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OPEN BAR Cruise Review!! Fascination ~ 9/26/13


DarthGrady
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We rolled out of town at around 10ish Thursday morning, ambling northward toward Jacksonville. The terminal was fairly crowded when we arrived, although they seemed to be doing a good job of moving folks through. My roommate and I checked in at the VIP lounge which was nearly empty at the time. The ladies were kind enough to check in the other four guys in our party since there were no other VIP guests waiting. We were onboard the ship in less than a half hour. Having never embarked at JaxPort before, I was surprised to find that they were loading the ship from the gangway on the pier.

 

Approaching the ship

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The JaxPort cruise terminal

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I didn't do a pictorial review for my last trip on Fascination back in 2006, but there is a text review here if anyone wants to check it out:

 

http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=22822

 

14 of my 19 Carnival cruises have been on Fantasy Class ships, so I can safely say that they are my favorites in the fleet. Very easy to get around, and small enough that finding friends isn't a chore. I love the promenade on this class for its great ocean views and convenient meeting spots. The open air porches at the aft end of the lido deck buffets are my favorite (casual) dining venues on any ship I've been on.

 

After we boarded the ship we dropped our luggage off in the cabins. We then stopped by the pool bar to get our open bar cards from our TA. Fortunately we are in a group that has the old bar program and not the neutered "Cheers" program which is limited to 15 drinks per day.

 

We then had lunch in the Coconut Grove buffet, and got our first drinks of the weekend.

 

The keys to the kingdom

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The Coconut Grove buffet and it's excellent deli

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Not a great view, but at least we had drinks.

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Wow - didn't realize there was a previous drink program through Carnival..good for you! Lucky!

 

Looks like the Jacksonville port is just in the middle of nowhere, eh?

 

It wasn't available to everyone, only to large or corporate groups. CCL had to approve it first, and everyone had to buy in, so it was hard to get.

 

IMO, Cheers being open to everyone would have been a great thing if they hadn't put a blanket cap on the number of drinks per day.

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It wasn't available to everyone, only to large or corporate groups. CCL had to approve it first, and everyone had to buy in, so it was hard to get.

 

IMO, Cheers being open to everyone would have been a great thing if they hadn't put a blanket cap on the number of drinks per day.

 

Interesting! Yes, the 15 drinks a day is a little frustrating, but I'm thinking my liver will thank me for not going higher than 15!! ;):o

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We spent the afternoon occupying various bars and lounges. We all went up to the top deck to watch the ship sail from JaxPort. Seeing the stack clear the bridge was impressive, similar to the Sunshine Skyway passing in Tampa Bay.

 

A bunch of Humvees near the port

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At some point we stopped by the "Taste Bar" on the promenade. This a new food sampler counter that replaced the sushi bar that had been a long time Carnival institution. I was very disappointed that they sushi bar was taken away. Sushi on the promenade before dinner was one of my favorite things that Carnival offered.

 

The food at the taste bar was good, but it was very obvious that it is not as popular a place as the old sushi bar. I never saw more than a few people there at any given time. The lines for the sushi bar used to stretch down the promenade. This is certainly on purpose as a cost cutting measure.

 

The Taste Bar

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After sail away we eventually made it to dinner in the MDR. The food and service were good. Our wait staff seemed very overworked though. Constantly hurrying from place to place and never having much time to talk.

 

Ship model outside the dining room

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One of the main dining rooms

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After dinner we wound up having drinks at the lobby bar in the atrium before stopping into the piano bar.

 

Usually the piano bar is my jam. I enjoy the sing-alongs, and having fun with the other patrons. Unfortunately the environment in Fascination's piano bar has turned fairly hostile. Bob, the piano player, doesn't seem to take kindly to boisterous merry-makers and boozy revelers. Any time we would sing along too loudly he would either give condescending looks or stop playing altogether and make snarky comments. It seemed that he considered the lounge his personal nightly recital; not the fun filled musical extension of the comedy club that I've loved on other ships. Our time in there was brief each night. Maybe next year we'll have Brad or Milby again.

 

The rest of the night was spent in the Diamonds are Forever night club. The DJ was playing a good mix of top 40 and Caribbean dance music. We were in there until it shut down around 3:30. We then hit the buffet for pizza and had a post club party on the back deck. Sleep finally came at around 6 am, just as the crew was setting up for breakfast.

 

The piano bar

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The atrium

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The lobby bar

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Unfortunately the environment in Fascination's piano bar has turned fairly hostile. Bob, the piano player, doesn't seem to take kindly to boisterous merry-makers and boozy revelers. Any time we would sing along too loudly he would either give condescending looks or stop playing altogether and make snarky comments. It seemed that he considered the lounge his personal nightly recital . . .

 

Oh, dear . . .

Perhaps not the best fit for the role assigned. :(

 

.

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