Just back from Sensation...Costa Maya and Coz

[Debiduzmemphis]

KTHill, Would you please discuss the nightly on-board entertainment and your dinner seating time? What time was your seating and did you have any trouble attending shows? I ask because 9 of us will be in our family group. Eight of us wanted the later, 8ish, serving but my MIL insists on the early seating as she fears she will miss shows by eating late. Trying to obviate these fears if I can! If not, will defer to her.

 

I'll be happy to answer any questions any of you have. There were 16 in our group - 6 kids (ages 8 - 12) and 10 adults. We had the late seating in the Ecstasy dining room at 8:00 p.m. This worked out perfect for us as we were able to enjoy the Lido deck and/or ports and didn't have to start cleaning up for dinner until 6 or after. I figured the kids would complain if they had to leave the pool at 4:30 to get ready for dinner! We were able to enjoy the shows every night. They have an early AND late show for both dinner seatings. The magic show was great, as were the "Las Vegas-type" singing and dancing shows. We also loved the comedian. We took the kids to all the shows and they enjoyed them as well. Tell your MIL shoe will NOT miss the shows, as they also have the 10:30 p.m. shows for the late seatings. I highly recommend going to any and all shows. They were worth it.

I hope this helps and good luck!

[Honeybear]

Hi, we are going on the Sensation in 11 days. We went last year on the Sensation and had a great time. What I'd like to know, do they still have the red, white and blue game for the duration of the cruise? This was great!

[JudyKa]

Hi, we are going on the Sensation in 11 days. We went last year on the Sensation and had a great time. What I'd like to know, do they still have the red, white and blue game for the duration of the cruise? This was great!

 

Yup....on our 7/16 cruise on the Sensation, I noticed this thing about "what color are you?" every time we were accidentally around for Bingo or there was some kind of give-away or contest that we were around. We didn't participate though....my small crew isn't much for the games on the ship. What is that about?

[Honeybear]

Yup....on our 7/16 cruise on the Sensation, I noticed this thing about "what color are you?" every time we were accidentally around for Bingo or there was some kind of give-away or contest that we were around. We didn't participate though....my small crew isn't much for the games on the ship. What is that about?

 

I can't tell you a lot because I simple don't remember, we weren't very active in the game, but I'd sure like to be this time around.

Everyone was in a group, Red, White, or Blue. We were suppose to get signatures from certain people on the islands, and of the crew. This lasted all 5 days. You get so many points for this and that. The last night the RED team won on our cruise and there was a huge deck party! I mean huge deck party. It was great! Several of the red team went into town and purchased red t-shirts to wear the night of the deck party. They "knew" they were going to win. They won by a landslide! LOL

It was a lot of fun!

[JudyKa]

Oh....o.k.! Thanks for the explanation. Whew! That sounds like alot of work....LOL!

[Honeybear]

:D Nothing is work when you are laughing and having fun. LOL ;)

[kthill]

KT- thanks for the great review!!

 

My family will be on this cruise in mid-November.

Just a few questions about the hotel since I am undecided if I want to stay in town or in the suburbs.

 

You stated that the hotel was older- but is it clean?

Especially the bathroom. Our hotel room was very clean and I'm pretty picky. The carpet looked new. The bathroom was older but the floor and tub/shower were clean. That was our room, #234. There were a few other buildings so it may differ depending on the cleaning person and building since it's a historic hotel.

 

Was the parking area at the hotel fenced and secure? The parking was across the street and fenced in. We recieved 2 drink coupons for the hotel bar. My husband and I went down there about 9pm and got our free drink. There was another couple at the bar and then the hotel security guard came in on his rounds to say hi. My husband had to go to our car to get some things for our boys. The security guard walked with him across the street and and waited for him as he got our things. Not sure if he did this because of his rounds or for out benefit or if it had been locked up and that was the only way for my husband to get in. Kind of scary if it's needed but then I guess nice the security was there. We live in a very low crime area so this was strange to us.

 

Thanks-Anne

[kthill]

KTHill, Would you please discuss the nightly on-board entertainment and your dinner seating time? What time was your seating and did you have any trouble attending shows? I ask because 9 of us will be in our family group. Eight of us wanted the later, 8ish, serving but my MIL insists on the early seating as she fears she will miss shows by eating late. Trying to obviate these fears if I can! If not, will defer to her.

4yanx - debiduzmemphis did a good job answering your question. We had the 6:15 dinner seating and it worked for us, not too early and not too late. But to tell you the truth this year I thought maybe next time we might like a later seating, maybe around 7p for the reason that we seemed to loose steam after the show for our seating and before the midnight show or gala buffet. Maybe we are just getting older. So if we eat later we can keep it going for the midnight entertainment. ;)

[kthill]

honeybear, what ship were you on for that game? The deck party sounds great! I guess we didn't pay close enough attention. On the Sensation we had the red and blue teams. We were on the red team because of the dinning room we were in. During the shows and bingo etc. we would cheer for our team and I think we were ahead but I never heard who won or what the prize would be if there was one. To be honest we didn't go to the daytime games or the debarkation information (we stayed on deck by the pool :D ) and thought maybe that is where they announced winners.

[kthill]

It was great wasn't it! It's so difficult being back this year and I don't know why. I guess we just thoroughly enjoyed it. I keep thinking "last week at this time I was laying in the sun on the beach with the water cooling my feet and Victor serving us Sol. :cool:

 

KT Hill - we were on the same cruise. I loved your pictures! We, too, had a fabulous time. There were 17 of us in our group from age 8 to 67. All had a great time doing their own thing. You are right, the shows were fantastic and the staff was superb. I will definitely sail on the Sensation again. I just hated coming back home and going back to work today. Sigh.... it makes those pictures that more special. Memories!

[kthill]

Sorry it has taken me so long to get back to you on this. I am back to work now and unfortunately don't have as much time any more. ahhh, vacations are nice! :p

I hope it's ok for me to do this, I put them on this link, see if it works for you. You may have different ports, at least Costa Maya, but it can give you an idea anyway. Same for the Capers, things could change but I know it's nice to see what there may be. Hope you have a great time in Feb!

http://community.webshots.com/user/kthill0

 

I would be interested in seeing the capers you have. We're scheduled to go to Cozumel on Sensation 2/2/06. Since this will be our 1st cruise we'd kinda like to see the activities offered onboard. Also, according to Carnival there are 30 or more excursions offered in Cozumel but when I enter by booking # they only give me 12 choices (none of which we want to do). Is this common? Do they add more excursions the closer we get to departure? Or does this mean everythings booked? Any advice would be appreciated.

[4yanx]

As an aside, I see on the Carnival site where the port time in Calica/Playa del Carmen was changed from 9:00am-6:00pm to 9:00am-8:00 for our 12/26 cruise. Don't know if it will apply to other cruises, but ya might wanna chack!

[Honeybear]

We were on the Sensation. It was August 9th of last year when we boarded. I'm sure there were a red team, a blue team, and a white team, because WE were on the white team and we were so far behind I don't think they even counted us! LOL :o

It will be different this year though! :D

It sounds like you played the same game but you just didn't go to the activities. Clues/and things were given at the bingo games, shows, etc. The deck party was the last sea night, I think.