4 day Sensation Review

[newcruiserdave]

Review of our 4 day Carnival Sensation Cruise. We chose this cruise because it was the only one that fit the dates that matched our 11 year-old’s school trip. We have done now 6 cruises all on different lines. We usually choose the cruise based on dates, or ports or amenities of the ship that fit the type of vacation we want, as well as the price. I’ll never reach a ‘loyalty reward’ level doing this, but for me, the limited rewards don’t equal the cost savings and adventure of trying different lines and getting the best deal for each individual cruise. My wife and I were looking for rest/relaxation this time for just the two of us, and so this cruise was very successful. I will post in sections covering the ship, the cabin, the food/dining, entertainment, and a few other misc topics. I will be glad to answer questions, but it may take a day for me to get back as I am behind on work currently. Feel free to disagree with my opinions, but remember they are just my observations on this one cruise, not a comprehensive review of this ship or the cruise line. You may have had different experiences, but you didn’t have this one. I write this because I feel I owe it to you guys for providing me with great information that helped me prepare for this great vacation, and because there were very few recent reviews of the Sensation that I could find. A big thank you to you all for your help!

[newcruiserdave]

The ship: As advertised, very “neon-Vegas”. If you prefer understated elegance, you will be offended. If your favorite color is purple, then you will be very happy. I enjoyed it for what it was. A few spaces deserve mention. The “Touch of Class” bar with the large black and white hands everywhere was very creepy. (Great place for a Halloween party.) Fans of the old Addams Family TV show will see that room as a tribute to one of their favorite cast members. The Fantasia lounge was very comfortable, but the sight-lines for the show were horrible, especially in the upper section. Above the first two rows of the upper section, most seats cannot see large portions of the stage. Then there are the poles to obstruct the remainder. If you want a good seat, you had better get there very early. I’ll discuss the shows later. The ship was very well maintained and there was little evidence to suggest the Sensation was an “older ship”. It was easy to find everything and other than the shows and the ‘pool’, never felt crowded.

[newcruiserdave]

The cabin. We were in an aft balcony on Empress Deck. There has been a lot of discussion of the pros and cons of these rooms recently on CC. We loved the room. There was occasional vibration, but no more than could be felt in the dining rooms or elsewhere. The bedding was the most comfortable I have ever had in a ship’s cabin by far. We did not experience any noises save the occasion cart bumping into the oddly place post in the hall outside the cabin. The balcony itself was very large with two chairs (one which reclined) and a small table. We really enjoyed the balcony. Not once did we enter the balcony to find ashes, dropped trash, cigarettes, cigars, or dead bodies. This balcony is completely covered with dividers that cover the full space. The dividers do have a hinged section with a 1 inch space at the bottom and a ¼ inch space where it appears the dividers are made to be opened, though the hinge side is the side nearest the balcony rail, not the side nearest the room. This would make the dividers open toward the balcony rail and obstruct the view off the balcony, so I’m not sure they are functional if you wanted to open the balconies for adjoining rooms. There was also a lot of discussion about the lights on the aft balconies. Our light was functional all the time and I used it several times to read on the balcony in the early morning. The cabin drapes were very good at obstructing all light such that the room could be made to be very dark even at midday. The aft balcony does not get as much breeze as the side balconies, so if the sun is coming into the space it gets very hot with all the metal walls. That said, we spent a lot of time on the balcony. My favorite view off the ship is the wake from the stern. Our cabin was always well-maintained by our invisible steward (never saw him). On previous cruises our steward always made a point to introduce him/herself and offer to help with whatever. He did go to the trouble to leave the towel animals. (Does anyone beside me see the irony of the info hanger in the bathroom asking people to consider reusing towels to save on washing – and the use of multiple towels rolled up as decorations each night? Oh, well.)

[C Cruise Dude]

Dave, Thanks for the review, keep it coming. Can I make a request for us old fogies, could you use a font size like 3 so we don't have to glue our faces to the screen. :o Also, what date was the cruise? I might be having a senior issue and missed it.:o Thanks.

[newcruiserdave]

We cruised 9-18 to 9-22. Sorry for the font size, I just copied and pasted from Word and didn't preview

 

Embarkation/Debarkation: We flew in the same day as we always do (gasp! A few people reading this just had a heart attack). My time off is very limited, and I don’t want to waste it spending the night at a so-so hotel. I’d rather have another day on the ship and take my chances with the same day flight. If I had unlimited time off, I would do it differently. That said, we live in the south and weather closing airports is negligible. We also choose flights that have back-ups just in case there is a problem. We flew into Melbourne (got cheaper flights than flying into Orlando), rented a car for $34, drove 28 miles to Port Canaveral, dropped off the car at the rental place and had a 10 minute free shuttle to the ship. Total time from plane debarkation to arriving at entrance to the terminal -- less than an hour. We arrived at the cruise terminal at about 1:00 and dropped off the luggage in the room and were eating at the buffet by 1:40. Debarkation was a breeze. We only had our carry-ons so did the self debark thing and were at the car rental place by 7:30. I had left a large room for error and had a 12:00 flight leaving Melbourne so had lots of time to kill. I love small airports… time to get through security at MLB: 2 minutes.

[newcruiserdave]

Pool/Availability of deck chairs: there is one area with a pool, if you can call it that. It was the most crowded spot on the ship. If you are looking for a swimming pool on this ship you got on the wrong boat. The water slides were well used, but not overly crowded. There were always empty deck loungers everywhere, including the serenity area. I have no idea why. No one really felt the need to ‘save chairs’ as there were always empty ones around, and there were always empty ones around because everyone wasn’t saving them. Interesting.

 

Best signage on the ship: “Restroom -- Unisex guests only.” I should have taken a picture.

[gelo7]

I am looking forward to the rest.

[spideyfam]

Thanks for posting a review. I enjoyed the Sensation myself when I sailed on her.

[okwriter]

Very funny review so far! I enjoy your writing style! :)

 

My first cruise was a 4-night on the Sensation, and you are right about there not being as many reviews as for some other ships. I didn't do one (shame on me) even though we had a GREATtime.

 

During our entire cruise, we never saw a single person in the Touch of Class lounge. Seemed a real waste of space.

 

You were lucky to have such a short flight and weather-related storms not being a factor.

It wasn't a factor for us in getting TO Orlando, but we had about a 12-hour layover :eek: in Atlanta on the way home due to storms...and that was in January!

Glad it was on the way home instead of the other way around. ;)

[llpduck]

Thanks for the review on the Sensation. I am sailing on it Thanksgiving week with my daughter and grandchildren. After reading your post I am very excited to be on that ship. This is my first cruise so had no idea about anything cruising.

[newcruiserdave]

The entertainment: We did not go to the opening night show as we had other plans. We did see the “Curves” show and the “80’s music” show. The dancers were very good and the female lead singer was awesome. The male lead was ok, but she was way out of his league. He did a better job on the 80’s songs as they were better matched to his voice. The show band had some talented musicians and got out a great sound for such a small group. The “Curves” show was one of the oddest shows I have ever attended. It was a very loosely connected event. The lack of cohesion was very distracting. The only thing that tied all the numbers together was the bare-bottomed dancers. They announced before the show that the show had been rated PG for costuming. Just be aware if you have children. The 80’s show had a central theme (all 80’s music) and was much more enjoyable to me.

The other onboard entertainers were mostly very good. I especially liked the band that did the “Romance” dance evening and the sea-day deck party (I think ‘Celebration’ was their name). We heard rave reviews of the comedians, but stand-up is not my thing so that is just hear-say.

[newcruiserdave]

The entertainment: We did not go to the opening night show as we had other plans. We did see the “Curves” show and the “80’s music” show. The dancers were very good and the female lead singer was awesome. The male lead was ok, but she was way out of his league. He did a better job on the 80’s songs as they were better matched to his voice. The show band had some talented musicians and got out a great sound for such a small group. The “Curves” show was one of the oddest shows I have ever attended. It was a very loosely connected event. The lack of cohesion was very distracting. The only thing that tied all the numbers together was the bare-bottomed dancers. They announced before the show that the show had been rated PG for costuming. Just be aware if you have children or if this will bother you. The 80’s show had a central theme (all 80’s music) and was much more enjoyable to me.

The other onboard entertainers were mostly very good. I especially liked the band that did the “Romance” dance evening and the sea-day deck party (I think ‘Celebration’ was their name). We heard rave reviews of the comedians, but stand-up is not my thing so that is just hear-say.

[newcruiserdave]

The entertainment: We did not go to the opening night show as we had other plans. We did see the “Curves” show and the “80’s music” show. The dancers were very good and the female lead singer was awesome. The male lead was ok, but she was way out of his league. He did a better job on the 80’s songs as they were better matched to his voice. The show band had some talented musicians and got out a great sound for such a small group. The “Curves” show was one of the oddest shows I have ever attended. It was a very loosely connected event. The lack of cohesion was very distracting. The only thing that tied all the numbers together was the bare-bottomed dancers. They announced before the show that the show had been rated PG for costuming. Just be aware if you have children or if this will bother you. The 80’s show had a central theme (all 80’s music) and was much more enjoyable to me.

The other onboard entertainers were mostly very good. I especially liked the band that did the “Romance” dance evening and the sea-day deck party (I think ‘Celebration’ was their name). We heard rave reviews of the comedians, but stand-up is not my thing so that is just hear-say.

[bamagirltonya]

Thanks for the review of the Sensation, Dave. I will be cruising on her Nov. 17th. I have read both good and bad reviews and I think the good out-weigh the bad. As with any cruise (this will be my fifth) there is good and bad. Thankfully all of mine have been good so far and they all have been CCL cruises.

 

Tonya

 

Carnival Holiday - October 2006 Cozumel, Calica

Carnival Holiday - November 2007 Cozumel, Progresso

Carnival Fantasy - November 2009 Cozumel, Progresso

Carnival Destiny - December 2010 Cayman, Ocho Rios

Carnival Sensation - November 2011 Nassau

[newcruiserdave]

Sorry for the triple post above-- the board was having problems I guess....

 

Dining. We had reserved traditional early dining. We were at a table with 3 other couples and enjoyed meeting and dining with them. The Ecstasy dining room was nice, but not grand. The waiters were cordial and went to the trouble to learn our names. I wish they had spent as much effort paying attention to our orders. Every meal (and almost each course of every meal) involved multiple mix-ups of the orders (comically at times). I was pleased to read on CC that after-dinner cappuccino was free. Great… if only the waiter would remember to bring it after ordering and reminding him several times. The food quality was very hit-or-miss. The lobster and shrimp were perfect. The stuffed mushrooms were the best I’ve ever had. The desserts were ok, but not great. (So I guess I’m the only person not overwhelmed by the chocolate melting cake -- the one at Appleby’s is much better IMHO.) On the other hand, some of the food was poor and inedible. As an example, my fish one night was so overcooked you could see the hard glaze on it. Steak ordered medium well came very rare in a pool of blood. A great waiter would have taken one look at some of our dishes and refused to serve them. I have been spoiled in the past with waiters that were much more attentive to the details. The guys on this cruise were nice and accommodating (which came in handy with the many errors), and they worked hard (and received additional tips), but they were not great. Most of the food quality was on par with a local Ryans, or Golden Corral, or just under a Red Lobster. Far and away the worst I’ve ever had on any cruise (as was the service). That said, we had a great time with our new friends at dinner, we were pampered a little, and no one left hungry.

 

So in summary, we had a great time. Our expectations of the ship were realistic, thanks to this board. I thought the Sensation was a great value. We got a lot more enjoyment for our dollar than some other cruises. Sure, we were a little disappointed with the dining experience and some of the entertainment, but that gave us something to talk about. In no way did it 'ruin' our cruise. (that is a comment I just can't understand.) Will we book Carnival again? It all depends what we are looking for next time. If they have the right schedule and we're looking for value and relaxation, we very well may be again on the Sensation. Our limited experience on this one class of ship is no way to judge a cruise line. The other ships have different personalities. Basically, my feeling is that they are all good. If I'm looking for grand elegance, or ballroom dancing and I can afford it, then I'll be back on Cunard. If that is not the experience I'm seeking next vacation, I'll be somewhere else. The beauty of cruisecritic is that if you are willing to do a little homework, then you can get just the experience you are looking for. Thanks again for your help.

[earl_m]

Thanks for sharing your cruise with us!!