Back from "Sensational " cruise!!

[Drew's Wife]

Just off "The Sensation" today, and as usual we had a wonderful time! We drove to the port Thursday and arrived around 1:00., which was good for us as the rooms were not ready until 1:30.

 

There were long lines at embarkation, even the VIP check in was at a standstill. When we walked into the VIP check in, there were three couples waiting to get checked in, and more behind us. Turns out that their system was down, but it still didn't take very long to get checked in.

 

We put our carry on luggage in the room, and about thirty minutes later we had all of our luggage delivered. Our room steward was Maria from Bulgaria, and she was just so sweet! We really enjoyed talking with her every day and she took care of our every need, always with a smile.

 

The ship looks great...! Still has a lot of "new Paint" and "New carpet" smell, but after a few minutes, it wasn't even noticable.

 

The dining room now offers "open seating" as well as traditional dining. The open dining is from 5:45 to 9:30 in the Fantasy dining room. One side of the dining room is for traditional and the other is the open seating. I'm not sure but it looks like the open seating is only in the Fantasy dining room, and The Ectasy dining room is all Traditional. If someone else was on the cruise, they might be able to verify that better than I.

 

We stayed with the traditonal dining, and our servers, Wilmer and Marybelle, were so professional and so nice. A little glitch in the dining room, the first night. We had been given a window table where we could dine, just the two of us. When we arrived for dinner, there were two ladies that were seated at our table. I felt bad, as it was a litttle awkward for everyone. The maitre'd was escorting us to our table, and he saw these two ladies there, so he had to reseat them. Then they had to change the silverware, stemware, etc. But it was all done with grace and as little embarrasment as possible. The only thing was, they were seated at a four top with two other ladies, and they were at the table next to us. But it all ended well. The Maitre'd on The Sensation is so nice. He would come around to our table every evening. He also sent a bottle of wine over because of the little mix up. Wasn't necessary but it was very thoughtful of him.

 

The dining room looks amazing! It's so much more elegant than it was before the refurbishment. Gone are the strobe lights, and the flashing neon..!

 

It is true what some have mentioned on other threads. The Captain's party no longer serves hors d'oeuvres, at the gala. For those that wanted the fruit punch on the Lido, it is gone as well.

 

 

We did go down to see what the "Serenity" deck looked like, and at the time we walked down, it was packed.

 

 

Seems that the menus have changed some. On our last cruise, I had tried the grain fed chicken on the last night, and it was so good, had I known I would have ordered it each night....This time I did!:D

 

 

We were glad to see that quite a few people were dressed for Formal/Elegant night as well as the other evenings.

 

 

We haven't seen the shows, but since we were early for pictures one evening, we peeked in at "Curves" and saw the last ten minutes. So now I have finally been to a show on the ship!:rolleyes:

 

 

 

Not sure what happened, but twice they announced for "The Sierra Team" to come to the Casino, and then down to the Rivera deck. I have no idea who or what "Sierra Team" is, but we never heard about anything going on.

 

 

I had planned to go to "Tea" this trip as I have never done that. However, it was being held in the "Touch Of Class" instead of "The Oak Room" and I knew it would be really smokey in there. Just decided to wait till next cruise, in hope it will be held somewhere else.

 

 

 

The ship looks wonderful with all the new carpets, paint, ect. . All in all, it was a great cruise and we had a wonderful time.:)

[Natanni]

Thanks for the review-we appreciate it! I have never sailed the Sensation before, but our we are very excited to go back to a Fantasy class ship! We have loved formal night on our 7 day cruises, but we booked this last minute cruise for "relaxation and simplicity" :) We are going to try and fly with carry-ons only and leave the big garment bag at home, lol! With the freestyle type dining that you saw, could we eat in the freestyle dining half comfortably on formal night in what we would wear on normal nights, resort casual? We were just going to skip formal night, but with new feature, maybe we could still sample the excellent food?

[WAcruisers]

Sounds like you had a wonderful cruise. When we were on our last cruise that announced the sierra team also and it was for an emergency.

[Drew's Wife]

Thanks for the review-we appreciate it! I have never sailed the Sensation before, but our we are very excited to go back to a Fantasy class ship! We have loved formal night on our 7 day cruises, but we booked this last minute cruise for "relaxation and simplicity" :) We are going to try and fly with carry-ons only and leave the big garment bag at home, lol! With the freestyle type dining that you saw, could we eat in the freestyle dining half comfortably on formal night in what we would wear on normal nights, resort casual? We were just going to skip formal night, but with new feature, maybe we could still sample the excellent food?

 

To be honest, I couldn't see that area of the dining room, the way it is configured now. I know that I saw very few people in the Open Dining line, and the traditional line was always out to the glass elevators.

 

It loooked to me that more people were choosing the traditional over the open seating. I did ask the Maitre'ds assitant how it was working out, and they said it was "OK". Did not seem to thrilled about the open seating. She did state that it as mostly the young people that were doing the open seating.

 

I'm sorry, but I really can't tell you about dress for that night in the open seating. I do know, this Maitre'd is very traditional himself, and I have heard him say on more than one cruise, that on Formal/Elegant night, there will be no flip-flops, hats, shorts and tshirts in the dining room. Said they would hate to have to send someone back to change, but I think he would do it. It seems that even on our short three and four day cruises, I have seen more an more people dressing up, instead of dressing so casual at dinner.

 

Maybe there is someone on the recent saliings that chose open seating, and they could let us know what they saw in the way of dressing for formal night.

[teahoney]

I'm loving that everyone is coming back with their reviews. Thank you so much for sharing.

[starlight0229]

Thanks for the review-we appreciate it! I have never sailed the Sensation before, but our we are very excited to go back to a Fantasy class ship! We have loved formal night on our 7 day cruises, but we booked this last minute cruise for "relaxation and simplicity" :) We are going to try and fly with carry-ons only and leave the big garment bag at home, lol! With the freestyle type dining that you saw, could we eat in the freestyle dining half comfortably on formal night in what we would wear on normal nights, resort casual? We were just going to skip formal night, but with new feature, maybe we could still sample the excellent food?

 

From what I understand the only thing that is different about opening dining is that you can go to the dinning room anytime that they are open instead of having to go at an assigned time. The dress code would still apply, but it's now considered cruise elegant instead of formal.

"Cruise Elegant Dining Dress Code: Gentlemen - Dress slacks, dress shirts. We also suggest a sport coat. If you wish to wear suits and ties or tuxedos, by all means we invite you to do so. Ladies - Cocktail dresses, pantsuits, elegant skirts and blouses; if you‘d like to show off your evening gowns, that's great too! Not permitted in the dining room during the Cruise Elegant dinner for ladies and gentlemen: shorts, T-shirts, beach flip-flops, bathing suit attire, jeans, cut-off jeans, sleeveless shirts for men, sportswear, and baseball hats."

[FLCruiser001]

Thanks for the review-we appreciate it! I have never sailed the Sensation before, but our we are very excited to go back to a Fantasy class ship! We have loved formal night on our 7 day cruises, but we booked this last minute cruise for "relaxation and simplicity" :) We are going to try and fly with carry-ons only and leave the big garment bag at home, lol! With the freestyle type dining that you saw, could we eat in the freestyle dining half comfortably on formal night in what we would wear on normal nights, resort casual? I imagine you would be fine with that. We were just going to skip formal night, but with new feature, maybe we could still sample the excellent food?

 

 

I'm not sure that "choosing" the open dining is an option. We were assigned open dining. Of course, I'm sure we could have requested, and probably received, traditional dining. Having said that, I imagine that someone who was assigned traditional dining could request, and probably receive, open dining.

[mom2girls]

Thanks for posting your review! It's helping to build my anticipation. :)

 

FLCruiser: Did you ask for open seating when you booked? I would be very upset to be placed in open seating. I really like the traditional dining.

[FLCruiser001]

Thanks for posting your review! It's helping to build my anticipation. :)

 

FLCruiser: Did you ask for open seating when you booked? I would be very upset to be placed in open seating. I really like the traditional dining.

 

 

We did not request it, but were fine with the assignment. I'm sure a request to transfer to traditional dining would be accommodated.

[anamanxs]

Is the open seating now offered on all Carnival cruises?

[starlight0229]

Is the open seating now offered on all Carnival cruises?

 

They're phasing it in on all of the ships. I read in another post that our sailing on the Pride will be the one that they start offering it on that ship.

[Natanni]

To be honest' date=' I couldn't see that area of the dining room, the way it is configured now. I know that I saw very few people in the Open Dining line, and the traditional line was always out to the glass elevators. [/color']

 

It loooked to me that more people were choosing the traditional over the open seating. I did ask the Maitre'ds assitant how it was working out, and they said it was "OK". Did not seem to thrilled about the open seating. She did state that it as mostly the young people that were doing the open seating.

 

I'm sorry, but I really can't tell you about dress for that night in the open seating. I do know, this Maitre'd is very traditional himself, and I have heard him say on more than one cruise, that on Formal/Elegant night, there will be no flip-flops, hats, shorts and tshirts in the dining room. Said they would hate to have to send someone back to change, but I think he would do it. It seems that even on our short three and four day cruises, I have seen more an more people dressing up, instead of dressing so casual at dinner.

 

Maybe there is someone on the recent saliings that chose open seating, and they could let us know what they saw in the way of dressing for formal night.

 

Thank you so much for your help. We'll continue to do research or even call Carnival. We have always dressed for formal night, but have seen progressively less dressing up on formal night and on Victory last year, we did see quite a few flip flops in the dining room on formal night which certainly doesn't impact our personal cruising experience. We typically cruise during spring break however, and maybe that is why see less dressing up. I was thinking that Sensation may have gone more "freestyle" type dining with this half of the dining room vs "open seating", but that is appearing not to be the case. Good to know! We have no problem eating in the buffet :)

[tmt218]

Thanks for posting your review! It's helping to build my anticipation. :)

 

FLCruiser: Did you ask for open seating when you booked? I would be very upset to be placed in open seating. I really like the traditional dining.

We booked on the sensation tonight and the pvp asked me if I wanted the early or late seating I asked if they had open seating available which they did and we opted for that. I think you could change to traditional if they automatically booked you open seating. I know on Princess as long as there is an opening they will honor your request. Tanya