I will preface by saying I have done one Carnival cruise 6 years ago and 20 Disney Cruises, before booking I definitely understood there would be a huge difference. We chose Carnival because Disney is too expensive during Spring Break and also our friends were going to take their child on Carnival or Royal. We searched Tampa and Canaveral and selected the Carnival Sunshine due to the dates being avail and we loved the ports going to Dominican Republic and Grand Turk. Two places none of us had ever been.

Embarking was a breeze, we purchased faster to the fun and it was definitely worth it. Once on board we hit the pool areas and it was very hard to get a drink, most bars on the decks had only one bartender. that day for lunch we had Guy's burgers and the tacos, both were very good. The next day we did the thermal spa room and enjoyed the rain forest showers and steam rooms. We had the drink package and day at sea was once again taking a long time to get a drink. that night we ate in the main dining room, we paid extra to get the steak and lobster and the food was very good. the service was so slow, 5 of us at dinner took 2 1/2 hours. that was the only time we did dinner in the MDR because of the slowness. We did it one more time at disembarkment breakfast and again, very slow, they poured me coffee and never left cream on the table and never offered a coffee refill.

we dressed up one night and had pictures taken, the lines were not long for pictures which was great. and they came out nice so I purchased a few. the cabin was fine, we had a balcony and the beds and pillows were very comfortable. i liked having a casino on board, something disney doesn't have. i won on roulette a few times but others are correct in saying the casino stinks. smells like smoke, vomit and pinesol, ugh. we saw Chaz at the comedy show and he was very funny. also enjoyed the sushi bar and the piana bar. My daughter is almost 9 and had a blast although she did say camp carnival was very boring compared to disney camp but she made up for it by spending my casino winnings in the arcade. Read more