Drumbum675

Call carnival and put your name on the list. I’ve booked 2 days out on sold out ships. They maintain a list of standby passengers and will work down the list in the event of cancellations or no shows. This is usually only practical if you live in the port city since you might not know if you are going until the day if or the day before.

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We had a great time in Cuba.

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I've booked on sold out cruises less than 2 days out. Sold out dates don't show on carnivals site (since they are no longer available). Look on other sites that show all sailings. Find the date you want. Call carnival and they will put you on a list. There are always people that cancel. If they get to your name on the list then you go. From my experience, prices were about the same as if I had booked a normal ticket. I live 10 min from port. One time I was notified late the evening before that I was on. They pick your room since you get the leftovers.

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I was on paradise last week and seemed like half the ship had FTTF. ...

I adore the Paradise, it is hands down my favorite ship. Sailed her 3 times last year. The size is perfect for me...I did sail the Fascination but hated the layout. I have not been on the Elation yet but hear good things.

Huh? The Paradise and Fascination have essentially identical layouts with the exception of the Paradise piano area, Promenade mid ship, which creates a bottle neck. Overall, fascination is in better condition and has 2.0 upgrades.

Never been on NCL, but have been on Dream with Spa pass. It has a fairly large spa area with 4 different steam/ aroma rooms. Each has tile loungers except for the sauna. The Thalassotherapy pool is large and always had plenty of space in it. The serenity area is near the waterslide entrance and is not the most quiet area on the ship.

Well Jax has Elation now and Tampa has Paradise. Fascination is a better ship than both of them. If you didn't like Fascination, you should book out of Port Canaveral.

Got off paradise yesterday morning. Just got the survey email from carnival. Still trying to decide how brutal I'm going to be. I'm not going to complain on here but there were many issues on this cruise. However, we still had a good time and Calvyn the CD was funny and our room steward was great.

We have been on fascination 6 times. Just got off paradise today and although the paradise is the youngest of the fantasy class and is 4 years newer than fascination, I thought the paradise was in terrible shape compared to fascination. Fascination always has a great crew.

Fantasy class won't be going anywhere anytime soon. Carnival has no lines to pass them down to, anymore, and there is no real market for used cruise ships.

I disagree. Carnival has a history of keeping ships in the fleet 20-30 years. The Fantasy is is 26 years old. It become a maintenance cost/benefit issue. There is a market for used ships.

Everyone is always focusing on larger and larger ships. The fact is, very soon Carnival will need to build several smaller ships to replace the aging Fantasy Class fleet. Fantasy Class ships fill a very important niche in Carnivals market. There are several ports that can not support anything larger due to Infrastructure issues. I'd be happy to see a new redesigned Fantasy sized ship.

It is a cashless ship, but cash is king. I've found that a few bucks to the right people can get you extra special service....

It's probably automated based on what the cruise manager says, and the amounts in cruise manager are not always correct. Right now mine says I have $50 OBC but I really have a few hundred which carnival says is correctly reflected on their end.

I'd wait for Xunantunich. It's pretty awesome sitting on top of 200 ft tall ruins with you feet hanging over the edge and no safety barriers or railings at all...lol

I've stayed in M265 on Fascination a few times. I like the aft view and 265 is on the end. Engine noise didn't bother me, but you may have some extra noise from ropes and such when docking, just like any room front or back.

The Amazing Secret River (Rio Secreto) in Cozumel. Was awesome. Just booked it for a second time.

I use Ship Mate.

Aft is ok, but Aft Wrap (back corner) is the best. These wrap around from the side to the back. Generally they are very long but not as deep as a regular aft. We had one on carnival dream and the balcony was at least 30 feet long. Side and rear views.

I've been on Fascination 5 times. Two aft decks on Lido that over look serenity are great spots since they are out of the way, and not everyone know about them. Also love the top deck all the way forward in front of the mini golf Windows. Best spot on the ship late at night. No one up there and the window sills are perfect seats. Always a great breeze and good views.

I would guess there are several reasons including wet suit size, tight confined spaces, and steep wet slippery surfaces.

This is my favorite excursion that I've ever done through carnival. I hope you can do it because you will love it.

I'm also from Jax and enjoyed Fascination for quick cheap get aways. We sailed her 6 times in last 3 years. Was skeptical about Elation, I think we will sail from PC in the next one.

Yes there is a sports bar - but plan to get there early - it will be packed!

Where is there a sports bar? Most of the bars have tvs that play sports but there isn't a dedicated sports bar. Stars Bar mid ship deck 9 plays sports and you will usually find people deck 9 aft outside Puttin on The Ritz when a good game is on.

You got on the day we got off. We sailed during the hurricane but they did a great job of keeping us out of it and in the sunshine most of the trip.

Did you guys get any pictures of Oct 1st departure? I think I saw some people down there taking pics. I was on the rear Lido balcony.

We were on this cruise as well and were pleasantly surprised at how nice the weather was.

We were worried that the cruise would be a bust and figured that it would rain everyday. I anticipated either being rerouted to Key West, or changing our first day to a Sea Day instead of our last. The captain made several announcements about the storm and weather and kept us updated. We only ended up with very minor changes. We arrived in Freeport 1.5 hours early and departed one hour early. We also got an extra hour in Nassau.

The only rain I saw was within the first couple hours of leaving Jacksonville. We had a few showers that only lasted a few minutes. Both Freeport and Nassau weather was beautiful. Nassau was pretty windy and the seas were rough. We went to Atlantis to get beach passes, which is what we typically do. Paid for the cab ride over only to learn the beaches were closed...so we went back and did some shopping. The boat was rocking a bit on a couple of the days. I did not think it was bad at all.

Overall this cruise turned out much much better than it could have. The crew did an amazing job of keeping us in the best weather possible.