Review of Fantasy 1/30 - 2/4

DH and I sailed on the Fantasy from Monday, 1/30 to Saturday, 2/4. We booked this cruise on Tuesday before sailing on Monday. CCL was offering a good price for it, plus we had enough Hilton Honors points for $250 off + an FCC burning a hole in our pocket.

We left our house on Sunday, 1/29 and drove to Savannah and stayed at the in-laws condo, then drove to Charleston Monday am. We got to the port around 12:30 – after weaving through the parking lot, having docs checked and dropping off luggage, we parked and hopped on the shuttle. After going through security we entered the VIP line (we are platinum) and walked right up to the check-in person. We were standing on the ship at 1:20 – we decided to just wait until 1:30 and drop off our carry-ons before heading up to Lido. Our room was E227. We were right under the dining room and I was a bit concerned in the beginning, but the only noise I heard was a little the first night when we went to bed and the last morning when we were debarking. (This was the dining room that did not serve breakfast or lunch.)

Because we waited until 1:30 to drop off our carry-ons, we hit Lido at the time that all the early arrivals were leaving to go to their rooms, so we had no trouble finding a table. On our way to lunch we stopped to sign up for the Chef’s Table – we were given our choice of Freeport or Nassau day and we choose Freeport as that was the shorter of the two port days. We both had the Mongolian Wok for lunch – yummy as always. Muster was scheduled for 3:30 and started right on time – still no life vests required but we did go to life boats. We were supposed to sail at 4:00pm, but it was after 5:00 when we pulled away from the dock. . After the muster drill we could see that provisions were still being loaded onto the ship – I’m guessing they had a late delivery and that caused the delay. We played our first trivia game this day and came in second – got a medallion. Dinner that night (8:15 seating, Jubilee dining room) was gazpacho and tilapia for me, beef & barley soup and pork steak for DH, and we shared an order of escargot. We both had chocolate melting cake for dessert. We met our table mates, Bruce & Karen and Barry & Jan, who we enjoyed getting to know during the week. Both couples were frequent cruisers, so we all enjoyed sharing stories of past voyages and destinations. Went to the welcome aboard show – I think it’s time to shake up the song and dance portion of this show – I could do it in my sleep. We only go to check out the Cruise Director and the comedians.

Tuesday – Sea Day and elegant night

We started our day with coffee from room service and then went to trivia - won first place – got 2 medals (Heather, the social host who did daytime trivia, said that she only gives medals, but will trade a ship on a stick for 5 medals). Went to breakfast – after that we settled in at Serenity where it was quite chilly. I think all the people from the north were enjoying the weather, but we had left warmer weather at home! For lunch, I hit up the grill and DH had the “American” from the inside buffet – he said the fried chicken was among the best he had ever eaten. Had our daily nap – did not bother to go to the Captain’s Celebration on Promenade, nor did we take advantage of the many photo ops available, but there were tons of them! Dinner was baked stuffed mushrooms & lobster for me, minestrone and prime rib for DH – the lobster was yummy but DH’s prime rib was perfectly medium rare and delicious. For dessert, I had the bitter & blanc and DH had chocolate ice cream. Went to the show, Nightclub Express – had never seen this before and it was really good. The male singer on this ship was quite good (in my opinion). DH had commented that he expected to see the “B” team dancers and singers since we were on the oldest and smallest ship, but that was definitely not the case. We also saw both adult comedy shows and both guys were very funny. We received our blue coolers and Fantasy ship pins on this day (Platinum gifts).

Wednesday – Freeport, Past Guest Party & Chef’s Table

Port hours were 8:00 to 6:00. We got up at our leisure and went to breakfast. We had no plans, and were thinking about just getting a taxi to Port Lucaya. The ship was doing a safety drill and we started watching – it was very interesting, so we stayed to watch the entire thing. It was very slow going as they had an officer in each section who was going over and supervising everything, but all of the lifeboats on the starboard side were eventually lowered and then brought back up. These lifeboats do not look like they will hold 150 people, but they have “butts” painted where everyone is supposed to sit, and you can certainly understand why you would not be allowed to bring anything onboard with you. We got off and walked around at the port – tried the Eclipse beer (2 for $6.00 at the “sports bar”) and a yellowbird – yummy! We could also see two Carnival ships in drydock here, but I couldn’t see their names so don’t know which ones they were.

We got back on the ship and had lunch – chicken Caesar salad for me, rice and beans and jerked chicken for DH (“Caribbean” buffet). We sat in the sun & read, napped & then got ready for the past guest party. It was held in the show lounge and was full – they announced that there were 980 past guests on this sailing! We had a couple of drinks but no food – we were saving room for our Chef’s Table event. The John Heald video has been replaced by a towel animal video – it was cute. When we got back to our room, we had chocolate strawberries & truffles waiting for us, but we only had time to take a breather and then head to the Chef’s Table.

Chef’s Table

WOW! I have to say, I have read lots here on CC about this and that is why I decided to go. When I broached the subject with DH, he seemed lukewarm – I convinced him to do this because we weren’t spending money on excursions this cruise, so this would be “in lieu of”. He was happy to agree to go to make me happy, but he was blown away. As I mentioned earlier, we signed up on embarkation day and were given our choice of Freeport or Nassau day, and we chose the day with the shorter port hours. The Chef visited our dinner table Monday night to introduce himself and ask if we had any allergies or any foods that we wouldn’t eat (we told him we’d try anything once!). He let us know that we would be scheduled for the Freeport day and that we should eat lunch before 2:00 and starve ourselves after that time. Our table mates were quite impressed with his visit and thought that we had acquired some kind of honor – I informed them that they, too, could pay for and attend this event, LOL!

We met at the atrium bar and were joined by 4 other couples (found out later that one additional couple had cancelled because they had eaten too much that day). The Chef came and picked us all up at the bar and we proceeded into the galley. I will say that this was my least favorite part of the Chef’s Table experience. Obviously the galley on the Fantasy is not set up for visitors, and we were put into a corner and stood there for the “reception” part of the event. Champagne was brought out for all and cocktail plates and forks were distributed. After the reception we moved around the corner and one person in the group volunteered to help demonstrate making warm chocolate melting cake. We then travelled to the library where our table was set and the rest of the dinner took place. Below is the menu.

This was a really cool thing to do and the food and presentation was amazing. The prep time that goes into just the garnishing on the plates is incredible. Ice water was served – both red and white wines were offered (you could choose both, one, or none). The magician came in after the fourth course to entertain us – it was very amusing. Apparently he performed in the dining rooms but I never saw him there. I’m very glad that we did this, but not sure that I would do it again on a small ship. It would be a different experience to do it on the Dream (where the entire event is held in the galley and one of the couples at our table had done it and loved it). Also, since the menu is the same on all the ships that would also deter me from doing it more than once. One of the ladies must have told the Chef that she didn’t eat seafood, as she was served lamb chops during the Salmon portion of the meal.

We finished our night off at the piano bar. At 2:30am, DH woke me up searching for something for his terrible heartburn. If you’re going to the Chef’s Table, take something proactively if this is an issue for you!

Thursday – Nassau, Conch & Deck Party

Port hours were 7:00 to 7:00. We had no plans, so woke at our leisure and ordered a pot of coffee, and started breakfast off with our strawberries and truffles from the evening before! We left a bag of laundry to be done this morning. Our total would have been $18.00 – this is a nice Platinum benefit! Upon reaching lido for “second breakfast” we saw that we had company in port – there were 2 other Carnival ships there, an RCL ship was coming in and would be joined shortly by another Carnival ship. I had done some research and knew that there was a public beach just past the British Colonial Hilton so that is where we headed. It was a nice little beach and wasn’t crowded when we got there – by the time we left, the RCL ship and the last CCL ship had unloaded their passengers so it was starting to get a little busy. We bought a bucket of beers while we were there ($9.99 for 4 beers – Sands). The sun and sand were nice, but the water was a little too cold for our liking, so we just laid in the sun. We left here in went back towards port and ate at Sharkeez – had two appetizers (conch fritters & grilled shrimp), DH had another beer and I had a mudslide - $35.00 total tip included. I had never tried conch – the fritters were pretty good, but didn’t have a lot of conch in them.

We got back on the ship, played trivia again and won again – got 2 more medals (ding, ding, ding – we now have 5 and can trade for a ship on a stick!!). For dinner, I had the chilled fruit and the black bean enchiladas (based on comments here – I was not disappointed!). DH had the penne siciliana as a starter and the fish and jumbo shrimp for dinner. We shared a frog leg appetizer (tastes like chicken, LOL), and also shared a bacon mac n’ cheese (it was okay). For dessert, we both had the cappuccino pie. After dinner we went to the deck party (I swear, people can line dance to ANYTHING!!), and then finished up at the two adult comedy shows (same comedians, different jokes – still funny).

Friday – Time to Pack

Again, woke at our leisure- played trivia 3 times this day, didn’t place at any of them (it was chilly outside, so we mostly stayed in). Sat and read, people watched, tried my first Long Island Iced Tea – didn’t taste anything at all like tea (DH said it didn’t taste like it should), but it was good anyway. Our laundry was returned to our room before lunch time. We walked through the casino for the first time – decided not to make a donation. For lunch we both had burgers – if you eat at the grill, be sure and get some of their nacho chips – delicious! The fun farewell party (free drinks) was at 5:00 – we did not attend. The show tonight was Ticket to Ride, and we thoroughly enjoyed it as we are both Beatles fans. I like how they worked the ship’s lounge band (Music Degree) into the show, and how the audience got to participate. Dinner that night was French onion soup and veal parmigian for me; crab cake and penne mariscos for DH. I had baked Alaska for dessert; DH had chocolate melting cake. We went out at 10:30 to hear Music Degree – we were the only ones in the place for almost the entire first set! We stayed until around 12:30 – these guys were great!

Saturday – The saddest day :(

Got up around 7:30 – we had put baggage out the night before and our plan was to have breakfast and then get off the ship with the next group (our luggage was zone 1 and we knew it would already have been called by that time). They have “Silent Debarkation” on this ship – I don’t remember having it before. You follow the times printed on the info sheet or watch the nearest TV to see when it is your time to debark. We got finished with breakfast before 9:00am – I remembered that Heather, the social host that had done our trivia games was working the lounge – we were able to trade our medals for a 24k gold plated plastic piece of ship on a stick! (It now joins the Holiday, Elation & Ecstasy ships in our china cabinet). Around 9:00am the last zone was called and we joined the back of the line. They were down to around 15 people left on the ship when we got off. Debarkation, unfortunately, was a nightmare from this point. The lines were so long to get through customs. It was almost 11:30 when we finally got to our car. Next time I would definitely get up early to get off the ship at the VIP time.

General Comments

We were not sure what to expect on the Fantasy – I knew it was several years since the last drydock and so was expecting to see some normal wear and tear. I did not see it anywhere! I was very impressed with the condition of the mini-golf course – it was in great condition! We have sailed much newer and recently refurbished ships whose golf courses have been in deplorable condition. We sat in one place in the show lounge where there was a smell so bad that we had to move – I thought it smelled musty and moldy, DH thought it smelled like someone had been sick there recently. Some Febreeze definitely would have helped. Our stateroom steward was Conrad and he was awesome! I only visited two public restrooms but both were clean and orderly (DH said his were, too). All of the social staff that we interacted with were pleasant and fun. All of our food was tasty – everything was hot when served. I had omelets two mornings – not much of a wait. The only time we had trouble finding a table to eat was lunchtime on Friday around 1:00. We decided to come back at 1:30 and then had our choice of tables. The ice machine seemed to always be broken on one side each day – always the side that I tried first, LOL! The first night, DH almost ordered the cheesecake for dessert, but decided that he could get that at the buffet at lunchtime – but, not this cruise – no cheesecake offered during lunch at all. The chocolate buffet was also very limited, but that may just be because the ship has such limited space. We purchased a bottle of Captain Morgan’s from Bon Voyage and brought on our own soft drinks. After deducting the price of our Chef’s Table and our tips from our Sail & Sign account, we only spent $74.19. (Internet charges were almost $10.00 of that as DH had to pull email each day for business.) This was a very nice cruise at a very nice price and we would not hesitate to sail on the Fantasy again.

Thank you for the review. We have sailed on the Fantasy twice and found it, surprisingly, our best cruises so far.

Thanks for the review, nice to read some recent ones! We leave on the Fantasy next Wed. and are very excited!

P.S. Thanks for the tip on the $9.99 bucket of beer, we'll be sure to check that out! Less than half the price of Carnival's!

Thank you for the review. We have sailed on the Fantasy twice and found it, surprisingly, our best cruises so far.

Thanks for the review, nice to read some recent ones! We leave on the Fantasy next Wed. and are very excited!

 

P.S. Thanks for the tip on the $9.99 bucket of beer, we'll be sure to check that out! Less than half the price of Carnival's!

You are both welcome! Have a great cruise, andie1969!! :)

Thanks for this review. DH and I go on our first cruise this Wednesday on the Fantasy. We are so excited that I can hardly sleep. lol Thanks again for the review.

RECEPTION

Parmesan Core & Olive

Chorizo & Dates, Piquillo Sofrito

Focaccia, Mascarpone Cream & Prosciutto Crudo

Langoustine & Sundried Tomato Jam Fritters

MENU

Tomatoes Our Way!

Aerated Tomato Juice, Cocoa Butter Coated, Chardonnay Poached

Tuna Banh Mi

Lemon Bread, Sesame Crisp, Miso Cream Avocado gel

Cornish Hen

Caramelized, Butternut Squash, Sofrito

Bavarois

Spinach, Green Peas, Warm Turnip & Apple Juice

Salmon

Herb Pesto, Cured Tomatoes, Carrots, Fava, Mushroom Earth, Condensed Beets

Wagyu

Slow Stewed short ribs, Potato Pebbles, Pumpkin Fudge, Tomato Dust

Dessert

Chef in a Candy Shop]

 

They have changed the menu since we did it last month and this sounds just as yummy!!!

 

The chef reported that this was only the 2nd week of the new menu. :)

Thanks for the review! We'll be onboard in March....can't wait!

Thanks so much for the review.we cruise the fantasy in may. Was the cabin nice?ours is u140:can't wait!! :p

We just got off the Fantasy on Wednesday. Our trip was very similar to yours- we did a lot of the same things, even ordered a lot of the same foods! :) We did not do the Chef's Table, though. Maybe some other time.

That's weird that Heather didn't give out Ships on a Stick. On our cruise, Orlando did all the trivia, and he always had them. We won 5 of them, so we kept one and gave the other 4 away to random kids. I think Orlando was hoarding the ships on sticks, actually, because when we played "name that song" in the piano bar, we won medallions, and the piano player said there weren't any ships on a stick left, but Orlando always had some!

At our past guest party, Risa messed up the part where they show all the Carnival ships. She was always "off" and not calling out the right ship that was being shown on the screen, so it was hard to clap for the ships you've been on. At one point, she even said "Not a lot of clapping in this group." That's probably because she was confusing everyone! :p

Not a lot of people went to the Fun Farewell party. They listed it in the FunTimes, but don't really promote it at all. If I hadn't heard about it on Cruise Critic and knew there would be free drinks, we probably wouldn't have gone. The drinks were similar to the ones available at the PG party, but there weren't any appetizers. It was pretty much just the band playing, and dancing. We thought there might be a game or activity, but there wasn't. Risa and some other staff folks attended, but they just welcomed people at the door, and didn't do any formal presentation.

nice review, any pics?