Carnival Fantasy review April 13, 2017 first time Carnival cruiser

Hi all!

Can I talk about how awesome this cruise was? I am truly blown away by it, in many different ways and aspects. For me, this was my first Carnival cruise, I didn't know what to expect. Was it going to be "too party, too booze cruise, too many kids running amok"? It was me and the husband (40) and 2 kids (4,7) and we all have sailed on the Disney Wonder and the husband and I have done 2 Princess cruises in a previous life (pre kids). We had already had booked the Carnival Magic for this summer with a family group.

I got an amazing deal on the cruise, flew for free and stayed for free on both sides all due to points. I booked it all last month so I didn't have time to obsess about the details and pore over every review and I also didn't feel like I invested a lot of money in it and "will I get my money's worth??". Maybe because of these things I didn't overthink it once I was onboard.

So, as is common knowledge now, the ship's propulsion system was having technical difficulties so they weren't able to get underway until close to 9pm. Much before that, maybe mid afternoon, they announced the issue, and announced that they would not be able to go to Cozumel and they weren't even sure if they'd be able to do a cruise to nowhere. They offered people to leave with 100% discount (um, nope, cruising to nowhere sounds awesome!). At this point I am picturing the absolute manic level of scrambling that the whole wardroom was going through with these logistics on down to every other staff member. I'm sure it was more than tense, however, everyone was heavenly. Heavenly! The next day they announced that we were stopping in Key West and people were beyond thrilled! It was our first time there so we did the Conch Train Tour, definitely get your tickets through the cruiseline as I got off and the associate at the kiosk said in town it is $10 more pp.

It was estimated that around 600 people left that night. I had never sailed this ship before so I wasn't sure what a "full" or "empty" Fantasy felt like, but it felt fine. Very minimal lines for food, I never waited for an elevator, the chair game wasn't really in full effect until the last sea day and even then we were seated around the pool area. Kids were absolutely not running amok, and there were teens doing things teens do, but it was just normal running around only annoying each other stuff. We had anytime dining and ate at the Celebration dining room every night with Rupert and his team, he's freaking wonderful, request him. We never waited for a table, but we have 2 smaller kids so we ate earlier like around 6pm each night. When we would leave, there would be a small wait out in the vestibule each night. We went to one Hasbro show which was cute and a little bit of the British Invasion show. We never made it to any other shows or the comedians as the kids weren't keen on being at the kids club that late. Club Ocean was wonderful and my 4 year old loved being part of the Penguins and went every day for a little bit. My 7 year old isn't as much of a joiner and tolerated it when he went a couple of times, but neither are the type to be okay staying there all day. Kudos to Dr. Coconut and the staff for always staying kind to the kids!

My conclusion is that even when everything went crazy I didn't seem to care that we weren't going to Cozumel, nor was I fixating on the future discounts coming my way (something I would have done). I just sat back and enjoyed it (by way of running after my own kids all day, so can't say I ever actually sat back, but you know what I mean :) The service was fantastic, fellow cruisers were friendly and courteous, I never saw out of control kids (besides my own ;) ), didn't see the towel game played until the last sea day and every day I still got a chair around the pool so that I could be 4 steps from the kids in case of emergency.

For those interested, we flew in and out of New Orleans, rented a car and drove to Mobile. Stayed at the Springhill Suites and parked at the port garage (prepay). Port was efficient and friendly once inside, but it was a big traffic jam heading in and we probably sat in stop and go traffic for a good 30 minutes.

For comparison's sake, I felt the service was on par or surpassed prior cruises that we have been on. We were in an inside cabin, so it is what it is, and we expected it. I will admit beforehand I'm thinking, this is the oldest and smallest ship in Carnival's fleet, it's going to be perhaps a mess and perhaps not the best staff. It couldn't be further from the truth. My husband is a former Naval Officer and he was once on the oldest and smallest ship and said the crew had way more pride in their ship than those on the "sexy" ships and made it a point to celebrate that pride. I'm thinking the same could be said for the Fantasy crew. I'm looking forward to the Magic!

Love the review! I am taking my sister, our mom and her sister on the Fantasy in November. My sister and aunt will be 1st time cruisers and this will be my mom's 2nd.

Thanks for the nice review! My wife and I will be on the Fantasy on Monday! Woohoo!

Thank you for your review.

enjoyed the review.thanks.

hope you enjoyed your stay in mobile.:cool:

We were on that sailing too and had a fantastic time!!! Seems like most people that stayed on thoroughly enjoyed it!!

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

We will be on the Fantasy for the first time in 7 days - can't wait.

We have also prepaid to park at the port. Can you tell me what time you arrived to park? I'm hoping we don't have to wait in extremely long lines. Our check in time is between 11:30 and 12 and we want to be on that ship ASAP.

Thanks in advance! Glad you had such a great time even though things got changed around.

We have 12 days until we are on the Fantasy. I am so glad your experience went well. What was your favorite MDR item?

Thank you for your review. We went on the Fantasy back in 2009 when she was in Mobile the first time. Great ship. We are hoping to cruise on her again in 2018.