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Fantasy from Mobile

Purvis1231

By Purvis1231,
in Carnival Cruise Lines

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Purvis1231

Purvis1231

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We just got off the Carnival Fantasy, Thanksgiving morning. We were impressed with the overall condition of the ship. It is one on the oldest Carnival ships but she has been well maintain and resent refurbishment helped. All the staff we encountered were hard working and friendly. We heard about a lot of the cut backs and we did notice a few things. Our stateroom steward and friendly and did a good job but it appeared he more rooms than in the past. The room was cleaned in the morning but in the evening the room was just refreshed. This was fine with us but the pull down bed was left down the entire trip. At first I did not think this would bother us but next time we will ask for it to be put up in the morning. (We will provide an extra tip for this service.)

The ship had table cloths in the main dining room each meal. We notice no difference in the service in the MDR than on past cruises except that the wait times were longer. We were issued beepers on two nights and had to wait almost an hour on elegant night and 30 minutes on the final night of the cruise. The food was mostly good to excellent with a few exceptions. One steak was too tough to eat, a few things were cold. The biggest complaint was that we ordered the $20.00 lobster and it was over cooked, dry, and tasteless. The lobster was also the same size and the one served with the steak and lobster for the same price. Also, Guys Burger and the burrito bar were great but the Guys Burgers were not made to order. You are give a plain cheese burger and had to dress it yourself.

We always like trying multiple appetizers and we did this each night and enjoyed most of those. We found out that most of the main entrees were served in Lido buffet so on the next trip if the is a wait we will forgo the appetizers and go to the Lido.

Other observations is that the chair hogs were out enforce around the pool, the kids ruled the hot tubs on the Lido deck, we had to report one baby in a diaper in the hot tub, but the Serenity deck was peaceful and we saw no interloping kids. The water slides were great but the weather was cool for the slides and the pools.

We did not go any of the productions shows but we enjoyed the entertainers in the atrium.

The embarkation and debarkation were a little more hectic than we experienced in most port. It appears that some of the staff were not well trained and the design of the port cause the departing and incoming passengers to mingle together. We were assigned the 11:00 check in but it appeared everyone showed up at the same time. We arrived at the port at 10:30 but got on the ship at 12:30. Since debarkation was on Thanksgiving morning many or most passengers choose to carry their own luggage off and it crowded the halls. We were on E deck and it was called first at 8:10 and took us an hour to get to our car but two trains had the port entrance and exits blocked so it took another 45 minutes to get out of the port.

If you have any questions, I will be happy to try to answer.

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easyboy

easyboy

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Except for the longer than usual wait at the MDR, sounds like you enjoyed your cruise.

Since you paid an upcharge of $20 for the lobster, did you relay your complaint to the waiter and was there an offer for replacement?

Thank you for your feedback.

 

 

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Purvis1231

Purvis1231

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Thanks for taking the time to review. We are on this cruise on Jan. 14th. We have 12:30 check in so we hope to be on board around 1pm do you know if the rooms were ready by then?

 

We went to our cabin at 1:30. It appeared they were open at least a few minutes before.

 

We did enjoy the cruise. Our favorite thing is watching sun rise, sunset, and the ocean going by.

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famouschinesecontroller

famouschinesecontroller

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Not only did they NOT enforce check in times, the FTTF in this port was a JOKE. Two NEW agents at the FTTF lines meant lines in the regular section were moving faster. No one knew where to seat us once they finally did get us checked in.

 

Wow; kind of bummed about this. We sail this Saturday and have purchased FTTF. Hopefully they have figured some things out by then. Did you have anytime dining or a seating time? My husband is the least patient person, so waiting for dinner is not going to go over well. This is our first time on a big boat, and although now expecting much, I don't want it to suck either. I'm sure I will think of more questions. Thanks.:confused:

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nwo4life

nwo4life

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Wow; kind of bummed about this. We sail this Saturday and have purchased FTTF. Hopefully they have figured some things out by then. Did you have anytime dining or a seating time? My husband is the least patient person, so waiting for dinner is not going to go over well. This is our first time on a big boat, and although now expecting much, I don't want it to suck either. I'm sure I will think of more questions. Thanks.:confused:

 

 

If he cannot stand to wait to be seated for dinner, you should opt for an assigned dinning time.

 

 

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2Shoes2Go

2Shoes2Go

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:) We are onboard now, doing a b2b. The terminal experience was much improved from our inaugural here about 3 weeks ago. The lines moved well, at least when we arrived at 1030. There was a separate line for Priority. Seating by sections. Boarded at 1115. Very pleased.

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bigtoeswim'n

bigtoeswim'n

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Thanks for the great embarcation review.

 

We leave Dec 8th and this will be about our 7th time leaving out of MOB. Did you notice if people were bringing their own water bottles on board? MOB is a small city compared with other POC, so I was wondering if they were inforcing this new rule. In the past, we carried our own bottle water, in hand, single bottles, one each, and no questions asked. Thanks. Glad you had a great cruise.

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2Shoes2Go

2Shoes2Go

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This morning, there was no staggered check in done. We did receive an email, a couple days ago, telling us it would be in effect, but the only check was for priority status.

Don't believe water bottles are allowed. The security checked our carry on carefully, but body scan didn't pick up knee replacements:). Nice not to be wanded.

Rocking and rolling tonight! Love it :)

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Purvis1231

Purvis1231

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We carried a pull along suitcase full of can drinks but they did not check it while we saw those with 12 packs being cut open for inspection. This made it very difficult for those to carry the drinks with no box. We gave one gentleman a plastic bag to carry his but some lost some of their drinks as they rolled away.

 

They did trash bottles of waters and even soda that some folks as the waited in line from the port's vending machines.

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mjhouse2

mjhouse2

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Wow; kind of bummed about this. We sail this Saturday and have purchased FTTF. Hopefully they have figured some things out by then. Did you have anytime dining or a seating time? My husband is the least patient person, so waiting for dinner is not going to go over well. This is our first time on a big boat, and although now expecting much, I don't want it to suck either. I'm sure I will think of more questions. Thanks.:confused:

 

We are sailing Dec 26 and also have FTTF. I hope they fix this, let me know how it goes Saturday please:confused:

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