In 2004, I bought a combination honeymoon-birthday cruise for my new husband and I. Since we live in Tampa, the only Carnival ship available at the time was the Sensation. This was my husband's first cruise and my second, so we were pretty excited to board a very nice cruise ship in July of 2004. Our destination was Cozumel and Playa del Carmen, Mexico (a 5-day cruise). Our first cruise on the Sensation was wonderful! We had an inside cabin and very reasonably priced. Everything seemed clean and new and the guestroom stewards as well as the waitstaff and Maitre D' were all friendly and helpful. So needless to say, our cruise was very enjoyable.
This year we decided to go to the Bahamas (Freeport and Nassau). Our departure date was November 29th to return on December 3rd. Of course, the only way to get there was to drive to Port Canaveral which was fine and the ship we were to sail on was the Sensation, again! My Carnival travel agent told me that the ship had been upgraded since 2004 and now was sailing to the Bahamas regularly. The price for an inside cabin for two of us was very reasonable and this is one of the reasons we decided to take this cruise, even though we had to drive from Tampa.
Well the first thing we noticed after getting on board was the smell in the hallways and the elevator areas. Not pleasant! The odor was kind of musty and almost a light mixture of urine and something else (?) Our room was okay but superficially clean. We noticed dusty spots everywhere and we immediately got out the anti-bacterial wipes and began wiping down everything we were going to be in contact with. Overall, our cabin was not the cleanest and the carpet had a light musty odor. Very different than the first time. I could not see any upgrading anywhere. Everytime we stepped into the hallway, the smell of sewage or garbage was very strong in some areas. Not so on our first cruise. We also noticed that the ship's crew seemed to be smaller, so we figured that is why walls, windows and glass were not being cleaned or polished on a regular basis. The elevators were dirty and the floors were stained with spills.
Inside cabin, not as clean as first time cruise, dusty, musty smelling carpet, stains on wall, parts of ceiling had masking tape, water spots on glasses. Hallways had various odors in some areas.