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Good Day, Carnival Sunshine

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Good Day, Carnival Sunshine

September 28, 2013After a $155 million makeover, Carnival Destiny transforms into a dramatically different ship — Carnival SunshineBy: Marilyn Green

Sunshine features a WaterWorks water park with three slides. // © 2013 Carnival Cruise Lines

Sunshine features a WaterWorks water park with three slides.

Carnival Cruise Lines’ recent extreme transformation of Carnival Destiny into Carnival Sunshine has left the ship feeling much more like Carnival Magic and Carnival Breeze. The 3,006-passenger vessel’s $155 million makeover changed not just the ship itself but the spirit of the cruise experience.

Entertainment is served in short, snappy sessions, with three polished production shows in the Palladium Show Lounge. Fast-paced comedy shows take place in the Punchliner Comedy Club, featuring up-and-coming talent brought in by comedian George Lopez.

The intense, fast entertainment pairs well with the dozens of food and drink possibilities that include a wonderful burrito bar, uber-burgers contrived by Guy Fieri of Food Network fame, a 24-hour pizza bar serving made-to-order choices and Carnival’s own Red Frog beer.

Bonsai Sushi, which also has a home on Magic and Breeze, features top-notch combination dishes, and the Asian eatery, JiJi, appearing for the first time on Carnival is a home run. At JiJi, each table has a designated “director” who helps diners navigate through Pan-Asian appetizers, main dishes and sides. A steal at $12, the food is excellent, abundant and served to be shared. The presentation is gorgeous and, with selections from vegetarian to pork and beef, there’s something for any taste. JiJi and Cucina del Capitano, a new Italian restaurant, had ample seating and breakfast offerings. So even when the buffet filled up, there was plenty of space for a quiet meal.

Less quiet is the Punchliner Comedy Brunch on days at sea. It’s a rough ride for the comedians, who have to perform over hungry and sometimes hungover guests. There was a lot of unplanned laughter as passengers tried to explain to their international servers what some of the jokes meant.

The overall atmosphere of Sunshine has a decidedly Caribbean flavor, from the tequilas at Blue Iguana to the rums at the Red Frog. The tropical touch is echoed in the public area and stateroom decor. Like Magic and Breeze, Sunshine has become more subtle in color than Destiny’s former flamboyant Joe Farcus designs.

There’s nothing restrained about the new WaterWorks water park, however. Its three adrenaline-rush water slides have excited cruisers lining up to conquer the 334-foot-long Twister. They shrieked all the way down the water slide, and bystanders cheered those trying out the dual racing slides. A gentle water play area caters to the younger cruisers, who squeal and scatter under the 150-gallon dump bucket. Above the ship, the suspended ropes course had plenty of participants.

At the opposite end of the the ship is Serenity, the complimentary adult retreat with a pool, a whirlpool and seductive, cushioned chaise lounges and chairs. Tell your clients to try to capture one of the circular two-person lounges. I’m a sucker for the sight and sound of a waterfall, and Serenity has a beautiful one with fabulous views.

In the evenings, popular movies are shown on the poolside 270-square-foot, high-tech LED screen. Movies at the Seaside Theatre were very popular with teens on our cruise. Alternatively, Sunshine’s Liquid Lounge nightclub rocks well into the night. It’s great fun for all, except for the cruisers in the staterooms just above the club on Deck 6 who complained abut the heavy bass.

All these activities mean that passengers are spread out, and there is no feeling of overcrowding even though Carnival added 182 staterooms to Sunshine. The clever and flexible use of space sends guests throughout the ship for meals, relaxation and entertainment. There were so many different things happening all over the ship that there were no long lines.

Sunshine sails in November from Europe to New Orleans, where she will offer weeklong roundtrip itineraries until April. She will then join Carnival Liberty in cruising from Port Canaveral on five-, seven- and eight-day Bahamas and Caribbean cruises.

Carnival Sunshine: Sailing in a New Direction

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Destiny’s transformation marks a new era in refurbishment

The $155-million transformation of Carnival Destiny into the 3,006-passenger Carnival Sunshine puts a whole new spin on future decisions about remaking ships. With the slowdown in newbuild construction, cruise lines have worked hard to bring their older vessels closer to the newest ones in terms of amenities and atmosphere. But the two-year process of planning Sunshine and the 75 days of actual refurbishment prompted Carnival Cruise Lines to describe this as the most ambitious transformation of an existing ship to date.

The remaking of Destiny was expensive in terms of man-hours (2 million, with 3,000 contractors from 40 countries working around the clock), money and time that the ship spent out of service. For this reason, future decisions will have to be carefully considered when it comes to this degree of renovation, as well as when choosing to perform what Carnival CEO Gerry Cahill called 2.0 Light — a cosmetic refurbishment with the addition of new features.

Cahill said that when a ship gets to a certain age — about 15 years old — the company must take a serious look at whether it is going to redecorate or take the refurbishments further.

In the case of Sunshine, the economics were improved by adding 182 more staterooms and increasing the number of entertainment and dining venues, which Cahill said increases onboard spending.

He acknowledged that Sunshine had a rough delivery, revealing that the company was “caught by surprise” with vandalism of air conditioning and plumbing systems, although he declined to name the vandals. However, on my July cruise, passengers clearly weren’t concerned about the ship’s history; they just enjoyed its offerings. Even with more guests onboard, Sunshine is a very cleverly arranged vessel.

“If you’re putting more people on a ship, you’d better know how to spread them out,” Cahill said.

Carnival achieved this balance with creative use of space and staff policies. Breakfast in the Lido is served from 6 a.m. to noon and, on my cruise, there was always seating available and very few lines at the food stations, primarily because there were breakfast and lunch options in 10 locations.

Seating was actually reduced in the Liquid Lounge, and its stage now extends into the audience, since Sunshine has so many other entertainment offerings that the crowds have sorted themselves out. After the last show, curtains enclose the side tiers of seats to create a nightclub. Other entertainment options include watching movies at the pool, dancing in several venues, singing in the piano bar, youth and teen facilities and catching a bite to eat here, there and everywhere.

It’s not so easy to find Destiny within Sunshine. In addition to creating an additional deck for its largest WaterWorks, Carnival moved public spaces and staterooms around, increasing capacity 14 percent, and also adding 14 percent more deck chairs, 19 percent more dining capacity and 25 percent more space for children. A 32 percent increase in bar seats and 58 percent more fitness equipment really serves to accommodate the larger numbers well.

Among features added to Sunshine are Carnival’s first three-deck-high Serenity adults-only retreat; a 270-square-foot LED screen poolside; SportSquare, with its ropes course, mini-golf, basketball court, jogging track and more; RedFrog Pub, featuring Carnival’s ThirstyFrog Red beer; Ji Ji Asian kitchen; Guy’s Burger Joint; Cucina del Capitano; BlueIguana Cantina, with excellent burritos from breakfast into the afternoon;  Fahrenheit 555 steakhouse; Shake Spot; The Punchliner Comedy Club presented by George Lopez; the quiet Library Bar; and live shows ranging from Playlist Productions to Hasbro, The Game Show.

A tip your clients will thank you for is recommending Ji Ji for its outstanding and remarkable value — only $12 for adults and $5 for children. Tell clients to make reservations as quickly as possible, and watch for this eatery to appear on other Carnival ships.

Sunshine will not return to Europe next year, responding to high air pricing that poses a challenge for the primarily American passengers. But Cahill did express hopes for a return in the next couple of years. In the meantime, Sunshine will sail a variety of Caribbean itineraries.

Carnival Sunshine was set back by vandalism, reveals CEO

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Carnival Sunshine was set back by vandalism, reveals CEO

By Tom Stieghorst
When the Carnival Sunshine was delivered after a two-month, $155 million drydock, a large group of cabins wasn’t fully ready for passengers.

On Saturday, Carnival Cruise Lines CEO Gerry Cahill revealed the reason why.

He said vandalism to the plumbing and electrical systems “very late in the process” of building new cabins for Sunshine left damage that had to be fixed.

“Because of that, they were not delivered to the crew until almost the day before passengers were sailing,” Cahill said. “We did not realize then there was all this damage done to the cabins. We were caught by surprise, quite frankly.”

Cahill disclosed the incident in a question-and-answer session for media on the Sunshine, which is doing a nine-day cruise in the Mediterranean.

He would not talk about who was responsible for the damage. When it was suggested that only construction contractors would have had access to the ship, Cahill responded, “Right,” but declined to elaborate.

The work on the Sunshine was done at the Fincantieri shipyard near Venice, where about 3,000 workers transformed the former Carnival Destiny into a substantially different ship. But a group of cabins in the forward section of decks 9 through 12 near the spa area weren’t ready.

It took several cruises before all the workmen were off the ship, and Carnival had to displace passengers to make room for those contractors.

The WaterWorks area with water slides and other aquatic features also was unfinished, an issue Cahill attributed to heavy rains, which made it hard for the deck coatings beneath the slides to cure.