We have been on different cruise lines and different Carnival ships and to my shock, this was the best cruise I've ever been on.
This was a cruise for just myself and my son to celebrate his college graduation. This was a hurricane season trip so for one, we took a gamble because this was a great value. Secondly, a few days before sailing we were offered an upsell from our deck 5 mid ship ocean view to an Empress Deck balcony. The price wasn't bad and I took it. So glad we did. We typically always book balconies but since my wife wasn't going I originally booked an OV because I figured we would save the money since it was just guys, We flew to Ft. Lauderdale the morning of the trip from Cleveland. Everything from a travel standpoint went smoothly.We prepaid for Carnival transportation to Miami and that went smoothly as well. I appreciated being able to check in at the airport alleviating the need to stand in line at the port. When we arrived at the port, we walked right on the ship. We had to wait until 1:30 to access our room which wasn't an issue. A burrito from the Blue Iguana and burger from Guy's and we were ready to get to our room. This is one of the oldest ships in the fleet and the staterooms are where you feel it the most. Our stateroom was configured oddly since we asked for separate twin beds. This stateroom also had optional pull down beds as this was set up to accommodate up to 4 passengers. I wouldn't want to cram 4 people in there. For the two of us we had plenty of storage space. It was a small room compared to the other ships we had been on, but the balcony was a great addition. I love sitting on the balcony at night and listening to the sea so this was a great upgrade.
We chose YTD for this trip. We packed light for this trip and did not bring clothes for formal nights. If you must get anything on day one, get the strawberry cake pops from the buffet. Those are a definite guilty pleasure. We ate in the MDR each night except formal night. We were never disappointed in the selection or quality. We have in the past had spotty service in the YTD MDR on previous trips. The service on this trip was spot on from the beginning to the end. We also ate in the MDR for seaday brunch. Many stacks of pancakes later we were stuffed.
The cabins on the Sensation are smaller than on other ships. The configuration of two twin beds was a little awkward, but not anything that would affect our trip. The bathroom was very small. We loved the balcony.
This is a must for any beach lover. This is a bucket list beach.