My parents (who typically cruise Royal Caribbean), myself (25) and my daughter (turned five on the first day) just did the 4 day Sensation July 5-9th and it was awesome.

 The food was great, our server (Merwin) was UNBELIEVABLE... my daughter is picky to say the least and asked for a jelly sandwich, before I could convince him to get her a burger he said don't worry (aparently they dump all the food at the end of each cruise and the first night the breakfast foods haven't been opened/prepared so things like jelly are stored away) and brought her out a jelly sandwich... granted she didn't eat it bc it was strawberry but he certainly got an A+++ for the effort. Every night after that he must have had a jelly sandwich prepared since they came out very fast and he had her glass of milk waiting... The entire dining staff we encountered were pretty up there with the service, broken glasses, a sort of knocked over table, all were handled quickly, and there was no guilt they were so reassuring.

 We were in a Cat.12 (spoiled myself and my daughter were for our first cruise), so the room was awesome, (I have some pictures but I don't know how to post them here) and our steweard, Chanita, was spectacular, from having mommy/baby towel animals to cookies with smiley faces she treated my daughter like the birthday princess she was, and my daughter felt equally caring towards her.  The room was always spotless (I swear she must have cleaned it more than twice a day, with a little one there is always mess, and we'd come back to the room and the mess would just be gone) and there was never a shortage of towels.  The balcony was great, although someone before us had been smoking on it and there was at least one cigarette butt along the side in a hard to reach area (and there was no way any of us were touching it... fortunately shes big enough to not want to as well).  The only real complaint with the balcony was it would have been nice to have something studrier than a plastic table.  The bed linens were TO DIE FOR!!  sooooo soft, and even the double pull out sofa was comfortable.  It took us a few tries, but you control the air by turning a knob like thing in the vents in the ceiling (it does get cold though so dont turn them alllll the way).  they have keycards now, not real keys which was nice.

 The food was flat out great... my friends and I do the fine dining thing every so often and the food in the dining room was equal to what you'd find in any 5 star city establishment.  A little too heavy on the seafood for me (i don't eat it) but there was always something else I could order (thier flat steak was out of this world with the sauce on it... amazing) and the veggies were frsher than I thought youd get on a ship in the middle of the sea.  Breakfast was just breakfast... I'm not a breakfast person so I'm not the best judge there.  I would definately suggest eating breakfast in the dining room... nothing worse than buffet breakfast where its just the nature of the beast that the food doesn't stay hot, but it was kind of nice to eat on the pool deck.  On the sea day, definately try out the dining room for lunch... even though they ONLY cook the burgers to well done, I ordered an oriental steak salad, and my daughter got a burger and it was the BEST BURGER i've ever had. 

Camp Carnival was amazing... our table mate's son also LOVED circle c and he was often out with the kids until 1am.  The staff at Camp Carnival managed to get my sometimes shy daughter in there long enough for her to realize she loved it, which was nice for me, so I got to take in some of the adult stuff.

There are really only two negatives... they're pushy with the drinks (on the first day a server put a drink in my hand, and it was hot so i automatically took a sip and then he was like, give me your card, and it was 6.75.  it WAS full of liquor, but still, I didnt ask he pushed it on me and I got stuck with the bill)  But after the first day they sort of let up a lot.  One problem our table mate had (we became quite friendly and took in the shows and the nassau night life together) was with ordering wine in the fantasy lounge, the price of the wine kept changing, it was a dollar more in the fantasy lounge, and then the last night she ordered a merlot and it was two dollars more than it had been at the bars, and the server was quite rude towards explaining she ONLY gives her guests the 'top shelf' (it tasted the same as whatever she was having before then) so when she took the tip off the server was all offended and kept trying to explain that its her tip and she didn't know she wanted the house wine and so forth... so check your receipts before you sign them, and yes you CAN cross off a tip if the service sucked, just don't sign it and make sure they give you a new one.

the other negative (which wasn' tthat big of a deal) were the photographers... they are ALL over and will ask you over and over to take your picture. my daughter is quite the photogenic, center of attention sort of child so she loved it, my parents were a bit bothered by the interuptions at dinner (this one photographer kept coming by day after day to take pictures of my daughter so it was getting a bit weird).

 the shows were good... the broadway like show was a revue of the 80s and i only knew half the music, but it was funny and enjoyable.  if TC Tahoe is there, make it a point to see his performance... he was BEYOND hilarious. he did two shows, the one night was more of a family fun type comedy thing, and the second night was a rated R adults only show, and if you bring your kids, I promise he WILL call you out on it and make you the butt of his jokes.  it's all fun and games though. 

Freeport you actually have to go into the city to see the good stuff, but we just hung out on board, and relaxed.  I spent a few hours watching them load and unload a container ship which i thought was pretty cool.  Also, if you're on teh EVEN side of the ship, whenever you pull out of port (if you have a balcony, i think with a window it would be too hard to see) look down and towards the butt end, and you can watch the pilots jump out of the ship and into the boat that brings them back to port, and if you're up early enough in the morning (my dad was, which is how we figured this out) you can watch them jump on... it is quite a sight to see. my daughter LOVED that they waved and called hello to her.

 Nassau is a pain in the butt to walk through once you get off the ship... people left and right wanting to braid your hair, sell you this, sell you that, by the time you get into the street the fun is sucked out.  we didn't do atlantis (my sister stayed there earlier this year and said the beach was nothing to write home about and was rather bored there) so other than my sisters' comments I have no firsthand knowledge of it.  The shopping is great although my daughter wanted to head back to the boat.  Don't forget they drive on the opposite side of the road so really look both ways, she nearly got sideswiped by a cop car since she had NO clue cars could even come from the other way. fortunately he stopped well before he got close enough to hit her.  Then you have to trudge through the marketplace and all the hawkers to get back to th eboat.  I def. suggest going to senor frogs, but not alone... the lights along the pier were off so once you exit into th street its kinda dark unless you walk in the street and there were some shady fellows.  It's still worth the walk (its shorter than it looks).  the drinks are a bit $$ (5.50 for dos equis or sol) but if you get the bucket its a good deal (i think it was six beers for 20 bucks). 

The bars on board were decent... the amaretto sours were only five dollars... less than what i pay for them back home.  karyoke was hilarious.  the pizza was good... not the best in the world like i've read but definately not bad at 2 am... plus room service is AMAZING!!   i def suggest ordering it at least once a day (they'll even bring you just milk if you want it!!)  the medium rare prime rib with brie sandwich is OUT OF THIS WORLD (86 the brie and the mustard) and the cheesecake is splendid.  the whirlpool tub was a little skinny but still amazing to relax in so if you have the cat 12 use it. 

 if you drink soda, its worth getting the soda card.  i think after you've had your 8th soda you've broken even (and i shared with my daughter and my dad and it was never an issue and our bar back for dinner had soda's waiting for me at dinner when we arrived).  It's canned soda though, not fountain. I probably wouldn't have gotten it, but I thought the tea was a bit weak and i didnt like the flavor and i don't drink lemonade or milk.  I thought it was great to have and will probably buy it again.

make it a point on the first day to walk the entire ship... the middle elevators don't go all the way to the top you have to walk around and go up a set of stairs... but on either side elevators bring you to other areas that are excting.  when we left port my mom and i managed to get a GREAT spot on top (where the mini golf and walking track are) to watch and it was a good view... kind of cool to look foward and then to the side and see all the open ocean and florida at the same time.  (it was stormy and wicked windy though i almost lost my hat).  And i guess that goes to the last bit, wear your hat, and your sunscreen.  everything else they give you in the bathroom.

This has gotten way long, so I'll wrap it up..  All in all, for being my first cruise, it could not have been any better... on the boat, off the boat, getting on the boat (embarkation was quick and easy with the VIP thing... we were on the boat in under 10 minutes so I can't really comment on how that aspect works), was all great.  By the time we got to the airport I was already planning out when the next one would be, it was that great.  The only thing I wished that would be different was a) a childrens pool and b) it should have been LONGER!!    I hope this helped.

so j dude, as you can see i had a great time... made a good friend (still speak with the tablemate, and are currently making plans with her and her son to do another cruise next summer together).... and will be leaving in a few weeks for another carnival cruise :)