We wanted to take my daughter and some of her friends on a short cruise as a graduation present. We chose Carnival because it was an economical way to travel. Meals and entertainment were included in the price of the trip. Plus, it departed from Charleston SC, which is close to our house, so we didn’t have to pay for airfare.

We have happily and satisfactorily cruised many times with Royal Caribbean, Windstar, Regent and Seabourn. If you are looking for an enjoyable and relaxing vacation don’t take a Carnival cruise. Carnival Sunshine has a spring break meets beer commercial atmosphere. The staff is overworked trying to clean up after all the obnoxious drunk cruisers. We were the 1st tender to beautiful Half Moon Cay and the beach was stunningly beautiful! We were the last tender off the Island and as we retraced our steps back to the tender the beach was literally trashed. I wish I had taken a picture. It was as if somebody took a dumpster filled with beer cans and empty drinking cups and scattered them on the beach! This is not an exaggeration.

We ended up paying extra and eating in their specialty restaurants (very good) every night because the dining room was average and stressful. We booked spa appointments (very good) to avoid the crowds in the main areas. Thankfully our room was big and had a triple long balcony so we had peace there. Read more