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Review of the Fascination back yesterday

Crusing Candy

By Crusing Candy,
in Carnival Cruise Lines

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Crusing Candy

Crusing Candy

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I promised I would post a review. Because I so looked forward to them before my cruise. I will give some details with the pros and cons.

First the cons: Only a few and the first biggie Carnival could not help.

Got to the airport around 11:45. Found Carnival guy after picking up luggage, no one at the gate. It is now 12:00. Told us the ship was not in port yet due to Frances. Come back in an hour to hour and a half. Go have lunch. O.K. Came back at 1:30. Yes we are ready, let's go. Went to wait for bus outside for about 30 minutes. Got to the port of Miami. OMG :eek: :eek: :eek: The lines were VERY long. We had a 3 1/2 hour wait before we got on the ship!!! It was SO hot!!! It was not Carnival's fault. Because of Frances they held everyone at the airport and we all desended on the port at once. They gave us a $25.00 credit each. Cancelled Key West and gave us 12 hrs in Coz. O.K. so the $25.00 made the heat a little more bearable.

My other two gripes; is the coffee in the dining room.

Someone said it had chicory in it. UGH! (It is better in the Lido deck and the Coconut Grove dining room. Which brings me to the only other gripe. There was a MAJOR funky smell in the Coconut Grove dining room. They had dehumidifers running. It smells like pee or the garage smell you can smell behind any fast food joint in USA.

Yes the ship was flashy. I thought it was FUN, clean and well run.

Our cabin steward & her helper very nice. Kept our room clean, ice in bucket and plenty of towels. The staff was very friendly. Always a "good morning, hello, etc. " No orange bedspreads, manniquens, or funky smell in our cabin. A 6A (I think) U-72 inside, 2 twins made into a queen. Bed comfy. Inside room O.K. our last cruise had a port hole. IMHO a waste. The room was quite and dark, good for sleeping. Plenty of storage, bathroom big enough. Always too hot water We have a travel trailer. It was like being in it.

Just DH and I in this cabin. So things I didn't need was told on this board I would need were. Over door organizer, nightlight ( just left the bath light on and door ajar) & extention cord. One plug by dresser. Sit on bed or in chair and did my hair and makeup.

We really enjoyed it. Would recommend the ship for a fun 4 days. Ready to book a week criuse. :)

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noahsark99

noahsark99

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Cruising Candy... I agree with your post. The embarkation process was really a mess...3 1/2 hours in the hot sun and they kept telling us they would get us water from the ship and they never did!! I'm sure this situation was handled the best it could have been but it was still a nitemare. Our room was clean, pleanty of storage for two people, room steward was great...towel animal every night...I really liked the down comforters. We left the bathroom light on and the door shut and had enough light coming out from under it so no nightlight needed. The hot water really is too hot and even the cold water was warm. Ship seemed pretty clean to me. Always plenty of chairs around the pool. The two shows I went to were pretty good...I enjoyed the Broadway one better than Hollywood...but the dancers and singers were great. There was an "R rated" comedy show two nights at midnight, I didn't see it but was told it was good. The Diamonds Are Forever disco was always packed and a good time. The food in the buffet was not great, the dining room was a little better and the pizza place was good. Overall, I enjoyed it and would do it again...but hopefully not in between hurricanes this time!

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Crusing Candy

Crusing Candy

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We didin't make it to the Hollywood review. Think it was the second night/ formal night. Did go to the NY review. It was O.K. I had read on CC that they were not really singing and tapping. Didn't mention this to DH. But, he picked up on it right away. We still enjoyed it. It had been several years since we had cruised. And I swear some of the food they served was the same they served 17 years ago on our first cruise. Not complaining. But do you crusiers that go twice a year and more often get tried of the same shows, food, silly contest,etc.

Just wondering. Would like to do a week next time. Guess you could book on another line.

Candy

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lfdp13

lfdp13

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are you leaving on the 27th? this will be our first cruise

 

 

 

Thanks for posting! I haven't seen much on the fascination and we leave in two weeks. I'm sorry you had the ordeal in Miami. I hope that once you were on the cruise all was forgotten.

 

Thanks again for your post!

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PlaneJoy

PlaneJoy

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We're flying into Miami and will be at the Fairfield Inn on Sunday and hopefully get to the port early Monday and on the ship! We are in a guarentee and still have no idea what cabin we're in (though I do have an idea).

 

 

I can't believe it's only 6 more days...... and then at the same time I can't believe we still have 6 more days! :)

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lfdp13

lfdp13

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We are at the Hyatt Regency, cashed in some points for a free night. Will probably head to the port after checking out. We are in E103. Hopefully the embarktation(sp?) line is short and then the bar lines are shorter.

 

Do you know if the boat is full? I still see some cabins open if I try to upgrade, doesn't seem to be to many. Its gonna be a LOOOOOOOOOONG 6 days.

 

Being newcomers to cruising, what is the simple explanation for the "guarantee"?

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PlaneJoy

PlaneJoy

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Guarentee = no cabin assignment but we are "guarenteed" a certain category or better. In our case a suite. I decided to upgrade b/c of our cabin location on our original reservation and to have more room for our 2 kids.

 

For a while I thought the boat was rather empty, but it seem to have filled up in the last 6-8 weeks or so. We didn't book until about 8 week ago.

 

If your early, look for us chasing around a dark headed 2-year-old girl named Dakota. That's us! She's quite a spirited little one!

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noahsark99

noahsark99

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down comforters? Are these in all the cabins? What type of cabin did you have. I've bben on 5 carnival cruises - several different ships but they've all had the cheesy orange/ pink scratchy bedspreads. I'm off on 10/8 - very excited.

 

We were in just your basic inside cabin (E12 to be exact). I was quite surprised...it was my first Carnival cruise and I had only had the cheesy scratchy bedspreads before too. Keeping my fingers crossed for you to have the fluffy soft comforters!! Have a good trip!!

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