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Sensation 3-day review 8/30-9/2/2007 (long!!)

obx_fintoo

By obx_fintoo,
in Carnival Cruise Lines

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obx_fintoo

obx_fintoo

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Background:

This was our first family cruise. DH and I had been on 13 prior cruises (all Carnival) and decided it was time to take DD (3.5 yrs old) as she put it “on the big boat with Mommy and Daddy”. Our neighbors and their DD (6 yrs old) came along but we agreed ahead of time that each family would mostly do their own thing once on the boat.

NOTE: I will also be posting a “kid stuff” review on the family board if anyone is interested.

Port Canaveral:

We flew in from Norfolk on Southwest the morning of the cruise. Flight was direct and we had no issues. We arrived just before noon and our neighbors who had flown in earlier were at the door to pick us up. They rented a mini-van which was a much better value than the Carnival transfer of $35 per person each way!

We got to the port at 1:00. Parking is $12/day. I was used to JAXPort where they check your ID and boarding docks when you drive in, but they didn’t do that at Port Canaveral. Not sure if they never check, or if it was just because it was later in the day.

VIP check in was a breeze. They whisked us in and to the front of the security line, then we proceeded to the VIP lounge. There was a short wait while another family checked in, then we were up. DD’s S&S card for some reason had not been pulled with ours, but that was quickly remedied and we were led to the pictures and S&S photos, then on board by 1:20. The doors to the rooms were closed when we got there, but we were in the room by 1:30 and it was ready.

Day 1:

DH & DD went to the buffet for lunch while I quickly unpacked (we elected to carry on everything – 2 duffle bags, 1 garment bag, 1 rolling suitcase and DD’s rolling backpack) then joined them. The dining room food was good for the whole cruise. The first day we especially enjoyed the lemon grouper and roast turkey. DD was a big fan of the soft serve ice cream!

After lunch we went up to the Verandah deck to check DD into Camp Carnival. We had been handed a CC flyer with Day 1 info as we boarded the ship. For children under 5, you are assigned a pager for the entire cruise. We filled out the paper work, got our pager and headed to the room to rest before muster drill. We were a little worried that DD wouldn’t make it with the harried schedule, but she was a trooper the entire cruise. Muster drill went smoothly and we did not have to go outside to the lifeboats. Afterwards, we put away our life jackets and headed to the Lido for the Sailaway Party! We were sailing just after 4pm.

We had early seating in the Ecstacy dining room and were seated in a booth by ourselves. We usually have early seating because we eat early at home, and although we had heard that most families with younger kids also did early seating, we had never noticed an abundance of kids in the dining room. Now we know why! All families with younger children (say 10 and under) were in the middle of the dining room in the raised area. I did not notice any problems or noise, but we were all nicely out of the way of cruisers without kids.

Jesus was our head-waiter and Tatiana was his assistant. Dirk was the bar server. They all immediately fell head over heels for DD and proceeded to entertain her for the entire dinner.

The food was very good! DH had the Mississippi Delta Prawns as a starter, no salad, then the Lobster tail and shrimp for an entrée. I had the Baked White Stuffed Mushrooms starter, a Caesar salad with dressing on the side, and the Prime Rib entrée. The steak was rare as requested and very tender. DD ordered off the adults menu. She had the Strawberry Bisque (which tastes like a strawberry shake in a bowl!), and the Fresh Salmon entrée. She and I split the steak and salmon. I have to say that this was one of the best pieces of salmon I had ever tried. It was so moist it practically melted in your mouth. For dessert DD had brownies. DH and I were full. We left before the singing, etc. to get DD to Camp Carnival at 7pm

We had dressed for dinner, so we went back to the room to change her into shorts. Paul, our room steward, had brought in a trundle bed for DD as requested and left her a bull dog towel animal, which she loved! Then we headed to Camp Carnival on the Verandah deck. They had activities such as a bubble dance party, story time and silly songs from 7-10 finishing up with a cartoon while the kids stretched out on blankets and quieted down. DH and I spent the evening in the casino, staying about even between roulette and slots. I checked on DD practically every 30-40 minutes, keeping out of site, and she was always having a ball. I picked her up just before 10 on the first night. She was asleep within a few minutes once we got to the room.

I ordered room service and DH arrived just after it got there. We had a snack, then called it a night.

Day 2 – Nassau:

We woke up around 7am, got dressed and headed to the Seaview Bistro Grill for breakfast. The usual fare, but decent. Afterwards, we explored the aft decks. The kids pool was one deck below the Lido but it wasn’t very clean. Nothing gross, but fluff and specks floating around, so that I wasn’t keen on us getting in there. One deck up from the Lido aft was the adults only pool and hot tubs. It was next to the basketball courts, however there was only one small sign that I could see that said it was adults only. This was on the hot tub on the port side. I did occasionally see kids in this area and again, I wouldn’t call it clearly marked.

DD and I changed into swimsuits and killed some time in the main Lido pool as we were pulling in to Nassau around 10am. After that we grabbed some lunch and ventured out. The weather was beautiful but it was hot! We had originally planned to do the Dolphin Encounter, but it was only offered at 1pm and would have been a pretty tight schedule for the formal night festivities. Our Plan B was to visit the Ardastra Gardens and Zoo, but that fell through as well. DD was just too hot to walk around the Zoo for any extended time. We debated the Glass Bottom boat tour but none were leaving when we were ready. We looked into the Hansom Cab rides and were told the horses were resting until 3pm. Don’t blame them, ‘cause it was hot! We walked around and stopped at some of our favorite shops, took a few pics, then went back on board to cool off. DH picked up a six pack of Kalik and carried it on board to help with the cooling off process! On the way out, we confirmed with security that this is allowed. We had no troubles at all! DD watched a movie on our portable DVD and we all relaxed in the A/C. Please note that I am not complaining about the weather. My last few trips to Nassau have been cool and rainy, so I could adjust to a little heat!

After 3, we headed out to try the Hansom Cabs. For $20 they will drive you around for about 25 minutes and point out landmarks. It is a nice relaxing way to explore the area. We now come to the most humorous part of our adventure. As stated above, the driver is supposed to tell you all about the sites and the area as you go by. Our driver was a nice old man named Tony. Tony had apparently had some throat problems and was unable to speak above a whisper! He did indeed point our sights but we had to lean forward and strain to hear him. DD announced, “Mommy, Tony talks funny!” Still it was an entertaining half hour and we probably got to see more than most folks, because Tony’s horse was pretty slow too! After the trip was over, we bought another six pack of Kalik and headed back to the room to get prepped for formal night.

We had a quick nap and then got ready. The shower head does detach from the wall, so I was able to hose off DD even though she wasn’t thrilled about it. We finally got ready and headed upstairs. With the nap, we had decided not to eat in the dining room. DD didn’t want to do the CC formal party, so we took several formal portraits and had a snack in the Seaview. Again, the food was very good, with only one exception. They had roast lamb and it was very dry. Everything else was fine.

Back to the room for casino clothes for me and play clothes for DD. Paul had left us a bunny towel animal and a cookie for DD. Our petit-fors were delivered while we were there. I took DD to CC then met DH at the roulette table where he was having a very good night! I had planned to pick up DD at 9 since it had been a long day, but she wasn’t interested in that idea. I came back after the cartoon and picked her up at 9:55.

Same pattern as the first night (room service, etc.) with the exception of DH coming home later, near midnight, which was quickly forgiven as he was loaded with $$!:D

Day 3 – at Sea:

This was the day that we realized that the 3 day cruise was just too short! We headed to the Seaview for breakfast. I visited the omelet station which is outside at the poolside buffet. It was delicious as usual. We were going to stop by the pool with DD but nothing was open before 10. The CC activities sounded like fun to her, so we dropped her off from 10 to noon and we caught some sun by the adult pool. The water this entire cruise was calm, but this day it really looked like we were on a giant lake. I have never seen it so smooth. It was a nice quiet morning. We found and purchased some of our formal portraits as well.

Afterwards, we had lunch, then washed off DD’s face paint! They had done Circus games and all the kids looked like clowns! It was fun in the buffet to see who else had been at CC. They were closed between 12-2 for kids under 2 to play in the room with their parents and for the family Build-a-Bear session. I asked DD but she opted not to do the bear. DH and I took turns not getting into the finals for the slot tourney, then we rested in the room, watching movies. At 3:30 DD and I went to the Afternoon Tea Time.

This was very nicely done. It was in the Touch of Class piano bar which is decorated by these enormous fingers of black and white. It fit very well with the rest of the décor! The waiters first came by with our tea selections. I chose the lemon and DD had orange spice with lots of cream. We had salmon on baguettes, cucumber finger sandwiches, chocolate biscuits and lots of other goodies. As appears to be the norm, the waiters loved DD. One came by with the last raspberry tart that he had saved for her, and when she told him “Thank you!” he just beamed from ear to ear. It was done very casually with a few couples but mostly women with a few mother and daughter tables. DD was the youngest there.

Before dinner, we got everything but our clothes for the next day and toiletries packed up. For our last evening, we had a quick bite in the Seaview and DD then joined the CC group dinner for dessert. The counselors then led them over to Camp for the evening’s activities. DH and I spent the rest of the time in the casino and thankfully didn’t give it all back. I even got up a bit on roulette but put that back at the craps table that was just too cold! I knew better! At 9:30 sharp I picked DD up from Camp Carnival and we settled in for the night.

Debarkation:

As Platinum guests, we were eligible for Priority Debarkation. We met in the Card Room with ~ 15-20 other people at 7:30. There were a few people being paged that hadn’t cleared immigration and we were worried that might hold us up, but it was resolved after only a few announcements. We were led off by one of the Social Hosts and breezed through customs. Back to the car by 8:15am.

Since we had afternoon flights, we headed to Cocoa Beach for breakfast, a trip to Ron Jon’s, and a short visit to the beach. It’s just a few miles South of the port. Our friends dropped us off at the airport just after noon for our 2:55 flight, which was a very good idea. It was the last day of summer vacation before school for most people and Orlando International was packed to the gills with kids coming home from Disney World! There were more ears there than I’d seen since I was last in DW in 1982! Maybe we’ll do that trip after a year or two. In the mean time, we had time to make it through security, grab a bite to eat, then only a short wait at the gate until we boarded. Again the flight was uneventful. I enjoyed Southwest and would fly them again. Back in Norfolk on time with fond memories of our first family cruise!

Miscellaneous observations:

Service overall was good. The staff was friendly and very attentive to DD. Food was good in both the dining room and buffet. The deli was good but the pizza seemed sub-par with not enough sauce. The De Chevre was good. Casino staff was friendly and helpful for the most part. My favorite bar server was Matthew from India, who took very good care of us.

We didn’t do the shows, so no comments there. Also, didn’t have much interaction with the Cruise Director, however his announcements were usually funny. This was a different type cruise for DH and me as it was more geared to DD’s needs. We enjoyed seeing the ship through her eyes and plan to continue to do some adults only cruises with some family cruises in the mix (possibly with grandparents included). Again, the 3 day was just too short, but we wanted to make sure she liked it prior to a longer commitment. Lesson learned!

If anyone has questions that I haven’t covered, please feel free to ask away.

Happy Sailing!

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Jsme

Jsme

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Tresa, I am glad you guys had a wonderful time. Your review is awesome. I know DD had a great time. The elevators!! lol She is just too sweet.

 

It is nice to know more about the Sensation since we have thought seriously about booking her a few times.

 

You need Jeff there for you to play dice. Nice to know you came back with some of their money.

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obx_fintoo

obx_fintoo

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This was a nice read. We have a 3 yr old also and have been wanting to take him on a cruise. It was nice to see that they treated your DD so well. We might have to plan one now.

 

They really do love the kiddos! Even stopping their work in the hallways to say hello and talk to them. Plan away and have a great cruise!

 

Thanks for the review. Glad to hear your DD enjoyed the cruise. My 2 year old DD will be cruising with me & DH in December, and I'm hoping it will go as well as yours did.

 

I'm sure she will have a great time. Just be prepared for some quite time in the afternoons to keep her going through the end.

 

P.S. I'm a huge Princess Bride fan, so love your signon name!:)

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obx_fintoo

obx_fintoo

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Great review!! Glad you guys had a good time... I love the Sensation. Now you know DD loves to cruise, you guys need to jump on 4 ;) LOL!!!!!

 

Thanks! You know it's still on my radar! I'd love to join you guys!

 

and BTW, if/when we do book this one, it won't be a family cruise!:p :D

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obx_fintoo

obx_fintoo

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Very nice review Fintoo and sounds like you had wonderful time :)

 

So did DD enjoy her first cruise? :p

 

Just ask her and she'll talk none stop for about 15 minutes about all the fun she had! :D The kicker.... first thing she mentions to everyone is the glass elevators! LOL

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Jsme

Jsme

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LOL That is exactly what I said! Can't play craps anymore unless Jeff is there to yell "Money!" for me!:D

 

Yeah we have to plan one soon. It has been too long. I keep on telling Steve that if I win the lottery you guys are coming with us for NYE. Jeff said all the kids will come with us too. Now does that sound like fun to you? lol

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