Carnival Sensation Thanksgiving cruise review with photos of Sensation and Dream

[czechgal]

Don't stop now!

 

I'm really enjoying your review. Even tho we will be on the Fascination in Dec.'10, I'm sure there are similarities to the Sensation and it's itinerary.

 

THANKS!!!

[beemergal]

Thanks for all the encouragement from those responding that they like my review!

 

After our breakfast in the Lido buffet, we headed back to our cabins to see if our luggage had arrived. It was there just as we arrived, so there was not much of a wait for it. As I mentioned earlier, there was plenty of space for our things, so unpacking was a breeze. Our empty suitcases fit easily under the bed.

 

Flying with luggage is not what it used to be unless you fly Southwest, which we did not. My friend and I each brought a suitcase that had to be checked. It was $15 for each of us on Continental. My friend's parents brought only one suitcase with both of their things in it. Their luggage was overweight as a result and they had to pay AirTran $39. The moral of this story is that it would have been less expensive for them to bring a suitcase for each and pay $30 instead of the overweight fee for one (they were 7 lbs. overweight). They cured the problem on the way back by splitting up the luggage, but keep it in mind if you are a couple travelling.

 

After unpacking we headed out to find some deck chairs for some sun and to watch us pull away from port. There were plenty of chairs always with extras stacked nearby, so finding a recliner was never a problem. In port the day we were leaving was the infamous, new Carnival Dream. From a distance we could see the basketball court in full use, but could not tell much else. There were no other ships in port or leaving that Thursday, Thanksgiving Day.

 

The waiters were peddling the special of the day Rum Punch, so we were asked numerous times if we wanted one. That's all they carried on their serving trays. We are not rum fans, so we asked for another drink and were told by our deck waiter that we had to go to the bar to get it. I was surprised at that, but we just took care of ourselves. That was the only time they would not serve anything other than the speciality drink.

 

There was a live band playing by the pool and it seemed they were trying to play some calypso music, but not totally calypso. The pools were packed with kids and the slides were full of children using them despite the chilly weather. Each time I saw the hot tub, it was SRO (standing room only). I don't know how families can fit that many people into the hot tub! I wish I had gotten some photos of that, because it actually was quite funny looking.

[beemergal]

On the ship in Port Canaveral, we sat on deck and looked over at the only other ship in port that Thanksgiving Day. It was the Carnival Dream. We left at 4:00 and they were still in port.

[beemergal]

It wouldn't be a cruise if we didn't talk about the food, so this will be about what we thought of the dining room experience on Carnival Sensation.

 

Having cruised NCL in the past and loving their anytime dining onboard, that was the venue we chose for this Carnival Sensation cruise. I am very glad we did! With anytime dining, we could eat dinner anywhere from 5:45 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. There are two dining rooms onboard. If you had selected Anytime Dining, you had to use the Fantasy Dining Room. One section of the dining room along the windows was designated for Anytime Diners. It was great to have the flexibility of eating when we felt like it instead of having a set dining time. You have private tables for your group as opposed to be seated with others, which can be a positive or a negative depending on if you want to interact with new people. The tables are close together, so you could strike up a conversation with the folks next to you but it does not force you to do so.

 

The first evening (Thanksgiving Day) we went to the dining room around 7 or 7:30. We were greeted by Helena O. (from Romania, I believe), who was exceptional throughout our cruise. She was friendly and professional and had a beautiful smile. She apologized for not having a table immediately for us, so she gave us a pager to carry. It didn't take long...10 minutes top...before we were summoned back for our table.

 

That first night, the rolls were phenomenal! It was hard not to fill up on them. Whether you are on anytime dining or fixed time dining, you have a waiter who takes your order for food and another bar waiter for alcoholic drinks. The drinks always seemed to take a long time to get to us, so plan ahead. We just had wine with dinner, so it worked out ok for us. If I was ordering a cocktail, it would have been worse to have it served as the food comes out. Each evening we decided to have a cocktail before dinner and that worked out the best for us. If you are ordering wine by the glass and happen to order Pinot Noir, be cautious that there are 2 selections and one is about twice as expensive as the other. If you don't specify, you'll get the more expensive glass served. If you have never cruised before, alcohol and soft drinks cost money...they are not included in your fare. You put everything on your Sign & Sail card (which is also your room key card) that costs money and pay for it at the end of your cruise. You can't use credit cards as you go...everything is charged to the Sign and Sail account.

 

I'll stop here for now and pick up with the food in the next installment.

[papanh]

great review very detailed keep it coming

Papanh

[okwriter]

I'll be in a Penthouse Suite with two girlfriends on January 17. None of have cruised before, so I appreciate your preview! :-)

[crusinpsychRN]

Thanks for all your hard work on your review.

[xitappers2bx]

 

We were in cabin U114, but I wish we had been on the other side of the ship (odd number cabin). We were on the "wrong" side coming into Nassau, so our balcony only served to give us a close up view of the Carnival Dream "parked" in the next dock. Had we had a cabin on the other side, we could have gotten some good shots coming into port and had a view while docked. Just an FYI if you want to look at changing to an odd number Cat 12. Sure as the world that you do that, though, they will probably back into the dock! The Dream did!

 

 

its really luck of the draw... we were in u108 this summer, and got the great shots coming into port... also of the pilot jumping into and out of the ship which was really cool. we did get an upclose and personal view of the pride later in the day, but it served well to check her out a bit... i decided to book her for this month since i knew her homeport was close to me.

[beemergal]

THE FOOD...

 

There is no specialty restaurant or Steak House on the Sensation, so you don't have to worry about reservations. Our little group of 4 included one person who has owned a restaurant and is actively searching now for another and a former restaurant manager. Our collective opinion of the food was that it was very good. Flavorful, good size portions and a nice variety. The only negative is that the food was not as hot as it should be on 2 of the 3 nights, but the staff is ready to replace it immediately if you want them to. I thought I discovered a possible reason why the food was not as hot on 2 of the 3 nights...on the one night it was fully heated, our dining time (Anytime Dining) coincidentally coincided with the seated 8:15 p.m. dining time. Perhaps the food is timed to be the hottest when the most orders or coming into the kitchen. I don't know, but it's a thought. The food was never cold...it just could have been hotter to be more enjoyable.

 

If you have not experienced cruising before, you are presented with a menu when you are seated. On the left side will be appetizers and starters, followed by salad and soup choices. At the bottom of both sides of the menu will be the items that are "healthy choice" with details on the fat grams, calories, etc. I chose a spinach and argula salad with fresh berries once. It was o.k., but they either left the dressing off or did not have enough viniagrette on it. A nice raspberry vinagrette would have made it a wonderful salad.

 

You are not limited to one selection from the choices. I wanted to try a couple of different items, so I ordered them. This is what they expect. You will not be annoying the waiter by ordering multiples. I felt badly sometimes that my eyes were bigger than my stomach, but I did my best with everything I ordered. We drank wine with dinner (by the glass...about $6-$7 per glass) and iced tea. The tea was fabulous! When they first poured it in the glass, I thought it was going to be way too strong like the coffee. But it was not. It was some of the best iced tea I have ever had. They are quick to fill your glass when you get low on iced tea or water. We all thought the water tasted a little funny (I drink bottled water usually), but not bad. Ask for a lemon for it and it will make it more refreshing. After our massages, they bring you a glass of water with lemon and it was very tasty (more about the spa later).

 

Now I don't remember if it was the first night or second, but my absolute favorite starter was the chilled strawberry soup. It is fantastic! They give you a bowl with a strawberry and mint in the center, then pour the soup from a creamer type pitcher into the bowl. It was incredibly good. I had discovered chilled fruit soups on an NCL cruise and wanted to see if Carnival was up to muster on them, and, boy, are they ever! After I finished it, I asked for another and it came immediately. Yummy!!!

 

Some of our group had the greek dinner salad and proclaimed it wonderful...fresh and full of goodies. Twice I had 2 different kinds of stuffed, baked mushrooms (stuffed with ricotta once and I don't remember the second time, but it was NOT seafood). Once of us had crab cakes that were tasty. Someone always had the shrimp cocktail, which they call Tiger Shrimp but aren't that big. Each cocktail has 4-5 shrimp in it. The last night we ordered one for the table and shared. You can easily get full before you even get to your entree or dessert.

 

There's is more on the food, but I need a break before continuing...stay tuned!

[markntara]

I have never (before this) even heard of the mention of strippers on a Carnival Cruise.:confused:

Great review!

 

I saw more skin on Lido!

 

The show CURVES has a "Vegas" burlesque feel. My wife and I seen it on the Thanksgiving cruise that beemergal is giving this review on. The show was fine in our opinion.

 

I have to ask, a lady on lido, outside by a pool, at a beach. anywhere, removes her shirt / wrap to reveal a form fitting 1 piece bathing suit be considered "stripping"?

 

In the show, 6 female dancers go behind a back lit white curtain, remove their outer shirts, (provocatively:D) then return wearing a costume fitting like 1 piece bathing suits. A boa is placed on their heads, they dance inline.

[tiamar]

I have never been on a Carnival ship and we are going on Sensation next month, so thank you! Your thoughtful, detailed review is helping set the stage for our vacation so thanks! :)

[beemergal]

Glad to be of help and thanks for the positive reinforcement on the review!

 

When I left off last time, we were enjoying dinner in the Fantasy Dining Room through our choice of Anytime Dining. Before I get into more of the food selections, I want to set everyone's mind at ease about the dress code. I never saw anyone dressed inappropriately. We wore nice jeans and sandals on 2 of the 3 nights and dressed for the Elegant Night. I had black slacks and a jacket on. The male in our group was the least formally dressed (and we had to make him change before we would go to dinner at that!), but we all fit in. I saw a couple of tuxedos on the late fixed dining time, but no formal dresses. The dress was much more casual. There were a couple of men I thought could have dressed a little better than in a golf shirt, but it really did not detract from the evening. On the 3 night Sensation cruise, the Elegant night was the second night (Friday), which is a little odd just because we were in port that day & night. It appeared that most people were there for dinner on the ship, though, rather than hanging out in Nassau. Elegant Night is the meal in which they serve lobster and prime rib. More on that later...

 

In a previous post, I spoke of how outstanding Helena is in her management of the Anytime Dining seating. We prepaid tips, but we felt she was so good (even remembering our names!) that we gave her a $20 on the last night. Gosh, she hugged us and followed us out of the dining room even. It was funny because on this last night, we were able to get seated right away. The first two nights we had to wait a short time for a table. When we walked to the podium the 3rd night, Helena said she had had a bad dream the night before because we came to the dining room a third time and she could not seat us. Talk about dedicated! I teased her about dreaming about work, but she takes it very seriously. She was there for every meal. They work very hard on the ship. There were envelopes out that last evening to tip the Maitre D', but, if I ever saw him, I would not have known it. I like to tip the people who make my trip enjoyable. Everyone should be tipped and I don't understand the people who try to take off the tips. It's most of their livlihood. We didn't care for our waiter, but I would never had conceived of removing his tip. On the other hand, he could have received a nice additional tip if his service had been better.

 

I am getting tired so the food will be picked up again later. I have a lot more to post of various aspects of the ship and Nassau, so I'll try to speed things up.

 

The photo attached is of the 4 of us in the Polo Lounge (aka Cigar Lounge, aka Martini Bar) before dinner. They make great Cosmopolitans and Dirty Martinis in there!

[1of5G]

My dh and I will be on the Sensation on Feb. 4, so I am enjoying your review very much

[beemergal]

If you like fish, you will love the food in the dining room. I am not a fish eater (allergic to iodine), but two of the others had some kind of fish each night and said it was wonderful. The first night they had Chilean Sea Bass. Another evening they had the Red Snapper. Another evening it was Salmon. They were all great, I'm told. The lobster on Elegant Night was excellent, I was told. They were on the small side, but you can always order 2 if you are a big eater.

 

There were a couple of things that were just so-so on the menu. The steamed vegetables are very big chunks of potato, carrots, etc. that are quite bland. I didn't need them anyway. Most of the dishes were served with some kind of side with them. The Veal Parmagiana was just o.k. as were the short ribs. The turkey dinner had a lot of dark meat with it, which I don't like, so I give it just an ok rating.

 

The farmer's salad was delicious as well as the chilled asparagus soup. The bread never seemed as good to me as the first night (it was harder), but I was in the minority in thinking that.

 

There is always steak and chicken on the menu, but we did not order it.

 

Ahhhh....dessert....wow! Don't pass it up! You have probably heard about the Chocolate Melting cake, a Carnival special. We all liked it a lot...a couple of us LOVED it. I was a little surprised as I dug into it to find it liquid beyond the top crust. It is very rich and I never wanted to get it again, even though I liked it. One night I had a pumpkin and chocolate tart thing, which again was too rich for me (although it tasted good). The last night I had the apple pie and ice cream and proclaimed it to be the best apple pie I have ever gotten in a restaurant before. It was yummy! One of our group had the Baked Alaska on the last night, but it is a poor substitute for the real thing. She said it was fine, but not memorable. Another night she had a Grand Marnier souffle, which was also good (but not as good as the Chocolate Melting cake). The male in our group ordered a scoop of each ice cream they had...chocolate, vanilla, strawberry and butter pecan. He liked it. There was not a thing that we did not like, but there were a few things we loved that I have mentioned.

 

To us, the coffee is undrinkable in the dining room and the buffet. If you like a thick, muddy, very strong coffee, then you will be fine. We weren't, so after trying it we opted for cappucino. That was good. It's free at dinner (as well as expresso) and you can have as many as you would like.

 

Prepare to spend a good 90 minutes having dinner. The dining assistants are ready to whisk away your plate in between courses a little too fast, but they do have to feed 2500 people so they need to keep things moving. It may have been more pronounced in the Anytime Dining area, because Carnival is still testing the concept and hasn't devoted enough tables to it without keeping some people waiting occasionally. I think more and more people will opt for it as they see how much flexibility it provides - eat when you are hungry and not when you have an assigned dining time. Just don't let yourself be rushed.

 

We always ate too much, which was probably why they leave packets of Pepcid AC in your cabin! There is just so much good stuff that it is difficult to not try it. We were never hungry for dessert, but, heck, how can you pass it up?

[beemergal]

On the first night on the ship, the seas were a little rough. You could definitely feel the ship rocking. After a little while, we were asking ourselves "have we really had that much to drink?". We hadn't had too much to drink, but the rolling of the ship really exacerbated what we did have! I found it kind of fun and we were wearing wrist bands for motion sickness so never felt any problem. Laying in bed and going to sleep was like being rocked in a cradle!

 

We only felt movement that first night. After that it was hard to tell you were on a ship. The water was very smooth.

 

On the 3 night Sensation cruise, you arrive in Nassau at noon. With it getting dark so early in the winter time now, there is less daylight (4-5 hours) to do excursions. We had wanted to go to Blue Lagoon to lay in their beach hammocks and maybe swim with the dolphins, but you need to get in much earlier than that to have a chance to enjoy it. So, we decided to do the Yellowbird Boat, which is offered as a ship excursion but we thought we would save $10 each and just go to the launch area and get on. We ended up not doing that either for reasons I will share in the next segment later tonight that tells you what we did do and experience in Nassau. In the meantime, here are some photos of our ship in full sail and approaching Nassau harbour. The water in the harbour is a very turquoise color. It is quite a contrast from the blue sea color.

[k9dr]

Great review so far. My family and I are going on the Sensation Dec 10-13 and also staying in a penthouse suite. We are looking forward to a good time and you are providing an excellent preview. Thanks !!

[beemergal]

Since I promised something about the Dream, I thought I would plug it in here. As I mentioned, the Dream was in port in Port Canaveral when we boarded the Sensation on Thanksgiving Day. We set sail at 4:00, leaving the Dream still in port.

 

As we pulled into Nassau harbor, lo and behold, there was the Dream! It had left after us and beat us into Nassau!

 

She's a big ship and had backed into her dock in Nassau. We were to end up going in nose first to the right of her so that we shared a boardwalk between the two ships. The photos I show first are of approach into the harbor with the Dream already there.

[beemergal]

Here are some close up shots of the Dream as we docked next to her. Can you find yourself on the balcony?

 

The last shot is of her pulling away from Nassau at 10 p.m. on 11/27/09

[Cruisin'Trooper]

I am enjoying reading your posts. I was beginning to think I was the only one going on the sensation. I see a lot of post about all the other ships but not much about this one....

so yes, PLEASE continue.

 

I have to say that we were a bit aprehensive about sailing on the Sensation due to her age and size. But we came away loving her and now she is one of our favorites.

[beemergal]

I have to say that we were a bit aprehensive about sailing on the Sensation due to her age and size. But we came away loving her and now she is one of our favorites.

 

I felt the same way initially' date=' but was very pleasantly surprised![/color']

[nutley chick]

I have to say that we were a bit aprehensive about sailing on the Sensation due to her age and size. But we came away loving her and now she is one of our favorites.

Thanks for saying that. I was beginning to think I really made a mistake. I booked my cruise with no real research. I always wanted to go and DH wont travel soooo one sunday he watched football and I played on the computer, next thing I knew my DD and I were booked on a cruise. Woo hoo. I can't wait till it's my turn to do a review. In the mean time I'll just sit back and enjoy beemergal's review and photos.

Thanks beemergal for all the details!

[jlforester]

Here are some close up shots of the Dream as we docked next to her. Can you find yourself on the balcony?

 

The last shot is of her pulling away from Nassau at 10 p.m. on 11/27/09

 

I was on the Carnival Dream last week, and I enjoyed your pictures of her, so I thought I'd share two of the pics I took in Port Canaveral of Carnival Sensation. :)

 

Here's a couple of direct links to 10-megapixel, uncropped versions of these pics:

 

http://www.wvishome.com/jack/pg/main.php?g2_itemId=15818&g2_imageViewsIndex=1

http://www.wvishome.com/jack/pg/main.php?g2_itemId=15821&g2_imageViewsIndex=1

 

The hi-res version of these are 3888x2592 resolution ... you've been warned :)

[beemergal]

Arriving in Nassau, the weather was slightly chilly (it was late November, after all). We came off the ship with the mission of finding the Yellowbird Party boat for a tour around the islands that would stop at a beach for about 90 minutes and would have rum punch flowing and music playing. The reviews I read of it all were raving about the good time people had on it. So we get down to the end of the pier and there are a bunch of locals selling excursions of various types. I didn't see any signs for the Yellowbird, so I asked the first guy I saw where we could find that excursion. The guy said he had never heard of the Yellowbird, to which I said, "give me a break! you just want me to buy your excursion". I moved to the next guy near him and asked and he pointed me down the pier to the right and said we could catch it there.

 

Before you can go anywhere, you have to go through the "welcome" building. I walked up to the information desk to double check the information I had just received and the woman behind the desk said "why would you want to go on the Yellowbird?" My answer was that it sounds like fun...is there a problem with it? She said that we should be going on the Booze and Cruise excursion, which, coincidentally, she just happened to be selling herself. She held up a flyer for it saying it was $60PP, to which I said the Yellowbird is $30 so we'll stick with that. She shrugged her shoulders and pointed us in the same direction as the other guy. As we made our way down the pier, we could not see any signs of the Yellowbird. We got down to the straw market (which is absolutely not worth the time, by the way) and were looking around when a guy walked up to us and asked if we wanted the Booze & Cruise. We said no and told him we wanted the Yellowbird. He said it was probably leaving today from the OTHER side of the pier where the water taxis are! That would have meant a hike back and it was supposed to leave at 1:00. We figured that we would never make it, if that was the case because it was 1:00 already. Then another guy comes up and says we need to buy tickets from him to get on the Yellowbird. There was no Yellowbird in sight and he wanted $35PP. I told him no thanks ...that we would wait and buy tickets as we got on. He asked if we have reservations and I said no. He said the only way we could get on is if we had advance reservations or bought from him. I told him my research indicated differently to which he said it was sold out and the ONLY way to get on was to pay him. Reluctantly, we did. Then we see the Yellowbird coming toward us about 5 minutes later and it was totally empty! It pulled up toward the dock and the guy who sold us tickets talked to the operator. He came back to us and said the Yellowbird was cancelled for the day and that we would have to take the Booze Cruise (docked there). Not for the same price, mind you...we would have to pay another $30PP each. We asked for our money back and he did give it to us. What a run around from everyone! Those guys at the pier and in the information center cannot be trusted in my opinion. This is one time it might have been worthwhile to book what we wanted to do through the cruise line excursion desk.

 

After this debacle, I remembered from reading on this forum that the British Colonial Hilton had to be nearby and they have a beach there. As a matter-of-fact, I had taken photos of the hotel and beach as we came into the harbor on the ship. So, we are at the end of the pier, just across from the straw market, and start walking up the street. We just follow the sidewalk as it makes a turn to the right and we are there! It was very close. I had read here that if you avoid the front desk and just walk out to the beach that you can get a better price from the towel guys to use the beach. We strolled through the lobby and out the back to the pool and beach area. Nobody paid any attention to us and it was definitely not crowded, so we just went onto the beach and laid out on recliners for an hour or two. It was a little cool to be laying out, but the sun still felt nice. We bought Pina Coladas from the bar by the pool (they took a credit card) to donate to the hotel's coffers. They were good, although a little too icy. The beach was a little dirty when we got there, but the hotel staff was busy cleaning it up right after we got there. One of us tested the temperature of the water and pronounced it too cold for human life. We then watched as a few young children ran in and played in the water for an extended period. Kids and water...nothing is too cold for them, I guess!

 

So, this little respite was nice and did not cost us a dime except for the drinks we bought. We were right on harbour and you will see from a picture the ships in the background. The first one you see ifsthe Sensation, which appears dwarfed by the Dream right behind it.

 

This beach would not have been worth paying for, but it was o.k. for a taste of a sugar sand beach for a brief time. After about 90 minutes, we picked up our stuff and headed out for more discoveries. That will be the next segment...

[beemergal]

Falkcor has just given me a tutorial on how to upload better photos, so I am giving it a try starting from the beginning. Let's see if it works!

 

 

 

Hooray! Thanks Mark! It works! Bear with me as I go back and upload these better photos that you can actually see. These photos are of our Category 12 stateroom U114

[beemergal]