Carnival Fantasy Review & Pics/ June 5th, 2010 Sailing

[CarnivalCruiseLover]

I LOVE your review and how you are doing it with your pics. Great pics, great writing.

 

I leave on the Valor in September, and after reading your review, and looking at your pics, I am now even more excited about my upcoming cruise!

 

You are a great reviewer!

[All4fun&fun4all]

Heading back to the ship we of course had to take pics of the cool sculptures and perhaps molest a few....it happens.

 

On the way back to the ship

 

 

Sculpture behind the museum titled "The Daydream" by J. Seward Johnson

 

 

A sculpture painting the sculpture

 

 

Bad Andrew...very bad Andrew

 

 

Buh-Bye Key West...you are awesome.

 

 

On a sidenote: all those drinks kinda caught up with us and didnt think we would make it back to the ship. We needed to utilize the latrine and fast! Luckily there are bathrooms right on the pier. No pictures of that...sorry!

 

Now, onto the past guest party

Edited June 17, 2010 by All4fun&fun4all

[OCruisers]

THANKS! Great Report! :)

[All4fun&fun4all]

Past Guest Party: My favorite party of the cruise. We have turned this into a bit of a competition to see how many drinks we can get into our bellies in an hour. I love the part where you scream for the ships you have been on. So far 3 cruises...only 2 ships.

 

The hors d'ouvers were tasty as could be and service of drinks and said hors d'ouvers was really speedy.

 

Hors d'ouvers & drinky drink porn

 

 

 

Happy Andrew again

 

 

Happy me...LOVE past guest party

 

 

We fit in alot of drinks in that hour. WAAAAYYYY too many perhaps. We would not be making it to dinner tonight. I stopped at the sushi bar and got this:

 

 

And then got a little more sushi and some SAKI!!!

 

 

We headed back to our room which was either a good thing or a bad thing. Those blue margaritas were STRONG!

[Tiffany1203]

Here and there you will see parts of the walkway with little paw prints in it. You can see all six toes.

 

 

Uninterested kitty says he doesnt care...he's not interested.

 

 

 

Excuse me kitty, your 6th toe is showing.

 

 

Big kitty.

 

 

Kitty house that looks like the main house.

 

 

 

Not interested kitty and little mustache kitty

 

 

There were also 4 kittens that were in a pretty big cage and on the sign it said they were getting used to all the sounds and the people before they were let loose. Now for some pictures of the grounds. I am sure you are tired of all this kitty talk.

 

I LOVE this!! I had a Hemingway furbaby for 10 years! He was all black and his name was Thumbs!

 

I miss him everyday!:(

[All4fun&fun4all]

This is the mess that is me at this point. This is the point right before I crashed for 4 hours at 7pm at night.

 

 

I totally crashed out and the Andrew went to run around the ship on his own. He would come down to the room every 20 minutes or so when he came back for his beer to make sure I was ok and to see if I was ready to join him. Eventually he got me to wake up. We headed down to the Piano Bar.

 

 

Sing along with Rick was going on. Very talented musician...go check him out. Here is Rick.

 

 

Maybe it was the tequila but I was irritated and that is not like me to be in anything but a silly happy giddy mood. It took me awhile to snap out of it. Was a little hungry too so we went down to the grill but the grill was closed. I dont really eat pizza anymore so we headed back down to the cabin for some room service food. It was there in no time flat. About 10 minutes I would say.

 

Room Service Food Porn

 

Medium Rare Roasted New York Strip Loin and Brie Cheese

 

 

Grilled Reuben Sandwich with Corned Beef

 

 

The chips were hiding a bite mark. OOPS

 

After room service was consumed, Andrew did this

 

 

Time for bed...Freeport in the morning and we are gonna try to get up in time to eat breakfast in the MDR!

 

Day 3= Over-inebriated! Yet, freakin awesome!

[Camdenscott4]

Day 3= Over-inebriated! Yet, freakin awesome!

 

:D:p I see a running theme here! :D:p So where do we tune in to catch the PG13 and R rated review?? ;)

[All4fun&fun4all]

More tomorrow folks! The Internets are slow out in the country. Thanks for all your positive feed back and your patience! Glad you are all enjoying it! :)

[All4fun&fun4all]

:D:p I see a running theme here! :D:p So where do we tune in to catch the PG13 and R rated review?? ;)

Tee hee. I am gonna try to sneak it on here. Will they let you publish photos where someone is flipping off the camera? Seriously almost every picture I have of Andrew he is flipping the camera off.

[CBussey64]

This is one of the most funniest reviews I've read in a long time. Thanks!

[jpmaximus]

Terrific review and pictures!!

[PianoSidekick]

I would like to live in a forest of them too!

 

We stopped in to watch you play one of the evenings we were out wandering. Great show! We didnt meet formally but you were at our muster station. We were standing pretty much next to you in the very back (closest to the ship) of the four lines. We thought it was cool when you said "thats it...lets go" right before the guy on the loudspeaker said it.

 

Are you going to be hanging with Fantasy for awhile?

 

I DO remember you guys! You're right that we didn't meet formally, but we'll have to fix that. :D

 

I hang out on the ships when I can. I have a life on land and must primarily be here for that. :( I'd love a job on the ship, but in reality Rick and I would probably be apart even more if that were the case.

 

The Internets are slow out in the country.

 

You DID try the sat connection on the ship, right? And you're still saying they're slow "in the country"? Gotta lmao at that one. :D :p

 

Also LMAO @ that picture of Rick! Every ship does a new one, and he dressed up really nice for it. Too bad the photo lab lost it! heh heh

 

That photo is on no sleep, a sunburn, a bad tooth and wet hair on casual night. It's in the scrap book. :D Thank you so much for including it here! The photo of Andrew would have been better if it had been during PB hours with Rick in the background and Andrew's mouth open singing! *grin*

 

Thank you so much for posting the "mess that is me" photo. Rick feels much better now (except that you're really still beautiful and he's really still a sunburned mess, but we won't tell him that. Shhhhhh. )

 

I am SOOOO jealous of the late-nite food porn pics! I tried the room service number from the crew cabin, but it just went "beep beep beep". *grin*

 

LOVE LOVE LOVE all of the photos and reviews of both the ship and the excursions. This is truly the best, most detailed, in-depth review I've ever read, and I'm honored it's for the Fantasy Charleston run. They should hire you as a Review Critic. ;)

 

LY,

Pam

[SeaYa52]

Really enjoying your review. Headed for Folly tomorrow for a pre-cruise anniversary trip (#34). Then DH drops me off Monday for a girlfriends cruise while he and the other guys go to Pinehurst. Hope I can read about the rest of your cruise before we sail......loved the kitty pics too.

:D

[adbnva]

great review. you got me hooked. we will be going in the fall. don't know how many years ago (a lot) i got 2 pair of those sandals. they are made just like that. i have tan & navy.

questions. do they have a cruise critic party on that cruise? did they have that place above the buffet that has oysters & bouibase (Spell). do they offer any kind of happy hour? were those strong blue margaritas @ the past cruisers party. thanks ad

[CrzGrl62569]

I love, love, love your review! Can't wait to read more. You seem like really fun people!

[adbnva]

forgot to ask you. can you bring 2 bottles of wine on board? thxs

[All4fun&fun4all]

do they have a cruise critic party on that cruise? did they have that place above the buffet that has oysters & bouibase (Spell). do they offer any kind of happy hour? were those strong blue margaritas @ the past cruisers party. thanks ad

 

We didnt get together on our roll call to organize a cruise critic party. I am not sure how they do it but we did meet up with a few folks from our roll call in passing.

Not sure about the oysters on the buffet. We mainly did the buffet for breakfast.

There are morning drink specials (Bloody Mary & Mimosas) every day from 8am-12pm except the first day onboard and last day. There is a Farewell Party (check your FunTimes) that offers free drinks for an hour. Everyday there is a Drink of the Day drink special. If you are a Past Guest you will get an invite to the Past Guest reception which is also free drinks for an hour. Those margaritas put me on my keister. They were pretty strong and I am not a lightweight.

 

forgot to ask you. can you bring 2 bottles of wine on board? thxs

Yes, you can. We brought 2 bottles on board along with some other stuff but we wont get into that right now. ;)

[All4fun&fun4all]

I love, love, love your review! Can't wait to read more. You seem like really fun people!

Thank you! We like to think we are! :o

[All4fun&fun4all]

Okie dokie. Let me get back on track here.

 

Freeport: We pulled into port early in the morning and I am still trying to figure out if that noise is bow thrusters or what. Doesnt matter because now we are awake early enough to finally get our breakfast in the MDR. (happy dance...happy dance) We both had...

 

...Eggs Benedict

 

 

and boy oh boy was that yummy. We had been talking about those eggs benedict for MONTHS now and here they are...dripping with yumminess. We also had coffee which tasted better than what they have at the buffet. It is probably exactly the same thing but maybe it just tastes better because someone is pouring it for me. Also, had some orange juice. The Andrew was not really feeling breakfast-ish this morning

 

 

We went back to the room for a short nap before heading out to explore Freeport. Since I had occupied my bed during the hours the steward would turn down the bed we didnt get a towel animal the previous evening. But no worries, Big C left one for us this morning. A crab?

 

 

By about 12;30 I was able to get my guy moving and dressed so we wouldnt miss Our Lucaya.

 

 

Sorry its fuzzy. Cold camera and warm outside= fogged up lens.

 

Once you head off the ship here you walk a little ways to a covered area where taxis are lined up. The ride out to Our Lucaya is $5.00 each way which for a 20 minute ride in the air condition was not bad!

 

Find one in every car. (That is a Repo Man reference for those of you in the know)

 

.

 

This is what the van looked like that we rode in.

 

 

Our drivers name was Duck. What was funny is that in Freeport they drive on the left side of the road and this vehicle was a right hand drive. The seats in the back filled up and there was a seat in the front open. The girl that was to sit in the front got in on the right hand side and Duck said "oh no lady, you cant drive". It was hilarious.

 

He gave us a little background on the history of the island. Sweet...a mini tour! At this point I had my first *slaps head* moment of the cruise. There was a lady with her two pre-teen kids in the van with us that were sitting behind me. On the way to Lucaya there are several American fast food joints and this girl behind me kept exclaiming "MCDONALDS momma, BURGER KING momma, KFC! Momma why are they drivin us past all these places I been cravin all week!" Really kid...you are eating some of the greatest food onboard and you want crap? *slaps head*

[All4fun&fun4all]

The taxi lets you off at the casino. Across the street I see our first destination. Make sure you cross at the crosswalk or the lady will yell at you.

 

 

We hopped on over to the liquor store and bought a liter of Appleton rum for $12.00. Not a bad deal. We couldnt find Bacardi at this store but heck, rum is rum and we are about to be on a beach with blue blue blue water! We walked a little ways further down and whadda ya know...another liquor store and they sold Bacardi. DOH!

 

We stopped by this really cool store. Havana Trading Company. I love the Ma and Pa chairs out front.

 

 

Inside there is a guy hand rolling cigars. It smelled like HEAVEN in there. There is a glass fronted refrigerator in the back on the left and we got a few diet cokes and the local Bahamian beer, Sands. Here are the drink prices at Havana.

 

 

Not too shabby. We headed down to the beach which was a short walk. Here is where we plopped our butts in the sand.

 

 

That little shack is where you can set up your varied watersport adventures (parasailing, jetski rental, banana boat ride etc.) I put our towels on the ground and took in our surroundings.

 

Representing SC y'all

 

 

I love this picture of Andrew because if you look at it the right way (or the wrong way) the girl in the background looks like she is standing directly behind him and is only 6 inches tall.

 

 

The water here is so beautiful. I could sit there and stare at it for hours. If you are looking for a peaceful/quiet beach then this is not the beach for you. We are easy-going folks who dont get bothered by much. Other folks however may be put off by the sound of jetskis taking off right next to you while you are swimming but we were cool with it. Keep in mind the jetskis are being rented by amateur riders so heads up...literally. Would you like to see some cool pics of us swimming and our surroundings? Yeah? OK!

[All4fun&fun4all]

Toes in the sand

 

 

Just so beautiful...little storm skirted by

 

 

Look out for the jetskis Andrew

 

 

Hooray!

 

 

Took this one for my son

 

 

The water almost seemed like it was glowing

 

More beachy pics in a minute. Let me continue with my story. We brought along an empty water bottle that we filled with the rum we bought. No bottles on the beach. This is what we did here: Sip sip on water bottle chase with diet coke, run out to the ocean and swim, dodge random jetskis and banana boats, sip sip on water bottle chase with diet coke, stumble out to ocean and spin in circles...rinse repeat. Andrew went back to that Havana store several more times for Sands beers.

 

More beachy pics comin up.

[All4fun&fun4all]

Peace y'all

 

 

Lizard. Saw a few of these runnin around.

 

 

The Prop Club. We didnt go in here but how can you NOT take a picture with a plane

 

 

Lots of activity going on

 

 

We were just about to pack up our things to find some souvenier tshirts for my two boys when out of the blue this dude walks up with tshirts for sale! NICE! 2 for $15 bucks. Of course he offered to sell us...well...ya know. My suggestion to you is either go for it or dont. I plead the 5th.

 

Duck, our shuttle guy, was coming back for several of us at 3:30 but we didnt make it in time. Ah well. There are tons of shuttles at the casino area. There is a restroom in the casino and I used it but felt a little weird going in there with my wet bathing suit on. Awkward. We hung around waiting for enough people to fill the van. It took maybe 10 minutes of waiting. We chit-chatted with some frat dudes who were on a different ship. The ride back was $5.00 pp but this time there was no a/c. Thats ok. We just opened all the windows. Ahhhh fresh air.

 

Remember our little water bottle? Oh yeah, almost forgot about that. We are professional drinkers but there is no way that we could consume a liter of rum in a matter of 2 hours. I mean, we totally could but my liver would probably shrivel and die. So here is where we have reached the dilemma. Do we dump what we have or just try to carry it onboard? If they take it from us, so what. I am out a water bottle and the equivalent of $6.00. Andrew walked right onboard with the "water" bottle in hand. That was waaaayyyy too easy. But it happened!

 

Back onboard for the DOD: Gombay Smash

 

 

For some reason, in my head, I pictured this drink blue. I dunno!

 

Sailaway from Freeport

 

 

I ran down to the room to make another cocktail and totally missed something amazing. But, have no fear, the Andrew was quick with his camera. Check out what he saw happen!

[goldwinger88]

Thanks for the review and keep it coming.

We sailed the Glory last month and are going out on the Fantasy in Sept.

[All4fun&fun4all]

This is the pilot boat

 

 

From what I have heard (and correct me if I am wrong) but there is a harbor pilot that navigates the trip out of the harbor

 

 

Then the pilot boat makes its way up to the ship and the pilot climbs off the ship onto the pilot boat

 

 

Crazy isnt it?

 

 

And off he goes

 

 

Into the sunset

 

 

How cool is that? I told Andrew the story about the pilot boat when I read someones review on here months ago and they had pictures. I cant believe he ACTUALLY got that series of pics and I curse myself for running downstairs and missing it. GRRR

[Sarapdot]

Loving your pics and review. We'll be going to these ports in Nov. Can't wait for the rest. :D