Carnival Sensation Review

3.5 / 5.0
958 reviews

First Cruise celebrating my 20 Year Wedding Anniversary Cruise

Review for the Bahamas Cruise on Carnival Sensation
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Mateo621
First Time Cruiser • Age 50s

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Sail Date: Jun 2014

DO YOUR HOMEWORK! Not all cruise ships cater to your interests. So take some time to read reviews, check out the activities that each ship offers and the age group that it targets. This will make your experience a pleasant one. It is best to check in online and print all your information to avoid long lines. I recommend having a passport so you can avoid having to bring in extra documents that you may not want to lose or misplace. It saves a lot of time when checking in and going through customs. COME EARLY! You can actually board early which gives you time to freshen up, take a nap, familiarize yourself with the ship, and AVOID THE RUSH. Plan a budget for pictures and alcoholic beverages. There are photographers on board who take beautiful photos that you may want to purchase. I suggest setting aside about $100 bucks for photos. (That may seem a bit on the high side but the pictures are pricey and worth it! Although we had our own camera we still bought photos.) We were able to bring our own wine, water and soda. However, we regret not setting aside a budget for alcoholic drinks. We overheard a guest say that "elegance is up for interpretation", and she is correct. During the "special" dinner night when all are encouraged to dress to impress in elegant attire; many did not. Although there were designated smoking areas; most guests did not adhere to the policies and smoked wherever they felt like it. There was only one pool on the ship and several hot tubs. The pool was always over crowded so if you expect to lounge around the pool it is best to get there really early and get your time in, by 11 am it is packed. The Carnival Sensation is a party ship which from my observation caters very well to teens and young adults. DJ's keep the party going pretty much all day, clubs with age restrictions and other fun age appropriate activities are available. For my first cruise overall it was good. The only thing my husband was upset about was the special "surprises" he planned out and paid for that were not appropriately done. He planned with a coordinator to surprise me with a cabin decorated with Happy Anniversary décor. The lights were supposed to be on so that when I walked in I would be surprised. But when we opened the door there was a very foul odor coming from the room, and it was pitch black. We couldn't find the lights and one side of the Happy Anniversary banner had fallen off. The special note that was to accompany the décor was printed on a receipt. Then he had ordered chocolate covered strawberries to be delivered to our cabin at a certain time after dinner, but they were delivered and left in our cabin after the safety briefing way before dinner. Our anniversary was actually on the third day of our cruise and he had ordered a specialty cake to be presented to us at dinner on that night and the waiter was to announce it and they were to sing Happy Anniversary (in the birthday song tune) to us. Well they presented a piece of orange cake to us on the very first night of the cruise, made the announcement and sang the song on the very first night of the cruise as well as the day of our anniversary (different servers, one paid attention to detail and the other did not). Although it makes for a great story it really upset my husband who tried to make it a really beautiful first honeymoon. So with that said...lesson learned it's a great party ship, but if you want classy, elegant and romantic this is not the cruise for you.

Cabin Review

Our Cabin Attendant was very pleasant and kept our room clean. However, there was a foul odor of must and cigarettes that would hit you as soon as you entered the room. The towels and linen were clean but the cloth shower curtain was torn and reeked of a very offensive wet mop smell).

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