Carnival Sensation Review

Carnival Sensation's onboard atmosphere is one of endless fun and expectant excitement. Everyone is trying to pack in as much amusement and downtime as they possibly can in four or five days (the ship is dedicated to short cruise itineraries). It's not frantic, just fun. And everyone's got everyone else's back, whether it's enthusiastically dancing in the aisles during nightly karaoke or loudly cheering on cruisers who have volunteered to participate in any number of interactive activities -- it's hard to feel embarrassed onstage when the entire audience is hootin' and hollerin' for you.

And your fellow cruisers aren't the only friendly faces you'll see throughout your sailing. The crew onboard Carnival Sensation are genuinely friendly and enjoy having conversations with passengers. From the guy taking our plates away in the buffet asking us what we did that morning to our Your Time Dining waiter (we asked for him every night) asking us about life back home and telling us about his dental work in Cozumel that day (!), everyone was personable and had a ready smile.

Yes, the bar service wasn't always the quickest and we were, more than once, told an activity printed on the day's schedule was a "mistake" (particularly when related to free spa events), but generally service was spot on throughout the cruise.

With all the good, Carnival Sensation is by no means a perfect cruise and many of its physical limitations can be a bit frustrating. Built in 1993 during the heyday of you-can't-get-there-from-here shipbuilding, you always have to remember to go all the way forward or aft on a cabin deck to get anywhere on decks 7 or 8. It's exasperating to run upstairs from your cabin for dinner on Deck 8 only to realize you're on the wrong end of the ship and you can't just walk across to the other side of Deck 8. And try not to forget which deck number correlates with the names of decks -- like Empress or Upper Deck -- as the elevators list the first letter of the name of the deck and not the number.

We'd also like to forewarn any serious sports lovers that there's no sports bar on Carnival Sensation, just a few public TVs here and there that can be tuned to ESPN (the only sports outlet other than the standard broadcast channels). If missing a game is going to put a dent in your vacation experience, Sensation might not be right for you.

Big theater productions are also lacking on Sensation. On our four-night cruise, we only had two big stage productions. Both were good and we would much rather have seen a third one than have only the audience-participation Love & Marriage show as a choice. And don't get us started on bingo. We like a good bingo game as much as the next person, but it's not a nighttime big theater activity.

But if you don't have a lot of vacation time and need a short, fun getaway that's laid-back, friendly and affordable, it's pretty hard to go wrong with a four- or five-night break on Carnival Sensation.