Carnival Fascination review. No pics, just thoughts on the ship.

We used El Tigre when we were in Barbados. It's significantly cheaper than Calabaza at $88 per adult, and I think you get the same experience. They pick you up at Terminal 1 of the cruise port, and transport you to the office/dock where you pay for the balance of the trip (there's a $20 deposit per person when you book online). They have light refreshments (water/punch) outside the office while you wait to board the boat. You drop your shoes/flip flops in a large bucket before boarding (pro-tip: if you have common flip-flops, mark them by tying them with a ribbon or something because someone had the same exact flip-flops as me onboard). Once you hop on board, there's a safety briefing as you make your way to the sea turtle bay. They offer refreshments and coconut bread as you sail. There's equipment on board for you to use (lifejackets, snorkeling gear, etc) and more tips on how to interact with the sea turtles. The crew will feed the turtles and guide you over to them. You have about half an hour to hang out with the turtles. Once time's up, the crew leads you back to the boat, and you sail off to the shipwreck area. Same deal, you have about another half an hour to snorkel amongst the shipwreck. Then you hop back on board and sail out to a different beach for lunch. Lunch is super good...local grilled chicken, fried fish, gravy/sauce, rice, beans, 3 different salads, mac & cheese. The drinks are flowing the entire time...water, soda, rum punch, assorted simple cocktails, etc. The rum punch is good...and can pack a wallop. Dessert is banana bread and fruit. There's time to hop in the water and enjoy swimming around the catamaran in the bay. Then the crew rounds us up for the sail back to the dock. It's a great sail, and you totally need to sit up front on the nets...just be prepared that you may get wet. There's a boat party on the way back to the dock where the crew sings and dances. Back at the dock, the optional tip jar comes out as we exit the boat, but they do not pressure you to tip. You collect your flip flops or shoes back at the dock before the take you back to the cruise terminal where there's plenty of time to do a bit of shopping before getting back on board. It was easily my favorite excursion of our entire cruise...and I would gladly book El Tigre the next time we're in Barbados.

Loved your review -- thanks.

We're doing this cruise in 45 days -- we love the Fantasy Class ships!

Interested in what you did in St. Lucia -- SL and Barbados are new ports to us.

As of now, we are doing a Cosol all-day tour in St. Lucia, and a trip to Harrison's Cave in Barbados -- maybe a taxi ride to Mt. Gay Rum afterwards, since the cave tour is only 3 hours.

Thanks for your thoughts.

Loved your review -- thanks.

We're doing this cruise in 45 days -- we love the Fantasy Class ships!

Interested in what you did in St. Lucia -- SL and Barbados are new ports to us.

As of now, we are doing a Cosol all-day tour in St. Lucia, and a trip to Harrison's Cave in Barbados -- maybe a taxi ride to Mt. Gay Rum afterwards, since the cave tour is only 3 hours.

We did Cosol tours a few years ago. It was okay but very busy and a lot of time in a closed taxi. The driver we had needed to rush to get things in. For example the sample of bread and bananas he just jumped out and grabbed them and handed them back to us as we drove. He also suggested we skip the mud bath due to time. It seemed to me he'd make out on the admission fee if we skipped it. Enough people insisted we stop. It wasn't a bad excursion if you want to see everything, just very busy. The beach and snorkeling (I think at Jalousie) was very cool.

This time we just took a cab to Viggie beach (I think that's what it is called) and had a beach day. A tip if you are going here, there isn't much in the way of purchasing stuff. The food stand operators are more interested in the locals and treated us rather rudely. The water they sold me was just tap that they put in water bottles, seal was broken and it was overfilled for real bottled water. The taxi driver charged us $20 and said it was $20 both ways. Then he dropped us off at a guy that rented chairs and insisted we see him to get our taxi driver back. It's all a kickback scheme. The same guy scoped out our belongings at our chairs when we were at the food stand. He looked and saw us watching him and quickly moved away.

Realizing all this we walked down the beach to where the guy that's on Cruise Critic in the St. Lucia forum posts sometimes. I saw his sign as we got to the beach (it says Cruise Critic members) but our driver wouldn't stop there. I should have gone to him originally. We got a taxi there and I was quoted $10 (proving the first guy ripped me off). But of course the driver didn't have change for a $20 and no one at the port would provide change so he got a $10 tip. It was a very short drive and overall I got ripped off but not huge amounts. The beach is a plain beach, no snorkeling, some good waves. If you do a beach just get up front taxi prices and have small bills to give exact change.

We were on Deck 11, all the way forward so we had quite a bit of rocking. My older son got seasick one night. None of us has ever been seasick before. But luckily I brought pills for this just in case and they resolved the issue and worked for the rest of the cruise. . :D

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We will be on that deck, too. I have never been seasick, but what are those pills I should take along? I thought once you get sick it is too late for the pills.

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Great review and on point with the important things! One question about the rooms you mentioned they offered morning or evening but not both this was the first time I had read that both was not an option. I enjoy an afternoon nap and a shower before dinner so clean towels are a must for me. Does anyone have anything to add to the room cleaning choices? I would be willing to tip extra to get my "turn down" service.

We were on this sailing also. We were given the option of morning, evening or both. We only went with morning, but on the first day we met our room stewardess, and she asked us questions and took notes of any requests.

Loved your review -- thanks.

We're doing this cruise in 45 days -- we love the Fantasy Class ships!

Interested in what you did in St. Lucia -- SL and Barbados are new ports to us.

As of now, we are doing a Cosol all-day tour in St. Lucia, and a trip to Harrison's Cave in Barbados -- maybe a taxi ride to Mt. Gay Rum afterwards, since the cave tour is only 3 hours.

We just returned from this same trip. In St Lucia we took a land and sea tour with Spencer Ambrose tours. It was probably our best day of the cruise. We visited a volcano, a waterfall, and then spent a few hours at the beach, where the snorkeling was awesome. It's a small group, so you have personal service. The guide even took me to the supermarket to buy banana ketchup, when I had asked her a question about it. Drinks and lunch are included. In Barbados, we went to The Boatyard. For $20 each, we got a beach chair with umbrella, a drink (punch, beer, water, or soda), a short ride out to snorkel with turtles (we only saw one, but I think it's the luck of the draw on that), and it also included a cab ride back to the cruise terminal.

Thank you all so much for your reviews, comments and suggestions. We're sailing Fascination in late October 2017. Can't wait!!!