Scott Thompson

Age: 18
Occupation: Student
Number of Cruises: 1
Cruise Line: Carnival
Ship: Sensation
Sailing Date: April 3rd, 2004
Itinerary: Western Caribbean

This was my first cruise that I have ever taken and I took the cruise with my family and my best friend. First of all let me say, this cruise has been one the best five days of my life. I notice that a lot of the reviews are focused around older people, either dads, moms or someone else. The Sensation fun boat is a cruise ship for kids. Now I am not saying that adults cant have fun on it, but it is a great party boat. We got to Tampa on Saturday and the line looked long when we got there but before we knew it we were touring the ship. Within an hour we had met tons of girls and our next door neighbors were four girls from Atlanta. We ended up spending most of the cruise with them and it ended up being an incredible experience meeting them. The level we stayed on was the Riviera Aft level. Jon and I were the only ones in our room so it was quite comfortable. If you had to have more than 2 in the room it seemed like it was a little cramped considering the girls next door had four people, but like many of the reviews say you are really only in your room to sleep and get ready for dinner and events. Now I know a question on every teenagers mind (maybe not every, but it seemed like every teenager I saw there) was if they were going to be able to sneak alcohol on board. Let me tell you, this was as simple as can be. My friend and I were able to bring two liters of alcohol in our bag with no problem. We were worried until we saw our bags sitting there waiting on us but once we saw them we knew it was sweet relief. The girls next door were more clever and packed all there alcohol in shampoo bottles, spray bottles, and even mouth wash bottles. They went on the more paranoid route but it was girls so it was obvious.

Fun days: The first fun day was great, I was so burnt that night and the next day but I was having to much fun to even care about it. I would recommend getting some sun before you go on the ship. We laid out with the girls from Atlanta and went on the slide a few times and drank some during the day. It was a great second day on the cruise ship. That night was also a blast, we went to the Kaleidoscope which was the dance club after 12 for the teenagers. Let me say that I would not go into it sober, but once I was in there with an intoxication I was having a ball.

Cozumel: Cozumel was incredible. I know the Grand Cayman islands was on Monday and Cozumel was on Tuesday, but Cozumel was probably the best day of my life. We arrived there and it took us 30 minutes or so to leave the port and get to where the taxis were at. Once we got there we headed off to Mr. Sancho's beach. A lot of the people we were with partying on the boat were going to Playa del Sol or went on the party boat. Im sure I would of had just as good a time there but it was more of a relaxing time at Mr. Sancho's and me and Jon were actually able to bond with the family. (It was also nice because my dad bought us beer all day long). My family left Mr. Sancho's at around 4 and Jon and I got a taxi back around 6 and we were about to get back on the boat when we saw two girls that we had talked to the previous night. They were about to go downtown so we hopped in a taxi with them and headed off to Senor Frogs. If you are a teenager then everyone must make a commitment to go downtown and go to Senor Frogs. It was an incredible time. No checking for ID's, drink as much as you want, dance as much as u want, just be prepared to spend some money. We got back onto the ship and were feeling "gooood". That was probably our earliest night going to bed since we basically passed out at about twelve.

Grand Cayman: At Grand Cayman we took the typical swimming with Sting Rays and snorkeling in the reef. There's not much I can really say about it but it was an awesome experience and I am glad that is what we did when we got to Grand Cayman. The water is beautiful out there and the island itself is really interesting. We had a cool bus driver who was basically telling us about the island.

Last fun day at sea: The last fun day at sea you are pretty worn out but its good for closure to the trip. The last night was probably one of the most fun because we just lived up the memories of the trip.

Recommendations: I was iffy about going on this cruise after reading some of the reviews but if you are a teenager or mom or dad that wants to take your kids on an incredible trip the Sensation is a great boat to go on. I would recommend this boat to any teenager that is looking for a good time.