Brent & Maggie Reed

Age: 44/44
Occupation: Supervisor/Teacher
Number of Cruises: 1st
Cruise Line: Carnival
Ship: Sensation
Sailing Date: March 29th, 2004
Itinerary: Tampa - Grand Cayman - Cozumel

Wow...what a great time. My wife and I went on this cruise to celebrate our 20th wedding anniversary and enjoyed every minute of it.

We made our cruise arrangements on-line through Travelosity. We made our flight arrangement on-line and the cheapest rate we could find was directly through the airline (Continental). Our shuttle arrangements were also done on-line through Bay Shuttle in Tampa (found on the airport's website).

Embarkment was very well done. Carnival has everything down pat. We got there around 12:00 and were on the ship at 12:35. Your Sign and Sail Card is used like a credit card for all of your spending needs i.e., gambling, drinks...alcoholic or non-alcoholic, purchasing jewelry or liquor on-board, pictures, etc. All tips are also placed on the card when you get your final bill. It is $10.00 per day per person. I think this is very inexpensive for being waited on hand and foot. The ship was a full ship due to the time being spring break but I didn't find it to be crowded. We were hungry so we went in search for food. Lunch was all ready for us on the Lido deck by the pool and in the Seaview Cafe. Pizza and ice cream are available 24/7. Room service is also available at no extra charge. I would highly recommend eating at least all of your dinners in the 2 formal dinning rooms. We were seated with 2 very nice families from Buffalo and Canton. Carnival tries to match you to other families of like ages. It was a lot of fun seeing what other were doing throughout their cruise. Dinners are excellent. Every dinner comes with 4 choices of appetizers, 2 salads, 5 main dishes, and 4 desserts. You must pay for all drinks in the dinning rooms. Iced tea, coffee, and lemonade are free at the buffets on the Lido Deck. Dress for all dinners is casual (no shorts or swimwear)and formal night is suit (dark) and tie. The food presentation was very nice. Overall the food was great and always available. Look to gain about 10 lbs.

We had an oceanview stateroom that was very nice. They were very spacious(for a ship). The beds were twin but were made into a king size bed. We could never tell they were twin beds pushed together. The bathroom was nice and the showers were terrific. There was plenty of drawer space for us and the closets had ample room. We never were bothered with any noise or any other annoyances. The Cabin Stewards were excellent. The only time we saw him was when we got up and went into the hall. He always greeted us with a smile and a Goodmornin'. Our room was always clean.

If you are into fitness like us...they have a very nice workout area with stairsteppers and treadmills (walking only) and weight equipment. Since I am a runner I chose to run on the olypmic track. Since it is smaller than I am used to I just kept track of my time instead of laps. My wife walked while I ran (there were plenty of walkers). They also have a salon and spa (this is a pay for service). We didn't use it but those that did had good things to say about it. The pools are small just to get wet I suppose. There were at least 4 large whirlpools. There were a lot of children on the ship but they were kept busy by the staff and Camp Carnival. We didn't see a lot of children. Those with children had early seating for dinner. There are ping pong tables and game rooms as well as a casino with slots, poker, blackjack, etc. There is also an ATM on board.

There are always contests and activities to do. There is a Karaoke Lounge and Disco. By the way, we had read about some people being bothered by smoking. We didn't have any problems and rarely smelled smoke. The ship has done away with a lot of the public smoking areas and has limited their smoking areas (hooray).

The shows and activities are excellent. There are at least 2 Vegas style shows, several commedy acts, and juggling and magic. Our favorite comedian was Happy Cole. He was very funny. I have to admit that the Cruise Director (Jorge) was also VERY funny and made the cruise experience even more fun. I would suggest that you don't miss any of the shows.

Photos are taken throughout the cruise and are available to purchase (no pressure). Also a video you can buy at the end of the cruise that is shot throughout the cruise.

There are plenty of shore excursions to sign up for. We chose to make our own arrangements on-line prior to the cruise (be careful...Carnival says that they tender off those guests that book excursions through the cruiseship first which I didn't feel was fair and after persistance we were let off first to make our 8:30 Stingray Tour). I would highly recommend snorkeling at Stingray City in Grand Cayman. We also rented a jeep in Cozumel and saw beaches and other sites that others didn't see. The western side of the island was rocky in spots with water shooting up through blow holes it was very picturesque. We walked on white sandy beaches with bluer than blue water with a handful of people ever seen for miles. After our exploring the island we went shopping. Not very many stores had prices on their goods as it is expected to barder. There are good deals to be had. Shopper Lacey on the ship will have talks to help you look for deals and tell you how to shop this was well worth going to the talk.

The duty free shop on the ship is very large. Booze is at a BIG discount like Crown Royal for $16.00 a bottle or Tangueray for $12.00 a bottle and many others.

Disembarkment...again Carnival has a lot of experience and does it very well. There is a meeting the day before you leave that gives you all of the information. If you have an early flight out just tell the information desk and they take care of it. We had a 2:00 flight out of Tampa which gave us plenty of time. 1:00 would have been pleny of time. On the last moring you are to be out of your stateroom by 8:45 am and are told where your floor is to meet to disembark (according to the color of your bag tags). Once you disembark you go through customs so no sneaking Cuban cigars unless you like living in Tampa for 5-10 years.

Overall our experience was great! We came away thnking about our next cruise. I think next time we will get a bunch of friends to go with us. Cruising is all in your frame of mind. You have to be flexible and go with the flow. Just sit back and enjoy and go for the ride of your life.

We took the time to write this because the reviews that we read on this site were very helful to us on out cruise. Thank you all who took the time to write us about your expereinces and thank you to CruiseReviews.com

If you have any questions feel free to e-mail us.

Brent and Maggie Reed