Sensation Review 10/21/07

[routonc]

This was the first cruise for dh and I. We were on the Carnival Sensation 4 day to Freeport and Nassau. This is kind of a long review for those who like them detailed (like me). For those that don't I've tried to create sections.

 

We left on Saturday afternoon to head to Cocoa Beach. We knew we wanted to get there the day before so we would have some time to see the town, go by Walmart and pick up some water and run some other errands. Thanks to the great people on the "I work in Port Canaveral" thread (http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=436720&page=115) we found our hotel just fine and felt familiar with the area the day we got in. I'll be posting a review of the hotel and other info about the area in that thread.

 

On Sunday after breakfast we hit the mall and Walmart. We picked up a sports coat for dh since I'd sent his out to be cleaned, not realizing it wouldn't be back in time. Then we picked up some water and some of those mix-ins to flavor the water. Then we headed to the pier.

 

GETTING TO THE PIER & CHECKIN

 

The directional signs didn't help. There were 2 signs - the north part of Port Canaveral and the south. Each sign said "to cruise terminals". We first ended up going south and realized we were headed away from the ships and towards Jetty Park. So we got back onto the main road and took the northern exit. From there on it was easy to find the way to Pier 5 and Sensation.

 

The baggage handlers did not have luggage tags, so I took out the ones I'd printed and we tagged our bags and sent them away. There were signs stating the porters were salaried, but we tipped $5 anyway. Then we parked our car and headed towards the check in area.

 

I'm not sure what time we got in line, but it moved pretty fast. We showed our passports and fun pass to the first set of people at the doors. Then we moved through to security and the X-ray machines. There were some people carrying on big suitcases and as a reminder the security people said that if the guests couldn't lift the suitcase to the x-ray machine it needed to be checked, so be sure you are carrying on what you can carry. Also, my dh had to remove his belt and his boots as they had metal in them. So if you wear steel-toed boots, chains, or other metal items, it may be wise to wear tennis shoes and leave the biker chains at home. These boots gave us problems the entire trip.

 

After security we headed upstairs and had to fill out our forms for entry to the Bahamas. We weren't in line very long before we were heading to a desk to get our cards and room keys.

 

Before we boarded, the Carnival picture people were set up. We took our boarding photo, then headed to the ship. We had to have our S&S cards and our passports out for photo ID to board. Then they took our security picture and we were onboard.

 

FIRST TIME ONBOARD

 

Our first impressions was that it was crowded! The purser's desk had a long line and the bar in the atrium was packed. It was almost 2pm, so we decided to find our room first. We were on the main deck. Some of our luggage was already outside of our door. That bothered dh as we both thought it would be inside the room. We began to unpack and drank some of our water.

 

We found out what time the drill was the take place and found our muster station info on the closet poster. We had to go to the purser's desk to get a copy of that day's Capers. By then it was time to get our vests and get ready for the muster drill.

 

During the drill the ship began to sail away, so while we were on deck we watched until the ship cleared Jetty Park. We had a drink to celebrate leaving on our first cruise, then headed to the pizzaria for something to eat. After eating, we explored the ship and then headed back to the room to get ready for our dinner at 8:30.

 

PROBLEMS AND NOTES

 

There wasn't a remote for the TV in the room - I looked everywhere - and we didn't have a Capers for the day's events. We had to ask a room steward what time the drill was going to be held and pick up a copy of the Capers at the purser's desk.

 

The Internet Cafe was right at the purser's desk, but no one was there. It wasn't until later I realized how to get an account. You sign up AT the computer station. When you click on "log in" there are instructions on how to set up your username and password and purchase a plan using your S&S card. Whenever I needed to use a computer, there was usually one available. I got an hour plan so I could email my son.

 

Yes, there is a lot of purple on the ship, but it didn't seem all that loud or overpowering to me. It's a lot of deep purple, not a bright violet color of purple.

 

The TV in our room did have a/v jacks for a DVD player and a video channel if someone wanted to attach one.

 

They played the same 3 movies every day on the passenger movie channel. I never wanted to see Pirates of the Caribbean 3 ever again.

 

Seasickness - the first day there were times I felt a bit dizzy if I noticed the ship moving. Usually it was at dinner or other times when sitting still. If I looked out of our window after sitting still then I also felt a bit dizzy. After that I was fine until the last night. After the show on Wednesday night I felt a noticeable increase in the ship's movement. I don't know if they were gunning the engines or what, but it did make me feel very dizzy and very aware of the movement. I was okay after I went to bed, though.

 

The Formalities shop told my dh they couldn't deliver flowers to our table at the formal night dinner. However, they delivered flowers the last night to our table for someone else, so I don't know why they couldn't deliver before. I did get the flowers at my room.

 

The steward didn't come when paged and never introduced himself.

 

We DID NOT get a statement for our S&S card each night. We went to the purser's desk on Monday and were told we would get one on Tuesday. We didn't get one until Wednesday and got our final one on Thursday. I didn't think to ask if I could get a balance from them, though. So if you're on a limit with your debit card or credit card then be sure to keep track or see if the purser's office will at least give you the balance.

 

The showers were hot and the bed was very comfortable.

 

The AC didn't always work well and the controls weren't labeled.

 

FOOD AND DRINK

 

The best place to eat - the small back deck behind the pizza area on the Lido deck. It was almost always empty or had very few people.

 

The Du Chevre pizza with goat cheese was amazing! We ate it almost every day for lunch.

 

The chocolate melting cake was great too! All the desserts were good.

 

One day for lunch I had tilapia with an orange sauce at the buffet at the Sea View. It was excellent! Best tilapia ever!

 

The steak I had for dinner one night was a bit tough, but the chicken and ribs were tender. The portions are small, but you can ask for more.

 

The drinks were strong! Be prepared!

 

Water was the only thing served at dinner unless you wanted a drink. Coffee was served after dinner. If you want a drink, bring along something from the buffet area or a mix-in pouch for your water.

 

OTHER

 

The specials in the Capers were not very well detailed, IMO. They didn't always give the location of the stores so we had to search.

 

We didn't use the pools or hot tubs, but when I wanted a deck chair on the sun deck I found one.

 

The computers worked well and weren't that slow. I was usually on about 15 min to check and send mail through yahoo. There was always a computer available.

 

SHOWS

 

We didn't see the show the first night. We were too tired. We did see "Far From Over", the 80s show, and it was fantastic! The next night was the comedy / magician show. The magician was funnier than the comedian to me. I saw the show "Curves" on the last night. It was definitely racy and suggestive, so it is PG 13. The costumes are nothing more than what you would see at the beach, but there was a burlesque type striptease in the show. I missed the beginning, so I'm not sure how it all tied together. It seemed like a bunch of songs that didn't really relate. I could have skipped it and not missed much. I didn't like the lounge where they had the shows. If you didn't sit in the middle there was a pole or something else blocking your view. One entire couch on the far left was always empty because you could only see the orchestra from there, nothing else. So get there early if you want a good view, or sit up in the balcony area if you can get up there, and try to find a spot without a pole blocking your view.

 

There is much more but I have to get ready for class and leave in an hour. I will post more later.

[angelsfort]

we were on the sensation the week before you boarded, and I agree with you 100% about the lounge where they have the shows... if you don't get a seat right in the center, you have something blocking your view. It was set up very strange, and in my opinion very poorly. The poles "look nice" but they are not good for looking through!!

 

Our room steward was INCREDIBLE... as was the other steward we saw in our hallway. They were both extremely personable and helpful at any time. We never had to page him for anything, but I'm quite sure that he would have come running. (he was just that good!) You could have let your room steward know that you didn't have a remote control for your TV, they could have gotten you one.

 

In the dining room, the chicken was overdone (everytime anyone at our table got it) but the steak was really good. (on the last night, I think everyone but me got the steak for dinner!) And you could have gotten Iced Tea or even Milk or juice at dinner... my daughter and I had a glass of milk every night with our dessert. (and our table mates usually got the iced tea)

 

We got our first S&S statement on Wednesday morning (it was slid under our door while we slept) and a final statement Thursday morning...

[routonc]

Okay, here is the rest of the review. I do want to add that we left our steward a note about the remote for the TV and did get one on Monday night.

 

FREEPORT

 

In Freeport we wanted to go to Rand Nature Center. We went to the tourist info booth near the taxi stands. The lady inside got with one of the taxi guys and he said he would get someone to take us out for the day and it would be about $80. We agreed. Dh had to go back on the ship to get more cash and that's when the boot thing began. He had to take off his boots each time we boarded due to the metal in the toes. He finally got back and we met up with our taxi driver. She drove us to Rand Nature Center, it was about a 15-20 minute drive.

 

The nature center was not what I expected. The hurricanes have scared off the flamingos and there really wasn't a lot there. It was a nice walk, but nothing I couldn't see at home. There were hardly any birds or anything, and it cost $5 each to get into the center.

 

We were there about an hour, then we met back up with our driver and went to International Bazaar for lunch. The place where I wanted to eat was closed for renovations, so she took us to a local place called Sire's. It was good - we had shrimp - but it took a long time to get our food. My dh even bought the driver something to eat and a drink. For 3 lunches plus drinks - I had soda and dh tried a Kalik beer - it was $40.

 

Then she took us back to the ship and told us it was $120 for 2 1/2 hours. I spoke up and said we were told $80 - mistake #1 was not verifying the price upfront. Dh took out $100 and told her it was all we had. Remember this is after we bought her lunch. She took the $100. Then we stopped by a gift shop and bought some postcards and a shot glass for our collection and headed back on the ship. We spent the afternoon doing laundry and getting ready for formal night. So, our lesson for next time is to either arrange a ride ahead of time using the info from the Bahamas board or doing a ship excursion.

 

BTW, one of the launderettes on Sensation is on the Empress Deck near Cabin #2 on the even side. Go all the way down the hall and right at cabin 2 is a turn to the right. The launderette is right there on the left. It was $2 to wash, $2 to dry and $1.25 for the soap. It only takes quarters and you can get them at the purser's desk.

 

We tried to attend the get together before our formal dinner but it took too long for us to get ready. So we stood in line to have our pictures made for formal night then headed to the dining room for our 8:30 dinner. It was very nice to see everyone dressed up. After dinner, we rushed to the room to change clothes and then went to see the show "Far from Over". This was the 80s show everyone has been talking about, and it was worth it! It was fantastic! The best part was the many visions of Madonna.

 

After the show we headed to bed so we would be rested for Nassau.

 

NASSAU

 

After our problems with the taxi driver in Freeport we decided to take a ship's tour in Nassau instead of doing the walking tour or getting a taxi somewhere. So we did the "Historical Highlights" tour. BORING! That is the only word for it. The driver crammed us into his van, then took us around town. Traffic was terrible! They ignore all traffic rules, it seems. We got to Queen's Staircase and he told us he would meet us up top in 20 minutes. We took some pictures at the stairs and started to climb. By the time we reached Fort Fincastle and got up top it was time to leave. It was hard to even get to the castle entrance due to all the taxis up there and the stalls on the sides of the road and the people blocking everything. I took 3 pictures and then we had to go.

 

Taxis were blocking us in and we ended up waiting for one to load right in front of us. After that we drove around and around, going no where in particular. We went through some questionable areas of town and then some more residential areas while the driver told us about the economics, politics, etc. of the Bahamas. We got to see the steeples of the churches instead of the entire buildings. After we got back to the pier we boarded the ship so I could change clothes - I wore jeans for the tour and it was too hot - and then we made our way out again with the walking tour info in hand to find our own way. We visited the old jail - now the library - and saw the old churches. Then we made our way back to the pier to catch the water taxi to Paradise Island and Atlantis.

 

I wasn't bothered by hair braiders since I have short hair, but we were bothered by women with necklaces. They would try to hand you a necklace and if you took it they wanted a donation.

 

We caught the water taxi and had another "tour guide" on the way over. We passed a lot of the fancy houses and got some good pictures of Atlantis from the water. It was a long walk to Atlantis from the ferry stop, but it was worth it. Atlantis was beautiful! We did get into the digs for free. It was about 5:30 or so and they had already left for the day. We spent a lot of time there. Then we left and headed back towards the ferry stop to find a taxi. One found us as we stood on a street corner trying to figure out where to go since the last ferry had already run for the day.

 

We got back to the wharf, boarded the ship, then got ready for dinner. I do want to admit that we did break down and wear our jeans on the ship and on excursions, but we did not wear them to dinner.

 

This was the day we saw the magician and the comedian. The magician was better than the comedian, IMO. I think this was also the night they showed "Nightmare on Elm Street" as their Halloween movie in the lounge.

 

DAY AT SEA

 

We spent this day packing and being lazy. After a buffet lunch we did our shopping. We bought our pictures - no discount - and some T-shirts (2 for $20) for my son and my niece. We played a bit in the casino - not too much - and I sang one karaoke song. We did more laundry as well. Dh attended the debarkation talk. It was 10 minutes of info about customs and how to debark and the rest was about tipping and what sales were going on. IMO, you can skip the talk and catch what you need on TV later. They replayed stuff all the time. We did get our statement that morning.

 

We attended the Newlywed Game. I wanted to get picked but they went for newlyweds, 25 year married and over 50 year married. It was fun to watch, though. Then we finished our packing and got ready for our last dinner.

 

This was one of the only nights dh and I both felt dizzy and sick. He started feeling it early, before dinner, but I didn't feel it until after the 10:30pm show. We both felt better after going to bed, though.

 

DEBARKING

 

We were up at 6 and out of the cabin by 7:30am. We did get our final statement slid under the door. We went to the Lido for the breakfast buffet and had one last walk along the deck. Then we headed to the lounge to wait for our number. They started calling sections at 8am. I'm not sure when we were called, but we were through customs and on our way by 9:30am. If you can get a porter to carry your luggage, you'll go through faster.

 

So that's it. I'm sure there is a lot I forgot, so if you have a question please ask. Our son wasn't with us, so we didn't use the soda cards or Camp Carnival or the arcade. We also didn't use the pools or hot tubs. We did explore the ship and found the adult sun deck, but no one was up actually sunning. The only people we saw up there were just enjoying the view from the railings.

 

My dh had roses delivered to me on formal night and you CAN take them off the ship. Customs had no problems with them.

[pacerzfan]

Thank you for your review.

[angelsfort]

Great review! Thanks!

 

So all in all, you had a nice cruise... would you sail on the Sensation again? I definitely would.

[routonc]

Great review! Thanks!

 

So all in all, you had a nice cruise... would you sail on the Sensation again? I definitely would.

 

Yes, we would. We would do different things in port, though, and I think one more time to the Bahamas will be enough. We're only going to go this next time because my son wants to go and he wants to hit Sea World as well. If it wasn't for Sea World, I would pick another trip leaving from Lauderdale or even Mobile, AL maybe.

[angelsfort]

I just spend the day on the boat in Nassau. I've been on several cruises and every one of them stopped there... I'm in the "been there, done that" stage.

 

We find fun things to do on the boat (like play a photo scavenger hunt game... we made up a list of things to photograph, and then we had to walk around the boat and try to capture each thing on the list... some things were hard to get!! We had to politely ask some of the other passengers if they'd mind switching hats or something like that... nothing major though)

 

I think the day at Nassau went the fastest... we kept ourselves occupied quite well. (time flies when you are having fun!)

[laura2161]

So do they still have a time when you have to be out of your cabin on debarkation morning or can you now wait in the cabin until you're called?

 

Sailing on Sensation in December. Can't wait :)

[laura2161]

And thanks for the review! Very detailed, with good and bad. (agree about the historical tour in Nassau- Boring beyond words)

[angelsfort]

On our cruise we had to be out of our cabin by 8am...

[routonc]

So do they still have a time when you have to be out of your cabin on debarkation morning or can you now wait in the cabin until you're called?

 

Sailing on Sensation in December. Can't wait :)

 

We had to be out of the cabin by 8am. We got up at 6am, showered, dressed, packed the remaining few items we had left and were out by 7:30 and on our way to eat breakfast. We were through customs by 9:30am.