Carnival Fascination REVIEW w/ PICS - 7 Day Eastern Caribbean - April 30-May 7, 2011

Carnival Fascination Review ~ Eastern Caribbean 7-day cruise

Thursday, April 28 – Sunday, May 8, 2011

Pre-Cruise: Jacksonville

Our drive started at 5:15 am on Thursday morning after a crazy evening of storms on the East Coast. I think we are probably the only crazies who left our home with a full basement to go stay (with my MIL) during a tornado warning. It sounded like her roof was going to come off several times during the night. Going through NC, we were stuck in slow moving traffic due to torrential rain and storms along with morning rush hour traffic in the Charlotte area. We hit a few more storms traveling through SC and GA, and finally made it to JAX around 1:30 pm.

I reserved the park and cruise/local package at the Spring Hill Suites Jacksonville Airport. For $129, we had a double bed suite with a sofa bed and it included parking and a transportation voucher valued at approximately $40. Basically it either transported 2 people round trip OR 4 people one-way, and the additional cost was $10 per person each way to the port.

I didn’t get any pictures of our room, because my OCD wouldn’t allow me to take pictures of the messiness. I used to consider roughing it to be at a hotel without room service. Well, now I consider roughing it sharing a room with 3 other adults PLUS 2 children sharing one bathroom WITH approximately 12 bags total. :eek:

This is a picture of the tired, happy couple that is careywv (Dave and Amy) upon arrival to JAX:

Relaxing at the hotel before dinner:

The kids received goggles from the Easter bunny, so we had to try them out in the pool before the cruise:

This hotel was very nice, and the staff was very friendly. The free breakfast was a little blah, but I’m not really a breakfast person. But I did LOVE the chocolate muffins in the Sensation Dining Room during the cruise – yummo! We basically spent our time by the pool or in the shopping complex that was very close by. We had dinner at Sticky Fingers, lunch at Five Guys, and dinner at Zaxby’s (which is right in front of the hotel, along with a Longhorn Steakhouse) – all of which we were excited about because our town does not have any of these. It’s the little things, right?!?

We had beautiful weather in JAX and during the cruise. Eventhough, I won’t be traveling with certain family members ever again, we had a really great time! I hope you enjoy my review!

Embarkation

TaxiTerry provided our transportation, and it arrived promptly at 10:45 am as scheduled. We had a van for all 6 of us plus our mountains of luggage. I really should have taken a picture of it, but it was embarrassing. I’m a compulsive overpacker and apparently so is my DH’s family.

Here is a picture of my bag before I zipped it up - well before DH helped me zip it up by pushing it really hard:

My overpacking came in really handy with our first-aid kit that my family pokes fun at me for. However, we dipped in to this bag on several occasions for tummyaches, headaches, allergies, etc.:

Our luggage was checked, and we cleared security/check in very quickly. Our longest wait was to get wheelchair assistance for my MIL, but we weren’t waiting for long. We were onboard and having lunch around noon with a DOD soon to follow. Our rooms were ready promptly at 1:30, and most of our luggage arrived before we left for the CC Meet & Mingle Cocktail party and dinner.

Best statement EVER:

Enjoying my DOD:

Cruise Critic Meet & Mingle

I arranged this event prior to our sailing because many of the adults onboard showed interest in meeting after interacting for many months. At a cost of $11.44 for adults and $5.75 for children for one hour of beverages and dry snacks, I feel that this was a great deal.

Wait staff had trays of premade drinks (screwdrivers, blue margaritas, rum punch, and fruit punch) and were readily available to keep your beverage full at all times. There was also soda, juice, mocktails, and basic cocktails available from the bar staff. I asked for a drink of the day and was refused; however, I did have quite a few strawberry margaritas along with the free rum punch. At most times throughout the hour, I had two beverages to consume in my hands. Between DH and I, I feel we more than got our monies worth for that hour of beverages. :p

**This is all I have time for tonight. However, I plan to post more within the coming days. On the drive back home, I was alerted that my grandfather had fallen very ill while we were away. Sadly, last night he lost his fight. I had wanted to post my review as soon as I got home, but family is most important. I hope you enjoy what has been written so far, and stay tuned for more to come. Future posts will include: food pictures, ship pictures, room/trundle bed pictures, HMC and shore excursion pictures, wait staff recommendations, and much more to come! Thank you!***

I am so sorry for your loss...will look forward to your review, great start!

Interior Stateroom (R129)

We usually book an interior stateroom when we cruise for a few reasons. First is, of course, the lower cost; Second is that we get the best sleep in there because it is so dark, and it’s also very nice for afternoon naps!; Third is that we don’t really spend much time in the room, because we are only in there to sleep (or nap) and get ready for dinner.

Prior to our sailing, I had tried to find pictures of how our room would be configured for 3 people and didn’t have much luck. Well I can tell you now that had I known how it would be set up, I would have booked a different room. We had to step on my niece’s trundle bed anytime we needed access to the other side of the bed or items we had stored below the TV. Although, she didn’t mind, it just wasn’t the best way to do things. I’m also very glad that neither my DH nor I get in the middle of the night to use the restroom, because we surely would have stepped on her in the darkness.

Our family that was traveling with us was in the stateroom beside our room, R133. Their beds were set up in a U-shape against the three walls in the room. This gave them plenty of floor space between the beds. This also allowed for my nephew to have a rollaway (or higher) bed than my niece. Hers was literally inches from the floor, but she didn’t mind.

Here is a picture of our bed – R129:

Here is a picture of the trundle bed:

As you can see, it is blocking this walkway but we managed:

We also decorated our door, since this cruise was in celebration of my BIG 30 Birthday AND a congratulations gift for being the first person in my family to graduate from college. DH decided that our decorations should be hung with Command strips instead of the sticky tack I requested, and it did not work out. Next time, we will just bring tape and a scraper to get it off afterwards. Several of our decorations had fallen by the time we made it back from dinner the first night.

Door decorations:

Since we are on the subject of rooms, I will say that our room stewards were great. Our room was always made up when we returned after lunch and always turned down when we returned from dinner. I don’t know how they work so fast, especially considering how messy our family’s room was so it’s a miracle. :eek:

I just love the smiley vacuums:

Towel Animals

We had a new towel animal every night that the kids just loved.

Puppy:

Elephant (my 2nd fav):

Swan:

From this angle, it looks like a rattlesnake:

Frog (my fav):

Bunny:

Stingray:

Great review so far. Looking forward to more! :D

Sorry for your loss.

That room was way too small for 3 people. Glad you were able to manage. I thought Carnival had some of the bigger rooms.

Congrats on being the first to graduate from college in your family and Happy belated birthday!

Enjoying your review so far.

Around the Carnival Fascination

Window Seat in Circle C area:

Dinner at the Sensation Dining Room:

Lobby/Bar Area:

Coffee Bar Area:

Laser Tag/The Palace Theatre Area:

Sorry for your loss.

 

That room was way too small for 3 people. Glad you were able to manage. I thought Carnival had some of the bigger rooms.

 

Congrats on being the first to graduate from college in your family and Happy belated birthday!

 

Enjoying your review so far.

Thank you!

We were able to manage because we didn't spend much time in there. But if you are a room person, then this would not be the set up for you.

Waterworks Area:

Adults-Only Serenity Area:

I only spent one morning here, and I will say that some chair hogs were in full force in this area. I went down to read and my DH was going to join me shortly after. When I got down there I could see chairs empty, but they were being saved with towels, shirts, bags, etc. I did find one empty chair next to a man who was saving an empty lounger with his shirt. He proceeded to save the lounger with that shirt for the almost 3 hours I was reading in the area, so DH never got to join me in the serenity area. It is a very nice space, and I will get up earlier on sea days to enjoy it there with my DH.

Lido/Pool Deck:

I am so sorry for your loss.

I am enjoying your review.

We leave on her in about 40 days! :D

FOOD

Breakfast was consumed in the Sensation Dining Room or via Room Service, and we did not have breakfast on the Lido deck during this trip. Lunch was consumed only three times on the Lido deck, and the remainder was either in the Sensation Dining Room or while we were in port. We felt that we didn't get great service during breakfast or lunch, but that could be because of the personalized service we received during dinner. We really wish we could have had our dining room waiters for all meals.

All dinners were consumed in the Sensation Dining Room with Anytime Dining. The headwaiter we had most nights was FABULOUS! His grandmother’s cooking was the best, and his team made our experience the best. If you are on the Fascination, and have Anytime Dining, you should request Andrias (and Robin) as your waiters. Andrias remembered all of our names and what we liked each evening. And he would always ask if we liked his grandmother’s cooking, so it made you feel at home.

Here are just a few food pics, because I usually just dug in and forgot about the picture – sorry!

Southern Fried Chicken and Mashed Potatoes:

BBQ Ribs and French Fries:

Lasagna:

Prime Rib (end cut) and Baked Potato:

Grilled Jumbo Shrimp:

Fish and Chips (Lunch):

For lunch, they also offered spaghetti and meatballs that was really good!

We also had the macaroni and cheese and chicken nuggets off of the children's menu, and I can say that both are really good. Carnival's chicken nuggets will give McDonald's a run for their money.

Spaghetti Carbonara:

Tomatoes and Mozzarella:

Broccoli and Cheese Soup:

The cream of potato soup is also really good, and I gobbled it up before I remembered to take a picture.

Cheese Plate:

Banana Split:

Caramelized Apples/Puff Pastry:

First Port – Nassau:

We pre-booked an excursion through Blackbeard’s Cay Stingray Adventures prior to our cruise. WORD OF WARNING: They operate on island time, and it could take weeks to get a response back to them. Just continue to email each day, and you will get a response back. We booked 2 adults ($42 each) and 2 children ($37 each) for the stingray adventure AND 2 adults ($20 each) for the beach day package. The ferry for Blackbeard’s Cay picks you up right outside of the Festival Place near the moped area, so we didn’t have far to walk. Apparently Blackbeard’s Cay is in the same area as Sandals, so you will see roped off areas for the private beach.

If I had known that they herd everyone together for snorkeling with the stingrays, I may have picked an alternate excursion for this trip. Basically they called everyone over to get their equipment and let us all in the enclosure at the same time. I just thought it would be a little more personalized, and I felt that it kept the stingrays away for a good portion of our experience.

The kids had never snorkeled before, so this was their first experience and they did great! Once we exited the stingray area, we were allowed to keep our snorkel equipment for the beach area. Even though we didn’t see anything in this area, it was a good learning experience for the kids.

The beach is a little rocky and sharp at the entry to the water, so take extra precaution there. Once we started snorkeling, we saw part of a scuba suit, khaki pants, and some type of dress in the water. So watch out for alternate sea life. :rolleyes:

Nice review. Enjoying the pictures! Looking foward to the rest. :)

Second Port (and the BEST EVER) – Half Moon Cay:

Ok, so now I’m spoiled and I want every cruise to make a stop at Half Moon Cay. We had the best beach day there, and can’t wait to make many more stops at this beautiful port. We had the first ferry over that morning (with the staff), because we were excited to get in to our cabana for the day. We spent most of our day in the water, only taking breaks to eat lunch, snack, and dry off for the day. Ahhhh, so relaxing…