Jay

Age: 46
Occupation: broker
Number of Cruises: 1
Cruise Line: Carnival
Name of Ship: Sensation
Sailing Date: March 31st, 2003
Itinerary: Western Caribbean

My wife and I are from the Chicago area, are in our mid-40s, with daughters 15 & 12. This being our first cruise, we wanted preferably a value and a 5 day, which is why we picked the Sensation.

Embarking: At the port of Tampa, we arrived at 11AM for a 4PM sail, and we were none too early, unless you wanted to wait forever in lines. We had made sure we had all the proper paperwork filled out beforehand, which speeded things up. When we arrived, the Sensation had JUST docked (4 hrs late) after fighting headwinds up the Gulf, and someone said that a lot of the crew and passengers had gotten seasick. Great, just what I wanted to hear. Anyway, by noon we were through the line & in a large holding area, and by 1:30 we were on the ship.

Immediately we went to the Lido Deck to the Seaview Bar & Grill to the buffet, which was comparable to a fair Vegas buffet. We were hungry however, and were satisfied. At 430PM, just before sailing, they had the lifeboat drill, a mandatory thing that took about 30 minutes, and Carnival really has their stuff together there. In fact, the whole Carnival staff was very organized and upbeat throughout.

We had basically a day & a half at sea before arriving in the Caymans, and we certainly felt the residuals of the winds the previous cruise had felt in the Gulf of Mexico. The boat rocked quite a bit, but it seemed to me that by our cabin being on the Riviera deck, the lowest on the ship, we didn't rock & roll as much. Up on the Lido deck, getting food or coffee or whatever, it was swaying a lot.

Our cabin was fine--we had read that Carnival gives great value & size on their rooms, and we were not disappointed. For four of us, as long as we kept organized with dirty laundry and such, it was fine. The bathroom was larger than expected, medicine cabinet large--great for holding 4 people's 'stuff'--, shower fine, BUT the towels I thought were substandard. Come on, give us non-sandpaper towels, please.

Ship food: The sit-down dining consists of oval and round tables of 8 or 12, and we got to meet some nice people, and get their perspective on the ship. In fact, a couple with a 3 year old girl said that although there were parts of this cruise that drove them up the wall, the Camp Carnival thing for young kids was stellar & fantastic. We wouldn't have known that otherwise. Breakfasts are only fair, same menu every day, one would probably get just as well at the buffet up on the Lido deck. Lunches were better, and dinners were a notch above that. Now, I don't really know what I was expecting going in, but rating the quality of the food, especially dinners, I would liken it to a good banquet/wedding reception meal. Good food, certainly not world-class. Soups were very good, salads a bit wilted, and entrees tasty but not hot enough for me. One night I had rack of lamb, then beef wellington, then tilapia, the seafood newburg. They had the maddening habit of bringing ALL the courses out at once and serving you one at a time, so you could basically see your entree (with a plastic top on it, to try and keep the heat in) sitting there while you're having the first two courses. That drove me nuts, but maybe it's just me. The coffee was chicory-laced in the dining room and bitter, but great up on the Lido deck, where coffee, soft-serve ice cream & nonfat frozen yogurt (VERY good), and pizza was available 24 hours a day. Go figure.

Grand Cayman: Very disappointing. we had scheduled an online stingray tour, but because of the winds our ship arrived two hours late, so we missed it and in fact the ship-sponsored stingray tours were cancelled as well. So, for the 4 hours we had, we waited and took a 15-minute tender to the pier (Cayman has no docking facilities for cruise ships) and got off. We walked around a little, and forget shopping--VERY high prices. We found a little cafe and had fish & chips and shrimp & chips, which were tasty but at $10-12 apiece we weren't in Kansas anymore, we were on a British island where everything was going to cost bucks. Then we took a cab to Seven-mile beach, and paid $8 apiece at this crowded 'beach club' to sit there for about 90 minutes and swim a little. Then we took a cab back to the tender pier--they said you had to be back on the ship at 1:15 for a 2PM sail, so we got back to the pier at 12:30--there must have been 300 people in line, and we finally got back on board right at 2:00. At this point we're wondering what everyone sees in cruises.

Cozumel: Phenomenal. I had done some research online, and found that Mr. Sancho's Beach Club, about 10 km down the beach road, was clean, nice and not too crowded, as opposed to paying fees at Chankanaab and other closer beaches. So we took a cab there & arrived at about 11AM. We walked in and immediately a waiter leads us to a table with umbrella and chairs right by the crystal-clear blue water, right in front of the thatch-roof, swing-chaired bar. We sat, had him bring a bucket of beer and some appetizers, and RELAXED finally. It was beautiful, drinking Sol beer, hearing nice Mexican music in the background, watching the girls get their hair braided and kayak around in front of us. For an order of ribs, potatoes, chips & salsa, guacamole, and 8 beers the bill was $36. I considered that a steal. After about 4 hours there, we showered inside their bathhouse (inside but not private), then took a cab into the main town, San Miguel. The Cozumel cabbies are nice, the rates are posted and regulated I think, but they drive like maniacs, mostly with broken speedometers. 115 km/hr is fast on a 2-lane road, right? So we had the cabbie drop us at La Choza, a restaurant I had read about. But it was still early, so we did some shopping. It was the typical tourist fare, lots of tee-shirts and aggressive (but not mean) storekeepers. I bought a bottle of anejo (aged) tequila at one of the few stores that sold booze, but he said that because alcohol prices are nationalized they could not negotiate--oh well, paid $45 for a bottle that would cost me $80 in the US. Then we ate at La Choza, which at 6PM was nice, quiet, open-air, and served up great fajitas and chicken in mole sauce. Not super cheap, but we weren't expecting that--it was about $10 per entree. Even the mariachis came over and played Sabor A Mi, my favorite traditional Mexican standard. From there we shopped a little more and went back to the ship. This day was truly a highlight of the cruise.

That was Thursday night. Friday was a day at sea again, but it was beautiful weather, and much of it was spent outside by the pool. Oh by the way, unless you're between the ages of 10 and 16, don't even think of using the one small pool this ship has. It was rowdy--many children in there. But I was content for the most part sitting in the shade drinking good pina coladas and playing gin with my daughter. The other good thing that happened was the casino. I hadn't expected a dice table on the Sensation, but there it was, $5 minimum which was fine. Only thing was, out of 2400+ people, I'll bet only 20 people played craps at all--most of the time the table was empty. But when I played, I did not lose often and ended up banking about $450, and had some of the best runs I've ever had. Oh also, the Internet Cafe they had allowed me to keep up via EMail with family and friends at home and work--for 2 hours online I spent $48--not bad. at all

Debarkation: We had an early plane back to Chicago (8AM docking and a 1230PM flight) and Carnival allowed for this, but saying that anyone whose flight was before 1PM could debark first. That was VERY nice and we were on our way to the Tampa airport by 9:30.

Overall, I would take a cruise again, but maybe I'd spend more money per person (paid $525/person this time) to get a little higher class of everything. And now that the kids are older, my patience level for small children and teenagers that roam the ship unaccompanied is low.