that you must get up before 6am to get one. They go fast and are not policed. Would cruise on Sunshine again but book a balcony room. Read Less

We’ve cruised before however this was our first experience with Carnival. And it’ll be our last! The food on the ship was less than average. It was brutal!! The buffet was disgusting with little variety. Unless you are willing to pay for the dinners offered at the specialty restaurants ( which are phenomenal) we were stuck eating crap food like pizza, burgers or tacos. Not exactly my daily food choices. The dinning room seating process is a ridiculous joke. Having to find the desk on another floor to get a ticket, only to head back to the dining room to be seated is complete nonesense. If you’re looking for chicken noodle soup for your child. Don’t bother asking because it’s unheard of. They don’t make it. The buffet offered too much fried food and a boring and restless variety of leftovers. The dining room food was average. Hit and miss most days. Secondly the ship was dirty, rusty and smelled so bad. NO ONE washes their hands going in and out of the buffet area. It’s clearly not mandatory. You barely ever saw people cleaning or wiping down railings and elevator buttons. Staff barely spoke English. Movie night outdoors ..get ready to freeze. They don’t have enough blankets or towels to go around. The slides and activities outdoors are great for the kids. However there is nothing for them to do indoors should you decide to do something inside. Excursions were okay. Not the best or exciting adventures. Just okay. Read Less

I was very disappointed with Carnival Sunshine cruise. Embarkation & Debarkation were a nightmare and caused me to miss flight home due to customs taking too long to board ship to give ship OK to debark. During sea days people were saving deck chairs so at 7:30am there was absolutely no lounge chairs available! They would place towels, backpacks, other personal items on chairs then go have breakfast or whatever and not return until much later! Believe me everyone complained about this issue. Sadly people started to sit on the deck floors to enjoy the sun! The lido deck is way too small to accommodate passengers as it has only 1 small pool and 3 hot tubs. Dining room service was horrible! We never received our coffee and left after 20 anywhere not seeing our waiter anywhere! Never again on Carnival! Shore excursions not worth the price you could walk to the beach in Grand Turk right next to pier . I'll stick with other cruise lines in the future. Read Less

We have sailed on the Sunshine about 5 times. Out of New Orleans, Port Canaveral and New York. Mainly the cruise have been the Caribbean cruise, but he New York sailing was a New England cruise. We chose this cruise because we had not been to Aruba or Bonaire, and because we liked the beach at Grand Turk. I love the layout of the ship. Love the Steakhouse, JiJi, the Deli and the Sushi place. My favorite place to eat at breakfast and lunch is back in the Havana bar area where the do the noodle bowls. I only occasionally get any thing off the Lido Buffet, unless I want a salad or desert, but the food seems to look fine. I never had an issue with any food in the MDR and find all the wait staff, even though they are busy, to be very friendly and accommodating. This last time we were offered an upgrade to a Spa Deck Balcony room and really like it, especially being able to use the VIP area in the Spa. I like the music and Comedy shows, but love the Jackson Rayne Magic show. The only minus (why I have it as a 4. 1. my wife like to lay out by the pool, but you can't get a pool chair unless you get out on deck at 6:30 am.. They have a sign asking people to be considerate, but that doesn't help and they state that they'll remove belongings after 45 minutes out someone not being present, but I never seen them actually do it. 2. The Limelight Lounge is so small that if you want to see a Comedy Show you have to be there 30 minutes early to wait in line. 3. It use to be called Any Time Dinning, but now they call it Your Time Dinning and I can see why they changed it. Normally we eat right at opening time so we can make the earlier shows, but once this time we had a consultation in the Spa at 6:00 so we did not make it until 6:30 where when we checked in we were given a device to let us know when they were ready for us and told it would be 30 to 40 minutes. For us it was 40 minutes, but another family we sat by waiting had been waiting for an hour. Needless to say I was not late again, but had to be down at the check in desk at 4:30 to be clos to the front of the check-in line. Read Less

We have cruised with Carnival during our children's Spring Break for the last 4 years. We have always found this mode of travel to be cost effective and keep each person in our family happy. The itinerary for this trip caught my eye because we had visited most of the other ports that were available on other boats sailing during the time frame that we were available. The cabin that we chose (5319) had terrible noise below it: BEWARE and read my cabin review. However we still managed to have a great time on our trip, even with the lack of sleep. The ports were as magical as we had hoped they would be. I always enjoy how predictable the food is on Carnival ships. There is always something to eat and the dining staff was willing to work around food sensitivities and allergies that I have. Our family loves to watch the Dive In movies at night on the pool deck and we took full advantage of that throughout our stay. We did not do much else in terms of entertainment. I went to the gym 4 out of the 8 days I was on the boat and although there is not the same amount of equipment at my home gym Carnival has provided enough that patrons can get a nice workout if they are creative enough. Read Less