Just back from Fascination!

What a great cruise!! We had a blast.

A few things about the ship.

Easy on and off- took less than 30mins for embark/debark.

She looks great after her recent dry dock. Clean and well cared for.

Our cabin steward was over accommodating and couldn't do enough for us. Staff were excellent.... except for customer service where you would expect good service. They were always rude (did lots of people watching there) seemed put off by every person that approached the desk and this was the only place we saw lines. I had asked when the Fun times was reduced to pamphlet style from full page? I was told almost 5 yrs ago. I proceeded to say last year on Breeze it was still full size and I was told -you are wrong , you just don't remember (FYI I'm 50yrs old, platinum with over 30 Carnival Cruises). This person obviously didn't know the answer but wanted to argue about it. I just let it go, I was only asking a question. Everyone else were super stars!!!

Ports were the best- still some hurricane damage on most but the natives are so positive and happy to have the ships back.

Entertainment was good, not the best but enjoyable. We had 3 Broadway style shows, a juggler and a comedian magician. The comedy shows were good as well. I think there were 4 different comedians over the week.

Food was fresh, hot and lots of it. Good choices too. We did anytime dining and never had to wait for a table. We had dinner around 7-7:30 every night.

This is a very port intensive cruise so we were tired by 10-11pm so no night clubbing for us.

The drink prices went up on this cruise by 50 cents. Frozen and fruity boat drinks. I know the Bahama mama was $8.75 and is now 9.25, I think a Bud light was $7.61 inc grats. I'm also convinced they water down the liquor.

The only thing that disappoints me is.....Carnival makes rules they don't follow!

On the only sea day, a chair hog took and put towels on 6 chairs at 8am. These chairs stayed empty all day. There is a sign at the towel hut that says no reserving chairs. I asked the attendants if they follow this? They had absolutely no idea what it was for.....yup, I made them read it and they still had no idea what their sign was for. Needless to say chair hogging is permitted!

The pool was full of belly flopping, cannon balling kids all unsupervised. Babies in diapers were allowed and I even saw one mother remove a diaper and put the baby in the pool with nothing.

The hot tubs were full of kids too. Many with there snorkels, masks and fins. No one said a thing. I did hear some people complaining to security but nothing changed.

Dining room- all I can say is anything goes. Cruise casual might as well be-come as you are cause that's what we saw.

All in all it was a great trip and looking to book the next.

Excellent! I love the smaller ships. My daughter and I are doing a b2b on the Imagination in six days!

Glad you had a great trip. We are on the Fascination in Sept. Thanks for the review!

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Interesting review. I'm glad you enjoyed your cruise.

Glad you had a great trip. We are on the Fascination in Sept. Thanks for the review!

 

 

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Which date in Sept we are on the 16th

i'll be on Fascination in 3 weeks. Good to hear you had a favorable review of the service, ship, food and entertainment. I look forward to this port intensive itinerary. I normally don't book excursions but on this cruise I have excursions booked in 3 of the ports.

Did you enjoy the new bars and eateries?

How was the new Bonsai Sushi?

Thanks for your review.

Thanks for the review!

One question: Do they have a self-serve beer station?

We are just off this cruise as well. Agree-- it was a great cruise!!! It is probably our favorite cruise so far. The ports were great! Each had something special about it. St. Thomas and St. Maarten were in much better shape than what I was expecting. The people there were very friendly and the beaches we went to, Sapphire and Great Bay were pretty. The waters there are as beautiful as ever. I heard people on the ships saying they were skipping these ports because of damage. IMO that is a big mistake. We had a wonderful time on both islands. The only excursion I booked through the cruise line was Sky Safari zipline in St. Kitts. It was fantastic!! Great staff and so much fun.

The best part of this cruise for us was the staff. From embark until our last goodbyes, the crew was amazing. Our room steward Floyd was so attentive and helpful. If we ever needed anything, he got it for us immediately. Our favorite bar was the Casino Bar, and we don't even gamble. The bartenders Gumono, Harta, Razil, and Dodi were awesome!! Always friendly and fun no matter how busy they were. They knew us by name and were so personable. We had a blast with them!! Best bartenders we have ever had, cruise or other wise. The in-house band Cherry Burton was great!! They played 70's to today's songs-- all were excellent. Very talented and obviously enjoy their job. My DH rarely enjoys listening to musicians on cruises, but he loved them. Their 80s night show is great for entire family. They were much better than the typical cruise ship band. Very friendly as well--great people.

We did not go to the shows other than the Punchliner. The comedians were funny, especially Spike. He was hilarious-- family version and adult kept you laughing. There were jugglers, magicians, dancing, good variety, just not our thing.

The Blue Iguana was a big hit with us-- loved their breakfast burritos and DH really liked the fish tacos. Guys french fries were yummy and so was the veggie burger. Red Frog Rum bar was nice as well. Saw many people getting the draft beers there.

Serenity Area was kept adults only and in a great location. Only drawback-- no bar. Rather difficult to get a drink. But a very nice place to go when wanting to get away. Being at the aft of the deck, it was a great place for sailaways.

Marcelo, the CD, was also great. Announcements were made throughout the day, but not too many. Saw him numerous times over the week interacting with passengers-- really liked that.

Thank you for these reviews! We will be on the Fascination next February and I was worried about storm damage and the shape the ship was in after dry dock but it sounds like all is well. We are purposely cruising before winter break so hoping not too many kids going nuts. Guess we will see. If they are overly rambunctious, it will seal the deal on Norwegian as I have been told less kids on those ships. Thanks again and keep the info coming!

Nice to read the positive reviews .... we sail Fascination in May!

We are just off this cruise as well. Agree-- it was a great cruise!!! It is probably our favorite cruise so far. The ports were great! Each had something special about it. St. Thomas and St. Maarten were in much better shape than what I was expecting. The people there were very friendly and the beaches we went to, Sapphire and Great Bay were pretty. The waters there are as beautiful as ever. I heard people on the ships saying they were skipping these ports because of damage. IMO that is a big mistake. We had a wonderful time on both islands. The only excursion I booked through the cruise line was Sky Safari zipline in St. Kitts. It was fantastic!! Great staff and so much fun.

The best part of this cruise for us was the staff. From embark until our last goodbyes, the crew was amazing. Our room steward Floyd was so attentive and helpful. If we ever needed anything, he got it for us immediately. Our favorite bar was the Casino Bar, and we don't even gamble. The bartenders Gumono, Harta, Razil, and Dodi were awesome!! Always friendly and fun no matter how busy they were. They knew us by name and were so personable. We had a blast with them!! Best bartenders we have ever had, cruise or other wise. The in-house band Cherry Burton was great!! They played 70's to today's songs-- all were excellent. Very talented and obviously enjoy their job. My DH rarely enjoys listening to musicians on cruises, but he loved them. Their 80s night show is great for entire family. They were much better than the typical cruise ship band. Very friendly as well--great people.

We did not go to the shows other than the Punchliner. The comedians were funny, especially Spike. He was hilarious-- family version and adult kept you laughing. There were jugglers, magicians, dancing, good variety, just not our thing.

The Blue Iguana was a big hit with us-- loved their breakfast burritos and DH really liked the fish tacos. Guys french fries were yummy and so was the veggie burger. Red Frog Rum bar was nice as well. Saw many people getting the draft beers there.

Serenity Area was kept adults only and in a great location. Only drawback-- no bar. Rather difficult to get a drink. But a very nice place to go when wanting to get away. Being at the aft of the deck, it was a great place for sailaways.

Marcelo, the CD, was also great. Announcements were made throughout the day, but not too many. Saw him numerous times over the week interacting with passengers-- really liked that.

No bar in Serenity is a bummer. Where is the closest bar? Do you know if you can get a bucket of beers with the CHEERS package?

Thanks for the posts! We will be boarding on Sunday. Sounds like sitting near guest services will be a fun time to watch the action.

Do you know if you can get a bucket of beers with the CHEERS package?

Nope. Cheers only permits one drink at a time.

You can still get a bucket but only one of the beers is free from Cheers. The others you pay as if you had no Cheers.

Thanks for the review!

 

One question: Do they have a self-serve beer station?

According to the website, they do:

https://www.carnival.com/onboard/beer-station

This is so underrated. I got a tasty beer for $4.50 (no gratuity) on a cruise ship.

What a great cruise!! We had a blast.

A few things about the ship.

Easy on and off- took less than 30mins for embark/debark.

She looks great after her recent dry dock. Clean and well cared for.

Our cabin steward was over accommodating and couldn't do enough for us. Staff were excellent.... except for customer service where you would expect good service. They were always rude (did lots of people watching there) seemed put off by every person that approached the desk and this was the only place we saw lines. I had asked when the Fun times was reduced to pamphlet style from full page? I was told almost 5 yrs ago. I proceeded to say last year on Breeze it was still full size and I was told -you are wrong , you just don't remember (FYI I'm 50yrs old, platinum with over 30 Carnival Cruises). This person obviously didn't know the answer but wanted to argue about it. I just let it go, I was only asking a question. Everyone else were super stars!!!

Ports were the best- still some hurricane damage on most but the natives are so positive and happy to have the ships back.

Entertainment was good, not the best but enjoyable. We had 3 Broadway style shows, a juggler and a comedian magician. The comedy shows were good as well. I think there were 4 different comedians over the week.

Food was fresh, hot and lots of it. Good choices too. We did anytime dining and never had to wait for a table. We had dinner around 7-7:30 every night.

This is a very port intensive cruise so we were tired by 10-11pm so no night clubbing for us.

The drink prices went up on this cruise by 50 cents. Frozen and fruity boat drinks. I know the Bahama mama was $8.75 and is now 9.25, I think a Bud light was $7.61 inc grats. I'm also convinced they water down the liquor.

The only thing that disappoints me is.....Carnival makes rules they don't follow!

On the only sea day, a chair hog took and put towels on 6 chairs at 8am. These chairs stayed empty all day. There is a sign at the towel hut that says no reserving chairs. I asked the attendants if they follow this? They had absolutely no idea what it was for.....yup, I made them read it and they still had no idea what their sign was for. Needless to say chair hogging is permitted!

The pool was full of belly flopping, cannon balling kids all unsupervised. Babies in diapers were allowed and I even saw one mother remove a diaper and put the baby in the pool with nothing.

The hot tubs were full of kids too. Many with there snorkels, masks and fins. No one said a thing. I did hear some people complaining to security but nothing changed.

Dining room- all I can say is anything goes. Cruise casual might as well be-come as you are cause that's what we saw.

All in all it was a great trip and looking to book the next.

We are just off this cruise as well. Agree-- it was a great cruise!!! It is probably our favorite cruise so far. The ports were great! Each had something special about it. St. Thomas and St. Maarten were in much better shape than what I was expecting. The people there were very friendly and the beaches we went to, Sapphire and Great Bay were pretty. The waters there are as beautiful as ever. I heard people on the ships saying they were skipping these ports because of damage. IMO that is a big mistake. We had a wonderful time on both islands. The only excursion I booked through the cruise line was Sky Safari zipline in St. Kitts. It was fantastic!! Great staff and so much fun.

The best part of this cruise for us was the staff. From embark until our last goodbyes, the crew was amazing. Our room steward Floyd was so attentive and helpful. If we ever needed anything, he got it for us immediately. Our favorite bar was the Casino Bar, and we don't even gamble. The bartenders Gumono, Harta, Razil, and Dodi were awesome!! Always friendly and fun no matter how busy they were. They knew us by name and were so personable. We had a blast with them!! Best bartenders we have ever had, cruise or other wise. The in-house band Cherry Burton was great!! They played 70's to today's songs-- all were excellent. Very talented and obviously enjoy their job. My DH rarely enjoys listening to musicians on cruises, but he loved them. Their 80s night show is great for entire family. They were much better than the typical cruise ship band. Very friendly as well--great people.

We did not go to the shows other than the Punchliner. The comedians were funny, especially Spike. He was hilarious-- family version and adult kept you laughing. There were jugglers, magicians, dancing, good variety, just not our thing.

The Blue Iguana was a big hit with us-- loved their breakfast burritos and DH really liked the fish tacos. Guys french fries were yummy and so was the veggie burger. Red Frog Rum bar was nice as well. Saw many people getting the draft beers there.

Serenity Area was kept adults only and in a great location. Only drawback-- no bar. Rather difficult to get a drink. But a very nice place to go when wanting to get away. Being at the aft of the deck, it was a great place for sailaways.

Marcelo, the CD, was also great. Announcements were made throughout the day, but not too many. Saw him numerous times over the week interacting with passengers-- really liked that.

Excellent reviews, glad you both enjoyed.

I guess my question would be were there any “specialty” nights? Like White night or 70s night for example where you could dress for the occassion? Also was there a “Under the Stars” night where the party is on the Lido.

Thanks again.

Which date in Sept we are on the 16th

We go the 9th, so you get on, when we get off. [emoji6]

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Thank you for your report.

Glad you enjoyed the cruise.

Keith

Great review. Do have a copy of the fun times you can share? When was formal night?

Best

Thanks for the review. Fascination will always have a spot in my ❤. First cruise I ever took was on her 9/14/2001

No bar in Serenity is a bummer. Where is the closest bar? Do you know if you can get a bucket of beers with the CHEERS package?

Just up the stairs to the right on Deck 10 at the back of Coconut Grove, near the Deli and Pizza. Pretty convenient, just would be better if there was one at Serenity.

Yes, they have self- serve beer station(s)-- The Red Frog beer. I may be wrong, but I think I saw a couple of them, but not sure. Not a beer drinker.

Excellent reviews, glad you both enjoyed.

 

I guess my question would be were there any “specialty” nights? Like White night or 70s night for example where you could dress for the occassion? Also was there a “Under the Stars” night where the party is on the Lido.

 

Thanks again.

There was an 80s night that people dressed up for. I am not sure about the others. Pretty sure there was a White Night.

Awesome reviews.

Thanks for making my Excitement continue to build.

We’ll be on the Fascination on April 8th and I can’t wait!

jkneern or 2PinaColadas:

Thanks so much for your info. Looking forward to being on Fascination in a few days also.

Did either of you use the Internet while on board? If so, how was the Wi-Fi coverage? I've read a few people comment about slow speeds on its first few trips after dry-dock.

HH

Yes, they have self- serve beer station(s)-- The Red Frog beer. I may be wrong, but I think I saw a couple of them, but not sure. Not a beer drinker.

That's good to hear. I have heard the prices for the beer self pour were less than the ones from the bar. I might have to try that.