Fascination Review 12/14/13 - 12/19/13

[Bamagurl01]

 

Plates, napkins, utensils, cups

 

Another shot of the cups to give you an idea of their small size

 

Cooler of ice with an ice scoop

 

They provide you with 4 towels, so there is no need to bring any from the boat.

 

There were bartenders that walked up and down the beach. Their special for the day on the island was the Bahama Mama. I don't do Bahama Mamas, so only my mom and cousin had a drink the first time around. We snacked around 10 on our veggies and fruit. The buffet opens at 11:30. So around noon, my aunt, cousin, and mom went for food. I can't tell you enough how much I hate the food on the private islands. I don't do grilled hamburgers or hotdogs. They have jerk chicken, but I am one of the few people who doesn't like it either. But mom still picked me up a burger for me to have something to snack on. If I do eat red meat, it has to be well done. NO PINK. My husband hates this. He literally goes to restaurants and orders his steaks rare. I am just super picky about these things. So my burger was literally burnt on the outside, and the cheese was not melted. My aunt and cousin had the same issue, but ate theirs. I bit into mine, and it was cold and red on the inside. (My aunt and cousin did not have this issue.) It was not even close to being done. I took another bite on the other side and same thing. I spit both bites out and quit eating. I just snacked on our chips, veggies, and fruit. The chocolate chip cookies from the buffet were amazing though!

 

After lunch, we laid out a little longer until the bartenders came back around. Then we all got drinks. My mom and cousin had the Bahama Mama again, and I got a Kiss on The Lips. This is my favorite cruise drink for sure! Once our drinks came back, we all got our float mats, and went to the ocean and laid out together. We connected all four mats and laid out until around 2. The last tender was at 3, and my aunt wanted to browse the gift shops. Unfortunately, by the time we returned, some of the shops had already closed, so we browsed what was still opened, and got in line for the tender. We had to wait about 15 minutes, but Carnival had water they were handing out.

 

Bye Bye Half Moon Cay...

 

[Bamagurl01]

One more of Half Moon Cay

 

When we got back from Half Moon Cay, we showered and napped. We were exhausted from the sun! We didn't want to get fixed up (so no pictures from this day of us), so we went back to the buffet. The food again wasn't great. The only thing I saw was a baked potato, but I wasn't feeling it. So I went for pizza. The problem with the pizza is either there is a line or no one will help you. I opted for another salad. However my mom is the stereotypical mom, and when she found out no one would help me at the pizza place, she was not having it. So she went and asked the sandwich guys to help her. I finally had my HOT pepperoni pizza. After dinner, we went to the casino for a bit. Then we went to see the scavenger hunt. It was a lot of fun. Our team was winning until the last question when it was worth enough points for the opposite team to beat us. But we were cracking up laughing! I went back to the FunShops to look around. I was eyeing a Carnival wine glass. I really wanted it, but couldn't justify spending almost $20 on it. Especially since I only drink wine on rare occasions. After a bit of shopping, they had the Talent Show. 5 different people sang. Some were really, really good. It was fun to watch though.

 

After the show, we went back to the casino. My aunt loves to gamble. This night was the night she got her "drinks on us" card. She finally reached 1000 points. After my aunt went and got her card, we decided to go try out the Mexican Buffet. In all my cruising I alway passed the midnight Mexican buffet. But my aunt said it was great. Surprisingly to me, it was amazing. I regret not going in the past now. After eating a bit, we called it a night and went to bed.

 

 

Next up, another sea day! I'll post more on it tomorrow!

[cruiseclues]

Really appreciate your photo review...especially your Aft-View Extended Balcony Cabin ones...Pretty happy faces. :):):):)

[gusandgidgetsmom]

Just a note. Clam shells are not free. They rent for 20.00 I believe. We love HMC. We go every year at least once.

We go on a b2b on the Fascination normally in Oct. This year we went in June as we cruised to Hawaii in October. I was surprised that the water was so cool when we went as it is always warm in October.

I have been reading a lot of complaints about the ants. I have never encountered this in all the times we have been there. I wonder if they have been stirred up by the building of the villas. I hope they get this under control. I like a number of people wonder why they can't put the food in containers that the ants can't get to. Costly I guess.

I am not a fan of Carnival's buffets. I like RCI's better but Carnival does the MDR better. We rarely eat on the lido except for pizza and deli sandwiches.

Thanks for all the pictures. They are a great reminder of our cruises there and a great way to show our besties what they are going to see when they take their first cruise (a b2b) on the Fascination in September.

[Bamagurl01]

Since we are past cruiser, we received a coupon for a free drink voucher to be used at breakfast, brunch, or lunch in the MDR. I was hoping they would offer the Seaday Brunch this day. I remember someone mentioned it was on a past Fascination sailing, but maybe since it is still new, they don't offer it every cruise. However, we did decide to go ahead and have breakfast in the MDR. I have never had breakfast anywhere except the buffet and room service. It was probably one of the best meals on the cruise. We met my aunt and cousin around 8:30 and went to the MDR. I had a mimosa as my free drink, and I ordered the French Toast, bacon, and hashbrowns. I also ordered a coke and coffee. With meals I prefer coke, but I drank the mimosa and coffee before the food arrived. I will note the French Toast had raisons in it. This didn't bother me too bad because it was only a few, but it was not noted on our menu.

 

After breakfast, my aunt, cousin, and I went to the FunShops because their t-shirts went on sale this morning. We wanted to be one of the first to make sure we got the sizes we wanted. You can mix and match any of the 2 for $20 shirts, including the ones inside the shop. The shirts varied in price the more you bought the cheaper it was per shirt. So I bought 5 for $45 and my aunt paid me back for her portion. I just bought my husband and myself one. I have most of them, but I bought two we didn't already have.

 

Now time for some sun! We went and grabbed a spot by the pool because the Serenity deck was full again. We really wanted to get in a hot tub during this entire cruise, but it was always full. On this day, there were literally 15 kids in the hot tub in front of me. It was really ridiculous in my opinion. Granted, I don't have kids, but I felt the parents should have been better monitoring what their kids were doing. For instance, water was thrown on me a couple of times because kids would go to the buffet and grab cups. Then they would get a cup full of water from the hot tub and throw it on each other. Whenever a Carnival employee noticed, they would remove the cups, but the parents should have been doing it before Carnival had to. Just my opinion, of course.

 

We had lunch at the buffet and just sat in our seats by the pool. It was actually decent. I had chicken fingers, a few fries, and mashed potatoes. They also had a chocolate fountain with various fruit and pastries they would dip in it for you. It was ok.

 

After lunch, we watched the ice sculptor, then headed to lay out on the upper deck. This was mainly because it began to get shady where we were sitting. My aunt and cousin didn't lay out much longer because it is much windier on the upper deck, but I was determined to get sun! Around 2 or so, we headed back to the room to relax on the balcony. We got fixed up this night and decided we would attempt the MDR at dinner again. We took a few pictures before dinner. I will post some of those pictures later tonight. The computer I am using now will not let me.

 

I had the onion soup and crab cake for appetizers, roasted chicken for entrée, and warm chocolate melting cake with two ice creams for dessert. Service was the best this night. We had a different waiter and bartender. I even was able to get a refill of coke on this night! Food was just ok.

 

We decided to check our luggage instead of carry it off, so we headed back to the room to pack up so we could still have the rest of the night to enjoy the ship. We were in such a hurry, we forgot all about the Taste Bar! I was kicking myself about that around 9, but oh well! After packing things up, we changed into comfy clothes and ordered orange juice from room service and popped a bottle of champagne. We sat around on the balcony and finished a bottle of champagne, then I did my final shopping. I bought me some Tortuga chocolate and bought one of the multi packs of Tortuga Rum Cakes to give to my family and friends as souvenirs.

 

Then we decided to go watch 'Divas'. Both shows (Motor City and Divas) play twice during the cruise. So if you miss the first showing, you can always catch another one another day. It was more of a concert than a musical, in my opinion. But I really enjoyed it. I knew almost all of the music and it was fun to watch and sing to. We left the show about 5 minutes early though because we wanted to see the second comedian, and it was in the lounge on the opposite side of the boat.

 

We made it in time to grab a good seat, and she was really, really funny. Much better than the first comedian we saw earlier in the cruise. It was adults only as well. We went back to the casino for a bit, then decided to call it a night since we had a long drive the next morning.

 

Later tonight I will post pictures. Then this weekend I will post about the debarkation process and also post pictures of the Fun Times and Specials.

[RubyGold]

LOVE this review!!!

 

Nassau and Half Moon Cay were my first ever cruise destinations, and I loved HMC. I could stay there for a week.

 

Sigh.

 

 

I'm getting vacation sick now. I need a fix!!

[Bamagurl01]