Sensation review 7/19/04

Wow, can’t believe it’s already over! We had a great time! Here’s my very long review. Please forgive any typos since it’s late and I’m tired. I’m probably leaving out tons. Will post again if I remember anything else of interest.

Embarkation: A breeze. We arrived around 11:30 and checked in with no lines, got our Sail & Sign cards and cabin keys, then sat to wait for our boarding group to be called. We were in boarding group 4 and were on the ship by 12:15. Couldn’t go to our cabins until after 12:30 so we just headed straight to the Lido deck for lunch. Lifeboat drill was at 3:30 and didn’t take long at all. We pulled out at 4, right on schedule. Sailed under the Sunshine Skyway bridge around 6, then when we returned to our cabin our luggage had arrived, so we unpacked before dinner.

Décor: First impressions were that the ship’s décor is very purple and very 80’s. Kind of a retro early 80’s look. We actually found that our dining room tablemates felt the same and we all joked about the fact that even though the ship went into service in 1993, the décor seemed more like 1983. The Touch of Class bar in particular seemed really cheesy with the hands all over the place. The décor of that room definitely didn’t seem to fit with its name. I thought the prettiest room was Michelangelo’s lounge, which had more of a classical look.

Ship layout: I thought the ship layout was well planned. I liked the fact that most of the public rooms were along a couple of main decks. To me it made it really easy to find my way around. I knew where everything was in no time and was never lost. Dh, on the other hand, never seemed to know what deck were on or whether we needed to go up or down to get to where we wanted to be. :rolleyes:

Cabin: Our 5A guarantee (porthole) was upgraded to a 6B (regular window), so we were happy. I wasn’t really expecting an upgrade at all, given that we only booked 6 weeks out. The cabin was clean and definitely larger than our cabin on Sovereign of the Seas a few years ago. Beds were comfy, plenty of towels, lots of storage space, and bathrobes. The beds had fluffy white comforters that were much prettier than the pink (?) bedspreads that are in most pictures you see of the ship. I had read on these boards that some experienced a sewage smell in their cabins so I came armed with small space air fresheners. Good thing because we did experience the odor in our bathroom. Not overpowering (and definitely not anything that would spoil our cruise experience), but noticeable. Dh told me that the air freshener was good thinking. I admit that I thought about taking the credit for the idea :o but confessed that it was a recommendation I had read here. Thanks to those who have posted that suggestion recently!

Dining room: Dinner for us was late seating -- Fantasy dining room at 8:30 pm. We couldn’t have asked for better tablemates. Whoever is responsible for seating arrangements did a great job of matching us up with other couples our age (all 30-40). All were celebrating either an anniversary or a honeymoon. It was a table for 10, but the last night was the only time that all 5 couples were all there at the same time. George the Greek was our maitre’d and he was great. And funny! It’s the only cruise I’ve ever been on where I even knew who the maitre’d was. Our waitress was Paula and she was very good too. She was very nice and efficient. I don’t think she had quite the personality that some of the other waiters did, but she was eager to please. We found out that it was her first week on the Sensation. She has previously been on the Imagination, Pride, and Inspiration. She said the rules on each ship were different depending on the management, so she was still learning.

Food: Food was average. Breakfast -- ate in the dining room the first morning and in the Seaview Grill on Lido deck after that. Was a little disappointed to see the same things every day. Didn’t feel like I had much variety. Lunch -- never ate lunch in the dining room. Had burgers and fries or pizza on Lido deck most days. (Went back for more pizza and ice cream most nights before bed.) Dinner -- dining room every night. Nice selection of dishes to choose from in the dining room, but quality is about what you’d expect from mass-produced food. I had some form of steak most nights. Better some nights than others. Tom Turkey on the last night wasn’t that great. I wouldn’t recommend it. Wasn’t too impressed with the desserts. Midnight buffets -- only one in the “traditional” sense with the ice carvings, etc. was the one in the dining room on formal night. However “regular” buffets were served in the Seaview Grill other nights. Mexican midnight buffet on the night we left Cozumel was great and there was a happening deck party going on. Room service -- we ordered sandwiches and cookies on a couple of occasions as a late afternoon snack to tide us over until dinner. BLT was the best I’ve had in a long time. Yum!

Activities: There was always lots going on -- trivia, bingo, poolside games, etc. Dh won the nostalgic TV trivia and received a 24 karat gold plastic trophy. He almost won Sports trivia too, but missed by one question. He’s definitely a trivia buff so I knew there was no way we were leaving without winning one of those plastic ships! :D The Newlywed/Not-so-newlywed game was fun -- I highly recommend it! Many of the events were hosted by the cruise director, Michael Mullane, and his wife, Jeni. They made a cute pair and we loved listening to their British accents! There was always something to do -- so much that I simply can’t remember it all. I definitely agree with those who say that if you get bored on a Carnival cruise, it’s your own fault.

Evening entertainment: The evening shows were … entertaining but nothing especially memorable. I liked the opening night show the best. The CD gave some welcoming comments, there was a brief taste of some of the dancers (which I like better than their later performances), and a comedian (Happy Cole) who was much funnier than I expected him to be. My face hurt from laughing. We went to his “adult” show the following night but I didn’t find that as funny. Two nights had supposedly Broadway-style shows with singers and dancers, but I thought they went on too long. I didn’t care for the male singer at all. The female singer was much better. One night was a double bill magician/comedy act followed by another comedian. The magician seemed to be trying too hard for a reaction from the audience. I didn’t care much for his magic or his comedy. Can’t remember the follow-up comedian’s name, but his “clean” performance was also better than the “adult” show he did later. Several other passengers we talked to agreed for both comedians that their “family” performances were funnier. Maybe we are just getting old? Also has the Legends passenger talent show as the main entertainment one evening. Basically seemed like glorified karaoke to me. There were 14 performers, some better than others. None especially impressive.

Ports and excursions: Did the Stingray Sandbar Tour in Grand Cayman. Hadn’t planned to do the stingrays since I wasn’t especially looking forward to the creatures slithering up against me :eek:, but I am SO glad we changed our minds once on the ship (so much for planning ahead). It was a truly great experience! I couldn’t believe how friendly they were. There was squid available to feed them -- what a strange but neat sensation when they suck it out of your hand! In Cozumel we ventured out on our own rather than doing any of the excursions. Went to Paradise Beach first for a couple of hours (thanks to the great reviews on the Cozumel board), came back to the ship and changed, then went out for a little shopping. Since we only wanted to buy souvenirs for our kids, we just went to the shops that are on the end of the pier rather than taking a taxi back into town. Downed a couple of drinks in Fat Tuesdays :D, then were back on the ship in plenty of time for dinner. A couple of our tablemates did the Mayan Ruins at Tulum and I think were a little disappointed in what they saw given that so much travel time was involved to get there. I know they picked this itinerary specifically because they wanted to do that tour. Another couple did the sunset horseback riding, which sounded like lots of fun. One couple did something dry (glass bottom boat?) and thought the water looked so beautiful that they wanted to jump right in and wished they had done a water excursion. And the last couple at our table did something with jeeps that they said was worth every penny.

Note about kids: Based on other comments I’ve read here, I had been a little fearful that all the kids on the ship (close to 800) would be running wild, but for the most part all the kids we saw were well behaved. Only on the last full day at sea did we have any issues with kids, but certainly nothing close to being enough to spoil our trip. Really no worse than we would experience in any other type of family-oriented destination (such as Disney, which we visit frequently since live in the Orlando area).

OK, here's the last little piece of my review (was too long to all fit in the original post):

Debarkation: Nothing to complain about. Because we had grey luggage tags, we replaced them with the correct color the night before. Luggage had to be out between 6 pm and midnight. We got ours out just before midnight with only minutes to spare. The next morning we packed our last few things in our carry-ons, went to breakfast on Lido deck, then went to our assigned waiting area to … wait. I thought the cruise director did a good job during the previous day’s debarkation talk of letting people know to expect this and explaining that the waiting wasn’t Carnival’s fault -- they wanted to get people off the ship as quickly as possible to start preparing for the next group -- but had to wait for Customs to clear them before letting anyone off. We were in the last group to be called, but still we were off the ship before 10:30. Passing by the customs officers we only had to turn in our customs declaration form. Never had to show passports/ID even though we were told to have it in our hand. We were directed to collect our luggage based on the color of our tags (found it right away), then were off. A special note to anyone cruising from Tampa -- the parking garage has 2 sections that are connected by a walkway only. You can’t drive between the two. We didn’t realize this, went up in the wrong elevator, and couldn’t find our car. I stayed put with the luggage while dh went to find the car. He finally found it, but had to come back and get me so we could go back together, since he couldn’t drive over to where I was waiting without exiting one side and re-entering (and probably paying) in the other side.

Oh, and I also wanted to let you know about our spending. Total Sail & Sign bill for 2 was around $350 as follows in case it helps anyone for budgeting purposes:

• $100 for the automatically posted gratuities
  
• $94 for Grand Cayman stingray excursion
  
• $17 in the gift shop
  
• $32 for photos
  
• $20 for the internet cafe (30 minute e-mail package for $16.50, plus one-time $3.95 activation fee)
  
• the rest was for drinks. We brought 12 20-oz sodas between us in our luggage, which turned out to be exactly perfect for 5 days. The only sodas we purchased onboard were in the dining room at dinner. This allowed us to not feel guilty about spending a little extra on foo drinks when we wanted them.
  

Also spent another $250 or so in cash for:

• parking in Tampa ($50)
  
• casino (didn't spend a lot, but won back what we spent and came out about close to even -- up $10 overall at end of cruise)
  
• bingo ($20)
  
• tips for luggage porter at pier, room service delivery, and maitre'd
  
• souvenirs, food, drinks, taxis, etc, on shore.
  

About $600 total for a 5-day cruise for 2, which was exactly my budget. Not too bad. Would have been more if we hadn't quit while we were ahead in the casino. Also would have been more if we had done an excursion in Cozumel rather than exploring on our own.

Fantastic review! One of the best I've read. I'm glad you had such a good time on the Sensation as we'll be on her on 8/21. You did exactly what we were planning to do at each port too!

Thank you SO much for taking the time to post such a detailed report.

Thanks for the detailed review. We'll be sailing on the Sensation in August and look forward to it. Your spending information was great too, not as much as I expected. Ours will probably be slightly higher if we choose to drink, but hopefully not too much more. :p

Thanks for the review! We're going on Aug. 30th for my mom's 50th birthday. I think I'll definitely take some air freshner with me...sounds like we'll need it. :eek: I was wondering if you did the stingray tour through the ship...which I guess you did since it was your on your sail and sign card. I think my sister and I are going to book it ahead of time for a cheaper price. I agree about the Tulum Ruins tour. We did it on our HM and it was a lot of travelling to get there...and it's neat but not worth the $80+ a person.

So you were on the Main deck...is that right? Where were you on the deck? We're staying in an inside aft...was there a lot of noise?

Thanks for the great review..we will be on the Sensation Aug 7th (anyone else out there??) My DW already has the air freshener bought. We will be in a 6A. Sounds like you had a great time. Typical shows. I might spend a few more dollars as i have an extra person (daughter) but hopefully I will do as well as you in casino (even is a win to me!!). Thanks for giving all us August cruisers even more to be excited about.

Thanks for the compliments. I got so much good information from these boards before our cruise that I wanted to return the favor. I also was desperate to read every little piece of information about the ship that I could get my hands on, so I wanted to be as detailed as possible for those of you who will be aboard the Sensation in the near future.

Cantwait2cruise -- yes, we did the ship's stingray excursion. Still not totally comfortable booking excursions on our own even though that's what everyone here recommends to save money. I like the peace of mind knowing the ship will wait for us is we are late from one of their excursions. Good thing too, because we were a little late returning from the stingrays. The last tender to the ship was supposed to be at 1:30 -- we didn't make it onto one until 1:45. I was sweating it even though I knew we had nothing to worry about. I was reassured that the ship's crew was there radioing back and forth to make sure all the tours were back. Ours was the last passenger tender back to the ship. Crew was in a tender right behind us and then we were off.

Also, yes we were on the Main deck, but we were pretty far forward. It was very quiet. the only time we experienced any noise as all was the last night dressing for dinner. Some kids were running, and I mean galloping, back in the forth in the hallway for several minutes.

OK, and the last thing that I meant to say in my review -- a complaint about the deck chairs. It's a small nitpicky thing, but some of the covers looked in pretty bad shape. They were supposed to be blue and white striped, but on some (not all) of the chairs the white was gray and they appeared to be sagging horribly. They just looked dirty and unappealing. I layed out on one that was only midly sagging and felt a little like I was laying directly on the plastic bars underneath. I can't imagine one of the ones that was sagging worse. I had not previously seen anyone comment on the condition of the lounge chairs and so was surprised by this. Based on pictures I have seen, I think these chairs are new to the Sensation since she was in dry dock late last year. I am surprised at how poorly some seem to have held up. My advice if you plan to lay out -- go early and get one of the newer/cleaner chairs. Also, it was definitely easier to find chairs on the Verandah deck than on Lido deck. And quieter too. Had no trouble finding a chair on the Verandah deck after lunch on a sea day.

mtd716,

Thank you for the review and the great details. Will be on the Sensation in Oct. and can't wait. Thanks for the reminder on the bathroom smell. :eek: I had not read about that for awhile and was hoping it had been fixed. Oh well, just bring some good air smellers.

Shane