Carnival Sensation Review

3.5 / 5.0
958 reviews

first cruiseHOLY SMOKES!!

Review for the Bahamas Cruise on Carnival Sensation
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boomcruiseboom
First Time Cruiser • Age 20s

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Sail Date: Mar 2009
Cabin: Balcony

Ok, so we are 1st time cruisers, but I did a lot of prep work and felt like a seasoned cruiser. We wanted to do a short first cruise since we were leaving our college aged daughter alone for 5 days and wanted to see how it went. We thought about Jacksonville as a port since our parents still live there. But we started to get information that the Sensation was just coming out of drydock and was getting a head to toe renovation. We decided on Port Canaveral and the Sensation. The only downside to booking was that we waited until 4 weeks before the cruise to book it, and if I had booked it when we first decided to try cruising (8 weeks out), our room would have been $100 per person cheaper. Live and learn! I strategically booked a particular balcony cabin so that it was the last one on the end. That way, we could look out the side and then look back and see a clear view of behind us. This was great on our approach into Nassau as it provided a great view of the other cruise ships lined up to enter behind us. A great choice, but nowhere to go from here but to the suite staterooms. Embarkation was really easy, just a very cursory look at our paperwork and once we got our S&S cards, we were off to the room. I took to heart a lot of the cruiser suggestions and had packed light, but DW ignored my advice. Thus, we lugged a huge amount of "carryon luggage" on board. Luckily our room was ready and we found it on the same deck as we embarked the boat on, just down about 1/2 mile of corridor lugging the wife's 20 outfits she'd never get to wear on the 4 night cruise. Oh well, after 22 years, I expect that. The room was fresh, clean, ready, well appointed, and with the new carpeting and furniture looked felt, and smelt brand new. We had brought a super odor air freshener to put into the bathroom (per some suggestions), but never really needed it, and was able to leave the door propped open at night so we could make a 0300 potty run if need be (and it was). Everything was nice and new. We went to the Lido deck and had a quick bite and started exploring. The atrium and the shopping area is frankly a little smaller than i thought it would be. I think the wife was expecting a small indoor boutique mall, but the stores were pretty small and limited in size/selection. Still, we went crazy and bought 9 bottles of cheap booze that first night, not realizing we'd have to pay duty on it when we returned (wasn't that big of a deal, still a massive bargain). We had requested early dinner, but were booked into the later dinner. my wife is hypoglycemic and has to eat at regular times, so we sought out the Maitre'D. Drago was the M'D and switched us to a private 2-top table in the early seating. Best move we made all cruise. B-fast and lunch in the nicer dining rooms is still sitdown service, but they sit you with other couples. it was nice to socialize with them, but honestly, after a busy day, it was nice to just canoodle with DW and not have to be on our A-game. We are both fairly introverted, and was nice to enjoy each others' company. The food: We ate all the dinners in the 'formal' dining room, ate breakfast there a couple of times as well, ordered room service for early coffee and fruit to our room, and did one midnight buffet on the Lido deck. By and large, the food was very enjoyable, passable to all except the pickiest eaters. The only downside I had was this: they have a menuboard digital frame outside of the Ecstacy Dining Room that scrolls through menu screen shots. The dinner menu that came up more often than any other was one with two of the dinner selections of New Zealand Lamb chops and Chateaubriand. These are two of our favorites and we looked forward to that menu...but it never came up. On the final night service, we asked the headwaiter about not having lamb and Chateaubriand on the menu and he said they had taken it off the menu of all but the 7 day cruises and longer. it wouldn't have been such a big deal EXCEPT that it was the menu they used on the storyboard. Bummer!! Our ship went to Freeport and to Nassau. the weather was overcast and blustery for the first two days and really only got marginally warm and sunny in Nassau. Would have liked it to have been a little hotter, but this was March, but even the Bahamians were complaining that it was unseasonably cool. Freeport frankly is a pit. The hurricanes that pummeled the island the last few years really did a number on the island. it just has never recovered. nassau was much prettier and better kept. We took an island tour and saw many of the sites, including the Fort, Atlantis, the staircase, Pirates of nassau museum, and others. We did not book our excursions through the ship, but rather allowed ourselves to be gathered up by one of the tour taxi drivers plying his wares at the cruise terminal. Frank was a great host and took us a lot of places. he had 10 of us in a newer van and gave us the personal tours, to include some of the housing on the island, so we saw how the normal folks lived. not an island paradise for everyone, if you get my meaning! The towel animals each night were a treat that DW looked forward to seeing. We got the requisite pictures with them. The shows were fun, but seats were hard to get unless you went early and sat throughout the bingo games. We thought the shows were campy, but fun. hey, we were on a cruise, we just ignored what others might have thought. All in all, we had a blast! The beds were comfortable, the room was like a new one. The balcony was great since I get up earlier than DW, I'd just get up, take the room service tray from the steward, put on the Carnival supplied bathrobe and sit our on the balcony and drink coffee and watch us pull into the port. Debarkation was easy, although since our number was 21, we had to vacate our room, and sit around a common area waiting to debark. Once the number was called, however, we were off and back to our car in a flash. We would do it again in a heartbeat, but 5 days is too short. next cruise is 7 days...minimum!! Perhaps Alaska, perhaps Western Caribbean, perhaps Panama Canal transit, but absolutely balcony cabin or higher!!

Cabin Review

Balcony

Cabin 8c

cabin was perfect location. the last balcony also connects to a wrap around to the rear, giving you a huge balcony if you can get your steward to open the access for you.

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