Fascination for the 5th time, plus I need help

[marshhawk]

Half Moon Cay. We had planned the Calypso Tram tour which travels over the island showing you where the folk live, and the shore excursions that were offered. I found the tour entertaining and educational. Parts of the island , well all of the island is beautiful. Did you know that there are 703 islands in the Bahamas? The average temperature in September is 90, but the winds make it feel like it's in the 80's?

 

Our first stop was the horse riding excursion-

 

 

 

 

There was a man there who would bring a horse up, and then match the horse with a prospective rider. I saw many walk up to a horse, and then be told, no not a good match, step back.

 

There was a mule on the island that we were told pretty much ran the stables-his name was Ted.

 

Edited October 6, 2015 by marshhawk

[marshhawk]

After we left the horses we drove to the "airport". An area where an emergency plane could "land" to rescue someone if need be.

 

[marshhawk]

From here we drove on to the sting ray excursion-the cruisers outnumbered the sting rays, but they were BIG sting rays-

 

 

[marshhawk]

A few more shots from the sting ray area, this is also the area where the glass bottom boat leaves from, and the jet ski excursion. These groups were already out on the water, so we didn't get to see any of those folk.

 

 

 

 

Does anyone else see a "face" in the glass? Kind of freaks me out. I didn't notice it until I got the pictures on the computer.

[marshhawk]

After our tour we headed out to the beach. This island is so incredibly beautiful and I hate to think of how it looks after hurricane Joaquin.

 

 

The water is pristine, and the sand on the beach and in the water is unbelievable soft.

 

The ship wreck bar-

 

The chapel for weddings and renewals of vows-

 

[marshhawk]

The children's play area-

 

the view of the Half Moon coming into the bay-

 

A view of the ship wreck while you are going towards the dock-

[marshhawk]

Some flowers-

[marshhawk]

Thanks so much to Ykgorbel and Essiemom you two worked miracles for my photo bucket! Too bad photo bucket keeps "nerding" up on me. So I will do some more tomorrow night.

 

After a swim we headed over to the picnic area for lunch. There were some wild chickens wandering around the lunch area, one was a momma with three little babies. So cute.

 

Lunch offerings were cheese burgers, hot dogs (which were awful) and jerk chicken. Rice, german potato salad (so it said) coleslaw, couscous, and condiments in tiny plastic containers. The type that you have to tear with your teeth. Seems to me it puts a lot of garbage on the island, that doesn't need to be there. And they really need to get a design planner out there in the drink area-lemonade and unsweetened tea. But first is the ice, then the cup, then the drink. Wouldn't it be easier and more efficient to have the cup, the ice and then the drink? Just saying.

 

After lunch we went back to the beach and back in the water. By now I guess I was running a fever. Have you ever seen the movie-Bridget Jones Beyond the Edge of Reason-someone slips her some physcadelic (sp)mushrooms and she is found simply standing in the water with her arms out, looking at all the sparkles from the waves? Well I wasn't hallucinating, but that's what I felt like. I had my DH hold me in the water and just enjoyed the coolness and the wet of it.

 

Knowing that the lines get longer for the tender back the later in the day it gets, we decided to head back to the ship around 2:30. I think doing the shore excursion was good for us, kept us out of the sun for a while, saw the island, it was inexpensive for an excursion and we learned some things.

 

People always post about what they should do on this island, and as this was my third time there, and I don't feel I need to do any of the excursions now that I have seen them, I would simply say this. Just go and enjoy the beach, the water and the beauty.

 

This particular night we decided to skip the MDR all together. The Lido was offering turkey with dressing, mashed potatoes and gravy. This for some reason sounded really good to me-funny thing was, the turkey never showed up. There was dressing, taters and gravy, but without the turkey the plate was seriously lacking.

 

Looking over my notes there was something else that was weird about the day-when we got our tickets in our cabin for the excursion the tickets stated that we were to be at the Palace Lounge at 8:45. We arrived at 8:40, and every one was heading out to the tenders. DH and I thought since we had a later excursion that we would be sitting in the lounge waiting to be called. But DH decided to ask, and we were told, we were not to wait, but get moving to catch the tender-we were already supposed to be on the island.

 

Who's running this show anyway?

[marshhawk]

My boss at job one has turned off most social media, so while I can see what I post at home, I cant at work, so I hope you can see the previous pictures.

 

On to Nassau. Our second port.

 

It wasn't raining when we docked. but then it was. and then it wasn't. and then it poured. We had debated going over to Balmoral Island with a Carnival excursion, or heading back to our favorite beach at the Melia. We were not seeing any blue sky in any direction and decided to just play the day out by doing a couple of things in town that we have always talked about doing, but never seemed to get a chance to do. We never got the chance because we always choose a beach day if we can. On the other hand, with the rain it wasn't too hot, it wasn't cold. It was really quite pleasant.

 

So during a lull in the rain, we headed out to the Pirate Museum. It's just a couple blocks from the ship, not far at all. And we were surprised at how much fun it was. It is geared towards kids and family. A little dark and creepy, but that's OK.

 

You buy your ticket, (you get a wrist band) and you head onto a "dock" to board your pirate ship. Along the "dock" there is posted interesting information regarding pirates, how pirates became pirates, famous pirates-this is every where in the museum. And then you board the ship. This is so cool! It will really make you appreciate modern ship technology. Once off the "ship" you continue wandering, encounter a battle at sea. Don't miss this. It's in a dark room, and apparently it is activated by your presence, but we kind of just walked in the dark and didn't stop. When we heard the cannons, we headed back in and waited. After the battle, you head into pirate art-paintings of pirates, pirate movie posters all things pirate.

 

Would a 3 year old like it? No, it might be too dark and scary, but 7 and up-it's cool! (I act like a kid 95% of the time, so I thought it was cool.) After the museum, we went out for a cigarette and to see what should be next on our walking agenda. It began to sprinkle again.

 

Across the street from the pirate museum is the Christ King Cathedral. Originally built in the 1700's, with some beautiful stained glass windows, history on the walls, daily church service at 12:30, and open to the public. There is a donation box which we contributed to, but they do not ask for money. We walked in, and I was truly impressed. I lived in France for a few years when I was a kid, love stained glass, and was not disappointed with this church. We took some pictures, check out the organ upstairs! Walk to the front of the church and turn around. What an organ! I wish we had been able to stay for a service. And then while we were enjoying the peace the quiet the solitude........RAIN!

Edited October 6, 2015 by marshhawk

[Terab85]

Love your pictures. Sailing on the Fascination for first time in Feb and so excited.

[cuppettmd]

Hey, Ma'am; A couple of quick questions Please. Did anyone try the scallops at dinner? Also, is the Festival place at Nassau open again? Thanks! Mikey

[tch912]

Your trip report is great but the pictures are awesome:):).

[marshhawk]

The outside of the pirate museum-

 

this is not a painting, but an exhibit-life sized human deserted by his mates, to die alone on an island. I think it is haunting and beautiful-

 

 

a figure head in the garden area at the museum-

 

[marshhawk]

Some photographs from the church-

 

 

 

[marshhawk]

Now the rain was really coming down. We walked across the street back under the awning, and thought we could wait it out. The museum and the church are near the bottom of a hill, and the more it rained, the deeper the water got on the streets. Soon our street was flooded, and the water was coming up into the sidewalks and into the buildings. I ended up taking off my shoes and walking the streets back to the ship in my bare feet. Water was over the sidewalks along the main street, it was fun and scary at the same time. I am so grateful that I didn't step on something sharp. but my theory was that by the time I got there it would have been washed away.

 

We had to make the important stop-

 

we shared the Starbucks with 5 others that looked like drowned rats, slurping coffee and wondering what the rest of the day would bring.

 

For us, it brought more rain. All day, until..........

 

the ship pulled out of port, and the sky cleared up!

[HaliMakai]

Following

[marshhawk]

Thank you those who are reading/following.

 

DH thinks he tried the scallops, but he didn't. So the answer to that question is no. They were served on formal night. The night we were seated next to MR. Obnoxious, and what ever my DH ate wasn't more memorable than that.:mad:

[marshhawk]

Our last day at sea. By now what ever I had, my DH had, and we were both coughing and hacking and nose blowing. Remember we were not sick when we got to the port. We had to fill out medical papers and swear that we had not lied. After brunch I went off to the towel folding class, and Towel Animal show, and DH went back to bed. I learned how to make a lying down dog, with the help of a twelve year old sitting next to me.:)

 

I caught up with my DH for lunch, which was a lido deck lunch. I had a Rueben (they are great by the way) and shrimp fitters. We spent the afternoon hiding from the sun, and going to tea. I love tea, it's a nice time in the piano bar, with little nibble sandwiches.

 

the piano man-

 

 

And then we got ready for dinner and tried the MDR for one last dinner.

[marshhawk]

I am now going to post some comments about the ship, food and the crowd.

 

I had not done a short 5 day cruise in September. I was not aware that Georgia does a fall break from school. They start in mid August and take a week off in September. The cruise had a lot of kids. Some went off to join in the Carnival Kids Camps, but most did not. So the pool was full of kids. More kids in the pool area than the water park area. More kids than any cruise I have been on, so if I book another 5 day cruise, it wont be in mid September. I cant say the kids were misbehaving, but they were totally unsupervised.

 

We went to two comedy shows, one adult and one PG. The kids came in on their own to the PG show and heckled the comedian. He handled it in stride, but it took away from his show. However his adult show-was very adult and very funny. (John Wessling)

 

The in room movies, were not current at all. Kids films (sorry I cant find Friday) but were Kung Fu Panda, Madagascar, Puss in Boots, Bee Movie, Flushed Away.. Adult films were-Sherlock Holmes 2, Gravity, Failure to Launch, Super 8. Nothing that came out last year. The kids films were more than 5 years old, the adult films were more than two. I look forward to seeing a film I hadn't seen before, but that didn't work on this cruise. I did see Puss in Boots and Madagascar, but I was sick and that was about all I could concentrate on.

 

 

The ship offered the Dr Suess brunch for 5.00 which we decided to skip. They had the Suess parade, and we skipped that too.

 

The food was -well-not as great as past cruises. The lido food looked more appetizing than the food in the MDR. I still like having breakfast in the MDR. Even though we said we would sit with others, we actually do enjoy that, but we were seated at a table for two for every meal. The twosomes are spaced very closely to each other, so you can have a conversation with whomever you are seated next to. We met great people this way. Especially on our last night.

 

Because the smoking section is so small, we got to know a lot of smokers. It is posted that if you vape you need to vape with the smokers, but most vapers paid little attention to that rule.

 

It used to be that you were hounded by the ship photographers that set up on the promenade deck, now you see them set up, but very few of them are there, they seem to really limit the hours. We always get a picture, so we really had to work to find a photographer that was at his post before we went in to dinner.

 

We did win a ship on a stick, but that was only because we were at the right place at the right time, and the person running the trivia showed up late, saw the small crowd and promised us all a ship on a stick. I came in in second place, I would have been happy with a medal:D.

 

I will post some more pictures tomorrow. Even though we were sick through the entire cruise, we had a good time. My mother always said, that wherever you go, there you are, so it's your attitude that can make or break a cruise.

 

We were doing our first cruise without going with friends, so we had no place to be at any specific time, and that worked really well with us. We ate when we were hungry, (love any time dining) we slept when we were tired, E7 is a great place for that -no noise- and we had a book to read, movies to watch, and games to play when we wanted to.

[eazy91]

Funny thing....I sailed out of Jacksonsnville September 17th on the Fascination and stayed at the Holiday Inn at Blount Island. I walked to the Wendys a few times and never saw that alligator! I probably would have freaked out if I did.

[marshhawk]

Funny thing....I sailed out of Jacksonsnville September 17th on the Fascination and stayed at the Holiday Inn at Blount Island. I walked to the Wendys a few times and never saw that alligator! I probably would have freaked out if I did.

 

I read a review about the Fascination, a couple weeks before we cruised. The writer had mentioned it. BUT she said that when she asked the staff at the Wendy's about the alligator, she was told it was really a crocodile. Now there are crocodiles further south, off Sanibel, so maybe someone decided to bring a baby alligator" home, found out how "chompy" they can be and threw their "alligator" in the retention pond.

[marshhawk]

Towel Animals

 

 

 

[marshhawk]

Someone kindly offered to take a picture of us while we were on the tender to HMC-

 

scary, but this is us.

 

If you see us on your next cruise-say hi!

 

 

HMC, the entry area, and the bar-

 

 

another from HMC-

 

[marshhawk]

the cathedral-

 

 

standing across from the pirate museum-

 

 

the organ pipes in the church-

 

 

I noticed after I posted this, that hubby's head is about to walk in the picture. Oh well, sorry.

Edited October 7, 2015 by marshhawk

[marshhawk]

And lastly, this is why we cruise-to see mother nature at her most beautiful.

 

 

This was sunrise on our last sea day.

 

Two weeks have gone by. I have been to the doc's- they gave me antibiotics, and steroids, and think that whatever I got into has developed into asthma. I am still sick. DH is heading to the doc's today. Maybe we were just so run down by the time we got the vacation, we were prime candidates to get sick? Who knows. Certainly wont keep me from cruising again.

 

Thanks for reading, and if I can answer any questions for you I will try.

 

Cruise happy and sail safely.

 

 

My prayers are with those families that lost loved ones on the freighter in the Bahamas. We saw the ship in Jacksonville, we have seen her on the seas.