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Mini Review SENSATION 4 day 4/22--ANY ???'S


Mike Dante

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Hi All

She may be older and show some wear, but heyyyy it beats work right? These are a few of the major topics I figured would be of help to people., my only negative is for the videp arcade room, as many of the games were broken and or eating tokens, the air hockey tables which had poor air flow, and never had pucks to be found, and overall lack of variety in games..The victory/triumph and legend are 100 times superior, which really shouldnt be the case newer ships or not----now on to the good stuff. :

 

This was a trip for 4 of myself, DW and 6yo and 4yo boys.(which was a surprise trip for them. it was so cute to see their faces when they finally saw the ship and knew we were going back to MEXICO on the big boat)

We flew in to TPA at 12:00, and quickly got our bags and went outside for a cab. We had no wait and were wisked away to the ship. Since we had a cat 12--cabin U74, we were able to use the VIP checkin. This was a piece of cake, as we got there moments before they started to board group 1.

Upon boarding, we walked up to the cabin. It was clean and spacious and exactly what we needed. The balcony was a hit with the little ones as well. This was a nice midship cabin, close to all. Although on this class ship, there never is too much walking..

Up we went for our 1st slices of Pizza a,d whatnot, and then we unstacked a few lounge chairs and hung around the hot tubs listening to the reggae band(they were very good.)

We had 6:15 dinner in the Fantasy D.R. and were greeted by George the Greek---oooo-pah!. He is 1 of the better MD's I have encountered on Carnival to date. As we have cruised CCL many times now, there are no surprised with the menus, and we never had trouble finding something we liked.

 

The shows on stage were Hey Mambo, and Party time. We had seen both last year in April as well, but did see Hey Mambo again. These are both high energy shows, and surely worth seeing.

Camp Carnival was attended by both kids, in small doses, and met our expectations as usual. There were plenty of activities for them.

We chose this cruise, b/c we really enjoy Cozumel as our port of choice. Staying till late late late is a real bonus. We decided to go to Paradise Beach, from all the good reviews it has on the ports board. It was clean, well taken care of and all you could look for if doing a beach day..The downer was that we never got to meet the now famous PB Tom who is great for giving info for Coz.

Thats pretty much the scoop of it, but if there are any q's on things I didnt make mention of, I will be happy to try and answer them.

 

Happy sails,

Mike

 

Sensation 4/04 (b/c we really like Mexico)

Sensation 4/03

Legend 10/02

Triumph 6/02

victory 9/00

Triumph 9/01

Fascination 12/00

Sensation 4/99

Ecstacy 3/98

Fantasy 7/96

Holiday in 94

Horizon 5/92

Numerous voyages on Britanis and Galileo in the mid 80's

 

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Thanks so much for the review, we are leaving next week on the Sensation and yes, I do have a few questions. Did you have to tender when you went to Cozumel or did the ship dock right at the port and you could get off there? What port did you dock at? Did you try the midnight buffet at all? We have a category 11 suite with balcony on the vernanda deck and am hoping this is a nice deck. Also, were there lots of children at the 6:15 dinner seating? We are excited and really looking forward to our trip, glad you enjoyed your trip.

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Glad to hear you had a good cruise! I have a question also. What time did they call the first group for debarkation...i.e. the ones who had early flights? Thanks!

 

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Next Cruises! SENSATION 5/6/04 then MIRACLE 2/13/05!

 

Triumph, Inspiration, Holiday, Explorer of the Seas, Granduer of the Seas, Glory Hounds I, Conquestadors

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Hi Brney,I beleive it was like 8:15 ish when the started the self assist program and then around 9 when they started with regular debarkation. It was a snap as far as I was concerned. Better than I have had to go through in the past. If you do have a flight before 1 pm, you can get early debark by showing your tix to the purser.

 

Natters

no tender, was needed. we docked at the pier that is not in the downtown area, but right where the duty free shop is and Fat Tuesdays-hopping spot for a few drinks before going back to the ship.

We didnt make a late night buffet though--cant help ya there. Generally the early seating dinners do attract families and children. If you want to avoid this, by all means go with the later seating if you can swing eating that late.

Have a great cruise!!!

Mike

 

Sensation 4/04 (b/c we really like Mexico)

Sensation 4/03

Legend 10/02

Triumph 6/02

victory 9/00

Triumph 9/01

Fascination 12/00

Sensation 4/99

Ecstacy 3/98

Fantasy 7/96

Holiday in 94

Horizon 5/92

Numerous voyages on Britanis and Galileo in the mid 80's

 

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Thanks for the review. Sounds like you guys had a great time! We are going on the Sensation also (6/3/04 sailing). It's funny because our kids are about the same age as yours DD-8 & DS-5 & it sounds like our day in Cozumel will "mirror" yours icon_biggrin.gif I have a couple questions for you if you don't mind...You said the shows are good & high energy, did your kids attend also or were they in the kids club? I know DD-8 would probably like it but not sure about DS-5 sitting through it. Is the visibility decent from most seats or will I have to send my DH down like an hour early to get a decent seat?

About Paradise Beach...did you get a cab right off the ship or did you go through the shops & pick one up at the other end of the pier? (I just don't want to get ripped off like we did in Nassau one time). Did you have any food or "libations" at PB? If you did how were they? Did your kids play on the iceburg & trampoline? With all there is to play with there, I'm thinking we probably don't need to pack the sand toys!

Is there a good variety of kids choices on the menu in the dining room? DS-5 lives on pizza & macaroni & cheese! I'm blaming this lovely trait on DH because I on the other hand will eat anything that doesn't move icon_eek.gif

We are planning on going to the ship to clean up after PB & back on the island for Minigolf in the early evening. What two nights are the shows? I'm assuming they wouldn't do a show on the one late night lots of people might be off the ship.

Sorry if I've "overloaded" you with questions icon_confused.gif Your review just got me thinking about our upcoming trip! Thanks for your help!

Sue

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Hi Sue

No problem , I am happy to help.

Now lets see..in no random order

In Coz, you can get the taxi at the end of the shopping area..just breeze past the shops b/c they are all open till late when you get back. Taxi to PB will run you $12 flat rate. We spend about $80 ish on full lunch with sodas and tip included.(good, not great taco/enchilda type of stuff) And then of course with some drinks sprinkled in here and there on the beach as well paid seperately. I have a review of PB on the ports board titled"Missed ya Tom" if you want to look for it. I went out to the iceberg and trampoline, but the DW and kids did not..They are too young I thougt, and she was too scared.. Note, the berg was very hard to get up on in the morning, but as it deflates during the day, it is easier..I did see more adults using both toys though as oppossed to kids. The kayaks and water mats, and sand play were grat for the kidsalthough I wish we did bring a smalle bucket for digging and such.

 

 

Both shows I thought were great for the kids, as oppossed to the more broadwayish shows I have seen on the Triumph and Legend out of NY...It is fast paced/colorful, and personally best viewed up close and on the main level IMO, so send DH ahead while you finish off your post dinner foo foo drink of choice icon_razz.gif

 

The shows were on the 2nd and last day, and there is also a very nice Mexican folklore show down by the people of Cozumel at 10:30 on port day...we saw it last year, so skipped it this year--but thought it was a nice thing to see.

 

Have a great trip, and feel free to ask anything else that comes to mind.

And in regards to camp, we dont overload the kids with it, as we like to be together as a family on vacation, but there is never really any lack of things to do. Last year we couldnt get my youngest to go , and this year he enjoyed it..We did use it alot on the last day, mainly as we needed to keep our oldest out of the sun due to sunburn from the beach..And we used 45 sunblock too..Coz is really hot so lotion often!!

 

Sensation 4/04 (b/c we really like Mexico)

Sensation 4/03

Legend 10/02

Triumph 6/02

victory 9/00

Triumph 9/01

Fascination 12/00

Sensation 4/99

Ecstacy 3/98

Fantasy 7/96

Holiday in 94

Horizon 5/92

Numerous voyages on Britanis and Galileo in the mid 80's

 

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Great review! Can't wait for our cruise on 5/24. I have one question though. Did they observe ship time while in port or did you use island time? I am trying to book an outside excursion and want to make sure we are on time and all. icon_smile.gif Thanks!

 

Jody in KS

 

countdown.cgi?trgb=000000&srgb=00ff00&prgb=111111&cdt=2004;5;24;16;00;00&timezone=GMT-0500  Until our first cruise on the Sensation!

 

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Jodygirl and Ohdaisy

You stay on ship time--so dont get caught short, or it's a loooooong swim home icon_biggrin.gif

I know you'll have a blast regardless of what you do.

 

Happy Sails,

Mike

 

Sensation 4/04 (b/c we really like Mexico)

Sensation 4/03

Legend 10/02

Triumph 6/02

victory 9/00

Triumph 9/01

Fascination 12/00

Sensation 4/99

Ecstacy 3/98

Fantasy 7/96

Holiday in 94

Horizon 5/92

Numerous voyages on Britanis and Galileo in the mid 80's

 

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