Sensation May 26th review

Hi all! Just back from a great cruise on the Sensation. I'll try not to make this too painfully rambling, but can't promise I'll succeed.

* We flew to Miami Friday evening and stayed at the Intercontinental downtown. I can't say enough good things about this hotel! The location is perfect, the decor is modern and gorgeous, and the bay view (a comp upgrade from the city view we booked) was amazing despite the terrible weather. Food and service in the onsite restaurants - Toro Toro for late night drinks and dinner, and Ole for brunch Saturday morning - were fantastic, albeit unsurprisingly pricey.

* Embarkation was a bit of a cluster. We had a suite and also FTTF. I knew we were allowed to wait in the Captain's Lounge (thanks to the suite), but Annie [not her real name] insisted we sit in the FTTF area in the terminal. This took us back by several more staff. One spotted the Priority flag on our boarding passes, and uturned us back to the CL. Me: "I think you're right, but Miss Annie said we had to sit here." Staff member: "Miss Annie doesn't know what she's talking about. Ignore her and if she says anything, send her back to me." Boarding started right around 11, and we were on board at probably five after - not a ton of Platinums and Diamonds on this sailing. Then we went straight to our cabin to drop our carry-ons (thanks to FTTF), and maintenance was in there working on the balcony. We killed about an hour on Lido, and went back downstairs to a finished cabin. Overall, no big deal, but a word when we were checking in would have been nice, vs the surprise.

* Internet service was a hot mess we had to straighten out on embarkation day. I had originally purchased the Social plan for both myself and my travel mate, Karen. Then I decided that I wanted a bit more, so I called to upgrade just mine to the Value plan. (Karen doesn't really care about being connected while on vacation. Don't judge me!) Somehow, once we were on board, Karen had access but I didn't. I waited in Guest Services line for the usual forever on embarkation day - even with the Plat/Diamond/FTTF lane - when one of the Just Ask Guys [JAG] came up and asked what I needed. I explained the issue to JAG, including the upgrade call, and he insisted that I get out of line and go see the Internet Cafe man. I was (understatement) highly skeptical, but didn't want to debate with a crew member, so I go to see the Internet Cafe man. Nope. Can't help you - you need Guest Services. So I go get back in line, at the back of the line, that's even longer than the one I waiting in originally. Right about this time, I am officially in danger of breaking my "no grumpiness allowed on vacation" rule. Then JAG walks by, sees me at the back of the line "Internet Cafe guy couldn't help? Oh." and walks away. Not cool, JAG. Thankfully, when I finally got to the front of the line, one of the supervisors immediately found the problem: when I'd called to upgrade my plan, the call center rep had canceled my Social and added Value to Karen's profile, in addition to Social. She got me set back up correctly within just a few minutes and dramatically lowered my blood pressure. But I was still glad I didn't see JAG for the rest of the cruise, lol.

That's probably enough rambling for now - more to follow, including a Chef's Table review and my (blasphemous) thoughts on our three ports...

Thanks for sharing. I will be on the Sensation in September so I will be following your thread.

I will on the ship in August I will be watching for next thread

Thanks for the review.

Following and looking forward to the rest of the review on your great cruise. . .which so far does not sound exactly so great!