Carnival Sunshine Review

In December of 2017, we set sail on an 8 day, exotic Western Caribbean cruise on the Carnival Sunshine. After reading many reviews, we booked this cruise specifically for the many amenities the Sunshine offered.

Originally known as the Carnival Destiny, the Sunshine received a major transformation in 2013. This transformation included routine hotel maintenance, as well as some cosmetic enhancements. More noticeable was the addition of many of Carnival’s signature features, to include: Ji Ji Asian Kitchen, Guy’s Burger Joint, Cucina del Capitano, BlueIguana Cantina, JavaBlue Café, Pizzeria del Capitano, Fahrenheit 555 steakhouse, and other restaurants. The refurbishment also included the SportSquare, which has many active games, and the Ropes Course. Other features added were WaterWorks, Carnival Seaside Theater, Serenity adults-only retreat, and multiple bars.

We boarded the ship in Port Canaveral Florida. The port seemed pretty crowded, as there were multiple ships docked that day, from different cruise lines. The crew were very helpful getting passengers to the right spots. Being that we arrived after 12:00, the ship was already boarding, so we didn’t have to wait too long to board the Sunshine. Once we were on, we did have to wait for a little for the elevators to get us to the 8th floor where our cabin was located. Our room steward greeted us in the hallway, then we entered our balcony stateroom. The location was perfect, midship, not too far away from either elevator.

As many others headed to the buffet, Guy’s Burger Joint, and BlueIguana Cantina, we decided to have lunch at the Taste Bar, were they had a small sized BBQ buffet ready. There was barely a line, and the food was pretty good. Afterwards, we did a little tour of the ship, to get familiar with its layout.

Throughout the cruise, we really enjoyed how pleasant the crew members were, and the ample amount of entertainment and activities. Our normal day on the ship consisted of bingo, trivia, and a lot of relaxing. The Playlist Productions shows at night were really good. We didn’t spend any time in the casino on this cruise. The comedy shows were decent, but the room where they had the shows seemed very cramped. Many people had to sit behind the stage, out of view from the comedians. One word of advice, if you plan on attending a comedy show, arrive extra early, or you will have a bad seat, or may not even be able to get a seat at all.

We ate breakfast in the main dining room on Sea Days. Although the service was a little slow, the food was very good.  On port days, we mainly pre-ordered room service. We did try the breakfast buffet on one port day, and found it to be a little crowded, though the food was still good. For lunch, most days we had burritos from BlueIguana Cantina, and believed these were the best we had tasted on any of our cruises. The burgers at Guy’s Burger Joint didn’t seem to taste as good as the others we had before, so we only at there once or twice. The Pasta Bar was very good. These made to order dishes were freshly made, and flavored how we liked them. We loved the Cuban snacks at the Havana Bar. Once, we even tried the Mongolian Wok. The wait time in line was over 30 minutes, but it was made with all the ingredients we chose.

For dinner, the first night we ate at the Fahrenheit 555 Steakhouse. This restaurant was an additional fee. The steak was just above average, but the crab cakes were delicious. Since it was the first night of the cruise when we ate there, we received a free bottle of wine. Another night we ate at Ji Ji Asian Kitchen. The atmosphere was very nice, and they served way more food than we could eat. This restaurant also had an additional fee, but we felt it well worth it for the amount of food they served. The rest of the cruise we ate dinner in the main dining room. Our wait staff was awesome! After several cruises, we expected the wait time to be long, but on this cruise, we really didn’t wait any longer than a normal restaurant before we got our food. The food itself was Carnival’s normal menu items, and all tasted pretty good.

We had heard the Serenity adults-only retreat on the Sunshine was bigger and better than most other cruise ships. The one time we visited it, it was packed, with no seats available. Needless to say, we didn’t stay there long. Just long enough to walk around, and see what it was like.

The ship itself is beautiful. It seemed as if it was maintained very well. The one thing that we did notice was that for a ship its size, there may have been too many restaurants, bars, etc. The space all throughout the ship seemed pretty cramped. It almost seems as if the transformation took away too much space. Even the main theater room seemed smaller than most. Walking through the common areas was often a challenge, having to navigate through the crowds of people. The layout also made it a bit of a challenge to walk from one area to another.

Overall, we had a nice, relaxing cruise. If you’re the type to avoid large crowds, you’ll experience them to some degree on any ship, but the Sunshine seemed to have more of them. Having a balcony cabin to escape the noise and crowds was definitely a plus! Again, the crew was awesome. We did run into one or two crew members that weren’t very pleasant, but the good ones almost made us forget about those.

Pros: Excellent crew, Multiple food options, Multiple activities

Cons: The overall spacing made the ship seem more crowded than others. The ship’s layout was a bit challenging.

Would we recommend others to cruise on this ship: Yes, but we’d recommend they study the layout, and be prepared for crowds.