5 Day Sensation Review

Preamble:

I love reading other people's cruise reviews while waiting for my next cruise to begin. It makes the time between cruises go by a little quicker. This will be my first time posting a review although I did start to write one for my last two cruises but never completed them. I have learned from things that prevented me from completing the last two, and I WILL complete this one, although it has taken a few weeks to start posting it.

A couple disclaimers, I LOVE cruising and always have a good time. But I like to be honest in my review. Everything is not perfect on a cruise and I do intend to include the bad with the good. Just because I complain, does not mean I did not have a great time.

I am by no means a photographer. I hope that my photos can add something to my review, but please understand I am not very good at taking pictures and add them for illustrative purposes only, however bad those illustrations may be :D

Also, I may not hit on everything that interests you as a cruiser. I would say from reading many reviews that my cruise style is different from the norm, and that is okay. Please feel free to ask questions though about something I do not cover and I will do my best to answer anything that you would like to know about.

About Me:

I will turn 29 on this cruise and I am lucky enough to live in Florida so taking cruises is more affordable and easier to do than for many people. This is my fifth cruise with Carnival and my first time on the Sensation.

I am cruising with M. She is my very good friend and frequent cruise buddy.

Our last cruise was in August for eight days on the Conquest. While on that cruise we went over some cruises we were interested in. The Sensation was high on the list when we were just looking for a short cruise to go on before the holidays.

While on that cruise, she earned a free cruise from the casino and it made more sense to do a longer cruise since the cost would be roughly the same. While looking at dates though, the last week of October was the earliest she could go, and the latest I could go before the vacation calendar was blacked out at work. During this time frame, this was the only cruise available for free.

It was a slight disappointment to take a five day when the cruise was comped, but we were still very excited to be going on a cruise! I was looking forward to being on a Fantasy class as so far I have only been on Conquest and Dream class ships. They all have essentially the same design and I would have to learn a different layout of the ships. I also was looking forward to a "simpler" ship without the bells and whistles. My addiction to Guy's Burgers is not as strong as they once were (they were horrible on my last cruise) and I think I would enjoy the more personal atmosphere that I hear the Fantasy class ships have. And if they are old and outdated, well that will not cause me to not enjoy myself. Managing expectations, I think is the key to enjoying the Fantasy class. I will be honest in my review either way.

As I mentioned, I live in Florida. Great for cheap cruises, not so great for hurricanes. Hurricanes are not that common and are not something you need to live in constant fear of, but they do happen. Hurricane Matthew was the worst that Florida has seen in a while and I was not spared from his wrath. In fact, where I live, I think he singled me out because nobody around me had any battle scars. A tree was uprooted from the ground and landed on my car!

The weeks leading up to the cruise were very hectic and stressful for me. A nice relaxing vacation was definitely what I needed at this point! I usually don't spend much money outside of the casino but I was planning on splurging and I think in this instance, a newer ship with all the bells and whistles would have been more my speed. But I would not let that interrupt my plans of a relaxing stress free disconnect on a cruise!

This cruise would fall on two important days. It was during Halloween which I have heard Carnival really goes all out for. I am really looking forward to experience a Halloween with Carnival, and love the excuse to celebrate Halloween. Being an adult with no kids makes this a non-holiday for me, but not this year!

The other important day, the most important of all (at least to me :P) is my birthday! October 30th I will be celebrating my birthday with a "fun day at sea". I truly cannot think of a better way to celebrate my birthday than being on a cruise. I hope I can make this an annual event, even if I have to skip 2017 (will have just gotten off a 15 day Hawaiian cruise).

One of the things I do not normally have to worry about, is transportation. I just hop in my car, 3.5 hours later I am at M's house and she drives another 1-1.5 hours to the port, depending on which port we are leaving from. Well three weeks after the hurricane, and I still have no idea what is going on with my car. The rental car Statefarm gave me? Nope, because I was not in a car accident I do not qualify for a rental.

I considered a few different options and I ended up settling on taking the train down to M's house in South Florida. I would leave on a Thursday so that M could spend more time Friday packing. It was only $55 which was only just slightly more than the bus, but six hours instead of ten hours on the bus. Renting a car was so unbelievably expensive that it was not even an option for more than a second. To tell the truth, I was glad to not be driving down, I have considered bus or train before but the logistics and cost always force me to make the long drive anyway.

A friend from work, also called M, picked me up from my house just after 9. It was a little early because the train did not leave until 1040 but she is doing me a favor and she works nights so she can't stay up all day. Thank goodness for good friends! The first thing she said was "is that suitcase from 1940?" I laughed because M always gives me a hard time about my suitcase too. As long as this one does its job, I will not be upgrading lol.

A pic of my 1940's suitcase.

I arrived at the train station about an hour early. It was a very weird experience for me. I am pretty shy and unsure what to do in new situations and the employees at the station were less than helpful. To be fair though, it was the train station/city bus station and the train station was not manned. They worked for the city bus and must get tired of answering questions about the train. I just sorta hoped everything would work out for the best.

The train was running an hour late. I never got an alert like I was supposed to, but heard from a group waiting who decided to go for something to eat. The seating was horribly uncomfortable and now my one hour wait was turning into two. How does that even happen, I thought trains were notorious for being on time no matter what. Guess not. A later update said it was running behind by an hour and ten minutes. It was about 1hr 15min late but then boarding was quick and we were on our way.

The ride was not terrible, but it was a little awkward. I was seated next to a man who had spread out into both seats and had to pack his stuff up. He complained he was cramped and wished to be moved. I got moved instead and had my own window seat. The man in the row over suffered from seriously the worst snoring I have ever heard in my entire life. He was wearing a medical mask and I think that must have been making it worse, but I was seriously concerned for him the sounds were that bad.

The snoring was annoying and you could not see well out the window without getting a crick in your neck but the seats were comfortable and they had WiFi and an outlet to keep my computer charged so I was kept entertained. I would not write it off as a future mode of transportation, it was very stressful but I think that was because it was so last minute and new to me. After I have done it, it may be less stressful than that boring car ride.

M was not excited about coming to pick me up and may not be too keen on having to retrieve me in the future but I made it up to her at least this time by picking up the tab at dinner. We went to a local Mexican restaurant called La Bomba. No pics as I left my camera at M's last time and she was still holding it hostage. She hates me taking pictures of everything, she will live lol.

Not a glamorous day but I got to try something new and I was now one day closer to my much needed cruise!

Friday was another pretty uneventful day. M had to work and I took that time to obsess over cruise reviews and videos of the ship I would be boarding. I don't usually watch videos because I have limited bandwidth at home, but these really had me excited and I would not be sleeping much tonight for sure.

My favorite view of the carnival website.

1 Day to cruising!

Saturday: Embarkation Day

We had a few more last minute things to work on this morning. M has gotten better I guess about getting ready, but we are complete opposites when it comes time to cruise. I am like a kid who cannot wait to get on board and start the adventure. She does not want to be on until it is time to sail. Lame! We are paying to be there at 11 as much as we pay to be there at 3, so why not be there early? Now I understand we are docked in Miami and nothing is open or really happening, but to me it is more fun to be doing nothing on a cruise ship than doing nothing at your house. Right?

We made okay time but we were a little later than last time. Our last cruise we were on board just before 1, this time it would be almost 2. We dropped the dog off at the sitters and hit I-95 to Miami.

Pic is blurry because I left it on the wrong setting, I am terrible with this camera lol.

Notice the clouds.

I love cruise ships and have to take pictures of them even when they are not the one I will be sailing on.

Norwegian Escape.

This was the only ship in Miami today that I could get a mostly unobstructed shot of from the shuttle. Also in port today were Carnival Glory, Empress of the Seas, MSC Divina and an Aida ship but I am not sure which one.

For the first time, we decided to carry on all of our luggage. It was a spur of the moment decision but we had FTTF and one suitcase and carry on each so we gave it a shot. Things were a little unorganized, but there were not many people around so it did not hold the processes up, but I would hate to see things if it was busy because the place was a free for all.

We entered the priority line because we had FTTF. Several of us were redirected to the main line, because it was actually moving quicker. I asked the employee if things were moving quickly because of staggered check in and he confirmed that it has really worked at making the process a breeze. It made FTTF a bit unnecessary for boarding, but would still come in handy for other things, and for us it was a nice piece of mind knowing if we needed to use the priority line to board, it would be available to us. That alone makes it worth it in our book, but each person would need to evaluate if it is worth the extra cost to them and their situation.

I always carry on a small (20') box fan on my cruises. It serves a few different purposes. For one I am used to sleeping with a fan and that cool air blowing on me helps me sleep even if the room is cool. Plus, many times the room is way too hot for me and this will bring it down to a comfortable temperature for me. It also blocks out noises from outside. I understand that I am on a ship with a few thousand other people who are not going to work their schedule around when I want to sleep, or even be bothered to keep it down in the hallways. This eliminates that problem as well.

I have always read to print a copy of the Prohibited Items list that specifically states it is okay to bring a fan on. I have never done so, and it has never been a problem.

Until now.

The lady at security took my fan and said I could not bring this on board and that she would hold it until the cruise was over. I politely insisted that she was mistaken and I have always brought it with no problem. She said they just changed the rules three months ago. Well I last cruised two months ago. She said it was too large and I would have to contact guest services and get them to waive the size restriction. I was unsure what the size limit was so reluctantly headed on my way. I have since checked, there is NO size restriction as long as it can fit through the scanner and it is in good working condition (I bought it brand new as my last one was questionable to pass the "good working condition" test because I had left it in my car during the hurricane).

As I was leaving one of the security people came up and told me a supervisor said it was okay to take the fan on board. I spoke to the supervisor and he said it was okay. Most people I think would have been smug and rude about getting their way and rubbed it in the other lady's face that she was overruled. I was very polite and thanked her as if it was her who changed her mind, she just glared at me. Whatever lady, the fact is you were wrong and the fact that your coworker went to a supervisor on my behalf tells me you are not a pleasant person to be around and they enjoy making you look bad. Have a nice day. Lesson learned though, I will be bringing a copy of Carnival's rules with me next time.

While this was going on, M had left me. I was not happy about that, but I did not want to dwell on it too long that would not be a great way to start the vacation. I did make it known I was pissed that she saw I was in a situation and just kept going on her way.

The rest of check-in was a breeze. They used our passport pictures so no need to be photographed and then we were on our way. Souvenir photo? No thanks and we continued to the gangway and onto our new home for the next five days.

First impression of the inside of the ship? Very underwhelming.

We boarded in the atrium, like usual, but it was much smaller than what we are used to. Whereas normally the atrium begins on deck 3, this one started on deck 7. It was also a very awkward layout and everything just felt crowded into itself instead of the usual wide open feeling I usually notice on the Conquest class of ships atrium area.

One thing we did not plan for in our spur of the moment decision to carry everything on was crowding into the already crowded elevators with our luggage. We both had an a-ha moment however right as we were about to jam ourselves into the elevator. We were already on the correct deck. This was super convenient and our location on Empress deck was very convenient throughout the duration of the cruise.

I was worried about noise being so close to the lobby, but it was not an issue. I have always been weary of booking on the Promenade deck on ships with rooms on that deck, but after this experience, I think it would come in handy to be that close to everything as noise from the lobby was never an issue. The neighbor on the other hand, well I will get to that.

We took a short walk to our room, E85, and again the word of the day is "underwhelming". When looking at deck plans, all interior rooms say "185 sq ft" but if this room was as large as the standard carnival room, them they have greatly improved the layout in subsequent ships to have more "functional" space.

Our room, E85, complete with fake "window to nowhere".

We tried our best to rearrange the beds and ended up with a diagonal setup which the steward would correct into the standard L-shape configuration. We did not like it because it meant someone's head would be by someone's feet or someone's head would be by someone's head instead of side by side like we are accustomed to. We made it work though and I am happy to report that M's feet do not stink :D.

The part that we did not like though, was that we had an adjoining door with our neighbor. We tend to get loud at night especially if we have had to much to drink and were concerned about being too loud for our neighbor. Looking back, I hope to god we disturbed them because they gave zero concern to their own volume.

The room could have been the same size just less functional, but the bathroom was without a doubt smaller. I could not snap a bathroom pic because there was just no way to back up enough to capture anything but a wall without doing a mirror shot, and mirrors are not my friend lol.

After settling in for a few minutes we made our way to the lobby so that M could put her gift cards on her account. I attempted to take a few pictures of the atrium area. Again, photography is not my strong suit.

The ship was decorated for Halloween.

One thing I was surprised about was the ships interior design. I expected this ship to be a little more flashy as when describing the tackier of Joe's designs I have seen it written as having a very "90's" feel. Well this ship was built in the 90's and I can't say it was overly flamboyant. It was mainly purple but not a loud in your face purple and it looked very nice without having to be over the top. That being said, I love over the top and for that reason, Splendor is still my favorite designed ship.

While M was standing in line at guest services, right behind me was the atrium bar.

I decided while I waited to grab my first drink. The Funship. I was so eager I forgot to get a pic before I started drinking it.

I get thirsty just looking at this picture!

Next we headed up to Lido for lunch. There are far fewer options for lunch on this ship than we had on our last two cruises on Conquest. Even after 16 days, there were things we did not try or wish we could have eaten more often. I don't mind buffets and of course if you go hungry on a cruise, you are just too picky. Lunch today was very good. Of course I had not eaten today and I was enjoying my delicious adult beverage perhaps a bit too quickly so it was probably not as good as I thought it was.

I was feeling very disoriented, not because of said adult beverage, but because I was unfamiliar with the layout of this ship. So far the ships I had been on where all more or less setup the same just with different things occupying the spaces. This was a completely different design all together, makes sense as it was built in a different shipyard than the newer ships. I did learn my way around and all was good, but that first day was full of surprises. Why does the lido deck not run all the way aft? Weird.

Some beer dispensers at the end of the Lido deck, I've never seen these before I wonder if they are on all the ships now.

After lunch we walked around the ship touring a little bit. If you are sensitive to the smell of cigarette smoke, it did seem to really travel throughout this ship. I am not bothered by it, but M is. There was nothing to worry about this trip though, because once we set sail, the only thing we could smell was marijuana :eek:

Some more decorations along the Promenade deck.

Soon it was time for the dreaded Muster. We usually hang back in our room for about 5 minutes so that we are not the first to arrive and stuck in the back or middle of a bunch of people. We have been timing it right so that we end up in the front row without being so late as to be part of the holdup. We held back again, but we should have gone right away as the drill was inside seated - in the casino. If we do have to evacuate, I won't have far to go to reach my muster station. We ended up standing because by the time we got there the seats were all taken.

As usual, nobody paid attention. One group was playing cards. An employee came over and asked them to pay attention and the lady looked at him with a look I can only translate as "how dare you speak to me you dirty nasty person now leave me be" and then continued her game. He ignored them. Me, I would have escorted her back to the pier.

Once they were done with their spiel, they were going to lead us up to the lifeboats. I have heard this is standard on Fantasy class ships, but I am not sure I understand the purpose of hearing the talk, and then seeing the boats. But before we could go, someone announced the remainder was cancelled due to the rain and we were free to go. BEST MUSTER DRILL EVER!

There were at least four wedding parties on board this cruise.

After Muster I made my way up to the top decks for sail away. My last two cruises were out of Pt.Everglades which is just a terrible port for sail away. I was excited to be back in Miami for this.

Nice Aft!

Empress of the Seas sailing out.

I made my way to the top observation deck. This was a great spot to be at for views, not so great for the incoming weather.

I noticed an Aida ship off in the distance. Not sure which one as it was not listed on another site I use to see which ships are in port.

I think the observation deck you see below me would have been better, as it obstructed my view somewhat.

Miami off in the distance.

Very dark off in the distance.

Enjoying your great review and very impressive photos.

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MSC Divina.

Sail away.

The folks on my right wondered how we were going to fit under that bridge. I explained to them we don't go under, we would turn around once we had enough room and head out the other direction. Then the people on my left wondered the same thing lol.

More pics of sailaway.

Enjoying your great review and very impressive photos.

 

 

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Thank you so much! I am enjoying sharing. I had far more photos that I had to discard because they were too badly out of focus.

Nice review! Interesting POV...most people have their first cruise on the Fantasy class. Cool seeing those ships from a Conquest/Dream class regular. Looking forward to the rest of the review!

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Nice review so far. Thanks! :D:cool::D

Excellent start! Looking forward to more!

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Nice review! Interesting POV...most people have their first cruise on the Fantasy class. Cool seeing those ships from a Conquest/Dream class regular. Looking forward to the rest of the review!

 

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My first was on Norwegian Sky, which is the oldest ship in Norwegian's fleet. My first with Carnival was on the Breeze, and each ship after that was a little bit older than the one before it. I love each ship and they are all in special in their own way, but I am looking forward to sailing on the Sunshine next with all the bells and whistles.

Nice review so far. Thanks!

Excellent start! Looking forward to more!

Thank you everybody for those kind words. Glad you are enjoying it!

Once we got turned around, I saw that Glory had already set sail. I was a little bummed because I wanted to get some closeups of her.

Chasing Glory.

Divina again.

The Escape.

The wind started getting very rough at this point. The rain spit off and on but nothing too bad. I was surprised at how many people were braving it, a little wind and rain was not going to deter this group. It would drizzle a little on and off for a bit. Then the sky opened up and really let loose! It started pouring and hard. I stayed in it longer than I probably should have (like 5 seconds whereas everyone else ran right away) but there wasn't far to go. There was a small covering before it was all open deck. We huddled under there until it slowed down and then I made my break for it.

I was completely soaked from head to toe and was a little concerned for my camera and M's cell phone. Both were okay but a change of clothes was in order and I made my way back to the room.

Our beds rearranged into the L shape.

 

Our beds rearranged into the L shape.

 

We should have done that in our cruise on Paradise. We had the beds together, with two pull down bunks and a trundle [emoji33]

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Really enjoying your review. Keep it coming

We should have done that in our cruise on Paradise. We had the beds together, with two pull down bunks and a trundle [emoji33]

 

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I cannot imagine having that many people in a room this poorly laid out. I am used to cruise ship rooms being small, but this felt way more cramped than I am used to. With five people, you guys must have drove each other batty lol.

I stopped off at guest services to apply my gift cards and grabbed another fun ship while I was there. Then I made my way down to the casino. M was already there but not playing yet. The casino was much smaller than what we were used to. It was more than adequately sized for the business it did. I have never seen a casino as slow as this one. This was fine and I did not have to worry about finding a seat, but it did impact M's enjoyment. She plays blackjack and I do think that a livelier crowd is better for that whereas I mostly stick to video poker and slots. It was weird though seeing such a quiet casino.

Before I sat down to play, I stopped by the taste bar which is located right off to the side of the casino. In the deck plans this is still listed as "Sushi Bar". I was pretty sure this would be the taste bar, but a part of me was hoping for some sushi.

Tonight was Blue Iguana Cantina. I have never seen these items served at Blue Iguana only at the taste bar.

This was the only time I stopped in. I have tried them all before and none of them really stand out as something I have to try again.

The casino was decorated for Halloween also.

They had some variations of Video Poker available that allowed you to play multiple hands at once. I played with them for a little while but not long because the payout rates were too low.

Less than 30 minutes in and I was dealt this beauty.

Four of a kind for $250! I was hoping this was a sign of good things to come. It was not.

I ducked out of the casino at 8 to attend high seas karaoke. Attend not participate lol. We are trying to add a little variety to our cruising because typically the casino occupies 90% of our time on board when we are awake. With nine sea days on our Hawaii cruise next year, our budget will not allow that much casino time. M did not join me, she still has some work to do in the variety department.

Karaoke was fun but very short. There were only four participants and they were all very talented. Two Mariah Carey songs were sung, as well as What's Love Got To Do With It, and my favorite Hotline Bling sung in a ballad style. It was a very interesting take on that song, and very well received by the audience.

I cannot imagine having that many people in a room this poorly laid out. I am used to cruise ship rooms being small, but this felt way more cramped than I am used to. With five people, you guys must have drove each other batty lol.

It SUCKED. We didn't know the room would be this small. It said 185 sq feet and based on the deceptive photos on the Carnival site, it looked adequate.

We actually ended up folding up one of the bunks and had one of the kids sleep on the main bed.

Needless to say, we booked two rooms on our next cruise.

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Around 9 we decided we better head for dinner or we would miss it. I had a great cruise on the Conquest but there was one area that was a big miss on both trips on her. That was the food. I never went hungry, but so many of the items I ordered were disappointing. I was hoping the food would be better on Sensation, and if the service in the MDR could be quicker also, that would not be a bad thing. I went in with high hopes not knowing what to expect.

My pictures of the menus did not come out. I am just not sure how to focus on the print I will keep playing with it to try and figure it out, but in the meantime http://www.zydecocruiser.net/CarnivalElation/menus/dinner.htm has the menu that pretty much correlates with the menus I had on this cruise.

For my appetizer, I had the Escargot. Very delicious.

I also got the smoked duck breast.

I had never had duck and it was something I planned on trying on this cruise. I was excited to see it available on the first day. When it came out it did not look good, it looked like ham and I hate ham. I was very pleased with it however. Very good.

For my main I got the lasagna bolognese. Another fantastic dish!

Pan seared fillet of tilapia. This was just ok.

For dessert I had the cheesecake and the black forest gateau.

Both were out of this world amazing.

So how was dinner? Hands down the best MDR experience ever. Everything I had was amazing except one dish that was ok. The service was unreal. From the time we sat down to the time we left was less than 40 minutes. That is less than half the time a normal dinner service takes. It probably helped that we came near the last minute, but if that is what it takes to get fast service, it may be worth waiting for. We did not come this late again to test the theory, but I do plan on testing it again in the future.