It’s Monday!
Let’s explore a cruise ship.
Let’s start with Carnival Cruise Line’s Carnival Sunshine
Carnival Sunshine debuted in 1996 as Carnival Destiny. At the time, she was the world’s largest cruise ship at 100,000 gross tons. In 2013 she received a major refit and was officially renamed in New Orleans. Carnival Sunshine sailed from New Orleans until April 2014 when she repositioned to Port Canaveral, Florida. In the summers of 2016 and 2017, she alternated homeports between New York City, Charleston and Norfolk, then homeported full-time in Charleston, South Carolina until this year. In February, Carnival Sunshine repositioned to Norfolk, Virginia to offer voyages to the Bahamas, Bermuda, the Eastern Caribbean, and Canada & New England. Carnival Sunshine is the first ship to homeport from Norfolk year-round.
Carnival Sunshine has 1,501 staterooms over 14 passenger decks that can house a maximum of 3,758 passengers. She offers interior, ocean-view, balcony as well as accessible staterooms. Her suite options include 45 Ocean Suites, 8 Grand Suites and 2 Captain Suites.
Dining aboard Carnival Sunshine includes a mix of free and specialty restaurants. Her free options include the classics like BlueIguana Cantina, Guy’s Burger Joint, Lido Marketplace, Seadogs, two main dining rooms and Taste Bar. If you would like to upgrade, you can try out Bonsai Sushi, Cherry On Top, Fahrenheit 555 Steakhouse, JavaBlue Cave, Ji Ji Asian Kitchen, RedFrog Pub, Shake Spot and Cucina Del Capitano.
Carnival Sunshine has a number of bars and lounges including the Alchemy Bar, The Atrium Bar, the Havana Bar, the Piano Bar 88, the Sunshine Casino Bar. The BlueIguana Tequila Bar, the RedFrog Pub, The Library Bar, and of course, the Pool Bar.
Carnival Sunshine offers plenty of activities for the entire family while onboard. If you are looking for shows you can check out the Playlist Productions performances or the Punchliner Comedy Club. You can test the fates at the Casino. The whole family can enjoy Waterworks, the onboard water park, or a Dive-In movie poolside. If you are competitive, you can hang out at SportSquare and play mini golf, ping pong and more. If you just need to get away from the kids, you can head to the ship’s adults-only Serenity or relax in the Cloud 9 Spa. If fitness is your idea of a good time, head to the fitness center for a workout or a class.
Carnival Sunshine’s kid’s programming include Camp Ocean for those cruisers aged 2 to 11; Circle C Lounge for cruisers aged 12 to 14; and Club O2 for cruisers 15 to 17. Kids can also enjoy Seuss at Sea, a Seuss-a-palooza Parade, and breakfast with Thing 1 & Thing 2 for an additional fee.
In 2022, Carnival Ecstasy was retired making Carnival Sunshine the oldest ship in the Carnival fleet. She dons the red, white and blue livery and, while slightly larger than her sister ships, Carnival Radiance and Carnival Sunrise, is now one of the smaller ships in the fleet.