Carnival Sensation Review

3.5 / 5.0
958 reviews

First Family Cruise 2012

Review for the Bahamas Cruise on Carnival Sensation
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FirstFamilyCruise2012
First Time Cruiser • Age 40s

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Sail Date: Jun 2012
Cabin: Ocean View
Traveled with children

Hi to everyone thinking about booking a cruise on the Carnival Sensation! Well, my family recently got back from our first family vacation AND it just so happened to be a cruise! My review is simple...The ship's staterooms are well maintained by housekeeping! The beds were pretty comfy (a little firmer than I am used to, but still pretty good). Our room steward, Rikey, was absolutely wonderful to us and very kind. He genuinely appeared happy to be of service to my family. Thank you, Rikey! We stayed on the Main deck, in the middle of the ship...Best decision we could have made! There was a couple moments that the ship was in rocky waters and being in mid-ship made those times in our room quite tolerable. There were NO moments of sea sickness aboard, except some nausea to my hubby (we had prepared everyone with Sea-Bands...you can get these at any store that has a pharmacy or health aid section for anti-nausea).

On a whole, the ship needs a space overhaul...The ship's condition is actually very good, but the quantity of people versus the outdoor space (specifically the pool/hot tub area) is poor. They are probably hoping that too many people on the Lido Deck would cause them to come inside to go to the casino, but that is a shot in the dark theory. Since my family doesn't gamble, that was not an option...eating at the buffet was the only other option. ;-)

So, the food was pretty good...nothing that made my mouth melt with wondrous tasting food. We did not purchase the Soda Card that Carnival charges at an additional fee...I thought it better that my family could lay off the pop for a few days! They do have unlimited water that is actually sea water somewhat filtered, but biologically safe to drink and still has an ocean water after-taste (that can be minimized if you put lemon wedges/juice in the water). They also have unlimited coffee, unsweetened tea and lemonade all day long. In the morning, they have orange juice, apple juice and an other fruit juice mixture along with the coffee and other 2 drinks. The desserts were decadent looking, but lacked flavor. The only dessert, in the general buffet on the Lido Deck, that tasted really good was the cheesecake! The Melted Chocolate Cake that you may be reading about is the most flavorful and tastes soooo good! It's rich, it's chocolatey and is served with vanilla ice cream (this is real ice cream, not frozen soft serve/iced milk like in the general buffet)! Unfortunately, this dessert is only offered when you dine in the dining room and not at the general buffet on the Lido Deck and it doesn't appear to be unlimited unless maybe you can ask for seconds (the portions of this dessert are kind of small). Oh! I almost forgot about the best buffet food they offered on the ship! it was after we departed from Freeport...they offered a Caribbean spread, including Jerk Chicken! Oh my gosh, it was so good! I had never had "jerk" anything, but it was most similar to a barbeque type sauce, except it was much tastier!!

Cabin Review

Ocean View

Cabin 6C

We had 2 staterooms, M185 and M189. Both of these rooms were oceanview (windows were dirty from the outside). The size of each room was identical and somewhat small for 3 people in each room. However, it's to be expected to make room for many cabins on each deck. If the room was any smaller, it would have been impossible to navigate in it. Everything available in the rooms were fine. If there are any smaller rooms than the ones we booked, I would not have enjoyed my experience as much.

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