Just Off Fascination Review 10/16 - 10/21/10

[Cruisin'Trooper]

Background: This was cruise number 9 for wife and I, number 6 for us on Carnival, and number 5 for our 3 year old son. We took father-in-law and sister-in-law along with us.

 

Embarkation: We arrived at Jaxport at 11:30am and we were on the ship by 12:30pm. Jaxport was a breeze to go through and very relaxed. Nobody rushing you to unload, etc. Lines were easy to get through and since the terminal is one level and the ship loads from the ground floor, no elevators or escalators to mess with. One thing to note is to have your Funpass and Passport ready when you enter the port since security checks you out on the main road. We saw a car have to stop in the lane and go through their suitcases to find their documents.

 

First Impressions: Very clean and up to date looking for a 16 year old ship. This class is not much to look at from the outside but great on the inside. While some/most of the pictures on the CCL site of her are not actually of her, the real deal is fine. All of the elevators worked, crew was polite, and none of the tacky typical CCL decor. Typical shops and sales. First timers will like all that they see and repeat CCL guests will recognize everything as the same ole same ole.

 

We were on board by 12:30 and were able to rent a Cabana for Half Moon Cay (4 left at 12:30). More about HMC later ....

 

Lido Buffet was clean and food was good. Place was a little packed due to everyone there waiting for rooms to be ready, but it was fine. Weather was incredible so most folks grabbed lunch and went outside.

 

Cabin: We had 2 balcony cabins on the Upper deck, aft, starboard side. Cabins were ready at 1:30 on the dot and the room was fresh and clean. Wife and I noted that this was the frist time the room did not look like it needed to be dusted or salt washed off windows/balcony. Everything was stocked and ready to go. Steward never stopped by to introduce himself and only smiled and waved in hallway, but that is fine with us. The flatscreen TV is a nice upgrade to this class ship and like every cruise, you'll get to know all about what is going on in Denver, CO since the TV stations are all from there!:D

 

Muster: Muster Drill never ceases to amaze us. We have had it on the deck, in the vest, in the lounge, etc. before. Seems like the Captain gets to decide what he wants his ship to do. This time we were in the lounge, then we all walked upstairs and completed it on the deck, so we got the best of both worlds! Only thing missing was the vests.

 

Dining Room: Once again we opted for Your Time Dining which was in the Sensation Dining Room. The first night the staff was a little iffy to us, so we requested a different section the second night. This time the waiter and team were great! Not very personable and talkative like you normally get, but that is fine with us. Bring the food, keep the drinks full, and we are all set. The food was great as usual and the menus were the same as the rest of the fleet. After sailing on RCI and Princess, it is the CCL food that keeps us coming back. The Maitre D was a funny little guy from Turkey. My wife commented that all of the past Maitre D's are tall and handsome Italian guys, but not this time! This guy reminded us of Squigy from Laverne and Shirley. but very cordial and warming. He stopped by each night and chatted with our son who got a kick out of that. The dining room entertainment was not as great as past cruises, but hey, we are there to eat.

 

Entertainment: Shows and CD were fine. Typical CCL stuff during the day and night. Nothing out of this world and everything was good. There was a group of Mayberry fans on board who were in each of the talent shows and karokee shows, so they kept things fun.

 

Port of Calls: Nassau is getting old to us, but the weather was fantastic! We were in port with Carnival Fantasy and Disney Wonder. We did a glass bottom boat ride through CCL and it was enjoyable. We noticed that there were not as many hustlers on the street as usual, so that was a nice surprise. Might be the time of day and the amount of tourist, but nice change nonetheless.

 

Our second stop, HMC, was the whole reason we took this particular cruise. Everyone who has been keeps telling us to go to HMC so we did. Well, mother nature had other ideas in mind, so after sitting there looking at HMC in the rain from our balcony, the Captain decided to skip the stop! This day became a day at sea and they replaced HMC with Freeport for the following day. Freeport is basically an industrial town. There is nothing to really do there and the main shopping village is 11 miles away from the port. There is a little group of shops at the port, but they are all the same and nothing to see. Freeport is no HMC, but thats alright, we are still on vacation!

 

Myths and Rumors: I want to dispell some things that I have been reading on CC. 1) We had a towel animal and piece of chocolate every night. 2) There was a past guiest cocktail party, but no pin. 3) There was a midnight mexican buffet. 4) The bathroom had the little dish full of samples and the shower had the Tangerine Lemongrass shower gel and shampoo.

 

Disembarkation: We had breakfast this morning at 6:30am in the MDR. We did the "Self Assist" disembarkation method and were called at 8:10am and we were in the car at 8:35am and home at noon. It was a smooth process from start to finish and I'd recommend this ship to anyone!

[pungo3]

Thanks for such a well thought out review! Reading this reminds me why I love cruising on Carnival so much. Even though the ships differ greatly in decor, it seems they all provide an enjoyable cruise that is familiar and even predictable. :D

[Surbie]

thanks for the review. we cruised the fascination in 2008 and loved her!

[JeanieTheMom]

Thank you for the review. You covered things I wanted to know.

 

I can't wait for my B2B in Jan-Feb!!

[Cruisin'Trooper]

Thank you for the review. You covered things I wanted to know.

 

I can't wait for my B2B in Jan-Feb!!

 

If you have anymore questions feel free to ask!

[Indiansbaseball]

I am leaving on the October 30th sailing !! I can't wait. I am sooooo sorry you missed Half Moon Cay and I pray that does not happen to us. It is the reason I booked this cruise also.... I would rather have another sea day then Freeport. Glad you had fun and thank you for the review !

Jen

[Megan_Strick]

[

Embarkation: We arrived at Jaxport at 11:30am and we were on the ship by 12:30pm. Jaxport was a breeze to go through and very relaxed. Nobody rushing you to unload, etc. Lines were easy to get through and since the terminal is one level and the ship loads from the ground floor, no elevators or escalators to mess with. One thing to note is to have your Funpass and Passport ready when you enter the port since security checks you out on the main road. We saw a car have to stop in the lane and go through their suitcases to find their documents.

 

 

I had to stop the car and dig in my suitcase. Didnt have to do that in PC. Kind of aggrevating.

[gapearl]

Thanks for your review. I'm sorry you didn't make it to HMC but hopefully you will get to see it on another cruise in the future. What did you end up doing in Freeport? I would love to see pictures of the ship if you have any.

[halterk]

We sailed on her on Oct. 2, and I did not like Jaxport!

The lines were forever long. I didn't time it to see how long it took to board, but it seemed like hours to me.

To their defense, Carnival did make an announcement saying that one of their machines that were taking pictures of you when you board was not working, and that was causing the long delays.

[airlink diva]

Thanks for the great review about the Fascination Cruisin Trooper!

I sailed on her in 2001 and to this day still recall my first time sailing on a cruiseship!

Fascination will always have a soft spot in my heart and I'm glad to hear that she is still bringing others joy!

I really hate that about Half Moon Cay! I just hope you get a chance to visit it one day! It's truly the perfect beach day!

I agree with Freeport, it's ok, but one of those ports that just don't appeal to me.

Thanks again!

[Cruisin'Trooper]

[

Embarkation: We arrived at Jaxport at 11:30am and we were on the ship by 12:30pm. Jaxport was a breeze to go through and very relaxed. Nobody rushing you to unload, etc. Lines were easy to get through and since the terminal is one level and the ship loads from the ground floor, no elevators or escalators to mess with. One thing to note is to have your Funpass and Passport ready when you enter the port since security checks you out on the main road. We saw a car have to stop in the lane and go through their suitcases to find their documents.

 

 

I had to stop the car and dig in my suitcase. Didnt have to do that in PC. Kind of aggrevating.

 

Being a state law enforcement official, I can tell you that the ports and their security measures are a cornicopia of procedures where nothing is uniform all over FL. Jaxport for example uses the local PD, a private security company, a port security team, Carnival secuirty, and Homeland Security all doing separate little tasks. Canaveral does it a little different, and Tampa is totally opposite than all of them, so you never know what you are going to get until you get there.

[BOUDREAUX]

We will be going on this ship in Feb 05 2010 and I'm so looking forward to going to see HMC. Thank you for writting a quick and to the point review.

B

[nursenan]

We were on the May sailing and had a good cruise too. Just checking to see if Bitter & Blanc was offered in the dining room for dessert. I have read from a Fantasy post that it was no longer offered on 5 day sailings.

[missdebi]

35 Days and we will be sailing on her~~thanks for the review! This will be my 3rd time on the Fascination~great crew, great food, love her~:)

[Cruisin'Trooper]

We were on the May sailing and had a good cruise too. Just checking to see if Bitter & Blanc was offered in the dining room for dessert. I have read from a Fantasy post that it was no longer offered on 5 day sailings.

 

Yep it was there! Bitter and Blanc, Baked Alaska, Grand Marnier Soufle, Tiramisu, and the ever famous Warm Melting Cake were all available!!

[lollylew]

I have this shipped booked for next September and love reading anything and everything about her! I will be doing the Key West/Nassau route (have been to both ports already) but am looking forward to sailing on one of the Fantasy class ships with all the upgrades (i.e. staterooms, Waterworks) since the last 3 Fantasy class ships I have sailed on DIDN'T have them yet!

 

If you have any pictures that you can share, that would be great! :D

[Cruisin'Trooper]

I have this shipped booked for next September and love reading anything and everything about her! I will be doing the Key West/Nassau route (have been to both ports already) but am looking forward to sailing on one of the Fantasy class ships with all the upgrades (i.e. staterooms, Waterworks) since the last 3 Fantasy class ships I have sailed on DIDN'T have them yet!

 

If you have any pictures that you can share, that would be great! :D

 

All of our pics are really not of the ship perse, but of us with the ship. I can tell you that the balcony room are very nice and clean, the main areas are well decorated and clean, and the waterworks was great (our 3 year old love it) and everything is basically the same CCL, just a tad smaller. We actually like the layouts of this class and find it easy to manuever.

[shari1737]

I was on this cruise as well & had a fabulous time! Except for missing HMC-have never been & was so excited! Anyway, I wanted to ask you if you had heard about the guy that passed out in the hot tub on Monday night? I have been trying find out if the guy is ok. I had heard he died but cannot confirm that. I just pray they are wrong & he really is ok. Did you hear anything about it?

 

Thanks

Shari