Fascination 8/24-8/29...

[code_d]

Well we are about to be off to the port. The kids are excited! Will do review when back and try to do many pics. We drive down from Cincinnati over night Wed and arrived at the ocean front Best Western in Jacksonville Beach. We were here really early by 9 am. The mgr. Cindy was awesome!! They were able to get us one room soon a we got here so I could sleep a bit after an all nighter. DW and kids went to the beach (first time for boys to be at one) . I awoke a few hours later to a rainy afternoon. We were hungry so we all went to Red Lobster for endless shrimp! Brandon our server took very good care of us. We got back and it stopped raining so we got some boogie boards from front desk and road some waves for a while. And I didn't end up a beached whale :D. We all ended up bed real early and got up for some awesome waffles and stuff. Another rainy day, but we managed a few hours in between down pours and sun some more surfing and sand castle construction. More rain so late lunch at a place on 1a1 just south of us cakes Cruisers. Recommended by Cindy. Amazing place! Best ranch dressing ever had, burgers are WOW, and the nachos have chucks of grilled chicken. And best part only$61 bucks for all 7 of us with 2 beers! Small place so go during of times they get a line out the door. Walked around in the rain and did some shopping. Rained hard rest of day, tried to go to the pier and found they charge to just walk on it! So turned around and went back (no cash with us). Up now getting breakfast and about to go to the port. Btw-this Best Western has had the most amazing service from every employee! Highly recommend, plus only 15 min to port. More later.....

 

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[mommom of 7]

We are headed that way also !! We stayed the night at BW Airport. Will have to check out the beach BW for our next trip.

We have a roll call going.

See you on the ship. Two ol'folk's on scooters. The lo'man is big with a long gray ponytail. Stop us & say HI.

CHAR & LARRY

[mmariec]

Just off the fascination this morning. What an awesome cruise. Hope you guys have fun!

[Union98]

Have fun and I look forward to seeing your pictures. Our first cruise, on Fascination, is in late November so any tips would be greatly appreciated!

[code_d]

Apparently new crew. Taking longer than usual from what they are saying. Waiting to get through gate and port authority. Got to lot at about 1045.

 

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[code_d]

Ok....have checked in, and FTTF was great. Got to go past about 150 people. Got to rooms and luggage there. Have eaten- Italian day, had that and pizza and Ruben :D . Unpacked and did the check-in with dining for food allergy, put money in sail and sign.....now bucket time.

 

Quick note to platinum cruisers, you do not have to get all snooty and annoyed at us and stand on or feet practically and block us from getting out and make comments because I am in your line for the desk. It is not or fault CCL offers this to those of us poor lowly cruisers. Get over it enjoy your cruise......

 

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[code_d]

Almost forgot to mention Cheers is available once on board now. Looks to be same deal $49.95 plus grat.

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[JaxGuy]

I had to chuckle a bit at you mentioning the ranch dressing at Cruisers ... because I totally agree! That as a dip for the salted and peppered french fries is why I go there!

 

Have a great cruise!

[Union98]

Thanks for the Cheers news. Now I'll have to figure if it's worth it or not. LOL Have a great time!

[code_d]

OK- Sorry for the delay- been trying to get this photo thing down. Want to put some out there with the review, plus came back and was real busy at work. So back to the beginning briefly with photos of the family leaving for FL.

 

[code_d]

Then we get to the Best Western Ocean Front. Need to mention the Managers name is Jamie! Had that wrong. The staff there was Amazing! Everyone took care of us. I would highly recommend them. We had a king room with Jacuzzi bath and kitchenette. The kids had 2 doubles and a roll away, very spacious. The Hotel was very clean and maintained for its age.

 

[code_d]

Loved the beach. The hotel also had boogie boards, chairs, umbrellas, and stuff. Unfortunately it rained every day! Even on the cruise. But was enough sun to get in swimming and sand castle building. Day one we went to Red Lobster for endless shrimp, then did Cruisers the next day. If near the beach area check out cruisers! Just did snackie stuff Friday evening and went to bed early. The breakfast was limited to cereal, bagels, toast, fruit, yogurt, and waffles. Juice and coffee was there too. LOVED the waffles!

 

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[code_d]

Headed to the port. We used the $8.00 a day parking. It is literally right out side the gate. Apparently was an old convenience store. It can only fit about 100 cars packed in. Not what I expected but they were very nice and the car was there when we got back. I think my DW was more excited than anyone when we first saw Fascination in the port.

 

 

 

[code_d]

Finally on board and had gone to guest service and put money on the kids account, got key cards for their room, went the rooms, and got luggage and all. Then went and did the Lido for some pizza, sandwiches, and desserts! Love to see everything from the aft. (FTTF- you will notice in guest services that you do not see the 25 people in line next to us)

 

[code_d]

OK be back soon for some food porn!

[code_d]

OK- we went to muster and was relaxed in the lounge, then headed to the deck and all was very painless and quick.

 

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Then back off to the deck for the famous sail away and bridge clearing! It certainly does look closer than it is. This area became the favorite of the boys for the remainder of the trip, plus there were always chairs up here.

 

[code_d]

First night at dinner the 6pm Seating. Met our dinning staff- Ragu, I Ghusti, and I katut. Let me just say that these three made the trip worth every cent!! I looked forward to dinner even when I was not hungry. They were all extremely friendly, attentive, and entertaining. They were the best with the kids, remembered all our names and thing we like after the first night. I think it was the best dinning experience we have had, and all of ours have been good.

 

The food this trip I would give for dinner in the dinning room an A- (some items came out over/under cooked here or there is all), the breakfast in the dinning room a B(my eggs Benedict was hard boiled on top and had to send back on 2 mornings and the scrambled were like off the buffet line) and service was hit or miss (until we realized we could ask for I Ghusti then was awesome!), lunch in the dinning room a B-(slow service, and the food was under seasoned and some not cooked as well). The lido deck lunch a B-, and the breakfast omelette station a B+(they tend to over cook them unless you ask). I never ate dinner in the lido buffet or ordered room service. The pizza is down right bad now, I am so mad they changed the pizza! Only had it once. The deli station was yummy.

 

[code_d]

First night food porn-

 

Shrimp coktail

 

Es cargo

 

Duck app

 

I forget what this was, but remember it was smashing

 

The pork chop

[code_d]

And of course deserts. The usual double ice cream WCMC, and the cheesecake! Word of warning if you like cheese cake- get this when you see it as it only is available once!! I missed it except a bite of my daughters! It is really gooood....

 

 

More later....(though it looks like this thread was abandoned)

[code_d]

So that night kids went to the Camp Carnival activities and Club O2. Our younger daughter was allowed to be in Club O2 with her siblings for those that wonder if it can be done (she is 14, 15 in March). I will say that there were a TON of kids/teens on the ship. Also the amount of inconsiderate and rude people were at a level I have not seen before. How they would just walk in front of you like you were not there, cut you off in elevators, or walk down the middle of the walk way like there are not others that need to walk from the opposite direction. One group in the Comedy show was asked to move to another table a few down so a wheelchair person could have the table, and let me tell you the lady in that group went ballistic! After nearly 10 minutes with the CD and ranting and raving it appeared that they bought the entire table drinks to settle her down.

 

We debated on getting the Cheers program which you can buy day one or two on the ship. It was the first cruise they offered it on the Fascination and we were caught off guard. In retrospect I would definitely do it next time as I paid more than I would have individually. Figured it to be about 6-8 drinks/day to break even(especially when you are buying the $7-$10 items like we were), which is easy to do all day.

 

DW and I went to the Casino and donated. I will say that the majority of the Casino staff was great. We then made it to the late adult comedy show. It was definitely an adult show!! It was hilarious, but be warned if you are offended easily at all or do not like very vulgar stuff. We laughed so hard we cried. Went back to the Casino and wife won some back- a rare moment on this cruise. After making sure kids were in cabin we slept very soundly to the rocking of the boat.

[Volsfan98]

Thanks for the review. I am enjoying it especially the food porn. My dh and I are sailing the fascination in a little under three weeks. I have only ever cruised once way back in high school and my dh has never been so we are super excited.

[NCnewbie]

Can't wait to read more! We leave Saturday!

[code_d]

Forgot to mention in the Casino Rumi was especially helpful and nice. I will say that I avoided the Casino bar. The bartender there, Jorge I believe, was very slow, rude, and short with customers. I walked back to the puttin' on the Ritz bar where the best bartender they had was. His name is 'Tommy'(his real name is a Japanese name I can not remember) he has been with Carnival 26 years and started on the Holiday. He was funny and either sang to you or bantered with you with funny comments.

 

Also during the whole cruise I noticed less to do compared to our 2009 trip on her. I even went through the old Carnival Capers to be sure it wasn't just me. There were less shows, no live band only a DJ (last time there was live Caribbean music and a DJ), and no piano bar music (Club88 where it was only was used for Tea and a private function). The dance club was very 'ghetto' , and last time you could go to the Elephant lounge for late party or dancing in Diamonds, or Karaoke in the Ritz. The late party was removed. Was the usual solo singers in a couple places and the Casino Bar had a trio perform that was very good.

 

Also no more sushi :( rather a taste bar. the drink special are also gone like they used to have ie: morning bloody mary's discounted, Casino Bar specials like Margarita discounted, fun ship card for discount on frozen drinks- all gone. Only DOD which is not a special price. Also no more photo specials/packages.

 

Next morning DW got up before me and went with the kids to dinning room for breakfast. I ended up a bit later and made it to the omelette station where I ordered 2 over easy, toasted some of the Nordic bread, and grabbed some of the hash, and potatoes. All very good except the potatoes were 'meh'. Got some coffee and about spit it out! the Lido coffee tastes like a concentrate they add hot water too. Very bad, but the dinning room coffee was decent, and the cafe is where I spent at least on one big cup a day (found it has a alcoholic coffee everyday for a $1.00 off- had to try each day :D)

 

Then spent the day reading and watching the younger boys endlessly run through the slides/water park back over to the pool/hot tubs, and back.

 

 

I did go to the Casino for the slot tournament. $25 for 5 min of just hit the spin button on a random machine and hope your score is higher than everyone else. I then was told to come back an hour and 1/2 later for the finals as I was currently #7. I went back to Lido and ordered a special frozen concoction I like, or at least tried to as no server came over for 15 minutes. Then when he finally did I had to go back to the Casino and my drink was still not back! I go to the Casino to find I was bumped to #11 and out. I go back to my chair to sulk and find my drink came right after I left. Soooo I spy another server who promptly took my order and was back in 5 min! She got my extra $1's I keep for such good service. Then rest of cruise she was quick to see if I needed anything.