Mm13

Yes. On at least two of the decks they have laundry rooms with about 3 washers & dryers long with an iron. They were busy each time I cruised in Fascination but if you go at off times you should be fine. 

A lot of the locals are commenting on one of the groups I am in saying that Pelican Village which is just outside the port gate has music, dancing, and drinks. It is in the news there that they are trying to attract more pax to the area. https://www.google.com/amp/s/barbadostoday.bb/2019/05/16/hope-for-pelican-with-new-initative/amp/

Getting off the plane, picking up luggage, and getting a taxi took no more than 45 minutes. Then getting to the port was maybe 15-20 minutes. Of course I’m sure there will be many cruises who are also flying in the same day. 

I think you will be fine; however, if you can get an earlier flight you will be able to enjoy San Juan as a port rather then racing to get on the boat.

Priority embark is for all wedding guests. If you book through ta you may be able to use your room before 1 (I would ask if that is something you are interested in). 

Maybe call the TA and ask them the pros and cons of booking with them VS booking on your own. 

9 hours ago, jsglow said:

Southwest flights are very high right now as they had to ground so many of their planes. At first they had 6 flights scheduled for the day we were leaving, now they are down to 3. Same for the way back. As soon as they grounded all the planes prices jumped $400. If they get the issue with the planes fixed I am anticipating prices will decrease.

4 hours ago, Angule said:

I ended up booking the 7 day on the Fascination for 789 per person. The other one was an 8 day, but was over 1300 per person. I didn’t realize it was 8 days until after I booked though. I talked to my boyfriend and showed him the routes, and he said that 3 sea days on the newer ship was too much for him. 

 

I booked room E93. Thoughts on it? I’m fine with interior rooms. Was debating a porthole room, but they had bad reviews of being loud and smelling smoke. Could not find any reviews of E93. 

I will be in a porthole in June. I'll update if I smell any smoke. I asked on here a while back for reviews and everyone said that they did not smell smoke in the porthole.

I'd say watch the price. Last year the price dropped multiple times before sailing. I think I ended up paying $500 a person for an oceanview last year. This year the boat sold out fast and now there are only a few rooms left. I watched the prices every day and was able to get a price drop. I think this year we paid $520 a person for a porthole.

I loved the itinerary on Fascination so much that we are going again this year.

I think it is important to consider the ports that you are going to as well. You could spend an extra 500 on Horizon and get a bigger and I’m sure more up to date boat or you can take that 500 and spend it towards excursions.

Fascination had multiple comedy shows a night. There were always seats and they rotated comedians.

The deck was dead at night. Most people I assume were at dinner, comedy show, or one of the main shows. I rarely saw people dancing on the main deck. (And this was last June, so busy season).

We went on excursions every day, came back and showered and went to dinner then a comedy show or two each night. Fascination is so port intensive that if one gets off the boat each day I’m not sure how they stay up past midnight lol. 

Ugh. I prepaid for a spa service on Fascination in June. The thought of having to deal with this annoyance is enough to make me want to cancel. I wonder what the official procedure is for pre-purchased spa services.

11 hours ago, Timid Traveller said:

Our cruise ship will be in San Juan next April. I had planned a walking route to a few of the attraction that we missed last time we were there. My questions are to do with SAFETY as I will be walking with my two sisters. After viewing some maps online it looks like there is

1) a shortcut connecting Calle Recinto Sur to Calle Tetuan

2) a long walkway area connecting Calle Tetuan to Calle Cristo

I cannot seem to find photos or information on these areas. Can anyone describe these two areas for me? Are these areas usually busy with tourists?

Another area that I would like to see is the quaint looking areas of CALETA de las MONJAS and CALETA de San Juan. Should we have any safety concerns in these areas? Any information would be appreciated. 

 

Each time we have been in Old San Juan we walk around the entire city. There are a lot of tourists out doing the same thing. There is also a free trolley that drives around that you can hop on if you get too tired. 

We usually walk from on fort to the next and stop at a few stores and restaurants. On Sundays one of the forts is always filled with locals flying kites and having picnics. 

23 hours ago, HeyNowMama1315 said:

Update:

 

success!

 

(I also canceled and rebooked to get the tax sale 10%) 

 

 

When you canceled and rebooked did you get the full price you originally paid back? When I look at my cruise manager for any of the excursions that I had Carnival price match, it now indicates the price match cost and no longer shows my original fee.

Just wondering if you got the full purchase price back before you rebooked using the promo code.

I would be interested to see if they don’t subtract the amount you got from the 10% off. 

Anytime there has been a promo code sale they have taken my discounted rate into account when providing the on board credit. 

I second the vacuum seal bags. I used them on my last trip. The clothes, including dresses, came out wrinkle free. On my way home I sealed bag and sat on it, since I didn’t have access to a vacuum. 

I got mine at the dollar tree. Worked great. 

I stayed in an ocean view on Fascination last June and didn’t notice a stale smell. In fact the AC worked really well circulating the air. Hence my surprise and concern after reading reviews about cigarette smell from the air vents.

Has anyone booked a porthole room lately that can comment on whether or not it smelled like cigarette smoke? I was going through room reviews and noticed many reviews suggesting that the porthole rooms smelled of cigarette smoke due to the location of the AC vents. Thanks in advance.

5 minutes ago, chrisnatca said:

So if I pay for an excursion with a Carnival Gift Card and then apply for price matching, how do you suppose I'll get reimbursed?  Room Credit?  Or another Gift Card?

You do not get a reimbursement. You will get onboard credit for the difference plus 10%.

On my upcoming cruise out of the 5 port days, I have successfully had Carnival price match 4 of the excursions. 

I just Googled the activity and found quite a few excursions being offered by a few companies. 

St. Lucia has a ziplining excursion that is 120 something through Carnival. I found it for 81. It is ziplining, hiking, and tram. At first they sent an email saying they were going to escalate to a supervisor bc the excursion I found didn’t go in the same order: hike, zip line, then tram. After a day or two they emailed back and said they would pricematch. 

If you get a denial email, you can email and ask why.  They respond really quickly. 

4 minutes ago, Saint Greg said:

 

Fascination is in my future plans. I’m excited about it because I love the comedy club and the alchemy and they’re right together on fascination. 

 

For me on a sea day I usually try to sleep a little more. Get up and hit the coffee bar. Find a place on deck to enjoy that. Grab a Bloody Mary. Hit the morning show. Grab another Bloody Mary. Hit brunch. Hit the red frog rum bar and catch whatever is going on up on lido deck. Usually the hairy chest contest, mixologist contest, or lip synch battle auditions. Grab lunch at some point. Hit the alchemy bar when it opens. Get ready for dinner. Dinner, show, alchemy bar, comedy club in the evening. 

 

I can do all of that on fascination. There isn’t much more to do during the day on ships all the way up through the  Dream. Once you get to breeze and Magic you have some more things...but I have to find a way to force them into my schedule.

 

 

I loved how the comedy show was never crowded on the Fascination. Often they had a show going on in the main or you could catch a comedy show.

If I remember correctly most of the comedy shows started at 8 with the adult at 9 or 10. Which was nice when I had a port the next day I had to wake up for. 

On other ships I felt like I was fighting to get into the comedy show then also trying to stay awake. 

I did miss not having the sea side theater.

I really enjoyed option 2. So much so that we are going again.

Now saying that, I must say that I didn’t realize Carnival had dropped a port and added a sea day. That is one of the reasons as to why Royal is more $ they still have Antigua. 

If I was paying more attention when I booked, I may have had to strongly consider jumping ship and going to Royal on this itinerary simply because I liked Antigua a lot and I enjoyed a new port every day.

A sea day on Fascination does not make me excited. Don’t get me wrong, I loved the boat. But other than sit at the pool, there isn’t much to do during the day. I live in Florida, so sitting at the pool isn’t a vacation for me. 

3,2,1. 

Ive done the updated 2 itinerary a few times, it is great. Never done 3. 

Time of year might be important to consider. If you are booking hurricane season and booking because of ports, booking an eastern and suddenly being forced into a western might be disappointing. 

Also look into how many on 1 & 3 are tender. I’ve heard Cayman gets canceled a lot, although it hasn’t happened to us, yet. 

If you can find the excursion cheaper on the net you can get the difference in on board credit by filling out the excursion guarantee form. I’ve been successful at finding an identical tour for each of the ports on my next cruise. 

Is it the May 3rd sailing?

Rates change daily based on sales. If you check every day you will see the dramatic fluculations. 

I booked Early Saver knowing the VIPF offer was significantly less. 24 hours later I noticed the cruise was nearly sold out so I called and price matched the VIPF. The rep on the phone made it sound like VIPF was my new rate, not just an es price match. 

Also don’t waste your time with the price match form, call. The last form I submitted didn’t get processed and “they had no record” of me submitting. 

Last month I filled out a price protection form and 3 days later the price was up and I called. The agent on the phone told me they had no record of my request. I’d call while the price is low. 

The promotion that I got one month ago was $200 statement credit with first purchase. There was no required amount that the purchase needed it to be. 

When I was paying off the cruise it was on the screen as a option for how to pay for the cruise. 

I applied but didn’t use the card to pay off cruise but rather to purchase excursions. It came in the mail less than 3 days after I applied.