Pros: We chose this cruise because of the itinerary and we were excited about the renovation of the Sunshine. The stops are amazing and since Carnival is not doing a Europe season next year this was the last chance we had to for the next few years unless we chose another line. We had a blast off the ship. Europe is incredibly easy to get around. You can get a train to anywhere you want to go and it's cheap. Rome was our favorite stop along the way. The family friendly comedy was good and the game shows were really fun (nice choice to partner with Hasbro). Trivia is always entertaining. Guy's burger joint NEVER disappoints. I eat there at least twice on every cruise. Best burger you will ever eat. I have never been disappointed by staff on any Carnival cruise and this was no exception. They were all polite and professional and did a great job. I had an aft view extended balcony room and that was the best deck I've ever had. I fear I am ruined for any other kind of balcony room now and will pay through the nose the rest of my life lol. The last sea day we watched pods of dolphins playing in the wake of the ship.

Cons: It's port intensive which can be exhausting if you get off at every port (we did). While most of the ship was upgraded there are still some issues (my travel partner had a gigantic stain on her carpet and there were multiple buckets in the hallways catching leaks so apparently the upgrade didn't include the pipes which seems really silly to me). For the first time ever the food in the main dining room disappointed. Found a bone in some chicken soup and we were served off of dirty plates one night. We normally look forward to all sorts of deliciousness (which we got a lot of the time) but by the end we were tired of it. Some of it was downright gross (hollandaise on the eggs was a skin instead of a sauce - we sent it back twice). The punchline comedy brunch was not entertaining at all. The comic came up, asked a few diners some questions, and left. We were still sitting there waiting for the comedy 5 minutes later when we realized it was over. Serenity Area needs to be managed. People are pigs and would literally sleep up there overnight to "reserve" space for the next day. Carnival needs to set up some kind of system so more than 40 guests on a 12 day cruise get to enjoy it (and this is fleetwide). The same people were up there every day hogging it. Oddly, the layout of the ship itself is confusing. We are seasoned cruises who usually have any layout memorized in a few hours since they are all sort of the same. Day 10 I was still looking for places and kept having to consult the map to figure out where things were (made more complicated by the similar names of places - has both the Liquid and the Limelight Lounge which are on opposite sides of the ship).

Overall, with some minor issues, it was a fabulous trip. You wont be able to take this cruise next year so not sure how helpful this will be to future travelers but the Sunshine will sail other places too.