Sensation Review (9/14-17, 3-Night Bahamas)

[Spork]

This site has been so great that I Wanted to give something back and write a review of the three-night Sensation cruise my wife and I recently went on.

 

First a little background to level-set for folks; I am in my early 30's and my wife is in her late 20's.

 

We have no pre-ordained loyalty to any one cruise line. In fact, we are pretty much planning on taking a cruise with every line at least once before we settle on a favorite (or decide to just not bother having a favorite!)

 

This review is my opinion only. Everyone has different needs and different things that they're looking for on a cruise. If your needs match my needs then we will probably agree on my review. If you have different needs, then you may very well disagree with my review and that's absolutely great with me. I'd just rather the information be out there so you can decide on your own. I'll try to disclose my own biases and likes so that you can see where I'm coming from and decide whether to keep reading or just skip through.

 

This was our third cruise. Our first was in 2001 and was a 7 day cruise on Celebrity's Horizon out of our homeport of Philadelphia to Bermuda. Our second cruise was in July of this year on Royal Caribbean's Sovereign of the Seas out of Port Canaveral.

 

We have absolutely loved cruising and had a great vacation on all three of our cruises. Reading this board tends to jade you a little bit and you do start to feel hyper-critical of things. We often go through the comment card at the end of the cruise nit-picking away only to scratch our heads at the end and laugh to ourselves that we had a fantastic time despite all our (minor) complaints. In that sense, be aware that this board can "spoil" you that way.

 

Getting There (Airport and Rental Car)

We flew on a direct flight from Philadelphia International to Orlando International the morning of the cruise. We didn't fly in the night before, but we had travel insurance - something I would recommend for anyone during hurricane season. The flight was great, arrived on time. We went to the Budget Rental Counter to pick up our economy car that we were going to take to the Cape Canaveral location. We got a free upgrade (hint: I highly doubt they actually have any economy cars, so just book the lowest class you need an hope for an upgrade). With taxes and everything I think it was about $24 or so - far cheaper than transfers.

 

The rental desk at Budget was a ghost town, it was a breeze dropping off our car and the friendly shuttle bus driver from Boston was very conversational. They seem to have a good trick where they keep several folded $5 bills in a cup on the dash. This power of suggestion seems to have worked with me because I originally figured on giving the driver $2 ($1 for each of us). Bah, but I was on vacation so I broke open the vault and kicked in the extra $3 with a Mr. Lincoln for the driver who did explain to us where we would be picked up.

 

Arriving at the Cruise Terminal

 

"PORTERS ARE SALARIED, YOU ARE NOT REQUIRED TO TIP"

 

That's one of the most ironic and useless signs I've ever seen. Both this time and the last cruise we sailed out of Port Canaveral you definitely felt hustled to tip the porters, despite the fact that I did 90% of the heavy lifting. They fall short of downright strong-arming you, but the expectation is to tip them. I really can't stand this element of things, especially because they are salaried and I suspect this money isn't used to teach them to read the signs overhead of them that tell us you aren't required to tip. But again, it was $1 per each bag. For some people they may think nothing of throwing $1 away. Do that a million times and you're not enjoying cruises during retirement, but I digress...

 

Once we checked our bags, embarkation was very easy. We were at the terminal at around 12:30 or so. We made our way quicky through security and checked in very, very quickly. We got our Sail & Sign cards and our room keys (yes, on the Sensation they are separate).

 

We're not fans of the ubiquitous photographers. We find them to be obnoxious and intrusive and sometimes they just don't want to take no for an answer so you find yourself giving in, mugging for the camera, and moving on. "Just smile and take it" was the order of the cruise, and so we mugged for the Russian cameraman by some crazy ship prop right before we got on the ship.

 

And so... we were onboard at last

 

Our first impression of the ship something akin to, "Wow... this sure is... purple."

 

We had read the myriad reviews of the decor and just how... purple it was. Well, as it turns out they really weren't kidding. Lots of neon too. I will say that I was a little bit jarred by the sites in the atrium. The other thing that bothered me was the signage for each of the various rooms. I am trying to best describe for you what they looked like, but basically they are like the signs you would see on a stip mall, instead of "Joe's Pizza" or "Ruth's Nail Salon" you see "The Oak Room" or "Fantasia Lounge." The typeface was arial, all upper case and it definitely had a retro feel to it.

 

The scariest of all has to be the "Touch of Class" lounge. If by class you mean disturbingly large black and white female hands with devil-red nail polish on them, then I guess there's more than a touch of class available in this piano bar - but wow - a little over the top for my liking ;)

 

The rooms weren't ready yet, so we did what 50% of our shipmates did: head up to the Lido deck for some grub. The other 50% were getting drinks, I'd say.

 

Lido Deck Sailaway

 

Before you go thinking me some sort of snobbish old-money blue-blood from the Northeast after my poo-pooing the interior decorating talents of Carnival's designers, let me say that if I was on death row and was given the chance for one last meal, my last meal would be... a cheeseburger. So I too am a man of the people! :D

 

So I was very excited to grab a cheeseburer from the grill. So excited that I didn't mind the wait for said cheeseburger. They had both sections of the grill going and there was quite a line on each. The poor grillman was forced to wear a longsleeved shirt that he was quickly drenching with sweat as it was plenty hot out and even hotter when you're working a grill. These guys had a system though and they were sticking to it. They managed to have a really thick burger cooked perfectly through and I have to say that it was absolutely delicious. The fries were pretty good too. The hotdogs on the grill? Meh, so-so. I also grabbed some desserts from the grill area and was happy to realize that a mere 45 minutes into the cruise I had already overeaten.

 

By the time we finished phase one of our lunch we realized the rooms were ready, so off we went to check those out.

 

Time to Check Out the Room!

 

We had booked an Ocean View GTY and ended up with cabin M254 (main deck - deck 5) near the aft of the vessel on the port side.

 

"What the heck are those things on the walls???"

 

If you've been on the Sensation before you might know what I'm talking about. In the hallways of the stateroom decks there are these metallic baffles.

 

I found a picture of the hallway on webshots

http://travel.webshots.com/photo/1067334493045334506YixGks

but it doesn't quite do the things on the wall justice.

 

Each of those metal pieces were adorned with artwork that was geometric, space-age, M.C. Escher-inspired, and perhaps created with a Spirograph!

 

Well at least we didn't have to see this type of "art" in our room...

 

...or did we?

 

It sort of was a bit comical, but inside our stateroom in the corner of the room was a frosted plexiglass that actually had a light behind it that was controlled by a separate switch.

 

Sexy!

 

All joking aside, the stateroom was certainly bigger than our room on the Sovereign of the Seas, the bathroom was gigantic and our window was nice and big as well. I believe we had the new bedding with a fluffy duvet that was quite nice to sleep in.

 

The daily towel animals were great - be sure to leave some sunglasses lying around so your steward can give your towel animal some extra character!

 

Decorating decisions aside, we were very happy with the stateroom. There was a bit of an odor in the bathroom and throughout the ship early on (the sewer smell) but that went away as the cruise progressed.

 

Time to Dine

 

As we got on the ship we made one last-ditched effort to see if there are any tables for two. No such luck on this ship... we found out that we were at a table of six in the Ecstacy dining room for the 8:00 seating.

 

We were blessed to have two great couples seated with us - one couple was in their early 30's from Tampa, FL and the other was in their early 20's from Atlanta, GA. Conversation flowed easily and we had a great time at dinner.

 

All of us at the table were a little bit creeped out by the flashing lights, and the changing of the lights to red neon by the end of the dining experience. It was annoying to have good conversation interrupted by the Maitre d' doing a Hendix-inspired feedback festival with his Mr. Microphone, but others did seem to enjoy the dancing and conga line activites from the wait staff.

 

Speaking of the waitstaff, our poor head waitress seemed to be abandoned by her assistant, but that's only because I was paying attention. I never would have known otherwise because the service never suffered, but she should not have been bringing me bread or refilling my water glass. She did a spectaculaor job and I had no problem giving her something extra at the end of the cruise - she earned every penny!

 

The quality of the food? I would say it was excellent. I can only compare with Celebrity and Royal Caribbean and would say it was a step-above RC and about on part with Celebrity.

 

Do yourself a favor and don't be afraid to order the sugar-free or "diet" desserts. For whatever reason they are downright delicious! I found something I liked at every course - had lobster tail the first night, veal parm another night and a chicken dish the other night. Everyone was very happy with their meals and the dining experience.

 

Food on the Lido deck was great too - breakfast was good. It seemed like they probably used "egg product" in the scrambled eggs, and although runny it was much better than those we had on RCI's ship. As mentioned I enjoyed the grill.

 

The 24 hour frozen yogurt and icecream machines were excellent - absolutely delicious.

 

Now I had heard people raving about the pizza. Perhaps this is a regional thing or something, but I have to say it does nothing for me. Showering pie with garlic salt does not a great pizza make. Now it was definitely 100% better than RCI's pizza, but that's not a tough statement to make. Maybe it's that I'm from Philadelphia and am used to NY style pizza. It seems so easy to make - and everyone here around here makes it - why can't the ships get this right? It's a cheap food to make - I think they could put a little more time and thought in and get this right.

 

However, the pizza was still most certainly edible and it was a great feature to have whenever you were in the mood - I especially admired those who were eating pizza for breakfast. Party on!

 

Entertainment Options

 

We liked the Lido deck band, they were good as most bands of that style are on ships.

 

We didn't check out any of the onboard comedians - figured we wouldn't like the juggler so we didn't bother - and we were too bagged for the latenight shows.

 

The Karaoke nights with the host Lance were unexepectedly great fun! There are some really talented folks who get up there to sing their lungs out. We were lucky enough to have a gospel choir onboard and heard a fantastic rendition of "I Believe I Can Fly". The last night things got a little rowdy in there, true to the Carnival reputation, I guess. One gentleman actually began to disrobe and grind up against some young ladies. Carnival security was very quick to hustle the man out and get some clothes on him - so it was pretty funny and didn't get out of hand.

 

The 80's Show? Ooo-fa. Our Cruise Director repeatedly said that this was the best show in the fleet. Way to show how right Simon Cowell is when he accuses the poor performers of being "Cruise Ship quality". Unfortunately the singers were off-key, the dancers were attempting moves they couldn't complete successfully. The band did a great job of covering 80's tunes, but the show was quite poor.

 

We also enjoyed the on-deck trivia - there weren't a lot of players and we were hoping for a ship on a stick, but no such luck!

 

The casino was good to us - didn't spend much time in there but they had plenty of games. Odds on the video poker machines stunk, but my wife made up for that at the roulette table - luckily for us.

 

Nassau, the Bahamas

 

We were really considering not bothering to go ashore for Nassau as we had been here before with RCI and it wasn't one of our favorite ports.

 

It's a shame we couldn't just go to a private island instead for a three day cruise, but I have no idea what motivations the cruiselines have for this sort of thing.

 

We took the famed #10 jitney to the Wyndham at Cable Beach. The bus ride was a bit of an adventure as only half the stops seemed to be marked and the doors of the bus stayed open for a good 75% of our journey! We hung out at the pool a bit and then decided to head back to the ship as there was plenty to do on board in ters of activities and that sort of thing.

 

So we didn't do any excursions. Our tablemates did the Blackbeard Cay tour and weren't all that impressed with it. I think if you're in for a day it's probably better to make your own arrangements - it will save you money and you'll probably have more fun.

 

The Cruise Director

 

Have to say a word about the cruise director, Matt Ross.

 

Ugh.

 

NOT a fan of the constant wacky morning zoo radio voice. Not a fan of the horrific jokes. Not a fan of the car salesman pitch about how they really need to get an "exceeds expectations" on the comment card. That was a great way to get me to put "needs improvement" under the cruise director category, that's for sure. Maybe some people like him, but he just rubbed me the wrong way - he just came across as tacky and over the top. His announcements over the PA made me cringe and I just wanted him to catch a sudden bout of laryngitis. \

 

No such luck.

 

Disembarkation - WHY so long?

 

I am not quite sure why disembarkation is such a nightmare, but all they ever did was keep calling the same people down to the information booth on deck 7 and we waited, and waited and waited. If I'm out of my cabin at 8am and doing self assist, I see no reason for me to not get off the ship until 9:30am!

 

This definitely seemed like more of a chore than I had on Sovereign of the Seas with RCI. I think this is something they can definitely improve upon.

 

Rental Car Returning

 

Well if the Budget office was a ghost town on the way to the cruise it was anything but on the way back!

 

There were only two clerks in the Cape Canaveral location, but way more were needed. The air conditioning wasn't working, it was 86 degrees INSIDE and the line was long. It literally took me over an hour and half to get my car. It was starting to feel like missing my flight might actually be a reality. Luckily all was sorted out, I was very nice to the clerk and she gave me a four car upgrade (always be nice to service folks in tense situations - the lady who yelled got nothing - those who empathized at least got a deal on a rental car).

 

I was happy to have enough time to stop at the Sonic in Cocoa (they NEED Sonic in PA/NJ!!) and when we got to the airport, dropping off the plane was a joke it was so easy. We got on the plane on time and got back to Philadelphia on schedule.

 

Conclusion

 

So like I say, it might sound like a lot of nitpicking, but we really had an excellent, relaxing vacation.

 

I wish the decor was different and I'm not sure if other newer and larger Carnival ships are a little bit more under-stated. I would definitely give Carnival another chance, but not on this particular ship. (For the record I wouldn't sail the Sovereign of the Seas again either).

 

We're going to try the Norwegian Pearl and Crown Princess next so I'll see what the pluses and minuses are of those lines.

 

I hope that ths review provides some extra information for folks and like I said, this is all just my opinion. We're not party folks, we're not middle-aged, we didn't bring our daughter on ship, etc. so there are some pieces that I just won't have for you.

 

I hope that no one sees this as a slam-review - it's not, it's just the ship as I saw it. There are probably 2400 other opinions from folks who were on the same ship as my wife and I!

[bthorn1108]

Loved your review. I have been on the Sensation, twice so far. Once was for a 7 nt sailing back in 2002 and the last time was just a short 1 nt to nowhere, after it's FEMA charter. We are planning the 3 nt for January, so I was curious how things had improved/declined over the past few years.

 

The decor is not to my liking either, and it is less "loud" on Carnival's newer ships. I've always preferred the food and cabins on Carnival to RCCL, and although the cabins are better than Princess', I think the food is just a little better on Princess. I love Carnival's new bedding, very comfortable. If you should happen to find yourself in Nassau again, you might want to check out the snorkel excursions available through Stuart's Cove. We have been to Nassau too many times to count and were planning on staying onboard in January, till I found out about Stuart's Cove. It sounds like they have an excursion that will be great fun.

 

Have fun on NCL and Princess and look forward to hearing your comparisons.

[Spork]

If you should happen to find yourself in Nassau again, you might want to check out the snorkel excursions available through Stuart's Cove. We have been to Nassau too many times to count and were planning on staying onboard in January, till I found out about Stuart's Cove. It sounds like they have an excursion that will be great fun.

 

Have fun on NCL and Princess and look forward to hearing your comparisons.

 

Actually when we went on the Sovereign of the Seas and docked in Nassau we did the Submarine Adventure which was offered by Stuart Cove's.

 

They're definitely a great outfit, but unfortunately my wife and I got pretty sick on that particular tour - the water was pretty choppy. I think we would have preferred the pure snorkeling trip.

 

I am with you though, I would recommend them to others, we were just a little gun shy. Probably nothing a little dramamine wouldn't fix though!

 

Good to hear that the decor is toned down a bit on the newer ships. I know that post-Katrina/FEMA the ship was refurbished. Just not sure how much was refubed on the boat though given the aged look of the decor - is that new and improved or were all the refurbs done on things like carpet and bedding?

[bthorn1108]

Actually when we went on the Sovereign of the Seas and docked in Nassau we did the Submarine Adventure which was offered by Stuart Cove's.

 

They're definitely a great outfit, but unfortunately my wife and I got pretty sick on that particular tour - the water was pretty choppy. I think we would have preferred the pure snorkeling trip.

 

I am with you though, I would recommend them to others, we were just a little gun shy. Probably nothing a little dramamine wouldn't fix though!

 

Good to hear that the decor is toned down a bit on the newer ships. I know that post-Katrina/FEMA the ship was refurbished. Just not sure how much was refubed on the boat though given the aged look of the decor - is that new and improved or were all the refurbs done on things like carpet and bedding?

 

I was allowed to view the ship and stay onboard immediately after it's refubishment, post-FEMA. I was not very impressed with the results. They must have concentrated solely on the soft goods (bedding, carpets, drapes, napkins, etc), because the ship looked exactly the same as when I was onboard in April 2002. Actually, it looked a little more worn, in the public areas :( The only reason I am considering the ship again, is because I'm celebrating my 50th birthday and I wanted something short and sweet that left from a port close to home. IMHO, any day onboard ANY ship beats a day at work, so it will work for my particular circumstances.

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

I was allowed to view the ship and stay onboard immediately after it's refubishment, post-FEMA. I was not very impressed with the results. They must have concentrated solely on the soft goods (bedding, carpets, drapes, napkins, etc), because the ship looked exactly the same as when I was onboard in April 2002...

 

We sailed on the Sensation a few times (pre-Katrina) as you can see from our signature. And we noticed a few areas of "hard" changes on our recent sailing. In the main dining room it appeared that the ceiling and booths were replaced. In the lido deck dining area there used to be a lot of purple snake-like tubes covering the ceiling - those have been removed in favor of a more subdued ceiling. A very big change was the remodeling of the suites... have a look (gone is the black trim and horrid colors):

 

 

Tom

[divadiverfl]

Just got off the Sensation Sunday--my short reply is--for the money you can't beat it.

We didn't eat in the dining room this time so no comment. But I did miss it--It seemed like the same for for lunch and dinner on the Lido.

We took full advanage staying ion the island all day and until most of the night.

Went to Cabbage beach then to Cable beach all for free (except the taxi ride). Great views and very relaxing and not crowed.

I will say you did not miss anything on the comedy shows--we left.l

So 5 minutes of the 80;s show.

The Lido band was very good-The band in the Michangelo lounge was good.

The bar staff (just some of them) needs a little customer service classes. There was one person that was very rude and 3 persons before us complained about him.

Over all we are booking the same cruise for March--can't beat the price and the service overall we can handle.

Oh yea bring a flashlight to the kaliedescope (disco)--very dark when you are sitting. We spilled 2 drinks because of missing the table. And no we were no tipsy--just started.

 

Over all 1-10------We give it an 7:D

[Mirage2005]

Spork - Loved your post. Glad you had the same assessment of the cruise director Matt. God, he was horrible. Kinda like an over the top version of a spoof you might see on Saturday Night Live. Wonder if he ever watches tapes of himself? How many times do you think he said "give it up" wanting a round of applause for everything? He was the worst cruise director we've ever come across, that's for sure.

[Spork]

Spork - Loved your post. Glad you had the same assessment of the cruise director Matt. God, he was horrible. Kinda like an over the top version of a spoof you might see on Saturday Night Live. Wonder if he ever watches tapes of himself? How many times do you think he said "give it up" wanting a round of applause for everything? He was the worst cruise director we've ever come across, that's for sure.

 

The "hyuk hyuk hyuk" <insert awkward pause for applause break> was fantastic, wasn't it?

 

I couldn't bring myself to heckle because I really didn't want to ruin it for everyone else, but my goodness did he rub me the wrong way.

 

You shouldn't repeatedly say on your cruise, "I wish I could just punch him in the face to shut him up!"

 

:D

[brokenlola]

Thanks for the entertaining review. Great writing!

 

Jackie

sensation 2.4.07

[Mirage2005]

The "hyuk hyuk hyuk" <insert awkward pause for applause break> was fantastic, wasn't it?

 

I couldn't bring myself to heckle because I really didn't want to ruin it for everyone else, but my goodness did he rub me the wrong way.

 

You shouldn't repeatedly say on your cruise, "I wish I could just punch him in the face to shut him up!"

 

:D

 

LOL. He was soooo God awful bad it wasn't even funny. We were a party of 8. One night five walked out of the theater before the entertainment even began. I was too polite to do that but could hardly stomach the man. I really think he thought he was entertaining. Worst cruise director ever. We cruised to Hawaii in 1998 and had a husband/wife team as cruise directors. They were awesome. She was beautiful and boy was he good looking. They were the best. I'm surprised more people haven't complained about this jerk - but then again most of the posters are die hard Carnival fans. Good, bad, or ugly.

[polly57]

Our first time on Carnival, we will be on the Sensation for a four day cruise in December. I'd be very thankful if you could answer a few questions:

 

Our ta asked whether we want early or late seating. What are the actual times that dinner is served on the Sensation?

 

I understand that there are two production shows on board. On the four day cruise, what nights are the shows and what times are the shows? If you pick late seating do you see the show before dinner? Is it ever possible to see two shows per night and eat dinner in the dining room or are the show times the same at the dining times? (We will know one of the performers.)

 

We've only been on two previous cruises. One to Alaska on Princess and one to Bermuda on RCL. We were very disappointed with the quality of the food on RCL compared to the Coral Princess, especally the seafood (small tasteless shrimp and lobster). How is the quality of the seafood on Carnival?

 

Thanks so much for the suite pics. Looks like a big improvement from previous pictures. I see you had the sofa made up as a bed. How comfortable was the sofa bed?

 

Thanks!!