Sun Sentinel Broward Edition

Upgraded Carnival cruise ship resumes sailing

- By Arlene Satchell Staff writer

Carnival Sensation, which sails from Miami to the Caribbean and Mexico, is the latest Carnival Cruise Line ship to return to sea after a multimilli­on-dollar makeover.

The 2,052-passenger ship resumed sailings fromPortMi­amiThursda­y after receiving several new food and beverage venues and a nautical-themed kids play area during a two-week dry dock in Freeport, Bahamas.

“It’s part of an ongoing project to upgrade all of the ships in our fleet to incorporat­e the popular new features like Guy’s Burger Joint, Alchemy, RedFrog Rum Bar, etc,” Carnival spokesman Vance Gulliksen said in an email Friday.”

Sensation’s new food and beverage outlets are Guy’s Burger Joint, a free-of-charge poolside venue offering hand-crafted burgers and fresh-cut fries; BlueIguana Cantina, a compliment­ary poolside Mexican eatery and Alchemy Bar, a “cocktail pharmacy”lounge with mixologist­s.

Other seaborne watering holes are the BlueIguana Tequila Bar, and the RedFrog RumBar, which servesupCa­rnival’s private label draft brew, ThirstyFro­g Red.

For families, Camp Ocean was added to entertain children aged 2-11, and offersmore than 200 marine-themed activities.

Sensation is the third Carnival vessel to get major facelifts this year. It joins New Orleans-based Carnival Dream and Charleston, S.C.-based Carnival Ecstasy, which received upgrades in February and January, respective­ly.

The renovation­s are the latest examples of a more than $500million, multiyear program Carnival launched in 2011, dubbed “Fun Ship 2.0.” Since then, the makeover initiative has expanded so the price tag has “well exceeded” a half billion dollars, Gulliksen said.

Carnival operates 25 ships that offer three-to 16-day cruises to destinatio­ns worldwide, including the Caribbean, Mexican Riviera, Alaska, Hawaii, Canada, New England, Bermuda, Europe, and Australia.

More upgrades to existing ships are coming.

“There are still a few more ships to receive upgrades and we plan on upgrading them over the next couple of years,” Gulliksen said.

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from United States