ABCGreys

Hey, Kmom, I've been enjoying your review and am looking forward the rest of the details, but I was wondering, how did your stepmum do in light of the rocky waters?

Responses below in red:

I have few questions and I've been searching it here but it's not so clear yet.

 

1) The room service, which they normally ask if you want once or twice a day, morning or afternoon, is about cleaning? If so, is it normal to get twice a day? Why? For me once a day (morning probably) would be enough, that's why I'm wondering if it's only about cleaning or if it's about getting food/drinks in the room. You can select, morning, night or both for service. It's up to you which you prefer, but if you decide on both, don't let your steward try to change your mind. On our Thanksgiving cruise, I selected morning but we're normally twice a day folks. I really regretted it especially not getting fresh towels at night. Plus, after our Cozumel day, there wasn't a towel exchange when we reboarded the ship, so the next morning I had to wait until the towel exchange on deck was open to get clean beach towels. From now on, we'll stick to service twice a day.

 

2) Do people always go to shore excursions? Is it fine to not book any? I'm finding the excursions a bit expensive and I would rather chill at the beach near the port than going on these 4-5 hours excursions. Is that a normal thing to do? (I'm going to Ocho Rios and Grand Cayman) - or will I feel like the only one not going to any excursion? Not always. It's up to you and what your budget allows. If you have a must do once in a lifetime excursion you want to do, maybe splurge on that. The boards for the specific ports have a lot of great info about do it yourself excursions, beach info, etc. Plus, you can book directly with vendors, not through the ship. But, if you go that route, make sure you're aware of the potential risks. e.g. not getting back in time to the ship due to vehicle breakdown, traffic.... If you book through Carnival, they'll hold the ship in most cases.

Also, you can do a port day and stay on the ship. It's blissfully uncrowded with not as many activities but you'll enjoy having the ship to yourself.

3) Is there any Karaoke at the Carnival Sensation? Not that I'm a good singer but my girlfriend likes it, so she asked me if there is any. I haven't recently been on the Sensation but karaoke is a Carnival staple and on my past two cruises, they've had it every night.

 

Thanks, guys!

There is a bar on the Alabama/Florida line called the Florabama. They make Bushwhackers and they're STRONG. I'm tipsy after one and toast after two. So to agree with others above, there are lots of different recipes available.

For us, we've found it's not worth it. My DH doesn't drink much and I have several break even days but towards the end of the cruise, I find myself drinking less. Even when it was a perk for us on NCL and we had to only pay service charges, we didn't utilize it as much as expected. I tracked it on our last 7 day cruise and I was just about break even, so from now on, I'll just "pay as I go" and not worry about the final bill.

Welcome to cruising and hope you get a serious case of cruiseitis! Here's my list:

 

4. Don't try to do everything! The ship has more than you'll be able to see/do while on board.

 

6. DO HAVE FUN!

This. There is a lot to do on board so don't think you need to try to do everything. You'll run yourself ragged! Review the Fun Times the night before (or use the Hub app) and highlight/note what you'd like to do. Don't succumb to FOMO! Then, for the stuff you don't get to do, you'll have an excuse for your next cruise!

I cruised earlier this year with my family and the kids were 21 (not really a kid), 18, 17, and 13. They actually ended up hanging out together a lot, particularly my 18 year old daughter and 17 year old nephew. One thing they all did together and met a bunch of other kids doing was karaoke. All could participate and they had a blast. During the day, they were normally together at the waterworks when we were on board.

We used it in February. It was great! We were through immigration/customs in record time! I'd imagine as more people start to use it, the lines will get longer but it's still faster.

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We just got off the Fascination on Sunday, July 16. I found her to be a great ship, especially for the first time cruisers that were in our group. It was funny to hear them comment how big she was when they first saw her. I never felt crowded, there were lots of chairs around the pool, she was clean, and the crew was great. Other people have mentioned the lack of 2.0 amenities but I found I didn't miss Guy's or Alchemy even after having experienced them earlier this year on the Conquest.

So, long story short, I took this cruise for the ports. The ship, while older and missing some bells and whistles, was perfectly fine and gave us one of our best cruises yet.

I hate the treadmill and at home will run outdoors in any weather to avoid having to use one. That being said, on the Conquest in February, I was on the treadmill. The outdoor track was just too small and congested to be able to get a decent run in.

DH and I stayed active through the cruise and we were both up about 5 pounds when we got home. However, within a few days it had melted away and I'm guessing that a lot of it was water retention. Saltier food maybe? There's a lot of good suggestions here. I'm sure you'll do great.

We had it for our February Conquest cruise and it was great. We got to the terminal around 12:30 and it was jam packed with people checking in. We sailed through the lines and were on board in about 15 minutes! Worth it for us.

These are beautiful!

Yes, after my February cruise, I came down with a bad cold/cough. However, the same thing happened in January after a trip to Boston, so I'm thinking it's flying related and not cruise related.

We walked off after Thanksgiving, got the shuttle to Enterprise, picked up our car and were walking through the gates of Disney World at 9:00 am!

Thank you for doing this review! I'm taking this cruise in July with my whole family (Mum, siblings, spouse, kids) and as the Planner in Chief, the pictures of the Fun Times and dinner menus are a great help!

I'm a distance runner too and have tried to do my long run on the track. It was miserable. Clumps of walkers and very windy. You may want to try to do it early on a port day, before any excursions or use the treadmill. I do anything I can to not run on the TM but it was a lifesaver my Thanksgiving cruise as I was finishing training for St. Jude.

Thanks for the heads up! I just submitted two requests for our July family cruise and one for our Thanksgiving cruise. Fingers crossed!

I'm so happy to see this review! I'm doing the same ship/itinerary in July, 2017 and taking my whole family. Only my brother and sister-in-law have cruised and I'm worried about what they'll think of the Fascination as they've only ever been on the Celebrity Summit. The rest of the family, sisters & spouses/nieces/nephews/Mum have never cruised before so they'll be thrilled no matter what.

I always check out your reviews for things to do and feel like I'm stalking you around the Caribbean, but in a good way!

I've been on both, but on the Valor before the 2.0 upgrades. However, if we're just comparing the ships and not itineraries, I'd go with the Valor. It's bigger with more things to do. My kids had their first cruise on a Fantasy class ship and loved it any way and I'm taking my entire family (brothers/sisters/spouses/nieces/nephews/Mum) on the Fascination in July but we chose that due to itinerary.

A word of caution about Allegiant:

 

Allegiant is going through a tough time with reliability right now (both because of the maintenance of their equipment and because of staffing)

This. I would NEVER fly Allegiant (disclaimer, I work for major cargo carried based in Memphis and this is only my opinion).

I took this in Auke Bay, Juneau May 25, 2016. The naturalist on board guessed that the humpback was about 5 months old. He really put on a show for us!

We did Harv & Marv May 25, 2016 and experienced the confusion you're referring to. When we booked, the Mendenhall stop was to be for ~15 minutes, just a quick photo op. When we actually got checked in, they mentioned I had the one hour stop at Mendenhall and did I want it. I was confused but we went with the one hour stop. It's the perfect amount of time to go through the visitor center and hike out to Nugget Falls. I'm so glad we ended up there.

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I'm sitting at the dock in Seattle having just returned from Alaska. Our forecasts that we had prior to departure was in no way related to the weather we actually had. We ended up with temps in the mid 50's, and overcast. There was occasional drizzle and it was raining upon arrival in Victoria but it cleared up. In no way did the weather negatively impact the enjoyment of our trip. Alaska is amazing no matter the weather!

That link has been quirky.I booked back in July and didn't realize that I hadn't selected to prepay then. When I tried to do it after the fact, I ran into the same problem as you. You can either keep trying and one day it will miraculously work as it did for me, or give them a call and do it over the phone.