Carnival Sunshine cruise ship review: What to expect on board
Table Of Content
And you’ll get more of them, too, with floor-to-ceiling windows providing plenty of looking-glass for gazing at the natural wonders of the sea… and let’s not forget sunrise and sunset. Passengers must be at least 42 inches tall to ride the slides. Carnival Sunshine is a relatively small ship, coming in at 102,853 GT and 892 feet long. It features just over 1,500 staterooms and suites, with 14 passenger decks and a maximum occupancy of 3,758 guests. At normal, double occupancy, the ship holds just over 3,000 guests, with just over a thousand crew members.
Current itinerary of Carnival Sunshine
Though they had separate entrances, the spaces were close enough that pick-up and drop-off would be easy for families with kids checked into different areas. The Sunshine Casino on Deck 5 midship was popular with passengers on my sailing. Every time I walked through, it was buzzing with activity (although, as previously mentioned, I didn't spend a lot of time there). The venue is a maze of slot machines, with a collection of poker tables, a craps table, two roulette tables and several blackjack tables. Throughout our cruise, the casino hosted organized poker tournaments, raffles and other ways to test Lady Luck. We also visited the Piano Bar twice during our short cruise.
Where does Carnival Sunshine sail to?
Other Destiny-class ships to come later included Carnival Triumph and Carnival Victory. The ship's main eatery, the Lido Marketplace, can get busy during its breakfast service. Those in the know, however, can dodge the buffet scrum by heading to the BlueIguana Cantina, which offers made-to-order breakfast burritos with savory fillings like chicken sausage, ham and hash browns.
Carnival Sunshine - user reviews and comments
Ocean Suites also include VIP check-in, walk-in closet and bathroom with whirlpool tub. One deck below Serenity is the Cloud 9 Spa (open 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily). With 15 treatment rooms, this is one of the larger spas in the fleet, and it's run by Steiner. It has a Thermal Suite with sauna, steam room, tropical shower and heated stone loungers with lovely sea views, which are all available for a fee of $35 (free if you are in one of the Spa Cabins).
Also regularly spins tracks overlooking this spot on sunny sea days. Behind him (on Deck 11) is one of two outdoor smoking areas (the other is on the outdoor port side of the Lobby Deck); it's been banned from every other bar and venue. Every Carnival ship features an onboard library stocked with the good stuff.
Plush chaise lounges and chairs, a pool, a whirlpool and a relaxing waterfall add to the serenity of the three-deck-high adults-only area. A video arcade is a popular spot and teens also have their own club with a dance floor and soft-drink bar. Active cruisers will find plenty to do at the ship's open-air recreation complex, boasting a ropes course, mini-golf, a basketball court, pool tables, foosball, a jogging track and more.
Carnival Sunshine passengers returned to flooded cars after SC coastal storm - WCBD News 2
Carnival Sunshine passengers returned to flooded cars after SC coastal storm.
Posted: Wed, 20 Dec 2023 08:00:00 GMT [source]
Carnival Sunshine®
The suites come with varied perks, which can include priority check-in and boarding, as well as priority disembarkation on the final morning of your trip. Also, other than the night of the storm, I didn't encounter any extensive rocking or shifting that was out of the ordinary for a cruise ship. The desk area had only two U.S.-style 110V plugs and a European-style 220V plug. If you need more outlets, plan to pack a power strip (just not one with a surge protector, as they're banned on ships). If you've sailed on a newer Carnival ship with ample outlets and USB ports in your cabin, you might be surprised by the lack of them on Sunshine. Updating the number of electrical outlets and adding USB ports to the cabins was not part of the 2013 renovation.
Fun at Sea on The Carnival Sunshine
The staterooms, though updated, aren’t as sleek as what you might find on some of the cruise ships to launch in the last few years. If you're already planning to spend a port day onboard, wait until then to hit the water park. You'll save yourself minutes standing and waiting in the beating sun -- and you might even get to ride your favorite slide more than once. Starting May 2019, the ship's new itinerary program offers 4- (to Nassau) and 5-day (Nassau and Half Moon Cay) short Bahamas cruises leaving roundtrip from a new homeport (Charleston SC) on a year-round schedule. Carnival's South Carolina annual cruise shipping volume is approx 220,000 passengers.
Other specialty dining options include the line's signature Fahrenheit 555 steakhouse (one of TPG's favorite cruise ship specialty restaurants) and La Cucina del Capitano for an authentic family-style Italian meal. During lunch, La Cucina del Capitano offers a free pasta bar. Passengers can also book the Chef's Table experience, an intimate multicourse meal hosted by the executive chef.
Cloud 9 Spa suites further feature that green, relaxing color palette that all the Cloud 9-themed staterooms offer, but with extra space and amenities. When Carnival Destiny became Carnival Sunshine (along with the transformation of all of its sister ships), it was a big deal. It also received a multimillion-dollar refit in 2005, when the ship was nearly ten years old, that upgraded its public spaces. More renovations occurred in 2010, with changes to the ship’s Lido deck and cabins. The ship always has something going on and is, despite its age and relatively small size compared to other cruise ships, an ideal option for those seeking an active, busy cruise itinerary. Here’s everything you need to know about the Carnival cruise ship.
Love coming back to the room to find a cute towel animal and chocolates on our bed. We packed in so much fun today that now it is time for a great night’s sleep. Carnivores and seafood-lovers should head to the ship's steakhouse, Fahrenheit 555, where servers wheel out your chosen cut or sea creature beforehand for a pre-meal introduction and explanation. As a Destiny-class liner, Carnival Destiny was the world's first cruise ship with GT/weight over 100,000 tons. Carnival Destiny's Inaugural Cruise started on November 24, 1996.
Kids are warmly welcomed nearly everywhere on the ship and will find no shortage of things to do. The ubiquitous Park West auction house sells various pieces of art onboard in art auctions that take place in the lobby on Deck 2. The port side of the Casino, which is relatively large, allows for smoking.
Finally, in 2022, Carnival Sunshine gained its status as the oldest ship in the Carnival family (if you consider the ship the Carnival Destiny), as Carnival Ecstasy retired. All of the above considered, you can expect a refreshed, modern feel on this Carnival ship, similar to what you might find on younger Carnival vessels. In 2016, Carnival made cosmetic changes and changed the EA Sports Bar over to the Skybox Sports Bar. In 2018, more cosmetic changes were made and retail space expanded. More recently, in 2021, additional cosmetic changes were made, but the biggest change was redesigning the ship’s hull art. Carnival Destiny, built in Italy in the early 1990s at the cost of $400 million, was the lead ship of Carnival’s Destiny class.
On my second sailing on Sunshine, a four-night Bahamas cruise out of Charleston, I found myself surrounded by a diverse group, though most passengers hailed from South Carolina. My shipmates included lots of families, couples traveling together and multigenerational reunion groups. The sun will certainly be shining upon you when you board Carnival Sunshine™. When you cruise from Charleston to the Caribbean or The Bahamas on board this amazing ship, you’re in for what could be one of the most memorable and enjoyable cruises you’ll ever take. There are designated times when little ones can use the facilities if supervised by their parents. Children who are not toilet trained cannot use Sunshine's WaterWorks facilities, pools or hot tubs.
You’ll enjoy your meal among Asian prayer rolls and Mongolian-inspired fabrics that infuse northern-country style into this unique culinary experience. JiJi offers a full-service menu featuring a mix of exotic and familiar dishes designed to challenge and delight your senses. When the weather cooperated, most passengers gravitated to the upper decks for fun in the sun and water. In addition to the one main pool and two hot tubs on Deck 9, Sunshine is home to Carnival's WaterWorks water park with waterslides and a kiddie splash zone. A bevy of diversions at the nearby SportSquare included a ropes course, minigolf, ping-pong and foosball. We enjoyed both main dining room meals, which included prime rib, lobster tail, New York strip and pan-seared barramundi.
I especially enjoyed the beet and petite greens salad with a citrus dressing. Of course, when on a Carnival ship, you must try the line's signature melting chocolate cake, which I did, and it was perfection. Carnival Sunshine offers a bevy of restaurant and bar choices.
Comments
Post a Comment