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Carnival Sensation was...a Sensation! My 1st attempt at a trip report :)


Chickenlover8
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During the last week of February, my 12 yo daughter and I took a girls only, 5 day Western Caribbean cruise. We left out of Miami, and visited Ocho Rios and Georgetown, Grand Cayman. It was our first ever cruise, and we heard many mixed reviews of the old Miss Sensation. She's run down. The purple is garish. The food was blah. There was nothing to do. And the list went on while researching for this trip.

 

I am happy to say we thought the ship was quite beautiful. The purple had an interesting vibe, and depending on the time of day, it always looked different to me. I thought it was really pretty and colorful myself :) I was impressed with the cleanliness of all areas. People were working at all hours of the night to clean the ship and it showed. The food was outstanding, and I will get to that later. I say outstanding, especially because my daughter is so fussy! For her to be happy every night, was a huge success on Carnival's part! There were lots of things offered for activities, not all of them my thing, but there if you wanted it. I will also get into that soon. My hope is to write a little at a time and try to figure out how to add some pictures. I look forward to any questions you may have :)

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Pre-planning is always the fun part for me. I'm a crazy planner. I decided I didn't want to deal with checked luggage and I'm so glad we stuck with carry on luggage. I bought some really cute wheeled bags off Groupon for Twenty dollars each, and they were rugged and perfect for both the flight and getting on and off the ship quickly. Saved a few hours in all, and I will do it again next time.

 

I packed conditioner and sunscreen in small 3 oz containers, and the usual little things in clear pouches. The ship provides dispensers of shower gel and shampoo, plus two bars of soap. I ordered a great travel fan off Amazon which has come on several trips with us, and I also bought a new extension cord with the plugs for phones built in. That is a must have in your stateroom! I also packed sea bands and some Dramamine just in case, but luckily, we never needed it.

 

THe only thing I ordered ahead of time was a big bottle of water for 3 dollars, and I'm glad I did. It was just nice to have in the room at night when you're thirsty and dont' feel like walking up to the Lido deck for a drink. I also bought both my daughter and myself the Social Wifi Package. It was a lifesaver! I was able to text my husband through facebook messenger and share pictures. My daughter went off on her own with friends she made on the trip, and we stayed in constant contact through snapchat. It was very inexpensive, wifi was great about 95 percent of the time, and only slowed a few times. I would highly recommend this package.

 

We did purchase FTTF and I'm so glad we did! I think our checkin time was noon, and our flight was coming in to FLL around eleven so I was excited to get right on the ship after a short drive from FLL. After much research, I went with using Uber both ways. Much cheaper than the ship's shuttle offer, and super easy to use. It was my first time using Uber, so I was a little nervous, but I would definitely use them again :)

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DAY ONE, airport and arrival:

 

We flew into FLL and arrived one hour early. We purchased FTTF, and were excited to get to the ship early so we grabbed our carry on luggage and headed straight outside. Well, FLL has POOR cell phone and WIFI service. After wasting almost a half hour walking around outside looking for a signal, I finally tracked down some help. There is one random section of the airport that you can connect to the airport WIFI where it will work. I was finally able to bring up my UBER app, and he picked us up within five minutes. We ended up arriving at our scheduled time. The cost one way for both of us was $38.

 

About 12:30, we were at the terminal. It was very overwhelming for us first time cruisers, so we kept asking for help. The people outside were not very friendly or helpful. They just pointed, and off we went. Once inside, we had our bags screened and our IDs and passes checked. After that, we were on the Lido deck within five minutes! I was amazed at how quickly we went through!

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Day one, finally on the ship!

 

We were starving, so we headed straight for the Lido deck, which greeted us with loud, fun music and people everywhere :) The partying was in full swing already and there was no place to sit already. We decided on Guy's Burgers, and it really does live up to the hype. I am a cheeseburger girl. Everywhere I go, I order my cheeseburger. These were the best burgers we have ever eaten. Every burger was finished like it was our last meal :') It became our afternoon date. Even though there was no seating outside, we went past Guys and there is a nice hallway (air conditioned too) with tables. We ended up having lunch out there every day because it was quiet and cool.

 

Next we headed to our room. We booked an inside stateroom, and we absolutely loved our little cave :hearteyes: It was big enough for the two of us. THe beds were super comfy and the gentle rocking at night helped me sleep like a baby. I have never slept so well in all my adult life :) We were surprised by the bathroom. It was good size, and the shower was nice and hot, and very powerful. We both liked the smell of the shampoo and the shower gel. I miss that shower now that I'm back home to well water :') The room was super clean and not run down at all. It was surprisingly quiet at night, and well insulated to noise in the hallway. I am a very light sleeper and never had to put in any earplugs, which made me very happy.

 

Bellies full, and unpacked, we headed out to explore the ship.

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DAY ONE, exploring and quick food

 

The ship was fairly easy to navigate. All of the quick grab food is on the same deck. I guess I can comment on the quick food at this point. You know I love GUYS. It was hard to try other things at lunchtime for us. We did grab a few things from the buffet for lunch and breakfast one time, and we didn't really care for the buffet food. We just really liked sitting in the Main Dining Room for breakfast and dinner. We did go to the buffet for the soft serve ice cream, and I went nightly to grab some cheese and deli meats for a later night snack. The deli made really good sandwiches. I had a grilled reuben a few times, and it was very hot and fresh. We did not try the Pizza place or the Blue Iguana. I'll talk about the Main Dining Room tomorrow.

 

We spent plenty of time admiring the views of the Miami skyline. It really is breathtaking and makes for some really great photos. We got acquainted with where the waterslides were, mini golf, dining room, and shopping areas were. The ship is fairly small and by the second day, we knew where everything was. My only complaint about the ship is the smell of smoke everywhere. Even though it's only allowed in certain areas, you can smell stagnant cigarette smoke in all of the hallways, but luckily, not in our room. It kinda took away from paradise a little :loudcry:

 

The emergency drill muster wasn't too bad. Didn't take as long as I thought, and then we went to the front of the ship for departure. Make sure you are outside when the ship leaves. It was really fun looking at all of the multi million dollar homes and yachts as we cruised by, and getting to see the beach as we floated away. It is one of my favorite memories of the trip :hearteyes:

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This review is great so far and I am elated (and a bit relieved) that you loved your cruise as much as we did. Posting pics was hard for me to figure out too, and something changed after I finished my review so that I get errors every time I try to post one now. Sorry I can’t help.

 

Even without pics your story is fun to read. I’ve been looking forward to hearing from you again. You’re making me want a Guy’s burger right now, and I also love the world’s best sleep in an inside cruise cabin!

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...
I can’t wait to do a mommy and me trip with my daughter. I have a few years before I can do that! In the meantime thank for the review! DH and I will be on the Sensation in 28 more days!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

 

My little girl is three years old and I'm already counting the days until we can do a girls trip! :)

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