Carnival Sunshine Review – June 2013

Thanks to Family Travel Gurus Travel Consultant Karen Waldman for submitting this review of the Carnival Sunshine. – Tim

During my cruising life, I’ve been on ships during their inaugural seasons, ships that were “from-scratch” new. Carnival Sunshine is currently in its inaugural season too, yet as a “re-make” of an older ship, the Carnival Destiny.  I was quite curious to see how the ship turned out, and excited to experience all the new Fun Ship 2.0 features. I was impressed with how Carnival made the ship look brand new again.

Though Sunshine is currently in the Mediterranean for the summer season, she will reposition to the Caribbean in the fall, and make that her new home. I think Sunshine will be a great ship for Caribbean cruising. It isn’t so big like the newest mega-ships, but is big enough to have plenty to keep all ages busy and having fun.

Carnival totally revamped the interior of the ship, adding staterooms, decks, and dining/entertainment venues. All of Carnival’s 2.0 features (Red Frog Pub, Waterworks, Hasbro game show, Guy’s Burger Joint, etc) were there.  It truly looks new, and not like an attempt at refurbishment of an old ship.

My family of four (2 adults, 2 teens) spent 9 nights in the Western Mediterranean in June, in a room with a balcony. We started in Barcelona and progressed to Marseille (France), Livorno (for Florence), Civitavecchia (for Rome), Naples (for Pompeii), Messina (Sicily), Dubrovnik (Croatia), and Venice. We only had one day at sea, and usually prefer the days at sea, but that was not the point of this trip. The point was to experience a broad section of Europe in one trip. We chose this ship specifically because of the itinerary and long stays in port.

Overall

We were only the third or fourth sailing of the Sunshine. She had been in dry dock for months prior, transforming from Destiny to Sunshine. Sunshine was at least a month late in its first sailing, because of some necessary safety upgrades, in light of the recent problems on other ships.
It was nice to be one of the first on the ship, yet have some of the kinks worked out. Everything went well for us, and we really only saw one example of this being a new ship. The new dining crew still hadn’t figured out their efficiencies. They were really slooooooow. Toward the end we quit going to the dining room because we didn’t want to wait, and because there were plenty of other great options.
The décor of the public spaces was more subdued than on older Carnival ships. The atrium was still a bit on the shiny side, but it seemed less intense than on other ships.

Staterooms

The staterooms were done in a Caribbean theme. Pleasing colors (blue, green, white). The ship happens to be moving to the Caribbean after this inaugural season in the Mediterranean. The spa-area rooms are done in lighter blue/green colors. You can tell you’ve reached the spa rooms because the hallway carpet changes to a lighter color.
Compared to other ships, the stateroom was definitely smaller, but still plenty roomy for us. By looking at it, it looked about the same size as any other ship, and had a similar configuration. How we could tell it was smaller (besides looking at the specs!) was that the bunk that pulled down from the ceiling overlapped the king bed by over a foot. Brent had to watch his head when getting up in the morning. The other way we could tell was that there was only room for one small end table beside the king bed, instead of one on each side of the bed.

Storage – there was plenty for us. We could store our suitcases under the king bed, and all of our clothing and belongings fit nicely in the shelves, closets, and drawers. With four of us in the room, we really did have a good amount of space.

Bathroom – the bathroom was comparable to any stateroom bathroom, with several little shelves lining the mirror. But, there weren’t enough hooks in the bathroom for robes, clothes, towels, etc.

There were some nice hangers in the closet, but none for pants/skirts. Luckily, a previous passenger had left an assortment of additional hangers.

Food and Drink

Dining room – there are 3 main dining rooms, so none of them felt too huge. The food was similar to any other Carnival cruise. The waiters and waitresses would provide silly dancing entertainment every few nights, as on other Carnival ships. As I said before, the service was slow. I would expect that to get better soon, as the new crew gets used to the new ship. It is probably better since we were there.
The buffet is not 24 hours, so you have to plan for your food. Luckily the pizza place is 24 hours, with breakfast pizzas in the morning. The kids and Brent totally loved the pizza, and had it many, many times. The ice cream stations and coffee/juice stations are 24 hours as well, and we were frequent users of all of them.
I loved the alternate (and mostly free) eating venues.  But again, the free food outside the buffet is on a limited schedule, so you need to plan ahead. This includes the Italian place, the Asian place, the burrito/taco place, and the burger place. They were all very yummy. I especially liked the Guy Fieri Burger Joint. So many toppings to choose from! I went there several times. Brent’s favorite was the Asian place (Ji Ji), where you choose your noodles, sauce, and toppings.
They offered pour-your-own beer at a reasonable price (I think it was 29 cents per ounce), with just a convenient swipe of your room card. They have Red Frog (Carnival’s own brew), and some US domestic beer that I can’t remember (Coors, I think).
There was a hot dog stand up by the basketball courts. We looked forward to trying it, but we never saw it open.

Activities and Entertainment

The sports deck had ping-pong, pool, giant chess, Twister, basketball, mini-golf, foosball, and probably more.
The ropes course was fun for all ages. It is open only on a limited schedule, and never when it’s windy.  You have to be a certain height to use it, and a few of the younger kids were pretty slow and seemed a bit scared. But, then, other little kids were fearless. There were quite a few adults trying it too. Our family participated several times on both tracks.
The new water park area is fun too. The water slides are super fast, and dark for part of the ride. I couldn’t believe how fast they were.
For running enthusiasts, they have a running track on the top aft deck. Many years ago, I used to love running on Promenade decks, which were covered walkways all around the perimeter of the ship, usually a lower deck. But many ships these days either don’t allow running there, or no longer have a track all the way around.
The adults-only Serenity Deck is very nice. I didn’t spend any time there, since I prefer to spend time with my family. And I don’t think Brent even set foot on it. It is 3 levels at the front of the ship. The furniture was more upscale than elsewhere on the top decks, with nice lounge chairs, couches, chaises, and even outdoor king beds. They have their own bar, pool, and I think I saw hot tubs. It was well used, always quite a few people. There were plenty of shady spots, as well as sunny spots. The 3-level waterfall gave it an air of serenity, though the adult decks overlook the main pool area so there was always noise if you were at the front of the adult area.

Kids Clubs – They have 3 very nice, clean areas for the kids. We did see kids in there having fun, and out and about doing scavenger hunts and other things. But we were so busy on this cruise that our kids did not have time for the kids club.

From Nicole (age 14) – I really liked the tropical décor of eating places on deck 9, especially where the Italian and Asian restaurants are, at the back of the ship. There is plenty of seating amidst palm trees and soft lighting. The lunch format of the Italian place was great – you could choose your pasta, sauce, veggies, protein, etc., and they would make your pasta to order. The pizza place was open all the time and was excellent, some of the best anywhere. And they had a good variety of pizza types to choose from. I also liked that we could go get soft-serve ice cream anytime, and I got good at doing the swirl on top of the cone. The public spaces on the Promenade deck were fun too, with shopping and yummy milkshakes.

From Jackson (age 13) – I liked the sports area at the top of the ship, with the SkyCourse (ropes course) and waterslides. And the pizza was great!