My 17 year-old niece and I (30-ish) just returned from a 3-day Bahamas cruise on the Sensation and I was very pleasantly surprised at our experience. Although this was my 5th cruise overall (2 prior with Carnival, and 2 prior with Royal Caribbean), this was my first time on a smaller class ship, my first cruise of less than 5 days, and my first time in an interior stateroom, so I was unsure what to expect. I was very happy to find we were very comfortable in the interior stateroom and there was plenty of room for the two of us. Plus, we slept VERY well! No outside light makes for good sleep. I was afraid the 3 day would feel like just a tease, but really, it was perfect for our needs. Of course I never like it when the cruise ends, but it was good. With the exception of the first day, where we must have had some rough seas, we did not feel the ship moving.

Recreation: We greatly enjoyed the slides, though the two racer slides were much better than the big curly slide, which had long lines and hurt your back when laying down and caused you to actually stop and have to scoot yourself for the last 15 or so feet of the slide. I don't know if this was lack of water or what the situation was. It was disappointing that the slides were only open from noon till 6pm. There was also ping pong, shuffleboard, a track, mini golf and of course the pool and hot tubs. The hot tubs were constantly packed with people--I'm talking no room at all to move--from the time they opened to the time they closed, so we didn't go in those. We did not see the spa or fitness center, though they do have those on board.

Entertainment: The first production show we saw, a tribute to the 80s, was excellent. (and I'm not just saying that because I'm an 80's baby, my niece enjoyed it as much or more than me) Choreography was stunning, music was great; very enjoyable. The second, Curves, which was rated PG 13 for costume design and show content, was hard to follow and basically not good at all. I'm sure men would give it rave reviews as it featured underwear/lingerie/stripper costuming and very suggestive material. I appreciated Carnival disclosing the PG 13 rating though so people would not bring their children not knowing. The comedians were good, and I appreciated that the family-friendly comedy on this ship actually WAS family friendly. (not our experience on the Dream last year) As far as other entertainment, they had the usual gamut of Bingo, trivia, gender showdown, family feud, karaoke, etc. The deck party was a lot of fun, and all the musicians performing throughout the ship were excellent. Read more