Back from our Fantasitc Fascination Cruise-10/13-18

[sparkysj]

This was our 2nd time on the Fascination and 4th time out of JAX. We had 6 people in our party but also had other friends on the ship as well. I’m going to try & do as detailed a review I can but not sure how to upload pics so will probably not have any at this time.

We drove down from Indiana and stayed at Courtyard Jacksonville Beach Oceanfront the night before and LOVED the hotel. I’m not sure what the normal rate is because we received a family discount but the hotel is about a 25 min drive from the port and right on the beach. Well worth the drive IMO. It was very clean and the staff was friendly. They also had an outdoor pool w/bar (didn’t get in since ocean was right there) but did like the fire pit on the huge patio.

We parked at the lot located right outside the terminal. I emailed them a few weeks prior and their response was my confirmation. No payment or deposit was needed. We got to the lot around 10:45am and paid the $40.00 ($8.00 per day) and got in the line to wait for a shuttle. We waited about 5 minutes and then were loaded onto a shuttle bus to take the SHORT ride to the terminal (you can literally see the ship from their lot). Once we got to the terminal we were helped by a porter with our bags and then got into line. I was surprised how busy they already were…the past 3 times out of JAX we arrived at a similar time and were able to walk right in but this time it was not the case.

It took us around 30+mintues to get through security and then it was another hour before on board! We found out one of the cameras had issues and that is what held up the lines….it was a little frustrating since we have a 4 year old who doesn’t like to sit still but something’s can’t be planned for.

Once on board we dropped of our things in our rooms and went up to the Lido deck for lunch. The food was fresh and served at the correct temp (well except for the fries but they remind me of Steak n Shake & are never hot LOL). We then walked around and waited for the safety briefing.

The safety briefing started late (1 of the few complaints I have about this cruise-it seemed like every scheduled activity started late) and I was very irritated at all the rude people-there were so many talking the entire time I really heard nothing of the briefing-even what was over the speakers. But of course the same ones talking are the ones who showed up 10-20 min late. IMO Carnival needs to start on time and not allow rude people to talk the whole time.

After the safety briefing we went up near the waterpark area for sail awayJ Then it was off to the Camp Carnival meeting to get our daughter signed up and since we had the 6:00pm dinner we headed to the Imagination dining room.

More to follow…….

[Lv2Camp&Cruise]

Looking forward to your review.

[lucky13elec]

I hope you can get some pictures.

[Ilovevacations22]

Looking forward to your review:) We are going on the Fascination on 12/31/12...can't wait!

[PathfinderEss]

Welcome back and looking forward to your review.

[deanswife1990]

Looking forward to your review. We are sailing on her in a few weeks. By chance,do you know if they had the martini and wine tastings?

[sparkysj]

Looking forward to your review. We are sailing on her in a few weeks. By chance,do you know if they had the martini and wine tastings?

 

I'm not positive about martini but I do remember seeing a wine tasting in the fun times one of the days. They had other alcohol tastings which I waited in line for 1 time-only to have a choice of 2 very small samples of some nasty stuff LOL

[sparkysj]

Day 1:

Ok-we were in the Imagination dining room again this cruise (also last year) and this year the wait staff was 100% better! I didn’t take any pics of the food (eating dinner w/a very active 4 yr old doesn’t leave much time to do more than keep her occupied LOL). My only complaints about the dining room was it did appear to be MUCH slower than any of my previous cruises-I’m not really upset about it but there were times when we were waiting a while in between courses which was of no fault of our waiters. And my other “complaint” –more a disappointment was the Maitre D’- I have no idea what his name was because not 1 time during the cruise did he ever come to our table and introduce himself. He did his nightly announcements and that was it. The one we had last year in same dining room who was great. I was very disappointed by this one. I noticed they no longer give you an envelope to tip the Maitre D’ so maybe that has something to do with it.

That being said the wait staff was probably the best I have ever had on any cruise. Our head waiter was Ninad and his 2 assistants were Putu and Nikolina and they were beyond awesome. They remembered our names after 1st night and always addressed us by name even when not in the MDR and they totally catered to our daughter. Yes maybe to some that is a small thing but to us it is important-our daughter is a ball of energy and eating out is not something we do often at a sit down place so to have people help entertain and amuse her is so nice! Maybe they do it in hopes of extra tips (and if so it works for me LOL) but on the last night of the cruise we ended up taking daughter to Camp Carnival for her to eat dinner with the kids and all 3 of the waiters genuinely appeared a little disappointed that she wasn’t going to be there that night. We made sure to tip them extra because we felt they really did earn and deserve it.

I don’t know what I ate each night specifically but just about each dinner I had some fruit for my starter (I LOVE fruit and this is one thing I look forward to each cruise-all the fruit I can eatJ I had the flat iron steak a couple of the nights and I like mine well done-I have read tons of complaints on here about that steak and I have to say both the times I had it was very yummy and tasty! I had the delicious warm melting cake each night except 1 when I had the apple pie (which I regretted getting after I did-it was not that it was bad just not as good as the cake and not really as good as a apple pie as I can get from a frozen pie at home). I did have some type of pasta/chicken meal one night that was delicious-no idea what the name was. Sorry again but we were both so busy keeping the little one occupied and trying to have some conversation with our family/friends at the tableJ

After dinner it was back to the room to pick up the Camp Carnival cell phone and to see our 1st towel friend- a walrus (I think lol) and our spotless room taken care of by our room steward, Larston. (I forgot to mention that all of our luggage was delivered prior to the safety briefing and we were unpacked before that even started-quickest I have ever had all our luggage delivered!).

Back to Larston-he was another superb employee- our room was cleaned 2 times a day and any needed fresh items brought. There was no hand soap when we 1st got there and all I did was ask him about it in the hall way and next time I went in the room not only was there 1 bar of soap but 3! (In fact there was 1 that I didn’t use before the end of the cruise so it is now in my bathroom so each time I wash my hands for the next couple of weeks I will be reminded of my fantastic cruise J Larston as well remembered each one of our names (plus the others who were traveling with us) and greeted us as such every time he saw us-he would ask how my day/night/dinner/lunch-etc you name it .Yes maybe a little thing but it makes a difference to me.

I like ice in all my drinks (ok a little drink in my ice but whatever haha) he always filled the ice bucket and then after 1 time we wrote him a note asking to fill out the additional bucket like you get when you buy a bucket of beer with ice-it was filled twice a day for the rest if the cruise. And he also asked if we wanted him to ice the coolers we brought with soda (no we didn’t) but that is above and beyond to me.

After we dropped our daughter off at Camp we went out to sit on the deck and wait for the sing along in the piano bar to start at 9:00 pm. However when we got there we were told it would be another 20-30 minutes before he started……..and pick up time for our daughter was 9:45 (unless you pay) so….it was back to the deck. After picking her up we got her to bed and then ordered our nighlty room service-we love getting the BLT’s and I of course have to have more fruitJ and then off to sleep to end Day 1!