Sensation Review 5/16/05

[alabama ghost]

Review of Sensation Cruise

5/16/05-5/21/05

 

OVERALL

Overall favorable reaction to cruise. This was our third cruise on Carnival, probably our seventh cruise overall. We traveled with a group of 16 people with ages ranging from approximately 40-85.

 

We had a favorable impression of our stateroom, the food, service, attitude of the crew, cleanliness, just about everything.

 

PRIOR TO CRUISE

We spent two nights before the cruise at the Maison St. Charles in the 1300 block of St. Charles Avenue in New Orleans. It wasn’t the best hotel we’ve ever stayed at, but the rooms were clean and the staff were very helpful. We asked for and received a room upgrade. The original rooms we had were in one of their “historical” buildings without an elevator and some of our party had difficulty climbing stairs. Elevators are available in some of the buildings. The bell staff and the desk personnel were very helpful.

 

It was very easy to get into the French Quarter from there via the streetcar, and from Canal Street to just about anywhere in the downtown area. We also enjoyed the streetcar ride through the Garden District with all the beautiful old homes. The St. Charles Streetcar Line has all historical streetcars with no air conditioning or handicapped access.

 

The staff took most of us to the dock in a limo, following with a truck with our luggage. It was virtually pain free, although we had the usual lines when we got inside the terminal. We got to the terminal around 11:30am and were on board by 12 noon; however, we were not to go to our staterooms until 1:30pm to allow the room stewards to finish getting the rooms ready.

 

STATEROOM

We had an oceanview room on E, close to the purser’s desk, relatively central on the ship. The room was fine for a ship’s stateroom, although our bed had been made into a king size by pushing the twins together. We had them change it into two twins so that we could get around easier--one of us would have to climb over the other to get out of bed with the one-bed configuration. There was plenty of closet space, although no hangers for skirts or shorts. You might want to bring extra hangers. The bathroom was good sized as was the shower--you didn’t have to wash one side at a time! Our room steward was very good and serviced our cabin at least twice a day.

 

DAY 1 - EMBARKATION DAY

The buffet was fine on tthe Lido Deck, the lines weren’t too bad and the food was plentiful as usual. The lifeboat drill was a little different, we met inside in a lounge, had some instructions there, then went as a group up to the deck where our actual lifeboat was and stood in a line there. I’ve never had a drill like that were you re-locate. We didn’t get involved in any activities then, just unpacked and got the “lay of the land” on the ship. At dinner, our group was seated together in two tables of eight with the same waiter so we were able to switch around each night as we wanted to. We didn’t go to the show that night, or any night, although some of our group did and really liked the comedian. We went to the casino and found the slots to be pretty tight, as they were most of the cruise, although one person won $10,000 and another $2,600 that we knew about.

 

DAY 2 - AT SEA

This was your usual at-sea day with lots of activities planned all day long. Some of us went on deck for several hours, no problem finding chairs. The formal night was that night with a wide variety of dress. The Captain’s Cocktail Party was held prior to the dinner. Food was excellent as it was for most of the cruise. I think Carnival’s food has vastly improved in the last few years if this cruise was any example. I had cappuccino each night at dinner--no extra charge.

 

Today was a bad day for us, my mother was sick and had to go to the infirmary; she had a high fever, chills and a worsening of an problem she had before the cruise. They kept her in the infirmary all night. I can’t say enough good things about the doctor and nurses; one nurse stayed in a chair outside her room all night long. The next morning they transferred her by ambulance to a hospital in Cancun. My dad went with her and they left the ship at the port in Calica. We tried to call them with our cell phones periodically, but no luck until we got back to New Orleans. The only way we could communicate was via email. (We thought we had set up everything so our cells would work, but we obviously missesd something!) This also brought home to us the importance of having travel insurance.

 

DAY 3 - CALICA

We docked in Calica but the ramps were pretty steep here. Some of the crew members helped one member of our party in a wheelchair negotiate the ramps.

 

In Calica we went our separate ways with some of us taking a cab to Playa del Carman and others going on tours. We had good reports on the Cancun shopping excursion; the tour to Chichen Itza was long and “very hot”; another excursion, the on to Xhal (or something like that) was also very good according to one couple. (That was very close to where we docked and was like a combination zoo, circus and theme park.)

 

The town of Playa del Carman was interesting with lots of shops and restaurants. We ate lunch at a Senor Frog’s there and did a little shopping then returned to the ship.

 

DAY4 - COZUMEL

We’ve been to Cozumel several times and our favorite thing to do there is take a cab to downtown, eat at Pancho’s Backyard and shop for silver. Pancho’s Backyard is recommended by several of the cruise lines as it has a water filtering system and the food is safe to eat. If you’re planning on eating there, go to http://www.panchosbackyard.com and get coupons good for a free margarita with food.

 

We had docked at Puerta Maya which has lots of shops also; in fact, you don’t even have to leave the dock area unless you want to, there are lots of the same stores and restaurants that you find downtown.

 

Others from our group went on a Highlights tour which included shopping--good reports. Some of us went snorkeling before the downtown trip. The Island Adventure Snorkel was all right, nothing spectacular, the water was kind of rough and caused problems for some of the weaker swimmers. The boat took you down a ways from the docks and you snorkeled from the boat; it was not too easy to get off or on the boat.

 

DAY 5 - AT SEA

This was pretty much a repeat of Day 2, with a little more emphasis on doing laundry (early in the day) and getting packed to leave the ship the next morning. We spent some time on deck, shopping for last minute souvenirs, buying photos. Had to have our suitcases outside the stateroom before midnight.

 

DAY 6 -DISEMBARKATION

We went to the dining room for breakfast this morning, just to kill some time. We chose not to carry our luggage off the ship so we had to wait awhile to leave the ship. I think we got off the ship before 9am. We had no problems finding our suitcases, got a porter and going through customs and getting a cab was a real breeze. We were checking into our hotel before 10am (we stayed 2 days after the cruise in NOLA) and started some more sightseeing.

 

POST CRUISE

We stayed at the Holiday Inn French Quarter on Royal Street for two nights after the cruise. We had parked our car there during the cruise and received free parking for 7 days. We had a small suite (a surprise to us) with a sitting area at a reasonable price, especially for New Orleans. The location is great if you’re going to be spending a lot of time in the French Quarter and we never heard any noise from the street. (Like I think you would if you stayed on Bourbon.)

 

We did all the typical touristy things and had a ball. Went to the D-Day Museum, Cafe DuMonde, Court of Two Sisters, Cafe Giovanni, Riverwalk, French Market, Pat O’Brians and Bourbon Street. New Orleans is definitely an interesting place to go and we love using the streetcars with the $5/day pass.

 

 

VARIOUS IMPRESSIONS

I’d say more than 50% of the passengers were high school or college age with several groups on senior trips.

The ship was clean, the crew was friendly. The trip itself was very smooth, no rough weather.

 

I would not hesitate to book a cruise on this ship again, particularly out of New Orleans, because we really enjoyed our time there, too.

 

Any questions I’ll try and answer.

[basketlover]

Thank you for this great review. HOpe your mom is okay! I'll be on her in September and havent been able to find much. Thanks again!!!!!!!!!

[alabama ghost]

I got a lot of info off these boards prior to my trip--thought it was only fair to give my impressions. Although, when I started I had no idea I would be so wordy!

 

Thanks for asking about Mom. She's better, flew home yesterday and very glad to be home.

[Cotton]

Thx for the Sensation review. Glad your mom's so much better, but sorry her cruise was spoiled.:o

[alabama ghost]

bump.

[birdshell]

Thanks so much for the review! We will be on the Sensation in Sept. and any info. about it is greatly appreciated! So glad to hear your Mom's OK!!

[alabama ghost]

If you have any specific questions, I'll try to answer them. Hope you have a great trip!

[klsmom8]

We are going on the Sensation on 6/18. I would be interested

to hear how the party in the wheelchair enjoyed the ship. My

dad is joining us and uses a wheelchair. We want to make sure

he will be able to enjoy all the ship has to offer.

[alabama ghost]

The "lady in the wheelchair" seemed to enjoy the cruise a lot. We docked in both ports, Cozumel and Playa Del Carmen. Cozumel was no problem getting off, but Playa's ramps were awfully steep--one of the crew members pushed her up and down, no problem.

 

She was involved in just about every activity, but sometimes had to wait a long time for an elevator. She said that everyone was very polite as far as the elevators were concerned.

 

At home she uses a cane or a walker, but is not able to walk the long distances from cabin to dining room to wherever on the ship. Since returning she's bought a walker with a seat--she figures with that she could use the stairs some which she was not able to do on this cruise because of the wheelchair. She did not have a handicapped room, but had a cat 11 suite and had requested a shower stool.

 

Hope this helps!

[Robert and Sandy]

Thanks for the info This is my first cruise and I do not know what to expect if anyone has any tips please let me know

Thanks

Robert

[RDangerIII]

THanks, going on the Sensation July 30th and can't wait!