Sensation August 30th Review - Just Back!

[elenaW]

Husband and I planned a quick little 3 day get away for our anniversary, kind of last minute (for us, I'm a planner!) Couldn't find much about the Sensation and what we found wasn't terribly positive, but life is what you make of it and we always enjoy our time together, so off we went!

 

We live in South Carolina, so we decided to leave Wednesday at noon and stop in Savannah, GA for the night. We did a walking tour of some of the squares closest to the Riverwalk and had dinner in an Irish Pub. A good start to our trip, and while it drizzled a bit, no real rain.

 

Thursday morning we were up early, ate breakfast at the hotel, and hit the road to Port Canaveral. We are Florida natives and have done the long drive down I-95 many times. We got to the Port about 12:30 and parked at ParkNCruise for $5.99 a day (reserved online to get that price). My only complaint is that, while we checked in at noon on Thursday and planned to be out by noon on Sunday, we did not get charged for three 24 hour days, we paid for 4 calendar days. Not a huge deal, and I understand the port parking does the same at twice the price, but it was a slight annoyance.

 

We pretty much walked straight on the Sensation at 1:00 and the boarding process was very easy. We did laugh a bit at the Sail and Sign Card area. They had instituted a new computer system where they were supposed to press a button for the monitor over the agents' head to turn green and say "available", but the line monitor said they couldn't seem to remember to press it. They were used to holding up paddles and they'd only had the computer system a week or something like that.

 

We were able to go straight to our cabins where we dropped off our carryons and headed to the Lido for lunch. After a pretty good lunch buffet, we headed back to the cabin but our luggage wasn't there yet. Around 3:45 the muster drill was supposed to start, so we headed to the lounge where we were supposed to meet. We did find that nothing started on time on this ship, but, hey, we're on vacation! They did take the drill very seriously and we had the demonstration of the like jackets while in the lounge. Then we headed up to our life boat, had a short talk on how they will keep us ALL safe if we just pay attention and BE QUIET! Then the all clear sounded and we headed up to watch sail away - which had already started during the drill.

 

The party had definitely started, but we didn't really feel like shakin' it with the party crowd. So we went to our cabin and our luggage was there. We unpacked, decided to relax on the bed, and then get ready for dinner. A nap felt really good!

 

We ate in the MDR except for the port day lunch and the disembarkation breakfast. We weren't thrilled with our table mates. We had hoped for a big lively table of couples that we could enjoy conversation over dinner, but we got a very quiet Indian couple with one set of parents who didn't speak English and only talked to each other, one couple the first night who evidently had their table changed, because the second night we had a different couple and 2 women traveling together for a girls' cruise.

[elenaW]

So about eating in the dining room. The food was pretty good, escargot were REALLY good, the cocktail shrimp were on the menu every night. The prime rib on elegant night was outstanding. When the waiter asked how I wanted it cooked, I told him medium rare, really just warm all the way through but bloody. And that's exactly how it came. I was very impressed. None of the food was bad, but the choices seemed a little limited. And the warm chocolate melting cake was great! I couldn't convince myself to try any other dessert. We ordered 2 appetizers each every night, just couldn't decide between them. I think of all the food I ate, I only didn't care for 2 things. The avocado soup just wasn't what I pictured, not sure why, but I didn't care for it. I also ordered stuffed mushrooms and they weren't what I expected. Half the table loved them and the other half hated them (enough people ordered them that everyone tasted at least one).

 

The people we sat with were pleasant, we just didn't really connect. We lost couple #1 the first night, the 2 ladies' only ate the 2nd night, the Indian family never spoke to us until the last night, and the other couple talked some, but it wasn't spontaneouse, it always seemed like we were trying to find common ground.

 

We did have some excitement our first dinner. I will preface it by saying this was definitely a different demographic cruise than other longer ones we have been on. Lots of groups. Lots of partiers. So it was no surprise that the table of 10 next to us was pretty drunk coming into dinner. There were 9 women and 1 man at the table, appeared to be 3 groups. The guy and 3 girls (one had a happy birthday crown on, we assume it was a birthday cruise for her) and 6 20 something girls with drinks, shots, bottles of wine, etc. with them at the table. We thought the 6 girls were together at first. Lots of laughter, loud talk, more drinking. About the time the waiters got called up to sing and dance, one of the girls stood up. I thought she was going to drunk dance with the wait staff, but a girl from the other side of the table stood up, too. Then they started with the yelling and head shaking. Now all 3 on one side of the table are on their feet. The first girl reaches over and slaps the girl on the other side of the table. She reaches out and grabs hair. More yelling, slapping, hair pulling ... no ship staff around. The 2 that stood up with the first girl grab her and hustle her out of the dining room, never to be seen again - at least by us!

 

After the singing ended the Maitre 'd came over and the other 3 drunk girls, did I mention they were drunk?, tried to explain. We couldn't hear it all, but there was some discussion of having each other's backs and one girl was flexing her biceps. Now, all 6 of the girls were very attractive, slender, normal looking drunks in cute shorts and sundresses, we're not talking biker chicks or gang members or, I dunno, crazy beeyotches... We did see the other 3 again - at Senor Frogs getting wasted. And the other couple at our table said they saw them around the pool passed out drunk on the sea day. They never came back to the MDR for dinner!

[mj]

Thanks for the review.

[elenaW]

Thanks for the review.

 

You are welcome!

 

On Friday we were scheduled to be in Nassau at noon and stay in port until 6 am on Saturday. We enjoyed sleeping in, which rarely happens at home!

 

We decided to have breakfast in the MDR and asked for a table for 2. The food was good, I had the eggs benedict, which had definitely been in a warming tray, the hollandaise was dried out! But the flavor was good. Hubby had an omlette, which he said was pretty good. The coffee was VERY strong ( but only at breakfast, coffee at dinner was still tasty, but much weaker). We like strong coffee, so no complaints!

 

Being in no hurry, we took my Kindle and Iphone to the Serenity deck and I read while hubby played Sudoku on my phone and we enjoyed the peace. We saw evidence that the seat saving has been eliminated! The towel guy actually went over to a couple looking for a place to sit and insisted they take 2 lounge chairs that had stuff on them. He took the stuff to the towel cart saying no one had been at the chairs for over 30 minutes. I was impressed. We were always able to sit where we wanted to on the Serenity deck.

 

Eventually it got to be lunchtime, so we headed up for something to eat before we left the ship.

 

We deccided not to do any excursions in town. I had downloaded a walking tour of Nassau that hit the highlights, so we grabbed that, sunscreened up, and headed off the ship.

 

I had not packed a hat, so we stopped in the port area and bought an overpriced, I mean a gorgeous baseball hat that had "Bahamas" embroidered on it along with 700 islands (at least that's what the girl claimed, they looked like 5 or 6 blobs to me). But it kept the sun off of me. We had bottled water in my small backpack, so off we went.

 

It was a good hike around the city. We saw a lot of history, the Queen's Staircase, Fort Fincastle, the Senate and Congressional buildings (we went in the Congress one), the Supreme Court (a nice clerk gave us a free tour of one courtroom and talked about it being the courtroom where John Travolta's son's death hearing and Anna Nicole Smith's hearing took place). We also saw the NATIONAL Library (they could use some new books). Anyway, we walked A LOT, thought I was going to have sunstroke at one point, it really got hot. We spent the $12 each for the Pirate Museum. I thought it was pretty good. My husband wished that had more artifacts at the end, but it gave a good overview of the history of Pirates and Nassau.

 

We ended up at the Straw Market and got our souvenirs for those we left at home (that would be our 3 teenagers!).

 

I wanted to see Senor Frogs and we were EXTREMELY hot at this point, so we walked there and ordered a couple of frozen drinks - LARGE please! :D

 

Saw the drunk girls from dinner there, getting drunker. As well as a whole crowd taking advantage of the 18 year old drinking age. I know I'm old, but the more they drank the younger they looked. There were a couple of boys that were trying to hit on girls and, as my son would say, ending up as EPIC failures. By the time we left to go back on board, I would have said they were about 16!

 

It was quite a work out walking around town, but we enjoyed it. We had planned to go snorkeling somewhere, but between the walk, the heat, and the Pina Colada ;), we didn't get to it on this trip!

[vivavegas]

Loving your review! Thanks for sharing your experiences with us!:)

[elenaW]

Loving your review! Thanks for sharing your experiences with us!:)

 

Glad you're enjoying it!

 

The night we were in Nassau was Elegant Night, so we had to get back on board and showered and dressed up. We had late dining, 8:15, plenty of time to rest, shower, and doll up. It was not a really formal group, but we like to dress up once in awhile, so Hubby had his tux and I had my gown. Didn't see as many people dressed to the 9's as on a longer cruise. Doesn't bother us, other than I like to see other people dressed up so I can admire the clothes, shoes, etc.

 

Loved the food (prime rib night). We had gone to late night comedy the night before and thought we would try that again, along with some casino time. We went back to the cabin to change and realized we were exhausted, probably from the sun, so we bailed on our late night plans and turned in.

 

Saturday was our day at sea. I wanted to go to Tea Time, hubby wanted to gamble, but more about that later.

 

Let's just say that Tea Time and Military Meet n Greet in the same lounge was not the smartest plan.

[Crusin Karen]

Sounds like you had a good cruise so far. We had a group of newbie cruisers/young 'uns a few cruises back that partied hearty and it was the best entertainment just to watch and observe! :eek::D:rolleyes: Thanks for sharing your cruise with us! :)

[wrigley80]

Great Review.....Thank You for sharing. I will on the Sensation in 97 days. We are doing a back-to-back on the Ecstasy and Sensation. :)

[minnieiowa]

thanks for the the reveiw - we are going on this ship the Sunday after thanksgiving - it's nice to see a recent review on this ship - as it's hard to find one.:) glad to hear you had such a good experience! I can't wait to go!:D

[elenaW]

I forgot to mention that we went to Karaoke the first evening. It was family hour, but no one was there. This was good for me, because the Karaoke master kept telling me to sing another one! I had fun and then we went to dinner. We checked back later that night and the place was hopping, seemed that way the rest of the cruise, but I had filled my urge to perform, so we didn't go back. It was in Michelangelo's Lounge and seemed crowded, I think it was because you had to walk past the "stage" to get to 1/2 the room. Everyone seemed to have fun!

 

Sea day - we spent the morning on the Serenity Deck and it was, again, uncrowded and peaceful. We read and played games. It got kind of hot, so we tried to move to the library, and at first that worked well, cool and quiet. But then some groups of people moved in and they were talking - loudly. It didn't really bother me, but my husband can't concentrate with lots of talking going on, so we moved on.

 

The piano bar was empty and quiet, just what we were looking for at that point. We had been there in the evening and weren't really impressed with the piano guy for that night. He was ok, but not really interactive. I couldn't get my husband to go back and try the other guy listed in the funtimes, he had decided it wasn't for him.

 

I really wanted to do Tea Time, and he really didn't, so we agreed to split up. He headed for the Casino and I headed for the Piano Bar. Where there was a sign saying it was the place for the Military Meet n Greet. But all of the tables had tea cups and little plates set up. So I went on in to wait. Men kept coming in, some with their wives, looking confused. Some left, some stayed. There was a piano player, but he really wasn't very good. Eventually a waitress with a tea cart came around. The couple at the next grouping over from me asked if this was the Military Meeting place. The waitress told them yes. The guy wanted to know what he was getting special for being there. She told him "Nothing, this is tea time". So we all had tea and picked food from her cart. The cucumber sandwiches and chocolate gateau and some lemon stuff were very good. The piano player introduced himself as one of the main singers on the ship, but he liked to keep his piano playing skills up, so he volunteered to play and sing for tea time. Kind of sounded like no one wanted to do it. An older gentleman in a wheelchair came in with his wife and they settled into another chair grouping. The pianist was trying to have the people call out what branch of service they were from, only one guy answered. Not sure the rest heard what he was asking, the microphone was kind of low. Then the older guy started bellowing "Tea! No self respecting Navy guy drinks TEA!" and the waitress just told him that's all they had. It kind of made me mad - she pushed the cart in from a kitchen area off the lounge, surely they had coffee back there? Or she could have gotten someone to bring some!

 

I decided I had enough goodies and slipped out. As I said, not the best joining of two separate events - really not well thought through.

 

But the tea and food was good!