''Carnival Sensation'', initially named ''Sensation'', was a cruise ship operated by

Carnival Cruise Line Carnival Cruise Line is an international cruise line with headquarters in Doral, Florida. The company is a subsidiary of Carnival Corporation & plc. Its logo is a funnel shaped like a whale's tail, with a red, white, and blue color scheme. Th ...

. She was built in 1993 in Finland and cruised from Florida, USA to ports in the Bahamas and the Caribbean until the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...

stopped operations in March 2020. The ship was subsequently sold for scrapping.

Construction

''Sensation'' was the third operated by Carnival. Built by

Kværner Masa-Yards Kværner was a Norwegian engineering and construction services company that existed between 1853 and 2005. In 2004, it was amalgamated to the newly formed subsidiary of Aker ASA - Aker Kværner, which was renamed Aker Solutions on 3 April 2 ...

at its

Helsinki New Shipyard Hietalahti shipyard (also known as Helsinki New Shipyard, fi, Helsingin uusi telakka) is a shipyard in Hietalahti, in downtown Helsinki, Finland. Since 2019, it has been operated by a company named Helsinki Shipyard. History The shipyard, f ...

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

, Finland, she was floated out on November 1, 1993, and christened ''Sensation'' by four Carnival Vice Presidents: Vicki L. Freed, Roberta Jacoby, Cherie Weinstein and Geri Donnelly.

Service history

''Sensation'' was one of several cruise ships chartered by the US Government in 2005 to provide accommodation for residents and relief workers following Hurricane Katrina. After being released from

Federal Emergency Management Agency The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is an agency of the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS), initially created under President Jimmy Carter by Presidential Reorganization Plan No. 3 of 1978 and implemented by two Exe ...

service, the ''Carnival Sensation'' undertook cruises from

Port Canaveral Port Canaveral is a cruise, cargo, and naval port in Brevard County, Florida, United States. It is one of the busiest cruise ports in the world with 4.5 million cruise passengers passing through during 2016. Over 5.4 million tonnes of bulk car ...

During 2007, in common with all of her ''Fantasy''-class sisters, she had the prefix ''Carnival'' added to her name. In early 2016, ''Carnival Sensation'' moved to

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at th ...

, replacing the ''

Carnival Victory ''Carnival Radiance'' (formerly ''Carnival Victory'') is a operated by Carnival Cruise Line. She became the last of the three ''Destiny''-class ships to undergo a refit and rename. The ship's refit was completed in October 2021, and she resumed ...

'', doing 4 and 5 night cruises. ''Carnival Victory'' took over the 3- and 4-night cruises to Nassau and

Freeport, Bahamas Freeport is a city, district and free trade zone on the island of Grand Bahama of the northwest Bahamas. In 1955, Wallace Groves, a Virginian financier with lumber interests in Grand Bahama, was granted of pineyard with substantial areas of s ...

, in the

Bahamas The Bahamas (), officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the West Indies in the North Atlantic. It takes up 97% of the Lucayan Archipelago's land area and is home to 88% of the archi ...

. In February 2018, the company announced that ''Carnival Sensation'' would take 17 sailings to Cuba in 2019. In July 2020, the company announced that ''Carnival Sensation'' would move to Mobile, Alabama to replace ''

Carnival Fantasy ''Carnival Fantasy'' (formerly ''Fantasy'') was a cruise ship operated by Carnival Cruise Line. She was the first ship of her namesake class, which was the largest by number of ships, before the scrapping of the Fantasy, Inspiration, Imagination ...

'' at the Alabama Cruise Terminal. ''Carnival Fantasy'' was retired and sold amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. ''Carnival Sensation'' was to take over itineraries already scheduled aboard ''Carnival Fantasy'' and ''

Carnival Fascination ''Carnival Fascination'', originally ''Fascination'', was a cruise ship built at Helsinki, Finland in 1994. For most of her service with Carnival Cruise Lines she operated out of San Juan, Puerto Rico. In 2017 ''Carnival Fascination'' was charte ...

''. However, it was announced in February 2022, that Carnival would retire both ''Carnival Sensation'' as well as '' Carnival Ecstasy'' from the fleet. The latter would remain in service until October 2022, and ''Carnival Sensation'' would not return to service. In February 2022 it was reported that the ship had been sold for US$11 million, and on March 18, 2022 sailed from Miami for

Aliağa Aliağa is a town and a district of Izmir Province in the Aegean Region of Turkey. The town is situated at about north of Izmir. Aliağa has a large port, mainly for oil and bulk cargo. Its economic activity is based on tourism, shipbreaking ...

, Turkey, for demolition
It was beached on April 5, 2022

References

Notes

Bibliography

External links

Former official website
{{Carnival Cruise Line Ships built in Helsinki

Sensation Sensation (psychology) refers to the processing of the senses by the sensory system. Sensation or sensations may also refer to: In arts and entertainment In literature *Sensation (fiction), a fiction writing mode * Sensation novel, a Britis ...

1993 ships