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My Carnival Fantasy 3-Day Review!

christygobar

By christygobar,
in Carnival Cruise Lines

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christygobar

christygobar

Posted
Posted

There are so few reviews of the 3 day itinerary on the Fantasy, that I wanted to share my thoughts of last weekends cruise. If anyone has any questions, I'll be happy to answer them!

 

----------------------------------------------

 

Background: We are 2 single women in our late 20s who have traveled together in the past to Mexico. We are co-workers and friends. This is my 3rd cruise and her 1st. The weather was bad (Tropical Tammy) and the seas were a bit rough. And I’m going to try and be as non-biased as possible and mention both the good and the bad of this trip!

 

Embarkation: Extremely smooth and fast. We were at the pier around 11:15 and on the ship at 11:35. Can't beat that, huh? :) They did tell us to not go to our rooms until 1:00. I’ve been told that before and cheated the system. Only this time, the room really wasn’t done! We hid our luggage underneath the bed and went up to the Lido deck for a drink, some lunch and to wait it out.

 

The ship: Is in wonderful, wonderful WONDERFUL condition. The carpets were new from drydock, everything is clean and looks new. I loved it.

 

The room itself: We had an inside cabin, U51. The noise was fine, and I slept like a baby. The new beds are nice and comfy, and the bathrooms have been made over. They are nice and white and spic and span. When we first arrived, the room had a strong odor of cigarette smoke. We thought maybe the steward hadn’t taken care of it yet, so we didn’t say anything. However, it never went away. Finally, the second morning we called the purser’s office and our steward came to fix it up within 5 minutes. We returned from the Bahamas to a fresher smelling room.

 

The service: Well, that depends. We didn’t meet our room steward until aforementioned cigarette smoke problem. We never saw him the first day, nor did he introduce himself. When we finally met him, he was nice and cheerful. Our room was always clean. Our head waiter was great, but our assistant waiter never spoke a word. The dining room bar staff showed up 2 out of 3 nights, and it was usually when we were receiving our main course. The spa was helpful, but their front desk wasn’t overly friendly. So it was hit or miss.

 

Entertainment: We only saw the show on the final night, the Broadway style with show-tunes. It was not bad - on-par with all other Carnival shows I have seen in the past. Enjoyable for a night at sea. Tia Thompson was our comedian, and I have seen her before on the Paradise. I think she is very funny and enjoyed hearing her act again.

 

Activities: Not enough for a 3 day cruise. They needed some more afternoon deck activities! As much fun as the hairy chest competition is, it doesn’t cut it as being the only outdoor activity from 1pm – dinnertime :b

 

Food: The first day, it was severely lacking. The lobster was rubbery, the buffet food was cold, and I’m not sure what was in that first batch of rum punch, but I had my first allergic reaction ever! It was odd, but went away quickly. As for the food over the next couple of days, it got much better. I never had a sandwich from the sandwich bar (but heard they were great), and the pizza was great as usual. In the dining room, I had the lobster with mushroom risotto, pumpkin soup (YUM, tasted just like eating buttery cream), broccoli/cheese soup, the delice of the ocean (yummy-just how I remember it), strawberry soup, fettuccine with mushrooms and the filet mignon. For breakfasts, I just stuck with standard French toast, bacon and pastries. Lunches were usually pizza :)

 

And I forgot just how yummy a Miami Vice is ;)

 

Nassau, Bahamas: We had almost 24 hours here, which was nice. I didn’t utilize the whole time, but it was nice to have it. We got off the ship at 10:00 and used the super shoppers map to walk our way around. At 12:30, we met Barefoot Sailing Charters for our afternoon snorkel trip. This was a private excursion I booked based on some reviews here on the Bahamas board. It was GREAT, and I highly recommend them. We boarded the Riding High, a 55’ sailboat and motored to Rose Island. They provided ice cold water, lemonade and fruit punch the way out there. There were only 8 of us on the boat. We jumped in the water and had an hour to snorkel. Rose Island is a GREAT place if you want to snorkel. The reefs were very shallow and had lots of life. Our group saw a couple of turtles, lots of fish (think Dori from Finding Nemo…is it a parrot fish? Can’t remember), a huge 7’ manta ray AND a 5-6’ nurse shark! I was in heaven, and got some great pics of the shark. On our way back our boat captain made several batches of rum punch (and no, I wasn’t allergic to this one!). It started pouring down rain on our way back, but it just added to our fun on the sailboat. The captain hoisted the sails and when we were on a straight course, he let the 2 boys sail the boat a little bit. It was cute to watch, and they had the best time doing it. We got back to the ship around 5pm, shopped the straw market right as they were closing, and headed back for formal night.

 

Debarkation: A nightmare. But isn’t it always? The Fantasy doesn’t use the color-coded system anymore. Is this normal? We hung out on the Lido deck eating breakfast until 9am and then headed down. By then, the line had only wrapped around the Empress deck, compared to earlier when it spanned 3-4 decks. We were supposed to be on a NASA excursion and then a Carnival transfer due to a 5pm flight, but due to lack of participation, it was cancelled. So it put us along with the other masses. Luckily we had nowhere to be for awhile.

 

Final thoughts: I have been a loyal Carnival customer, and I will cruise with them in the future. My personal opinion though is that I will most likely never cruise a short itinerary again. Don’t get me wrong. I had a great time and met some fun people. Yes, these have been dubbed party cruises, but I think they are good for anyone who wants to take a short getaway. The service was good, but not as good as I’ve had in the past. For me, I’d like to try a couple of other cruise lines and a couple of new itineraries. I’ll be back though!

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Chief Cruiser

Chief Cruiser

Posted
Posted

I've been on the Fantasy 3 times and it is one of my favorites for a short cruise. Every cruise experience is different and sometimes you get a little more bad to go along with the good. It's hard NOT to have a good time on a cruise, even when you do nothing but sit back and relax.

 

Thanks for the review. I always enjoy reading about other experiences and opinions.

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holly1960

holly1960

Posted
Posted
There are so few reviews of the 3 day itinerary on the Fantasy, that I wanted to share my thoughts of last weekends cruise. If anyone has any questions, I'll be happy to answer them!

 

----------------------------------------------

 

Background: We are 2 single women in our late 20s who have traveled together in the past to Mexico. We are co-workers and friends. This is my 3rd cruise and her 1st. The weather was bad (Tropical Tammy) and the seas were a bit rough. And I’m going to try and be as non-biased as possible and mention both the good and the bad of this trip!

 

Embarkation: Extremely smooth and fast. We were at the pier around 11:15 and on the ship at 11:35. Can't beat that, huh? :) They did tell us to not go to our rooms until 1:00. I’ve been told that before and cheated the system. Only this time, the room really wasn’t done! We hid our luggage underneath the bed and went up to the Lido deck for a drink, some lunch and to wait it out.

 

The ship: Is in wonderful, wonderful WONDERFUL condition. The carpets were new from drydock, everything is clean and looks new. I loved it.

 

The room itself: We had an inside cabin, U51. The noise was fine, and I slept like a baby. The new beds are nice and comfy, and the bathrooms have been made over. They are nice and white and spic and span. When we first arrived, the room had a strong odor of cigarette smoke. We thought maybe the steward hadn’t taken care of it yet, so we didn’t say anything. However, it never went away. Finally, the second morning we called the purser’s office and our steward came to fix it up within 5 minutes. We returned from the Bahamas to a fresher smelling room.

 

The service: Well, that depends. We didn’t meet our room steward until aforementioned cigarette smoke problem. We never saw him the first day, nor did he introduce himself. When we finally met him, he was nice and cheerful. Our room was always clean. Our head waiter was great, but our assistant waiter never spoke a word. The dining room bar staff showed up 2 out of 3 nights, and it was usually when we were receiving our main course. The spa was helpful, but their front desk wasn’t overly friendly. So it was hit or miss.

 

Entertainment: We only saw the show on the final night, the Broadway style with show-tunes. It was not bad - on-par with all other Carnival shows I have seen in the past. Enjoyable for a night at sea. Tia Thompson was our comedian, and I have seen her before on the Paradise. I think she is very funny and enjoyed hearing her act again.

 

Activities: Not enough for a 3 day cruise. They needed some more afternoon deck activities! As much fun as the hairy chest competition is, it doesn’t cut it as being the only outdoor activity from 1pm – dinnertime :b

 

Food: The first day, it was severely lacking. The lobster was rubbery, the buffet food was cold, and I’m not sure what was in that first batch of rum punch, but I had my first allergic reaction ever! It was odd, but went away quickly. As for the food over the next couple of days, it got much better. I never had a sandwich from the sandwich bar (but heard they were great), and the pizza was great as usual. In the dining room, I had the lobster with mushroom risotto, pumpkin soup (YUM, tasted just like eating buttery cream), broccoli/cheese soup, the delice of the ocean (yummy-just how I remember it), strawberry soup, fettuccine with mushrooms and the filet mignon. For breakfasts, I just stuck with standard French toast, bacon and pastries. Lunches were usually pizza :)

 

And I forgot just how yummy a Miami Vice is ;)

 

Nassau, Bahamas: We had almost 24 hours here, which was nice. I didn’t utilize the whole time, but it was nice to have it. We got off the ship at 10:00 and used the super shoppers map to walk our way around. At 12:30, we met Barefoot Sailing Charters for our afternoon snorkel trip. This was a private excursion I booked based on some reviews here on the Bahamas board. It was GREAT, and I highly recommend them. We boarded the Riding High, a 55’ sailboat and motored to Rose Island. They provided ice cold water, lemonade and fruit punch the way out there. There were only 8 of us on the boat. We jumped in the water and had an hour to snorkel. Rose Island is a GREAT place if you want to snorkel. The reefs were very shallow and had lots of life. Our group saw a couple of turtles, lots of fish (think Dori from Finding Nemo…is it a parrot fish? Can’t remember), a huge 7’ manta ray AND a 5-6’ nurse shark! I was in heaven, and got some great pics of the shark. On our way back our boat captain made several batches of rum punch (and no, I wasn’t allergic to this one!). It started pouring down rain on our way back, but it just added to our fun on the sailboat. The captain hoisted the sails and when we were on a straight course, he let the 2 boys sail the boat a little bit. It was cute to watch, and they had the best time doing it. We got back to the ship around 5pm, shopped the straw market right as they were closing, and headed back for formal night.

 

Debarkation: A nightmare. But isn’t it always? The Fantasy doesn’t use the color-coded system anymore. Is this normal? We hung out on the Lido deck eating breakfast until 9am and then headed down. By then, the line had only wrapped around the Empress deck, compared to earlier when it spanned 3-4 decks. We were supposed to be on a NASA excursion and then a Carnival transfer due to a 5pm flight, but due to lack of participation, it was cancelled. So it put us along with the other masses. Luckily we had nowhere to be for awhile.

 

Final thoughts: I have been a loyal Carnival customer, and I will cruise with them in the future. My personal opinion though is that I will most likely never cruise a short itinerary again. Don’t get me wrong. I had a great time and met some fun people. Yes, these have been dubbed party cruises, but I think they are good for anyone who wants to take a short getaway. The service was good, but not as good as I’ve had in the past. For me, I’d like to try a couple of other cruise lines and a couple of new itineraries. I’ll be back though!

 

Hey,

Loved the review. I am going in 13 days for my 1st time. Have you got any pics that I could see.

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OTTER

OTTER

Posted
Posted

Great review!! We leave on Nov. 10th and are really looking forward to some warmer weather!! Is there a night that you have to dress up for dinner?? I know normally that night to be lobster night, so just wondering so I pack right.

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christygobar

christygobar

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Posted

There did appear to be the option for self-assist debarkation. But I wasn't up that early so I didn't pay close attention ;)

 

Formal night is the 2nd night...the night you are in Nassau. Lobster night was the first night. I believe formal night I ate the seafood entree! They also had one of my favorites which was the Grand Marnier souffle.

 

We did have a good time....as everyone says, even a not-so-great day on a cruise is better than a good day at work :D

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