Quick Fascination Review (Please ask questions!)

[Dare2Believe]

Here are just a few bullet points about our cruise on the Fascination...we loved this ship and would sail on her again in a heartbeat. If you have any questions about the ship/ports etc please just ask!

 

Embarkation: We arrived by taxi (Checker Cab) around 11:40 and were onboard by noon! It was incredible…I’ve never gotten onboard that fast before. We didn’t even have to sit and wait before boarding. That is definitely a perk to the smaller ship. Our rooms were ready by 12:30 as well (we didn’t have FTTF, not even sure if it was offered for our cruise).

 

Cabin: We had two oceanview cabins next door to one another on the Riviera deck (R232, R236). This was the first time we’d been in this type of cabin, down that low in the ship, and we were so satisfied. Our room steward, Gregory, went above and beyond. He was fantastic. The only downside to being down that low, in the aft of the ship, was the LOUD vibration noise from the azipods while docking. Other than that, we weren’t affected at all by any noise/vibration that I’d been warned about.

 

Food: The food on this ship was very good. The buffet was pretty standard for Carnival, but we were pleased to find that we never had to fight for a table as we have before. The MDR food was delicious every night. The only downside to the food was the offering of the desserts at the lido buffet…there were less offered, and I didn’t really find much that I was impressed by. I guess that was a good thing for my waistline! ;-)

 

Entertainment: The entertainment was bizarre to me on this ship..they offered two Playlist Productions shows in the theater (Motor City/Divas) and showed them a few times during the cruise. I get doing an early/late show but why re-show it on another night? The Hasbro game show was boring and put me to sleep. Even the kids didn’t seem that interested..The comedians were good, though. That was a highlight!

 

Ports of Call: We stopped in Key West and Nassau, two places I’d been before. Key West now holds a special place in my heart because my boyfriend proposed while we were there! We just walked around Duval Street and got some conch to eat. In Nassau we did a day pass at the Wyndham. This cost $20 and included access to the beach, pools, and nonmotorized water sports (i.e. snorkeling). The front desk attendant also told us that we were able to use the facilities next door at the Melia resort (even though on their Facebook page, Wyndham says this is not the case…weird). This wasn’t crowded at all, and was a great value for $20. Not a TON to do, but certaintly a nice SAFE beach option. It was about a 15 minute cab drive..you can also access by bus, but we did not do that.

 

Ship: I’ve only been on larger ships, so I was a little nervous to sail on the Fantasy class. Boy was I wrong. We LOVED this ship. Sure, she is obviously not a cutting edge vessel and she shows her age (particularly on the carpeting in the stairways) but overall she is great. We loved the size and ease of walking from one end of the ship to the other. We were never exhausted by walking back to our room (which was down low, in the aft). There is only one pool, however…there weren’t a TON of kids on our sailing (or so it seemed), but it only takes a couple kids splashing and yelling to take away from the relaxation of the pool area. There’s only so many times you can be splashed in the eyes with salt water before you just give up. We would just jump in to cool off, then get back out. It worked for us since we’re not huge pool people, and would rather just lay out on a deck chair..but for people who like to float in the pool and relax this was not the pool for them.We loved the Serenityy deck hot tubs..we spent every night there after dinner. SO relaxing and quiet.

 

Cheers Program: We purchased the Cheers program, and recommend it fully. The bar waitress who sold it to us said that it is only worth it if you plan to drink at least 5-6 drinks a day. Total cost with gratuity for the 5 day cruise was about $287. It was great to have the freedom to order a drink you may not usually have, just to try it out. Side note about alcohol…Tommy in the lido bar (back in the buffet) is THE BEST. Also, Maria the bar waitress for the Sensation dining room really took great care of us. We loved the two of them! If you’re on this ship, definitely check them out. SO nice.

 

Debarkation: We had a 5:50pm flight out of JAX to JFK on debarkation day, so we weren't in any rush to get off the ship..this was good since we got zone 23 for debarkation. We were off the ship by about 10...so we had a nice looong day in the airport, but it was fine. Debarkation was well organized and went quickly. Taxis were waiting just outside the terminal, very convenient.

 

 

If you have any questions, fire away!

Edited February 24, 2014 by Dare2Believe

[Cruisegirl6]

Thank you for the review we do have a few questions if you don't mind.

 

Do you recall seeing the dinner buffet (I been on 51 cruises never ate dinner at the buffet but this ship doesn't offer specialty dining so we are considering trying the buffet) and wondering what they offer if its worth going to.

 

Did they have a live band playing in the evenings and if so, do you recall the name of the band?

 

How was the music on this ship, and where can we sit and listen to some live music?

 

What do they have to eat past 11pm?

 

Whch night was the lobster given, thank you!

[code_d]

Thank you for the review we do have a few questions if you don't mind.

 

Do you recall seeing the dinner buffet (I been on 51 cruises never ate dinner at the buffet but this ship doesn't offer specialty dining so we are considering trying the buffet) and wondering what they offer if its worth going to.

 

Did they have a live band playing in the evenings and if so, do you recall the name of the band?

 

How was the music on this ship, and where can we sit and listen to some live music?

 

What do they have to eat past 11pm?

 

Whch night was the lobster given, thank you!

 

There was a Carnival live band each night on our cruise outside the Casino by its bar. It was very good. Mostly current adult contemporary/Rock. That was about it for live music as they had DJ on Lido. When we were there there was no piano player either. They do have a mexican buffet at midnight one night that is really good. The buffet in general has some good items to very good, and many fair to poor. the Mongolian WOK though is very good. Each day the buffet had themed food. Other than midnight buffet there is the pizza/sandwich station or room service for food after 11pm. Lobster was 2nd night for us, I do not know if the 4 days have it.

[fromsea2sea]

Thank you for the review we do have a few questions if you don't mind.

 

Do you recall seeing the dinner buffet (I been on 51 cruises never ate dinner at the buffet but this ship doesn't offer specialty dining so we are considering trying the buffet) and wondering what they offer if its worth going to.

 

Did they have a live band playing in the evenings and if so, do you recall the name of the band?

 

How was the music on this ship, and where can we sit and listen to some live music?

 

What do they have to eat past 11pm?

 

Whch night was the lobster given, thank you!

I was just on the feb. 8 sailing the fascination, it is a wonderful ship, I have found the food and the service to better on the smaller ships. my daughter and her DH. are on her now, and she will have a full picture review Thursday nite, check it out, she takes pics. of every plate of food as well as everything else. out of your 51 cruises, have you been on a ship this size? if not, I would suggest not comparing it to the bigger ones, you may be disappointed, I myself do not mind giving up a few perks in lieu of great food, superior service and hospitality, not to mention less ppl. if you go, have a wonderful time and check out the review from my daughter thurs. nite, it may give you a lot of info.

[Dare2Believe]

Thank you for the review we do have a few questions if you don't mind.

 

Do you recall seeing the dinner buffet (I been on 51 cruises never ate dinner at the buffet but this ship doesn't offer specialty dining so we are considering trying the buffet) and wondering what they offer if its worth going to.

 

Did they have a live band playing in the evenings and if so, do you recall the name of the band?

 

How was the music on this ship, and where can we sit and listen to some live music?

 

What do they have to eat past 11pm?

 

Whch night was the lobster given, thank you!

 

I think most of your questions were answered before..we never ate at the lido for dinner, but we thought the lunch selections were good. Very typical for Carnival.

 

We had lobster on the second night (elegant evening)..it was pretty small. I ordered both the lobster tail and the prime rib, not intending to finish either but I actually did finish the lobster tail and most of the steak. It was great tasting lobster, just not the biggest portion. Understandable, but I was glad that I was a "fatty" and ordered both entrees!

 

The live band by the casino was always good! There was also a couple guys who we saw either by the casino or down by the atrium bar who played piano/harmonica...they were okay, but we never felt the need to sit down and spend awhile listening.

 

I believe James was the piano bar guy...a lot of people on this board complain about the piano bar on this ship. Not sure if James is the one who is so panned, but he seemed fine to us. Maybe not as high energy as others we've experienced, but I didn't get a negative vibe from him, as others have stated.

 

The lido had mostly hamburgers, and hot dogs late night (until 1:30am) each night...one night was Mexican, which was delicious.

Edited February 25, 2014 by Dare2Believe

[Cruisegirl6]

Thank you for answering my questions I have another.

 

The last time we were on the Fascination we noticed the alcoholic drink glasses to be half the size from two years before that. We always asked for a double drink and got a larger glass and it only cost us $3.00 more...my question is

 

1- How big or do you have any photos of the glasses used for the drinks?

 

If I order a double does that count towards just one drink or two?

[Dare2Believe]

Thank you for answering my questions I have another.

 

The last time we were on the Fascination we noticed the alcoholic drink glasses to be half the size from two years before that. We always asked for a double drink and got a larger glass and it only cost us $3.00 more...my question is

 

1- How big or do you have any photos of the glasses used for the drinks?

 

If I order a double does that count towards just one drink or two?

 

Most of the time when we ordered drinks (such as amaretto sours, gin & tonics, rum and cokes etc..) they came in short plastic glasses like this:

 

 

 

Other times (i.e. when ordered in the MDR) the drinks I listed above would come in actual glass cups that were probably 5-6" tall. Not too large, and lots of ice.

 

We had the Cheers program so we didn't care too much about the size of the drinks, but if you were paying outright I'd be a little disappointed in the size, especially in the MDR with the real glass cups.

 

Not sure about ordering a double drink - never did it.

[Hoosiermama]

We were on Fascination last week for the Weezer charter cruise. I agree about food, it was really very good in the main dining room. The buffet didn't disappoint either.

 

The crew was wonderful on our cruise! This was our first Carnival cruise and our first charter cruise, so I didn't know what to expect. Our entire group loved this ship. I think the smaller ships have so much to offer! I hope people don't just write them off because they don't have all the bells and whistles. The Fascination is a wonderful ship!

[jagsgirl2005]

How were the rooms on the ship and what level were yall on? We leave on March 17th and are super excited. I am glad to hear that getting on the ship did not take long and that your room was ready soon after.

 

1) How long did it take to get yalls luggage?

2) How were the seas?

[Georgiagolfer]

Thank you for answering my questions I have another.

 

The last time we were on the Fascination we noticed the alcoholic drink glasses to be half the size from two years before that. We always asked for a double drink and got a larger glass and it only cost us $3.00 more...my question is

 

1- How big or do you have any photos of the glasses used for the drinks?

 

If I order a double does that count towards just one drink or two?

 

Sailed Fascination last on 11/30, and the drinks are still served in small glasses unless you request a double. Not sure about double drinks, but if using Cheers, I would assume this counts as 2 drinks, knowing how cheap CCL is.:rolleyes:

[Dare2Believe]

How were the rooms on the ship and what level were yall on? We leave on March 17th and are super excited. I am glad to hear that getting on the ship did not take long and that your room was ready soon after.

 

1) How long did it take to get yalls luggage?

2) How were the seas?

 

The rooms were great. We'd never been in an oceanview before (balcony/inside before), and were totally satisfied. We were on the Riviera deck, aft. The only caution I would say about these rooms is regarding the azipods while docking. It was VERY loud, but we were expecting it so we weren't surprised. I think a cabin midship/forward on Riviera would probably have been preferable but it wasn't a big deal 99% of the time.

 

Our luggage arrived before dinner on embarkation day.

 

Seas were great! I had been reading some horror stories on here about rough seas during the winter, but we didn't experience any. I was sailing with two newbies (one of whom gets very bad motion sickness) and she was fine. On our last sea day we were warned to expect lots of motion because we were going to be sailing through a storm, but even then the waves weren't bad.

[jagsgirl2005]

Awesome! Thanks! A friend that is going with us gets car sick, but we told her we think she should be find. We are AFT on the empress deck but only like 3 rooms back from midship so it should not be too bad we heard!

 

I am hoping for calm seas and beautiful weather :)

 

 

 

 

 

The rooms were great. We'd never been in an oceanview before (balcony/inside before), and were totally satisfied. We were on the Riviera deck, aft. The only caution I would say about these rooms is regarding the azipods while docking. It was VERY loud, but we were expecting it so we weren't surprised. I think a cabin midship/forward on Riviera would probably have been preferable but it wasn't a big deal 99% of the time.

 

Our luggage arrived before dinner on embarkation day.

 

Seas were great! I had been reading some horror stories on here about rough seas during the winter, but we didn't experience any. I was sailing with two newbies (one of whom gets very bad motion sickness) and she was fine. On our last sea day we were warned to expect lots of motion because we were going to be sailing through a storm, but even then the waves weren't bad.

[Dare2Believe]

Awesome! Thanks! A friend that is going with us gets car sick, but we told her we think she should be find. We are AFT on the empress deck but only like 3 rooms back from midship so it should not be too bad we heard!

 

I am hoping for calm seas and beautiful weather :)

 

My fingers are crossed for you!

[darcofuq]

I agree about food, it was really very good in the main dining room.

[silverpenguin]

Just a comment: We actually liked that they show the same shows 2 different nights. We could explore more of the ship (like, spend the evening in the piano bar) without feeling like we were missing something.

[GeorgiaMomof4]

I was just on the feb. 8 sailing the fascination, it is a wonderful ship, I have found the food and the service to better on the smaller ships. my daughter and her DH. are on her now, and she will have a full picture review Thursday nite, check it out, she takes pics. of every plate of food as well as everything else. out of your 51 cruises, have you been on a ship this size? if not, I would suggest not comparing it to the bigger ones, you may be disappointed, I myself do not mind giving up a few perks in lieu of great food, superior service and hospitality, not to mention less ppl. if you go, have a wonderful time and check out the review from my daughter thurs. nite, it may give you a lot of info.

 

 

 

Not wanting to hi-jack OP's thread but I'm just wondering what you thought about the "listing" that occurred on Wednesday night. It was a first for us for sure. We were on your same sailing and I've posted a review with pictures.

 

Like OP I was pleasantly surprised how much I enjoyed the Fascination after cruising on larger ships and in balcony cabins.

[Dare2Believe]

Just a comment: We actually liked that they show the same shows 2 different nights. We could explore more of the ship (like, spend the evening in the piano bar) without feeling like we were missing something.

 

This is very true!

[wuvgal]

Is there a basketball/volleyball court on the ship?

[Dare2Believe]

Is there a basketball/volleyball court on the ship?

 

Nope. Just mini golf up top.