Sensation Review 11/2-11/5

[Father Ted]

Just returned from our first ever cruise, we had a great time.

 

First of all, I would like to thank everyone here for all the tips and advice. It helped our preparations and expectations a great deal.

 

We flew in from LGA to MCO on Thursday morning, our Delta flight was 2 hours delayed due to some computer problem on the plane. But we still had plenty of time. We had pre-booked the Mears shuttle bus through Carnival; we quickly found the Carnival desk and then waited a good half hour for the bus to arrive.

 

We got to Cape Canaveral at about 2:30pm, check-in was very easy. We quickly proceeded to the Lido deck, as we had not eaten since we had a quick snack at the airport in NY at about 7am. We both scoffed our burgers down pretty quickly. Before we knew it, the boat was moving at about 4pm.

 

We then headed down to our cabin, E221 on the Empress level where our suitcase had already arrived. We changed and then went to check out the various decks and then off to dinner at 6:15. I had the Duck which was very good, plus also the yummy hot chocolate cake. The wait staff was very courteous. Later we took in the Curves show, singing was so-so(Chip McDaniel, Kendal Lester), but the dancing and costumes were fun.

 

The next morning, we arrived at Nassau. Before breakfast we used the gym which I was pleasantly surprised that it was quite good. On the island, we rented the moped for $35 plus $5 insurance plus $20 deposit and went off to discover the island. We're not really the sit and relax in the sun people; we wanted to explore the island a little. We had not planned the mopeds idea but we saw them and it was a spur of the moment decision. We had a blast, nearly knocked over a few times but survived. Drove along the coast for an hour and then had lunch (conch fritters) at small place on the side of the road. The locals were very friendly and helpful when we got lost and when we could not figure how to restart the moped! When we returned to Nassau, we went to the straw market and bought a few cheap souvenirs.

 

That night was formal night, so we got dressed up. I would say about 90% of people in the Fantasy Dining room did make an effort. The other 10% were slobs. I had the beef Wellington that night but it was too chewy and did not enjoy it that much. Also, out waitress was very frustrated at people arriving late and didn’t do the greatest job.

 

After dinner, we went to the Fantasia Lounge and put our names in for the Game Show and luckily my name was picked. It was quite an exciting game, all 3 of us were on 90 points and thankfully I got the winning question. Won a delightful plaque and a picture from the Art Gallery. We stayed for the Tea Thompson and Victor Zuniga shows that were fun.

 

Saturday was a day at sea, we went to the Art Auction and ended up buying a nice piece for $110. It was framed picture, "TO", Take Off which means you can take the picture from the ship instead of having it shipped. Now, we had asked auction staff before the auction and again later when we went to pick the picture up whether we would have any issues bringing the picture on the plane e.g. size or care issues. They said both times, no problem, they would wrap it up well (which they did) and we shouldn’t have a problem checking it in. However when we went to check in at MCO this morning, we discovered the max length, width and height for checked luggage is 62 inches, the picture measured 82. So we ended up paying a $100 fee to delta. Needless to say, Park West Galleries will be receiving a letter from me shortly.

 

We also went to the Casino but only lasted an hour as the smoke got to me. Dinner last night was much better than Friday and later we went to the 80's show, which was a lot of fun. This morning, the debarkation process went very smoothly. I must really compliment the Carnival and US Customs staff on this. We were sitting in the Mears shuttle at 8:15. Again with Mears, we waited a long time before we left, a half-hour in fact. There really is no need for that long a wait as only 2 people boarded the bus in the last 20 minutes and there were plenty of other Mears buses waiting.

 

Overall, we had a very nice time. The cabin was kept very clean, the beds were VERY comfortable. However, the TV reception was mostly green i.e. the picture was like black and white except it was green and white. We did tell our cabin stewart and called the pursers number but it was never fixed. It didn’t bother us much in the end as we were not in the room that much. Food was good, not exceptional. Staff was very friendly except the one guy in the gym who seemed disinterested when I asked him a few questions (he was more interested in reading his book). The pool was closed on Friday and Saturday (for maintenance I think); it didn’t bother me either because it wasn’t swimming weather anyway.

 

My one big complaint about the cruise is smoke. I know, I know, there’s a casino, and bars and where they are there is smoke. But it seemed that whole deck with the casino and those bars was very suffocating for us non-smokers. That would actually put me off doing a cruise on that ship again.

 

That and the picture skrewup!

[Guest kookylabooka]

Thanks for posting.I will be on the Sensation Thanksgiving weekend in E99 for my first cruise !

[taylor1293]

Thanks for posting this. We will be on the Sensation next month for our very first cruise!

[Father Ted]

You're welcome. Still rocking today :p

[PlanningToCruise]

Just returned from our first ever cruise, we had a great time.

 

That night was formal night, so we got dressed up. I would say about 90% of people in the Fantasy Dining room did make an effort.

 

Glad you had a good time. We leave on the Sensation 11/30. Hope you get things resolved about having to pay for carrying on the picture.

 

I'm confused, looked at the dates, your cruise is the same as ours', 3 nights with it sailing on Thursday. I "read" on a thread that formal night was Saturday, based on your review it was Friday night.. I didn't think they would have formal night Friday since the ship is docked all night in the Bahamas. humm...

Guess I'll have to re-do my packing list, we only planned to eat 2 nights in the dining room since I thought we'd skip Friday night and eat in the Bahamas but if it's formal night then we'll be eating in the DR all 3 nights.

 

thanks for the review

[DqALEX]

Thank you for your review.