jam19872016

Thank you for the recap and glad that you enjoyed the cruise over-all.

Looking forward to your next review.

Thank you for following along.Heading out today be back with another review soon :D

Summary:

Dining:

Food options were limited on this ship compared to newer ships and I knew that going in. I did not eat at the Mongolian Wok, Deli, Pizza Pirate, or Off the Grille. The lines were just unbearable and I really wanted to give the Mongolian Wok another shot and was prepared to wait in line. Then I realized that line was outside in the heat. I will make it back there on my next cruise for sure. The buffet food was fast moving but really not very good. I agree with the general consensus, the Sensation buffet is overall not very good.

Although I did not make it to Off the Grille, they served the same items at the buffet late at night aptly titled "Late Night Snacks". I miss the late night Mexican buffet and although it is still listed on Carnival's website under activities, it has been missing on my last three cruises and I think it has been silently retired. I also missed the chocolate lover's buffet, but that was my own oversight.

I don't know why I even still bother with room service, huge let down - but at least it is consistent ship to ship.

The MDR uses the traditional menu and it one of the few ships in the fleet still on the older menu. I found the food and the service to be excellent. Not every dish was a slam dunk, and it was far from 5-Star dining, but I was very pleased overall and rank this my best MDR experience to date.

Public Spaces and Cabin:

I found the ship to be very clean and not showing any visible wear. I am not sure where the negative reviews stating how worn out and tired the ship looks are coming from. I can honestly say the inside of the ship looks very beautiful and was very well decorated for Halloween. The outside of the ship, well yes it is clearly an older looking ship on the outside but it does not in any way reflect the state of the ship on the inside.

The layout does not flow well. Nothing unbearable, but it is a bit awkward in spots. According to another website that shows booking percentages on specific sailings, we were sailing far below capacity and I imagine if we were full it would have felt much more crowded.

The cabin was very poorly designed and felt cramped. We are used to the small size of cruise ship cabins, but this was the first time that we have had trouble with cabin space. The location on the Empress deck was fabulous. I was concerned about noise being so close to the lobby but it was not a problem. Noise from the neighbor was a bit of an issue, but this is the first time this has happened to me, so I guess I was overdue for a noisy neighbor.

Entertainment:

Although I tried to be more active in the overall entertainment on the ship, there were still a lot of things I missed. The music around the ship all sounded good. I did not attend the production shows, but we all know Carnival has some improving to do in this area, and seem to be improving based on reviews of the newer shows, but those have not made it onto Sensation yet. The comedy show I did see was not very funny. The CD was pretty good, probably not in anyone's top 5, but he was not obnoxious or invisible. I loved his 90's trivia party, that was a real blast.

The casino was my main form of entertainment. I had a great time, I did not do good, but I had a few good wins and numerous mid-size wins to keep me from simply throwing money down the drain. That was all I did on my last cruise, it was brutal. It was a small casino, and only really busy one time. Hazel the casino host was nice and I enjoyed talking with her, but well let's just say Carnival probably puts their best hosts in their bigger casinos.

M had a lousy time in the casino. I truly believe it was related to how much money she lost and that is not a fair reason to say you did not enjoy something. Ok, nobody "enjoys" losing money, but you can't let that be the reason you did not like the overall experience. SMH.

Service:

Service in the MDR was the best it has ever been. I had YTD so I did not really "bond" with anyone but each server I had was fantastic and brought my food to me quickly and correctly, and best of all - hot. The servers in the casino were plentiful and always quick with my drinks. Everyone smiled and seemed to genuinely enjoy making my vacation a great time. Nobody seemed to be overworked and struggling to keep up, and whatever cutbacks carnival is employing to staffing levels have not been done on Sensation.

The one exception though, was my steward. I have never had a bad one, and I guess I would not call him bad, but he was average at best. He always greeted me in the hall, but it felt forced. He missed a lot of things when servicing the room. He did service the room twice daily and there was never any hint at once a day service. Nothing bad, but he just did not provide the level of service I have grown used to from my wonderful Carnival stewards.

Overall:

Overall I had a great time. I enjoyed trying out the Fantasy class and loved how close together everything was. Lido one deck up from the casino? Excellent. There was nothing particularly memorable about this trip, but that was because I was under the weather for most of it. Fantasy class is not for M, she did not enjoy the smaller ship or the shorter duration. I had a blast, but I do not think I would go all the way down to Miami for a 5 day trip again.

I would recommend the Sensation to a first time cruiser, or a seasoned cruiser just looking for a quick getaway. It is nothing fancy but everyone on board works very hard to make sure you have a great time. The one thing to watch out for though, is the price. I went on a casino fare, but full price for a 4A was $399pp. I cannot justify paying that much money for a five night cruise on this ship. I really thought Carnival had the best prices and was very surprised to see how much affordable short cruises are on Royal and NCL.

I was not the only one who felt that was too much as there were MANY rooms that went unsold. The cruise after ours had many rooms still available as well, and when we inquired how much to stay on for another four days - they quoted us the same price as online $329pp for a 1a, on a four night cruise. That is absurd, and clearly Carnival has abandoned the practice of doing whatever it takes to fill their rooms.

I look forward to cruising on a Fantasy class again, I live within an hour of Jacksonville and would love to do a quickie cruise sometime from there. Plus, the prices are more reasonable.

Looking Ahead:

My next trip will be on the Sunshine from 12/26-12/31. I will be traveling this time with my mom and this will be her first cruise with Carnival and first time on a mainstream line period. I plan on writing another review and I hope that you will join me then.

Final towel animal of the night.

M swears that the room steward did not like her and had it in for her, but every single towel animal was placed on her bed instead of rotating like usual, I think he was just a below average room steward in general, more on that in my closing thoughts.

After dinner, we went back to the casino. I charged one final hundred to play on and hoped it would last me a while.

Score! I am pretty good about walking away on the last day with my money instead of giving it back. Last cruise I won a total of $1000 on the last day on three separate hits, and left with $750 of it (still down for the cruise though). I pretty much decided to spend my initial $100 and leave with the $250 I had won. I kept winning though and had a pretty good streak. When I cashed out for the day, I was up over $300 for the day so a pretty good last day. I was still of course down for the week, and about $20-$30 over my intended budget (which was more of a guideline, I had no real intention of sticking to my budget this time around) and M and I would each walk away with another comped cruise courtesy of the casino.

I ordered my last drink just after midnight and got my final bill. I keep reading where you have to request it as it will not be delivered to you anymore. I even asked the lady at guest services and she confirmed that they do not deliver these anymore. Not true, I still had a final bill when I woke up, but I will continue to come down and get it from guest services just in case.

This concludes the final night aboard the Carnival Sensation.

Debarkation:

M and I do self assist debarkation. We had FTTF and we were instructed to meet at some ungodly hour in one of the lounges. We did not and it was almost bad, we were stuck waiting with the masses. We found one of the people in charge and he did not really buy our story (M chose to lie and said we got separated from our group instead of telling the truth, we were too lazy to get out of bed that early lol). He asked to see our FTTF and once we showed him he escorted us to the front. Maybe this was not what we should have done and we were "one of those people" but last time we had FTTF this is what we did and just joined a quicker line the same way you would join a quicker line to board, I don't think they intended for us to do that this time. Ooops.

We were literally one of the first people off the ship, or the first group was already through security as there was only two or three people in the line for security. Hands down the quickest debarkation to date. We called our shuttle and let them know we were ready to be picked up. Again a very short wait and we were on the way. In Ft. Lauderdale the company we used only had one shuttle that ran this early, and we just missed them and had to wait over half an hour. This may have been the case again, but if so we timed it much better. A very quick and hassle free experience from start to finish.

After this, we made our way to dinner for the final time this cruise. For my started I ordered the sushi and the crab cake.

I was excited to get some sushi after all, but this was a tease. Same for the crab cake. Both were good, but gone in two bites. I know I could order more, but that is just going to slow service down.

For my main I ordered the meatloaf. I was a little nervous, but this was really the only thing that looked appealing on tonight's menu. I ordered it without the gravy as I do not like gravy.

Upon seeing it, my only comment was "looks like spam". Upon tasting it I said "tastes like spam". I asked the waiter for some ketchup. The ketchup helped and it actually started tasting better with each bite. The table next to us canceled their order when they saw mine, and I tried to encourage them to try it because it really did get better. This is something I would love to try again now. The mashed potatoes served with it were amazing as well. I ate about three of those little cups by the end of the night.

For dessert I got the baked Alaska and the WCMC.

I guess this was not a "traditional" baked alaska but holy crap it was fantastic. the WCMC was good as always, although instead of the Mickey ears, I was given his eyes.

A very wonderful final meal aboard the Sensation.

After brunch I made my way to the casino for the slot tournament. M was talking about a nap(what?) but went to the casino for some blackjack. My last cruise I wont the tournament and got $500 I was hoping for a repeat. I was doing pretty poorly and was just sort of giving up then hit a large amount that put me in the lead for the qualifying round. I ended up placing third with the top 7 going to the finals.

I looked for M, but did not see her. I made my way to the room to find her and on my way I finally saw my neighbor. She was an older lady, with no hair. It does kind of put things into perspective and does serve as a reminder to not judge without all the facts. What I thought was a young crowd partying, was actually an older lady going through chemo trying to manage symptoms and enjoy life (I saw her rocking out with her headset in the casino a couple days before, she does love her music lol). The circumstances could have been better for me, not having that darn adjoining door, but perhaps I was too quick to judge what was going on next door. Interestingly, I did not hear a peep from her after that day she was extra loud. I wonder if her other neighbor complained?

Just as I was about to go in my room, I saw that M had put the snoozing sign up. I left her alone to sleep but then I lost track of her for most of the day. Every time I went to see if she was up, the sign was still there. I found her that evening in the casino. She never fell asleep, but did not bother to take the sign down. Sigh.

I went back to the casino to watch some of the later rounds. Eeks, I was in 6th place now and about to be bumped to 7th. I noticed I was actually in 5th place but she Hazel placed someone above me who actually had less points than me. I pointed it out and she fixed it while the other girl was walking up to check on her score. We joked about it and we along with her husband watched the tournament for a little while.

It was great chit chatting with Hazel. The other girl asked and Hazel confirmed that the Breeze is a training ship. I am not sure now though if she meant training for the ship as a whole or training for the casino. I do think she meant ship as a whole though, as she mentioned she just did her training to be casino host on the Sunshine. It would explain some of the poor reviews I have seen on the crew on that ship lately. And no matter what John Heald says, training ships do exist. M was on the Ectsasy a couple years back and was told by the crew on board it was a training ship (which JH has sworn is only a rumor).

The other lady was bumped off the qualifying board and played again. She did not re-qualify. Now I was nervous as I was on the bottom and one person could knock me out of the finals. And they did. I bought in again and so did the other lady. We played together and we both did poorly until the end and she hit a good one and re-qualified this time near the top. She was safe and in the finals. I bought in one more time for the final round. I was doing pretty good and came very close but I did not make it. It was good fun though and cost $25 to enter, and $15 each time you buy in again.

It was great meeting the other couple, who were both in the finals. I hung around to watch and cheer them on. They each received a T-shirt for making the finals. The lady offered me hers. I thought that was a wonderful thing to do and I graciously accepted. I hear a lot of people gripe about the T-shirts but I absolutely love them and proudly added this one to my collection (even though I didn't technically earn it nobody has to know that lol). Neither of them won, although the husband was in the top 2 for most of the finals, but ended up placing 3rd. The guy who won, was the same guy who knocked me out of the finals, go figure. I had a great time and enjoyed meeting some new people.

I didn't do much most of the rest of the afternoon. I did not want to play in the casino until the evening, I was over my budget already and wanted to play only one last time later in the evening. M was nowhere to be found. I mainly wandered around for a bit not doing anything in particular.

I found M later in the Casino as I mentioned. We made our way to the lido deck. M had not made it to this deck all cruise except to the buffet and she was a little disappointed in herself for that. We are not big outdoorsy people but she had literally spent the whole cruise couped up somewhere inside. It was still a bit warm out so we only stayed here for a little while. We had planned on using our drink coupon out here but we went to the atrium bar instead. I got the drink of the day a "Sun Burst". I had never seen it advertised before and it sounded interesting. I love sweet fruity drinks, but this was too sweet. I have never said that about a drink in my life. I still drank it of course :)

Day 5: Fun Farewell Day at Sea

Fun Times Day 5

We were up around 10 for our final day on the Sensation. M was ready to join me today for sea day brunch. It took us a little bit to get going, but finally around 11 we were off.

I again ordered the ceaser salad with jerk bacon. Yummy as always.

I also got the mac-n-cheese with steak on top. Another one of my favorite dishes, and the steak was so tender.

I was having a bacon craving so I also got a side of bacon. It was a bit too salty, but nice and crispy just how I like.

Finally for dessert, I ordered the cheesecake again that I had fallen in love with earlier in the week. I was in heaven.

M was indifferent to the meal. But honestly she is a VERY picky eater, so if she is not making a fuss, the food was good. She also ordered and ate dessert. I can't say that I have EVER in all the years I have known her seen M order a desert and then actually eat all of it! (unless it combines oreos and ice cream, which it did not) The service was borderline but was still quicker and more attentive than I have ever witnessed at brunch.

Brunch is my favorite meal on Carnival. There are so many wonderful items on the menu. I have seen JH ask on his surveys a couple times now, if you would prefer a separate breakfast and lunch menu on sea days instead of a brunch menu. I must say that I have been surprised at the number of people who would like to see this change. I will be very sad to see this go and hope I am reading too much into his question.

I laid down for a little bit but did not sleep. I finally forced myself to get out and enjoy the ship. I headed down to the coffee bar hoping a little caffeine would make me feel better. I am not sure what I ordered, but it did not have any sugar and only whipped cream in it. I do not like plain coffee, but let me tell you what, this really hit the spot. It tasted terrible with no sugar, but I started waking up and feeling better.

I made my way over to the casino to play a little. Got me a four a kind tonight.

Another case of easy come easy go I am afraid.

I was feeling better with the coffee in me, but there was no way I was going to be drinking tonight. Not one to let my free drink card go to waste, I asked my server if I could order vitamin water instead of alcohol. There was a slight hesitation, but he said he would do it. I am not sure if this is truly available at the casino bar, or if he had to go to the coffee shop to get it, but either way I was a happy camper that my request was fulfilled. I would live off these for the duration of the trip. These hit the spot, and I am happy to report that I was feeling much better now and felt much better for the rest of the cruise.

I went to the comedy show at 11:15. Performing was Dan Mengini. Seating was not an issue, I doubt the venue was even half full. To be honest, he was not that funny. He started off pretty funny but just went downhill from there. Part of the problem may have been how empty the place was, but actually he made a number of jokes about how hard it was to perform to an empty club, and they were all pretty funny.

He was also vulgar for the sake of being vulgar which does not bother me, but I know many people don't like that. He was also a little offensive. I think you have to be careful in these PC times when making fun of someone's race or nationality. You need to be clever and funny, not simply regurgitate stereotypes. And if the crowd is not into it, you need to move on not stick to your routine. Overall not bad, but he was not funny enough to see more than once, and that may be why he did not have a full house.

The one thing that did shock me a little was the Carnival Emcee. His official title I guess would be "Comedy Club Manager". He did a whole bit that started by asking how many people bought weed in Jamaica. It was very common throughout this trip to smell weed all throughout the ship (except the casino) even before we stopped at any ports. I guess while security was busy hassling me about a fan, they were too busy to screen for that. It seemed a bit weird for a Carnival employee to not only acknowledge what obviously everybody on board could smell, but to encourage it in his routine.

Do what you do I guess, I just voted to legalize it in Florida so I am not misinformed into believing it is a dangerous drug putting our kids in harms way, but I will say that for whatever reason this was a bit of a culture shock to see everyone so laisez-faire about it.

Once the show was over I made it back to the casino. M and I played some slot machines together was a little bit. I did pretty good and made some money.

We headed back to the room a little after one. We ordered some room service. This is the first trip that I never made the late night run for pizza which I am a little disappointed about. I am not a fan of thin crust pizza but I have come to enjoy that late night snack. Room service is just a let down. I think the food is purposely bad to discourage people from utilizing it. I don't remember what I ordered, just that most it went to waste just like it always does. Please carnival, offer better room service or a sit down all night food option.

This is the end of day 4. I had a great time and was feeling better, sadly I only had one more day left to enjoy the Sensation.

Tonight the table sat next to us was so much more pleasant. It was a mother and young adult daughter both on their first cruise. It was such a joy to hear how excited they were by everything, little things that we take for granted once we have a few cruises under our belt. If you have become jaded by the experience, you seriously need to consider other vacation plans as you spend a lot of money to go on a cruise.

For my starter I got the lobster bisque and the chicken tenders marinated in Thai spices.

The bisque was good. The chicken tenders were coated in a delightful sauce, but the chicken itself was very chewy.

For my dinner I had the bacon mac n' cheese and the Atlantic salmon from the everyday menu.

The BMC was great, except for the chicken on top of it. No biggie, I simply discarded the chicken. The salmon was great, but way to dry. I could barely swallow, made worse by my sore throat that made swallowing painful.

For dessert I had the WCMC.

How can you look at that pic, and not clearly see Mickey Mouse? Too darn cute, even if his ears are the wrong color.

They were starting the dinner show so we waited around a few minutes to see the show. They performed M's favorite of all the routines they do "Gangam Style". A great performance and it was so much fun to watch. Overall the food was good, with a few so so items. Service was again impeccable.

My towel animal tonight.

All things considered, it was a good day in Ocho Rios. There were no plans of doing anything, and I am sure we will be back someday. I would like to maybe go to Dunn's River Falls on a future visit. The AI I could do on pretty much any island, but if M is not into it I don't see myself going. It is not something that would be fun to do by oneself I don't think. I won't write the idea off completely though.

When we got back to the room, the casino had sent both M and I cookies.

Our plates of cookies combined onto one mega plate of cookies.

I am always appreciative of the goodies the casino provides. Sadly, most of the cookies went to waste. M does not eat them, and I only ate a few for a little snack in between meals, there just wasn't enough time left in the cruise to eat this many cookies. I was hoping for the strawberries :)

M and I headed to the library to play some games to pass the time. We usually rely on the library to provide the games, but the Conquest library literally did not have one single game fully intact so we have started packing our own. We packed a deck of cards, Yahtzee, and Uno. We played a few games of each to pass the time when M is losing too much in the casino. As I said, she still has some work to do on participating in the other ship activities.

Another high seas karaoke was taking place, this time in the atrium.

M went to the casino and I went back to the room. I still felt bad and was going to try and take a nap. I wasn't really tired though so after a few minutes I turned on the TV and just laid there watching some TV. I was getting hungry but did not feel like being out for long so was considering the lido for dinner tonight. Now last cruise dragging M to the MDR was a challenge and we only made it 5 out of 8 nights and one of those nights M left before dinner service was over. I know service was greatly improved as we made it all 5 nights with no complaints from M after the first night (before she saw the improvements). Even tonight when I suggested the Lido she actually wanted to go to the MDR. I was feeling a little better now that I was up so off to the MDR we went.

Enjoying your review.

Thanks for following along! Hope to finish it off today.

Going to try to finish this up today before I head out for my next cruise tomorrow. Merry Christmas everyone.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Sensation. I had read that Disney Fantasy was supposed to be in port today, but I did not see it.

The pier seemed to drag on forever, but maybe it only seemed like it because I was still under the weather.

We really had no plans again except to walk around the port area and find some food. I was a little hesitant as I had read about how pushy the locals can be and did not want to get roped into doing a tour. I really had no desire to take a tour today. I was still pouting about not doing the AI and had no intention of wandering out of the port area. Several people were pushy, but we held our ground. M did waiver a little but I was cranky and held strong.

We ended up at a place called Ocean's Eleven. Honestly, it wasn't really my thing. The music was obscenely loud and I was just not feeling well. I tried my best to make an effort to not be a spoil sport and I did get into it a little, but I am sure I was bringing M down which I did not want to do. She loved the vibe of the place though, she is really into Jamaican music so the louder the better for her lol.

I wanted to try the curry goat. It sounds scary but I love curry and want to try goat. M pointed out how bad it was hurting to swallow my sprite and that something spicy would probably not go down too well. She was right and that left me without many options. I found one thing on the menu that was not spicy that sounded good, crab cakes. When I ordered it I was told they were out. Great. In a pinch I just ordered the jerk chicken.

The service was slow. I mean super slow. The food was meh. That salad they served me was nothing but lettuce, no dressing. When we requested dressing they acted confused. Maybe it was just suppose to be for show, because the idea of us asking for dressing seemed unheard of. The rice was bland, simply no flavor to it at all. The chicken was not bad, but I do not like chicken on the bone. I love jerk sauce but had to use it sparingly with my soar throat.

Don't let my negative review sway you though, I think this place is great if you are looking for a party atmosphere with authentic Jamaican cuisine. M loved what she ordered this was just not my style nor was I feeling good. The service was super slow, so be prepared that the staff works on island time. The locals advised us against this place because it was more expensive being so close to the pier. We figured it would work out the same price wise if we took a taxi into town and back, and honestly once we got there the prices were in no way unreasonable. They were not cheap mind you, but they did not seem to be outrageously high like you often see at restaurants this close to where the ship docks.

The skies opened up while we were there and it was raining pretty good. We waited till it seemed to stop and made our break for it hoping it would not start again on the walk back. We got lucky and we did not get caught in it.

The Sensation on the walk back.

Been super busy at work so this is taking longer than it should. I was going to try to post some more yesterday, but I am having trouble loading the CC photo host tool. Uploading these photo's on another site since it is still down today, but it is hard to format them correctly so they may run off the screen a little bit. EDIT- I cannot get the pictures to load, I can view them but nobody else can. I have a couple photos uploaded already on CC but until I can find another free host, or CC photo gallery comes back online, this is as far as I can post. I may try photobucket if I can find some spare time at work, but their constant ads are a real bandwidth sucker on my limited home internet, will have to find time at work.

Day 4: Ocho Rios, Jamaica.

Fun Times

https://dl.dropbox.com/s/523rtowpnx4lb8c/20161201104234354.pdf

I woke up this morning still feeling like crap. My nose was stopped up and I had a sore throat. I wanted to go to an AI today but M did not like the idea and nixed it. It was not something I would enjoy if she was not enjoying herself so I did not push for it. I was glad of that now because what a waste of money that would have been the way that I was feeling.

We did not eat on board as we planned to eat something in port today. M loves jerk chicken and that was the plan for today. I did not have a late night meal so I was a little unsure about skipping breakfast too, but I was not really hungry anyway so I went with the flow.

The water was beautiful in Ocho Rios, the sky not so much.

After dinner, many more people were dressed up. Even though I did not dress up or participate in the festivities, I enjoyed seeing so many people in costume. Many of the crew in the casino went all out as well. My favorite was the dealer who was in full makeup as the joker. It took his girlfriend (also a dealer) over two hours to apply the makeup.

They had a different contest going on in the casino tonight. The witching hours which ran every 10 minutes from 10:13-12:13. It ran very much like the hot seat promotion crossed with the spin to win promotion. You had to be playing and they called a certain machine or seat at a table and if you were sitting there you got to spin the wheel for a prize. They used the same wheel, but with different wedges than what is used for the spin to win contest. Some of the prizes were a treat, but certainly there were some tricks. Many of the prizes were for things like a hat, a beach towel, or a scratch off ticket. Still it kept me in the casino hoping to be called, which is what it was intended to do so it did it's job.

As soon as I sat down, I was dealt this on my first hand.

I have never gotten a straight flush before. Even cooler was that it was dealt to me, I did not have to draw. That was worth $500 and was a great start to my evening in the casino. Unfortunately, easy come easy go was the name of the game tonight. I lost most of that money by the end of the night, although according to my S&S I did not charge anything in the casino from 7:30 the night before, until almost 10:30 the next night, so I did manage to play on the same money for a while.

I was having a very hard time staying awake but I did make it until the last drawing just after midnight. Once it was done, so was I. It was a pretty uneventful day but I was still having fun. I was very bummed though about being sick. This was not just a hangover, I could tell now that I had come down with a cold. I suspect being caught in the rain storm made me susceptible, then coupled with over drinking, my immune system just could not fight it off and I was now sick. Not a great way to spend your vacation.

My towel animal for tonight, and then off to bed I went. M had a brilliant idea, she suggested leaving the fan on while we were out of the room to see if that noise would go away. It worked and when we turned it on there was a little bit of noise which would work itself out in a couple of minutes. I was glad to have my fan back!

It was another lazy afternoon for me, but this time out of necessity. Today was Halloween and I was surprised that not many people were dressed up. This would change later on in the evening, I guess most people just didn't want to go to dinner in their outfit.

I was in charge of getting us Halloween costumes. I had it narrowed down to a few choices but then with everything going on because of the hurricane, I dropped the ball and we did not have any costumes. I got us matching Halloween shirts that said "trick or treat witches" I thought that was hilarious but nobody else was amused by it (including m). M and I have decided that to make up for it we will dress up on our next cruise. Of course our next cruise will not be on Halloween so that will make it even more comical.

We made our way to dinner around 7:30. We sat at a table for two next to another table for two. Not a fun couple to be sat next to. All they did was complain about the ship and how horrible it was. If this sounds like you when you are on a cruise, please keep your opinions to yourself unless you are at guest services. You really bring down the others around you. Sadly I think M was putting off a vibe that she was miserable too, or maybe I was because I was sick. If their complaints had been valid, maybe I could understand, but they were being ridiculous with their expectations. Plus they were just plain nasty people who bragged about stealing their photos at pixels, crashing private parties on board, almost bribing a crew member to let them attend a crew party, and how they had a five year ban on RCL for getting caught counting cards.

To make matters worse, the service was off so at that moment they did have some valid complaints. We had no problems with our dinner, but the table to our left and our right both repeatedly kept getting the wrong drink orders. I am not sure what was going on, but it happened 2-3 times at each table. We did not order drinks, so we were spared and had overall great service tonight.

For my starter I had spring rolls of the every day menu and the cured salmon and candied tomato.

The spring rolls were bad. The cured salmon, well I guess I just don't like this anymore. I had a bad experience with the salmon on Conquest, and now I just can't eat it anymore. It's a shame, because one of my favorite things used to be the smoked salmon on a bagel from the deli. For now, I am going to write this off for a while.

For dinner I had the atlantic salmon (I still love the fully cooked salmon thankfully!) from the everyday menu and the shrimp and fries.

The salmon is one of my favorite and always a fall back when the menu looks unappealing. It was delicious as always, but a little dry. The shrimp was terrible as were the fries that came with it. I wish I had gotten the fried shrimp appetizer, it looked much better.

They had special desserts tonight for Halloween. The presentation was amazing. Very beautifully decorated. The quality, well the lido desserts were probably less dry. I don't remember exactly what they were as there is no printed menu, the waiters list what is available. In addition to the special items, the WCMC and I believe fruit plate are still available. I know I got a pumpkin cheesecake, but I do not remember what the item in this first picture is. I believe it was a chocolate brownie graveyard.

The water was rough today.

We soon headed back on board. I made a b-line for some lunch. The food was still not good but not bad like it was this morning. This would be the norm for the Lido buffet and in line with what other reviews have said. The food on Lido was just not good. Again I did not go hungry, but I can't help but wonder why the food is so bad here. I don't expect gourmet food but at least Golden Corral quality.

I was not feeling well at all so I took a nap. Lame I know, but I was just not feeling well. I noticed a strong weed smell coming from the neighbor's room when I stood by the door. Later M commented it smelled like febreeze by the door and I told her why.

I slept for about two hours or so but still did not feel good. M said she could not believe I slept through all the commotion. I asked what happened and apparently the neighbor was jamming out again. She had recorded a video of it and he was really carrying on.

Once in Grand Cayman, we walked a short distance to the Hard Rock Cafe. We ordered some drinks. For me that meant a sprite, I was not ready for any alcohol at this point. I was not feeling well and just really did not want to be out among the living. I know I was bringing M down, but I was miserable.

We spent a little time there then we walked around the shops a little. I am not advocating any rule breaking, but if you turn left once out of the gated area of the port and walk about a mile or so, you will run into a store called Liquor 4 Less that will allow you take your purchase with you instead of delivering it to the ship.

Be aware though, they accept USD but do not make change in USD so bring exact change or be prepared to overpay. I do have a nice souvenir Cayman $1 note now.

Paradise on the left, Sensation on the right.

Day 3: Grand Cayman

Fun Times Day 3

I woke up feeling not great, but not terrible either. I was a little achy but did not really feel hungover from my over drinking the night before.

We took our time getting ready this morning. This was my second time in Grand Cayman and at least the third time for M. We did not have anything planned but to walk around the port area. We went up to the buffet for breakfast as lunch was not quite being served yet. The food was really bad. I enjoyed my omelette but everything else there was really bad. Not just not good, but actually bad. The food experience was sadly going downhill.

We made our way down to deck 3 to tender into Grand Cayman. Now is when I started realizing I was not well. The rocking of the boat was making me very nauseous. We waited what seemed like an eternity before moving. Once we were on our way the rocking was not bothering me quite as badly.

We were in port today with the Carnival Paradise.

Our ship, the Sensation.

Thanks for the review.

Your welcome, and thanks for following along.

I was hoping you got big bucks at the casino! Haven't seen that 4 of a kind in a while.

One day I will hit the royal flush, four of a kind is nice but the ship has a lousy pay table and that money is gone before you know it lol.

I checked in on M and sat down for a few minutes to get another drink. M told the server not to get me any more I needed to be cut off. He looked at me and goes "he seems ok to me". LMAO I was definitely drunk off my ass at this point, but I loved his answer.

I took my drink with me on the road to the piano bar.

This is a pretty bad picture but is probably about how everything looked to me at this point.

I enjoyed myself here too. But I think this may have been the alcohol. I am not sure if the problem was the entertainer (Greg) or the crowd. Every time he tried to interact and talk with us, someone would shout out a request. And the requests were boring. Think of any stereotypical song for a piano bar, and the four people in the audience (plus me but I just sat back and listened) were requesting it. I get it, these songs are probably piano bar staples, but do you have to hear every one of them so urgently you keep demanding he stop talking and sign these songs. I have never done the piano bar before and it may not be my thing, the jury is still out on where this went wrong. The entertainer, the crowd, or just not my thing. I was still enjoying it though thanks to all my Fun Ships.

At some point I left long enough to get something from the late night snacks. I was starting to feel a bit queasy and needed some food to settle my stomach. I am not sure exactly what I got, except something with chili as my shirt was stained with huge globs of chili the next morning. I ate my food in the piano bar and I hope I did not make a mess in there anywhere other than on myself. Apologies to the cleaning crew if I did.

I went back to the casino for another drink. I sat with M at the BJ table while I waited for my drink. I was long gone by this point and don't really remember what happened just bits and pieces of carrying on. All in good fun, no drunken rowdiness which does happen from time to time when I have had to much to drink, I was well behaved tonight. I do remember asking my server for a ride home as I was not good to drive :D

It was a little after midnight and I was not feeling good. I took some random pictures of random things that I won't even bother posting because they have no point. I only mention it because while taking these pictures I dropped the camera on the ground and the memory card popped out. I also dropped my lanyard with my key card which I have no idea why but I was carrying it around instead of wearing it. I decided to make my way back to the room. I was laying in bed not feeling too good. I had overdone it and was going to have to pay the consequences now. I tried to avoid it, deny the inevitable. But it was going to happen. I was going to be sick. I finally gave up and admitted defeat, the only way to feel better was to go be sick. Then I fell asleep.

End of Day 2 - and I did not get sick saved because the urge to fall asleep was greater than the urge to be sick! A very fun birthday at sea!

I will be back in the next few days to post the next segment of my review, AKA "The Hangover".

There was one guy Mat the CD called on to come onstage that would not come up. He kept trying and trying and the guy would not come onstage. Even after a little girl came onstage he held steady. He called him up a number of times but he wouldn't do it. Finally on the last song his friend forced him onstage and they did Fresh Prince of Belair. He is the one on the left with the microphone and let me tell you he did a great job working the crowd not sure why he was so shy about getting onstage. I am glad he did not call on me, no amount of alcohol in the world would have given me enough courage to get on that stage.

This was a great time and Mat did a fantastic job hosting it. This was really the only time I noticed him all week but he made the event a real blast. I hope to do this again but maybe sober to confirm that it is fun either way. I do remember ordering a drink while down here, and the bartender backed away real quick when he handed me my drink like I was going to spill it. No way jose, that is alcohol abuse. Not a drop spilled.

After dinner we walked around the shops a little bit. My mom is a huge fan of the Green M&M and I found one Green M&M tin left so I grabbed it up for her. The prices are always so high so we mostly just browsed. We did find some shirts that we would come back and buy later in the week. One thing I noticed was there was a much bigger selection in plus sizes than in the past. Maybe they are hearing the complaints about that one.

After this we went back to the casino. This is where things take a turn for me. I had been enjoying my drink card throughout the afternoon. Normally a big dinner cancels out anything I have had to drink. When I got my first drink of the evening, it was STRONG! M did confirm that she noticed the waiters making the drinks themselves when the bar was busy, so I am thinking my good tipping led to super strong drinks for the remainder of the night. I am a lightweight and that is definitely not what I need lol.

Now when I am using sound judgement, a strong drink means I sip it and wait a bit for my next one. But dinner did not wear off my afternoon buzz and I was still feeling good. So this meant HELL YEA LETS GET THE PARTY STARTED!

And that is exactly what I did. The rest of the night is a bit of a blur for me but I will do my best with what I can recall with the aid of my drunken pictures.

I enjoyed a few more drinks while the casino sucked my money down as fast as I could suck their drinks down. After a bit I walked away but not before grabbing a drink for the road of course. I told M I was heading out for a bit and she could see I was too buzzed for it to only be 8:30 so she gave me a lecture. I tuned it out of course.

I made my way to the room where I had a towel animal waiting.

I then went to the 90's music trivia party in the atrium. They were done with the trivia and just doing the sing along portion. Now I was feeling good by this point so my judgement may be off, but this was a blast! I had so much fun and really got into it. I am sure I looked ridiculous but that is the great thing about alcohol, you don't care how silly you look you just get out and enjoy yourself! As a side note, I realized how old I was when they now have themed trivia parties around the decade of music I grew up on. Yikes!

Some pictures I took at the atrium while enjoying the trivia party.

The Spice Girls (my very first celeberty crush)

Dinner was early tonight as M had not eaten all day. I cashed in my birthday card and got M to iron my shirt for me for elegant night. I really hate ironing and my shirt was pretty wrinkled. M was not happy, but hey it's my birthday. While she was moaning I made a joke it's the woman's job to iron. She got me back later when I moaned about always having to carry the heavy stuff "it's the man's job." All in good fun between friends, nobody flame me for being sexist :p

As I mentioned tonight was elegant night. There is no lobster on 5 day cruises anymore, but really it was never very good anyway. Tonight's Menu

For my starter I got the sea scallops and the stuffed mushrooms.

Both were very good, although the mushrooms were not as good as I remembered them being.

For my main I got the jumbo shrimp and the blue crab ravioli.

The shrimp was good. The ravioli was a major disappointment. I was really looking forward to trying this, and it was just blah. It really had no flavor to it.

For dessert I had the cherries jubilee and the WCMC with two ice creams. It sat for a while before it made it to me, as the ice cream was very melted. It was good, but it would have been better if it was not so soupy.

M asked why I always get two ice creams with my WCMC. I told her I like how it looks like mickey mouse in the pictures. She pointed out that Mickey does not have white ears. She actually emailed me this morning a google search result that proves in fact he does have black ears. I told her next time I will order chocolate ice cream instead lol.

Dinner was ok. Service was better than what is I fear the norm on Carnival, but it was still slower than I would like. The food was nothing special, especially for it to be "elegant" night. It was not bad, but I was hoping the dining experience would remain perfect all week as it has been up to this point.

I made my way back to the room and the steward had left some additional surprises.

The card included a $50 off coupon for the spa and a free 8x10 photograph. The spa coupon I have gotten each of my last three cruises and it is pretty restrictive so not so much a coupon as a gimmick to increase spa sales. The free photo was nice and I wish that I had used it. Alas I never took a photo, except once at dinner when a photographer snapped a pic of me responding "no" to his question "photo?" The guy must have had a quota to meet because he did that to everyone at the tables nearby as well. A lovely gesture though and I especially loved the mirror art. Even better was I forgot about it so it was actually a surprise. Sometimes reading reviews does take the fun of being surprised away, so I was glad I had forgotten about this.

After brunch it was a lazy afternoon for me. I love sea days as it is a perfect excuse to be lazy and do nothing. When I do this on port days, I feel bad because M is much more into doing stuff than me. I love doing nothing and just relaxing. I spent a little time in the casino but mostly sat around being the poster child for The Lazy Song.

The Blackjack tournament was today and M entered because there was not much competition. It was a very slow casino. She went all in on her last hand, she would be in first place if she won. Luck was not on her side though, and she busted. She bought back in but had no luck again but she used the money she won in the big loot to join, so it really did not cost her anything.

I made my way back to the room and was surprised to see that M was awake and nearly ready! Turns out she had been woken up at 9:30 by the neighbor. The neighbor was playing their radio quite loudly and really enjoying singing along at the top of his lungs. I want everyone to enjoy themselves on vacation but a little consideration is in order when you have adjoining doors. I was hoping to hear some rumpy pumpy this week, not your radio.

I don't judge the drunk guy in public areas making a ruckus (it's been me a time or two, and M too many times to count) but in housing areas, please keep it down. And it is 930am how are you drunk already? Of course later it became obvious he was not sponsored by Jim Beam but rather Mary Jane.

M and I made our way down to the casino. She got going good and did not want to join me for brunch. She said I could play the birthday card and she would join me, but I was saving that for something later. So I was off to do brunch by myself. I want to try a cruise by myself to see if I enjoy it, and one of the most challenging parts will be enjoying a leisurely brunch by oneself so was going to work on that starting today.

I first went to brunch on the Splendor last January. The food was so amazing and it was also the first time I really ventured into the dining room. Since then, brunch has repeatedly fallen below expectations set from that first experience. To be fair though, it was both times on the same ship which had overall blah food so I was hoping it could be redeemed today. I was confident it could as dinner was so wonderful the previous night.

For my starter I ordered an old favorite, the jerk bacon ceaser salad which was wonderful.

I also got a dish I had yet to try that I kept hearing good comments about on other people's review.

Flamin' tomato soup.

It was indeed very good, but I am just not a soup person and probably would not order it again. I am not a salad person either but have completely fallen in love with Carnival's ceaser salad.

For my entree I ordered the grilled salmon fillet.

This was so good and was probably the best thing I ate all week. A new favorite for sure.

I followed that up with another new favorite for dessert. CHEESECAKE!

I am a huge cheesecake fan. Even the ones on Lido that most people don't like I devour. So when I get one that is this good, I am in pure bliss! The service had been so bad in the dining room on Conquest, that twice I was unable to order this after hearing such wonderful things about it. So glad I was able to try it this time.

This was a fantastic meal and brunch has redeemed itself as something to really look forward to. Food and service was top notch. I also survived a meal by myself without getting bored sitting there or feeling awkward as one sometimes can eating alone. Of course, with slower service I might not have as good results but at least I know it can be done.

Full Brunch Menu

Day 2: Fun Birthday at Sea!

I was up way too early today. It was barely 8:30. This was the earliest I have ever been up on a cruise when I did not have something planned. M was still sleeping, she stayed out later than me, so I quickly and quietly headed down to try my luck in the casino.

I got on a pretty good streak and before I knew it, I had earned one of these.

Free drinks in the casino! I love this card.

The cashier was not open yet to present me with my card. I needed something to eat but did not want to go to brunch before M got up. I needed something in my stomach so while I waited on the cashier I ran up to Lido real quick and got an omelette. The station that becomes the Mongolian Wok is the omelette station in the morning and it moves real quick even if there is a line. It was very good and tasted hot, but one odd thing both times I got an omelette is that the cheese did not melt. I am not sure why, but it tasted good anyway.

I was wandering around the Promenade deck just exploring and I ran into Hazel the casino host at the coffee shop. I showed her my drink card and we talked for a bit. I like how easy to talk to Hazel is, overall as a host she did not have the personality and enthusiasm I think one needs for that position, but I did like her and enjoyed chatting with her a couple times.

While exploring, I wondered into the Michelangelo Lounge. There are some very interesting sculptures in here.

This lounge is used as the Latin music club and the decor just does not match the theme of this lounge. I am sure it made sense when it was built, but now it just seems odd. Then there is the matter of in today's PC times, surely someone is offended by all the nudity in this room :rolleyes: