Matt62

We also have a a cruise booked on the Fantasy in october. If I may I would love to get your MATT62 "private"info on Charleston if I can email you as well? !

Cricket, you are welcome to email me directly. See email address above. If this all keeps up, I am going to have to book a Fantasy Cruise in October too!

Regarding a post above about solo supplements not being charged on "most" Fantasy cruises, I wish this were so but it is not. I looked at the list and could only find a few Fantasy Cruises where they were offering this but I'd sure love to be proven wrong on that.

Matt

I read your review, that was part of my decision to go to Charleston! We are flying in 1 day early AND plan on staying 4 days AFTER the cruise!:D

 

I want to get to Ft Sumter AND I want to see the Hunley.. Different days I'm thinking. Husband would 'kill me' if all I did was hit EVERY museum I could..... Don't understand that .... BUT... I'm a History teacher. We are looking at Indigo Inn- I think that is centrally located- right? We like to walk a lot so figured we can get to the beach...

 

Flying in not sure what the plans will be- we get in at about 12:30 So pretty much a good day in Charleston.

 

THANKS for the Charleston Info!!

Gabrielle

Gabrielle, feel free to email me for more info on Charleston since that level of detail goes beyond a thread on the Fantasy. I have lots of maps and info, etc and am glad to share. dillon99@comcast.net

Any suggestions for Nassau? Anything that you thought was fun/interesting.

 

My lake still has 2 feet of ice on it..... I'm ready for some sun and HEAT!

Gabrielle

Two feet of ice! Wholly smoke, no wonder you are cruise daydreaming. We were on the beach today with 82 degrees and sunny.

I'll get you some Nassau advise and others will no doubt chime in as well. We hired Captain Carl Blades for a private boat excursion and he was a gem. He is well reviewed on TripAdvisor.

There are some significant historical sites in Nassau but you just have to work your way around the crackheads in your way, the key is to walk like you mean it, don't amble like a tourist.

While on the ship:

DO enjoy the afternoon tea on sea days. Very lovely

DO NOT order pancakes in the MDR. They are heavy and tough.:(

Enjoy the Fantasy.:)

Kathy

Good advice but I was pleasantly surprised, no amazed actually, that the French Toast on the Lido breakfast buffet was pretty good and they have solved the weird partially cooked bacon problem and then there was this last breakfast related phenomenon.

Why do people just stand in the first line they come to? Every morning I'd walk up to the Lido breakfast and there would be a huge line to the first "regular" breakfast buffet. I'd walk around the corner and find no line at all for the amazing omelette & real eggs-cooked-to-order guys or the other identical breakfast line. Lesson, don't just get in the first line, keep on walking.

We were just on the Carnival Fantasy and at our advancing ages (50), mattresses, pillows and shower water pressure are becoming more and more important to us. Our group of 18 year old girls made no mention of any of that, only boys registered on their scale of concern.

We were thrilled with all three. The mattress seemed new and proved you don't need a box spring to make a bed really comfortable. Best night sleep we've had in a long time. We wrote down the name off the pillows hoping to buy some at home and the water pressure was better than any hotel we've stayed at in a long time and that includes expensive places like the W, etc.

I do agree with Matt that I'd rather not use the Carnival tours. For Freeport: Who would you recommend for snorkeling tours? And/or beaches?

 

I think Nassau has the Pirate Museum...? How hard to get there from the pier? Anything else you would recommend? (asked this question on the ports board too)

Thanks!

Freeport is easy, The beach at Lucaya is one of the most beautiful in the Bahamas and the $15 resort pass to the Grand Lucayan Hotel is a great deal. This is a great resort and it is so spread out it is a nice relief from the crowds on the ship. No problem getting a lounger there.

If you are interested in snorkeling, scuba or a dolphin encounter, Freeport is also perfect as just across the street from the Lucayan resort is Unexso, which is one of the best outfits in the West Indies. This is the "dolphin excursion" that Carnival sells, for a significant surcharge. This company is excellent, both in their professionalism, the condition of their boats and equipment and their treatment of their marine mammals.

http://www.unexso.com/ My advice is to do a trip with Unexso first thing in your morning and when you get back to their dock at 12:30, walk across the street and spend the next few hours on the beach. The last shuttle back to the port leaves at 4:00pm, which is perfect to get you back before they want you back on the ship at 4:30pm. We took the 3pm bus back so as to have an hour in the area next to the ship and regretted it. A bunch of bad souvenir shops and a way too loud Senior Frogs is no reason to leave that beach any earlier than you have to. We like the Grand Lucayan so much we are going to fly there and stay there sometime soon.

It has been 17 years since we have cruised Carnival. We have been cruising, but it's been mostly Princess & Royal that we have cruised. I thought it was worth trying Fantasy since I wanted to go to Charleston AND I wanted to see the Bahamas.

 

We will be on a 5 day cruise....So... What do you suggest We see and do while on board the ship? Anything we should make sure we do? Eat? Favorite spot you'd suggest? We are going in June. Worthwhile to wait to get on board and enjoy Charleston a bit more before boarding? OR get in earlier? (I'll admit we've been spoiled since we are Platinum for Princess so we get priority boarding)

 

Any suggestions on Freeport Or Nassau? (Yes, I have checked the others boards;) ) Just wondered if any of you have done this and thought.. Oh, I wish I had known... or I wish we would do this again... You know what I mean!

 

Any ideas/ suggestions would be appreciated!

Gabrielle

Gabrielle, first of all, you picked the best month of the year to visit Charleston and sail this particular cruise, the weather is perfect, the winds have died down and it is not yet storm season. The best port you will visit is, by far, Charleston so make sure you allow at least one night here to take advantage of that. Freeport has a spectacular beach, nicer than any in Nassau, so you will get lots of advice about taking the $5 roundtrip per person shuttle to Lucaya. Nassau is a bit trickier because of the urban congestion, traffic, etc but with some planning and advice, even the most jaded Nassau visitor can have a great time there if they do it right. I read daily about how much many cruisers hate Nassau and I understand that, it can be hard to like, but I've been more than 40 times, about 5 times via cruise ship, twice on business and the rest to land based resorts there and I can tell you that Nassau is a lot like food on a Carnival (or RCL or NCL) ship, if you can't find something you like, you are not trying hard enough.

We were on the Fantasy two weeks ago and watched her sail from our harbor today and wished we were on it. While there are bigger, newer, prettier, fancier, etc, ships, the Fantasy is in excellent condition, it is a comfortable size, the cabins look like they were built last year, not in 1990, and the crew is absolutely wonderful.

But, if you want this to be an amazing vacation and not just a nice one, make sure you spend at least one night in Charleston and let those of us who live here and frequent these boards guide you on some "must see" things to do while you are here.

My biggest suggestion, other than my obvious pitch to take advantage of Charleston, is to be wary of the Carnival sponsored Excursions. Why? They are safe and use reliable vendors but they herd their too large groups like cattle and they are overpriced.

Example: two of our teenage girls from our trip two weeks ago bought the dolphin encounter excursion from Carnival (Freeport). When they were on their excursion that morning, they met the others in their group who were doing the same (wonderful) experience for about $50 pp less. Same adventure, completely different price.

Sometimes Carnival sanctioned excursions are great fun, particularly when they involve smaller groups, but they are almost always overpriced (priced over the same activity if bought directly from the same vendor) and frequently overcrowded. I was fascinated how frequently I heard Carnival announce that they could NOT assure your safety on non-carnival excursions (i.e. if you book with a third party, you are probably going to be stabbed to death), but the reality is that with these boards and Tripadvisor, you can find out all you need to know about non-carnival vendors. I have no problem with Carnival wanting to turn a profit, but I do not care for that particular way they do it by capitalizing on the fears of many of their passengers who are not familiar with foreign ports of call.

Feel free to ask me about these ports and Charleston in particular.

You are about to get plenty of advice about what to see, do and eat on the Fantasy.

There is a document of the dismissal in this forum.

The State Court "nuisance" action was dismissed, the Federal Challenge to the permitting process necessary to build the new terminal, a challenge instigated by the same groups who were plaintiffs in the "nuisance" action, remains a huge problem.

I agree that these groups have some valid points, namely:

1) it would be preferable if all cruise ships used shore power while at dock, that way only the poor people living near the inland power plants would have to deal with the exhausts created by power production (I hope everyone knows I am trying to be facetious), and

2) The land where our terminal is presently located, right at the base of Market St, is some of the most valuable waterfront property anywhere and it does seems that we could make better use of that particular piece of property and move the cruise port up the waterfront a bit.

But if you want to know how grossly these groups overstate their positions, check out their website: http://www.charlestoncruisecontrol.org/

Our favorite is the image that shows the Whale Tail towering over Charleston as if it is about 500 stories high. You diminish your legitimate arguments when you overstate your case.

Yes she was launched in 1990, I saw her in that first year when I was staying in Nassau at what was then Carnival's Crystal Palace Casino Hotel. She seemed quite stunning, the first of a new class of larger ship with a vivid, color changing "huge" atrium (at the time). I've sailed on older ships, the Festivale being much older when I cruised on it and newer, we sailed on a Disney ship in its early days. No doubt the Disney ships are more appealing to look at, they still are, and I could get a huge discount on a last minute sailing if I wanted to as my brother is a DCL exec but if both were based in Charleston with the same itinerary at the same price, I'd choose the Fantasy. Why? I'm 51 and my youngest child is 18. I like a great bartending staff and a good sized casino with nice employees and I want to see adults partying (in the proper places mind you, not in the halls) late into the night dancing to the band by the Casino Bar. I am past the point of having to chase or supervise the little kids. I loved that stage but I am at a different stage of life and this fact matters when choosing a cruise ship.

This is exactly what I got last week. We didn't sail the Fantasy for the food, our food in Charleston cannot be beat by Seabourn or Regent. We did find plenty of good to great food and even managed to stick to a new diet. We saw lots of people gorging on crappy food, (I am past filling up on old fries and burgers at 11:00pm) but that is what they wanted to do so good for them. The choices are plentiful, keep looking and you will find what you want.

We sailed the Fantasy because of its convenience and because our last experience on her was excellent and this one was even better.

This ship shows none of the negative signs of aging, no smells, no faded paint, no rust, nothing broken and elevators that (amazingly) work like new. Our bed, bedding and pillows were also AMAZING, and the shower pressure was great and consistent so our cabin was perfect.

We could afford to sail a premium line and I am sure we will for the right occasion (25th anniversary looming) but I'd rather take multiple trips on this ship that works just fine than one on a ship that is only slightly better, or even much better in ways that do not matter to me anymore.

Bottom line, if you do your research, you should find the ship that meets your needs. If you do not, you may not be happy, regardless of how much or little you spend.

Wow, I started to just reiterate just how well the old ship is aging and started into a rambling semi-cruise review. I think this is a symptom of acute cruise withdrawal.

I am still missing my favorite bartender (Larry) from the 21st Century Bar (the Casino bar) who knew my name, drink preference (down to the right size glass) and folio number so I didn't even need to hand him my "Cheers" card. He was that good with everybody and they were constantly busy.

Any questions about the Fantasy and the Port of Charleston or our city itself are welcome.

Easy, easy! I didn't find the view to be as bad as you say..LOL. I think the Customs House is lovely, as is the view of the bridge. Every port has industrial cranes and ships and and not-pretty stuff but in Charleston, you can literally grab your bags and waltz right onto Market St, by the old market, sit down and enjoy coffee and donuts (which is what we did waiting for our friends to pick us up). I loved our Fantasy cruise and loved Charleston too.

Well I love your attitude. Most of the view from the ship is lovely and the location is perfect but it is that one completely unused building closest to the ship with the caving in roof that detracts from what should be a better sight to behold. And we do love our Ravenel Bridge which is as great to look at as to drive over every day.

My complaint is that we have the money ready to build a facility befitting our lovely city and the level of tourism we enjoy and that litigation is leaving us in a bind, which is in fact, the worst of both worlds. We have neither the new terminal that the Port has been planning since I moved here in 1991 nor do we have a total ban on cruise ships in the historic area that the plaintiffs so desire so we are stuck. At least we are keeping my fellow lawyers busy.

Again, as residents of Charleston, we appreciate your seeing past our port facility and look forward to your return.

And as for the good old Fantasy, when we were aboard her last week and my friend, who lives in one of the adjacent, historic neighborhoods, and I commented that there is no way, at any price point, to get better bar service than we had on that ship. We had a lovely time, the service was uniformly excellent and the ship was in great condition.

I thought the case was dropped?

 

To make a very long story short, it was not dropped. As a lawyer I am prone to over-answering these legal questions but several of the plaintiff's (neighborhood groups and environmental groups) claims were indeed dismissed on appeal but enough were sustained to continue the seemingly endless process. The permitting process needed to build the new terminal was completely vacated requiring a new process to begin and be approved before anything can happen. The groups fighting the presence of this ship will fight the new permitting process at every turn.

We were on the Fantasy last week and the view is bizarre. There is this amazing city in the distance with the most dilapidated building you can imagine in the foreground ruining what should be a great first impression for many.

Oh well.

Who is the new CD on the Fantasy???

As of our cruise which ended yesterday morning, (March 25 -30) it was "Island Girl", Murietta Durrant. We had Risa Barnes on the last Fantasy cruise and thought she was great. "Island Girl" is a sweet person and her Island accent is charming but it is almost impossible to understand her announcements. I am used to all kinds of accents from all over the world but she makes no attempt to pronounce many words in universally understandable and commonly accepted ways. My wife and I laughed every time we heard her talk about filling out the "Customs Decorations", but at least we knew what she was talking about when the vast majority of the time we had no idea.

We skipped all the shows she emceed and could not understand much of what she was saying on ship-wide PA announcements.

One the plus side, the cruise was GREAT. A fellow Charlestonian was onboard with me as we were both "chaperoning" four newly 18 year old high school girls and we both agreed, you could sail Seabourn (or more expensive if there is such a line) and you could not possibly get better bartenders than we had on the Fantasy.

Well if I hear anyone complain about Nassau anymore I am going to tell them to read your review. It just goes to prove that EVERY destination is what you make of it. Great work.

Thanks for the review, keep it coming. We are going to be on our second Fantasy cruise come next Tuesday. If you are within a 6 hour drive of Charleston, this is hard to beat (even if you have been on far newer and/or more expensive ships). If you have to fly, this is still a great cruise if you can take advantage of the best port you will visit on this trip . . . . Charleston. Can't wait to read more.

Ok since that worked I will try another shot just about 30 minutes earlier.

I am going to try inserting this image from Dropbox one more time. If anyone knows how to upload an image from your own hard drive, please let me know.

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It's on North Forest Drive. Since I'm not familiar with charleston I'm not sure if it's near the outlet or not. And we do want to find a nice restaurant that is not the basic chain that we can go to anytime. Want to experience some of the local restaurants......especially seafood.

 

 

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Karen, that Inn is a little (3 miles or less) further out (North) than the one at the outlet mall is was thinking of but it makes no difference.

If you really want to take advantage of the best port that you will be in on this cruise, I would suggest you go downtown Charleston for your dinner. I can suggest a place for GREAT seafood that is within walking distance of the best blocks of downtown Charleston (The Market, King Street, etc). Please feel free to email me and I will give you links, a map and directions from your hotel. It is probably 20 minutes from your hotel to a parking garage in downtown Charleston and I promise you it would be worth a drive three times that far. (my email is dillon99@comcast.net)

And just to test my ability to use dropbox to post photos inside posts, here (hopefully) is a photo I took of the Carnival Fantasy back in January from my boat at the Patriots Point Marina, which is the closest marina on the Charleston harbor to the Cruise ship terminal.

Can anyone give me information in the Fairfield Inn in North Charleston? We will be staying there the night before our cruise. We sail on April 26,2014. Any good restaurants or any other places to go close by?

 

 

Karen

I assume you are staying at the Fairfield near the Tanger Outlet? (there are 3 in North Charleston). If so, you are a close drive to all the "chain" restaurants near the Outlet (Fatz Cafe and Jim and Nick's BBQ being the best) or you could drive about 10 minutes to the East Montague Area in North Charleston which is a cluster of really great, local restaurants or you could venture downtown in about 15 minutes if you want to try some of the best restaurants in the Country. Warning, if you want to go downtown, you need reservations in advance, often days or weeks in advance depending on the restaurant. Our peak tourism season started last weekend with the Food and Wine Festival and runs through the end of next December. We are wall to wall visitors from here on..... It would be well worth the effort to get away from the Chain restaurants near the outlet, you are so close to so many nice places (and not all expensive). Your hotel is a newer hotel in an area that is now very popular and quite safe (not true 8-10 years ago in that part of North Charleston). FYI, North Charleston and Charleston are two distinct and different cities.

The Fantasy is a surprising ship to those who have sailed the newer, nicer ships on CCL or even more upscale lines. I think this is because the decor is a bit more understated than most Carnival ships, it is in excellent condition and the staff is very good. It will probably stay in Charleston until a) the community groups suing CCL and our State Ports Authority prevail and force so many restrictions on it that it will have to leave, or b) those groups finally lose or compromise and our SPA can finally build the newer, larger, state of the industry Cruise Port that they've had on the drawing board for a decade.

To those who think our port facilities look like crap, it is NOT the fault of Charleston or our Port Authority, it is that the plans to build the new facility have been enjoined for a very long time and are still being litigated.

To me, port facilities are like airports, the faster you move through them, the less you care about what they look like. When we left on the Fantasy last, the time from entering the maze that leads you to the passenger drop off until the time we were standing in our cabin, was about 30 minutes. It took us longer than that to get parked and find our so-called VIP check-in line at the Port Everglades "nicer" port facility.

Fantasy passengers need to know one thing, the appearance of our present cruise port facility, is as indicative of the spectacular beauty of the rest of the City as the Freeport Industrial container transhipment port is reflective of the beaches and waters that can be found on Grand Bahama if you are willing and able to venture beyond what is inherently going to be a rather industrial setting.

If (when?)our Port is finally expanded for cruise ships despite the litigation, expect to see CCL move a larger ship to Charleston. We are a comfortable drive from many areas of SC, NC, GA and eastern TN (which includes one heck of a lot of people) and it is so nice to be able to avoid flying these days. And a larger CCL ship is exactly what a small minority in Charleston are trying to prevent.

Random thoughts from one long-time Charleston resident who will gladly be boarding the Fantasy after the grueling 10 minute ride from my house in 11 days!

Mine was the TSS Festivale when my mom and dad took us on our first cruise when I was in college (seems as long ago as it was). It was an older ship even then but I thought it had style and we had a blast. We went on two New Years cruises each year thereafter on the Holiday and then the Jubilee.

Now, nearly 30 years later, I had the chance to take my parents on a cruise and did so about 16 months ago. My mother ultimately couldn't make it due to health issues so my dad went alone with my wife and me. He had his own cabin and was thrilled to have his own space for a change! He was getting weak in declining health and didn't have much stamina but he quickly found his way to his two favorite spots on the Fantasy; the casino and the soft serve ice cream machine on the lido deck. He never left the ship but enjoyed himself so much. I would go get him things he didn't have the energy to get even though I knew he would enjoy them (a just-grilled corned beef and swiss on rye from the deli for example). I can still hear the Filipino manager in the casino standing behind him at a slot machine saying "you winning Mr. Lloyd" (I like that they call you Mr. "first name", I'm "Mr. Matt"). My died passed away three months later and I cannot adequate express how glad I am that trip took place.

I have been lucky enough to go on many wonderful trips, nearly all more costly than the 5 night cruise out of my hometown, but that cruise will always mean so much to me. Lesson? If you are debating taking an aging parent on a cruise, do it. There might not be another opportunity.

Michael replied within a day or less and then handed me over to Shanie Persaud who handled my request immediately and professionally and then called me to tell me all was in order for my upcoming cruise.

He emailed me a few weeks ago about my upcoming cruise so I would imagine he is still there.

Thanks for posting the copy of the Fun Times for the Fantasy. We will be sailing in two weeks (Mar 25th) so it is nice to read up on the days ahead of time. Please post all of them if you can. Many thanks.