I literally spent months worrying about Carnival Sunshine after reading so many negative reviews (it's the lowest rated of the 24 Carnival ships with only a 62% rating). I was very concerned about reports of overcrowding, water leaks, poor food, bad service, long lines.
Our family did NOT experience any of the above problems during our 8 night cruise to St Maarten, St. Kitts, San Juan Puerto Rico and Grand Turk.
Crowds were similar to what we experienced on our previous 9 cruises (we were able to get lounge chairs during Carnival Sunshine sea days and find a table for our family at Havana Bar during meals at the Lido buffet).
Downtown is 5 minutes walk from the pier.
Great beach right at the pier
We checked out downtown Philipsburg and the nearby beach, which are a 15 minute
walk from the ship