Carnival Cruise lines
Sensation Cruise Review
Bahamas

Tara
Age: 22
Occupation: Personal Assistant/Student
Number of Cruises: 3
Sailing Date: August 20th, 2006

This was my 3rd cruise, and my 2nd with Carnival. I highly recommend this cruise if you want a short, fun, very casual cruise with a hyper cruise staff. Everything is bare-bones with the Carnival Cruise Line. If you want anything more than the bare minimum you will have to pay. The Sensation is an older outdated boat. It's the old-school 80's look ship. Lots of gold, purple, and tackiness. With that being said, it's a younger crowd and has more fun activities.

If you want to go on a classy all inclusive cruise, go Royal Caribbean. Their staff treats you wonderfully, steps out of the way when you walk down the hall, etc. You'll be treated like you would in a 5-star hotel.

As far as food goes, portions are tiny. Nice restaurants don't give you pounds of food. You'll have several courses so it evens out. If you want to gorge yourself, you have plenty of opportunities at the buffet and all night pizzeria. The food is only so-so, and the desserts at the buffet were disgusting.

The ports of call were fun. Don't expect the impoverished islands of the Bahamas to be up to our standards. It's laid back. Boats are sinking in the harbor, things are dirty, I even saw rats run down the street. Enjoy the ambiance! We met the nicest people on the islands. We rented a scooter and drove ourselves around (I'd been there before) and people would randomly stop to ask us if we needed directions. So nice! Our scooter broke down, but it was only $55 and happens all the time there. So we (my husband and I) walked back w/ smiles on our faces and were treated to free Bahamian beers. If you don't want to mingle with the locals or soak up the Bahamas spirit, just go on shore excursions. They take you past all the culture and straight to Americanized areas w/ a little culture thrown in. You'll think you're in paradise, it's clean and fun. In Freeport we chose the Sail and Snorkel excursion b/c it's mostly only a port town with little else to do. I highly recommend it. We all fell asleep on the sail back.

The shows were pretty ridiculous. If you can laugh and have a good time, they're really funny. Yes, they're cheesy, and the wigs are very cheap. The comics were pretty funny, but the late night comedy was A+.

Basically if you want to have a good time on a cruise, especially this one, use common sense. You are paying a very cheap price for this cruise, don't expect perfection. You are going to a very poor country, enjoy the culture and history, don't expect it to be a little America. The formal dining rooms are like a 5 star restaurant, if you don't like using your manners, or eating with more than one fork, don't go. You'll only feel uncomfortable. Be courteous while in the islands. One woman told us she felt she was snubbed by a local, all she talked about though was how crappy everything was. Please be a good ambassador for our country while down there and don't make a bad impression on these people. It's a wonderful place for those who can appreciate and enjoy it.