Sensation 7/10 review with pics

[lmt0714]

I sailed on the Carnival Sensation 7/10-13 with 10 other girls for a bachelorette party. I wanted to give my views, opinions and experiences because I know I got a lot of info from the boards as I was planning. Most of the pictures I took ended up being our late night party pictures so I don’t have many of the ship or port, but I’ll include what I have.

 

Overall, our group had a blast. That being said, I went in to the trip with pretty low expectations for the ship and knowing that we just wanted to have a good time with the girls. The ship, in my opinion, is old and outdated. I expected the purple which was fine, but the room décor (except for the bedding) was retro 70’s-ish, the common area bathrooms were pretty gross (yucky tile and smelly), and the pool was very small. I also went on a bachelorette cruise 2 years ago on Majesty of the Seas and thought the boat was in much better shape. The price was about the same, but we chose this ship because the port was closer and we got to stay overnight in Nassau. Bottom line…would I sail on this ship for a weekend with my husband? No. But for what we went for we had a good time.

 

First day – Embarkation

 

Embarkation at Port Canaveral was awesome! I used to work for a company that did ship weddings on embarkation day in Miami and this was a breeze compared to most of the days that I worked in the Port of Miami. The luggage drop-off is kind of screwy, we were there at 11:30 and it took a while so I can’t imagine it during peak time, but it was ok. Once we got in the terminal, we went immediately through security. I had a beach bag and a small rolling suitcase. In my beach bag I had a small rum runners flask with raspberry vodka (just wanted to see if it got through =) which it did with no problem. In my small suitcase, I had 8 cans of sprite, 8 cans of Red Bull, 3 bottled waters and a BIG double bottle of wine. The security guy said “Is that wine?”, I said yes, he asked “Are those beers?” and I said no. On my bag went! So no big deal on the double bottles of wine, even though Carnival specifies one 750 mL bottle. We went right on up to the check in counter with no wait, and were on the ship by noon.

 

 

Cabins weren’t open until 1:30 but I wanted to drop my heavy drink suitcase and we also wanted to decorate the doors before the rest of our party got there (many were flying in that day). Several times people stopped us saying the cabins weren’t open yet, but we just said we were dropping off bags and decorating doors and they let us go. I was in an oceanview triple cabin on the upper deck, U218. It was in the back of the ship was a pain because it was pretty far from everything, but it was good exercise. The bride-to-be had a suite on V deck, which was very nice. It was pretty small, but totally renovated with a long marble countertop and very nice bathroom. A word of warning if you want to put 3 people in a suite…the little couch does NOT fold out. The 3rd person in their cabin had to lay in the fetal position to fit.

 

After we decorated the doors we went up for a snack with the plan to eat once everyone else arrived. The four of us who were already there had some salad and went out to find chairs. This was about 1:15 and the pool deck was still pretty much empty, which was great because we got a big group of chairs right by the pool. It was a beautiful day so we started with the frozen drinks, and pretty soon the rest of the group joined us. The pool never really got super busy, but it was fun and lively. The drink in the souvenir cup ended up being $10 with tip! The refill was $7. I had a few of those then moved on to buckets of beer, which were 4 for $19. If you order Bud Light or Mich Ultra you get regular size beers, but my friends ordered Corona and they were tiny!

 

 

We had to leave the pool for the lifeboat drill, but ended up getting there just as it was ending and hurried back to the pool to re-claim our spot. I noticed that by this time we were moving so the lifeboat drill did happen during the beginning of sail away but there was still plenty to see as we left Port Canaveral. I did not see any of it because we were having too good a time by the pool with our buckets of beer!

 

Around 6 we decided to head to the room to get ready for dinner. We had the 8:15 seating, so we showered and had some pre-dinner drinks in our cabin. I had a large rum runner of raspberry vodka in my checked luggage that made it with no problem. I had never eaten lunch (too busy drinking!) so I ordered the vegetable focaccia sandwich off the room service menu which was great. It became a favorite over the weekend.

 

The atrium:

 

 

We had a large table in the Fantasy dining room. Though dinner the first night was good, I didn’t think our waiters were very good. They had many large tables and they were so slow. We waited forever for them to open our wine, and then if our glasses were empty, they never were there to fill them up. I went to fill my own up one time (which I really don’t mine doing if they are busy) and one of the guys saw me and yelled at me! It took a very long time to order and for them to serve the bread. They did get a little better, but were slow the entire time with the wine.

 

When we sat down he informed us that he would charge us $10 corkage fee because we had brought 2 bottles of wine, but then he never did. We did end up buying some bottles of wine, and brought more of our own the next 2 nights and they never cared. I don’t think the menu was the “new” menu that everyone has talked about, but it was good. The first night I had cream of broccoli soup, rib eye with peppercorn sauce and a baked eggplant dish. I tasted the key lime pie which was good, but didn’t like the cheesecake. The first night also had the chocolate melting cake which people said was good (I don’t like chocolate…I know, weird!).

 

After dinner (which was late, about 10:30) we headed to Michelangelo’s Lounge to hear the band, Blood Power. I was really excited about this because I had seen a thread about the best Carnival band and Blood Power was mentioned a lot. They totally deserved the praise because they were AMAZING! We had such a fun time dancing and singing with the band.

 

 

Around midnight we walked right next door to the Kaleidoscope disco for more dancing. The DJ was pretty good, but didn’t have some of the newer music we requested. The security people were all over you about having drinks on the dance floor…we almost got kicked out. Some of our group left early but the 2 girls in the cabin and I stayed until they closed it down then headed to the pizzeria for late night pizza. Delicious, especially the goat cheese and mushroom. Off to bed to get some sleep before Nassau!

 

Our cups on the bar so we didn't get in trouble for having them on the dance floor...

[lmt0714]

Second Day – Nassau

 

We woke and went to breakfast about 10 am, and met up with the rest of our group. Breakfast at the buffet was ok, basic stuff like eggs, sausage, pancakes, etc. I did really like the breakfast potatoes, but missed having an omelet station. Maybe there was one and I didn’t see it? We made a plan to go back to our rooms and meet at the exit to leave the ship together and find a taxi.

 

Once we got off and entered the terminal building we were bombarded with taxi people. I told one guy there were 11 of us and he said he would take care of us. We waited for a bit and finally went off with a taxi driver, and 2 other groups of about 5 people total. He walked us to a cab and the other people started getting in and I questioned the guy how we were going to all fit in one cab (they were big but not that big!). He said don’t worry just get in. I told him he didn’t even know where we were going and if we were going to the same place as the other people and he said I know where you’re going, Atlantis. Wrong! We were going to the Sheraton at Cable Beach. It was all very confusing and took a while to sort out, but we finally got a cab to ourselves and headed to the Sheraton. (The cab was $5 per person).

 

We arrived at the Sheraton, and it was perfect! A big lagoon style pool, swim-up bar, restaurant and a beach. I had read on the Bahamas board that some people were able to just walk in and grab a chair and others had to walk over to the Wyndham and pay $15 for a wristband. We decided to just walk in and see what would happen, and the towel/lifeguard came up to us as we were sitting and told us it would be $5 each. So we paid, found a favorite server and enjoyed the day. The beach was beautiful and we ended up spending most of our time down there. We had lunch outside at the pool restaurant, which was good but a little expensive. All in all it was a great relaxing day.

 

Outside Michaelangelo's on formal night

 

We went back to the ship for dinner, which was lobster! It was a small tail, with 3 large shrimp and some great mushroom risotto.

 

Dancing at dinner:

 

After dinner we headed back off the boat, found a taxi and headed to Atlantis (less drama this time, and it was $3 per person). We wanted to go to Aura, and were a little worried about the price but wanted to see if we could get a deal since we were a big group. We talked them down from $50 per person cover (yikes!) to $20 per person. Still steep, but we just decided to do it. I am so glad we did because we had the best time! We all had pink boas and danced our little booties off. Yes, drinks were expensive (my raspberry stoli and sprite was $12) but I only paid for one drink. I don’t know if the bartenders were keeping us liquored up because we were a bachelorette party or what, but after I paid for the first the next few were free. The DJ was great, the crowd was fun and the drinks were flowing….makes for a good night.

 

At Aura with our bartender

 

We left Aura around 3, made a quick stop in the casino where I made a few bucks at the roulette table, and got a taxi back to the ship. I think we got back on the boat around 4:15 am, and I ordered our room 3 delicious veggie sandwiches and promptly fell asleep. The room service people had to bang on the door to wake me up, but it was worth it for the sandwich =)

 

Third Day – Fun Day at Sea

 

After our looooong night at Aura, we didn’t get up until noon. Even though our cabin had a window, it was still dark and very easy to sleep in. We had missed breakfast so we headed to lunch on Lido where I had some pasta made by a chef…pretty good. We headed out hoping to find deck chairs. It was a little cloudy, so I don’t know if the pool wasn’t as busy as usual, but we managed to find 11 chairs together on the top deck overlooking the pool. Most of us were feeling a little under the weather so we didn’t do much drinking, but a few of us did head down the slide which was a blast! The pool was SWARMING with kids, and the line dance lessons on the stage by the pool were really annoying. We liked when the calypso band was playing. We wanted to hit up the casino before dinner, so we headed down to shower and get ready a little early.

 

I had a great time in the casino. I’m not a big fan of slots, but played some to give it a try. I’m still not a big fan! I had a great time at the roulette table and ended up winning some money (only to lose it later that night!).

 

 

We went to dinner, which again was pretty good. I had braised short ribs which were excellent and baked stuffed mushrooms which were tasty too. After dinner we headed to Michelangelo’s again to see Blood Power…it was more crowded this night, and the band was just as good.

 

The lead singer stole our camera to take pictures!

 

We stayed there until the band was done (around 12:30 I think) and headed next door to the disco where we stayed until 2:30ish when they turned all the lights on and closed up. We were pretty disappointed that everything was closed and over…I wish there was something open late night, especially since it was our last night. But everything was done, so we headed back to the room for a late night veggie sandwich.

[lmt0714]

Fourth Day – Debarkation

 

After another long night we were so tired, and didn’t really make it out of bed until about 8:30. Our room steward, Sue, was super nice and didn’t bother us any early, but eventually another person came by and roused us out of bed. We left the cabin about 9 am, and they were already calling number 20. We were 25 so we just jumped in line and left. Leaving the ship took way longer than getting on because you had to wait in a line to exit the boat, wait in a line before you got in the luggage room, wait in a line to get in the customs area, then wait in a line to show your customs info. We ended up getting a porter which allows you bypass one of the lines, and he carted all our stuff to the car so it was worth it. We were on the road and headed back to Orlando/Tampa by 10:15.

 

Like I said before, all in all it was a very fun time with a group of friends. I don’t think I would sail on the Sensation again, but I would sail on Carnival. I prefer newer ships, and if I did want to do a shorter trip on an older ship I would probably choose Royal Caribbean.

 

If you have any questions, let me know and I will do my best to answer them!

[summercruisin']

Thanks for the review and pics. It looks like y'all had a good time! I'll bet the bride-to-be has great memories for a lifetime, with a bachlorette party like that!

[cjkumbaya]

Nice review - it sounds like a good time was had by all!

[Jeans*Fanatic]

Thanks so much for the review!! I will be going on her August 9, 2009!!! :D

[Lola1210]

Thanks for the information. A group of us will be going on her on October 23rd. I was a little nervous about going on the Sensation, but the price was right and it will be a group of us.

[rebeljohn]

Enjoyed your review and pics...............Thanks for taking the time to post them............