Just Off Fascination’s Christmas Cruise - Ask Away

[OceansOfTravels]

I am currently sitting in SJU waiting for a few hours before my flight, so I figured I’d start my customary post-cruise questions thread. Ask any questions you may have about the Fascination, the ports (we did the normal 7 night Southern Caribbean from San Juan), cruising at Christmas, or anything else on your mind and I’ll do my best to answer 🙂

 

Merry belated Christmas!

[helensobol]

HI...  I'm pretty sure the answer is no but I was curious from someone who had been on there. 

 

Do they show any movies onboard?   My daughter's favorite thing is the pool side movies which I have read don't happen on this boat but I was wondering if they have them at other locations? 

 

🙂 Thanks!!! 

[shdixon]

Hi,

I hope you had a great trip. 

Anything you found to be really good on the MDR menu?

Do you recall if there were any stateroom movies or channels available for downtime?

How was the wifi quality if you used it? Worth the $?

Thanks a bunch

 

[glittergal1]

other than the 2 elegant dress up nights were there any other theme nights? 

[bakersdozen12]

18 hours ago, helensobol said:

Do they show any movies onboard?   My daughter's favorite thing is the pool side movies which I have read don't happen on this boat but I was wondering if they have them at other locations? 

 

Its a ship, and while it doesn’t have a dive in theater, they show movies in one of the lounges on ships that don’t have dive in theaters. Though usually during the afternoon, though, because at night they use the lounge for the comedy shows. 

[helensobol]

3 hours ago, bakersdozen12 said:

 

Its a ship, and while it doesn’t have a dive in theater, they show movies in one of the lounges on ships that don’t have dive in theaters. Though usually during the afternoon, though, because at night they use the lounge for the comedy shows. 

 

Thanks for being so rude.  Seriously I don’t understand people! 

[OceansOfTravels]

22 hours ago, helensobol said:

HI...  I'm pretty sure the answer is no but I was curious from someone who had been on there. 

 

Do they show any movies onboard?   My daughter's favorite thing is the pool side movies which I have read don't happen on this boat but I was wondering if they have them at other locations? 

 

🙂 Thanks!!! 

Hello! Unfortunately, there were no movies shown onboard, as there was no real place to show them. There are some TV channels in the room that have movies, but they aren't on deck. Sorry! You could try to do some offline netflix downloading to your phone and then go watch it on deck? :)

[OceansOfTravels]

21 hours ago, shdixon said:

Hi,

I hope you had a great trip. 

Anything you found to be really good on the MDR menu?

Do you recall if there were any stateroom movies or channels available for downtime?

How was the wifi quality if you used it? Worth the $?

Thanks a bunch

 

 

Hello! I did have a good time. I really enjoy the Tomato Soup served during sea day brunch, I always did. As for regular dinner, the gazpacho was good to me, and I also enjoyed this one greek dish I cannot remember the name of. The Christmas formal night meal was its own thing, and the turkey was good. he meal resembled that of Thanksgiving and I enjoyed it. Plus, the staple grilled chicken if nothing appeals to you is not that bad. 

 

There were stateroom movie channels, as well as stations that had the world news for downtime. We always had the news on getting dressed for dinner.

 

I did not get the wifi, and I'm glad. I heard it was very slow and non-functional. Carnival also recently raised the price for it, which makes it even more unjustifiable. You can easily find data in all of the ports; I got on the internet in each island the ship docked. Being such a port-intensive cruise, I think you will be okay if you decide to forego it and just get wifi in the ports. 

[OceansOfTravels]

10 hours ago, glittergal1 said:

other than the 2 elegant dress up nights were there any other theme nights? 

 

Not that I remember ... Cruise casual and then the two elegant nights. There was the 80s deck party, so I assume you could bring an 80s-like outfit for that party, but it's not like MSC or Norwegian with the white-nights or anything. Really missed that from MSC this trip.

[Hillbillygram]

46 minutes ago, helensobol said:

 

Thanks for being so rude.  Seriously I don’t understand people! 

What was rude about the reply? The Fascination is an older, smaller ship that doesn't have the capabilites of the larger ships to show the Dive In Movies.

 

 

[helensobol]

 

1 hour ago, Hillbillygram said:

What was rude about the reply? The Fascination is an older, smaller ship that doesn't have the capabilites of the larger ships to show the Dive In Movies.

 

 

 

Hey Hillbillygram.   It was the first statement of 'Its a ship'.     I said boat in my post asking for information and she was criticizing my reference.     

 

Please Note: I didn't insult her improper use of grammar when they wrote 'Its a ship'.  I don't understand why people must be rude.  This is a community board to help people not to be condescending.

 

 

[helensobol]

2 hours ago, OceansOfTravels said:

Hello! Unfortunately, there were no movies shown onboard, as there was no real place to show them. There are some TV channels in the room that have movies, but they aren't on deck. Sorry! You could try to do some offline netflix downloading to your phone and then go watch it on deck? 🙂

 

Thanks for the information.   I feel that the dive-in movies are such a nice touch for families and was hoping that maybe this had changed.   Though with the busy itinerary, we might be too exhausted to even stay up for them. 

[divegrl2004]

Hope you had a fabulous trip! 

When in St Lucia, do you recall which terminal you docked in? The pointe Seaphine or La Place Carnage Cruise Port? 

 

Thanks!

[Hillbillygram]

3 hours ago, helensobol said:

 

 

Hey Hillbillygram.   It was the first statement of 'Its a ship'.     I said boat in my post asking for information and she was criticizing my reference.     

 

Please Note: I didn't insult her improper use of grammar when they wrote 'Its a ship'.  I don't understand why people must be rude.  This is a community board to help people not to be condescending.

 

 

Sorry, I didn't catch the boat/ship thing.

[OceansOfTravels]

6 hours ago, divegrl2004 said:

Hope you had a fabulous trip! 

When in St Lucia, do you recall which terminal you docked in? The pointe Seaphine or La Place Carnage Cruise Port? 

 

Thanks!

 

We docked in La Place Carnage, because we were the 2nd smallest ship there that day. They do it based on size. The Norwegian Gem docked at Port Seraphine. However, I know the Fascination does still dock at Port Seraphine when it is the sole ship in the harbour. If you are concerned about private tour companies knowing where to meet you, I can say that was exactly my fear when I awoke and saw we were not in the main port. However, we walked out and still followed the instructions given to us in the email, and we met our guide (we went with COSOL tours). I asked later how he knew we would be docked there, and he said they have the schedule published long in advance, and that is why he asked for my ship name in the reservation. He also explained there was another bus/group of people doing our same tour, just from the Norwegian Gem. So, if you are using a tour company, they will likely analyze the schedule beforehand and will give you the proper place to meet them!

[michiganredrose]

What did you do in St Maarten? How is the recovery of the island doing? 

[OceansOfTravels]

22 minutes ago, michiganredrose said:

What did you do in St Maarten? How is the recovery of the island doing? 

 

We went to the Buccaneer Beach Club on Simpson Bay. We walked from the ship to Phillipsburg, which took about 15 minutes but there's a really nice Dutch store we stopped at, so it was nice. Then, in Phillipsburg, we took one of the public buses to the beach, which was $1.50 each way per person. I love the public buses, the people are so friendly and it's a great way to get around. Once we got to Simpson, we paid $20 for three beach chairs, and there weren't too many people there with us anyway. We had an amazing day off the ship, St.Maarten has always been my favorite island (I actually left from a 10 day holiday there on August 30th, 2017, so I saw it right before Irma came), so it was nice to revisit it after the hurricane.

 

With that being said, you can see the damage still. I noticed it as early as our walk from the ship to Phillipsburg. There are buildings without roofs, seemingly hallow hotels, and restaurants you can tell were abandoned and not revisited after the store. But, the island has bounced back well, and I would go as far and say someone who does not know better would credit this to the island being poor, not hurricane-ravaged. Having never left the Dutch side, though, I cannot speak for the French side, which I have heard was considerably worse. But, within the main tourist areas, the island has bounced back well. It's imperative that both the cruise and hotel tourists keep going back and breathing the life back into SXM through industry. 

 

This post really makes me want to go sometime this year! 😄

[Joebucks]

Loved the Fascination, but the deck of Fantasy class needs to be changed. Give us a big screen and dive-in movies instead of a giant stage.

[Crazy4Camping]

On 12/30/2018 at 1:46 PM, OceansOfTravels said:

I am currently sitting in SJU waiting for a few hours before my flight, so I figured I’d start my customary post-cruise questions thread. Ask any questions you may have about the Fascination, the ports (we did the normal 7 night Southern Caribbean from San Juan), cruising at Christmas, or anything else on your mind and I’ll do my best to answer 🙂

 

Merry belated Christmas!

I have a million questions but right now we're trying to decide on excursions.  Ones to do?  Avoid?  Also, formal nights? How many?  Menu on that night?  Oh boy I better stop or I will ask more!  First timer here.

[OceansOfTravels]

7 hours ago, Crazy4Camping said:

I have a million questions but right now we're trying to decide on excursions.  Ones to do?  Avoid?  Also, formal nights? How many?  Menu on that night?  Oh boy I better stop or I will ask more!  First timer here.

 

Hello!

 

It's okay with all the questions, that's what this thread is for. For the excursion question though, with 5 ports, that would be a long list. And, some ports, I have found it better to not even do an excursion, but rather do something on your own. Could you maybe tell me what you already have planned so we can focus on what you have yet to plan?

 

Formal nights on my specific cruise, due to Christmas, were after the sea day and St.Lucia. I don't think this is normal, because I remember that a few years ago when I did the same itinerary on the Liberty, the formal nights were after the sea day and the day in St.Kitts. But, it is guaranteed that there will be two. And the formal night menus are also of more class and have a nicer selection, but the options like the grilled chicken will still be offered even on formal night. Expect some interesting, fancy dishes though!

[beshears]

On 1/3/2019 at 5:49 PM, OceansOfTravels said:

 

We docked in La Place Carnage, because we were the 2nd smallest ship there that day. They do it based on size. The Norwegian Gem docked at Port Seraphine. However, I know the Fascination does still dock at Port Seraphine when it is the sole ship in the harbour. If you are concerned about private tour companies knowing where to meet you, I can say that was exactly my fear when I awoke and saw we were not in the main port. However, we walked out and still followed the instructions given to us in the email, and we met our guide (we went with COSOL tours). I asked later how he knew we would be docked there, and he said they have the schedule published long in advance, and that is why he asked for my ship name in the reservation. He also explained there was another bus/group of people doing our same tour, just from the Norwegian Gem. So, if you are using a tour company, they will likely analyze the schedule beforehand and will give you the proper place to meet them!

 

[beshears]

If nothing happens, we plan to use Cosol Touring again.  This will be my 2nd time to use them, and 3rd time to visit St. Lucia. For me, I would highly recommend Cosol to anyone. For what a person pays for the tour, and I am NOT rich, it is worth even more! 🙂 If I had MY way, I would visit St. Lucia every year, but coming from Missouri, it can be very expensive.  We plan to do our cruise on the Fascination (first time on this ship) the end of March, hopefully! 🙂

[burban64]

How were the shows?  What was your favorite? Is there comedy shows?

[CruzinKristin]

When did you get your S&S card?

 

Did it appear that many people check in, eat lunch then debark to go explore PR?  How big of a deal is it to do this?

[OceansOfTravels]

5 hours ago, beshears said:

If nothing happens, we plan to use Cosol Touring again.  This will be my 2nd time to use them, and 3rd time to visit St. Lucia. For me, I would highly recommend Cosol to anyone. For what a person pays for the tour, and I am NOT rich, it is worth even more! 🙂 If I had MY way, I would visit St. Lucia every year, but coming from Missouri, it can be very expensive.  We plan to do our cruise on the Fascination (first time on this ship) the end of March, hopefully! 🙂

Same! This was my first time using Cosol and I would absolutely recommend them to anyone. Had a great day!