Fascination for the 5th time, plus I need help

I have been sitting at this computer since 6, OMG what a waste of time, because I cant seem to post my pictures from photobucket. it simply posts the thread for you all to go to photobucket and do all the work yourself. So I will start the review, and maybe one of you kind folk will tell me where I am going wrong.

So, some back ground, and lets start this review up!

We (my DH and I-early 60's) left Atlanta around 10:20 in the morning on Sunday the 20th. We got a late start because we needed to clean the house, had to make sure the kitty sitter had a clean house, and food in the fridge. We skipped breakfast until we got on the road, and had our Cracker Barrel stop, but it was the worst Cracker Barrel we had been to. So skip McDonough and keep on til Macon! If you are driving through Georgia.

I got to use some hotel points, so we stayed at the Holiday Inn Blount Island. This is the closest hotel to the port, they offer a shuttle to the port (we skipped that option this time around) and they have one of the best free breakfasts I have ever had in a hotel. But, they are not close to a decent restaurant, there is a Wendy's next door, and the best part of the Wendy's are the two alligators that live in the retention pond. They are small, but not shy, and if you stand by the fence one will come up in the water and beg.

Yes, I have pics, so again, please help with the photo bucket problem.

For dinner we headed north along the river to Sanddollar restaurant. On Sundays, they have a live band (think late 60's early 70's music) and the food since they have gone back to the original owners again is quite good. The service was not, but we had music, a light breeze and a great view of the river.

And we were on VACATION!

After dinner we headed back to the hotel for a swim in the pool. Unfortunately they do not have lights in the pool, and while I found the water refreshing, I was sharing the pool with a Palmetto Bug, who was swimming better than I was, so I got out. DH tried the hot tub, great water action, but not hot. About the same temperature of the pool.

This was our fourth time staying at this hotel, and we really like the ambiance. . It was recently renovated, and the pictures and colors are much more inclined to the ocean, than just looking like a Holiday Inn.

We had faster to the fun, so we drove ourselves over to port for embarkation. They do ask for passport and boarding pass when you drive in, so once we provided that, we were told park in Lot 3. To tell you the truth, I think there is only Lot 3. Any other lot would be for staff. We got our suitcases out of the car, and there was a porter there immediately. We handed over our bags, gave him a tip, and walked on over to the Port Authority Building.

With FTTF, all we had to do was show our boarding pass, and walk right in. We went through the x-ray machine, DH went over to another line, and explained that he had a titanium hip, left me with all the carry ons, LOL! and I unloaded my pockets, the cameras, the purse, the tote bag (which included a battery operated fan) no problems, but gathering it all up, took me awhile to get back to DH! We then proceeded to check in, which took no time at. I think it's funny that they welcome you as a return customer and then go over all the rules and regulations and perks for FTTF. All of this, from leaving the hotel to sitting down before boarding took 20 minutes.

There were three weddings that day, so they boarded first, then diamond and platinum and within 15 minutes, we were having our picture taken, and then walking down the sidewalk to get on the ship. We took the elevator up to the Empress Deck,(we had porthole cabin E7-starboard side) left the purse and tote bag off, yes the cabin was ready! and we went up to the stars bar for a smoke.

When the ship is in port you cannot smoke outside. Your balconies will be locked, and Lido deck is off limits to smokers until the crew is done refueling the ship.

After the smoke we went up to the Lido deck.

Embarkation day is a great day for the Mongolian buffet, as most folk don't know about it. DH headed there to create his lunch, and I went to the carving station for fantastic mashed potatoes and roast beef. Made a salad at the salad bar, and we hooked up inside the Lido Restaurant. Loved the air conditioning! This was the earliest in the season that we had sailed out of Jacksonville, and it was a bit toasty.

Muster began at 3:15, and took FOREVER! Have no idea why. I once suggested that the ships hold off on liquor sales until after muster, but DH told me they would lose thousands! LOL!

During muster I noticed that I was getting a cough. So was the woman next to me, she thought it was allergies. Little did she know!

We went back to the cabin, met our cabin steward Heru, and then went to the Serenity deck for sail away. I love sail away from Jacksonville you go under the Dames Pointe Bridge, which is a huge bridge! But we miss it by inches! Quite the thrill!

For dinner that night, we ate in the MDR, and I had salmon. Good, but not as good as the last time I was on this ship-and dessert was the Bavarian Cherry Cream cake, and this was definitely not as good as the last time! DH had the warm chocolate melting cake, and that is still wonderful! All of the cakes (and I love cake) had the texture of a Pepperidge Farm frozen cake. It'll do in a pinch, but I don't think Carnival should "pinch" so much.

I'll do one more post and then hit the sack-again if someone could tell me how to upload the pics, I would be most grateful.

I wont name names, mainly because I don't know them, but there is something going on with fellow cruisers I found totally annoying. You see, you may not like my music, so on a cruise I don't play my music. I may not like your musical choices either, and I don't want to listen to it on a cruise. I've got reggae on the lido, disco, contemporary and decade specific in the dance bars, I have low key sing along in the piano bar, you see we have choices of what we want to hear. But folks seem to think that I want to hear what they want to play and there were several folk on the ship that brought their MP players on board and blasted everyone out of the area that they were in with THEIR music. You cant bring musical instruments on board that would bother folk, so I am thinking that MP players without ear buds will be a thing of the past soon!

That said, they have finally turned down the loud music on the Lido deck during the times that the DJ is not playing, or when they are doing major events on the LIDO-like the hairy chest contest. So imagine our surprise on our first night when we were enjoying the quiet and all of a sudden the guys at the table next to us are singing to a song that we thought was coming from the ship, but no, it was louder than the music on the ship. It was their MP player. About the size of a beer can, and it was rocking. No one wants a confrontation between them selves and another cruiser, but a gentle man did walk over, ask the singers about the player, and it was turned down. Bless him for that.

After that we went to bed, the best part of the day was getting on the ship, the worst part of the day, was that allergy that was quickly becoming something else.

I am so glad that I had cruised a few years ago with a wonderful woman, that told me she brought the entire medicine cabinet with her. I have since done so also, I had cough drops and they were a saving grace.

Following

Yay. I leave on the Fascination in a couple weeks, so this is perfect timing! Can't wait to read more😀

Ok, I think this might help with the pictures: In Photobucket, you need to copy the link to the picture you want to post. On this forum, you click the symbol above that has a mountain/sun (says "insert image" when you hover your mouse over it); then paste the link there and that should work.

Loving your review so far....

Great review so far---Thanks!!!

I tried the insert picture and it still goes to words not pics. Will do more later today.

In Photobucket, you click on the IMG box (in pale yellow in my pic, because I clicked on it). It will turn yellow and say 'copied'. You then go to your thread and right click, click on 'paste'. In your text it will show up as IMG code, but when you post, the picture will be there. And it will be full size, not a postage stamp that still can't be seen, even when enlarged.

Can't wait to hear more!

Me too. We leave Saturday

I'm going to read since we were on the same cruise aboard the Fascination in 2010 :). Curious about your opinion about the ship and the experience now compared to 5 years ago.

Me too. We leave Saturday

we will see you Saturday!!!:)

So I think this will work-sorry about the size of the pictures, but since I am legally blind, we can all see them.

OK, the highway is 10, and the reason I took the picture was that it was the first time in years I got to ride in the front again.

Now if you are going to the Holiday Inn Blount Island, or the airport, or the port, the 295 bypass all of a sudden changes it's name to the Beltway, and for some reason, and driving down there 4 times ( I flew last year) we didn't realize that and were headed back to Georgia. So if it says Beltway, that is 295 and that will take you to the port.

I am loving this review. The level of detail is perfect.

Here is our new friend at the Wendy's.

If we walked to one side of the retention pond, she just followed along. We never the saw the other one, but the gate to the pond had no lock, so watch your kids if you are there.

Our first picture of the ship- in Jacksonville, loading up and fueling-

and the ship in it's entirety from Half Moon Cay-

A few more pictures before we get back to the written review-

the Dames Pointe Bridge-

pictures from the Holiday Inn Blount Island-yes that is Stupid Bear in the pictures

Sunset from the dining room-

on our first night

and sunrise on our first morning-

Our first day at sea, we headed down the MDR for brunch. I ordered my usual stand by-Steak and eggs-on the menu as a filet mignon, it may have been two years ago, but it was more of a tiny strip steak in texture and flavor.

We had a bread basket walk by, they didn't place the bread basket on the table. DH said, they must be getting cheap on the bread, and our waiter said, oh no, there is just no room on the table. We would have made room, we tried, but those tables for two are tiny, and so we took a slice of something and sighed. Now here is a great secret. There is the most phenomenal banana walnut bread on the lido, EVERY DAY! So after breakfast we went up to the lido and got some banana nut bread and butter and a second cup of coffee.

We went up to play miniature golf, or as it is called in the south, putt putt. A par 3 course for each hole, but add waves and the game changes. I lost by 3, we stopped counting strokes when we hit 5 per hole.

I had the mandatory cheeseburger for lunch and as the day progressed I began to feel worse. I was coughing more and more, and thought a nap would be nice. I always talk about taking a nap on a cruise, now was my chance, so we headed down to the cabin, and chilled out for the rest of the afternoon.

When we went upstairs before dinner, and apparently missed some real partying. This man had an umbrella in his hat for every drink he had had, and was still standing-

Dinner on formal night was a disaster. We had over a 30 minute wait (we had any time dining), we were seated next to one very obnoxious person, and we did miss our lobster. This was the first Fascination 5 day cruise since the lobster had been dropped. I ordered the duck, which was small, very boney and had no flavor. The highlight of the plate was the asparagus that was under the duck. You ever notice Carnival doesn't offer a lot of green veggies? this was a treat! But Mr. Obnoxious was so out of control, we decided to skip dessert and headed up to the Lido, and got a great dessert and coffee upstairs. I noticed how beautiful the roast beef was up on the Lido, and thought, here was another meal that looked better up on the Lido than in the dining room.

We went back to the cabin and watched Madagascar, and relaxed.

The next day while in the shower-some one came by and gave us a plate of sweets with a note apologizing for the wait at dinner. We appreciated the thought and the candy.

Thinking that going to bed early would give me the energy for Half Moon Cay I took a Tylenol and a cough drop and hoped for the best.