Sensation Review 10-02-04 Sailing

Sensation Review Sailed 10-02-04

Trip was our first cruise. Myself, DW and one other couple. Arrived at the Tampa port about 11:45 purchased return trip tickets from bay shuttle for $8 ea., walked through security, walked through check in, waited about 10 min. called our group, and WOW we were on our first cruise! The Sensation looked great. In a few areas you could tell that she was over 10 years old, but when you consider that she has 2000 rowdy passengers on her everyday non stop, the crew does an amazing job of keeping her shined up.

We found our rooms in E173 & E175. I was concerned because we were under the galley but we were next to the funnel so the only thing above us would be a hallway and we did not have rooms across the hall from us which helped. We did hear some noise during the day when we were changing for dinner but did not hear one thing at night. I am a light sleeper and I slept like a baby being rocked to sleep.

We ate in the Ecstasy dinning room every night but one. With Dino as our Metra’d (sp) and Gede (sp) as our waiter. Service and food were great. Gede’s recommendations were always right on. Food in the Sea view grill was good. Had a calzone from the 24 hr pizza bar every night before going to bed, they are to die for.:p

Room service was good not great. :( Not sure who our steward was other than a young girl. She seemed nice enough, I left a tip and a note to keep the small cooler full of ice. I guess the tip was only good for 2 days worth of ice. Half way through our cruise I noticed that our two blue Carnival towels were missing from our room (they had been hanging up to dry). I thought she must have taken them to be washed. They never showed back up. Mentioned this to our friends near the end of the cruise, (I did not want to be charged for them) they said, “oh, we have two sets, she brought us an extra pair the other day.”:mad:

Went to all of the night shows. Vegas shows were good, singers good, dancers great, to be able to do what they did during two very rough sea nights. Comedians were great. Laughed hard during both of their shows. Attended the “newlywed game” it was even funnier than the comedians. I was crying.:D

Due to Grand Cayman still recovering went to Costa Maya. Thanks to these boards walked right though the tourist trap they have set up at the pier and took a taxi to Mehawal (sp). Checked prices on items in the tourist trap and they were much cheaper in the village. Just a very nice relaxing day on the beach. All 4 of us had a massage for $15 ea. for a good 40 min., worth every penny. Rented snorkels, & a jet ski, ate lunch, and bartered, bartered, bartered.

Next port was Cozumel. Again, due to these boards we had arranged for a diving excursion with Eagle Ray Divers. They were GREAT. It was just the 4 of us on the excursion. My DW did not want to dive but wanted to snorkel. She had her very own private guide to take her snorkeling while we scuba dived. We then went to Paradise beach. GREAT food, beach, toys, sand, you name it Paradise beach was wonderful. Only had time left to walk back through the port and purchase more stuff we did not need, and laugh at all of the folks completely wasted trying to get back on board.

Had to rough nights at sea. :eek: Funny to watch people walking down the hallways bouncing off the walls. DW took bonine each day and never had a problem.

Arrived in Tampa, ate breakfast at 8:15 came back to our room to get a few last things. Supposed to be out of our rooms by 8:45 and go to waiting area. Walked out of our room at 8:45, was heading to our area and they called our color. We were walking right past the gangway when they called the first color. Got off, got our luggage and was at the airport buy 9:40. Then had to wait for our plane until 1:15.

Wonderful cruise. We are already looking forward to our next one.

Thx for the review. I'll be on the Sensation in a coupla weeks. Glad to hear she's nice and spiffy clean. SO glad y'all enjoyed your first cruise. Now it's time to start planning the next one!:)

I was wondering how thinks went...sounds like you had a good time! Are you planning another one?

Can'twait,

We will cruise again! Not sure when or where right now but it will happen.

Nice Review Thanks. Have a good one! Hope you enjoyed your cruise I can't wait for my glory cruise.

Does the Sensation have refrigerators in all the room? We are scheduled to have an outside cabin.

thanks,

Does the Sensation have refrigerators in all the room? We are scheduled to have an outside cabin.

thanks,

Don't think so...

cruisnmom,

We did not have a fridge and I don't think any of the rooms have one. We had an OV room also. They may have one in the suites, not sure.

Thanks, I'm trying to decide if I want to take a small cooler. It would have to be real small, we are going with a large group and since we are all riding buses down to port they are asking that we don't bring coolers as carry ons.

thanks again,

We are going on the Sensation out of NOLA next April. DH is a diver and would be very interested in any information about Eagle Ray. One thing is.....did they meet you at the pier? He said that from what he has read, if you book independent excursions they can't meet you at the ship to transport.

Please........any information for him would be greatly appreciated! His name is Brian and email is rothbear at adelphia.net . (Edit this to work.......I don't want to get hit by web crawlers!!)

Sounds like the Sensation is ready for the Saints and Sinners to arrive and board her in NOLA:D

Thanks for the review! My girlfriends and I are sailing on the Sensation in January - it will be their first cruise and my third - I'm new to Carnival and can't wait!!

Rothbear,

I first read about Eagle Ray Divers from these boards. Looked at there web page, www.eagleraydivers.com and talked with Chellie several times via e-mail. She was very helpfull, always quick to respond and helped me to understand what they would do, where they are located, places for others in our group to go while we dove, ect. They do not have transportation from the port, however, its not a problem. We just took a taxi for $6 for 4 of us. They had a taxi waiting when we were done. Antonio was great, he was our dive master. There were 3 who did a discover scuba and my DW did not want to dive. She had her own guide to take her snorkeling along with us. Eagle Ray did great I will plan on using them again when we return to Coz.

Any other ? let me know.