Sensation - KANSAS concert review 4/13/14

Embarkation - drove from New Jersey and got to the Park N Cruise lot at around 8am but I was asked to come back around 10am because the cruisers haven't returned to their cars yet (there were alot of spaces though). The parking lot is gravel. There was 1 family going on the Disney and 2 families on the ride to the ship. I was able to bring 2 bottles of sangria wine with me. I accidentally mentioned that I had to bottles of liquor, the agent said don't say "liquor" but "wine". I'll just guess the consequences if I got a different agent. Got a #2 boarding pass. We were able to board about 5 mins after the higher up guests. I don't think the FTTF would have made much of a difference. Went straight to the buffet, MDR is not open at this time. Safety drill was kinda offbeat. We met at the club for a brief meeting and then walked to the lifeboats on another deck. Walk around afterwards to get a feel of the ship. Same quirky layout as some of the other ships I've been on. I was on deck 6 and would go up to deck 9 to go back down to deck 8 for the MDR. Probably a better way but I got used to it. We watched the Welcome Aboard show after dinner. The ship was kinda rocking during dinner. I noticed the ship wasn't moving too fast. I could have walked faster. I was in a table with a family of 5 and 4. Both first time cruisers. The family of 5 actually left the room before ordering because a couple of them started feeling sick.

Freeport – We decided not to do an island tour but decided to visit the Sands Brewery on our own. But first we had breakfast in the MDR. Normal breakfast food but I tasted the Banana Stew, that was good. At around 10am, got in a van that was bringing a party of 6 to their hotel. It cost $12 for the 2 of us. It was only a 5min ride to the brewery. Walked in and was greeted by Ash. The lady in the counter asked if my son was 18 and he is and paid $7 each and went on our tour. Ash gave us a 10min tour and then straight to the bar. We tried the 5 different beers. The picture of the cup of beer is the sample of the special $35 drink that they only offer in Atlantis. Ash is such a cool guy. He kept us entertained and drinking, even though there were only 2 of us. We were able to pour the beer from the tap too, he said a lot of jokes.. One hour later, the tour bus with Carnival cruisers came in and we stayed until they left. Ash got a cab for us, needless to say, I left him a very good tip. The cab ride to the port was $10 for the both of us. As always, make sure you ask how much before you get in. Went back to the ship to rest up. Formal night, lobster tail was on the menu. Family of four was missing this time. Went to the adult only comedy show. Saw both Mike Macy and Jorge Solano, both funny and don’t sit in front because they will pick on you.

Hasn't Jorge been a CD on Carnival before???

Hasn't Jorge been a CD on Carnival before???

Jorge used to be a full-time CD. I think now he does fly-on comedy and is a substitute cruise director when they need him.

Let's hear about the concert.

How many people did they pack into the lounge?

Did they serve drinks during the concert?

Let's hear about the concert.

How many people did they pack into the lounge?

Did they serve drinks during the concert?

LOL. That's what I was hoping to read as well. I was a big Kansas fan in the 70's.

Jorge... The best ever! I miss his as a CD but have been happy to see him perform since!

Can't wait to hear more about this Concert Cruise

I haven't done much research on these concert cruises (no one I'd really go out of my way to book a cruise for)... is it true that the concerts are an additional cost beyond the cost of the cruise, or is it included in the fare?

false advertisement :D

Bill

false advertisement :D

 

Bill

Agreed! :p:D;)

Hasn't Jorge been a CD on Carnival before???

yea, he talks about his stint with Carnival and current wife ( also former Carnival crew member ) in his routine.

Nassau - Docked till 1am since Kansas was playing in the theater. We decided to walk over to Junkanoo Beach which was a 10 min walk from the dock. Free wifi at the customs building, many of the crew are there too to use it. Headed over to Starbucks to get a cool drink, wifi was $4 an hour there. Once we got to the beach, I rented a chair for $10. Beach was not really packed considering there were 5 ships docked. The tikibar had the 3beers&3shots for $10 deal. The shots were put into a small medicine cup. After a couple of hours, we headed back to the ship for a late lunch. We wanted to go back out to the main building to use the wifi. While walking out of the ship, we see a couple of members of Kansas get out of a van and head into the ship. Relaxing day.

Kansas Concert – All throughout the cruise, the staff was giving away free VIP passes worth $100 and t-shirts via contest. I was told that the VIPs met them for 1hr before the concert. I bought regular tickets ($20) online but if you bought the tickets when they were selling them in the deck, you would have received a free shirt listing all of the concerts by Carnival. The theater was full. I’m not a big fan of Kansas, most of us probably only know 2 of their songs. I think they played 7-8 songs and then 2 encore songs. These guys were actually pretty good with their instruments. Seems like they extended the songs by just rocking with their instruments. They didn’t announce no photo, etc.. allowed, so a lot of people took vids and pics. The only thing that I was kinda disappointed on was that after every song, the bass player would just say “thank you” and a couple of words here and there. It would have been nice if they had a quick story to tell, would have been more personal. That's just me. I saw the truck outside at around 11:30 when they were packing the equipment. Some pics below

It's not a Springsteen concert...:D

playing with the pics to make them bigger but I can't

All of my favorite bands have doubled in size. They all have someone to push their wheelchairs now. :D

playing with the pics to make them bigger but I can't

Reload them from your camera in photo bucket reset them to medium size, if they are large, and then use the links to download them back into CC via the picture icon. Don't download the thumbnails.

IMO, doesn't sound like the concert was worth even $20. $2 per song is double the iTunes price. Certainly can't see the "$80" for a T-shirt. And if I were in VIP seating, I'd have to remove my earing aids and put on noise reduction headsets or I'd blow out my aids' speakers:eek::D.

But thanks for the review. We did this cruise the week before you. Downtown Nassau is certainly getting worse, IMO. Definitely need an excursion in this port and the ship excursions are way over priced here relative tot he over-priced excursions in other ports.