Carnival Sunshine Review
Thanksgiving at sea - the easiest way to do it
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This was the first 7-day sailing out of the US for the Sunshine, so it was loaded with loyal repeat cruisers. Over 200 passengers were Platinum. On top of that, it was a Thanksgiving cruise, and my 3 kids had the whole week off, so the ship was loaded with kids. Not a typical week at all.
The weather was bad all week, so the seas were rough, especially on the first and last full days. As the former Destiny, the first cruise ship over 100K tons, the Sunshine has enough size to minimize the motion. It was never difficult to walk, and items were not sliding off flat surfaces, but some people felt seasick, just the same. We had just been on a cruise off Novia Scotia that was worse, so it did not bother me or my family. The second Fun Day at Sea was much better, and the sun even came out for a while. That day and the morning in Jamaica were the only times we saw the sun. That being said, it was not cold and did not rain much, so you could still relax in the pools and hot tubs on the lido deck with protection from the wind, and enjoy the new water slide. Wind, sometimes increased by the forward motion of the ship, complicated miniature golf on the top accessible deck.
I give Carnival credit because we did not cancel any of our port visits, as many other ships had to do that week in the Caribbean. We also did not strand anyone in a port because the tenders could not bring them back, as I heard happened in nearby Belize that week. The worst that happened is that we anchored on the south side of Grand Cayman instead of in the Georgetown harbor in the SW corner of the island. The tender ride was just as short, but the Spotts Bay alternate cruise terminal is in a residential area so you have to take a taxi to really do anything. There are resorts and a public beach within walking distance, but I did not know that at the time. Anyway, the weather was too rough to want to go to a beach.
Cabin Review
As a family of 5, not many ships offer us single cabins, so often I have to get two. The Sunshine has a few cabins for 5, oceanview on decks 1 and 2 or interior on deck 3. As deck 3 was my favorite place on the Destiny, I gave up our window for a spot on a better deck. Just forward of the atrium, where the bottom level of the show lounge used to be. The drawback was that, on the nights that the new show lounge is used as the disco, we couldn't hear the music but we could feel the bass beat. This did not bother us too much, but I saw some other people complaining. They only did it 3 times during the 7 days, and they did not stay open as late the 2nd and 3rd times, perhaps because people were complaining, and perhaps because passengers were retiring earlier. I still would book that cabin again, because I loved feeling like I was right in the middle of the action as soon as I stepped out of my cabin. I don't like being at the end of long hallways in the bowels of the ship, where I have been many times. The steward did a great job of keeping the cabin neat enough for the 5 of us to survive and not kill each other.