Worst Ship I have seen on Carnival
Carnival Sensation Cruise Review to Cuba
Contributor Level:
Deck Hand
Cruises: 4-6 cruises
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 36
5 Night Grand Turk & Havana (Miami Roundtrip)
Sail date: May 20, 2019
Ship: Carnival Sensation
Cabin type: Inside
Cabin number: U32
Traveled as: Couple
Reviewed: 5 years ago
Review summary
The absolute worst cruise EVER!!! Filthy ship in poor repair! Awful food! Awful service!! Fairly good entertainment! Don’t forget, we both came home with Norovirus!!!Embarkation
Embarkation Mandatory Safety Meeting was 35 minutes late and was held inside.A new person to cruising wouldn’t have a chance of understanding what to actually do in the event of a true emergency!
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
The food was not quality. The focus on Carnival Sensation seems to be on quantity, not quality! In fact, after day 1 of the cruise it was obvious that they were using the leftovers to make a dish for the next day. Under ripened fruit (watermelon, cantaloupe, honey dew)was served every day. If you wanted a decent alcoholic beverage then you had to get straight shots and a soda to mix your own. All of the drink “specials “ tasted like 1 ounce of liquor to a half gallon of mixer. Not impressed at all... very, very disappointed!!! Not to mention that we both came home with Norovirus!!!!
Onboard Activities
The pool was freezing cold and the hot tub was over heated. A staff member came to check the temperatures and admitted that the hot tub was past a “legal” temperature . He turned it down, but did not request the quests vacate it until the temperature was correct. The pool was also extremely dirty. The edges of the pool has about a 4 inch band of dirt, tanning products, skin cells, etc. all the way around it. I noticed at debarment that the pool was closed until the next quests boarded, but the ring of filth was still there.
There were many games to play and the musical chairs was so funny and nicely presented.
Entertainment
The cruise had great musicians at many locations all over the ship. The entertainment on the cruise is the only thing that was worthwhile! One staff member from India offered to do a magic show with no additional pay from Carnival. I was absolutely amazing and mesmerizing!
Children's Programs
Did not have any children a aboard.
Service and Staff
I only saw the room steward the day we boarded and the night prior to disembarking. He was starting around in the hall trying to collect tips. He brought clean towels daily, but did not clean. He left dirty dishes in our room for two days. People taking the class on making animals out of towels had nicer exhibits than he made!
There were excellent bartenders at the bar next to the casino, but all others were merely just herding people through like cattle at the sale!
Ship Quality
Carnival Sensation has the layout and design of most small ships, but was not clean at all and needs a lot of maintenance to be preformed. The ship needs to be closed so it can be thoroughly cleaned, sanitized and lots of maintenance done to bring the ship back to good standing. We both came home with Norovirus!!!
Cabin / Stateroom
The cabin was on the smaller side of average. It was not clean!!!! I always travel with sanitizing wipes. It’s a good thing to do, but I really needed them for this cabin. There was dried food and mascara all over the vanity table. There was red mold in the bathroom sink, black mold in the shower base, a slick oily film all over the shower walls and miscellaneous dirt around the toilet bowl. There was also a very sharp piece of metal on the bathroom door frame that cut my arm 3 times within 5 days! The beds were pushed together in order for us to have 1 king size bed. They kept coming apart and the mattresses were so thin that it was like sleeping on a slab of steel. I have not ever had this experience on Carnival Cruise Line before. When talking to other shipmates I heard the same remarks from them!
Ship tip
Don’t waste your money and time!
Thumbs up
0
Ports of call
Beautiful beach!! Water was clear blue! The port has been overly commercialized by Cruise Lines. Why would a person want to travel all that distance to purchase overpriced items that are made in the USA or China. A very tiny space has any local culture! Disappointing!!!!
We went on a guided excursion that only took us to places that were obviously working with the tour guide to split tips and profits from Cruisers! The lunch included in the price of the excursion was food from the ships!! What in this world is Carnival thinking???? It was ham, cheese and bread from the ship for an appetizer. A chicken breast, pork chop, slice of beef, rice and over cooked mixed vegetables for the main course. Then for dessert it was a brownie or a piece of whipped cream cake smothered in cream de menthe syrup. What was the green syrup hiding???? Did you already read that we came home with Norovirus?!!!!!!
Disembarkation
Once again, it was just like herding cattle were at a sale!! The
5 Comments
Hayesktrm1966 5 years ago
Wow, we were on the same cruise and had an incredible time. The cabin was small, but we were expecting it. Cabin steward was great and didn’t expect an additional tip. Cabin was always clean. We loved our Havana tour. Our Grand Turk snorkeling was incredible! Comedians and dancers were great, we thought. Other entertainment was fun. We liked Erin, the cruise director. We always found good things to eat...no complaints there.
Really, our only complaint was debarkation. Not their fault, but still not a fun way to end the cruise.
Just goes to show that different people like different things. Not wrong, just different.
SailorJerryrrr 5 years ago
I need to join jt1962 and question the authenticity of this review. Lets start with the mandatory drill. I have been on 7 out of 8 of the Fantasy class ships and, as I recall, on each of those ships we went to the muster station (lounge) and were briefed as required. The only thing you need to learn at a muster drill is to "listen to the staff."
As for your claim of Norovirus, was it confirmed by medical staff? If so did you report it to Carnival? They are mandated by the CDC to collect and report outbreaks of such things as Norovirus.
If you felt your room steward was not meeting your expectations, did you address this issue with him? If you did not see him during the cruise and had a problem, all you had to do was pick up the phone and press the button for the steward and it would ring directly to your room steward's wireless phone. If he still didn't meet your expectations, did you address it with guest services?
As far as the ham and cheese on bread, it is commonly referred to as a "Cubano", a very popular meal.