Ally B

Age: 39
Occupation: Teacher
Number of Cruises: 1
Cruise Line: Carnival
Ship: Sensation
Sailing Date: August 2nd, 2004
Itinerary: Western Caribbean

Well, this was the very first cruise for my mother and me and we thought it was fantastic!!! I read a host of reviews about this cruise, some were favourable and many were not. I was a little concerned, but my fears were quickly allayed the very first hour I was on that ship.

Our 5-day cruise started with a long trip from Toronto, Canada. We left at 6:40 am in the morning and arrived in Atlanta, Georgia a couple hours later. Then we had to catch a connecting flight to Tampa Bay, Florida. After meeting with the Carnival greeters, we picked up our luggage and were driven to the port by Mear Transportation. It took about 15 minutes. At this time, it was 12:30 pm. It then took about 45 minutes to an hour to embark. We had to go through Customs, get our Sail & Sign Card, and take pictures for security reasons. The lines were long but they moved quickly and efficiently.

We boarded the ship on the Empress Deck. This was where the main lobby was...the Purser’s Information desk, the Tour Desk, a bar and elevators. Luckily, our cabin was also on this deck. We were in E191...close to the back of the ship and close to our Ecstasy Dining Room (2 floors up). We thought that our cabin might be in a heavy traffic area because it was close to the stairs and the elevators, but it was perfectly fine. We hardly saw any one around when we were going and coming and we certainly didn’t hear many people either.

We immediately went to our room to check it out and to see if our luggage had arrived, but only one bag was there, so we put away our carry-on bags. The room was a good size and it had a window. The washroom had a toilet, sink and a shower stall. We went upstairs to the Lido Deck to have lunch. It was a buffet. I had some lasagna, bread, salad, chocolate milk. I didn’t like the lasagna much, so I went to the Pizzeria and got a cheese pizza, because I didn’t want to wait for a vegetarian pizza to be made for me. It was nice. I also had some fruits, dessert and frozen yoghurt.

We then went on a little tour of the ship to try to find various places. When we stepped onto to the ship, there were some crew members who greeted us with a map of the ship. So we used the map to navigate around. We then went back to our room, picked up the rest of our luggage and hung up our clothes. We changed and then went back out to meet others and get our bearings.

With our Carnival Capers in hand we planned the rest of our evening. We would go to Welcome Aboard talk, change for dinner and eat in the Dining Room, and then go to the evening show. The Welcome Aboard talk was very long. It was held by our Cruise Director, Michael Mullhane (from England). He was great...funny, motivating, informative. He told us how to get the most out of our vacation and about the shore tours. If you would rather listen to this talk at your leisure, you can do it in your room. Everything is videotaped and can be viewed in your room, as it is played over and over again.

The Ecstasy Dining Room was very lovely. It was nicely decorated and was elegant. Our M’aitre D was Dino from Greece. He was great. It looked like they took great care to seat the guests. Our table seated 11 people, but on the first night, only 8 of us showed up. We were seated with another mom and daughter combo (from South African) and four other ladies (two sisters, their mom and their friend...from Kansas). We were all around the same age (mothers and daughters). We got along great and had great conversations once we broke the ice and got to know each other. Our waiter was Damir. He was from Croatia. He was very nice and treated us very well. I believe I had smoked salmon as a starter. I think it had little dabs of caviar around the sides of the plate. It was good. I can’t remember what I had for my main course. It was probably filet mignon. It was not very tasty. I’ve had filet mignon in Quebec. It was the first time I’d ever had this delectable meal, but it was covered in a red wine sauce. It was scrumptious. This wasn’t as nice, but after adding some salt and pepper, it was all right. Every one else at my table, enjoyed their meals too. Their dishes ranged from seafood, to chicken to beef, to baby back ribs. For dessert I had a delicious baked pear with icecream.

For the rest of the cruise I had baked salmon, beef wellington, tommy turkey and chateaubriand. They were good. The appetizers were great. They ranged from a variety of fruit to delicious soups, like roasted tomato, won ton, game consommé, etc. There were garden salads and caesar salad for the next course and then a host of main dishes to choose from ( lobster, chicken, beef, fish choices). Deserts were great, sometimes we had two each. We had baked alaska, soufflé with grand marnier vanilla sauce (yum!), fudge chocolate cake, german chocolate cake, icecream, cheeses, etc. That was washed down with tea, coffee or cappuccino. How lovely was that!

We rarely ate at the Seaview Bar & Grill. It was great to stop by there when we were on the Lido deck to get drinks (free)...water, coffee, tea, plus apple juice, fruit drink, iced tea (unsweetened) and pineapple. That was where you could get hamburgers, fries, hotdogs, garden burgers, salads, etc.

For lunch and breakfast we ate in the dining room (Fantasia) and were seated with guests we didn’t know. It was a good opportunity to meet others on the cruise. A bit awkward at first but then you made new acquaintances. Breakfasts consisted of everything...omelettes, toast, bagels, fruit, sausages, hash browns, cereals, yoghurt, danishes, croissants, etc. Lunch was delicious. Lots of choices. I had fish and chips, there was ravioli, you name it. You had the same number of courses. I tried a curried mango soup that was chilled. I didn’t realize it would be cold, but it was quite tasty. Needless to say, you won’t go hungry on this cruise. If you don’t like something, you can order something else. If you do like something, you can even have a second. Or you can try two different meals. We were stuffed after every meal. The proportions were just right.

Well, the second night of the cruise was the Formal Night. Everyone looked great! People went all out. Most ladies wore short cocktail/summer dresses, some wore gowns (like a prom dress/bridesmaid kind of dress). The men wore suits or shirt and tie with dress pants. It was a great night, because it was the Captain’s cocktail party. This was held in the Fantasia Lounge. There were two times for this party, depending on whether you had dinner at the early or late seating. We received free cocktails and hors d’oeuvres (meatballs, chicken nuggets, and other treats). The captain gave a short speech and then introduced his officers. The captain’s name was Giuseppe (Italian). Most of his crew was Italian too. I think one was from Greece and the Doctor was from England. Then we went to dinner. Every where you looked (on Sensation Blvd.) was filled with places to take your picture. Lots of people took advantage of posing for portraits. It was a great night. At midnight they had viewing of all food carvings and exquisite desserts. There were ice sculptures; birds, flowers made out of fruits and vegetables; cheese sculptures, etc.. They were beautiful. Everyone who visited took lots of pictures and were in awe at the amount of work that went into making each masterpiece. At 12:30 we all went back to eat the artwork. We decided to take the food back to our cabins because we were tired and we also had to get up early to go on our Shore Tour to Grand Cayman.

We arrived in Georgetown, Grand Cayman early Wednesday morning. We had to take tender boats from the ship to the dock. We had to go to Deck 3 to leave the ship. You have to remember to take your Sign & Sail Card, as well as photo id to get back on the ship. When we got to the shore, we immediately had our pictures taken in front of Grand Cayman Buoy, and with a pirate. We then looked for our tour (Island Tour and Stingray City). Lots of people were on the pier lined to do many activities. It was exciting. It was a warm (comfortable) morning. We then got on an air-conditioned mini bus, which held about 25 people. Our bus driver was also our tour guide. He told us a little about the history of the island, the population , etc. Our first stop was the Turtle Farm. We had to get green bands to wear on our wrists. There were many large circular pools containing green turtles. They were huge. We got close to one pool and the turtles got excited and splashed us all. It was funny and unexpected. We had to move to another calmer pool because those wouldn’t stop splashing. After that talk we went across the road to see other variety of turtles, a blue iguana (indigenous to this island only), and baby sea turtles. Here we got to hold a smaller sea turtle and take pictures. It was also a good place to go to the washroom. Then our guide gave us 20 minutes to look around. We decided to walk next door to the Tortuga Rum Factory and Bakery. It was a small store. There were t-shirts and souvenirs to buy. There was also an opportunity to taste and buy different rums and rum cakes. Delicious.

Our next stop was Hell. It was interesting. It was just a place with rock formations that are a charcoal colour. It’s supposedly what hell would look like. There were t-shirts and souvenirs there also. Some people got their postcards stamped there to send to their relatives and friends back home. We stayed there for about 25 minutes.

Then we were off to the Stingray Sandbar. This was the most amazing experience! I loved it so! We boarded a double decker boat (ferry) and took a 20 minute ride to a Sand Bar. Can you believe that out in the lagoon was sand bar that was 3-5 feet high water with teems of stingrays? How cool! There had to have been over 10 boats all in a circle with hundreds of people in the middle of the sandbar. We got off the boat and into the water. There were guides there holding the stingrays. They were very gentle and enjoyed being around all of the people. We went over and got our pictures taken with the stingrays by the photographer on the boat. They also gave us snorkel equipment to use. We didn’t use them. The stingrays felt so soft and velvety. They were beautiful creatures. I wasn’t in the least bit afraid. There were huge ones and little ones. Every where you looked they were swimming around you. Sometimes you’d see someone’s shadow in the water and you’d think it was a stingray. We had some good laughs. Many people were in awe. Some were scared, but they really enjoyed the experience. I was able to get some octopus (I think) pieces out of a bucket and I went to feed one of the stingrays. I asked the guide where to put the food and he said, just put it under the water. As soon as I was close to his mouth he sucked both the food and my fingers in his mouth. They don’t seem to have any teeth. I was more in shock that he was so quick to snap the food out of my fingers. Everyone around me laughed nervously. It was soooooo amazing! When I got back to the boat, I asked one of the guides to take a picture of me holding the stingray. So I went back in the water and she got two great shots. This tour was truly gratifying. We wished we had bought an underwater camera to take pictures when in the salt water. Then we rode back to the pier and get our tender back to the ship. We didn’t have a lot of time to shop so we just went back to the ship, showered, changed and had lunch. The last tender left at 1:15 pm. You had to make sure not to miss it, because the ship was set to sail at 2:00pm. Other people we met went to 7-mile beach or snorkeling. They had a great time as well. It was just too short a time on that island.

The next day was spent in Cozumel. Here we spent an entire day. We docked and were able to leave the ship from the bottom deck. We found our tour guide easily. When he collected about 20 of us, we walked to our air-conditioned bus. Our tour was called Cozumel Highlights and Shopping. I can’t remember where our first stop was, but it was at a little shopping market. There was a small, old Catholic church, a small Mayan ruin and some vendors who were eager to sell you their merchandise. They gave us a little talk and then we had time to look around. We were able to use the washrooms there. They were very very clean. We stayed there for about 25 minutes. Then we continued our tour of the island. We drove around the perimeter of the island, along the shoreline. It was beautiful. We went by Punta Sur, where the beach was gorgeous. We stopped a little north of there for 15 minutes and dipped our feet in the ocean. It was starting to get very hot. Then we drove and saw some of the homes of the people. We also saw many other tourists...on horseback, in jeeps, on bikes, etc. on the roads. We were now off to the downtown area of Cozumel, the shopping district. It was busy, colourful and right by the beach. It was a picturesque spot. We got off and were given a couple hours to shop around. There were many jewellery stores. We got to see some tanzanite jewellery....very beautiful and very expensive. We got very good deals on t-shirts. Some t-shirts were 2 for 1, so ended up paying $5 each. Some people chose to eat lunch here too. We decided to wait to eat when we got back on the ship. We all met back at the Museum and headed back to the ship. It was a good and tiring day. The tour was a little longer than 4.5 hours. When we got back to the ship, we ate a late lunch ( it was about 3 o’clock at this time, I think). Then we freshened up and went back out into the hot Mexican sun. There were many stores at the port...all similar to the ones downtown. The prices were pretty much the same. We bought more souvenirs and took a lot more pictures. By around 6:30 pm, we were exhausted and decided to go back on the ship and rest and shower before dinner. It was another super day.

The next day was an “at sea” day. It was full with activities and fun. You can’t get bored on this boat as there are just too many things to do. If you do, then you’re just plain boring.

Which brings me to my next point...Entertainment. There were lots of choices. Every night we had a big show....Las Vegas style singing and dancing with the Sensation Dancers, Comedy Show, and Magic Show. The last night was a big production by the dancers and singers. The singers aren’t the greatest, but they were entertaining. It was a lot of fun. The comedians were surprisingly funny to me. I don’t usually laugh at comic jokes, but I did my fair share with the two that were on this ship. I don’t remember their names. The magician was just great; he was also very funny. Other entertainment included a ship building contest, survivor, knobby knees contest, hairy chest contest, line dancing, karaoke, tv trivia, who wants to be a millionaire, bingo, an art auction, scaventer hunt, etc. etc. The list just went on and on. There were also lots of prizes for participants. Lots of people won bottles of champagne. The bingo was very popular too. They gave away hundreds of dollars and the final prize was a free cruise for two. If you were on the Lido deck, some competitions mentioned above were found there. There were also the Caribbean singers. They were a band of 4. They sang, played calypso and reggae. They were very good. They also had the casino, which was quite popular, the disco, the piano bar (I heard the pianist was quite good and knew how to play any song you through at him, but we didn’t go, as it was too smoky.) There were also other musicians positioned at different parts of the boat. So you had many choices.

Many people were on the Lido deck during the day. Some read books, talked to other cruisers, met new friends, swam, played cards, played dominoes, did crossword puzzles and of course ate and ate and ate. One day, we went for a tour of the galley. We learned a lot about the making of the food and we saw our dinner being made. We also learned how to fold napkins into a variety of designs, put together a black forest cake and make vegetable carvings for decoration on the Sensation Blvd that day. That was terrific!

Our cruise was fully booked with over 2600 people. About 800 were kids and 60% were first time cruisers. Every single one of the people I talked to about the cruise was having a great time. They were very happy with their holiday choice. I forgot to mention the crew; they were very nice, polite and talkative. They made a real effort to say good morning or hello to you, even if it was the third time that day. It was interesting to know that they come from over 50 nations.

Our room was nice as I said before, but there was a slight sewage smell over the toilet at times. Our room was cleaned twice a day. In the evening, our room steward (Riley from Dominica) turned down our beds, left next day’s Carnival Capers, two chocolates and towel creations (a lizard, an elephant and a rabbit). We saw our room steward all the time, even though we weren’t in our rooms very much. He was very nice, talkative and did his job well.

On the last day, among other things, we went to a Debarkation meeting. It was quite informative. We had to pack our things and have them outside of our room between 6pm and 12am that night. We kept our carry-on luggage and the clothes and things we’d need to get ready to go home the next day. We packed most of our things during the day and then packed the last pieces after the last show and had our things out before midnight. Debarkation was an orderly but time-consuming process. Being Canadians, we had to be up at 7 am and at the Kaleidoscope Disco to get back our passports and meet the US customs officers so we could be processed. That took about 25 minutes. Then we had breakfast and then went to the Fantasia Lounge to await debarkation. They first let people off who needed no assistance (you had to be a US citizen, have few luggage, have nothing to declare). There might have been more criteria but I can’t remember. Next they called people by tag colours. (Each colour represented a deck.) The red and yellow tags were asked to go first. Because were were on the Empress Deck (aft), we were in this group. We had yellow tags. Finally after waiting for an hour and half, we were able to debark. It was quick. We went off and saw all of the luggage in this huge coloured coded area. We found our luggage and then showed our id and custom papers to leave. We showed our ticket to the Mear Transportation personnel and got on a bus to go back to airport and back to Toronto.

Our very first cruise was over and was extremely memorable. We can’t stop talking about it with our friends and family and we can’t wait to go on another cruise. Thanks Carnival for a great time.