Fascination Review 5/29-6/2 Grandparents & Grandchildren

[grandsmack]

Grandma’s review of our 4 day Fascination cruise

Background: We are in our 60s and have cruised over 200 days. This was our first time on a Carnival ship and our first time taking grandchildren on a vacation without their parents (none of the parents like to cruise). The grandchildren are a 10 year old boy, his sister who is 6, another 6 yr old girl and her sister who just turned 5 – and this was their first experience cruising.

Why did we do this?: The grandchildren had been asking us to take them on a cruise, so we did some research and decided that the Carnival Fascination would best fit our criteria (the date fit into their other vacation plans, the length of cruise would be manageable for us, easy 4-6 hr drive to the port, the price was right, and there were activities we thought the children would enjoy).

The Itinerary: Jacksonville, Freeport, Nassau, Sea Day, Jacksonville (5/29-6/2) we did not do any touring at the ports, just got off the ship and let the grandchildren shop for souvenirs.

Staterooms: We were on a budget and knowing we would not spend much time in our stateroom, we chose two inside cabins; a double and a quad. We were assigned R171 and R179. The 4 girls were bunking together and the 2 guys were in the other cabin. While there was ample room in the quad, all of us bumped our heads on the bunk beds (some of us more than once). Also in the girls’ room, we used all available drawer space (4 drawers) and all available hangers. There was some cabinet shelf space still available, but not much. The suitcases all fit under the two lower beds. The guys never felt crowded in their cabin except when all six of us pilled in there. I took 3 small plastic juice size cups to hold the tooth brushes and tooth paste and for the little girls to use to rinse with (each had their own color) and these 3 cups fit on the ledge around the sink. This way they did not have to try to reach the glasses on that higher glass shelf.

Activities -What we liked/and not so much: This cruise was for the grandchildren, so this is from their prospective and I know nothing about the night life aboard as my roomies were ready to call it a night and snuggle down in their beds between 8:30 and 9pm every night. They played hard all day and especially loved the water park. The small slide was perfect for the youngest one and the other 3 could not get enough of all three slides. They did not really enjoy the pool, and believe me they wanted to. We had two excellent swimmers and two non-swimmers. The water temp was cool to cold, and very salty. I heard many people complaining about burning eyes including our excellent swimmers who have a salt water pool at home. (note to others: bring goggles) The two 6 yr olds enjoyed Camp Carnival attending a total of 6 hours of activities; the 5 yr old went to a few activities and the 10 yr old went for two hours the first day and chose not to go back. They enjoyed putt-putt when we were in port, but it was a little too windy for the small ones when we were at sea.

They could hardly wait to get back to the room each evening to see what towel animal Jose’ had made and to get that piece of chocolate candy. Because of their interest in the towel animals, they participated in learning to fold their towels into animals at the towel animal demo. This was followed by a towel animal puppet show which they enjoyed. They also enjoyed the family comedy show and the Hasbro game shows. The 10 yr old enjoyed the arcade, we just gave him a limit to stick to and he did.

Meals: We started our mornings with breakfast from the Coconut Grove buffet, there were plenty of choices and even our pickiest eater found something to fill her up. They loved eating breakfast outside. For lunch, the kids chose The Grill twice and ate hot dogs, hamburgers and fries there. The other two lunches and two dinners were eaten at the Coconut Grove, where they found an assortment of food to “graze” on – they were excited to see pizza, but did not like it at all. We ate dinner in the dining room two of the four evenings; the 5 yr old was in heaven because she could order a pbj (her absolute favorite food) and she asked for it not to be toasted after we learned when ordering one from room service that they toasted the bread. The children always ordered off the kids menu; however the 10 yr old tried the homemade chicken noodle soup from the adult menu and it was nothing like his Mom’s homemade soup (I had to agree, it wasn’t good). Their absolute favorite treat was the soft serve ice cream (available 24 hrs). The critical adult eye: I have to say that wait staff in Coconut Grove did not do a good job of bussing tables either inside or outside on the deck. They also were slow in cleaning up food people had spilled on the floor and deck areas. It was hard to choose to eat at The Grill on port days as the flies were in abundance and landing on the food being served buffet style (the cooks will give you a fresh burger or hot dog off the grill if you asked for it). I did get to try the Mongolian Grill once and really enjoyed that lunch the best (beware the wait in this line is usually long). The one time we had a short break with no children (they were at Camp Carnival), I had a decaf mocha frappe from Bogart’s, well worth the $3.50.

Two of the children experienced sea sickness which we were able to treat (one with sea bands the other with oral medication). In the end this was a wonderful way to experience a vacation with the grandchildren; I think we made some lasting memories. They all want to cruise again, in fact none of them wanted to leave the ship yesterday morning.

[KroozFoolz]

Thanks for taking the time to post about your experiences.

Glad to hear the kids enjoyed the cruise.

[cruisingbandmom]

Wow! Great Grandparents you are. You all will forever cherish these memories. You probably need a vacation to recover.

[PathfinderEss]

Nice grandparents you are, taking your grandchildren on a cruise. Good for you and glad you had a good time and made some lasting memories.

[junebug8]

Thank you for your review! You sound like awesome grandparents! What memories you made for your grandchildren.

[Keith1010]

Thank you for your review.

 

Keith

[KirkNC]

Thanks for the report!

[jbhcw]

How nice to see this review!! we are taking our two grandsons on the Fascination in about three weeks! They have cruised before but the youngest has only cruised on Hal...no watersides:) The only thing I am worried about is four of us in a quad cabin:eek: I am already anticipating some bumped heads!!

 

We are also doing a four day...our kids are 14 and 11....want to try and stay up with them to see some shows:) And hoping we make it to dinner in the MDR every night...did you perhaps eat breakfast in the mdr at all?

 

Again thanks for the review...and way to go Grandma...taking the grands on a cruise:)

[grandsmack]

How nice to see this review!! we are taking our two grandsons on the Fascination in about three weeks! They have cruised before but the youngest has only cruised on Hal...no watersides:) The only thing I am worried about is four of us in a quad cabin:eek: I am already anticipating some bumped heads!!

 

We are also doing a four day...our kids are 14 and 11....want to try and stay up with them to see some shows:) And hoping we make it to dinner in the MDR every night...did you perhaps eat breakfast in the mdr at all?

 

Again thanks for the review...and way to go Grandma...taking the grands on a cruise:)

 

We did not eat breakfast or lunch in the dining room. The children found a variety of breakfast foods at the buffet and really liked sitting outside each morning, so this was their go to venue. Our food rule was to only get what you knew you would eat and if you wanted more, you could go back for a second and sometimes a third helping (examples: a boiled egg, box of cereal, muffin).

 

Re bumping heads on bunks - in hindsight I should have asked our cabin steward to take down the ladders and put the beds back into the wall each morning, we usually bumped heads when picking up the room or upon retiring in the evening. Good luck

 

Something I wish I had known before so that I could have told the grandchildren was that they were required to wear a wrist band for the whole cruise. It is issued to all children 11 years old and under (it reports their muster station). We have two grands with some sensitivity issues and talking about it beforehand would have helped.

 

Poppa and the 10 year old did make some of the evening family evening shows that were scheduled for later than 8:30, but the younger ones were worn out by that time.

[reerun25]

Awesome review and trip you had!! My Mom took her whole family, me and my wife and two kids, and my brother and SIL, and there two kids, on all of our first cruise on the Fascination. It was an awesome trip, and we are now hooked on cruising, as are all the grandchildren!!

[medtrans10]

How nice to see this review!! we are taking our two grandsons on the Fascination in about three weeks! They have cruised before but the youngest has only cruised on Hal...no watersides:) The only thing I am worried about is four of us in a quad cabin:eek: I am already anticipating some bumped heads!!

 

We are also doing a four day...our kids are 14 and 11....want to try and stay up with them to see some shows:) And hoping we make it to dinner in the MDR every night...did you perhaps eat breakfast in the mdr at all?

 

Again thanks for the review...and way to go Grandma...taking the grands on a cruise:)

 

I have been on the Fascination twice. The first was in an OV quad room with 3 adults and one teenager. It was fine for us and we never had any problems bumping our heads that I can recall. The second was with myself, my teenage daughter, and 6-year-old son in a cabin. We did the early dining in the MDR each night and the show afterwards. The food is much better in the dining room in my opinion. A couple of nights, my son ate at Camp Carnival. We ate lunch at the buffet each day and breakfast at the buffet one morning. Otherwise, we ate breakfast in the MDR. My brother and dad liked the buffet better than the MDR, but I prefer the MDR breakfast. Enjoy your cruise.