My Nov 15th Fantasy review!!

Hello everyone!! How is everyone doing today? Me? Oh you know just awful because my beautiful vacation ended! Any who back to the review! I have been a lurker on the boards for a long time, but this will be my first review. Im very excited to be able to share my experiences with all of you. A few disclaimers I want to post prior to starting the review;

*This review is based on my personal experience, I dont expect everyone to feel the same that I do about everything but I do expect you to respect my opinion as I would do for you.

*I only took 249 pictures, yes that's it for the whole trip so this WILL NOT be a photo heavy review (sorry)

*I do Have the fun time but at this time have no way to upload them, however I will be happy to answer any questions about those or anything else you may want to know.

Did the picture work? I hope so. Like I said this is my first review so I have no Idea what Im doing... (is that really any different then any other time?)

I was on that cruise as well. I heard a male passenger was arrested the last night and was escorted off yesterday in handcuffs.

Ok Now that that is over on to the meat and potatoes!!

A little background. I (Rae) was traveling with my fiance, Dave. This cruise is our third, all have been on carnival. Our previous two trips were on the pride sailing from Baltimore, This always worked great for us because we like in western Maryland. Since the Pride has been temp Repo'd we decided to try the Fantasy out of Charleston. We booked this cruise for Dave's 30th birthday which Was on Nov 13th. We booked about 11 Months out. On to some details;

*Booked in Cabin V38 its was on deck 11. OB view JR suite.

*We did purchase Faster to the Fun (f2f)

*Nov 15th through Nov 22nd with ports of call in Grand Turk, Half moon Cay, and Nassau.

*Captain- Stefano Battinelli

*Cruise Director- Jacques De Lange (Asst. Was Jenna)

We decided that we would drive down to Charleston the day before, mainly because its a long drive and I didn't want to sleep the who first day on the cruise. We booked a room at the Hampton Inn by the airport on Saul White blvd. We Paid 157.00 for the nights stay and to leave our car there as well as be shuttled to and from the port.

The hotel and staff was very nice. I am always used to this from the Hampton that's why I stay, beside it fits my budget very well. When we first got to our room we realized that 1. Our TV was not working and 2. Or toilet had a very small leak. We went to the front desk and they immediately switched our room for us. While they were doing this I asked about how the shuttle works and came to find the shuttle would not be taking us to port until approx noon. We decided since we purchased f2f to take a taxi there instead. The hotel said that was fine and gave us our return tickets for after the cruise.

So there is your pre-cruise info. Sorry I dont have any pictures of anything up to this point but I promise you will see a few!! Stay tuned!

I was on that cruise as well. I heard a male passenger was arrested the last night and was escorted off yesterday in handcuffs.

Yikes!!! That doesn't sound good.

Like I said we decided to take a taxi to port that day. I called one of the cab companies in the info guide provided by the hotel. The name of the company was absolute taxi. They said it would be $30 to take both of us and our luggage to port and they could pick us up at 10:30 am. We agreed to this. At about 10:20 or driver called to tell us he was running about 5 min late. This wasn't a big deal to us but I thought is was very professional of them to call. The driver arrived right at 10:30 anyways. He was very friendly and loaded all of our luggage for us. It was a short 15 min drive to the port where we were dropped of right in front of the luggage drop. We gave the driver a tip on top of the 30 dollar fare. The taxi driver also advised us the ship was 1 hour late getting into port this morning.

The man taking the bags seemed very overwhelmed. There were many people there dropping bags and he was working by himself. He was very nice though. We advised him we had f2f and he checked his list and the gave us tags on which we wrote our names and cabin number and left it with him. We went and boarded the shuttle bus and then we waited and waited and waited for about an hour and a half. It really wasnt to bad except it was a chilly morning in Charleston so everyone had coats on, but once on the boat the sun was shinning in and it was getting warmer and warmer and hotter and hotter. The only other issue that I had with this process was the fact the shuttle driver stood outside the bus and gave no updates. Now I know all these guys are contracted to drive us across a 20 fppt bridge and dont know much more then us but I honestly think any type of update would have help ease the tension.

We finally were able to make it into the cruise terminal and it was very smooth sailing at this point. I asked on of the gentleman working if I should go into the priority line (because we booked a suite) or if I should use f2f. He said f2f and we immediately got checked in and got or S&S cards. Next thing you know we were up the gangway and onto the Fantasy, our home for the next week. We were on the ship at 12:45.

My first priority once on the ship was to head to the shore excursion desk to reserve the cabana we wanted for Half Moon Cay (HMC). We decided on Cabana number six due to it being semi far down the beach so I knew there would be some open beach/water but its close proximity to the bar, bathroom, and dining. The lady was very helpful and marked us for that cabana and took our drink order as well. We each got two cans of soda and one bottle of water.

After taking care of that we went to drop our carry on bags at the room. When we got to the room it was ready however or bags were not there. No sooner the we took a few pictures our bags showed up. We decided we would wait until after lunch to unpack all of our things.

So here are a few pictures of our OB view JR Suite Cabin (V38)

We decided to head one deck down to lido to get some lunch! It was so convenient to have lido just one deck down from us. We both agreed to get lunch from the Mongolian wok. I had read that this spot will get busier and busier as the week goes on so I told Dave we should go ahead and grab some. The wok did get slightly busier as the week went on but not by much. It was just ok for me but Dave loved it and had this for lunch many more times. After lunch we had a smoke. I want to take a minute her to say that I thought the smoking area on lido was very nice. It was always full but I never had a problem with anyone not sharing a table with us. It was also convenient because it was close to our cabin.

After some lunch we went back to the room to unpack all of out stuff. **I know you've read it on here before but please for the love that is WCMC go get yourself an over the door shoe holder for your toiletries and such. I have done this all three cruises and couldn't imagine doing it any other way. I also want to say here the both the bathroom door and the main room door had magnets that you could use to hold them open. I LOVED this it was very handy. We relaxed in our room a little while until it was time for Muster drill.

Muster was held at 4:15 which was an hour behind schedule. Our muster station was F which was the final one which kinda sucked for us because we had to wait outside the whole drill where as some other people did theirs indoors mainly then were lead to where their life boats were located. It was very chilly outside and I could not wait to set sail for some warmer climates. After muster the ship left port at 5pm one hour after we should have. We went back to the room to change and clean up for our first dinner on board.

The line for dinner was EXTREMELY long. I guess I should let you know we had your time dining which was held in the celebration dining room from 5:45-9:15, The line wrapped around the atrium area on deck 8 three times. Once the dining room was opened however the line moved very fast. That night for dinner we had;

Dave:

App-Fruit plate

Main- linguine with sausage, peppers, and mushrooms

Desert-Warm chocolate melting cake double ice cream

Rae:

App-Spring rolls

Main-Beef brisket

Desert- Creme brulee

One thing I notice about this boat is it moved A LOT. I don't know if it was this trip or this boat in general but I was tired and feeling the motion so We decided to head to bed.

Here are some pics for you

Good Night!!

Day 1 Safety message for everyone: Please, no running or playing on the stairs or safety railings.

Loving your review and pictures! Have sailed the Fantasy twice and love her!

We watched you sail away from the deck outside Fleet Landing. We were sitting inside drinking beer waiting (and waiting and waiting) for you to sail so had a few more beers than we intended to - LOL!

Finally heard the announcement for muster so knew it wouldn't be too much longer. And you are correct - it was cold!!

Kim

Great start to the review. We are headed on the Fantasy after Christmas and cannot wait. Just have a question about the taxi arrival and pickup at the port. They take you into the cone maze? Is that where they drop you off? When you arrived back in the port where do you go to get a cab back? Thank you in advance.

Ok before I start day 2 I want to put in a quick blurb about the clamshell freebies in the bathroom. This was a total karma moment for me. I know that this has been a big topic of discussion on these boards and typically I'm reading and saying to myself "who cares" "bring your own Sh**" "this again?!?!" But because of that it turns out I actually needed one of the items in mine. Mine came with three of those floss pick things and a trial size of caress body wash. Well one night after dinner I NEEDED that pick. so there's that. On to day two...

We woke up about 8:15 this morning and headed for lido deck to get breakfast. I want to comment here about the bacon police, on one side there was a guy who was handing bacon out. I got mine from him and he gave me a lot. like more then I would have taken so that's good news for most of you but better yet on the other side there was just trays open for the taking no police. So on to eggs, before you burn me at the stake remember everyone's tastes are different. The eggs were wet. Like for sure no denying it, but.... I loved them. I thought the taste was good. I got them almost every morning we ate on lido and they were great.

After breakfast we headed to 10am Bingo in the universe lounge, this was $600 Del Sol bingo. I of course lost nothing new here. One thing I really missed about this cruise VS my previous two is there was no bingo raffle. On my two Pride cruises every time you played Bingo you go a raffle tickets and at the final cover all bingo they would do a drawing. You had chances to win towels, robes, ships on sticks. I actually won a beach towel and medal on my last cruise. Again Im not sure if that is permanent or just this ship or this cruise, but it is something I missed.

After our loss we headed up to the water works area to lay out. It was getting warmer but with the breeze it was still pretty chilly to me. Speaking of chilly this ship has no heat. The first night our cabin was a flippin ice box. It was so cold. As we were talking to other passengers they said the same things and some even told us they asked for extra blankets and we should do that also. We finally got the air completely off but each night our room steward would turn it back on. Anyways we laid out for a few hours and had you basic lido lunch from the grill, plus some of the delicious mac and cheese from the rotisserie which is right next to the off the grill section.

At one it was time for me to enter the slots tournament. So we headed down to the casino and payed the $25 bucks for my entry. I took the last spot on the fist round and took first place. After my round we played around in the casino and then headed back to the room. I took about a 30 minute nap before it was 3 and time to head back to the casino and see if I had made the finals for the tournament which I had. Another thing I found different with this cruise is the still had rounds going up until 3 exactly before they had to cut it off for the finals. I lost in the final round but at least I got another casino shirt and lucky me it was different then my other one from my last cruise. After my loss I went back to the cabin to finish my nap (see my trend? Hey give me a break its my vacation) Dave laid with me and watched some tv.

At about 6 we started to get cleaned up and dressed up for our first formal night. We made it to dinner at about 730. The service wasn't to bad this evening even for it being formal night. There was a lot of people who were not in any type of formal wear but this doesn't bother me. I know it grinds a lot of peoples gears on here but I like formal night because I can dress up and feel nice. It doesn't affect me if others don't want to do that. So heres what we had;

Dave:

App-Spicy alligator fritters

Main-Chile rellenos

Desert- WCMC double ice cream

Rae:

App-Caesar salad and Pasta carbonara

Main-Lobster tail

Desert- WCMC double ice cream

After Dinner we went to the show in the universe lounge. This evening the show was Motor City. I thought it was a very good show. It was a lot of Motown hits and similar songs. I know this is another hot topic on the forums but like I Said I'm just here to let you know about the cruise as I experienced it.

After the show we played around in the casino a bit and I won about 100 dollars. We were pretty beat after this so I decided to quit while I was ahead and we headed up to the ice box to relax and head off to dreamland.

Ready for some pics?

It was nice waiting in line each night because we were able to listen to the solo artist playing in the atrium each night.

Good night!!

Day 2 safety message: Drying off after using the pool helps prevent slip and fall accidents.

Loving your review and pictures! Have sailed the Fantasy twice and love her!

 

We watched you sail away from the deck outside Fleet Landing. We were sitting inside drinking beer waiting (and waiting and waiting) for you to sail so had a few more beers than we intended to - LOL!

 

Finally heard the announcement for muster so knew it wouldn't be too much longer. And you are correct - it was cold!!

 

 

Kim

Me and Dave talked about how much we would love to do exactly that. I would love to live in a place where I could watch the ships come and go. Haha that extra beer was needed to keep you warm!! Thanks for reading!

Great start to the review. We are headed on the Fantasy after Christmas and cannot wait. Just have a question about the taxi arrival and pickup at the port. They take you into the cone maze? Is that where they drop you off? When you arrived back in the port where do you go to get a cab back? Thank you in advance.

They dropped us off right where the porter was taking luggage, it was a separate drop off for taxis and hotel shuttles I believe. Once you get off the ship and through customs there will be a few lines. One of those will say Taxi and hotel pick ups. Follow that the whole way down the side walk right before the actual street is where the hotel picked us up at. Thanks for reading, you will love her!!

Raelyine .... Happy it was a good cruise for you. Thanks for your time to tell us about it and to post the pictures. :)

LuLu

Raelyine .... Happy it was a good cruise for you. Thanks for your time to tell us about it and to post the pictures. :)

LuLu

Yes, it was very good. No thank you for taking the time to read and comment, I appreciate it! :D

I'm reading all the Fantasy reviews I can, because in 140 days I'll be on the ship with my 2 nephews! Thanks for taking the time to write an awesome review. Way to kill some time for me!

Looking forward to more! Like you, the Pride is "our" ship lol:p but we're venturing out in january to try the fantasy!:) interested to see how you liked it especially compared to the pride.

I'm reading all the Fantasy reviews I can, because in 140 days I'll be on the ship with my 2 nephews! Thanks for taking the time to write an awesome review. Way to kill some time for me!

Wow, I bet you can hardly wait. I have some pics of the kids ares I will post on here in case you are interested. My next is 377 days away so Im trying to kill some time too. Thanks for reading!!

Looking forward to more! Like you, the Pride is "our" ship lol:p but we're venturing out in january to try the fantasy!:) interested to see how you liked it especially compared to the pride.

Yes! I love the pride, I mean truly we don't have much to compare it to but I really like the size and layout of her. I will be on her next Oct and cant wait to see her 2.0 upgrades. We honestly preferred the pride over the Fantasy but you will still have a great time. Thanks so much for reading.

Our last day at sea before we start with some ports. Today we woke up at about 9 am and got ready to head to seaday brunch in the MDR. I will go ahead and say it here, I hate this. SO much! On my first cruise they were still doing a separate breakfast and lunch. I really miss this and I loved it. I like to be able to try different things and personally I am not a breakfast eater. So I feel like My options are very limited, so I end up getting breakfast anyways. Ok now that that's out, lol. David had the blueberry panclocks (My sister and I have always called pancakes panclocks) with bacon and hash browns. I Had a ham only omelette (I hate cheese on eggs) along with bacon. The bacon in the mdr was much better then what was on lido, it was much crispier and that's whats Dave and I prefer.

After breakfast we changed and headed up to lido deck to hang out and lounge. It got really windy, like close the slides and top decks windy so we headed back to our cabin. I took a nap while dave roamed the ship and played in the beanbag toss competition (cornhole where we are from.) After some more lounging around the ship we started getting ready for some chow at about 430.

We first went to the taste bar just to be able to try something different. This night the had Cucina del Capitano. It was very very good. A meatball and a piece of bruschetta with a cheese spread. After this we headed to dinner. There was a very long line, this seemed to be a reoccurring theme. I'm guessing because more and more people are doing your time dining apposed to assign seating. This evening our service in the MDR was very very slow. Our head team waiter Jorge seemed to be the only one around. I saw one other person but her only carried his trays of food in and out of the galley for him. So it looked like he was down a team member. This evening dinner took over 2 hours and the whole vibe in that section was just bad. Anyways here's what we had;

Dave:

App-Shrimp cocktail

Main-Jerk Pork Loin

Desert-Warm Fig date and cinnamon cake

Rae:

App-Grilled Chicken Quesadilla

Main-Meatlof

Desert-Strawberry cheesecake

After dinner we walked around on lido and had a smoke. and chatted with a few of our other passengers. One thing I noticed on this cruise is pretty much everyone we ran into was very very pleasant. Since I typically go out of Baltimore I am more accustomed to the not as friendly northerners. I much prefer this, where I can sit with anyone and pick up a conversation with anyone. After awhile we headed to the Cats lounge to listen to some karaoke. It was a lot of fun. The staff made it a priority that everyone supported and cheered for who ever was singing and I liked that. We stuck around until about 1030 or so then headed to bed since we had an early wake up call in the morning for our first port of call, Grand Turk!!

Good night!

Day three safety message: Watch your step when crossing thresholds or wet decks.

Yes! I love the pride, I mean truly we don't have much to compare it to but I really like the size and layout of her. I will be on her next Oct and cant wait to see her 2.0 upgrades. We honestly preferred the pride over the Fantasy but you will still have a great time. Thanks so much for reading.

We will be on the Pride for the first time in September. Have never sailed out of Baltimore before. Really looking forward to it! As much as I love the Fantasy these is something about a ship with 2.0!

Kim

Love the pics and review so far. Thanks for sharing

Great review so far... I have been in the Fantasy twice and I am going again Dec 2nd- ship is older but I love it. Can't wait to read more :D

I'm loving your review! We love the Pride and can't wait to sail her with the 2.0 upgrades, but we'll be on the Fantasy in 6 days!!! I am so excited!

They dropped us off right where the porter was taking luggage, it was a separate drop off for taxis and hotel shuttles I believe. Once you get off the ship and through customs there will be a few lines. One of those will say Taxi and hotel pick ups. Follow that the whole way down the side walk right before the actual street is where the hotel picked us up at. Thanks for reading, you will love her!!

Thank you!! Counting down

anxiously waiting for more! :):p

Anymore to share from your trip?