Fascination and Irma review of BTB

Day 5 - St Kitts

Another perfect day another beautiful island. St Kitts had not escaped Irma's wrath although escaped relatively easy fortunately for us the pier area is also the main shopping area and as we were arriving they were still trying to prepare the stores to open. Many were still boarded up. We loved this port set up as the store fronts are very colorful and everything you could want is right their. Be careful with the men with the monkeys they are quick to put them on you offer to take your pictures and then ask you for $20.00 yikes I handed him $5.00 and said thank you. The monkeys are perfectly tame and are wearing little mini diapers so if you have kids you would probably enjoy this interaction just negotiate your price before hand. We shopped, stopped at the bar for wifi and had a cocktail. Their is a casino next to the bar but it was very dark inside.

Day 6 - Sea Day

This was supposed to be our St Maartin stop but Irma had other plans and we were informed of the port conditions late last night and that today would be a sea day. Irma was now affecting Peurto Rico but appeared to not be a direct hit. This was also the day we got an email from Southwest that our flight Sunday from San Juan to Orlando had been cancelled. So now we are wondering what do we do?? Carnival opened up the phone lines for us to use to make alternate arrangements so after 45 minutes on the phone with Southwest the bottom line was a 1 week delay for a flight back to Orlando so now we have to decide do we get off on Sunday as planned and stay in PR for a week or do we try and stay on the ship and do the cruise again for the week. Financially it made better sense to stay on the ship so our next call was to Carnival and try and book the next week. Since their were already cancelations due to Florida's airports closed for the weekend we knew the ship would have space but at what price?? After explaining our predicament to the carnival operator she was able to book us on the same level but a different room but the kicker was we were being charged rack rate, no discount and last minute pricing higher than what we booked the current cruise on. Oh well we were stuck and had not many options. We then contacted our employers and explained that we were stranded and would not be returning to work as planned. Thankfully they were both understanding and more concerned with us staying safe.

We chatted with other's that had cancelled flights but it seems that those that had planned a post nite in San Juan did not have their flight impacted from those flying into or through Florida on debarkation day. The process during a BTB was a bit disjointed we were told to meet in the lobby at 9:45 then we were asked to wait with a group of Barbados customers looking to exit the ship for their shore day/excursions. Finally around 10:45 we were led down the walkway through customs and then back on the ship. Not sure why that process was necessary as we walked around customs not through it but apparently they have to show the ship as "zero" and thats the only way to do it. It seemed kind of unusual since the ship would not be at zero since anybody who got on in Barbados was met required to exit and come on again. At this point we went to our new room to unpack and then go off to Old San Juan for some exploring. We returned back to the ship and inquired about the possibility of an upgrade as the airports were closed in Florida their would I assumed be a lot of cancelations we were told we had to wait until 10:00 pm to determine what upgrades if any were available. The next day we were moved down the hall to a balcony!! Again kind of a messed up transition but after moving our stuff ourselves got resettled in and enjoyed the sea day. The itinerary was changed due to the loss of St Thomas and St Martin so our sea day was first and we gained Antigua and Dominica which was nice for us as it was 2 new ports to explore.

Antigua - we just port shopped nice port area, nice people not too aggressive and since we were only about a half full ship the port area never felt crowded. I couldn't help but feel bad as they had rolled out the red carpet for us including some local entertainment on the pier and taxi drivers trying to find a fare. Their is a small casino to the left at the end of the pier if you want a diversion from the heat.

Dominica - we loved this port we took an excursion titled "easy Dominica and waterfall" I have a bad knee and DH has a bad ankle to so thought this would work for us. Not so much the Botanical gardens were nice but required a bit of walking on up inclines of grass and tree roots. The waterfall was small but the ride up was interesting through the lush rainforest it is an easy walk to see the fall from above but a hefty amount of stairs to go to the bottom to see the emerald pool the water drops into. They had a free sample of fruit and some VERY strong rum punch. Our tour guide was lovely and obviously loves her country and her job. I do hope her and her family did okay after Maria went through.

Final Thoughts:

I know a lot of people enjoy BTB and I can cross it off my bucket list now that I have done one. I probably would not book one on purpose unless it was a journey type cruise that had something different for each day. Having 2 weeks with the same menu's, same entertainment took a little bit of the excitement out of the second week.

The Fascination was a great ship we thoroughly enjoyed sailing on her and did not find one crew member that didn't love their jobs. It showed on their smiles and their desire to make our vacation the best vacation ever. I would not hesitate to sail on her again however unless she is moved to Florida probably will not do something that requires air fare.

If anyone has any specific questions I will be happy to answer if I can. Enjoy your next cruise!!