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leggettsally

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Posts posted by leggettsally

    Sensation Cruisers since Dry dock

    in Carnival Cruise Lines

    Posted

    I just returned on Saturday from a 5 day sailing on the Sensation and I was pleasantly surprised. I had sailed on this ship a few years back and was extremely disappointed but with changes in this ship are great! Having the two new bars, the burger bar and the burrito bar on the lido deck are great additions.

     

    A few minor complaints - there was ALWAYS 10+ kids in the hot tubs - didn't matter what time of day we went to try to get in one. The food was just okay - after a few days it felt like the same stuff over and over again. I wish there was other dinner options other than the dining room and the buffet which had the same food in both places.

     

    We loved the bar outside the casino -the bartenders here were great! We also attended trivia a few nights in the main lobby and it was packed with people and a ton of fun!

     

    We were delayed getting into Half Moon Cay and I felt they did a great job keeping us all informed as to what was going on and because of the delay we stayed an extra hour to make up for it.

    Was delay due to rough waters? We are leaving out Miami on Monday on sensation, HMC is one of the ports I really want to see,

     

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    Sensation Cruisers since Dry dock

    in Carnival Cruise Lines

    Posted

    Hello All,

     

    Just returned home to NJ after our Cruise on the Sensation. We went for my brother's 50th birthday. It was my brother, my family of 4 (me, wife, 2 teenagers 16,14), and my sister and her two kids ages 9&7.

     

    A few quick thoughts on the ship. Even though the ship is on the older side, who cares. Its still a great ship, and looks good. While it may not have the technology and all the activities of the newer ships, there is nothing wrong with the ship itself. They keep you very busy. There are activities scheduled all day everyday. Pick a few and go. You won't be disappointed. We only went to one nighttime show, and it was typical cruiseship style show. It was fine, not great. Good for some laughs with your group.

     

    The Key West stop is not long enough. Need to be back on board by 1pm. Not enough time to really do anything in KW. We had fun there though. Irish Kevins at 11am was a great stop for us! We had a nice day in Cozumel. Did a day trip on our own to Playa Mia Beach Club, kids and adults had a great time, not crowded at all!

     

    Now one downside to the ship... The food was very underwhelming. I am not a foodie by any means, and I was even disappointed. This was my brothers 26th cruise, and he even said that the food was the worst he's had on any cruise. By no means did it ruin our trip, but it is something that you should be aware of going in. Also, a word of caution in the Main Diining Room. The bar server was awful. Bring a drink to dinner if you are going to want one. Late night, they put a few things out only. It was a bit of a disappointment.

     

    The upgrades they made on the pool deck during the dry dock were good. The new bar, and Guys Burgers were a great addition. The burger place is open only during the day.

     

    There are two great places to hang out at night. The first place is the bar on deck 9 outside the casino. The band, Barracuda Snakes is great. We sat there and danced for parts of every night. Make sure you see them. The bar at the main lobby is fun too. Lots of people hang out there and they have fun activities there.

     

    The bottom line is that the cruises are all about who you are with and what you make of it. Don't let the food options ruin your cruise.

     

    I'd be happy to answer any additional questions in more detail..

    So guys burgar joint isn't open to eat as a dinner meal say 6-7 pm? Also does anyone know if there is wings on buffet bars,

     

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    Victory- delayed boarding?

    in Carnival Cruise Lines

    Posted

    I just want to clarify for you that check-in and boarding are completely different things. If you had a 12:30 check-in you can still enter the terminal at 12:30, check-in, and wait til they call you for boarding. We were on the Victory last month and checked in at 10:45ish (because we are Platinum). Checked in and waited til they called us to board around 1:15pm. There were hundreds of people checked-in before 1:30pm.

    Im also confused about this boarding ,when we made our final payment we got a email that said do online check in ,then on boarding pass it say 11:30 boarding time, so if I'm already checked in online do I have to check in when I arrive at port? Or just go to boarding area,

     

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    What's your favorite part of the MDR menu/experience?

    in Carnival Cruise Lines

    Posted

    We take a cheese plate back to our stateroom and put it in the frig to have later, as a before-bed snack while we relax out on our balcony. :)

     

    As for my favorite part of the dining room experience...I would have to say it's a toss up between not having to cook it myself, and trying new dishes, oh and remembering a really delicious item from a previous cruise that is still on the menu and having it again! :) I could do without the "entertainment" though. Thankfully we had anytime dining on our last cruise and we were usually finished with dinner before it started. :)

    What kind of cheeses are on cheese plate?

     

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    I Wish Someone Had Told Me On My First Carnival Cruise.....

    in Carnival Cruise Lines

    Posted

    Hi! Hoping you can clarify, normally I use a cc for sign/sail but we are staying a few days pre-cruise so I'm nervous about any hotel holds blocking my full available balance. I have already added cruise cash to my cabin to cover our onboard spending, do I also need to do a cash deposit? Thanks!

     

     

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    Wondering if I can pay gratuities the day I check in and get S&S card ,I just want to get it taken care of so not a chunk on bill, and we are also doing cash for S&S

     

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    Shipped missed HMC, what month did you cruise?

    in Carnival Cruise Lines

    Posted

    Ecstasy missed HMC Oct 2016 because of Hurricane Matthew. If you're trying to figure out when to cruise to avoid missing ports, keep this in mind: due to Matthew we missed lots of ports and it was THE BEST CRUISE EVER. Disclosure I do like sea days. But the crew was awesome and the vibe for the entire cruise was so chill. Everyone knew they weren't going anywhere so we all just kicked back. The entire itinerary was changed - we went to Cozumel for two days instead of stops in the Bahamas. More disclosure when I cruise I'm in full total vacation mode since all my stresses are onshore and someone else is responsible for my happiness, so it's easy for me to not care if ports are missed and itineraries change. And - I'm trying again for HMC later this year.

    I know from living in Florida I'd not take cruise to Bahamas from Aug to Nov just because of hurricane season, I've not been on a cruise yet ,so not sure about the sea days if I'll enjoy or not , I'm kinda stick to my self person and don't talk much , so guess I'll be off in a corner of deck lol on sea day,

     

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    What's your favorite part of the MDR menu/experience?

    in Carnival Cruise Lines

    Posted

    The average for us has been about 1 1/2 to 2 hours. They do wait a few minutes for all of the guests to arrive at the dining table, but if you are only a few short they usually move forward w/ drinks & appetizers. We always let our table mates know if we were not attending dinner the next night so the dining staff would know we weren't coming in advance. It can run a bit longer on the nights that they sing & dance, but worth the show. You can order your dessert to go if you wish to catch a show on the boat ... or skip dessert - we've done both.

    What do you mean sing and dance

     

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    What's your favorite part of the MDR menu/experience?

    in Carnival Cruise Lines

    Posted

    On the Carnival Sunshine we were never longer than an hour and 1/2 and we always have coffee at the end of our meal.

    Normal procedure is to seat groups at a table at around the same time and take and bring out all the orders at the same time.

     

    If you want to speed up the MDR process you can ask for the desert menu when you get the entree menu. Order both and there will be no wait time between the 2.:hot-beverage:

    Thank you for that info I will remember that,

     

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    What's your favorite part of the MDR menu/experience?

    in Carnival Cruise Lines

    Posted

    I am also a very picky eater ... often asking my DH to try something and tell me if I will like it. LOL Despite that, I have tried multiple things on the boat that have been amazing in the MDR. Things I NEVER thought in a million years that I would like or even eat. One night they serve lobster tail (7 day or longer cruises) ... as many as you can eat. YUMMO! One night they serve a beef stroganoff w/ beets (different from any stroganoff I've ever eaten and I hate beets - but this was really, really good. The lasagna is wonderful, couldn't even eat it all. I've found also that despite the weird names and descriptions of most of the food, it's actually really good and pretty normal.

    Others have mentioned this, but I will say it again ... broaden your horizons. Attempt to TRY something different on the menu each night. If you don't like it, they will take it back and bring you something else - no questions asked. That's the best part! I think you will be presently surprised.

    How long does a typical dinner in main dining room last, My brother and his family went and said they were in there for about 2-2 1/2 hours , That seemed like a long time to be at a dinner table, although I understand they are waiting on and serving 100s of people at same time, just wondered if your at a table with other cruisers that are not in your party do they take all orders and bring out all orders together?

     

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    Main dining room

    in Carnival Cruise Lines

    Posted

    I'm not suggesting you try this but just letting you know that not all ships follow the standards the same way.

     

    We were on the Breeze a couple weeks ago and on the second ELEGANT night this is what the man sitting at the table next to us was wearing:

     

    Baseball cap, T-Shirt, camouflaged shorts and flip flops.

     

     

    Sent from my iPhone using Forums

    Ya he never go like that ,but would wear NICE jean shorts that are black or dark blue that are cargo style and nice polo, We are skipping elegant night as I don't want to get all dressed up for it, I'm more of a shorts and Capri person who likes to be comfortable, and I know all dressed up I would feel uncomfortable and not enjoy dinner,:) But I will wear nice Capri and shirts for causel dinners,:)

     

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    Main dining room

    in Carnival Cruise Lines

    Posted

    didn't know anyone still wore jean shorts, they are so 80's

    Lol , ya some people are old school, so he just prefers the carpenter or cargo style jean shorts, they still look OK with a nice tshirt or polo, He not a 20-30 yr old ,so he doesn't like them sports like basketball shorts, :)

     

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    Main dining room

    in Carnival Cruise Lines

    Posted

    Lol this is going to be a small change for me as I can still wear my flip flop to dining cause I have dressy ones, his are just nice leather flip flops , tried to get him to wear some nice Sperry boat shoes ,but that not working either, guess he be in tennis shoes, lol

     

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    Main dining room

    in Carnival Cruise Lines

    Posted

    Ughhh hubby not going to be happy lol he is not the dress up kind of man, guess we won't be eating no meals in MDR,, cause he says he is on vacation and wants to be comfortable, and don't want to dress up every night, ( to him dressing up for casual is denim walking shorts and polo shirts, we live I Florida so basically we live in shorts ,

     

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    Main dining room

    in Carnival Cruise Lines

    Posted

    I'm wondering about clothing for MDR just on reg nights, are men allowed to wear jean shorts ( not cutoffs or holey) just nice jean shorts and a polo shirt ,and sandals,or nice flip flops? Hubby doesn't want to wear jeans or dress pants and dress shoes or tennis shoes just go to dinner,

     

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    Shipped missed HMC, what month did you cruise?

    in Carnival Cruise Lines

    Posted

    We just missed it this past week on Elation. The weather forecast called for rain storms all day, so the ship went to Key West instead. Was disappointed to miss our favorite port of call. But all in all, it was a great move by CCL to do this for us.

    Hopefully we don't miss it:(, we've been to key west more then enough and seen and done stuff, we are actually one 4 hrs from key west so we go to keys often,

     

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    MDR dining

    in Carnival Cruise Lines

    Posted

    14 cruises, we have never emailed the maitre'd. We always dined late prior to YTD. Just go to the MDR and request a change, no big deal. The only interaction we have ever had with a maitre'd was on the Dream last year. We met another couple and became friends. They had late seating we had YTD. We requested they change to YTD so they could join us. At first he said it was sold out, which was ridiculous as the DR was 1/2 full. Funny, a $20 bill later, they were assigned YTD for the rest of the trip. And they say money doesn't buy love.

    Can I go onto my account and change to anytime dining? I don't recall it being offered when we booked cruise.

     

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