Carnival
Sunshine…A Disappointment
We just
finished a cruise on Sunshine and were quite disappointed.
Having
sailed on 9 cruises, both large and small ships, the Sunshine does not live up to Carnival’s standard. The passengers who had only
sailed on one or two cruises were happy with the ship. All the
experienced cruisers were disappointed in the ship and said they would
never sail on Sunshine again. (Many having been on 15 to 20 cruises)
What is
wrong with the Carnival Sunshine…
The ship
does not have the staff to handle the number of passengers.This is very
apparent in the dining room; we waited almost one hour to be seated.
When the food arrived, after another wait, the food was cold and was
certainly not the taste and quality we expected. The food on the
buffet while hot lacked much taste. Also most of the cake deserts were
dry, most of the other deserts again lacked taste and they even managed
to over bake the chocolate melting cake.
On all our
past cruises on Carnival we were always able to order a third entrée to
share with what we ordered for a main course. We were informed
that it is against Carnival’s policy to serve an extra entrée until you had finished the first ones. We have on
every other ship been able to have
the other entrée brought to the table at the same time.
Not sure if
this is a new Carnival policy, one that they have just started to enforce
or one that is being used on Sunshine because they do not have enough
galley and wait staff.While still
on food, ordered fresh apple pie, it was terrible. A frozen pie is 100%
better. Totally unimpressed with the pizza, normally “good” on other ships,
awful on Sunshine. They should try boxed pizza, it would be a big
improvement.
The
entertainment is normally pretty good, not so on Sunshine. The shows were
pretty bad. The worst we have encountered on a cruise.
The floor
tile in the buffet is “very” slippery. Be very careful if you come in off the deck with wet shoes.
Buying on
the ship!! Carnival has the lowest prices, NOT. I would suggest you
check prices in the ports before you purchase anything on the ship. An Invicta watch was priced at $130; I paid
$90 off ship. The perfume is
also overpriced. Carnival will “price match” but you have to have a
picture of the item that also shows the price. Good luck getting a store owner
to allow the picture.
If you want
to shop on shore, get away from the “tourist” streets and visit the
mom and pop shops. There you will find the locally made goods, not
the “tourist” stuff. Liquor is also cheaper from the "local”
stores.
Not sure how
extensive the drain backups were, one room down the hall from us
had sewage backup into the room at least three times that I know of. Also
on occasion there were buckets in the halls because of water leaks.
Luggage Express…
how great this is to not having to touch your luggage till you get
to your destination. Carnival does the boarding passes and takes the
luggage to the airline. Really wonderful…SUNSHINE DOES NOT OFFER
THIS SERVICE at least out of New Orleans.
Will never sail on any
Carnival out of New Orleans. We are not sure if this is a problem at
the port or a Carnival problem.
There is a
luggage service on the dock that will store your baggageand meet you at a set time at the airport. You do have to still check
your bags with the airline and get your boarding pass.
The cruise
terminal is small, not well organized and cannot handle the number of
passengers. We were directed to the wrong lines by the staff in the
terminal. This will be an even bigger mess when Dream starts
sailing out of NOLA.
The traffic
flow for vehicles outside is SLOW. The road goes to two lanes and
really restricts the traffic. Getting to the unloading area can take awhile.
All in all…the
crew were great, especially the room steward, she was fantastic. Esthetically the ship is nice. The décor is
very well done. The serenity deck is very well appointed although to
small.
We will never sail on Sunshine again, not sure
if we will even continue to
sail on Carnival.
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