Carnival Cruise: A Sensational Cruise with Something for Everyone

Not all perfect vacation plans start out perfect. Our first destination was to try to get to Tampa, Fla., to board the cruise ship, Carnival Sensation. My husband and I, our daughter and her friend, all left NW Arkansas XNA Airport on time on a NW Airlines flight to Tampa, via connecting flight from Memphis. However, our connecting flight was canceled. What should have been an ETA of just before 4 p.m. Florida time became a 10:30 p.m. arrival. But all just part of the adventure!

NW finally found us a connection through Delta Airlines, after we inquired, "what do we do now?" This plane took us from Memphis to Atlanta, and then from Atlanta to Tampa. It's a good thing we booked our flight the day before the cruise departure, or we'd have missed the boat!

The evening before our 7-day cruise, we went out to dinner at Bennigan's, a restaurant near our hotel, the Doubletree. Great food, but rowdy bunch of college kids was there. They were drinking and shouting from the bar area, one girl felt compelled to begin dancing on the table top and showed the restaurant's clientele that she wasn't wearing a bra. Well, a strange beginning to an otherwise great vacation!

Out of our seven pieces of checked-in luggage, between the four of us, one of our pieces of luggage was missing. The airport finally found it and returned it to our hotel just after breakfast, 15 minutes before we had to leave the day of our scheduled departure from the Port of Tampa.

The information I had printed out from the web site about Doubletree's amenities stated not only shuttle service to and from the airport nearby, but also to the cruise ships' docks. When we inquired about the ride at the front desk, they denied knowing anything or providing this service. We showed them the paper and the manager was contacted. She agreed that what was in print and should be honored. So we got our ride. It pays to speak up! We had to explain to the driver learned how to get there as he had not been there before. Well, at least we got our ride!

We arrived at the port about 12:30 p.m. The whole check-in process looked scarier than it was. Lines and lines of excited cruisers snaked around isles, as if waiting for an amusement park ride. With "important documents" in hand (which included birth certificates and marriage license, drivers licenses and credit cards), we made our way up to the check-in desk. After a short and painless processing, we were then instructed to wait in another line. This line was the final line to present our main admittance document and to have our entrance portrait done. This portrait was the first of many which the cruise line would take and attempt to sell us. We had saying "no" down to a science!

We proceeded through the gangway and onto the ship. The first sight is breathtaking. Upon entering the ship, you enter the Grand Atrium. A large area which includes the Purser's/Information desk, Excursion desk, waiting area and lounge, glass elevator entrances, elevator entrances to the rest of the ship, etc. There is a large modern art sculpture in the center of the room, which ads to the Vegas-style look of the ship's interior, as well as a bar and piano player. At the top of the Atrium is a large multi-paned glass ceiling displaying the heavens. The two brass spiral staircases were beautiful and provided hundreds of photo ops for the photography staff throughout the cruise.

After taking several pictures of this area, we went immediately to our cabin floor to locate our staterooms. We were delighted that we had all been upgraded from inner Riviera deck rooms to outer Riviera deck rooms with porthole windows and large window seats. We left word for our cabin steward, Edy, to put the two double beds together for us. By the time we got back to our room from our late-seating supper in the main dining room, our beds were together, turned down with mints and a Carnival Capers newsletter, containing the next day's events and schedule. This would be the norm for the rest of the cruise.

We dropped off our carry-on luggage, grabbed our cameras and went about exploring the ship and taking pictures and video. We were not scheduled to leave port until 4 p.m., but the ship allows passengers to arrive early to get their "sea legs" and to acquaint themselves with their new home. We also had to participate in a lifeboat/life jacket drill about 30 minutes before departure. It was warm, beautiful and sunny June day. We couldn't have asked for a better day to put out to sea. It took the ship some time to depart from the port. The channel on the right side, after leaving the commercial area of the port, was spattered with exclusive new homes. The peninsula finally trailed off and the ship was now entering the warm ocean waters of the Gulf of Mexico, headed for the Western Caribbean.

At one point that evening, my husband and I were out for a twilight stroll, and viewed another Carnival cruise ship about a mile or two off the starboard bow. As our paths crossed "in the night," we discovered through the viewfinder of our video camera, that it was the very large Triumph of the Seas. It was beautiful to see it sparkling back at us in the middle of the Caribbean Sea. Most of our luggage arrived at our stateroom door by dinnertime.

Our first day of sailing was thrilling due to the excitement of our first-time cruise. The magnificence of the ship was the real adventure that first day and evening. We met our Maitre 'D, who was a delightful Croatian man by the name of D'amiri. He was sort of taken with our daughter and assigned us to the head table by the piano up at the front. Our waiters, Danilo and Awana, were attentive and easy enough to understand. Awana was from Romania and I Danilo was from Philippines. Our meals were superb, extravagant and in many cases, pure art. The dining room staff would also present a musical dance presentation midway during the dinner hour. They would all come out and line the entire dining room, singing, dancing and clapping their hands. They performed the Latin song, "Hot, Hot, Hot," and the "Macarena," as well as "God Bless America," just to name a few. We had a fun day at sea on Monday. We sunned ourselves, explored the ship and readied ourselves for first formal dinner.

Tuesday was our day to visit Grand Cayman. We chose to go to Stingray City on the afternoon yacht. This only gave us enough time to snorkel some at Eden's Cove. This was a breathtaking experience. Swimming in the turquoise water with a rainbow of sea life. We found a cruise ship key and driver's license in the water, while we snorkeled there. The weather was superb and the crystal clear water was like no other we'd ever seen. When we got to the sandbar in this little peninsula off the side of the island, we removed our shoes and grabbed our snorkel gear and waterproof cameras. I'm glad we already had chance to practice. We fed squid to the stingrays. Some of the rays measured about the size of very large throw rug. We'd hold onto the squid by the body, tentacles poking out of the top of the fist, and we allowed the rays to suck their snacks out of our hands. One man got a ray hickie, as he must have had some squid ink on his arm. This surprised him more than it hurt. We took turns holding these beautiful rays. They are used to humans and were no real threat to us. As long as we avoided stepping onto their tails near their stingers and kept our squidy fingers clear of their mouths, we all did great. They would play and swim about our legs, rubbing their fins on our legs and bodies like big kitty cats. They were always searching for food, as the rays seemed genuinely glad to play host to their daily visitors.

We headed back to our ship and were back on board the Sensation by about 12:30 p.m. All the water play made us quite hungry so we hurried back to our rooms to clean up and run upstairs for a delicious lunch on the lido deck.

The next day we arrived in Playa del Carmen, Mexico. We toured the Mayan ruins in Tulum, Mexico, which was amazing. The grounds were teaming with iguanas and we took a ton of photos. Our tour guide, an authentic Mayan man, displayed a wealth of knowledge about his Mayan culture and history. We all agreed that he went on too long about the minutest details pertaining to the ancient Mayan site, but we left that place educated. We were not allowed to enter some of the buildings as the preservation of the steps and walls had been compromised by years of tourists, touching and even taking pieces of history home with them.

We took the bus ride back to Playa del Carmen where we took a large tender boat ride to the island of Cozumel, Mexico. The ocean was bit choppy, so we witnessed several people developing a bad case of seasickness. They were used to the smoothness of the cruise ship. Some were not prepared to take a 40-minute boat ride. We all thought it was great fun and looked forward to the large waves, which made it seem more like a roller coaster ride. Eventually, my husband began to smell exhaust or some kind of fuel, which began to give him a headache. All in all, it wasn't that bad.

Sensation ended up docking in Cozumel, because the pier at Playa was too small and shallow. We ended up taking about six taxi rides totaling about $25 just to get to a sandy beach. Even with our daughter's friend translating, our taxi drivers didn't quite understand that all we wanted was a clean white beach to provide us with swimming, snorkeling and sunning for free. At least they claimed to not understand. We figured out that they knew exactly what they were doing, and that was to get more money out of us. Oh well. You live and you learn. We finally found our beach and once again we found ourselves swimming with large schools of tropical fish. We finally rinsed and dried off the sea water in a nearby hotel's outdoor shower, then proceeded up into town to do some souvenir shopping. We took advantage of the "bargaining" tactic, and purchased several items. One man ran me down about two blocks just to see to it that I didn't leave without a silver anklet. I gave in just to get away from the poor man. We got back to the ship just in time to clean up for our late seating dinner in the dining room. The formal dinners were beyond amazing. So many courses, so little time!

I did some laundry on the ship. There were two launderettes located in two different levels of the ship. Both were always busy. Each contained two ironing stations with irons and hanger bars. Each laundry room had only four washing machines (small capacity) and four large capacity dryers, which cost a $1 in quarters each use. I brought my own bottle of Woolite so this saved me some money. The laundry rooms were especially busy and hot on the formal dining nights. They could have used a laundry room on each floor of staterooms instead of just two. The ship can hold 2,052 passengers, not including the staff of 900. But I guess they don't count on everyone doing laundry while on holiday!

The next day was a day at sea. Our final port of call was to spend a day in New Orleans. We woke up to the muddy and mighty Mississippi River instead of the turquoise and sapphire waters of the Caribbean.

We had about nine or 10 hours to spend in New Orleans. We toured the home of General Beauregard and Ms. Keyes. We lunched at a small Mexican cafe. It was clean and the food was good but terribly expensive.

After racing through the downpour that hit N.O. that afternoon, we ended up going to an IMAX movie, ate at a wonderful restaurant, and did some shopping on the River Walk.

We got back on the ship early enough to get dressed for the Mardi gras party and dinner. The party was supposed to take place on the Lido deck, which is where the water slide and main pool were located, but the rain made the deck too slippery, so they moved it to one of the lounges. We donned our Mardi gras hats, boas and beads and headed up to the party. Our daughter made me dance a couple of songs while my husband took a video. Chicken!

The next day was another day at sea. We were thankful to leave the murky, depressing waters of ole Miss, and spent the day enjoying the sunshine and blue water. We got back to Tampa on schedule.

We debarked right on time only to discover that our luggage was somewhere in this large hanger with literally thousands and thousands of pieces of luggage. However, our bags had been placed in the line for the Riviera deck residents, and the neon green plastic strings we attached made it easy to find all of the luggage.

We rented an SUV for our day of exploring some of Tampa. We'd need three days just to take it all in, but we ended up seeing the Florida Aquarium and the MOSI museum. We volunteered to give up our seats due to an overbooking by NW airlines, and took a late flight back home. This was worth the wait as we each received a completely free round trip ticket for anywhere in the 48 states, not including Hawaii or Alaska, but it did include flying to and from Mexico, Asia, Jamaica, Micronesia and the Caribbean. We ended up using it later for a trip to Nevada. Oh well!

Now I could tell you all about every aspect of the cruising experience. But I would hate to spoil the fun of discovery. If you'd like to have a vacation that takes you to many places, while allowing you to unpack just once, then a cruise may be just the ticket. You can take cruises from two or three days, or even a month. Just be aware of hidden charges, as they sure can sneak up on you. Keep track of all your onboard expenses. You WILL find a bill slipped under your door the morning of your departure. Just FYI!

Our second cruise was totally unplanned. One year some friends of ours had already planned a 5-day cruise, and begged us to come along. The price was right so we agreed. It turned out to be the same ship! It was good in one sense that we would know our way around the ship. But on the other hand, it was disappointing that we would not experience a new adventure. We didn't get to go to Grand Cayman on the second cruise. But we ended up getting more snorkel time in, which is what we love to do anyway. We had a great time with our friends, the food was still superb and the towel animals were just as cute! The bedding was even comfier than the first time. And as always, sleeping on a cruise ship is like floating on a cloud. Honestly, it's the best sleep I've ever had.