Fascination review - 11/8 to Key West & Nassau

[vacruizer]

Hi everyone!

 

Just back from the Fascination 5 day to Key West and Nassau. It was another great cruise and I wish I were back onboard now! I’ll apologize now if this gets too long-winded! We had a great time and really enjoyed most of the cruise with a few drawbacks in the entertainment area but I’ll get to that in a bit.

 

Travelers were me and DH for our 9th cruise but our first on a Fantasy class ship, my parents who had sailed Celebrity and Princess and my mother in law who was on her first cruise. I was a bit worried about my parents as they hated Princess. I really stressed myself out that my mom wasn’t going to like Carnival and would complain about everything but thankfully it all turned out great.

 

We left home in the mountains of Virginia very early on Saturday morning with my mother in law. I’m not a road trip person. I know it. But we were trying to save a little over flying and my mother in law was on a pretty tight budget. Between stops and several traffic jams in Georgia, we finally arrived at the Residence Inn Jacksonville airport 11 hours after we left home. I picked this hotel because of a great rate on a two bedroom suite and since it was near the airport where my parents would be flying in the next day. I’d highly recommend it to anyone who needs a basic hotel in Jacksonville. It was your typical business travel type place but the front desk was the friendliest I’ve ever experienced and the two bedroom suites are perfect for traveling in a larger group or if you have kids but still want some privacy. The rooms all have full kitchens as well. There are also plenty of restaurants and a Walmart nearby. The front desk will also arrange a shuttle to the cruise port for $9 pp if you are flying. We couldn’t fit all five of us plus luggage in my car so we booked the shuttle for my parents.

 

Our original plan for Sunday was to visit Fort Caroline and the Timucan preserve on Sunday afternoon once my parents’ flight had arrived but we visited Jacksonville during a cold snap and we decided it was too cold and windy out to attempt it. Jacksonville was under freeze warnings the first night we were there. We were glad we had checked the weather and repacked with some jeans and sweatshirts! Everyone enjoyed a relaxing Sunday and then Monday was finally cruise day!:D

 

More to come and some pics shortly...

[Tapi]

Thanks for your review in advance! We're taking this cruise in about three weeks so I'll be reading your review with great interest!

[NeverBeenThereEither]

Yay! I'm on the Fascination for my first cruise ever very very soon...can't wait to read more! Thanks!!

[vacruizer]

We arrived at the terminal just before noon which was later than I had planned.

 

 

Embarkation - long but the lines moved. We never had a chance to even sit down and wait for a zone to be called which was actually pretty taxing on the older people around. It was over an hour on our feet with carryon bags in tow. The lines just kept winding back and forth all over the terminal building. And speaking of older folks, well, looking around this was definitely the oldest sailing we’ve ever been on age-wise. We are close to 40 and we were the young ones in the crowd. The senior citizens arrived by the busload after busload on some type of huge tour. It made for a quiet ship for the most part except for the ones who were constantly complaining about something or how they were going back to Holland America. :rolleyes: Not kidding. We boarded just after 1pm and headed for Lido for lunch. It was a complete madhouse but to be expected on the first day.

 

I really enjoyed sailing down the river and under the Dames Point Bridge. Lots of neat birds and dolphins frolicking everywhere.

 

 

 

 

[vacruizer]

Service - excellent all around. This ship must have a great hotel director. Our steward, Dony, knew our names from the time we first met him and was always speaking to us by name in the hall and asking about our day. He kept our room spotless and my DH’s ration of diet Mountain Dews iced so we were happy campers.

 

We had a table in the aft Imagination dining room for the five of us and also had a wonderful experience there. Our waiter Nyoman and his assistant Martin took great care of us, also knew our names by the time they served the entrees the first night, and really got to know our preferences. After I told them I love the rye bread they even made sure I had some each night - something that has never happened on any of our prior cruises. The maitre’d was quite a character and visited our table every night to find out how dinner was. Also a first in nine cruises. I also saw him almost every morning in the lido buffet with his sleeves pushed up bussing tables. A great sign of a good manager is one who isn’t afraid to jump in for the dirty work when necessary. We also got great drink service from Rusdi near the casino and sushi bar each night. He knew our names, folio numbers, and drink preferences after the first night. I really can’t say enough good things about the hotel staff on this sailing.

 

Ship - the ship looks great. It was drydocked in January and you’d never know it’s an almost 17 year old ship. I found it easy to get around and the promenade never felt crowded. The Lido buffet in stayed crazy the whole cruise, though. Not sure if this is typical for the Fantasy class or just our particular sailing since the retirement home bus tours all seemed to eat on Lido together at the same time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[vacruizer]

Thanks everyone - hope I don't bore you!

 

Going to have to call it a night since I have to return to the real world in the morning. :( Will continue tomorrow evening.

[vacruizer]

Food - pretty much all the food we had was excellent. All the dishes I had in the MDR were excellent and the rest of our group enjoyed them as well. I highly recommend the jerk pork, the penne with eggplant and zucchini, and the lobster was really good and well prepared.

 

Quality was excellent but did notice less selections on Lido. What was listed on the diagram outside the buffet area showed the usual “taste of nations” on one side and the “grand buffet” on the other that typically has the carving station and side dishes. The carving station is gone and both sides served only the taste of nations each day. This was a bit disappointing to us - my mother in law is on a pretty restricted diet as she is both diabetic and had a heart attack in the spring. She often opted for salad since most other Lido items were heavy sauces or fried items. My mother tends to not like ethnic foods so she was disappointed when the main options for lunch were Mexican or Caribbean or whatever. She usually opted for the deli or occasionally a burger if the grill line wasn’t too long. The carving station with more typical American foods would have been a welcome addition for both of them. Not sure if it’s just this ship or a change from Carnival. The rest of us did fine with what was there. Certainly not a deal breaker - just an observation on a change we noticed.

 

Also missing was granola at breakfast, which is unfortunately what my MIL eats every morning. I kept telling her it would be available onboard and then of course it wasn’t on this sailing.:rolleyes: She had a tough time at breakfast since most foods were too fat laden and most of the cereals had too much sugar for her (her diet is VERY restricted, though.) I never could convince anyone in our group to try the MDR for breakfast or lunch.

 

The omelette station was very good and I really enjoyed the Mongolian when the lines weren't crazy. We certainly didn't go hungry - just noticed a few less choices available.

 

Got to head for the office now - will finish up tonight and add some more pics.

[LMH2010]

My DH and I were also on this cruise along with our kids who are 27 and 24. It was a family anniversary cruise.

 

We also noticed that we were in the minority as far as age goes! Lots of older folks, but I am guessing maybe the time of year had something to do with it? I don't really know.

 

We opted for anytime dining which was ok for us as far as not needing to be at the dining room at any certain time, and the lines were never long (we waited about 5 minutes only once) but we felt there were downsides to this too. Our first night we had a waitress who was very rushed. She said her assistant was pulled into the kitchen to help in there so we never got really decent attention. Not that we are needy but we felt very rushed in ordering. Then when she came over to give us our meals she didn't remember who had what and my husband just joked with her saying "guess who had what" and she said if you don't tell me I am going to just put the plates in the middle of the table. He wasn't actually asking her to guess, he was just joking around but that was the last time he did that! The second night was a little better, we had a different waiter, but the third and fifth nights (we ate in Key West for the 4th night) we had a really good waitress from Thailand. I don't remember her name but she was really good and even grabbed our daughter to dance with her! The downside to anytime dining is that the servers don't get to know you, don't call you by name and don't get to know any preferences. I'd go back to late seating just to have that little bit of friendliness brought back.

 

 

But, overall we had a great time and would do it again. Probably not the same itinerary, just to see different ports, but we will definitely cruise again!

[obx_fintoo]

Good start and looking forward to the rest of your review!

 

 

Thanks for your review in advance! We're taking this cruise in about three weeks so I'll be reading your review with great interest!

 

Tapi - you must be on our sailing. Come join our roll call... we are all getting excited!

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1180988

[nchikk]

Food - pretty much all the food we had was excellent. All the dishes I had in the MDR were excellent and the rest of our group enjoyed them as well. I highly recommend the jerk pork, the penne with eggplant and zucchini, and the lobster was really good and well prepared.

 

I'm glad you enjoyed this dish. When we sailed her in April, this one dish was the only negative thing we experienced from all aspects of the cruise. I and several tablemates ordered it and we all found it to be very dry, as if they had cooked it too far in advance and left it out...but the flavour was very good.

 

Looking forward to more of your review.

[vacruizer]

Ports - Nassau I woke up early to the early light of dawn which is rare for me.

 

Made it up to Lido for some coffee and just in time for the sunrise.

 

 

Dh and I just took the moms shopping since they’d never been to Nassau before. I got a better impression than I had on our first visit to Nassau but still not my favorite port. Our last few sailings we’ve stayed on the ship so at least we got to do something a little different. We mainly walked around a bit and watched our moms shop and then headed back to the ship. Rest of the afternoon Dh and I relaxed, enjoyed the serenity area some, and sat out on the balcony and read. Not a bad day on vacation.

Once we sailed there wasn't really much going on so we just watched the sea go by and wandered the ship some before getting ready for the past guest reception at 7pm that night.

 

 

 

[navybaby1113]

Great review so far.

[vacruizer]

Thursday was Key West - a port we had never been to and were pretty excited about. We have a good friend who used to live in Key West and visits all she can who really got us interested in the city.

 

We loved it!!! We were docked at the Navy base so we had to be shuttled in to town. After than we all walked down Whitehead Street to the Hemingway House and really enjoyed our visit and all the cats there. The parents were tired of walking so they headed back up the street to the Green Parrot (recommended by the aformentioned friend) and Dh and I walked down to the southernmost point and back.

 

 

You'll have to excuse all the cat pictures from the Hemingway House - we are a family of cat lovers and were in heaven with all the kitties around...

 

 

 

 

 

 

[vacruizer]

 

 

After the southernmost point, we spent a few hours in the Green Parrot - just my type of bar! Mostly locals, great bluesy jukebox, sort of a gritty feel to the place with a pool table and darts. Can't wait to come back!!!

 

 

 

After that we headed over to Duval (none of us were feeling ANY pain at that point):D and fought the crowds for a while. The Veteran’s Day parade was going on so Duval was pretty busy. We stopped for Key Lime Pie at a place called Matthessiens back on Whitehead and it was not really very good. We never found the Blonde Giraffe but I’d avoid the pie at the place we stopped.

DH and I really wanted to stay longer since we were in port until 10pm but my MIL wasn’t feeling well and my parents were ready to go back to the ship. They didn’t want to eat in Key West since they could have dinner on the ship. We told them to go ahead back without us but they refused. I knew my MILs blood sugar was getting low but she wouldn't leave without us so DH and I popped into Mallory Square just long enough to watch the sunset and then took everyone back to the ship. One of the hazards of traveling with older relatives I guess. Dh and I are already planning a week long trip to Key West to explore more. Both of us loved the quirky characters and the whole feel of the place, the beautiful homes and architecture and we’d love to hang out some more at the Green Parrot!!!

 

[vacruizer]

Warning - this will be my rant of the review so feel free to skip over this section if you want to only read the good stuff. :) But I'm a tell it like I see it person and feel strongly about this as a passionate Carnival cruiser and shareholder.

 

Entertainment - I’ll be honest here - this was the the worst of any cruise we’ve been on. I’ve been pretty vocal here about feeling like Carnival’s entertainment cuts are showing and this particular sailing was worse than I expected. I’m glad I was with a group of family to hang out with. We made our own fun and had a great time, but, - and I NEVER thought I’d say this - we were almost bored at times. Several nights we tried to find something to do and ended up in bed by 11pm for lack of anything that interested us and the lounges being dead or poor quality entertainment. I read a review a few weeks ago about errors in the Fun Times, lack of activities, and staff not showing up for listed activities and thought it was a fluke. Unfortunately, it seems to be an ongoing problem.

 

One of the things DH and I greatly enjoy about cruises are the various activities like trivia games, live music, and the shows/variety acts in the main lounge each evening. Lying in the sun by the pool all day really isn't our thing and we aren‘t big gamblers. So the entertainment really became an issue for us. We saw the CD, Trevor, thee times the whole cruise. Once at the welcome aboard show, once at the past guest party, and once at the farewell party the last night where he was chatting with the other crew members and not even bothering to greet those coming into the lounge.

 

We took my MIL to the welcome aboard show since it was her first cruise. We had the song and dance bit, two five minute teasers from the two comedy club comedians onboard, and that was it. None of the usual get to know your fellow cruisers or audience participation stuff. We did see one of the R-rated comedy shows later that night and he was really funny. The comedy club only operated on the first two nights and the last night, though. I think it would have worked better to schedule some each night instead since all the family shows were during late dinner and the last night we didn’t want to stay up to see the other adult show and there wasn’t much happening on Wednesday or Thursday night.

 

We enjoyed the Far from Over 80s production show on the first elegant night but other than pictures, there was really no reason to get dressed up. The “party” was all along the promenade but we walked up and down and it was just people milling around. One guitarist, never saw any of the officers, no introduction of the officers scheduled that we could find. This is the second time we’ve experienced the new Captain’s party and really wish they’d go back to the old format - even without the free drinks would be fine. It wasn’t about the drinks for us but more the festive atmosphere, the show band playing, the dancing, seeing the officers introduced, etc. There really wasn’t much to do other than pictures or grab a happy hour drink and sit.

 

On the third night of the cruise we were surprised to find no show at all in the lounge - it was listed as “activities night” which included some type of game that took place during our dinner seating and bingo. I guess I was expecting the usual of some type of variety act having seen various great singers, magicians, ventriloquists, jugglers, hypnotists, etc. on past sailings. Later that night was supposed to be “decades” night along the promenade with various music but the 70s/80s never happened in the disco and the DJ was pretty terrible so we finally left. Never found the 90s section and would have enjoyed the 50s if the DJ hadn’t been so terrible at mixing stuff and picking songs that weren’t good to dance to. We tried another lounge with a live band but they were having an off night and the singing was so out of tune we left. Then off to the cigar bar where we heard karaoke going on in the lounge behind it. Couldn’t take any more bad singing so we left there and went to bed.

 

Thursday we were in port in Key West until 10pm so they did a guest talent show in the main lounge instead of professional entertainment. They did have the deck party this night but we opted to skip it since were tired from port. I did check out the lido camera on the TV a few times and it looked pretty quiet. I think the large number of older cruisers on this sailing made for a very quiet cruise after 9pm or so.

 

We were looking forward to the second production show the last night as my mother in law worked for many years in theatre and specifically costuming so we knew she would enjoy it. She liked the 80s show but since most of the music wasn’t really from her era she was looking forward to something different. Sadly, we were in rough seas all day Friday and the show had to be cancelled. This I completely understand and the weather certainly isn’t Carnival’s fault. But it left us with basically only having seen one show in an entire cruise.

 

Daytime activities were sparse. Several times we went to activities or trivia listed in the Fun Times only to find no one from the entertainment staff showed up. The events we did attend the social hosts seemed a bit bored - not the typical fun and engaging hosts we are used to. They often spent more time laughing and joking with each other privately during an activity than they did actually running the event.

 

Just an example - Wednesday we were in Nassau from 7am-3pm. There was really nothing scheduled at all after we left port. No trivia, no music, movies - really just the pay stuff like the cheesy spa seminars or watch sales in the shops. We ended up just sitting and watching the sea for several hours before getting ready for the past guest reception at 7pm. The Capers and TV information in the room were full of misprints and bad information - wrong port times, wrong lounges listed, activities listed that didn’t happen, etc. Another example "Gangway Photos - 8am to 10am!" Umm - we don't dock until noon??? No big deal on the photos thing but the Fun Times were full of stuff like this with wrong locations and times.

 

I do wish with the music in the evenings Carnival would go back to keeping the same act in the same lounge all cruise. I found it confusing for each entertainer to be moving around the ship - you never knew where to find a particular group or artist unless you had your Fun Times handy. A group also only usually played in one spot for around 45 minutes before they moved on somewher else. The music onboard consisted of two solo guitarists, a Calypso duo with an 80s sounding synthesizer, and a band called Simple Friends. They were usually pretty good but seemed off a few nights with pretty out of tune singing at times so they were really hit or miss. We kind of forgot about the piano bar so can’t speak for that. I think with the piano bar away from everything else on a different deck it may tend to get overlooked. I definitely wasn’t fond of having to listen to Karaoke in the middle of the Promenade one night. Not my thing - if you enjoy it great - but put it in a lounge somewhere so that those of us who don’t enjoy bad amateur singing don’t have to listen. The show band is also down to just four musicians - pretty sad when you've experienced the full 'big band" show bands of past years.

 

I really hope Carnival gets it’s act together in regards to entertainment soon. Part of the problem on this sailing seemed to be the entertainment staff and CD not really meshing with each other, the poor planning of times for many events, the errors on places/times, and the entertainment staff not really seeming to want to interact with the passengers. I just found it odd that there was so little going on around the ship most of the time. Don’t know if the CD isn’t paying attention, is worn out, or what. The few evening activities all seemed to take place at 8:30pm so those of us with late dinner seating missed out. But combined with the older crowd and the lesser or poor quality entertainment options this was our one big disappointment of the cruise.

[navybaby1113]

That stinks that entertainment wasn't good on your cruise. We're big on entertainment too because we're from Florida, so we're not big lay on the beach-ers. Love the trivia and would definitely be disappointed if we didn't have that on a cruise.

[vacruizer]

That stinks that entertainment wasn't good on your cruise. We're big on entertainment too because we're from Florida, so we're not big lay on the beach-ers. Love the trivia and would definitely be disappointed if we didn't have that on a cruise.

 

They had some, just not much and several of those no staff ever showed up. I know some of it was Carnival's cutbacks and losing the last show to weather is certainly not Carnival's doing. I'm still chalking it up to an "off" ship as far as the lack of activities, nightime entertainment, and the not so great quality of some of the musicians. Definitely not what we experienced in May on the Pride.

[vacruizer]

Friday we had pretty rough seas which I thought was fun. I did the Behind the Fun tour with my parents and enjoyed it. It wasn’t as extensive as on the larger ships (DH and I did it on the Pride in May) but still neat to see the differences between the ships. My mom did get a bit seasick in the afternoon and evening and had to leave dinner but other than that we had a relaxing afternoon and evening and then packed up our stuff which is always sad. They replaced the cancelled production show with the show band playing in the lounge but only at 8:30pm so the late seating couldn’t go. Since the shows were cancelled we called it an early night with the long drive ahead of us on Saturday.

 

DH and MIL and I opted for self-assist debarkation. It was the easiest debark we have ever done - we were off the ship and through customs within two minutes of them calling self-assist for our deck and in the car and on the road by 8:45am. My parents had #19 regular debark since they had a later flight and said it took them about 30-45 minutes to get off the ship when they were called so I was glad we did the self assist this time. We finally arrived home around 8pm exhausted after another long day in the car but still happy from another great cruise.

 

Other random observations - LOVED the open air aft dining areas. One of my favorite spots ever on a ship. It was so nice to have breakfast and lunch overlooking the water with fresh air and a view of the open sea instead of glass like on the Conquest class ships.

 

The serenity deck is a great idea. Didn't spend a lot of time there but did enjoy the hot (and actually hot) tub when my back was bothering me after walking around Nassau and the padded loungers and soft music were nice.

 

I've already read here that one of the platinum guests on our sailing didn't receive a ship pin. We collect pins from all our travels - ships, ports, and land spots and put them on a big wall map of places we've been. I knew the pins were supposed to be for sale in the shops but they were nowhere to be found. First person we asked had no clue, she asked a second who also didn't know who then asked a third who went in the back and came up with an old gold pin shaped like the ship that just said "Fascination." It worked for our purposes but if you collect them they aren't readily available for sale like I'd heard.

 

I also really liked the very open feel of the Promenade on the Fantasy class. It never felt crowded to me. Now whether that's normal or not given that we seemed to be on a sort of "dead" sailing I don't know.

 

Five days isn’t nearly long enough! The cruise felt like it was over before it started and that by the first day, we were already anticipating having to pack up and leave in just a few short days. I’ve done a 6 day that didn’t feel like this so 6 days must be my personal cutoff on cruise length. It always takes a few days to get acclimated to the ship, find a bartender or lounge you like to hang out in, etc. and by the time that happened on this sailing it was almost time to leave!

　

　

Overall we really enjoyed the cruise and I liked the Fantasy class in general. I was really glad my MIL got to go - she usually isn’t able to travel much so this was a wonderful experience for her and she was in awe of the whole experience. While I was certainly disappointed in the entertainment, we made the best of it and still had a great time. It was a contrast to the stellar service everywhere else on the ship, but could have been an off week or just that particular entertainment crew not being the best.

Looking forward to my platinum cruise in January now!

　

　

　

 

Not really a good perspective of the wave height. I never did hear on the ship how high the seas were - the captain never did any weather announcements like other ships we've been on. I did find an offshore buoy not far from where we were sailing that showed 15 foot seas about the time we were nearby on Friday evening which seemed about right. Blue skies the whole way - just big waves which I love. Reminds me that I'm on a ship and not in a hotel. I guess it also helps that I don't get seasick.:p

 

 

 

One last set of towel animals for the road....

 

　

　

　If anyone has any questions, feel free to ask. I also have Fun Times I can check for stuff although my scanner is broken right now so I can't upload them.

　

　

[navybaby1113]

Thanks for the great review!

[YYJValerie]

Thanks for the great review! We're on this same cruise next week. Have to admit I'm a bit worried now. We came back to Carnival after going on a RC cruise mainly because we felt the entertainment was better on Carnival - a lot more going on and usually more interactive crews. Sounds like this may not be the case on this cruise. It's our 15th anniversary while we're onboard - hope we won't be too disappointed. :(:confused:

[vacruizer]

Thanks for the great review! We're on this same cruise next week. Have to admit I'm a bit worried now. We came back to Carnival after going on a RC cruise mainly because we felt the entertainment was better on Carnival - a lot more going on and usually more interactive crews. Sounds like this may not be the case on this cruise. It's our 15th anniversary while we're onboard - hope we won't be too disappointed. :(:confused:

 

Don't worry too much. We still had a great time and the service was really top notch from the waiters, bar staff, & our room steward. I was pretty disappointed, too, but we found other ways to enjoy our vacation - got some reading done, chatted with some of the crew, spent time with family, and just enjoyed the sea. This definitely wasn't typical of the normal Carnival entertainment I've experienced which is probably why I was so surprised by it. Everything other than the entertainment part was great.

[HokieDeb]

Thank you so much for your review and photos. My family and I will be on the same ship in a week - same itinerary too! (We'll also be driving from the beautiful mountains of Virginia.) :)

 

I do have a question about elegant night. How many are there on the 5-day cruise? I started packing tonight and would find it helpful to know this info.:rolleyes: Thanks.

[vacruizer]

Thank you so much for your review and photos. My family and I will be on the same ship in a week - same itinerary too! (We'll also be driving from the beautiful mountains of Virginia.) :)

 

I do have a question about elegant night. How many are there on the 5-day cruise? I started packing tonight and would find it helpful to know this info.:rolleyes: Thanks.

 

 

Only one elegant night on the five day. Have a great time!!!

 

I'm thinking from your screen name you may not be too far away from me :p - we are in Roanoke. We decided not to take I-81 to 77 down like all the maps say and went 220 south out of Roanoke all the way down into South Carolina and picked up I-95 in Darlington. It didn't take any longer and was a MUCH nicer drive without all the traffic around Charlotte. Worth a shot if you are a back roads person - there is a section through South Carolina of back roads and a couple of small towns to wind through. Probably depends on where you are starting from if this would work for you or not (or if you are an interstate or back road person.):p

 

The leaves were gorgeous from here down through NC during the drive - hope they aren't all gone by the time you leave. :)

[HokieDeb]

Only one elegant night on the five day. Have a great time!!!

 

I'm thinking from your screen name you may not be too far away from me :p - we are in Roanoke. We decided not to take I-81 to 77 down like all the maps say and went 220 south out of Roanoke all the way down into South Carolina and picked up I-95 in Darlington. It didn't take any longer and was a MUCH nicer drive without all the traffic around Charlotte. Worth a shot if you are a back roads person - there is a section through South Carolina of back roads and a couple of small towns to wind through. Probably depends on where you are starting from if this would work for you or not (or if you are an interstate or back road person.):p

 

The leaves were gorgeous from here down through NC during the drive - hope they aren't all gone by the time you leave. :)

 

Thanks again. We're not too far from Roanoke - just up I-81/I-64 in Waynesboro. The last time we drove to Jacksonville (to see our Hokies win the ACC Championship) we drove to Richmond and down I-95. We'll probably do the same. This past January, we drove the same route to Port Canaveral to cruise on the Carnival Dream. This will be a much different cruise from the Dream and we're just as excited. :p

Have you been to Atlantis in Nassau? We have two boys (ages 10 & 7) and thought a visit to the aquarium there would be fun for all.

[Megan_Strick]

Hi everyone!

 

Just back from the Fascination 5 day to Key West and Nassau. It was another great cruise and I wish I were back onboard now! I’ll apologize now if this gets too long-winded! We had a great time and really enjoyed most of the cruise with a few drawbacks in the entertainment area but I’ll get to that in a bit.

 

Travelers were me and DH for our 9th cruise but our first on a Fantasy class ship, my parents who had sailed Celebrity and Princess and my mother in law who was on her first cruise. I was a bit worried about my parents as they hated Princess. I really stressed myself out that my mom wasn’t going to like Carnival and would complain about everything but thankfully it all turned out great.

 

We left home in the mountains of Virginia very early on Saturday morning with my mother in law. I’m not a road trip person. I know it. But we were trying to save a little over flying and my mother in law was on a pretty tight budget. Between stops and several traffic jams in Georgia, we finally arrived at the Residence Inn Jacksonville airport 11 hours after we left home. I picked this hotel because of a great rate on a two bedroom suite and since it was near the airport where my parents would be flying in the next day. I’d highly recommend it to anyone who needs a basic hotel in Jacksonville. It was your typical business travel type place but the front desk was the friendliest I’ve ever experienced and the two bedroom suites are perfect for traveling in a larger group or if you have kids but still want some privacy. The rooms all have full kitchens as well. There are also plenty of restaurants and a Walmart nearby. The front desk will also arrange a shuttle to the cruise port for $9 pp if you are flying. We couldn’t fit all five of us plus luggage in my car so we booked the shuttle for my parents.

 

Our original plan for Sunday was to visit Fort Caroline and the Timucan preserve on Sunday afternoon once my parents’ flight had arrived but we visited Jacksonville during a cold snap and we decided it was too cold and windy out to attempt it. Jacksonville was under freeze warnings the first night we were there. We were glad we had checked the weather and repacked with some jeans and sweatshirts! Everyone enjoyed a relaxing Sunday and then Monday was finally cruise day!:D

 

More to come and some pics shortly...

 

 

My review is in my signature if you want to compare