Just off the 5 day Sensation..any ???'s

[Disneycruiser#1]

Everything was great, weather could have been better but what can you do. Everyone was great, food ok, cabin stewards great, mix of people good. Was happy. Knew my way around from the 7 day Inspiration in July 2003. Seems they are slowly updating and making more "modern". Still some purple and orange and some beam me up looking Star Trak lights (lol) but a fun cruise....now off on the Fantasy in 3 weeks.

[thebird]

Glad to hear it, Girlfriend...

 

tell us what all you did.

 

Sensation 5/15/2004

 

Days til Valor Vampires Cruise

[Jodygirl]

What was the dress code for each night in the dining room?

 

What room cat. did you have? I think I heard none of the rooms on the Sensation have refrigerators, but just wanted to see.

 

What kinds of activities did you do on sea days? Am interested to see what was offered.

 

What was your favorite meal? Favorite dessert? Need to know what to look out for on the menu.

 

Did you post a review anywhere?

 

Ok, guess that's it for now. Thanks for sharing.

 

Jody in KS

 

 Until our first cruise on the Sensation!

 

[Disneycruiser#1]

This was my annual Mommies Only cruise so we were pretty calm. I was worried being a 5 day and then the sold it out at the last minute. We were in a 6B M177 and it was a great cabin. Frist time on ANY cruiseline or ship we have not had "neighbor cabin" nosie. The only problem was a constant "Banging" noise while cruisng but ear plugs helped. Great mix of people, few children, lots of groups and couples so nice mix. Waiter was great and assistant. Canin Steward did his job very well! Had 8:00 pm seating food pretty good.......Grand Cayman took a taxi to Seven Mile Beach and were let across from the Holiday Inn nice and relaxing and then some shopping in Cozumel took a taxi to Chakanab, snorkeled and rested. Early May was a great time to go. This is my 4th time to GC and Cozumel since in 9 months and this was the least crowded so it was great.

 

Carnival seems to be trying to up the service and standards which I noticed and appreciated.

 

Take care off to get ready for the next one

[Disneycruiser#1]

No I did not post a review and don't know if I will have time but will be glad to answer any questions.

 

We had a 6B Main Deck. No fridge in the cabins, but ice buckets which was fine. 6A-6D are the same except for the decks. I have stayed in all over the last 9 months and all are good.

 

Food was ok. The Spring Bourbon Chicken on the second or third night was good. The soups were good and salads and get the apple pie and dutch apple pie. I also ate other desserts all great.

 

Make sure and take advantage of the pasta's on the main entree menu which you can order for a starter.

 

Pizza in the back of the Lido buffet is great and they had a deli with a CM making subs. You can also get a caesar salad at the pizza line which is good. Don't forget the frozen ice cream and yogurt which are open all day.

 

Also water, punch, tea and lemonade are available at the drink stations thru the day and juices in the morning.

 

The pancakes were pretty bad but the pastries great and french toast good too!

 

Have fun. It was a great value for the money.

 

We used the early de-embarkation and it worked pretty well just pack light!!!

[Disneycruiser#1]

Sorry you had another ?. Dress code. I have this cruise thing down pat with 4 cruises in 9 months. You will see anything. On the 5 day it is pretty casual. We wore black dresses on formal night (1st day at sea) and most men just blazer and tie and maybe a few suits. All women for the most part had on cocktail style summer dresses. Other nights it was a "wide" range. I wore black pants and took 4 different dressy sleeveless tops with me that worked great. Summer dresses that type, even saw jeans but no shorts.

 

Anything else let me know.....also it gets cold so a light sweater for dinner or shows is good and then something comfortable to change into if you wants after dinner.

 

Have a great time we did and I know you will too!

[florida diver]

Glad to hear you had a great time. We are booked on the 8/7 trip. How was the nite life?? Most of our complaints is no relaxing type of music late. Thx for all the help

[Disneycruiser#1]

I am not sure if this was the norm or the time of year but we saw some night life (remember this is our annual mommie's only trip and we each have 2 boys under 6 but........karoke is always funny, the comedian was very raunchy but if you can laugh at yourself then funny (very), bingo was a big hit, outside of the casino's they had a young guy singing and playing a variety of tunes and for example the last night they had a chips & salsa/magarita get together and he sang a variety of songs and was very good. I think there is as much or as little as you want to do on this sailing and it is the perfect mix. Have a blast!

[encruzin]

In Grand Cayman, I have heard that the Holiday Inn is now the Marriott Courtyard or did you go to another Holiday Inn on the island? Did you rent lounge chairs?

 

Also, I am planning on wearing a long, formal dress to formal dining. Will I be over dressed? From your experience, it sounds like formal night wasn't to dressy.

 

Thanks for answering our questions!

 

Sensation Cruise 05/24/04

[DonnaD]

Hey, sounds like great fun. We are sailing on the Sensation on 7/5. I have asked this question lots, but not any consistent answers. Did Carnival adapt to Grand Cayman time, I mean change the ships clock to GC time? We have a 8:45 excursion and wondered about getting back in time. It will be 12:00 GC time.

Did they have any midnight buffets? Not that I will need that, but the idea sounds fun.

How often did they have tea time?

Thanks.

 

Donna

[Cotton]

One question. On my earlier cruises, there were always musicians, like a little combo, mariachi, etc. on the Lido Deck during the day. On the past three Holiday cruises, there has been only one guy, Roger, on steel drums with canned music for background. He's VERY GOOD, but I'm hoping to hear that the Sensation has more of the 3-pc. instrument-type on deck.

 

Festivale 1987

Carnivale 1988

Mardi Gras 1989

Pacific Princess 1990

Norway 1994

Holiday 2001

Holiday 2002

Holiday 2003

 

[Disneycruiser#1]

The ship stayes on EST time which is "ship time" all of the time. This would only bring confusion if you book through a private excursion company and they say meet at 9:00 am ask them if that is GC time which is one hour behind eastern standard time or if that is ship time. CCL operates all of their excursion time son ship time/eastern standard time. Also keep your watch on ship time/eastern standard time bc if you ask someone else in town you may be 1 hour tooooooooo late. Also verify if you do not have a watch with you the time give to you is EST.

 

I do remember there being at least 2 midnight buffets but am not sure about tea, sorry.

 

Have a great time!

[Disneycruiser#1]

Yes you are correct I did forget to tell you they have changed the name from a Holiday in to a Mariott. Make sure you get in a "real" taxi which are usually always buses. Tell them to take you to the beach by the Marriott and it is a 15 minute drive you can see the ships from the beach. The public beach is right next door. Now I was lazy this time I paid $10 for a chair and read but I think the public beach has restrooms and such there too. We paid $10 and got to use a chair and our choice of bottled water or coke etc. They also have a little snack bar that has shade and bathrooms.

 

We went to GC in November on DCL Magic and I took my little guys who were 2 and 5 to the beach across from the Mariott (formerly Holiday Inn) and they loved it) and that is what we did this time. The only change I noticed and it may have been the tides or time of year was the water was a lot cooler than July and November in 2003 and it dropped off and was a lot more sloped than just 4.5 months ago.....maybe erosion???

 

 

Last July when my DH and I cruised on the 7 day Inspiration we booked thru Nativeway Watersports and did the stingray city excursion through them. They took us to snorkel with the rays and then to a coral reef area. I like Grand Cayman but on any cruise line you take you don't have much time there and you tender in but it is very pretty.

 

General tendering started at 8:30 am but we slid down early and they had plenty of room.

 

Tendering back stops at 1:15 pm so give yourself time. Save your shopping for Cozumel. We docked at the older pier this time and there are a lot of shops right there and Fat Tuesdays or take a taxi down to the newer pier and depending on how many ships are in port it will be crazy or not. There is good shopping all over Cozumel.

 

An inexpensive and great day I have done over and over again is to grab a taxi and go to Chakanab Park. The fee is now $12 per adult (was $10 in November) and you can take your own snorkel gear or rent.

 

You have plenty of time in Cozumel so go to the beach, snorkel, taxi back in shop and still have time left.

 

Have fun!!!

 

Have a great time!

[Disneycruiser#1]

Sorry forgot, I did see several long dresses on the cruise. One thing you will learn from becomming cruising addicted is that everyone has there own verision of dressed up. I will probably get flamed for this one but if you really want to be that casual go to the buffett. I have found on 5 cruises in a year that you will see everything from jeans to prom gowns and everything in between. Carnival seems to have stepped up a lot of the services and just seemed more customer oriented this time at least for us on this sailing. They had plenty of nice back drop with to have pictures taken every night so take advantage of being dressed up to have your picture made. Take your long dress and wear it you will not feel out of place. You will see a wide variety (good and bad

 

Any other ?'s let me know.

[Cotton]

Yes, you skipped mine. Musicians on deck?

 

Festivale 1987

Carnivale 1988

Mardi Gras 1989

Pacific Princess 1990

Norway 1994

Holiday 2001

Holiday 2002

Holiday 2003

 

[DonnaD]

Me too. Are you SURE the last tender is at 1:15? Our excursion ends at 1:00, GC time then. It is with Capt. Bryans and that seems to be cutting it a bit close for my comfort. In fact I think all the excursions (private) seemed to end about then.

Hey, thanks for all your answers so far.

 

Donna

[Mooguy]

How about the piano bar was it any good? They seem to be the place to be with standing room only or a total bust. Triumph was the best.

 

I will be on the 4 night 7/15/04

 

Celebration 11/17/96

Fantasy 6/97

Triumph 10/30/99

Majesty 10/27/00

Pride 2/9/02

Millennium 10/02

Legend 11/8/02

 

[imlulu]

We did the sensation last year 5 day...

The piano bar was often empty. The tenders when we went last were at 1:30 in GC.

 

It was a couple of guys ont he lido deck when I was on. They had 3 songs..over and over...

 

No longer cruiseless...donations still accepted! Miracle 2/2005

 

Last cruise

Sensation 2/17/03

[Disneycruiser#1]

In the atrium they have a c shaped bar with a piano up on a platform. I did see the him up there but can't tell you how good he was or stop to listen this trip.

[Disneycruiser#1]

Check with others bc our sailing was from Tampa Port on the 5 day and I think the Sensation is moving to New Orleans so check the port schedule for your cruise date. For ours we were in GC from 7:30 am to 2:00 pm with the last tender back (with a looooonnggggg line) at 1:15 pm.

[Disneycruiser#1]

Sorry, yes very good band on the Lido deck by the pool. Carribean vibe with songs mixed in you will know.

[Cotton]

Thx. That's what I was wanting to hear!

 

Festivale 1987

Carnivale 1988

Mardi Gras 1989

Pacific Princess 1990

Norway 1994

Holiday 2001

Holiday 2002

Holiday 2003

 

[DonnaD]

We leave from Tampa too. What happens if you are in a long line on time, and the tender fills up? That is if it is the last tender. . .

 

Donna

[Mooguy]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Disneycruiser#1:

In the atrium they have a c shaped bar with a piano up on a platform. I did see the him up there but can't tell you how good he was or stop to listen this trip.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

 

So I guess there is no seperate piano bar like they have on the Pride and other newer ships.

 

Celebration 11/17/96

Fantasy 6/97

Triumph 10/30/99

Majesty 10/27/00

Pride 2/9/02

Millennium 10/02

Legend 11/8/02

 

[Disneycruiser#1]

I am not sure but I know there is a guy who plays music and sings outside the lounge/bar by the casino. Someone else may know. But I do know there is a piano elevated in the atrium behind a c shape bar which I do not recall from the Inspiration, may have been on the Inspiration and I did not notice it or it is new to both ships. I have to be honest since my best friend and I were on our annual mommies only trip we were very laid back and were back in our cabin reading and resting by 11:00 pm taking advantage of the freedom (lol). Wish I could help more. Have a wonderful time!