Also on 3/4 Fascination Cruise

I was also on this cruise...starting a new thread so it's easier to answer any questions.

Had an excellent time. PLENTY of taxis at the airport in San Juan. Stayed at the Hyatt House Hotel the night before...excellent hotel. Used Uber to get to the port Sunday morning, about noon. Had a group of 24 with assigned boarding times from 1pm to 5pm...and all of us were on the ship by 1. The boarding times were never looked at.

The ship was fine. The Lido Deck has all of the 2.0 upgrades and the rest of the ship looks good. Yes, the Muster Drill was too long. Carnival is now scanning everyone's Sail and Sign card to make sure everyone attends. this takes awhile.

Went to Emerald Beach Resort in St. Thomas after hearing that Sapphire Beach was closed. Got there about 10. Had a nice day.

Went to The Boatyard in Barbados. Big place with a lot of room. Again, there about 10 and got chairs and umbrellas on the front row. Good time for all of us.

In St. Lucia we did the Island Tour with Cosol Tours...great day.

In St. Kitts we did the Reggae Beach trip offered by Liz Pereira Tours. Fabulous beach day. St. Kitts is the most beautiful island any of us have ever been to.

St. Marteen is still in rough shape. We went to Karakter Beach Bar...what a wonderful surprise. The nicest of any of the beach club/bars we visited.

I'm happy to answer any questions...might be a little slow to respond...but I'll get to them.

Good read - thanks for sharing.

Any pictures of the 2.0 upgraded areas?

Can you post cost for each tour/excursion?

I'm curious what made St. Kitts stand out as the most beautiful? Thanks.

Any pictures of the 2.0 upgraded areas?

Sorry, no pics.

Did you book your excursions or through the ship??

Thanks so much for posting your review!

Can you post cost for each tour/excursion?

St. Thomas-Taxi to Emerald Beach Resort was $8 per person each way. We told our taxi driver what time we wanted to return to the port and he was there to pick us up. No admission fee. Chairs and umbrellas were $7 each.

Barbados-Taxi was $5 per person. $20 entrance fee to The Boatyard included one chair, a shared umbrella, a free drink, a snorkel tour, and a shuttle ride back to the port.

St.Lucia-Island Tour with Cocol Tours was $75 per person. 5 hour tour of the island included food and unlimited beer, rum punch, soft drinks, and water.

St. Kitts-Reggae Beach Excursion was $20 per person. Basically a ride to and from the beach club, with a stop on the way for pictures from Timothy Hill...where the Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea meet. $5 for a chair and $5 for an umbrellas...no admission fee.

St. Marteen-$8 taxi to Karakter Beach Club...again we told our driver what time to pick us up. No admission fee and the chairs and umbrellas were free if you ordered food and drinks.

I'm curious what made St. Kitts stand out as the most beautiful? Thanks.

The ride from the port to Reggae Beach Club followed the coast...the views of the beach and the turquoise water was breathtaking. The road is high above the coastline, so you get a wonderful view.

Did you book your excursions or through the ship??

Thanks so much for posting your review!

You're welcome! We did not book anything through Carnival. Emerald Beach Resort is a hotel that allows you to use their beach...no reservations taken...just show up and walk around the building to the beach. there is someone there to set up your chairs.

The Boatyard in Barbados...no reservations taken. Just show up and pay at the entrance. Chairs and umbrellas are already set up...choose your own spot.

St. Lucia...made reservations thru Cosol Tours website. They contacted me through email to confirm.

St. Kitts...made reservations thru Pereira Tours website. You can also message Liz thru messenger on her Facebook page. She replied immediately.

St.Marteen...Contacted them thru their website and made reservations.

St. Thomas-Taxi to Emerald Beach Resort was $8 per person each way. We told our taxi driver what time we wanted to return to the port and he was there to pick us up. No admission fee. Chairs and umbrellas were $7 each.

Barbados-Taxi was $5 per person. $20 entrance fee to The Boatyard included one chair, a shared umbrella, a free drink, a snorkel tour, and a shuttle ride back to the port.

St.Lucia-Island Tour with Cocol Tours was $75 per person. 5 hour tour of the island included food and unlimited beer, rum punch, soft drinks, and water.

St. Kitts-Reggae Beach Excursion was $20 per person. Basically a ride to and from the beach club, with a stop on the way for pictures from Timothy Hill...where the Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea meet. $5 for a chair and $5 for an umbrellas...no admission fee.

St. Marteen-$8 taxi to Karakter Beach Club...again we told our driver what time to pick us up. No admission fee and the chairs and umbrellas were free if you ordered food and drinks.

Was the tour in St.Kitts on a flat surface? I'm scared of driving up and down hills. Thanks

OP- should we book excursions before we go or are they available at the ports? I'm talking private not carnival

Thanks for the report.

Keith

Was the tour in St.Kitts on a flat surface? I'm scared of driving up and down hills. Thanks

The island is definitely not flat. Nothing drastic, but you do experience ups and downs. The roads in St. Kitts are in good shape, so it's a fairly smooth ride.

OP- should we book excursions before we go or are they available at the ports? I'm talking private not carnival

Was it worth it to go with Liz since it was just a trip to beach and back. Would a taxi been cheaper/better?

Was it worth it to go with Liz since it was just a trip to beach and back. Would a taxi been cheaper/better?

I'm not sure what the price of a taxi would be. We had 18 in our group and she had a shuttle that carried all of us...plus she reserved chairs and umbrellas. Also, we received a free rum punch. If you have less people, I would think the price of a taxi would be similar for the trip there and back.

I was also on the 3/4 Fascination cruise. A group of 4 of us and I cannot say a single bad thing about the cruise or ship. We had an unbelievable time. It was my first time to any of these ports. We flew in a day early and stayed at Hotel Milano in old San Juan. It was just okay. We didn't spend much time in the room but they had a nice rooftop restaurant where we ate. We walked around and did a little shopping, picked up some cokes at the CVS to take on the ship. Walked around quite a bit in Old San Juan the next day as our boarding time was 3:00 to 3:30. We visited the forts which were really cool and did some more shopping.

Embarkation was so smooth. Just walked right on the ship as there were no lines due to the staggered boarding times. I have been on the Dream several times so was a little worried about a smaller ship but I ended up LOVING it. Could get around very easily all over the ship and learned my routes quickly. We had anytime dining which was also my first time for that and loved it. Everyone on the ship was so friendly. We had great room stewards and also great wait staff in dining room each night. Loved Guys burgers, the deli, pizza and all the other food we had. It was very very good.

St. Thomas was our first stop and there was some rough weather prior to us getting there so we were told only two beaches were open. We took a taxi to Emerald Beach club I think it was called. Nice beach. Nice bar on the beach with decent prices. Try the Painkiller. Delicious. I think taxi there was around 8.00 each way and we told our driver what time to be back and they were right on time.

Sea day was nice and relaxing, our only sea day. Hung around the pool, serenity deck and hit casino a little.

Barbados we walked out of the port with no particular plans and found a taxi driver with a nice air conditioned toyota larger type van. Her name was Malik. She was great. For 30.00 each she took us on our own private tour. Visited a beautiful church where they were cooking fresh fishcakes and tried those. Then went to the top of the mountain and got out and walked around, took pictures and had some delicious rum punch. She took us to a nice beach club in Bridgetown (can't remember the name now) and asked us what time we wanted to leave. We decided to stay a couple hours and she picked us back up. We didn't rent chairs because we weren't going to be there long enough. They delivered drinks to the beach which was nice. Water was beautiful but still a little rough. We left around 2 shopped a little at the port and were back on the boat by 4.

St. Lucia was my favorite. We did Spencer Ambrose tour. We didn't book ahead of time but walked through the port and saw a girl holding a Spencer Ambrose tour sign so we decided on this one. They took us by Speedboat out to a beautiful beach (Sugar Beach) between the two Pitons. The tour included chairs to the left side of the dock as the other chairs belonged to a resort there. Plenty of chairs and umbrellas, a cooler full of beer, water, sodas and rum punch. They served a nice buffet lunch and even had snorkeling gear. This beach was absolutely gorgeous. We stayed there about 2-3 hours I believe. I did try the snorkeling right before we left and saw tons of beautiful fish right there at the beach. Speedboat ride back (around 30 mins) and were back on the boat by 330.

St Kitts we decided to wing it again, found a taxi to take us to Cockleshell beach for around 6 dollars each way I think per person. Let us get out on the top of the mountain where we took beautiful pictures. He dropped us off at this little bar/beach with umbrellas/chairs which I think were 5 each for the chairs and included an umbrella. The bar I believe was called Lions club. Cheap drinks/beers and had a delicious lunch of ribs which my husband and I split. I think lunch was around 16 dollars. Local beer was 2 and rum punch was 5. We had a nice time here and walked up and down the beach. I think the Reggae beach club was down a bit from us.

St. Maarten was I believe the prettiest water I've ever seen. It looked like it was dyed blue. We took a water taxi over to the beach you can see from the cruise ship. It was 7.00 and you could use it all day. Absolutely beautiful beaches and really nice shopping. We walked around for a long time, went into one of the many bars and had lunch and a bucket of beers. Put our towels down on the beach vs. chairs/umbrellas since we were only going to stay at the beach for hour or so. Nice clear calm water. I loved St. Maarten.

Got back to boat and went and had our last dinner in dining room. We ate in dining room 5 our of 7 nights. We did see two shows, Diva and another one I can't remember the name of. Both were good. We went to comedy club and loved it, the last night there was a mentalist/comedian in the Palace theater who was really good.

We got back in port and debarkation was effortless. We carried our own luggage and was off the boat by a bout 745. We stayed the night in Old San Juan at a place called Villa Herencia which was beautiful. A very small boutique hotel, almost like a bed and breakfast. Headed back home on Monday.

We really really really enjoyed this cruise. I cannot say a single bad thing about any of it. If your on the fence, GOOOOO. We loved the ship and all the ports. It was a little exhausting but thats really my fault as I have FOMO (fear of missing out) so we were on the go a good bit of the time. Not a whole lot of down time on this cruise.

I'm not sure what the price of a taxi would be. We had 18 in our group and she had a shuttle that carried all of us...plus she reserved chairs and umbrellas. Also, we received a free rum punch. If you have less people, I would think the price of a taxi would be similar for the trip there and back.

Thank you. I think I will try to go with her.

I was also on the 3/4 Fascination cruise. A group of 4 of us and I cannot say a single bad thing about the cruise or ship. We had an unbelievable time. It was my first time to any of these ports. We flew in a day early and stayed at Hotel Milano in old San Juan. It was just okay. We didn't spend much time in the room but they had a nice rooftop restaurant where we ate. We walked around and did a little shopping, picked up some cokes at the CVS to take on the ship. Walked around quite a bit in Old San Juan the next day as our boarding time was 3:00 to 3:30. We visited the forts which were really cool and did some more shopping.

 

Embarkation was so smooth. Just walked right on the ship as there were no lines due to the staggered boarding times. I have been on the Dream several times so was a little worried about a smaller ship but I ended up LOVING it. Could get around very easily all over the ship and learned my routes quickly. We had anytime dining which was also my first time for that and loved it. Everyone on the ship was so friendly. We had great room stewards and also great wait staff in dining room each night. Loved Guys burgers, the deli, pizza and all the other food we had. It was very very good.

 

St. Thomas was our first stop and there was some rough weather prior to us getting there so we were told only two beaches were open. We took a taxi to Emerald Beach club I think it was called. Nice beach. Nice bar on the beach with decent prices. Try the Painkiller. Delicious. I think taxi there was around 8.00 each way and we told our driver what time to be back and they were right on time.

 

Sea day was nice and relaxing, our only sea day. Hung around the pool, serenity deck and hit casino a little.

 

Barbados we walked out of the port with no particular plans and found a taxi driver with a nice air conditioned toyota larger type van. Her name was Malik. She was great. For 30.00 each she took us on our own private tour. Visited a beautiful church where they were cooking fresh fishcakes and tried those. Then went to the top of the mountain and got out and walked around, took pictures and had some delicious rum punch. She took us to a nice beach club in Bridgetown (can't remember the name now) and asked us what time we wanted to leave. We decided to stay a couple hours and she picked us back up. We didn't rent chairs because we weren't going to be there long enough. They delivered drinks to the beach which was nice. Water was beautiful but still a little rough. We left around 2 shopped a little at the port and were back on the boat by 4.

 

St. Lucia was my favorite. We did Spencer Ambrose tour. We didn't book ahead of time but walked through the port and saw a girl holding a Spencer Ambrose tour sign so we decided on this one. They took us by Speedboat out to a beautiful beach (Sugar Beach) between the two Pitons. The tour included chairs to the left side of the dock as the other chairs belonged to a resort there. Plenty of chairs and umbrellas, a cooler full of beer, water, sodas and rum punch. They served a nice buffet lunch and even had snorkeling gear. This beach was absolutely gorgeous. We stayed there about 2-3 hours I believe. I did try the snorkeling right before we left and saw tons of beautiful fish right there at the beach. Speedboat ride back (around 30 mins) and were back on the boat by 330.

 

St Kitts we decided to wing it again, found a taxi to take us to Cockleshell beach for around 6 dollars each way I think per person. Let us get out on the top of the mountain where we took beautiful pictures. He dropped us off at this little bar/beach with umbrellas/chairs which I think were 5 each for the chairs and included an umbrella. The bar I believe was called Lions club. Cheap drinks/beers and had a delicious lunch of ribs which my husband and I split. I think lunch was around 16 dollars. Local beer was 2 and rum punch was 5. We had a nice time here and walked up and down the beach. I think the Reggae beach club was down a bit from us.

 

St. Maarten was I believe the prettiest water I've ever seen. It looked like it was dyed blue. We took a water taxi over to the beach you can see from the cruise ship. It was 7.00 and you could use it all day. Absolutely beautiful beaches and really nice shopping. We walked around for a long time, went into one of the many bars and had lunch and a bucket of beers. Put our towels down on the beach vs. chairs/umbrellas since we were only going to stay at the beach for hour or so. Nice clear calm water. I loved St. Maarten.

 

Got back to boat and went and had our last dinner in dining room. We ate in dining room 5 our of 7 nights. We did see two shows, Diva and another one I can't remember the name of. Both were good. We went to comedy club and loved it, the last night there was a mentalist/comedian in the Palace theater who was really good.

 

We got back in port and debarkation was effortless. We carried our own luggage and was off the boat by a bout 745. We stayed the night in Old San Juan at a place called Villa Herencia which was beautiful. A very small boutique hotel, almost like a bed and breakfast. Headed back home on Monday.

 

We really really really enjoyed this cruise. I cannot say a single bad thing about any of it. If your on the fence, GOOOOO. We loved the ship and all the ports. It was a little exhausting but thats really my fault as I have FOMO (fear of missing out) so we were on the go a good bit of the time. Not a whole lot of down time on this cruise.

Thanks for the glowing review. Was getting worried when I saw a few bad reviews.

I was also on the 3/4 Fascination cruise. A group of 4 of us and I cannot say a single bad thing about the cruise or ship. We had an unbelievable time. It was my first time to any of these ports. We flew in a day early and stayed at Hotel Milano in old San Juan. It was just okay. We didn't spend much time in the room but they had a nice rooftop restaurant where we ate. We walked around and did a little shopping, picked up some cokes at the CVS to take on the ship. Walked around quite a bit in Old San Juan the next day as our boarding time was 3:00 to 3:30. We visited the forts which were really cool and did some more shopping.

 

Embarkation was so smooth. Just walked right on the ship as there were no lines due to the staggered boarding times. I have been on the Dream several times so was a little worried about a smaller ship but I ended up LOVING it. Could get around very easily all over the ship and learned my routes quickly. We had anytime dining which was also my first time for that and loved it. Everyone on the ship was so friendly. We had great room stewards and also great wait staff in dining room each night. Loved Guys burgers, the deli, pizza and all the other food we had. It was very very good.

 

St. Thomas was our first stop and there was some rough weather prior to us getting there so we were told only two beaches were open. We took a taxi to Emerald Beach club I think it was called. Nice beach. Nice bar on the beach with decent prices. Try the Painkiller. Delicious. I think taxi there was around 8.00 each way and we told our driver what time to be back and they were right on time.

 

Sea day was nice and relaxing, our only sea day. Hung around the pool, serenity deck and hit casino a little.

 

Barbados we walked out of the port with no particular plans and found a taxi driver with a nice air conditioned toyota larger type van. Her name was Malik. She was great. For 30.00 each she took us on our own private tour. Visited a beautiful church where they were cooking fresh fishcakes and tried those. Then went to the top of the mountain and got out and walked around, took pictures and had some delicious rum punch. She took us to a nice beach club in Bridgetown (can't remember the name now) and asked us what time we wanted to leave. We decided to stay a couple hours and she picked us back up. We didn't rent chairs because we weren't going to be there long enough. They delivered drinks to the beach which was nice. Water was beautiful but still a little rough. We left around 2 shopped a little at the port and were back on the boat by 4.

 

St. Lucia was my favorite. We did Spencer Ambrose tour. We didn't book ahead of time but walked through the port and saw a girl holding a Spencer Ambrose tour sign so we decided on this one. They took us by Speedboat out to a beautiful beach (Sugar Beach) between the two Pitons. The tour included chairs to the left side of the dock as the other chairs belonged to a resort there. Plenty of chairs and umbrellas, a cooler full of beer, water, sodas and rum punch. They served a nice buffet lunch and even had snorkeling gear. This beach was absolutely gorgeous. We stayed there about 2-3 hours I believe. I did try the snorkeling right before we left and saw tons of beautiful fish right there at the beach. Speedboat ride back (around 30 mins) and were back on the boat by 330.

 

St Kitts we decided to wing it again, found a taxi to take us to Cockleshell beach for around 6 dollars each way I think per person. Let us get out on the top of the mountain where we took beautiful pictures. He dropped us off at this little bar/beach with umbrellas/chairs which I think were 5 each for the chairs and included an umbrella. The bar I believe was called Lions club. Cheap drinks/beers and had a delicious lunch of ribs which my husband and I split. I think lunch was around 16 dollars. Local beer was 2 and rum punch was 5. We had a nice time here and walked up and down the beach. I think the Reggae beach club was down a bit from us.

 

St. Maarten was I believe the prettiest water I've ever seen. It looked like it was dyed blue. We took a water taxi over to the beach you can see from the cruise ship. It was 7.00 and you could use it all day. Absolutely beautiful beaches and really nice shopping. We walked around for a long time, went into one of the many bars and had lunch and a bucket of beers. Put our towels down on the beach vs. chairs/umbrellas since we were only going to stay at the beach for hour or so. Nice clear calm water. I loved St. Maarten.

 

Got back to boat and went and had our last dinner in dining room. We ate in dining room 5 our of 7 nights. We did see two shows, Diva and another one I can't remember the name of. Both were good. We went to comedy club and loved it, the last night there was a mentalist/comedian in the Palace theater who was really good.

 

We got back in port and debarkation was effortless. We carried our own luggage and was off the boat by a bout 745. We stayed the night in Old San Juan at a place called Villa Herencia which was beautiful. A very small boutique hotel, almost like a bed and breakfast. Headed back home on Monday.

 

We really really really enjoyed this cruise. I cannot say a single bad thing about any of it. If your on the fence, GOOOOO. We loved the ship and all the ports. It was a little exhausting but thats really my fault as I have FOMO (fear of missing out) so we were on the go a good bit of the time. Not a whole lot of down time on this cruise.

Thank you for this review! Makes me ready for 177 days to pass, so we can go. This is the second time I've heard hotel Milano isn't great, but the rooftop restaurant is. We will definitely stop by there, just not stay there.

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Does Carnival provide beach towels that you can take off the boat with you?

Does Carnival provide beach towels that you can take off the boat with you?

Yes...just be sure to bring them back or you will be charged for them on your account.

Yes...just be sure to bring them back or you will be charged for them on your account.

Awesome! Thanks for the response. We’ll be on the Fascination on 4/8 & that helps with packing lighter.

Was there any kayaking or stand up paddle boarding near the port St. Maarten? I have St. Lucia figured out : Cosol tours. St. Kitts, we are going with Thenford Grey. St. Thomas Godfrey tours. I believe with Barbados Carson taxi and tours? Carson taxi and tours quoted me $40 per hour, does that sound right, I want to see Bathsheda and Animal Flower cave? Anybody with any feedback to these would be great. Thank you