Back-to-Back Review on the Carnival Ecstasy and Carnival Sensation

[wrigley80]

After lunch we decided to head back to the room and take a short nap.....oops that turned into about 3 hours. Oh well were on vacation :p I always like pictures looking down into the atrium

 

As you can tell from my shirt I love the University of North Carolina Tar Heels

 

We took the atrium elevators up to the Sky Deck and walked out and took some pictures of the port of Freeport

 

Senor Frogs.....it wasn't too busy at this time because it was about time to leave port and head towards Nassau

 

[wrigley80]

We played mini golf on the Sensation. I forgot to get some pics when we were playing but the course was nice and there was never a line to play

 

The mini golf course was on Deck 14 all the way forward. This is where the jogging track was too

 

 

This was our funny face picture for the day :D

 

I love this picture

[wrigley80]

The Carnival Whale Tail :p

 

This is a self-portrait pic and I looked at it late on and realized that the whale tail was centered perfectly. Couldn't have done that again on the first try even if I had too ;)

 

It's Senor Froggie himself :D

[Megan_Strick]

We had one day in between our two cruises so we stayed again at the Comfort Inn on Atlantic Ave. As I previously said it was a great hotel. We didn't have many plans for this day other than going to Ron Jon Surf Shop in Cocoa Beach. We decided to rent a car again from Budget rental car because it was going to be cheaper than having a taxi to go everywhere plus with a car then we can go where we want to.

 

When we disembarked the Ecstasy we boarded the Budget rental car shuttle bus. It was very convenient and easy to get the shuttle

 

This was our car for the day....a Toyota 4 Runner. It was a sweet ride for the day and definitely the way to go

 

After we picked up our car we headed to the hotel to see if they had a room ready for us and they did. It was only 10:00 am and our room was ready. That was very convenient. We dropped off our suitcases and headed out to Ron Jon Surf Shop.

 

 

 

 

I was prepared for this store to be big but I was blown away with its size. It was huge. There was something for everyone. T-shirts, sandals, surfboards/boogie boards.......I could go on and on.

 

 

 

I have also stayed at that Comfort Inn. We walked across the street to eat dinner then went next door to that becuase my kids love the Ron Jon shop

[wrigley80]

One particular thing that I really enjoyed on the Sensation that we have never encountered before on any other Carnival ship was the onboard activities....particularly trivia. There was sports trivia everyday and I love playing sports trivia or any other trivia contest for that matter. Sports trivia was everyday at 5:00 pm in the Piano Bar......stay tuned to the review and I will let ya know a little later on how we did with sports trivia

 

24 Karat Ship on a Stick #1 for playing sports trivia

 

 

There he is....our captain. I swear these pictures just never get old :p :D

 

I'm all ready for bed....too bad it wasn't only 4:00 pm. Our cabin on the Sensation was E88....Empress Deck Midship. It was an absolutely wonderful cabin. It was right off the atrium. I loved being that close to the atrium bar because we could stop and grab a diet coke on our way back to the cabin. It was so convenient.....we loved it

[wrigley80]

Our first flower towel creation.....I loved it. It was super cute

 

This was my dad and Johnathan....our room steward. He was from Costa Rica. He was wonderful. His assistant was from the Phillipines.....his name was Tree. He stood about 5 foot tall....he was awesome too

 

My dad is a diabetic and he needs to keep his insulin cold. There weren't any mini-fridges left on the Sensation so every night Johnathan filled a cooler full of ice so that the insulin would stay cold.

 

A Carnival Tervis tumbler......this was my Platinum gift. The cruise on the Sensation was my first Platinum cruise

[freddymale]

great review..makes me wish I was on a cruise ship right now

[wrigley80]

Great review. We just did a B2B on the Sensation in October and had a fantastic trip.

 

Thank-You....I quickly realized that back-to-backs are the only way to go :)

[wrigley80]

Thank goodness its not over, I cruising on the Sensation next week, and I am looking forward to the rest of the review.

 

You will have a great time on the Sensation. Be sure to go to the Love and Marriage game with Wee Jimmy......he is a riot

[wrigley80]

I have also stayed at that Comfort Inn. We walked across the street to eat dinner then went next door to that becuase my kids love the Ron Jon shop

 

Yeah it was a great hotel. Had exactly what we liked to find in a hotel. I loved Ron Jon too. I could have spent a few hours in there ;)

[wrigley80]

Day #3 of the cruise brought us to Nassau, Bahamas. We were in port from 7:00 am to 1:00 am. We were in no big rush to get off the ship because we didn't have any plans for the day. We got off around 11:00 am and we went on a city tour around Nassau with a tour guide that we found near the Port building. The tour was $20.00 per person and lasted about 2 hours. We went to Fort Fincastle, Queens Staircase, and Paradise Island.

 

 

Show me Your Aft :D

 

This was our first opportunity to get any pics of the ship from the outside

 

The Atlantis

[wrigley80]

The following pics were from our City tour around Nassau.......

 

This pic was taken from the top of Fort Fincastle

 

 

Anybody need a beach bag???

 

I didn't get any pics of us walking the steps because I was too nervous of us falling :eek:

 

Nassau's Police Headquarters.....you don't wanna end up here after too many "yards" at Senor Frogs

[wrigley80]

Parliament House with a statue of Christopher Columbus

 

St. James Catholic Church......this is the old church in the Bahamas

 

Heading over the bridge to Paradise Island

 

Anybody need a room for 4 nights???? The Tower Penthouse Suite at Atlantis goes for $25,000 a night with a 4 night minimum. Sign Me Up.......

 

More Pics of the Atlantis

[Breezy72]

Fun review! Thanks for sharing. :D

[mommytothreeboys]

Hi Brianna! I am fairly new to this forum and new to cruising. My husband and I took a 4 night Royal Caribbean cruise to Nassau in 2010 and we are now taking our boys! We are booked on the Ecstasy for 4 nights, April 4-8. I was very interested in your review as I have been nervous about this cruise. Your review is fantastic and it really put me at ease! :) I think my boys are going to have a blast. We are celebrating my oldest son's graduation from High School, he is 18 and his brothers are 15 and 12. I'd love to pick your brain about the ship...our room location, activities etc!

 

Thanks for a great review! :D

[Lafayette99]

What night is your formal night on the 4 night Sensation??

[wrigley80]

What night is your formal night on the 4 night Sensation??

 

Formal night on the 4-day itinerary on the Sensation was on the first full day onboard (which is the day you were in Freeport).

[wrigley80]

After our city tour around Nassau we decided to grab a bite to eat at Sharkeez before we headed back to the ship. Sharkeez is right across from the port area right along the waterfront. We headed back to the ship around 4:00 pm. We went to the room to get cleaned up and then headed out to explore the ship some more.

 

 

This was the Carnival Fascination.

 

 

[wrigley80]

After we watched the Carnival Fascination leave the port of Nassau it was time to head to dinner

 

I had the Tom Turkey. It wasn't too good. I ate the turkey and that was about it. So then I ordered a flat iron steak and you can never go wrong with a flat iron steak

 

Dancing in the dining room. This is my favorite part of eating in the dining room

 

Our head waiter was the third guy in line. His name was Rakmone from Indonesia. I don't think he was too fond of the dancing :rolleyes:

 

After dinner we headed back to the room to change clothes before we headed off to the Love and Marriage game. Mr. Turtle was waiting for us.....we have never had the turtle before.

[wrigley80]

It was time to head to the show lounge to watch my favorite show of the cruise.....the Love and Marriage show. It is always guaranteed to give you a laugh. This one on the Sensation was hilarious :D my ribs hurt at the end from laughing so hard

 

It's WWWWEEEEEEEEEEEE Jiiiiiiiimmmmmmmmmmmmmyyyyyyyyyy.....he is one reason why the Love and Marriage game was so funny. He is an awesome cruise Director. He was having trouble getting up on his stool. I kept waiting for that stool to fly out from under him :D

 

After the Love and Marriage game was over we headed up to Lido deck for the Mexican Deck Party.

 

 

We didn't stay too long at the Mexican Deck Party so we walked outside on the deck to see the other ship still in port.

[wrigley80]

The Majesty of the Seas was just pulling out of Nassau

 

 

[wrigley80]

After watching the Majesty of the Seas we stayed out on deck for a while. It was so peaceful out there. There was no one else around. It was like we had the ship all to ourselves.

We headed back to the room about midnight and ordered some room service. I ordered the Chicken Fajita and the Cheesecake....they were both very good. My dad ordered the Grilled Ham and Cheese and the Chocolate Cake.....he said they were good too. On our previous cruises we always forgot about room service but I ordered it a couple times on the Sensation.

 

On our final full day at sea we decided to get up early and head to breakfast in the MDR. We always eat breakfast in the MDR. My dad used his free drink coupon on the final day to order a Strawberry Daiquiri

 

This is the formalities shop onboard. It is on the promenade deck right by the casino. You can get candy, flowers, wine/champagne, and the Groove for St. Jude t-shirts here among other things

 

After breakfast we headed out to the promenade area by the formalities shop. There was going to be trivia. We played 4 trivia sessions in a row.....with my favorite one being Ultimate Cruiser Trivia....which was all questions about the Carnival Sensation and other Carnival ships. This was my favorite one of the cruise and guess what.......

 

I won.....oh yeah. I correctly answered 23 of 25 questions about Carnival Cruise Lines. That was so much fun

[tattoos]

Great job, Brianna. Are you going to do a little comparison of the two ships? I have sailed on the Sensation and did love all the activities onboard but have never sailed on Ecstasy. I'm sailing the Sensation again in April and the Liberty in May, can't wait. You posted some great photos (the one of the whale tale and the moon is great). Looking forward to your comparisons and thanks again for taking the time to post your review.

 

You are going to cherish all these memories you have made with your Dad. Wish my Dad was still alive, he would LOVE cruising.

 

Rose

[Fydlstyx]

OK I am back and ready to complete the first half of this review on the Carnival Ecstasy......

 

This was the chocolate almond cake with butter pecan ice cream. You would definitely need some ice cream to go along with the cake because it was pretty rich. I realize I didn't get many pics of food on this cruise

 

 

OK. I was envious of you before, but now that I have seen this pic while eating a crappy granola bar for breakfast, I am just plain jealous. :D

 

I love your review and can't wait to go find the second half. It's so great that you and your dad can cruise together. These are memories that you will cherish, for sure!

 

Thanks for letting us share a bit of your fun.

 

Sherry

[Fydlstyx]

My dad is a diabetic and he needs to keep his insulin cold. There weren't any mini-fridges left on the Sensation so every night Johnathan filled a cooler full of ice so that the insulin would stay cold.

 

I know I keep commenting on your review, and I hope that you don't think I am a nutjob stalker type person (I am not, usually, I promise!) but I would love to be on the same cruise as you and your dad sometime.

 

The one thing that I keep noticing is that there is NOTHING negative in your reviews. It poured down rain? Yeah, the rain was peaceful. Out of fridges? They kept the cooler full. You just do not complain. The positive outlook you keep no matter what is really awesome. Don't be freaked out if my mom and I show up on a roll call with you sometime. lol

 

Sherry