Review: 3 day Sensation/Nassau (Kids 1st cruise)

[kaylaw25]

Hi All!

 

This review will be short for two reasons: #1 because it was only a 3 day cruise and #2 because I lost my camera so the pics I have are the ones in my phone.

 

This is my 1st time doing a review and also uploading photos so bear with me. I will start this today and hopefully finish tomorrow.

 

BACKSTORY

 

This cruise was booked in early May of 2014. It was a birthday cruise for my son Anthony who turned 7 on December 3rd. I also took along my youngest son Elijah age 4 who may or may not be referred to as E.J. throughout this review it just depends on which one comes out of my mouth 1st. My mother tagged along as well as my sister Charise & her 8 month old son Gabe and her friend Joy.

 

I decided to take my kids on this cruise because it was short and it was a close port to home which meant a short ride. I wanted to get their "feet wet" to see if they were in fact my kids and had inherited the cruise disease.

 

The price started out somewhat expensive but for an ocean view and after price drops before and after final payment I ended up paying around $600 for the 3 of us and we had $240.00 OBC. My mother, sister and nephew stayed together in an interior room. My mom had around $280.00 OBC. This cruise is starting off pretty good!

 

We left Tallahassee, Florida at 7 a.m. on Thursday, December 4 in a minivan headed to Port Canaveral. I was of course chosen to be the driver :mad:

 

 

We arrived in Port Canaveral at around 12:50 p.m. and we didn't head straight for the ship. My sister's friend wanted to find a Walmart to get some last minute items. This made me very upset because the plan was to head directly to the ship. Any organized cruise junky can feel me on this! We passed right by the ship to go 5-7 miles out of the way to go to a freakin' Walmart...I was super aggravated.

 

Any who, once we left Walmart I dropped my sister, nephew and her friend off to the port because it was raining and we didn't want baby Gabe to get unnecessarily wet. My mom and my kids and I headed back towards the Port Canaveral cheap parking alternative and paid 42.50 to be shuttled to the port. In hindsight, it was not worth the inconvenience. Next time, I'd rather pay to park right at the port. Their service was good for what it was and our car was safe parked behind the Radisson but I'm all about being efficient and that was NOT it.

 

Here we are waiting on the shuttle for it to fill up so we could go to the ship.

[kaylaw25]

Once the shuttle took us to the port, check in was pretty quick. I haven't sailed out of Port Canaveral in a while and boy has it changed! The terminal was easy to navigate and the security was nice. My sister was upset because they took her bottle warmer. They told her every time she needed it she would have to come down and check it in and out...VERY inconvenient. In the end she ended up forgetting to get it when we disembarked.

 

Once on board we headed straight to the lido for lunch. Just my luck, the lido buffet and pizza was closed because the safety briefing was set to begin soon. I WAS LIVID! If we hadn't gone to Walmart for some chick I didn't even know and waited for 30-45 minutes for our bus to fill up I could've made it to lunch. My kids were grumpy because they were hungry. We all hadn't eaten since breakfast because we were expecting to walk right on board and eat. I managed to convince one of the servers to give me two apples to let my kids munch on during the safety briefing to hold them over. (yes yes I know you aren't supposed to eat during muster drill but my kids were starving.)

Here we are waiting for it to start.

 

Afterwards the buffet opened back up the kids are happy and so am I!

My Mom

My sis and nephew

The MUCH NEEDED 1st drink

Edited December 8, 2014 by kaylaw25

[MrsPhoenix91]

kaylaw: I feel your pain...I would have been EXTREMELY heated at the "friend" too! But you rose above the emotion and took care of business...good for you :)!

Edited December 8, 2014 by MrsPhoenix91

[CatgirlNC]

Oh, yeah, I would have been mad about that last-minute trip to Walmart and missing lunch, too!

[kaylaw25]

We headed to check out our room and the kids were very excited. We were R36.

 

Somewhere around here is where I lost my camera so I'll just tell you all about the rest of the evening.

 

The weather was really bad. It rained and the seas were rough. My mom and my son Anthony got a little sea sick. I gave them both some nausea meds and we all took a little nap. We were exhausted from the travel and the boat was rocking too hard to want to do anything. We had eaten a late lunch and dinner was scheduled for 6:00 so we skipped it as no one was hungry again. Later that night I ordered room service. I have no idea what kind of meat they used for the sandwiches but it was entirely too salty. The chips were too salty too. Between the sandwich and the chips my tongue and lips were burning from the salt so we didn't eat all of that.

 

Later that evening when the weather settled down I took the kids to Camp Carnival and dropped them off. That night my 7 year old did Arts & Crafts and they also practiced for a show that they would be performing on the last night of the cruise. He enjoyed it. My 3 yo played the wii and I believe they had snacks and played games. He loved it as well. This was the start of them requesting to go back every day.

[kaylaw25]

Be back tomorrow!

[scrapperv]

Hi All!

 

This review will be short for two reasons: #1 because it was only a 3 day cruise and #2 because I lost my camera so the pics I have are the ones in my phone.

 

This is my 1st time doing a review and also uploading photos so bear with me. I will start this today and hopefully finish tomorrow.

 

BACKSTORY

 

This cruise was booked in early May of 2014. It was a birthday cruise for my son Anthony who turned 7 on December 3rd. I also took along my youngest son Elijah age 4 who may or may not be referred to as E.J. throughout this review it just depends on which one comes out of my mouth 1st. My mother tagged along as well as my sister Charise & her 8 month old son Gabe and her friend Joy.

 

I decided to take my kids on this cruise because it was short and it was a close port to home which meant a short ride. I wanted to get their "feet wet" to see if they were in fact my kids and had inherited the cruise disease.

 

The price started out somewhat expensive but for an ocean view and after price drops before and after final payment I ended up paying around $600 for the 3 of us and we had $240.00 OBC. My mother, sister and nephew stayed together in an interior room. My mom had around $280.00 OBC. This cruise is starting off pretty good!

 

We left Tallahassee, Florida at 7 a.m. on Thursday, December 4 in a minivan headed to Port Canaveral. I was of course chosen to be the driver :mad:

 

 

We arrived in Port Canaveral at around 12:50 p.m. and we didn't head straight for the ship. My sister's friend wanted to find a Walmart to get some last minute items. This made me very upset because the plan was to head directly to the ship. Any organized cruise junky can feel me on this! We passed right by the ship to go 5-7 miles out of the way to go to a freakin' Walmart...I was super aggravated.

 

Any who, once we left Walmart I dropped my sister, nephew and her friend off to the port because it was raining and we didn't want baby Gabe to get unnecessarily wet. My mom and my kids and I headed back towards the Port Canaveral cheap parking alternative and paid 42.50 to be shuttled to the port. In hindsight, it was not worth the inconvenience. Next time, I'd rather pay to park right at the port. Their service was good for what it was and our car was safe parked behind the Radisson but I'm all about being efficient and that was NOT it.

 

Here we are waiting on the shuttle for it to fill up so we could go to the ship.

I love the last pic of the kids poking through to be in the pic

[kaylaw25]

Today is Friday.

We woke up early and went to breakfast in the main dining room. Here are the kids toasting to their first cruise LOL I have no idea where they get this from. They watch entirely too much T.V.

 

 

After breakfast, we watched the ship pull up to port.

 

 

When we got off the ship we didn't have any plans other than to walk, sight see and go to the beach. We were approached by a group of friendly men offering to take us on a tour for $20 per person (kids ride free) so we took the offer. Here is my mom with one of the guys.

 

Here we are waiting to be assigned to a taxi bus

 

We ended up riding along with a group of girls from Orlando. Our drivers name was Fabian he was knowledgeable and friendly. Our quest was to find oxtails in butter sauce. He dropped the girls off at the fish market to eat lunch at his favorite seafood restaurant and he drove our group off into to "ghetto" part of Nassau to get some real Bahamian cuisine. I guess people are afraid to venture into those parts but we had no issues. Before we got off the ship the cruise director made several announcements about staying close to port and increased crimes against vacationers but everyone we encountered was nice. The food was sooooo good. I had oxtails, steamed cabbage, peas and rice, potato salad and curry mutton. After our group ate we went back and picked up the other girls. Fabian continued our tour and we saw a good bit of the island. He showed us the oldest church, the cannons and forts used to protect the island back in the day, the hospital where Anna Nicole was, all of downtown, several schools etc.

 

Fabian took us to Paradise beach and dropped us off around 3. It was very windy and cold. If I had to guess I'd say the temperature was about 70 degrees maybe 75 in the sun. It had sprinkled a little bit earlier in the day so the clouds were out and the sun was getting ready to set. This didn't stop the kids from playing in the water. The water was freezing cold! I could barely stand to put my feet in. The waves were very rough and very high. I was concerned that my kids would be swept away so I made them stay extremely close to the edge.

 

The "salesmen" on the beach offered us beach chairs and unlimited drinks with alcohol for $25. We opted out of the drinks and payed $5 for chairs.

 

[kaylaw25]

More beach pics

 

[kaylaw25]

We had agreed that Fabian would come back and pick us up at 5 p.m. He was back at 4:59....very impressive.

Here is a pic of our entire tour group and our driver Fabian.

[kaylaw25]

We rushed back to the ship and showered and dressed for elegant night. We were in the Fantasy dining room. We were a little late 6:30ish and our wait staff was a little perturbed (sorry Frederick!).

 

Menu

 

Mom and I

 

spring rolls

 

the kids had burgers and fries

 

I had lobster

[jaxfl]

We had agreed that Fabian would come back and pick us up at 5 p.m. He was back at 4:59....very impressive.

Here is a pic of our entire tour group and our driver Fabian.

 

All you women and just him.... I hope you tipped good that would have driven me crazy. Speaking of crazy...I think I would have left that one at Wal-Mart and picked her up on Sunday....:o

 

Anyway thanks for the review so far I am waiting for more. We leave Thursday and I been looking for reviews. Hard to believe that out of 10,000 people sailing the Sensation there is only like 1 review, yet some of the bigger ships have 500 for every 10,000. Anyway I am waiting for more.

Edited December 9, 2014 by jaxfl

[kaylaw25]

After dinner we decided to burn up some of the OBC we had. We all took family portraits at several different picture stands. Here is my favorite of me and the boys. I had this one made into canvas for $59.00, I plan to put it on the wall in my living room.

 

After pictures The kids were begging to go back to camp carnival. I was tired so after I dropped them off I took a nap. When I picked them up at 10 my mom watched the kids in her cabin and I checked out the comedy show. It sucked! I don't remember the comedians name at the moment but when I get home I can look at the funtimes and tell you all his name. His jokes were very dry and corny. One joke was on a woman in the audience. He asked her name and she replied, "Pam". He asked her did she bring Dawn along to clean up the mess that Pam made.......SILENCE. Very corny.

 

I went to bed shortly afterwards.

[kaylaw25]

Today is Saturday a.k.a. Sea Day

 

Like always we arose early (around 7:30) for breakfast. We always went to the MDR for breakfast for 2 reasons: 1st the food tastes better in the MDR & 2nd its easier to be served rather than wait in line to grab food and hold the children's hands and drinks and find a table. Usually when I travel alone or rather without my children I'm a late riser and I eat breakfast on the lido deck.

 

We spent most of the day on the lido deck in the pool, hot tub and at carnival waterworks. My mother was one of the judges at the hairy chest competition. Unfortunately I don't have photos of that because they are on her phone and I am still waiting for her to send them to me lol maybe I'll get them around Christmas.

 

E.J. was afraid to slide

 

Anthony wasn't

 

E.J. Knows how to relax

[kaylaw25]

Me & my nephew baby Gabe

 

Hot tub

 

Selfies and margaritas poolside

[kaylaw25]

That night was the last time at dinner. I had crabcakes & steak. I ordered a baked potato which I never received. I didn't sweat it too much I guess I could stand to go without those carbs anyway.

 

The crab cakes were delicious flavor wise. My only complaint is that they were too soft I like mine cooked a little longer it was a little too wet for my taste.

 

kids eating ice cream

 

 

The waiters did the usual song and dance. After dinner I checked the boys into camp carnival one last time and when I picked them back up we called it an early night.

 

The next morning for breakfast was the MDR as usual. After we ate we waited in the library until out zone was called. We were zone 10 and we were called around 9:05. When getting off the ship our shuttle was waiting to take us back to our van at the Radisson. The transport was fast and easy unlike when we first arrived to the port.

[jaxfl]

Reading your review it sounds like the kids had a really great time, but you not so much. We go out this weekend and all I hope for is good food, calm seas and warm weather.... From the last week worth of crime and shootings in Nassau I think I'm going to stay on the ship not even make the market. 5 shootings in 1 week sounds like Chicago not Nassau. Thanks for the review.

Edited December 9, 2014 by jaxfl

[jennraycruise]

Great review. I am going with my mother in law on this cruise next month. Your little boys are adorable by the way.

[kaylaw25]

Overall, the trip was a good one. The only complaint I have is that the people on the ship including the staff were very rude. The staff sometimes acted as if they didn't want to be bothered. The cruisers would walk all over my children or hop onto an elevator that we were clearly in line waiting for first. There was one lady who bumped into me very hard and she kept walking. Her boyfriend had to apologize on her behalf. There was one lady who tried to skip the pizza line when she was in the back but I guess got impatient. Or how about the man at camp carnival sign up that skipped me and 4 other moms to get a cell phone? It was absolutely ridiculous the behavior these "adults" displayed. Maybe I'm too friendly but I greet people when we make eye contact or if I get on an elevator. There were times when people wouldn't speak back. This was the 1st cruise I've ever experienced like that.

 

Would I take my kids on another cruise? Yes, in about another two years. I would prefer that my youngest son be around 6 or 7. I feel like we missed out a lot because he still needs nap time and I was constantly looking for a bathroom for his last minute emergencies. I would also stick to a shorter itinerary because those short 3 days felt like 5! We left dad at home so I was in full duty mommy mode and I didn't get a chance to just relax and soak in the fact that I was on a cruise. Ultimately, the boys had a good time they got to experience something I never experienced until I was an adult. So all in all nthe birthday cruise was a success.

[kaylaw25]

Oh, yeah, I would have been mad about that last-minute trip to Walmart and missing lunch, too!

 

kaylaw: I feel your pain...I would have been EXTREMELY heated at the "friend" too! But you rose above the emotion and took care of business...good for you :)!

 

Yes I was upset but it's nothing that a strawberry daiquiri couldn't fix! LOL

[SurfCat]

Thank you for the great report. We'll be sailing on the Sensation January 4 on a four day.

 

I have a few questions. Would you mind giving us your experience with regard to the Port and embarkation? Also, were there any tuxedos during the formal dinner night?

 

Thanks in advance.

[SMSACE6]

I enjoyed your review of the Sensation. I have a soft spot for that ship since it was my first Carnival cruise way back in 2000! Your boys are adorable, and by their beautiful smiles, it seems they had a blast! I agree with you that other travellers can really make things unpleasant at times. Sounds like you had a lot of inconsiderate ones on board. Same thing happened to me on my flight back home from Fort Lauderdale to Philadelphia, it had to be some of the rudest people I have ever seen on a plane at the same time!

 

I am told that longer cruises seem to attract a better behaved group. I don't know as I have never done less than a 7 day one.

 

Thanks again for your great review and photos! :)

[jaxfl]

anything over 4 nights I wear a Tux, less and no just a coat and tie.

[kaylaw25]

All you women and just him.... I hope you tipped good that would have driven me crazy. Speaking of crazy...I think I would have left that one at Wal-Mart and picked her up on Sunday....:o

 

Anyway thanks for the review so far I am waiting for more. We leave Thursday and I been looking for reviews. Hard to believe that out of 10,000 people sailing the Sensation there is only like 1 review, yet some of the bigger ships have 500 for every 10,000. Anyway I am waiting for more.

 

LOL yes you must know women very well! We drove Fabian crazy! He was a good sport though. He added us all on FB and even offered to taxi us around and give us connections if we flew over and stayed rather than cruised. Actually I believe his tip was around $40.

[kaylaw25]

Reading your review it sounds like the kids had a really great time, but you not so much. We go out this weekend and all I hope for is good food, calm seas and warm weather.... From the last week worth of crime and shootings in Nassau I think I'm going to stay on the ship not even make the market. 5 shootings in 1 week sounds like Chicago not Nassau. Thanks for the review.

 

I had a good time but the weather was not as nice as I would have liked. I am very easy to please and I probably could have relaxed and enjoyed more as far as shows and things if I wasn't on full mommy duty. The ship was nice and clean so that was a plus. I've been to Nassau 2x before so I wasn't pressed to actually get off but I had promised the boys we'd go to the beach way back in May so I had to honor my word.