Tapi’s (somewhat) Fantastic Return to Carnival - Aboard Carnival Fantasy

[BoDidly]

That's a fair review, don't know how I missed it . Did they ever fix the faucet handle . I should take more pictures of things as you do. .

[Tapi]

6 minutes ago, BoDidly said:

That's a fair review, don't know how I missed it . Did they ever fix the faucet handle . I should take more pictures of things as you do. .

They “fixed the faucet, meaning that they reattached the loose piece but they did so with the old, worn screw so it got loose again after a few days. 

 

We also reported the TV and they reset it, so we were able to get more channels although we never got all the channels listed on the guide channel. 

 

The window seal was the culprit of the leak. It was just worn and hardened and they couldn’t do anything about it without taking the whole window apart and installing a new seal. We told them not to bother. We’d rather deal with the leak than the mess that taking the window apart would cause. 

 

The closet door still closed fine, even though that top hinge was broken.

[BoDidly]

2 minutes ago, Tapi said:

They “fixed the faucet, meaning that they reattached the loose piece but they did so with the old, worn screw so it got loose again after a few days. 

 

We also reported the TV and they reset it, so we were able to get more channels although we never got all the channels listed on the guide channel. 

 

The window seal was the culprit of the leak. It was just worn and hardened and they couldn’t do anything about it without taking the whole window apart and installing a new seal. We told them not to bother. We’d rather deal with the leak than the mess that taking the window apart would cause. 

 

The closet door still closed fine, even though that top hinge was broken.

 

And of course when the came they requested you to be in the cabin waiting I expect ?    You know I have taken it on my own to repair a few of those doors that were off the hinges in the past, just so I wouldn't have to wait and waste valuable vacation time sitting in a room waiting for that knock from maintenance. 

[Tapi]

46 minutes ago, BoDidly said:

 You know I have taken it on my own to repair a few of those doors that were off the hinges in the past, just so I wouldn't have to wait and waste valuable vacation time sitting in a room waiting for that knock from maintenance. 

Yup, sometimes you just need to pick your battles. The maintenance issues that we had were a nuisance, but not emergencies. Now, if we’d had a non-working toilet, you can be sure I would’ve waited! 

[tandemcruzr]

Belated thanks for your review. Fantasy was our first cruise in 2004 and it made us understand that a cruise vacation was cheaper than renting a condo on the beach.  🙂

We are now at 45 cruises on Carnival and are aiming for 50 in 2020 to celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary. We have always been treated very well by Carniva's staff.

[Georgie562]

Same issues with the West Coast rust buckets (Inspiration and Imagination) sadly they just don't put enough money into them anymore. They are showing their age and I wont be sailing on any of these ships anytime soon. Got Royal Princess booked from CA in April and Panorama April 2020. See ya.

[dmet0225]

On 2/26/2019 at 6:29 PM, Tapi said:

 

 

 

I was doing a real quick scroll through this review, and had to quickly scroll back after seeing this picture.  If you're not paying attention, this first looked like a bowl of soup sitting on top of some sort of tiled table.

[2Shoes2Go]

12 minutes ago, dmet0225 said:

 

I was doing a real quick scroll through this review, and had to quickly scroll back after seeing this picture.  If you're not paying attention, this first looked like a bowl of soup sitting on top of some sort of tiled table.

People Soup! No way, no how!😷🤢

[Tapi]

10 hours ago, dmet0225 said:

 

I was doing a real quick scroll through this review, and had to quickly scroll back after seeing this picture.  If you're not paying attention, this first looked like a bowl of soup sitting on top of some sort of tiled table.

Haha, I snuck that photo in there without a caption to see if anybody would comment. The hot tubs looked like that the entire time they were open, packed mostly with kids, joined occasionally by one or two brave adults that would dare to jump in as well. 

 

Needless to say, I didn’t use the hot tubs on this cruise, not even once. 

Edited March 6, 2019 by Tapi

[Tapi]

10 hours ago, Georgie562 said:

Same issues with the West Coast rust buckets (Inspiration and Imagination) sadly they just don't put enough money into them anymore. They are showing their age and I wont be sailing on any of these ships anytime soon. Got Royal Princess booked from CA in April and Panorama April 2020. See ya.

Panorama has reignited my interest in sailing from the west coast. I’m eyeing it for early 2020, but then I also noticed that Royal Princess will be performing the same itinerary on the same dates. Decisions, decisions....

[MJSailors]

Good that you enjoyed your cruise.

Regarding the maintenance issues you reported finding on the ship, it would cause me to question what other maintenance issues exist that passengers might not see. I am referring to problems with the engines, propulsion, air quality ,sewage ,water quality and food preparation quality.

It seems that Carnival needs to make a decision regarding ships with these maintenance issues. Either totally refit them or sell them off.

 

[Alabaster Cruiser]

Tapi thanks for the review.  Thanks also for the updates to those of us that were waiting to board after you.  We also had a nice cruise.  We had a great cruise after my dh won the free cruise in the casino the last night.  We will be sailing on the Breeze in October thanks to the Fantasy.....Susan

[Tapi]

31 minutes ago, Alabaster Cruiser said:

Tapi thanks for the review.  Thanks also for the updates to those of us that were waiting to board after you.  We also had a nice cruise.  We had a great cruise after my dh won the free cruise in the casino the last night.  We will be sailing on the Breeze in October thanks to the Fantasy.....Susan

Hey, welcome home! And congratulations on winning a free cruise! What time did y'all end up departing that day?  I understand that you skipped Progreso but had an extended stay in Cozumel, correct? 

[Tapi]

11 hours ago, MJSailors said:

I am referring to problems with the engines, propulsion, air quality ,sewage ,water quality and food preparation quality.

That did cross our mind too. When we were sailing in circles waiting for the fog to clear, one of the people in our group brought up the Triumph incident and of course, with all the extra time in our hands we started worrying about what would happen if our ship had similar problems, and we were really stuck at sea. We decided to change the topic. Some people were getting a bit too anxious with that conversation. Haha. 

[jimbo5544]

On 3/4/2019 at 12:40 PM, Tapi said:

Thanks Jimbo! I told you that someday I’d be back on Carnival! 😂 It was good to be back!

Now we need to cruise together.

[Alabaster Cruiser]

11 hours ago, Tapi said:

Hey, welcome home! And congratulations on winning a free cruise! What time did y'all end up departing that day?  I understand that you skipped Progreso but had an extended stay in Cozumel, correct? 

We finally had a muster drill at 1130!  It was a weird day (and night).  We were ready to have a good time and the casino was not open, no bands playing,.....nothing.  It was like the streets of the ship were rolled up.  So we went to bed.  Yes we did stay in Cozumel overnight which was strange too.  But again....we did have a good cruise.  As a matter of fact, we have never had a bad one!

[Tapi]

58 minutes ago, Alabaster Cruiser said:

We finally had a muster drill at 1130!  It was a weird day (and night).  We were ready to have a good time and the casino was not open, no bands playing,.....nothing.  It was like the streets of the ship were rolled up.  So we went to bed.  Yes we did stay in Cozumel overnight which was strange too.  But again....we did have a good cruise.  As a matter of fact, we have never had a bad one!

Glad to hear. And awesome attitude! I was wondering what would happen next once we got off the ship, knowing that the crew had a compressed time frame to turn the ship around and they'd been working nonstop all day. I bet everyone was exhausted.

[Tapi]

1 hour ago, jimbo5544 said:

Now we need to cruise together.

My eyes are on the Panorama for February 2020 and/or Mardi Gras for February 2021. Clear your calendar, 

[jimbo5544]

28 minutes ago, Tapi said:

My eyes are on the Panorama for February 2020 and/or Mardi Gras for February 2021. Clear your calendar, 

We are doing the inaugural for the Mardi Gras (1st cruise in Europe), I will scout it out for us.

[rain_bowbrite]

Thanks for the great review, Tapi. We sail on Fantasy in 2 days and your review has me even ore excited to step aboard! It will be my first time cruising out of Mobile, but my second cruise on Fantasy. I sailed it once before in 2007 out of NOLA and loved it. It is a little disappointing to hear your account of the ships maintenance state, but probably even more disappointing is your account of all the country music...lol. Tropical tunes should be a given on any lido deck in the Caribbean imho. Regardless, we always cruise these older smaller ships with the right expectations and have a great time.

 

The fantasy class ships are my favorite Carnival ships. Like others have stated, I hope they decide to keep them around and do a better job keeping them updated and refreshed. I also hope they keep a ship in Mobile. We live in Atlanta and it is the closest port next to Tampa and Jacksonville. Perfect ships for a short relaxing getaway.

 

 

[Tapi]

12 hours ago, rain_bowbrite said:

Thanks for the great review, Tapi. We sail on Fantasy in 2 days and your review has me even ore excited to step aboard! It will be my first time cruising out of Mobile, but my second cruise on Fantasy. I sailed it once before in 2007 out of NOLA and loved it. It is a little disappointing to hear your account of the ships maintenance state, but probably even more disappointing is your account of all the country music...lol. Tropical tunes should be a given on any lido deck in the Caribbean imho. Regardless, we always cruise these older smaller ships with the right expectations and have a great time.

 

The fantasy class ships are my favorite Carnival ships. Like others have stated, I hope they decide to keep them around and do a better job keeping them updated and refreshed. I also hope they keep a ship in Mobile. We live in Atlanta and it is the closest port next to Tampa and Jacksonville. Perfect ships for a short relaxing getaway.

 

 

Haha, I know about the music. I had been listening to my “Caribbean cruise playlist” in preparation for the cruise so I was a bit disappointed that I didn’t get to hear most of these songs once onboard. I think I heard “The tide is high” once 😂. 

 

We also live in the Atlanta area (25 minutes south of the ATL airport right off I-85), so Mobile for us is the easiest and quickest port to get to. It makes for a very easy getaway. I can’t say enough times how wonderful the personnel at the Port of Mobile is. It’s a welcome change when compared to some of the larger ports that we’ve departed from. I ageee with you and I hope that the Fantasy (or any other ship) stays in Mobile for many years to come. It’s so convenient!

 

About the Fantasy, even with the maintenance issues listed, I’d love to sail on her again! We had a truly unabashed fun time! She’s great for what she does: a laid back, casual, unpretentious and inexpensive short getaway. The main reason why I may not be returning soon is simply because I don’t like to repeat the same cruise or ship over and over, and unfortunately Mobile and the Fantasy don’t offer much more variety except for an occasional special longer cruise that doesn’t quite match my time off. But otherwise I’d return in a heartbeat. 

 

About the maintenance issues, all they really need to do is pay attention to the small issues and don’t let them pile up. At first glance, the ship does look great and you can tell that they’ve done many big things to keep her going. Carnival just needs to address the little ones too.