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My Carnival Fantasy Review March 12th - 18th 2011


Chef P

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Carnival Fantasy March 12th ~ 18th 2011

 

Prior to Embarkation

I booked this cruise about 3 weeks prior to sailing, and chose an Ocean view cabin. We are a family of three and all are platinum cruisers with Carnival.

Our goal was to leave Ontario around 3am Friday morning and arrive in Charleston around dinner time…LOL ..well anyone who knows me, knows I change my mind all of the time and decided if the weather is crappy we will leave earlier in the day… So with the forcast in mind, we decided to leave right after school let out Thursday afternoon…. OOOOpppsss imagine the look on my face when I see the forcast Thursday morning when we awoke… Torrential down pour for the entire drive…we quickly packed the truck and said to hell with sending our Daughter to school…LOL

We left customs at Buffalo at 9:45am, and made a quick shopping stop in Erie PA, and was back on the road for a very CRAPPY drive in the rain…we finally stopped in Lake Norman, NC ( Mooresville ) at about 9:30 pm and pulled into the Fairfield Inn…. Everything about this hotel was great, the room, the rate and especially the breakfast…..

 

We awoke to SUNSHINE…. Imagine the excitement after a day of travel during torrential down pour…

 

Our excitement was soon turned to sorrow when we heard on the news of the Earth quake in Japan,

Our thoughts and prayers go out to the residents of Japan…

 

We continued on our driving journey, arriving at the Holiday Inn Express ( 350 Johnnie Dodds Blvd Mount Pleasant ) Charleston at 11:20am, The hotel was booked with Priority club points, we were allowed to keep the car parked for the duration of our cruise.

They allowed us to check in immediately… and we headed for a some lunch and some shopping… We were so happy that we arrived when we had, it gave us plenty of time to check out the area and of course the cruise port….So much to see and do in this port, the history alone was fascinating…Let alone the architecture….

 

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During this time we had decided we couldn’t really navigate how or where we were supposed to park our car while on the cruise, as I found the lack of signage at the terminal or any information relating to this, so we opted for a taxi…

 

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We awoke at 7am and quickly showered and enjoyed the breakfast that the hotel provided, I have nothing but great things to say about this hotel and its staff, I had forgotten to print my documents and luggage tags, and the printer in the business centre suddenly broke and wouldn’t print… They allowed me to print everything I needed from behind the front desk… Thanks Girls.. J

 

 

The hotel arranged a taxi for us for 10am,, with Green Taxi, although very pleasant, I wouldn’t recommend them The driver claimed he wasn’t allowed in the taxi drop off area for the ship, since his rates were too LOW… We paid $ 30 from the hotel to the ship for the 3 of us… He dropped us off behind a restaurant, and we had to DRAG our luggage through a stone parking lot and across the street ourselves !!! . L the drive was just 8 or 9 minutes to the cruise port from the hotel…

This is where you get dropped off for the ship,

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This is where you wait for the shuttle to take you to the ship..... :)

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This is where the shuttle takes you to the ship, I did a 360 to show you...LOL

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Having never cruised from Charleston before, I wasn’t too happy with the set up of having to take our own luggage to the bins and load them ourselves ( No porters to handle our luggage )and take a shuttle, a shuttle I exclaimed, to where ??? I can see the ship,…LOL … We were told to come back at 11am, we headed to the market to check out the locals and their wares… Great place to waste some time… We stopped in at Kilwin’s to purchase some chocolate for the Maitre’d Dessie ( more on that later )

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Sunday ~ Day at Sea…..

We woke early and had breakfast from the buffet, and then took our seats around 8:30 poolside for the rest of the day, as the day went on we witnessed lots chair hogs and tons of drunk college kids …. in that order….LOL

 

This evening was Formal night, and the Captain and his officers we out and about in the Via Marina Promenade Deck looking dapper as usual… I found the Captain and his officer’s to be very friendly and approachable…. After meeting the crew we ordered some Pomtini’s from the Martini bar and took a seat near the formalities shop and did some people watching …

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Dinner was served by our head waiter Kristan as Ismail ( Assistant ) took over the table next to us, and the service with Kristan was FABULOUS…. Quick but not RUSHED….. we were out of the dining room at 9:40.. J

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A quick trip through the casino where I lost $ 20 on the slots, another quick walk on deck 11 and back to the cabin to get ready for our day in Nassau….

Up and at them early again today, as the ship arrived in Nassau at 7:00 am and we were the second ship to arrive and docked next to the Glory, the Disney Dream and was also in Nassau for the day…

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We quickly went to the straw market to look for a Coach Hat for my friend and then took a taxi to the Atlantis for $ 4.00 per person and the driver charged us a dollar for the toll on the Paradise Island bridge…

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The Straw Market ( just opening )

 

Once at the Atlantis we purchased the wrist band for $ 60 each and it included the walk through the aquarium, access to the beaches and the pools and lunch ( choice of burger, hot dog, chicken sandwhich and fries or a salad, with a soda ( refillable all day ) We walked past the lagoon which looked kind of dirty to me, and headed to Cove Beach I think it was called…Hung out for a few hours as it was fairly windy and soon became VERY CROWDED….. We wandered through the aquarium once more and then took a taxi back to the port and shopped a little more…

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The Beach Area

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The Beach area,

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The walk back....

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Once back on board, we hung out again in the pool area and watched the college kids board the ship with their Senor Frogs Yard glasses….LOL

This evening was the Chef’s table… J What an AWESOME experience it was… The table consisted of myself, my husband, our 13 yr old DD , an older couple, and two adult sons and their father….

Chef Rakesh, met us in the atrium bar and guided us to the Pavillion Library / Lounge, where we were greeted by some servers and began our wonderful experience. I am working on a review with food pictures and will post this at the end of my review….

But a Sneek Peek

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After this wonderful dining experience, we dropped our DD off at Circle C ( Mental note, Circle C activities on this ship are geared for teens with Early dining, most events took place while we were at dinner , late seating ) and did what has become our nightly ritual, a walk around the ship outside…. The stars were amazing to see as the Fantasy no longer has the string of lights reaching to the funnel… :( I miss seeing the ship lit up…..

Off to bed as tomorrow was another early day for Freeport, one of the ports I had never been to and was anxious to see if it was as bad as most seem to think….

We utilized the Free wash and fold as a Platinum perk, and sent out two bags of laundry…

Freeport............

The port itself was exactly what I was expecting, industrial….. J

We took a taxi to Port Lucaya where we were one of only a few who were on the beach that early… The public beach is right next door to the Radisson, The Radisson is available on a day pass for $ 49 per person and includes use of their restrooms, pools, chairs ( beach and pool ) as well as Water and lemonade..

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We choose to pay $ 10 each for a chair and were given a wrist band, Several vendors approached us offering their wares, one guy was selling local beer 3 for $ 10, the Bars didn’t open until 11am and when they did we had wished we bought beer from the beach vendor as the bars were selling their beer for $ 4.50 a bottle…. :rolleyes:..lol ... Still cheaper than the ship...LOL

The past guest party was today from 5:00- 5:45 pm in the Universe Lounge, we opted for our nap. A new ritual for us… LOL …. Our petite fours were in the cabin when we arrived back on ship, but threw them away since we didn’t know how long the shrimp had been un-refrigerated….:(

The platinum gift was in the cabin, and it was the pen / paper set… But there was only one.. And we had three platinum cruisers in the cabin, I asked the room steward, and he said policy is now one per cabin… I called down to Guest services and they said there was 18 platinum cruisers on board and CCL’s new policy was one per cabin….

This evening was more dancing in the dining room, and again we had Ismail serve us, Our table was the last to leave the dining room, we all were so exhausted ..( 10:15 ) The poor kids at the table could have fallen asleep….

We arrived back to our cabin to discover, one bag of laundry was done but the other WASN’T, So I called the room steward and he AGAIN told me it was CCL’s Policy of one bag per cabin, What the HELL, why the cut backs ?.....LOL…..

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During this time we had decided we couldn’t really navigate how or where we were supposed to park our car while on the cruise, as I found the lack of signage at the terminal or any information relating to this, so we opted for a taxi…

 

072.jpg

We awoke at 7am and quickly showered and enjoyed the breakfast that the hotel provided, I have nothing but great things to say about this hotel and its staff, I had forgotten to print my documents and luggage tags, and the printer in the business centre suddenly broke and wouldn’t print… They allowed me to print everything I needed from behind the front desk… Thanks Girls.. J

 

 

The hotel arranged a taxi for us for 10am,, with Green Taxi, although very pleasant, I wouldn’t recommend them The driver claimed he wasn’t allowed in the taxi drop off area for the ship, since his rates were too LOW… We paid $ 30 from the hotel to the ship for the 3 of us… He dropped us off behind a restaurant, and we had to DRAG our luggage through a stone parking lot and across the street ourselves !!! . L the drive was just 8 or 9 minutes to the cruise port from the hotel…

This is where you get dropped off for the ship,

088-1.jpg

This is where you wait for the shuttle to take you to the ship..... :)

089-1.jpg

This is where the shuttle takes you to the ship, I did a 360 to show you...LOL

087-1.jpg

Having never cruised from Charleston before, I wasn’t too happy with the set up of having to take our own luggage to the bins and load them ourselves ( No porters to handle our luggage )and take a shuttle, a shuttle I exclaimed, to where ??? I can see the ship,…LOL … We were told to come back at 11am, we headed to the market to check out the locals and their wares… Great place to waste some time… We stopped in at Kilwin’s to purchase some chocolate for the Maitre’d Dessie ( more on that later )

 

I wanted to add that my experience was far different than yours. We took the free shuttle from the Hampton Inn Mt. Pleasant and he drove right up to a gate (with one quick stop so security could check our IDs and boarding pass--we didn't have to get off). As we were scrambling out of the van the porters were taking our luggage off. They went in one direction and we walked thru a gate and boarded a large bus to be shuttled over to the terminal (maybe a city block, probably not even that).

 

I had the same experience in July 2010.

 

Your taxi was a bad deal!

 

I'm glad you took some pics that I never even thought of taking :)

 

Pat

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Sunday ~ Day at Sea…..

We woke early and had breakfast from the buffet, and then took our seats around 8:30 poolside for the rest of the day, as the day went on we witnessed lots chair hogs and tons of drunk college kids …. in that order….LOL

 

This evening was Formal night, and the Captain and his officers we out and about in the Via Marina Promenade Deck looking dapper as usual… I found the Captain and his officer’s to be very friendly and approachable…. After meeting the crew we ordered some Pomtini’s from the Martini bar and took a seat near the formalities shop and did some people watching …

1330.jpg

Dinner was served by our head waiter Kristan as Ismail ( Assistant ) took over the table next to us, and the service with Kristan was FABULOUS…. Quick but not RUSHED….. we were out of the dining room at 9:40.. J

1425.jpg

A quick trip through the casino where I lost $ 20 on the slots, another quick walk on deck 11 and back to the cabin to get ready for our day in Nassau….

Up and at them early again today, as the ship arrived in Nassau at 7:00 am and we were the second ship to arrive and docked next to the Glory, the Disney Dream and was also in Nassau for the day…

155.jpg

We quickly went to the straw market to look for a Coach Hat for my friend and then took a taxi to the Atlantis for $ 4.00 per person and the driver charged us a dollar for the toll on the Paradise Island bridge…

162.jpg

The Straw Market ( just opening )

 

Once at the Atlantis we purchased the wrist band for $ 60 each and it included the walk through the aquarium, access to the beaches and the pools and lunch ( choice of burger, hot dog, chicken sandwhich and fries or a salad, with a soda ( refillable all day ) We walked past the lagoon which looked kind of dirty to me, and headed to Cove Beach I think it was called…Hung out for a few hours as it was fairly windy and soon became VERY CROWDED….. We wandered through the aquarium once more and then took a taxi back to the port and shopped a little more…

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&

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The Beach Area

 

Was the $60 worth it? I'm going back in July with the family, and wondered about the price. Thanks!

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Pat

 

During this time we had decided we couldn’t really navigate how or where we were supposed to park our car while on the cruise, as I found the lack of signage at the terminal or any information relating to this, so we opted for a taxi…

 

Having never cruised from Charleston before, I wasn’t too happy with the set up of having to take our own luggage to the bins and load them ourselves ( No porters to handle our luggage )and take a shuttle, a shuttle I exclaimed, to where ??? I can see the ship,…LOL … We were told to come back at 11am, we headed to the market to check out the locals and their wares… Great place to waste some time… We stopped in at Kilwin’s to purchase some chocolate for the Maitre’d Dessie ( more on that later )

 

I am so sorry you had such an ordeal. I live in Charleston and have taken out of town friends to board the ship several times. They drive into town, come to my house and I take them there (about 8 minute trip), drop them off and hold their cars for the week at my house. I return on debarkation day with the hubby, bring them their car, and then they are off! Each and every experience was met with signage and porters.

 

I am wondering if it just wasn't an "off day" for some reason or perhaps you were a bit too early. I have always arrived with my friends around 11 am to noon and the drop off has been smooth, quick, and the porters were grabbing their luggage as fast as they could get out of the car.

 

Try Charleston again sometime. You may be pleasantly surprised.:)

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I wanted to add that my experience was far different than yours. We took the free shuttle from the Hampton Inn Mt. Pleasant and he drove right up to a gate (with one quick stop so security could check our IDs and boarding pass--we didn't have to get off). As we were scrambling out of the van the porters were taking our luggage off. They went in one direction and we walked thru a gate and boarded a large bus to be shuttled over to the terminal (maybe a city block, probably not even that).

 

I had the same experience in July 2010.

 

Your taxi was a bad deal!

 

I'm glad you took some pics that I never even thought of taking :)

 

Pat

 

Pat, I am so glad you posted about your experience with the shuttle drop off, makes so much more sense .... Although a couple on the shuttle said this is their third time since January and they experienced the same situation all three times, now I am sure it is how early we arrived... Next time I will stay at a hotel with shuttle...

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Was the $60 worth it? I'm going back in July with the family, and wondered about the price. Thanks!

 

 

I would say it would depend on the weather, if it was really warm the ocean would be Enjoyable as well as the pools... Both were extremely cold, and it was windy so we didn't use either .... The aquarium was nice but I don't think most paid to walk through there...

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I would say it would depend on the weather, if it was really warm the ocean would be Enjoyable as well as the pools... Both were extremely cold, and it was windy so we didn't use either .... The aquarium was nice but I don't think most paid to walk through there...

 

Thanks. I never saw the entrance altho I thought we walked all over...except when "road blocked".

 

Regarding boarding, last year we were onboard about 11:30. Last week I threw a hissy-fit when the shuttle driver said they'd pick us up between 11:30 and 11:45. However, it was a smooth and fast boarding at that time!

 

Leaving the ship was easier than last year because I knew to have the shuttle phone number with me, and called after we cleared customs. I knew NOT to walk over to the taxi area and get stiffed by a taxi again (something about the port charges them a fee to come to pick up people?).

 

BTW, to anyone going, watch for the dolphins playing. I never had time to put my telephoto lens on the camera so my pics weren't that great, but there were a ton of them playing beside the ship. Also when we left they were beside the walking area.

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We were on this sailing also. We stayed at a hotel with a shuttle, the driver tried to drop us off at around 10:30 am, but they would not let him in the parking lot. He drove us around a little and then parked in the Harris Teeter parking lot where we could see the entrance. The first shuttles and taxis were allowed in at 11:15. The porters were there at this time, very smooth check-in from that point.

 

We had a great cruise! Loved Dessie, we were in the early seating.

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Upon returning to our cabin we also discovered, since we were Canadian, and we were arriving in Key West Wednesday we had to present ourselves along with several hundred other non US citizens………..

We had to bring our sail and sign cards, passports and be in the Disco at 7:30 AM…. Now I was just plain ol’e ticked off, We arrived at the Disco at 7:20 and the CCL staff were barely organized… They had to cross of each passenger’s name, then we were allowed to take a seat inside the disco ( not enough seats for hundreds of people ) They had coffee, juice and pastries available. Once we docked at 8am, Customs and Border patrol came aboard the ship and we formed a line to present ourselves to the officers, and once again CCL staff crossed our name off the manifest lsit…

By 8:15 my family was cleared through customs and we headed to the dining room for a quick breakfast… Then off to town aboard the Trolley to Mallory Square.. The ride is just about 10 or so minutes…

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We walked down towards Kai Kai ( the Sandal shop ) and did some shopping along the way, stopping at Willy T’s .. I had planned to purchase some sandals but as I was trying some on, The sales clerk was extremely rude to a fellow shopper, so I decided that store didn’t need my business and we left…

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We were going to stay in port and stop at a few bars but we decided to go back to the ship and enjoy the peace and Quiet….

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J Coming back to the ship they check your sail and sign card and your photo ID as you enter the naval base… The lido deck was scarce, nobody around, the Adult Serenity area was busy but other than that the ship was like a ghost town… J

We ventured up on deck for sail away from Key West , Quickly showered and enjoyed the sunset before dinner ...

Dinner was served by Kristan tonight, .. Thanks goodness as I was exhausted from not having our ritual nap and having to be up so darn early for customs..

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