Fascination Review

[nagster]

Wow I am totally impressed with my homeport ship. She is in great shape, I was actually expecting worse. Really clean with a few worn areas, mainly the coverings on walls that people brush up against frequently.

 

DR service was great and I loved our guy, very friendly and a relaxed meal. Hi Shannon and Roosevelt from CT.

 

Our cabin was immaculate, could be compared to the newer ships. I don't know if it was the layout or what but I had a great space for my suitcase ( I tend to only unpack hang up clothes) and it seemed pretty spacious.

 

My one complaint and it is a big one is that the lido deck buffet is pretty bad. The one adjective that comes to mind is sloppy, sloppy work and sloppy presentation. To me the food was tasteless and the area always seemed unclean.

 

I have been on the Glory, Liberty, Fantasy, Miracle, Inspiration and Elation for comparison.

[Mego0427]

I agree, the lido deck buffet was not so good. My fiance was kind of disappointed, it was his first cruise and my family and I had built it up as being so great, and it wasn't. Luckily I steered him to the Ice cream and he was fine haha.

[nagster]

You cannot possibly be home already Mego???

[bonniemari]

Thanks for the review.

 

We are taking the Fascination on May 2nd for our annual girls cruise. I like the Fantasy but have been 2 times in the last 5 months so I was ready for a change of ports and ship.

 

I really don't do buffets but thanks for the warning. As long as I can find a rueben sandwich and a salad for lunch and the dining room is good I will survive.

 

And of course the ice cream.

 

We are driving down the day before. Since you live in JAX maybe you could enlighten me on the Holiday Inn Express near the port. I am kind of picky about hotel/motel rooms. Have you heard anything? Good or bad.

[nagster]

You should be fine at the holiday Inn, I would not worry about it. The port (even to me) looked out of the way. Lots of constuction. I think at the first light you come to leaving is the Wendy's and a gas station, the only things really close.

[nagster]

Forgot to mention that RS food was great too.

[divinmule]

Oh please tell us more!!!!

 

We sail the Fascination in about two months and I've been so anxious for someone to give us a current review of their cruise.

 

You know how it is.....We're in the waiting mode and need all the info and pics you guys want to throw our way. :p

 

Glad to hear you had a wonderful cruise. Which ports did you visit?

 

Lari

[nagster]

You will enjoy the fascination. The crew are very friendly without being in your face (or fake) DR food was good, and my service was excellent. There were a lot of out of towners, Ohio, TN, NC, SC, jersey, PA.

 

The public areas didn't seem crowded, and there were plenty of public areas with nice seating to chat and talk or play cards. The kids weren't with us so I can't say anything about camp carnival. I did notice when I went to the pool that there were not a lot of chairs available. No chair hogging that I saw, just a lot of people enjoying the sun.

 

I had to go to the very windy top and once my hat went flying off I went in. The lounge is very nice, I thought the decoration on the ship was nice, not flashy or anything. There are great spots to watch the shows and there are ok spots. Wherever we were we could still see.

 

Any specifics just ask. I really, really enjoyed the ship.

[Lv2Camp&Cruise]

Glad you had a great trip. We will be on her in 27 days. I sailed on the Fascination in 2001 and can't wait to see how she looks now. Were you on the 4 or 5 day?

[nagster]

We did the 5 day Nassau/half moony cay. Most excellent.

[Lv2Camp&Cruise]

We did the 5 day Nassau/half moony cay. Most excellent.

 

 

Lucky you! I love HMC. We are on the Saint and Sinners October Legend cruise but wanted a quickie to get us Platinum for October. We are doing the 4 day Nassau and Freeport run. Been to both ports and may just use Freeport as a sea day.

[Mego0427]

You cannot possibly be home already Mego???

I have been home for a while now, unfortunately

 

Oh please tell us more!!!!

 

We sail the Fascination in about two months and I've been so anxious for someone to give us a current review of their cruise.

 

You know how it is.....We're in the waiting mode and need all the info and pics you guys want to throw our way. :p

 

Glad to hear you had a wonderful cruise. Which ports did you visit?

 

Lari

 

We did the 5 day to Key West and Nassau.

The cruise was really nice, the staff was awesome, my fiance was amazed at how legitimately nice everyone was. He speaks Russian so he had a great time talking to all the staff who did too, we made a few new friends lol. The only issue really was the buffet food and really, it didn't matter.

[hipmama71]

Hi! So great to see good reviews! We are so excited! We are leaving in 17 days on the Fascination for the 5 day cruise to Key West and Bahamas. I have a few questions:

 

• What night was your Formal night?
  
• I think my 10 year old son is more excited about the room service than anything else. He is so funny! Anyway - I think he is going to be disappointed at the selection of the menu. Somewhere on this board, it seems like I read that they only had sandwiches for room service. Is this correct? If so, I want to be able to break it to him before we go!
  
• I also read the hot tubs have salt water and will make your swimsuits bleach out. Is this true? If so, is it the salt water mixed with the chemicals that do that, beause I have swam in the ocean and my suit has never bleached out. What about the pools? Do they have salt water, and if so, does the bleaching occur when you swim in the pools?
  

Thanks!!

[Elationismyship]

• I think my 10 year old son is more excited about the room service than anything else. He is so funny! Anyway - I think he is going to be disappointed at the selection of the menu. Somewhere on this board, it seems like I read that they only had sandwiches for room service. Is this correct? If so, I want to be able to break it to him before we go!
  

Thanks!!

 

I can tell you that my 13 year old, who is sailing with us on the Fascination on June 8th is looking forward to room service too. She was on a cruise with us when she was 8 years old and this is what she loved then also and can't stop talking about getting "room service" again.

 

Even though the menu is limited it is not too limited. There is a lot of selection in my opinion but you won't find chicken fingers, fries, etc. that type of food. But you will find PB&J, sandwiches such as BLT, Grilled Ham & Cheese, fruits, dessert of the day (our favorite), cookies, milk, tea, veggies & dip, etc., etc. The thrill will still be there for him as when those plates come it's very exciting -- it's not so much about the food but being served in your room anyway (at least for my daughter). We don't ever order room service in a hotel as it's so expensive so this is a real treat. And there is plenty to pick from anyway and having cookies and milk delivered at 11:00 pm is a lot of fun.

[hipmama71]

Great!!!! Thanks so much for the reply! That makes me feel so much better! He will love that he can order dessert and things like that!

 

And yes, we are like you, I will not order room service from hotel's either! That is the reason he is so excited! It is something he has never gotten to do before! :)

[Quikbilla]

You can order ANYTHING from room service if you want. I ordered chicken strips and a grilled cheese sandwich with bacon one time. We got a chicken fajita wrap instead of the chicken strips but oh well it was good haha.

 

I loved the ship it was awesome. I just got off a couple weeks ago.

Don't worry the deli makes a AWESOME Reuben Sandwich.

 

Great ship, if I could I would do it again very soon.

[obx_fintoo]

Great!!!! Thanks so much for the reply! That makes me feel so much better! He will love that he can order dessert and things like that!

 

And yes, we are like you, I will not order room service from hotel's either! That is the reason he is so excited! It is something he has never gotten to do before! :)

 

Another thing to consider (it's not room service, but SO good!) is the 24 hour Pizzeria and deli. It is all the way in the back of the Coconut Grill. Most every night, we would stop here and pick up a reuben to take down to the room for a bedtime snack!:cool:

 

FYI - I cruised on the 3/12 sailing to Freeport and Nassau. Didn't get around to posting a reveiw because it was a rather up and down cruise. Lots of drama that had nothing to do with Carnival. As my DH joked "It was the best of cruises. It was the worst of cruises."

 

But if anyone has some specific questions, I'll be happy to attempt to answer.

[Meemers2005]

Thank you for your review Nagster!

Did you stay in an inside cabin? We are sailing the Fascination in July and I thought I had read on these boards that all of the cabins(on the Fascination) have refrigerators. Do you know if they do? How are the shops on the ship? My husband bought a watch on our cruise on the Inspiration and is hoping to buy a new one on this cruise.

[nagster]

I was inside on Main, no fridges. We always do insides but a few of the ships we have been on have fridges, maybe the newer ones.

[jrmende63]

Can anyone tell me if there are hairdryers in the OV cabins? thanks

[nagster]

My DH got a watch a few years back in Nassau so I haven't priced watches. There were quite a few to choose from though.

[nagster]

That made me remember that there wasn't a hairdryer.

[A&Jfamily]

Hi! So great to see good reviews! We are so excited! We are leaving in 17 days on the Fascination for the 5 day cruise to Key West and Bahamas. I have a few questions:

 

• What night was your Formal night?
  
• I think my 10 year old son is more excited about the room service than anything else. He is so funny! Anyway - I think he is going to be disappointed at the selection of the menu. Somewhere on this board, it seems like I read that they only had sandwiches for room service. Is this correct? If so, I want to be able to break it to him before we go!
  
• I also read the hot tubs have salt water and will make your swimsuits bleach out. Is this true? If so, is it the salt water mixed with the chemicals that do that, beause I have swam in the ocean and my suit has never bleached out. What about the pools? Do they have salt water, and if so, does the bleaching occur when you swim in the pools?
  

Thanks!!

 

We did the same trip - left Sat, came back Thurs. Formal night was Sunday.

 

I do not believe the hot tubs are salt water...though I have heard differing comments on this; we didn't get in them this trip. The pools are salt water, pumped in each day from the ocean and drained at night...so they can be pretty chilly! I've never had a problem with bleaching a suit; I just rinse them out when we come back to the room and use the clothes line to hang them to dry.

 

BTW - my 10 year old loves cruising - I think he hits the 24 hr ice cream at least twice a day!

[Mego0427]

OV did not have a hair dryer. Good thing I brought mine even though DF tried to talk me out of it.

ETA we did the monday to Saturday cruise and formal night was on Tuesday, our first day at sea.

[jrmende63]

That made me remember that there wasn't a hairdryer.

 

OV did not have a hair dryer. Good thing I brought mine even though DF tried to talk me out of it.

ETA we did the monday to Saturday cruise and formal night was on Tuesday, our first day at sea.

Thanks for the quick answer. I did not think it did because the Carnival Inspriration did not have a hairdryer.

 

we are going to Half moon Cay and Nassau. It is our 28th wedding anniversary.