My review of the Sensation

[cbCRR]

I've gone on 7 cruises, but this is my first review. Since I couldn't find much info about Sensation, I thought some of you could benefit from this.

 

About the beginning of May, my friend and I decided to take a 4 day weekend and go on a short cruise. We found the May 15th Sensation, which matched the dates we had off. I called my awesome PVP and was able to book both of us as "solo", in side by side 1A cabins (friend though we were sharing an inside cabin) for $202 each.

 

On May 14th, my friend picked me up from work around 9p and we headed from Atlanta to Florida for our 3 day cruise on Sensation. We got to our hotel at 3a (2 hours from port). Slept until 8a, got up headed to port. We arrived at the Park n Cruise about 10:30a. We waited a short amount of time before they loaded us up and took us over to port. No lines at port, so we walked through security (didn’t even look at our wine or soda), got our Sign & Sail cards and got right on the ship. When we were getting checked in, the woman asked to verify our cabin numbers and double check that we were each solo, so the cat was out of the bag at that point. My friend was very surprised. Since it was so early, we went to Lido for some Mongolian Wok (yum) with only a couple people ahead of us in line. The cabins were ready when we went to check, do we dropped off our bags, put up our door decorations and then walked around a bit until the safety briefing which was at the Plaza Lounge. We hung about and checked out the ship, and then headed to dinner around 6p (we had Your Time Dining). We had dinner with 2 other pairs of women – a niece & aunt, and 2 friends (one that just graduated college). I had the broccoli soup, vegetarian pot pie and WCMC. Afterwards we went to the liquor tasting, bought some bottles and got some raffle tickets. Gender showdown, Game Show Mania and Welcome Aboard shows were all good. Wee Jimmy is the cruise director, and was funny. Then back to the shops for the liquor drawing, which I ended up winning (a bottle of each: Crown, Bacardi Limon and Amarula). We went to see both the comedians during adult comedy, and they were both good (it was pretty crowded, so get there early). When we got back to the cabins, we discovered someone had swiped our door decorations (just some dollar store cutout flowers, but still...!).

 

Friday morning we got up and had breakfast on Lido. We weren’t due to dock in Nassau until noon, so we went to see the Lighting Fast Art Auction. I ended up getting a packet of art (raffle) and my friend got a bottle of champagne. Then it was time to change, grab our stuff to take into Nassau, and then eat lunch on Lido. I had a corned beef on ciabatta bread from the deli and a blueberry neopolitian (both good). In Nassau, we walked down to Junkanoo Beach. We swam for a bit, and saw lots of fish and a small stingray. Then we walked to John Watlings Distillery for the free tour, and had some fabulous pina coladas (3 for $20). Since it was starting to sprinkle, we headed back to the ship to get ready for elegant dinner. I had pumpkin soup, strawberry bisque, prime rib and black forest cake. Afterwards we went to Fantasia for In The Bag (got a medal), 60 Seconds Or Less, and then the show “Curves”.

Saturday was a day at sea, and the last day of the cruise. We went to the dining room for Seaday Brunch and had steak & eggs, and used our free drink coupons for a Cruiser. We were seated with a lovely older couple from Australia, and sat talking with them for nearly 2 hours. Then we went to Be A Game Show Star and Mind Game Trivia. After Trivia, the hostess told everyone if we could stump her with a trivia question, she would give us a medal - what the heck, we tried and each ended up with a medal. Next we went to the Love & Marriage Show, which was great – a couple married 71 years were quite funny (he is 93, she is hard of hearing), married 33 years, and newlyweds. Most amusing answers were to the question ‘what is your husband’s favorite condiment’, with the answers being: newlyweds “North America”, 33 year ketsup/bbq (normal), 71 year “we don’t use any” and “Trojan”. LOL! The show ran really long, but was fun. We had to run over to the piano bar to make the end of tea time, which is one of my favourite things to do. We had tea, chocolate cake and an amazing chocolate fruit tart. Nap time a bit before shows and dinner. The show was ‘Far From Over’, which is the 80s show that we saw on Fascination two years ago. Still enjoyable though. Dinner was next, and we ended up sitting by ourselves. I had onion soup, chopped field greens, bourbon spring chicken, and butter pecan icecream. A few minutes in the casino, then back to the cabins to pack and prepare to disembark (so sad!). Our liquor wasn’t delivered, because I accidently left my snoozing sign on the door. Called guest services, and it was brought down in about 15 minutes. We divided up our items and then packed. I went up to Lido to get a glass of ice and some icecream. Since I brought a big suitcase, I was able to get everything into it including the bottles of liquor. Then I watched Captain America before going to sleep.

Sunday was disembark day. The final bill was under the door in the morning when I got up at 6:30a. Glad I checked it over, because there was a $200 charge that wasn’t mine. Ended up being someone that bought cigarettes and they wrote down the folio number wrong in the gift shop. They removed the charge (had to go to guest services, who contacted the gift shop, who researched the charge, then they called my cabin to let me know the charge was removed). Since we didn’t check our bags, we had to keep them with us while we ate on Lido before heading off ship. We were off around 9:30a, then went through customs. Didn’t have to pay any duty on the extra bottles (only supposed to bring 1 L back, but brought 6!). The Park n Ride shuttle was waiting, and it wasn’t long before it was filled and we were headed back to the parking lot. The drive home was uneventful, and we got home around 6p.

The Sensation was a nice older Fantasy class ship. Yes, it is very purple, but I didn't mind it at all. There is a serenity deck and waterworks. No big screen for outdoor movies. The staff were all wonderful. My favourite drinks are Miami Vice and Kiss On The Lips. Fun quick getaway cruise at a great price. Now I can't wait until January, when we are book on Fascination!

 

I'd be happy to answer any questions you have.