Review Carnival Sensation 02/26 - 03/01/09

[FLCruiser001]

Wwwooooo!!! Hello everyone. We just got back from another fabulous cruise! We've been home only about an hour, so please have mercy when I submit only the first day!:o

 

As we speak, photos are being uploaded to Webshots. What? Are you asking about photos of the new balcony staterooms? Yes, Yes, YES!!! I have them! But I don't want to share!:D:D:D Just kidding. I'll post a link later today.

 

Hope everyone enjoys!

 

 

Embarkation & Day 1

We made the routine 3 hour drive across the state uneventfully and arrived at the port at 10:45 am. There were no lines, and check in took all of four minutes, I dare say. DW and I were in U229 and DS (17) and DD (12) were right next door in U233. We had no problems whatsoever booking or checking in this way. We were handed a letter stating that we had been chosen for “Total Choice Open Dining”. The gal at the desk said that she believed our cruise was the first one on Sensation to offer this. We were excited to learn how this would differ from the traditional dining.

We were in Zone 3 (about 35 people ahead of us) for boarding. They started boarding at 11:30 am, and we were on board at 11:45 am. We went straight to the Purser’s Desk to put cash on our Sign & Sail cards, but the computers were down. DROC! (Didn’t ruin our cruise! J) So we hit the Lido deck for lunch. They now have (didn’t have on our Feb. 2008 cruise) stir fry and rotisserie chicken. Both of which were delicious! The lines for burgers were long and slow because people were making all sorts of requests for their burgers. All other cruises I recall everyone just taking the plate that was handed to them. DROC! (Didn’t ruin our cruise! J)

Our cabins were ready at precisely 1:30 pm as promised, with the added bonus of all our luggage happily waiting for us! Directly across the hall was one of the new balcony staterooms (U227)!!! Sadly, the guests were already there, and I didn’t want to intrude and ask for a “tour”. No pictures to be had (yet!).

The mandatory Muster Drill was quick, painless, and over by 4:00 pm. We headed for the Lido deck for the usual sail away festivities. We pulled away from the pier at 4:20 pm and were on our way! We then just enjoyed the ship and the opportunity to be on another cruise.

At 6:00 pm we headed to the Fantasy Dining room for our first experience with Total Choice Open Dining. To our surprise, the starboard side of the dining room was still traditional dining, with open dining on the port side. We were greeted at the front desk, gave our cabin numbers, and were escorted to our table by a hostess. The long rows of tables had been divided up into tables for two or four, with the large round tables seating larger groups. Our waiter was Wesley, who gave excellent service. Of course, all of our food was delicious, and the service seemed quicker than traditional dining. I will say this: with the tables set up as they were, the servers were cramped for space to maneuver around. But they certainly made the best of it, all smiles and very friendly as always. As expected, the attire for this first evening was umm…rather casual. However, DROC! (see above for explanation of DROC).

We waddled around Sensation Boulevard for a bit, then headed down to the Fantasia Lounge to once again experience the fabulous 80s show “Far From Over” I gotta tell ya folks, we enjoy this show more each time we see it!

After the show, I continued my photo essay of our new temporary home. The ship is absolutely beautiful and in top notch condition. The refurb really produced a great result, and the new staterooms are awesome! There is still some of that fluorescent purple aluminum paneling around, however, DROC!

It was getting to be late in a long day, so we returned to our cabin around 11:00 pm and crashed like zombies (can that be done?).

[Natanni]

Thanks for this detailed review! Love it! May I ask your kids experience as ours are the very same ages. What did they think of the water park?

 

I absolutely can not wait for your photos :D I will be obsessing here all day long!

 

Thanks for taking the time! Looking foward to more!

[MICKMAC100]

Great review looking forward to the rest

[FLCruiser001]

Thanks for this detailed review! Love it! May I ask your kids experience as ours are the very same ages. What did they think of the water park?

 

I absolutely can not wait for your photos :D I will be obsessing here all day long!

 

Thanks for taking the time! Looking foward to more!

 

DD is pretty much stuck to Momma like glue:rolleyes:, so almost all of her time was spent with us. Which is what family vacations are about. DD LOVED the waterpark, couldn't get enough of it!

 

DS spent lots of time reading and eating, also watched a few movies (no waterpark). This was fine with us, cruising is certainly a change of venue and activites for all of us.

[Natanni]

DD is pretty much stuck to Momma like glue:rolleyes:, so almost all of her time was spent with us. Which is what family vacations are about. DD LOVED the waterpark, couldn't get enough of it!

 

DS spent lots of time reading and eating, also watched a few movies (no waterpark). This was fine with us, cruising is certainly a change of venue and activites for all of us.

 

Yeah, our daughter hangs with us alot too. My kids love water parks. We are really excited to go back to a fantasty class ship. We had a hard time getting deck chairs near the Conquest and Victory's water slide, so I usually would just sit on the teak benches at wait for them to finish with the water slide-not very comfortable, lol! I am about half way through your slide show-great pictures, really is exciting for those of us to cruise soon :)

[FLCruiser001]

Any other questions, folks? I'll do my best to answer!:)

[dpal2208]

FLCruiser,

 

please let us know when the pictures are posted. I'm dying to see the new look.

 

thanks

 

djp

[2kids0512]

Yes, please post where the pictures are. We are leaving on Thursday.

 

Where in FL are you? I am in Tampa and planning it to be a 2 hour drive over there.

[BandM]

What exactly is, "Total Choice Open Dining?" Sounds like you had a great time, we'll be there in about 2 1/2 weeks!!!!:D

[buddyjo143]

What exactly is, "Total Choice Open Dining?" Sounds like you had a great time, we'll be there in about 2 1/2 weeks!!!!:D

 

We were on the same sailing. It is funny to read the review because except for having children, our experience was very similar.

 

The total choice dining means that you have a scheduled dining time, restaurant and table number. However, if you want to, you can go to the upper level of the ?Ecstasy? dining room from about 5:45 p.m. on and have open seating. We didn't do that. In fact we didn't eat in the dining room at all this time. Sixth cruise and there was nothing that made me want to dress up for dinner. It was perfectly convenient for us to eat at the buffet in shorts whenever we wanted to. :p

 

Photos in my signature if you want to see them.

[FLCruiser001]

Yes, please post where the pictures are. We are leaving on Thursday.

 

Where in FL are you? I am in Tampa and planning it to be a 2 hour drive over there.

 

We're in Spring Hill. Takes us about 2 1/2 hrs.

 

Click on the link below for photos.

 

http://family.webshots.com/album/570329824acmhow?vhost=family

[buddyjo143]

Thanks for the pics FLCruiser001. I know we were on the same cruise! We saw the hat floating in the harbor. We loved watching the dolphins swim around the ship before we left port.

[FLCruiser001]

Thanks for the pics FLCruiser001. I know we were on the same cruise! We saw the hat floating in the harbor. We loved watching the dolphins swim around the ship before we left port.

 

Glad you enjoyed! I think I also had a picture of the "saddest umbrella in the world". It was one of those drink umbrellas just lying there on the deck, all by itself.:(

[mom2girls]

Thank you so much for posting your review!

[FLCruiser001]

Thanks for the pics FLCruiser001. I know we were on the same cruise! We saw the hat floating in the harbor. We loved watching the dolphins swim around the ship before we left port.

 

I see you had a ship on the stick. How did you win it? We have been on 5 cruises and I finally won one playing morning trivia.

[skyking]

UMMMMMM I am not sure how I like the new look with the add on balcony's....It's nice to have the balcony option on a Fantasy class ship, but that just looks UGLY!