Fantasy Review 6/19-6/24

[jsome72]

We are just back from our wonderful honeymoon on the Fantasy, this will probably be a fairly long review so bear with me.

 

6-17-Got married in the morning and left for Detroit at around 5:00. We stayed at the Crowne Plaza near the airport. This is a very nice hotel and highly recommended for anyone who is staying overnight for an early flight out of Detroit.

 

6-18-Up bright an early at 4:00 this morning to park the car and shuttle over to the airport. Flew on Airtran from Detroit to Atlanta to Orlando. Both flights were early this day and as usual the Orlando airport was very quick with the luggage. We got our rental car from Budget and headed over to Cape Canaveral/Cocoa Beach. Stayed in an oceanfront room at the Best Western, not bad, not great, just average.

 

6-19-We returned our rental car at 11:00 and took the Budget shuttle over to the port. Check-in was a breeze, we waited maybe 5mins to go through security, then up to do the sign and sail stuff. We then had to wait maybe another 5-10 mins to get on the ship as we arrived at that line just as they started to let people on at around noon. Before we knew it we were on board and ready to go. They had the doors closed to the staterooms so we went up to Lido and had the drink of the day and explored the ship a bit. This was my first cruise and my wifes second so I was eager to explore. We dropped our bags off and I went to check with the maitre'd about switching from late to early dining. As I tried to enter the Celebration dining room I was stopped by a guy who seemed to be screening who could talk to the maitre'd, I was turned away but not deterred. I snuck around through the back enterance and was able to talk to the maitre'd who kindly took my cabin number and said they could let us know overnight. Sure enough the next morning our dining had been changed. The rest of the day was spent exploring the ship.

 

6-20-Day at Sea-I was up early and went for coffee on Lido. Even though it was my honeymoon I did enjoy some time alone in the mornings as I am an early riser. The morning was fairly nice but then we had rain all afternoon. This washed out the Lido activities for the afternoon and kept me in the casino. We went to the captains cocktail party where they brought around some decent looking drinks. I had a whiskey sour, not too bad. Captains dinner was the only time we ate in the dining room and really the only not so good experience we had the entire time. The food was excellent, I had the Duck and the Prime Rib, both were great, the Duck was fantastic. Our problem was that we didn't have anything to drink with our meal, it seems the asst. waiter forgot about our table after the first glass of water was poured. Finally near the end of the meal our waiter came back with water but we were never even offered anything else. Oh well, no big deal.

 

6-21-Grand Turk-We were up early and some of the first off the ship as we had a 7:30 shore excursion planned. We did the dune buggies and it was a lot of fun. The tour operators Dennis and Rudolph were very nice and funny. This tour is certainly not for the weak at heart. We really got moving a couple of times to the point that it felt like we could roll it at any time. The excursion was an absolute blast! We saw a ton of wild donkeys, horses and cows roaming the streets of Grand Turk. After the excursion we went to the beach at the pier which is not the greatest. We then ate at Margarittaville which was good. There were a ton of people in the pool there so we decided to get back on the boat. The weather turned ugly after we sailed with heavy thunderstorms. Heard that the ships mast was struck by lightning but I can't confirm that. I played in the blackjack tournament that night and finished third, that was a lot of fun.

 

6-22-Half Moon Cay-The tendering process was fairly easy, we didn't need a ticket since we had an early excursion booked. Those who wanted to go over with the first tender were able to, I believe that numbers 1 and 2 made the first tender even though they said that those who did not have an excursion could not go over until 11. We did the Eco Lagoon tour which plesently suprised me. We got to see tons of different fish and coral in the lagoon and then were taken out into the ocean where we settled over a reef that was home to hundreds of different fish and corals. This was an awesome experience. The boat for the lagoon tour is small, you could probably only get like 12 people on it so it is very personal. After the tour we had the lunch, same as everyone else has reported, burgers, dogs and jerk chicken. The beach and water here were the nicest I have ever seen and many others said the same as well. This is an excellent island.

 

6-23-Nassau-We arrived here at 7:00 and got off the boat at probably 7:30. Nothing was open yet but the straw market was starting to come to life. We ended up in there at probably around 8:30 and there were very few other tourists around. The place was empty and this was the time to do the Straw Market. Eventually 5 others ships arrived and I can't even imagine how crowded it got in there. Our tour was at 10:30 and was free for booking the cruise through cruise.com. Basically it was a taxi tour of the island. They took us to Fort Charlotte where we were able to get out and shop at the small market there. We also went to some other fort near the Queens Staircase and also proceeded to the staircase. That is one of the coolest things we saw in Nassau, definately a must see. We travelled though the streets of Nassau and our driver Joe pointed out a number of churchs, government buildings, etc...The tour then went to Paradise Island which is night and day from Nassau. This place is unreal. We stopped at Atlantis long enough to go inside and snap a few photos. After the tour we walked around some more and then went back to the ship.

 

6-24-The cruise ended and I was sad. I am totally hooked on cruising. We went up to Lido for some breakfast and waited until about 8:30 or so to go down and get off the ship. We had planned to stay on longer but when I looked into the atrium the line was moving nicely so I decided to get off. I am glad I did because after we were off the port was shut down due to an unattended bag in the parking lot. This meant however that our Budget shuttle could not get in. Taxis were able to get in and out for some reason so after learning what was going on we just hopped in a cab and went to the Budget office, again, no real big problem. We stayed in Orlando at the Best Western Airport, again, not bad, not great. Flights home on 6-25 were right on time again with no problems.

 

Shows: We went and saw Mr. Magic and the commedian whos name escapes me. Mr. Magic was awesome, the commedian was alright. We also saw the show the last night feature the singers and the Fantasy dancers. The male singer was decent and the female was above average. It was a very well done show.

 

Overall I really enjoyed my first cruise. The Fantasy is kept very clean and she looks no where near 16 years old. Sure there is some wear in places, but nothing major. My wife cruised on Triumph last year and said that Fantasy was much cleaner and nicer. If anyone has any questions I would be glad to try and answer them. Oh, we were in U26, oceanview and our steward Sedrick was awesome!

[beaming90]

Great review! I loved being on the Fantasy last year.

[Djptcp]

So glad you enjoyed the Fantasy and thanks for your great review! DH and I are sailing on her on September 7th and this will be our 11th cruise and 5th on Carnival. We live in Florida, so it's an easy drive to the port. Thanks for the details about the ship -- we sailed on a sister ship, Fascination, back in the mid-90's and we were curious about the condition of the Fantasy now. Sounds like she is in good shape.

So, you are hooked on cruising now -- join the club :D The only remedy is to book another one right away..........

Carnival - 1995, 1998, 2006, 2006, 2006

Holland America - 2004, 2006

NCL - 1994, 1996, 1997, 2003

Royal Caribbean - 2002

[1timecruiser]

Congrats on your recent marriage and may you and your DW have lasting memories of your honeymoon aboard the Fantasy! I enjoyed your review and wanted to say how excited I am to see that each and every recent post has been nothing but positive about this ship. I will be leaving in less than 18 days now to enjoy my 4-day to the Bahamas with my 2 BF's to shop, relax, and unwind. I'm ecstatic that the time is approaching and reading your review only makes the anticipation harder to deal with!! :)

 

Glad you enjoyed your recent cruise and I'll definitely be taking notes to make sure that I have a thorough review to share when I return.

 

Fantasy, here we come!!!

[cruisevers]

Thank you for a nice review and congratulations! We are sailing on the Ecstasy which is the same type ship. We will be 3 cabins away from the one you had and I wondered how you liked the cabin/location? Since you had some rough weather, really want to know how the motion was in you cabin? Also was it pretty quiet? Anything you can add would be wonderful. Thanks!

[jsome72]

You certainly can feel some motion in the cabin, the only place I really couldn't notice a lot of motion was in the casino which was almost exactly mid-ship. There is not any noise in the cabin as long as the ship is moving in a forward direction. When it is backing up or using the thrusters to move sideways there is a ton of noise in the cabin and it shakes like crazy! This is not a big problem unless you are wanting to sleep in on a port day.

[sweetpea-2]

first thing congratulations on your marriage..... and what a way to honeymoon..............and your not the first one to get hooked on cruising ;)

[Az_Redneck]

What a great review! This is my husbands first and my second cruise. We have been watching the weather and it looks like we will hit alot of rain any comments on what they do when it rains? My DH is worried about getting sea sick? Did anyone get sick because of the weather? We leave in two days:D :D :D :D :D

[jsome72]

I believe that it a least sprinkled at some point each day, but the sun was also out at some point each day, just the way the weather is in the Carribean in the summer. There is plenty to do inside the ship. The casino is fun and has a number of different table games. There are multiple bars/lounges to enjoy. The galleria shops are a good way to blow some time and there is often times bingo or a game show of some type in the Universe Lounge. One point of advice I would give is to dress warmly when you go to the Universe Lounge, it is cold in there!

[ljchris1990]

Nice review!! Sounds like HMC is going to be very good port. Only 49 more days til we are on the Fantasy ourselves. Boy, time is just flying by.

 

ljchris1990

[ljchris1990]

Nice review!! Sounds like HMC is going to be very good port. Only 49 more days til we are on the Fantasy ourselves. Boy, time is just flying by.

 

ljchris1990

 

Ooops, forgot to ask: Can you rent water crafts (jet ski's, ect) on Half Moon Cay?

[Az_Redneck]

Ooops, forgot to ask: Can you rent water crafts (jet ski's, ect) on Half Moon Cay?

 

Yes, we have a jet ski shore excursion scheduled on HMC. It's a short excursion, but it's going to be fun!

[newbiewfromms]

Thanks so much for the review as my family and I will be taking our first cruise on the Fantasy on July 8th...We are way too excited and love reading anything and everything about Carnival and the Fantasy in particular...It sounds like you had a wonderful time and really make me want to leave tommorrow!!!!!We are taking my mother who is a young 69 and she has cruised several times before...but the rest of us (me, husband both in our early 40's and then the two kids:son 16 and daughter 7) have never been on a cruise so been pouring through these boards to read all the great reviews and have gotten some really good tips for first timers...thanks to everyone for what they've written..you have no idea how helpful all of you have been. Only 12 days to go.....

[Caribbean Buckeye]

Most of you have already seen my review of our 6/15 cruise, but check it out if you haven't. In it, I mentioned the Wave Runner / Jet Ski excursion in Half Moon Cay.

 

Briefly... It's beautiful and I probably would do it again, but... they told us it was 50 minutes long. They later told us, upon inquiry, that the 50 minutes includes transportation to and from the beach where they keep the wave runners and the 5 minute speech about how there's "no horseplay" on the wave runners. We were on the wave runners about 25 minutes. The only reason we were even on them that long was b/c I flagged down the guide and asked if we could stop for a few minutes to take pictures.

 

Weird tour. Once we started, we went full throttle without stopping. Basically, you start from the back of the island and go around one side. Then you turn around and go back. By tour, you're just looking b/c the "guide" doesn't actually speak to you during or after the tour.

 

The wave runners (or aqua trax as they call them) are governored down to go much slower than normal. We rode some in Nassau the previous day which were much faster. Like I said, it was stil very beautiful. I'd also consider the horseback riding excursion in HMC. We saw them trotting the horses out into the water and stuff. Rave reviews from the people who did that excursion.

[alwaysmomof1]

I was just reading some where on CC reviews of Carnivals ships and it does not have alot about the Fantasy. My question is....Do they provide Carnival bathrobes? I know you have to request a blow dryer but on some of the other ships they have Carnival Robes to use while on board. I am running out of room in my suitcase I can't fit anything else in!:D

[S.S.Oceanlover]

I was just reading some where on CC reviews of Carnivals ships and it does not have alot about the Fantasy. My question is....Do they provide Carnival bathrobes? I know you have to request a blow dryer but on some of the other ships they have Carnival Robes to use while on board. I am running out of room in my suitcase I can't fit anything else in!:D

 

I was on the same cruise as the OP. We had robes in our closet.:)

 

Bill

[kathy32259]

I was on the same cruise as the OP. We had robes in our closet.:)

 

Bill

 

What type of cabin were you in?

Did they have the chocolate buffet (that everyone is talking about)?

Are the shops on the ship open when you are tendered at HMC?

 

Thanks in advance!:D

[alwaysmomof1]

What type of cabin were you in?

Did they have the chocolate buffet (that everyone is talking about)?

Are the shops on the ship open when you are tendered at HMC?

 

Thanks in advance!:D

I could go for lot's of chocolate.:D Do they have susi on board too? (I know where my DH will be if they do):cool:

[Chief Cruiser]

The Fantasy is a sentimental favorite of mine. Since she is now sailing a different itinerary, I am saving to get back on her and cruise her new 5-day to the Turks and Caicos Islands.

 

I have been on the Fantasy several times and it seems the dining room service is hit and miss. At times, I have had tremendous service and at other times, I suffered the same fate as the OP. I am a big tea drinker at dinner and can't stand for my glass to be empty. However, before I would sit through an entire meal without something to drink, I would get the attention of the head waiter or maitre d to address the deficiency.

 

Cruising is the best vacation I know of and until something better comes along, it is certainly my vacation of choice. Glad you had a great time on your first cruise and congratulations and best wishes on your marriage.

[S.S.Oceanlover]

What type of cabin were you in?

Did they have the chocolate buffet (that everyone is talking about)?

Are the shops on the ship open when you are tendered at HMC?

 

Thanks in advance!:D

 

I'm not much help here. I stayed in a category 6D oceanview.

 

Don't know about the chocolate buffet. After 13 cruises I rarely look at the Caper anymore. Don't go to the Gala buffet and stuff like that.

 

Also don't know if the shops are open since I was in HMC all day. When my wife gets ome from work tonight I'll ask her where the Capers are and look this stuff up for you.

 

Wasn't I a big help?:D

 

Bill

[Chad3219]

Hey just wanted to let you know that the Elation will be taking over this itinerary at the end of October and the Fantasy will be repositioning to New Orleans. Her last day doing the 5 night Turk/Caicos itinerary will be Oct 14.

[Breezybysea]

July 8 - 13, 2006...Anyone else sailing Carnival Fantasy these dates? This is our second cruise but first for Carnival and we can't wait!

[kathy32259]

I'm not much help here. I stayed in a category 6D oceanview.

 

Don't know about the chocolate buffet. After 13 cruises I rarely look at the Caper anymore. Don't go to the Gala buffet and stuff like that.

 

Also don't know if the shops are open since I was in HMC all day. When my wife gets ome from work tonight I'll ask her where the Capers are and look this stuff up for you.

 

Wasn't I a big help?:D

 

Bill

 

YEP:p

 

At least I know I will have a big fluffy robe!:D

[newbiewfromms]

Breezybysea----My family and I are sailing on the Fantasy on July8th..Our first cruise...Way way way too excited..I've been lurking on these boards readying EVERYTHING I possibly can before we leave...Go on over to the Roll Call board and sign up..There are a few there folks signed up for our Cruise....Maybe we'll bump into each other...Its me, my husband (both early 40's) my two kids, son 16 and daughter 7--and my mom who is a young 69.....11 days and counting...

[S.S.Oceanlover]

AZ_RedNecks DW,

Yes they have sushi daily from 5pm to 8:30pm. I stopped by twice before dinner during the week. The times aren't good if you have 5:45pm dinner.

 

Bill