Carnival Sunshine Review

4.0 / 5.0
1,423 reviews

Not for Handicapped People or Seniors

Review for the Eastern Caribbean Cruise on Carnival Sunshine
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Senior Cruzer
10+ Cruises • Age 60s

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Additional details

Sail Date: May 2016
Cabin: Balcony

The ship is not nearly big enough to trap thousands of people for two weeks. There was no entertainment at all. Not even a stage for it. Very small common areas. Had planned to stay on ship during ports that were not handicap friendly, which turned out to be most of them. But the ship maintenance had other ideas. At nearly every port, they painted the ship. The ship's ventilation sucked in the fumes and flooded the cabins and every area with a disgusting oil based paint odor that would burn your eyes. So we were forced to leave the ship. In some cases we could only go to the end of the ramp, because there was nothing else there. We tried a few excursions but most involved local transportation that did not want to waste space on a wheelchair. So we were always treated as though we were a nuisance. In Dominica we wanted to go snorkeling. We called ahead to the travel agent and the tour company to ensure there was access for some one who had trouble walking and was assured it was ok. Turned out to be a steep stairway down the side of a cliff and then a 400 hundred yard walk to a set of boulders where you were supposed to climb over and drop into the water. Needless to say we wound up sitting in the van and waiting for it to be over. Even basic beach excursions were not accessible to handicapped. My wife could walk short distances with a cane, but even this was not enough. In Martinique, we decided to hire a cab to just drive us around the island for a couple of hours, since there were no handicap friendly excursions and due to paint odor. The highlight of that trip was sitting in traffic for 30 min while police cleared a body off the road. Thankfully I fell ill with the norovirus just after the last port and was unconscious for the entire voyage home until debarkation. However I will say the ship's infirmary were no better than the rest of the ship. They continually tried to eject me during the first several hours. While there they had to give me three bags of fluids and multiple doses of medicine just to get me conscious enough to make it back to my room, where I passed out again. My wife is handicapped and they did nothing to help ensure she could make it to the get something to eat. Room service was extremely limited and the food sucked.

Cabin Review

Balcony

Cabin 8A

Room was a bit smaller than usual. The ship was small to medium size and carried extra passengers due to smaller than usual common areas.

Port Reviews

St. Thomas

Local Transport did not want to take a wheelchair. Finally found one open air trailer pulled by a truck that would take us. But then he crowded it to the point that he actually asked us put it in out leg space, like we could just remove our legs and put it there. Then after we started moving, he turned on a bull horn and started giving his own island tour in hopes of milking everyone for extra tips. It was so loud it hurting my ears. When I asked him nicely if he could turn it down some, he refused and told me to shut up. On the trip back, a tour rep forced another taxi to take us and that guy complained about it all the way back to the ship.

Martinique

Not handicap friendly. Paid a taxi to drive us around. Saw a dead body.

St. Kitts (Port Zante)

Ship ran us out of our room with paint odor. No excursions for handicapped. walked around town for a while.

Grenada

Paint fumes ran us out of the room. Had to hang around the port for several hours. No Handicap Friendly Excursions

Barbados

Paint fumes drove us out of our room. Had a nice shopping area though we could spend time in. No Handicap Friendly Excursions

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