Jump to content
Cruise Critic Community

Carnival Fantasty Review-- April 2nd sailing Key West, Freeport, Nassau

manmachine

By manmachine,
in Carnival Cruise Lines

Recommended Posts

manmachine

manmachine

Posted
Posted

Review of the Carnival Fantasy

6 Night Key West, Freeport, Nassau

 

 

Background:

 

Long-time Carnival cruising family. Myself, 47, DW, DS 10, DS 7. Booked two connecting OV cabins U152 and U154. We actually cruised in January—lucky me, work-related—and on that cruise we had one of the former Category 12 GS, so I will be providing some compare/contrast of 2 in an OV connecting with 2 in an OV versus 4 in a Suite for those who are interested. Short takeaway: 2 Suites would be really nice, but 2 regular OV ain’t bad, and in a lot of ways better than 4 in one Suite.

 

Quick thoughts:

 

We’ve cruised on the Fantasy more than any other Carnival ship, mostly due to proximity and timing. But there are a lot of things I prefer about the Fantasy to the Conquest class: mostly, it just doesn’t feel as crowded and is fairly easy to get around. Miracle is still my favorite ship so far. I don’t like the Farcus look, and when folks say that Carnival ships look Vegas-y, I think, yeah, Las Vegas-y if you mean Circus Circus circa 1984. But I have made my peace with it, and it kind of grows on you, I guess. Like mold.

 

Have to admit, just because I have kids and cruised on Spring Break doesn’t mean I wanted to see a lot of kids cruising on Spring Break. After all, I have to put up with mine, but not yours. The ship did have a very high kid count, as you might have guessed, but it wasn’t nearly as big a deal as I might have thought—other than forget about getting a chair by the pool. Not so much chair hogs as tons of chairs with actual butts in seats, many of them butts in miniature next to their parents. No big rows of chairs sporting apples or paperbacks, with the notable exception of seeing one paperback copy of “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” being held by a, well, you know.

 

Embarkation:

 

We arrived later in the day, because of the Cooper Bridge Run. They have improved the in-flow of things at the Port of Charleston a bit, but it’s still odd the way you have to circumnavigate cones, guy-wires, folks pointing directions, pay, then circle again. But once inside, we were literally on the boat within 7-8 minutes. Very smooth. More about debarkation later--- vastly improved, and very welcome.

 

Ship:

 

Have to admit, my first thought was that the ship had taken a bit of a beating since January. Loose rubber on a couple of stairs, dirty carpet at the stair headers, stainless steel needing cleaning. But I did see people everywhere cleaning, polishing, fixing even as we boarded. By the end of the trip, everything looked a lot better—guessing the crowd the week before us had been a little hard on things.

 

Overall, for a ship her age, the Fantasy looked very nice, albeit in a Farcus-like manner, and well-kept.

 

Rooms:

 

U152 and U154, connecting OV. Added together, bigger SF than our prior GS. Having two bathrooms is the big added bonus, but being able to let our sons play their shows on their TV while we watched what we wanted also nice. Storage was a bit better, too. Missed the balcony, obviously, but not as much as I might have thought. Don’t underestimate the importance for a family of four for towels out the wazoo, which you get with two cabins. And a DOOR to separate things… can be very nice. Takeaway for us: if the price for two OV was less than an OS, we would get the two OV every time. And it almost always will be, if not always. If we could get the OS about the same price, we might try that again… but maybe not. If we could get an OS cheaper (unlikely!), then we’d surely do that. So if you got the money to burn, how about what I decided would be perfect: an OS connecting to an OV! The Cat 11, in my opinion, not really so good for the money if all you’re looking for is a little more space and a balcony.

 

Room was immaculate. Smelled fresh as is usual. Did see a sign in room asking you not to smoke in the cabin. Don’t remember seeing those before. And yes, I do know that smoking is allowed in the cabins—all this sign did is request that you not smoke—it did not say “Smoking Prohibited.” Perhaps this is an attempt to curb in-room smoking without completely violating it? Didn’t smell smoke in any of the room corridors for those of you who care a lot. I myself don’t mind the odd lungful now and then—former smoker and can live vicariously. Sniff. Sniff! Ah, sniff!!!

 

We didn’t panic when we say no welcome dish with goodies in the bathroom, but later on it appeared. Apparently the shipment arrived just before sailing. The usual good stuff: razor, lotion, etc.

 

Cabin steward was very unobtrusive, kept everything very well kept-up, and deserved the extra tip he got at the end of the cruise. We also gave him two mornings off, which he accepted after protesting it was no problem to clean anytime later in the day. I appreciate his sense of duty, but I think giving your steward a chance to only have to clean our cabin once is nice when we can do it.

 

Dining:

 

We had room service breakfast each morning. My kids discovered the BLT for breakfast, and we always got pots of hot water to make our Starbucks Via in the morning. Bagels and salmon most mornings. Fruit salad and citrus slices. Very quick room service.

 

Lunch

 

We aren’t big buffet folks. And I will say this is the one area where the kids absolutely were out of control. Glad I avoided it except for getting sushi there the first couple of nights (they serve it beginning at 6pm in the buffet, in the salad area) after dropping my kids off for Camp Carnival.

 

I had to swear off the sushi, however, after witnessing this: “*****” was a whirling dervish of a child, approximately 7 years young, energetically cutting in and out of the legs of his father. Dear old dad kept calling, “*****,” and “*****!” and even, “*****!!!” to little perceived effect on the child. I, however, have by this time had his moniker seared on my brain. I was trying to mind my own business despite being whacked on the legs a couple of times by this little darling when I heard the father shout, “*****!” even louder, and looked over to see the little precious with his finger stuck through several pieces of lunch meat on the display.

 

There was a long, drawn out second of silence, then the issue of his loins promptly removed his finger from the display—and popped it in his mouth. Dad, quite remarkably, in my estimation, left the lunch meat on the tray, apparently figuring the hand-made, or should I specify, finger-made hole through the center would provide amusement and gustatory delight for the next patron in line. Perhaps an olive garnish there?

 

But the fun was not over yet! “*****” apparently saw something else on the line that aroused his tactile and/or visual sensibility, because after another quick lick of his meat-skewering digit, “****” began repeating, “Dip! Dip! Dip, Daddy!”

 

It all happened so fast, and yet when I relive the moment, it seems to spool out so slowly… the young hand a blurin motion, headed inexorably towards the dish (Dip! Dip!) upon which the young eyes are already feasting… the father, momentarily stunned (and perhaps slightly off-kilter by concern that the Betty White lookalike behind him in line witnessed the last event and is going to cane him for leaving the holey lunch meat on the tray) reacts just a moment too late… the young finger… the tasting digit… the meat probing prehensile attachment… already at the new object of affection… as the father cries to his progeny, “*****!!!!!!!!, NO!” but too late, as the finger enters the fresh, lovely, cool green and mint-looking display of… “*****!!!! That is WASABI!”

 

“*****,” being not unintelligent, and no doubt realizing that this time his paternal master might actually enforce discipline and prevent him from completing his quest, quickly and, dare I say it, a bit Little Jack Horner like, pulled out a good plum-sized dollop of wasabi on the tip of his finger, ducked under my arm, walked three feet away, looked at both of us (hoping, hoping, please forgive me, but I was hoping…) and stuck his finger in his mouth…

 

:eek:

 

It was the only day so far that I have seen fireworks at sea…

 

More to come… I promise to talk about the actual dining room lunches…

Link to comment
Share on other sites
LUVMYGSDOG

LUVMYGSDOG

Posted
Posted

OMG, I am laughing, laughing! I hate more than anything kids at buffets. That is just gross but the way you told it was great!

 

We will be taking this same cruise in October (our first cruise) so I'm anxiously awaiting the remainder of your review!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
KentuckyKat

KentuckyKat

Posted
Posted

Thanks for the review - never sailed the Fantasy, but we will be this summer - a surprise for DH's birthday. And I desparately needed to hear something positive (or at the very least light-hearted) after that HORRIBLE snobbish review that was posted here a week or so ago! :mad: Looking forward to the rest of your review and subscribing now for DH to read later (after I reveal the surprise)! ;)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Go to topic listing
  • Forum Jump
    • Categories
      • Welcome to Cruise Critic
      • Hurricane Zone 2024
      • Cruise Insurance Q&A w/ Steve Dasseos of Tripinsurancestore.com June 2024
      • New Cruisers
      • Cruise Lines “A – O”
      • Cruise Lines “P – Z”
      • River Cruising
      • ROLL CALLS
      • Cruise Critic News & Features
      • Digital Photography & Cruise Technology
      • Special Interest Cruising
      • Cruise Discussion Topics
      • UK Cruising
      • Australia & New Zealand Cruisers
      • Canadian Cruisers
      • North American Homeports
      • Ports of Call
      • Cruise Conversations
×
×
  • Create New...