Back from the Sensation yesterday...2nd time at Thanksgiving

[jackdis]

HI Everyone,

 

Just back from the Sensation yesterday. This was our 2nd Thanksgiving cruise aboard her.

 

Just a little background info: Myself, my husband and our two daughters flew down to Florida the day before the cruise, spent the night at my Mom's house and then all went together to the cruise ship the next day. Perfect family get together for the holidays.

 

All flights went smoothly, both ways, even though I was stressing about the 10:45 a.m. return flight as we got off the ship on one of "busiest travel days" that the news seemed to be mentioning every two minutes.

 

And up next, our short and sweet trip and my just as short and sweet trip review, for your reading pleasure......

[jackdis]

Thursday, November 24 - Happy Thanksgiving (and a Happy Birthday to someone in our traveling party!)

 

We drove to Port Canaveral from Tampa in approx. 2 hours, maybe a little more. We got to the pier and moved through the lines fairly quickly. We had two allowed bottles of wine in our carry ons. No one even asked to look at them. We were on board by about 11:30, had lunch in the buffet, and then went to explore a bit. We actually spent a chunk of time at this point at the water slide area. This was new since we were on two years ago. A pleasant addition. We like to get on earlier, eat and then wander around, avoiding some of the crowds arriving and looking for lunch!

 

Room was open at around 1:20. Seemed ok, except that we had two pull down beds from the ceiling and from the looks of where they would go and where the queen sized bed was, the husband and I would be sleeping in a coffin of sorts. Like needing to crawl out on our stomachs if god forbid one of us needed to use the bathroom in the middle of the night. There were beds and ladders for beds everywhere. Pretty funny actually. I was on vacation, and this was not going to ruin anything for me!!!

 

We went to safety drill, sail away and then got ready for dinner. We had early seating. Our server, Ketut, aka King, was great. Food was good. Again, I'm on vacation and not cooking, so I am happy with whatever happens!!!

 

Wandered around a bit that night. Kids checked out kids clubs. Actually, it ended up being an early night. One of the kids wasn't feeling too great, and we were all tired from our big work/travel day before and felt like an early night was in order.

 

Bed situation was not as bad as we first thought. Maybe it was more like being in a half coffin, and stomach crawl wasn't completely necessary. Sliding yourself all the way to the bottome of the bed might be a more accurate picture, followed by walking like a hunchback in order to avoid the bed above you, and previously mentioned ladders to upper bunks. LOL....

 

We were excited. The plan was to meet for breakfast with the parents in the dining room in the morning, and wait for our arrival to Nassau, the Bahamas. Sweet dreams from rocky waters! Yes, the boat was moving a bit. Took out the dramamine that I had (just in case!) and gave some to one daughter and myself. Night night!

[CapsR1]

Sounds good . . . waiting for more!

[jackdis]

Thanks, Caps....more to follow tonight!

[jackdis]

Sorry for the delay.

 

So, where were we???

 

On our way to the Bahamas!!! (One thing I forgot to mention was that we did go to karaoke last night, as my dear husband pointed out to me after he read over what I wrote. Yes, he did sing. I'm biased, but he did a great job singing Brown Eyed Girl.)

 

Side note: The woman who hosted the karaoke, Tye,. mentioned Superstar Live karaoke to us, which would be held on the night we were in the Bahamas. She described it as "karaoke on steroids." Well, that it was! But more about that later in this day's installment.

 

Back to where we were. After breakfast in the dining room, we wandered the ship a bit and waited for noon until we were scheduled to dock in Nassau. Having been there a few times before, we didn't book any ship excursions. We just planned to go to the beach for a few hours and soak up the sun and warm weather.

 

We got off the ship without delay and off we were. Heads down, avoiding eye contact with the locals, since we knew what we wanted - and didn't want. I was curious to see what had happened with the straw market since we were last there. (Since then there had been a fire and Hurricane Irene in August.)

 

As I read, a new straw market is being built. The building is quite impressive. Looks like it will be a little more appealing to the eye, I suppose. But for now, all the merchants were on the walk from the ship towards Senor Frogs. I didn't shop at all, but did prefer the tents out in the open this way…it was so crowded in the area that was formerly known as the straw market.

 

We passed Senor Frogs, and stopped in a for a souvenir. Of all things, the little one wanted a pencil and a keychain with a frog on it!!! Before long we were at the BCH, sitting on the beach area, and as always, had a nice time. Beach, drink, pool, drink, lunch, drink, repeat…….

 

We ended up staying for a few hours and headed back towards the ship via Bay Street. We stopped in a few stores along the way on the "Rodeo Drive of the Bahamas" as the ship's shopping advisor described it.

 

Once back on board, we got ready for dinner. It was formal night. And of course, this evenings big event would be Superstar Live.

 

To be continued….

[mamaty]

Still waiting for more.....................:(

[jackdis]

Sorry! It was such a busy weekend! If not tonight, then I will write more tomorrow. :)

[mamaty]

Looking forward to it! :);)

[mamaty]

Bump

[chellebell91987]

What beach was this you went to and how did you get there?...Did you have to take a cab? I am in the process of planning this same cruise in March and we really don't like that our excursions could cost almost as much as the cruise if we chose to do the cruiselines! My friend just wants to go to the beach and we don't want to go broke over it!

[jackdis]

So sorry for the delay. It's been a hectic week, and like always, it seems like a lifetime ago that we were on the Sensation!!

 

Back to cruising…..

 

Dinner was good. I must say that our service was excellent in the dining room. Foods were delivered promptly and with a smile. I swore to myself I would try new things since I always tend to order the same things when we cruise.

I tried to stick to this, but did go back to some of my tried and true favorites. The short ribs were good. I had the filet mignon one night. That was good too. The lobster was so so…..I think I am passing on that next time. I always say that and end up getting it. I need to remember to follow through. That night I was going to try the fish dish but the waiter whispered to me that it was dry. Sweet man, looking out for me. Wish I tried it though! The winner on this trip were the soups. Most specifically, the cheddar potato bacon soup was incredible!!

 

After dinner we went to Superstar Live, or "karaoke on steroids" as it was referred to. What a fun time. My husband sang "Margaritaville." He did a great job. The band accompanying the singers was good and the hostess was pretty funny with the singers. So we all enjoyed it. The song selection was really limited, much more so than the night before at regular karaoke. I'm guessing that's because of the live band aspect. For those of you wondering, the hostess was there to help out if you messed up. She kept saying that people were good and made her job easy that night. She had a nice voice too. She performed in between a few acts.

 

Not much more to report that night. Casino, I think. Oh, interesting to note…..when we were docked in the Bahamas overnight, I was not expecting the casinos and shops to be open on board since we were in port. They were. That was unusual. Maybe it was because shops close at 5 in Nassau, but there's the casino over at Paradise Island, so obviously, there is some sort of agreement that the shops and casino on board can be open in the evening when staying overnight in the Bahamas.

 

I think this was the night that the little one wanted to stay really late at the kids club. They do such an amazing job with them there. She was in the older group this time, the 6-8's and she really loved it. The older one also really enjoyed her new freedom in Circle C and had a good time. A few months ago was her first time in that age group and it seemed like she never made a friend of entirely wanted to go do a lot of the activities. This time she really enjoyed it. And i have to say the director of her age group was so friendly and enthusiastic, I wanted to stay sometimes too. The activity that had me laughing the most was when the 13 year olds were learning how to play blackjack. Never to early to get the ready to spend time in the casino once they are of age!!

 

I can't remember the exact nights, but the waters were a little bit choppy, enough so that each of the girls and myself took a little non drowsy Dramamine. IT wasn't terrible but did help to make us feel better. I commented a few times on this ship that it always seemed that the girls could never feel crappy at the same time! One would be dragging while the other was ready to stay out until 1am. The next night it was the opposite. One child would fall asleep at dinner, rejuvenated, and at this point, child number two was ready to go back to the cabin for a nap. I will have to keep an eye on this for future trips. This crimps our style a bit. But then again, when we choose to have these wonderful kids, we agreed to the lifestyles being somewhat crimped, didn't we? AND I wouldn't change it for the world!!!!

 

This trip is flying by. Hard to believe that tomorrow will be our last day at sea. We plan to make the most of it!!!! Stay tuned, please……..have a good night!

[jackdis]

What beach was this you went to and how did you get there?...Did you have to take a cab? I am in the process of planning this same cruise in March and we really don't like that our excursions could cost almost as much as the cruise if we chose to do the cruiselines! My friend just wants to go to the beach and we don't want to go broke over it!

 

We walked to the British Colonial HIlton and obtained a day pass there. Very convenient for us and we have been there several times before, so it works for us. i have been looking at the Sheraton and Wyndham properties. I think in the future I might try one of those as well.

[jackdis]

I'm so sorry! With all the craziness of the holidays, this poor little trip report was forgotten! I will finish it up in the next day or two. Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday with your families!

[gelo7]

Looking forward to the rest.

[uCruiser]

Me too... We are going on the same cruise January 15th :)

[jackdis]

Sat., November 26, 2011

 

As always, whether the cruise is short or long, 3 days or 7 days, that dreaded LAST day arrives much too quickly. This time was no different. I must say that since the cruise was awhile ago and I didn't really take any notes for this trip report, my recollections of what we did are very vague. I know we took it easy, sat in the sun, watched the girls by the water slides, hit up some trivia and some casino action, and just relaxed. I checked with my dear husband to see if I was missing something major, and he had pretty much the same recollection. We took the day to just relax and enjoy our last day at sea, and also our last day in the warmer weather since we would be headed back to NY the next day and winter was not too far away.

 

Again, we had good, prompt service, friendly and courteous wait staff in the dining room, and a nice meal. We did not have to worry about the packing up and having suitcases ready by a certain time in the hallway. We only travelled with small pullman type suitcases which we would be pulling off with us, especially since we had a rather early flight to catch the next morning. The only glitch we had was not being able to print our boarding passes for the next morning's flights to save us some time at the airport. The Internet connection was painfully slow. We tried and tried. It just didn't work. We couldn't print. A man was sitting there who was obviously a computer worker. He didn't offer any assistance. Finally after I sat myself next to him, he told me he would credit the time we had used on the computers to our sign and sail account. Good thing because paying $20 for nothing was not my idea of a great way to say Bon Voyage

 

Sun., Nov. 27

 

We were slightly worried about catching our 10:45 flight from Orlando, but had no problem whatsoever. We arrived with time to spare. Debarkation was easy and simple. The ride to the airport was the same. We really enjoyed our second time aboard the Sensation. It's a nice little Thanksgiving getaway. I wouldn't mind doing it again in the future. We were back in NY by about 1:00, and of course, back to work the next day, and feeling like we hadn't even been away a few days later. Isn't that always how it seems?

 

Hope you enjoyed reading the is trip report. Sorry it took me so long to complete it. I wish you a happy and healthy 2012, and for those of you cruising, many happy days and happy memories at sea!!!!

[chiapetti]

I am in the process of planning this same cruise in March and we really don't like that our excursions could cost almost as much as the cruise if we chose to do the cruiselines! My friend just wants to go to the beach and we don't want to go broke over it!

[jackdis]

You have lots of options of going to the beach on your own. You can take a taxi or a bus. The ports of call section here on CC gives so much helpful info. I also agree with you about not wanting to spend so much $$ to go to the beach. As much as I would like to go to Atlantis someday, it is a ridiculous amount for us to spend for four of us to go there for a few hours.