My January, 2018 cruise aboard Sensation was the worst cruise I have had to date. The problems began at embarkation. Even though we had FTTF, we had to wait at the terminal over 2 HOURS to board. I can't imagine how long we would have had to wait if we had not had FTTF and got "priority boarding." Once aboard I was immediately struck by how shockingly dated the decor is on board. It screams 1970s and 1980s. I ended up getting used to it by the end of the cruise, but it was very jarring for the first couple of days. I felt like I had stepped into a time machine. There also was some cosmetic wear and tear on the ship, such as visible rust. Our interior cabin was horrible. Even though we were a party of 2, they put us in a cabin with 2 bunk beds. When closed, the top bunks overhang the bed and my husband and I both bumped our heads several times. Rather than a piece of artwork, there was a curtain over a "fake" window (nothing behind it but plastic wall). Who do they think they are fooling? I'd rather have the artwork. The room was extremely small and cramped and there was NO refrigerator. That was a big deal to us. We had to constantly have our steward refill our ice bucket - which wasn't big enough for the drinks we had pre-purchased to have delivered to our cabin. The shower water temperature and pressure were very good.

The worst incident that occurred was when I was injured in one of the lounges. The lounge had tables with glass tabletops that were NOT secured to the table legs. I was drinking water all night - no alcohol - and slightly leaned on the table to stand up because I have osteoarthritis (and have never had a problem before doing this.) Due to the defect of these tabletops not being attached to the legs, it slid off and shattered, injuring my foot which was bleeding profusely. My foot had been stabbed by broken glass in many different places. But that wasn't even the worst part. The worst part was the horrible customer service I received at Guest Services when I reported the incident. I was told point blank it was "not Carnival's fault," rather than the "we are so sorry this happened to you" I should have received. There was no empathy or express of concern whatsoever. As for whose "fault" it was - that should have been up to a manager - not a low level customer service agent, and he should have gotten a manager to speak with me. The defective furniture was the reason this happened, which I think clearly makes it the fault of Carnival - but regardless, they should have at least not been rude in response to my injury!

This was the first cruise where we had to wait to be seated for dinner (my time dining.) Then, once seated, service was extremely slow and the food was lukewarm instead of hot when it got to us. What made all this worse was the lack of dining options aboard for dinner. The best alternatives - Blueiguana and Guy's Burgers, closed early so we could not eat dinner there! Read more