Carnival Sensation - Bless her Heart - Preview and Report

[KmomChicago]

I hope the weather holds up for your drive. Any hint of snow South of Louisville and everyone will be in panic mode, but to be fair we're not very good at clearing the roads down here.

 

Hello Jimbo! Thanks for your concern! We left home the afternoon of Friday, December 22 and arrived in Louisville in a cold rain just before dusk. Saturday the 23rd we left the hotel very early, and decided to go through Lexington and then south which took us a bit east of Chattanooga. It was extremely heavy rain nearly all day and not very pleasant driving conditions, but I think that kept traffic a bit lighter than it would have been otherwise. It dried up about an hour north of Atlanta, which we reached shortly after noon and the Hyatt House people were nice enough to let us into our studio king suite immediately.

 

We were well aware of the nasty weather situation but I was grateful that it was only wet and nothing frozen / icy / slippery. Weather was much nicer Sunday when we got to my dad's place.

[KmomChicago]

Really enjoying your reports!! Safe drive to Florida...and I agree....love Southwest...but they are not such a bargain anymore:rolleyes:

 

Hi Jane. We are considering flying for our March cruise but so far nothing confirmed. I am keeping an eye on Southwest but open to every other option - Allegiant, Spirit, etc. Due to the spring break timeframe nothing is looking great so we may have to actually shell out some money if we want to avoid another long drive.

[KmomChicago]

Please digress as much as you like; I have no cruises planned and this is very entertaining! :)

Heather

 

Hello Heather! Thank you for the encouragement. The many follow up posts will be full of digressions; that I can promise. Entertaining? Questionable but I will let you be the judge.

[KmomChicago]

We were just talking about this ship last night. It will be 20 years in July that we first sailed her as a family. We are thinking we need to book her again this summer. Can't wait to hear about your cruise.

 

Hi Janice! If you liked her before, there is little reason to think you would feel otherwise this time. There was a faint garbage-y scent at times in various public areas, which may be due to her getting old and carrying around so much waste for around 25 years. I am sensitive to these things, but they don't really bother me. DD whined about it a couple of times but the rest of my family either did not notice or did not find it problematic enough to mention. I have noticed this on nearly every cruise at some point and it does not deter me from booking again.

[KmomChicago]

Hope you have safe travels and an enjoyable cruise! We are going to be down Orlando way January 11th ourselves for some time at Universal. Looking forward to your Nassau reviews as we'll now be going back there in mid-February aboard the Sensations sister ship Elation out of Jacksonville.

 

I have unapologetically booked two more vacations before my upcoming Spring break cruise because I worked my posterior off these last few months and daddy needs to get somewhere warmer and sunnier. :D

 

Wow, that is super exciting to have all this to look forward to! I am sure you will enjoy Universal and now that the cold snap has passed hopefully you will enjoy plenty of warmth on all your upcoming trips. I find having future vacations planned is very good for the weary soul and look forward to hearing about the Elation!

[KmomChicago]

I am on this ship Jan. 15 Look forward to hearing about the ship :)

 

Hello Cruiser. I hope you enjoy your trip. It is such a laid back experience. You can stay busy or do absolutely nothing as your heart desires. There will be crowds, bottlenecks, a little pushing and shoving now and then, and probably some people being straight up rude, but it all passes and you can find ways to get away from it pretty easily. Shopping and upsell options are all over but nobody cares if you just say no thank you and move on. As many others have said, cruises, and travel in general, is what you make of it.

 

I would add if you can proactively assume something will go wrong at some point and it won't be worth getting upset about, most journeys work out just fine. Those unexpected situations are often the most memorable and sometimes the best ones in the end.

Edited January 9, 2018 by KmomChicago

[KmomChicago]

Hello KmomChicago,

I too am from Chicago, River North neighborhood ( Groupon building)

I'm retired Air Force 1977-1997, give your father a Thank You from me.

I'm sailing on the Sensation January 25-29th 2018, sooooo am looking forward to your review.

I hope you have a blast, and safe travels.

HNY!! Brian

 

Hi, Brian. Thank you for your kind words for my father. He appreciates the sentiment.

 

I would love to actually live in the city. How awesome for you. We spend a couple of nights downtown every 5 years or so but otherwise just Metra in and out for daycations. Nothing wrong with escaping the lake effect snow in late January for a few days!

 

We had such a good time and I hope you do as well. I was very worried with the terrible sailing conditions the first night, and dad was having some mobility pain, that they would hate this cruise. But in the end they greatly enjoyed it and learned tons about what would work best for them if they sail again, which seems more likely than not.

 

If you have any specific questions not covered in the short summary review, let me know and I will help if I can.

[KmomChicago]

We had some fabulously fun times on Sensation about nine years ago, when I first started cruising. Looking to go back again, hooking some Victory b2bs with a b2b on Sensation, since they dock together some days, in Miami.

We know there are some great officers and crew onboard we look forward to visiting. Hope you have a wonderful cruise on the little purple ship. Maybe it's not so purple now? ;p

 

Hello Shoes! Just as purple as ever, at least the two prominent shades of blue-purple and magenta-purple, plus the sparkly purple booths in the buffet. You either likes it or ya doesn't likes it, but the old gal makes no apologies for her brazen appearance! Crew was great. I always have one insomniac night where I wander around taking photos at 3am while cleaners are bleaching and vacuuming the crap (literally) out of every available surface. The night shift is more reserved and less smiley but if addressed they respond courteously. Day crew are consistently pleasant even though they are obviously worked hard.

[KmomChicago]

Enjoy your cruise! We are looking forward to hearing all about it (and about Disney :hearteyes: ) when you get back!

 

Hi, Cary! I will post more about Disney after I get everything up about the cruise. I feel responsible to cover the ship in full detail first. But in short, we had a good time at Port Orleans. The food court was less busy than I expected both at dinner and breakfast, no doubt because most guests were at the parks every waking minute.

 

We were lucky to be in Alligator Bayou and get the little pull out Murphy bed for my daughter. Due to the way we booked we couldn't really make any requests and this was just a fortunate outcome. It's a long hike to the bus stops and to the main building with the restaurants and shops. We appreciated the boat access to Disney Springs, which we used right away as we arrived before check in time on Christmas day.

 

We then rode a Disney bus from Disney Springs to the Polynesian and cars were lined up from the Magic Kingdom parking payment booths almost to I-4; once they passed through they were just sitting in a solid line to the actual lot. I am not sure whether they were even letting people in to the park at that point; MK closed around noon on the 26th due to max attendance.

 

We spent just one day at Epcot, on Tuesday December 26, which was a good choice for Christmastime as it absorbs huge crowds better than any other park. This was DD's request and she really enjoyed visiting the countries. Frankly now that I am getting old I have no idea how people manage multiple days in a row at the parks. It is fun but exhausting.

 

Let me know if you have any other questions and I will do my best to answer.

[KmomChicago]

KMom- I know you're boarding today so you might miss this, but in case you spot this before you sail, make sure to find out where and when on the ship they'll have the veterans' appreciation event- get your dad to go- he'll love it I'm sure!

 

Loving the review, can't wait to hear about the cruise when you get back!

 

Hi Shaded Lady. We did make it to the appreciation event and he did love it. Thanks for the tip; helpful for us and others to know!

[KmomChicago]

Yes... definitely a rocky start but overall it was a great cruise with great staff and food.

 

 

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Hi, Celina. I am glad you had a great time overall as well. Was that first night something else or what? Holy cow.

 

Did you see what happened to the Norwegian Breakaway as it headed back from the Bahamas to New York? Heavy swaying and even flooding of the ship with waves coming up on the decks! I assume it was the same storm system but we had it easy by comparison.

[KmomChicago]

Looking forward to your review! I'll be on the Sensation in 12 days

 

 

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I am sure you'll have a great time Beachgirl. If you need any info I haven't covered yet, just let me know and please share your thoughts afterward. This little old ship means well and deserves a lot more positive reviews; it's not so hard to find a few kind words to say about her.

[KmomChicago]

Looks like I got caught up just in time! Very much looking forward to reading about your actual cruise! The Sensation was my very first cruise way back in 1998 when I was just a young twenty-something. She started my cruising addiction which is still going strong 17 cruises later!

 

Welcome Home!

 

Misty

 

Hi, Misty. That's quite a pedigree you've got there. Trying to hit the entire Carnival fleet? A worthy mission and one we would like to undertake. I recently saw a June 2018 sailing on Carnival Vista to San Juan for 7 days that is a bit less than we paid for Oasis of the Seas, and also from a closer port (NY area I think), but it was not available at that price when I booked OOTS. If it had, we would have chosen that instead.

 

Sensation was rather shiny and new when she hooked you. I'm sure she'd love to see you again soon. :)

[KmomChicago]

Looking forward to hearing all about it! I am hopeful my negative experiences were just a fluke.

 

Hello again Ace. Bless her heart, we felt she was a worthy vessel but not perfect in every way, not that we need perfection.

 

We had no problems at all with our stateroom steward, Pierre. We chose morning service on his recommendation and it was fine; beds made, bathroom cleaned, towel animals on the kid's trundle bed. He also did a turn down one night, unasked, and tried to do it again another night but we shooed him away.

 

Food was fine for us. Our first night kitchen experience was really special and I will do a detailed post on it soon. We got the pizza pirate a couple of times and we thought it was very tasty.

 

Kiddo learned her way to the buffet early on and we allowed her the run of the ship as long as she kept the hub app open so we could chat with her at all times and she enjoyed helping herself to a smackerel whenever she felt like it, learned to order tuna sandwiches at the deli counter.

 

Entrees in the buffet are similar in name to some of the dining room options, though execution is probably different for the single plate presentation vs. the steam table version. It was all more than we could eat and we found hardly anything we did not like.

 

If I want to gripe (and I don't, really) it is that some of the evening entertainment is very late, like after 10pm late. And the comedy shows are on the same nights as the Playlist dance shows, then you have nights with really nothing but bingo. One more thing, the sight lines in the main theatre are lousy.

 

Lowell Sanders was one of the comedians and he is better than any I have ever seen live, and as good as any I have seen on TV. We went to his PG show and I would have loved to see his adult show but not at 11:45 pm.

 

Overall we were very nearly as pleased with this cruise as our Triumph cruise.

[ABCGreys]

Hey, Kmom, I've been enjoying your review and am looking forward the rest of the details, but I was wondering, how did your stepmum do in light of the rocky waters?

[KmomChicago]

Hey, Kmom, I've been enjoying your review and am looking forward the rest of the details, but I was wondering, how did your stepmum do in light of the rocky waters?

 

Hello ABCGreys! Thanks for the question. She did surprisingly well. None of us really enjoyed that part of the experience, but she did not become ill. She had taken Bonine and used sea bands as precautions and said she was perfectly fine. She is interested in sailing again and said she would be sure to have both items on hand as she is not sure whether she would have done so well without them.

[KmomChicago]

Here's our first look at Carnival Sensation at Port of Miami.

 

We selected the earliest check in time of 11:00 but apparently we can't follow directions because we showed up a few minutes after 8:30 and expected them to let us in the terminal.

 

And we were not the only ones, my friends! Not by a long shot. There were at least 2 families in front of us in the priority line and a good 10 or so in the regular line.

Edited January 10, 2018 by KmomChicago

[UBP....YES!!!!]

Hi, Brian. Thank you for your kind words for my father. He appreciates the sentiment.

 

I would love to actually live in the city. How awesome for you. We spend a couple of nights downtown every 5 years or so but otherwise just Metra in and out for daycations. Nothing wrong with escaping the lake effect snow in late January for a few days!

 

We had such a good time and I hope you do as well. I was very worried with the terrible sailing conditions the first night, and dad was having some mobility pain, that they would hate this cruise. But in the end they greatly enjoyed it and learned tons about what would work best for them if they sail again, which seems more likely than not.

 

If you have any specific questions not covered in the short summary review, let me know and I will help if I can.

Hello KMOMCHICAGO ,

I have soooo enjoyed reading your review. Thanks for taking time from the fun to post.

If I have questions as my cruise gets closer, I will contact you. You answered several for me😳

Take Care, Brian

[KmomChicago]

Let’s try that first photo again

 

There it is again

.

 

And from inside the terminal. My 74 year old mom was tracking my phone and texting asking me for photos. After all, she started me on cruising years ago and no longer feels up to it. So she travels vicariously through me. She first cruised from NYC on Queen of Bermuda in the early 1960’s

.

 

 

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[KmomChicago]

 

How about this lovely Florida weather.

 

 

FTTF waiting area in terminal.

 

 

Everyone else waiting area.

 

 

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[KmomChicago]

No time to waste getting to Guys Burger and Blue Iguana immediately after boarding. Gotta keep the cruisers happy!

 

 

That gal in uniform is Loyd, and she was about to offer us that special kitchen tour, not that I knew it yet.

 

 

 

Sorry I couldn’t wait for my first bite before remembering to take a pic. Full disclosure, I am weird about food and don’t pay much attention to all the food pics in other reviews. I am more of a text person!

 

 

After lunch we were up on deck and spotted this towel animal posing for photo ops.

 

 

 

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[KmomChicago]

Hasbro the Game Show.

 

 

 

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[KmomChicago]

 

A rack in this shop fell over due to rocky seas.

 

 

Fun game in the Fantasia Lounge. The team on the right could not get the hang of it. Be warned that if you volunteer for some on stage activity and suck, the audience will laugh. And not with you my friends. At you.

 

 

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[KmomChicago]

 

To my dismay, the public restrooms on Sensation have been completely updated and beigeified. They are the only spaces that have suffered this fate.

 

.

 

They also have odd new latches. Often all the stall doors were closed but unoccupied. Squeeze these and if it’s locked it won’t open.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[KmomChicago]

You can thank the legendary reviewer harryfat1 for the photos of every crazy thing. He taught me that the most expensive photo is the one you didn’t take. The moment is lost forever and even if you go back it won’t be quite the same. Data storage is cheap and you can always delete. These were all taken on my iPhone 6.

 

 

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