dltvermont

We are sailing this ship/itinerary in a month. Not really worried about the ship at all. Our first cruise was on an "older", "Smaller" ship and we loved it. If you want to see a few pics of the ship, Jamman is doing a current review of his cruise on the Fascination. Not this itinerary but he does cover the ships well during his reviews.

Glad to see you started this one! Not only will the ship bring back great memories from last years cruise but you went to some places we are going this year so I know I will be well informed before we leave!!

Been looking forward to this one! We will be on the Fascination in May!

Great review Kim.

Ive been waiting (im)patiently for you to return from your current cruise as we are going to some of the same places in May. Then I saw this surprise review!

Darron

St. Kitts and Nevis - Atlantic left, Caribbean right

Dave

Great pic! I will be here in May. Hoping to get something similar!

I noted one was going slower and looking around like he was trying to find his passengers so I flagged him down and off we went. Lucky? Maybe!!

Going TO PoM was so much easier. The driver actually called us that morning and asked if we could be ready earlier as we could be his first stop which gave us the choice of seats etc. I was hesistant as we had to corral everyone and get them ready to meet him but glad we did in the end as he had a full van.

We too used SAS last year and it was great. The return trip was a little confusing as there were so many of their vehicles buzzing around the pickup area that we didnt know which was ours.

Love the review. I will be on the Fascination in May out of San Juan. Looking forward to it! We have done one smaller older ship and one larger new one. So far I like the smaller older better for the reasons some have mentioned here. We shall see!

I hear ya! With only one sea day, we wont have much time to wander the ship anyway! Mornings will be spent getting ready to leave the ship anyway then evenings will be cleaning up for dinner then a bit of time to enjoy the ship after dinner.

I was on the Breeze last year with Guys and it was a go to spot. So good!

Will I be jealous if the Oasis is docked next to us? Not at all. Someday Id love to try a cruise on her but Im enjoying what I have in the present! When we were on the Dawn we docked next to a Disney ship. Beautiful to look at but I wasnt spending my time wondering if the passengers were picking on us for being on a smaller older ship!

Someone complained on JHs FB page about this and he said "l will have more news on this ship in the future so please stand by". I wonder if she's getting more upgrades or what the "news" could be?

 

We are considering sailing out of San Juan as well. There is only one sea day on the 7 day in 2018 we are looking at so I am thinking we won't have much time/energy for doing much else on the ship if it were a bigger ship. We are all disappointed there is no Guy's though [emoji853]

I may not be an experienced, "savvy" cruiser yet but Ive wanted this specific itinerary for a long time, with these specific islands as I have friends that have done it multiple times, so this is the cruise I booked. When Im looking at the area again, and want to do Martinique, or BVI, or Grenada, or Dominica, I will check the other lines. Which when I checked yesterday for the same cruise Im doing, were right about the same price as I paid. Some more some a bit less depending on the exact week.

I dont even look at the ship at first. I find the itinerary I want on the cruise line I want (no dedication to any line as of yet) for the price Im willing to pay.

I hear ya. And I agree with a lot of what you said. But I'm also guessing that many new cruisers are not as savvy as frequent cruisers so they many not comparison shop, or know about the differences between perks or ships amenities, etc.

 

Until their ship is docked next to one of the newest and largest, they probably won't know the difference. But by then it will be too late to swap ships. This "revelation" may give them something to look forward to for a future cruise but I don't think that it will ruin their present cruise besides a brief moment of "cruise ship envy".

Sparks,

No, she got the 2.0 Lite version. No Guys or Blue Iguana. She has a waterslide and the Punchliner I believe and maybe a few smaller things.

A side note, I see you are another VTer! We are an hour or so away from you in Lake Elmore!

D

Maybe that's what I was thinking of. Did she not get the 2.0 upgrades?

You beat me to it. I was just going to say the same thing. Yes, we are newbie cruisers but when we were on the NCL Dawn we heard the same stuff. Its Old, Its outdated, Food sucks, showing its age on and on. Call us simple people, but we dont care about fancy restaurants, we ate mostly at the buffet to save time. We saw some good shows, we enjoyed our time in the pool and hot tubs, having a few drinks and walking around the deck. We LOVED our cruise aboard the Dawn. In fact, last year on the Breeze, while we loved being on the cruise/vacation/Caribbean, we hated the numbers of people, 4k people being herded like cattle trying to get off the ship at every port, the pool basically you stood in the water and swayed with the ship as there were so many people you couldnt do anything else. Never had that on the smaller, older ship. Some people cruise for the ship and seldom debark at the ports. So far thats not us, maybe if it were, we would have a different point of view.

I think everything is subjective. We sail for the love of being on the sea, the love of the beautiful Caribbean and the ports. Every person could find SOMETHING they hate about just about anything depending on their personal likes/dislikes.

I may be proven wrong come May, but I believe we will have a great time on our cruise and the ship wont have much bearing on that.

That would be us. We've only done one other cruise, and it was on the NCL Dawn. If you read the NCL boards, you will hear a lot of the same comments there about the Dawn that you have in this thread about the Fascination.

 

We picked the Dawn because we live near the port and wanted to go to Bermuda. We picked the Fascination because we want to see the ports as we haven't been to the Caribbean. When I booked our cruise in January, I looked at the other lines and Carnival was the winner. There are five of us, so even another line being "essentially the same" (e.g. maybe $40-50 higher than Carnival's prices) starts to add up when you have to account for that for five people. We booked all but one airline ticket to San Juan with credit card miles, so that isn't really an issue for this particular trip.

 

I know I'm in the minority here, because we have only done one other cruise and we do mostly land vacations. I have joked to my DH that we don't really know what we are missing, and perhaps that is best for now. We definitely fall in the camp of "sailing for the ports" and not the ship. It might not always be that way, but for now, it is. We loved our cruise to Bermuda on an older ship (My then six year old's favorite part of our entire cruise vacation to Bermuda? The T-Rex slide on the kiddie pool of the Dawn. :)) I'm sure we'll love our Southern Caribbean itinerary as well, even without the bells and whistles on the ship.

Im on this itinerary in May. Certainly wouldnt have been my first choice for a ship but it is so port intensive that I dont think its going to make a big difference for us. Time will tell!

Do your research ahead of time too. There are mixed reviews about these trips spanning the entire spectrum from absolutely amazing to major disappointment. Some mention that there has been something that killed off alot of the organisms so you dont see much etc. I take alot of reviews with a grain of salt but at least do some reading ahead of time. I saw many recent negative ones on Trip Advisor.

We will pray for some clouds! Lol...we are booked 2/12-2/19.

I googled it and found a chart/calendar that showed the quality each day for viewing.

http://www.puertoricodaytrips.com/biobay-and-moon/

I REALLY wanted to take my kids (teens) on this tour but researching says that when we are there is a poor time for any activity due to moon and weather pattern or something? Id hate to get over there and pay the fee and see nothing.

You might want to try a BioBay kayak. Really a cool thing to do - seeing the bioluminescence on the water. There are two tours and you could probably catch the 5:30 one. Or you might want to check your ship - it might have an excursion.

http://www.ecoadventurespr.com/bio-bay-tour.html

 

 

maeormaenot - another huge vote for this itin. San Juan is awesome. And show hubbs this video for St. Maarten and Maho Beach. 'nuff said. :D

Yeah it did seem like it was "out there" but we requested it be included in our tour so no extra taxi costs.

We were on the Breeze with the same itinerary last year as you are doing this year.

We are leaving the same day out of PR on the itinerary of your other two cruises. Been wanting to do it for a long time. Would have preferred a different ship but Im looking forward to it anyway!

I've read a lot of good things about Scotchies and it was my first pick but I've also read it can cost $50 round trip just for a cab there and back so we've decided on Miss T's instead since it is closer to the port, possibly within walking distance :)

Hi Valentine,

I saw you have already chosen where to stop for jerk chicken but thought Id add that in Ocho Rios last year our tour took us to Scotchies (sp?) and it was delicious Jamaican food. Chicken and pork along with some other things (pork was amazing). I saw many on here talking about the place so asked for it to be on our tour stop.

We are doing this itinerary on the Fascination in May. I too would have preferred a different ship but as said above, we only have one sea day. I have only been on two other cruises, one on a smaller, older ship and one on the Breeze, a larger newer ship. Our feelings about the Breeze were about the same as your husband. Although it was a beautiful ship and well, its a vacation so whats to complain about!! Our first cruise on the NCL Dawn was totally different and much more relaxing.

Im not a reviewing type person but would certainly entertain any questions you may have either before I go to find an answer or after we return!

We went two years ago, got off ship, got taxi and went straight there. We were almost the only ones there at first but a short time later it got packed. Its a small beach so doesnt take much. I seem to remember only one other ship in port the day we were there.

We are sailing this ship/itinerary in May. It wouldnt have been my first choice for a ship but I wanted this itinerary so it is what it is. Our first cruise was aboard an older smaller ship with NCL. SO many bad reviews and complaints. I guess our standards are lower or something because we had a fantastic time and thought the ship was beautiful. Hopefully that will be the case with the Fascination too. Im not too worried. Its a vacation, a cruise and in the Caribbean!

When we went to Aruba and Curacao we were in Aruba from 1pm to like 11 pm and Curacao the next day at 8-4 or 5. It took us a long time to get from Grand Cayman to Aruba so I figured that is why it was at 1, because thats just when we finally got there. And Curacao is so close that we were there the next morning.

102!

Love the review and pics. You mentioned too many pics earlier on...there can NEVER be too many pictures!!

We are on a different itinerary in May but starting in San Juan and hitting St Maarten and St Kitts along the way. We have been to St Maarten before and are doing the same tour this time (Bernards) as I will have my teen/twenties kids with me and think they will love it.

Grand Turk is on my bucket list.

Luv2trvl,

Thats it, we are flying San Juan to Boston. I got a motel for the night and still saved hundreds on the flight by leaving Monday morning. And the early flights were cheaper so leaving Monday also allows us to choose those instead of mid day or afternoon flights.