Carnival Sunshine (March 2018)
Highlights:
⚓ EMBARKATION: This was a breeze for us. Took us about 10-15 min tops from moment we got to Port Canaveral port terminal to our waiting area. Can’t remember exact time we got there but between 10-10:30ish. One difference vs other terminals was as soon as we got into the terminal, they had people checking us in on the right (pulling up our info, Boarding Passes, Passports etc) and we electronically signed/tapped the “No” boxes on the ’Pre Boarding Public Health Questionnaire’. They didn’t need our filled out & signed printed form anymore. Since we had a Cash Account set up with OBC and didn’t need any further assistance (adding money or changing Cash to CreditCard Account), didn’t need to see an additional employee who were standing by behind a desk/computer for further assistance. Then, went upstairs and waited in Priority Lounge area and started boarding around 11:15, which was also a breeze.
⚓ SHIP (general): I see a lot of “love” or “dislike” (don’t like using the word hate) the Sunshine from other reviewers. I personally loved it and would probably rank in my top 3. It pretty much has all the Fun Ship 2.0 and upgrades you see on the Breeze (Guy’s, Blue Iguana, RFB, Fahrenheit 555, Bonsai, Cucina), even has JiJi’s, Java Blue/ShakeSpot, Havana Bar which are not on the Breeze. No Guy’s Pig & Anchor BBQ on the Sunshine, but they did have BBQ food on Promenade Deck by Ocean Plaza on Embarkation Day for several hours (had a 2nd lunch there that day, lol). Also no Tandoor on Sunshine for any Indian food lovers. I enjoyed lido buffet, MDR (Port breakfast, Seaday brunch and dinner), Bonsai (dinner), Cucina (dinner), and of course Guy’s and Blue Iguana.
⚓ SHIP (Serenity/Slides): Hard to talk about the Sunshine without mentioning the beauty of the Serenity…. 3 decks in fwd of the ship with a nice waterfall, just beautiful. Nicest Serenity I’ve seen on any ship. I also love the slides on the Sunshine. There is a blue one (fastest), green (medium speed), and yellow (slowest speed but sections of it was almost pitch dark which I love). I went down the slides on Embarkation day with my daughter about 6-7 times in a row, lol. Love the Blue one the most personally, so fast and fun.
⚓ SHIP (Layout): Two differences I love on the Sunshine vs other ships — one on lido deck (9) where the buffet stations are separated from each other. For example: one station has the cold cuts/cheeses, another has the hot food, another has the desserts… instead of one big station for the buffet (salad, cold cuts, hot food) which results in cutting down the line (in my opinion). Also, I love love love how they have the Ocean Plaza further away from the the Casino (absolutely no disrespect to any smokers). Also, palm tree decorations between cabins which helps breaks the monotonous feel in the cabin hallways. I really didn’t feel the ship “crowded” that much more than any other ship been on, except for 2 exceptions: The Limelight Lounge (deck 4 Aft), and Liquid Lounge (deck 4 and 5 Fwd). The Limelight lounge has a weird layout too where it sort of curves around behind each side of the stage where you can’t even see the stage, but they have TV screens on each side to see the performer (or singer in case of karaoke). I attended all Punchliner comedy club for adults, and it was always packed, with only exception of the last comedy show on last day before debarkation (11/11:30pm show). Punchliner club is cleared between shows, but that’s not new (had that on many other ships as well) which i think is a fair system as allows people who are waiting outside to get a chance for a seat.
⚓ PORTS: I won’t talk about this much since it is mainly review of the ship not ports, but i will briefly touch on it. We had Freeport, Nassau, and HMC (in that order). We didn’t stay on the ship on either of the first two ports as some folks do… Freeport we took a taxi ($5/person as a ‘group rate’ each way) to Lucaya Marketplace, where we crossed the street and walked to Lighthouse Pointe at Grand Lucayan and paid $20/adult and $10/child for Day Pass, which includes pool, beach, beach chairs, facilities, etc. Well worth it. After we spend several hours there, before catching ride back, we walked thru the Marketplace and pretty cool flashback as we found the same souvenir shack that belongs to a young man and his mom who we have met 7 years ago on our first visit there and talked with them for a while. At Nassau, we took a $4/person taxi to Cabbage beach and haggled the price down for a couple of lounge chairs on the beach. Beautiful beach but the waves were pretty strong and weather was a bit chilly (low/mid 70’s, not typical this time of year, slight cold-front). Finally at HMC….. my oh my what a wonderful beach….. All I can say is you haven’t been to HMC and don’t have a cruise booked that has HMC in your itinerary, you are missing out. We took the first tender and thankfully the beach was empty when got there, so we walked down a bit (knowing further down = less crowds) and grabbed some first row lounge chairs. Beach did get crowded by a few hours which was expected but didn’t take away from its beauty. Only ‘downside’ was pretty long lines for the BBQ/food, but hey can’t complain it was free and delicious! OK I guess this port review section did turn out longer than I expected, lol.
⚓ DEBARKATION: We opt’d for Self Assist this cruise, to get a head start on drive back to Texas. We went down to Deck 3 Fwd around 7:30 and we were in our car driving out of the cruise parking lot at 8:15am.
