We just returned from a seven day cruise on the sunshine to the Western Caribbean on October 4, 2014. We were looking so forward to cruising on the sunshine after we heard of all the upgrades. I have been on 27 Carnival Cruises and it was not my favorite. I will start off with the positives. The lido deck buffet was set up very nice with the islands which caused there never to be a long line. They also have two restaurants in the back of the ship that are free for lunch, they are a spaghetti place and the Wok. Both are very good. The spaghetti place did not ever have a wait, but the Wok does only because they cook everything while you wait. They also have Guys Burgers and a burrito bar by the pool which are awesome. The ship is laid out very nice except for the theater and casino, I will explain the casino in a bit. We were cabin 8327 which is one of two premium balcony rooms located on the aft of Deck 8, that was the best and biggest cabin we have ever had. It was two times bigger than a normal cabin along with a longer balcony. We really didn't see our cabin stewart much, but he did a great job and was very nice as are most of them. The dinning room was just ok and the food again, was just ok. Our wait staff was very nice too.

Now to the negatives. The first day we had just left port and went to the EA Sports Bar to watch a football game. My kids ordered a pitcher of Bud Light and then ordered a second, they advised us that they had just run out of Bud Light and had to put a new keg in and it would take hours for it to cool. Really? I then went into the casino which is right outside the door and ordered a Angry Orcherd Beer, guess what, you guessed it, they were out. The casino, I am not a smoker and i hope I don't offend anyone, but the smoke in the bar and casino was horrible. The walkway runs through the casino. Why don't they make the non table side of the casino smoke free? We then get out on our balcony and sure as heck, we have a guy two cabins down forward that likes to sit out on his balcony and smoke cigars. The casino stinks so bad when you get off the elevator that it makes you gag. The theater (Liquid lounge) is used as a show place and a club after the shows. so the middle rows of the room are just chairs which are very close together rather than the long couches that all the other ships have. The Lime Lite lounge were the stand up shows is held is very small and if you sit on the sides, you have to watch the show on a TV. I will say they do have several shows a night so everyone can see each show. I guess I will have to make the best of it because I will be going back on it in March 2015. The ship is also very loud because they use a lot of tile rather than carpet. It looks very nice, but all the loud talking is amplified big time. Still not my favorite Carnival Ship.