Our Fascination Anniversary / Spring Break Getaway Cruise (with pics) - 3/26/16

[Jamman54]

Looking forward to reading the rest of your review, I enjoyed your review of the Breeze. Happy anniversary to the both of you and congrats to Patti on her upcoming retirement.

 

Glad to have you along once again, and thanks for the anniversary and retirement wishes! :)

 

 

Thanks for your amazing review of the ship! We are doing the San Juan cruise and have never been on the Fascination, so your review is great!!!

 

Thanks for reading, and hope that you find this review helpful in some way.

[Jamman54]

Happy Easter, and welcome to our first fun day at sea……

 

 

We were up at 7am, and from the bow camera view on the television, we could see that the seas were fairly calm, and that it was still cloudy outside.

One of the things that we almost always do on a sea day is go to the Sea Day Brunch. On the Fascination it is served in the Sensation Dining Room from 8:30am until 1pm. Patti was feeling a bit better this morning, and she was extremely hungry, so we made our way to the Sensation Dining Room at 8:30 when it opened.

 

There wasn’t any line when we got there, and we were seated fairly quickly at a table for two. The first thing that they serve you is this yummy basket of breads…..

 

 

Here are Patti and I at the Sea Day Brunch…..

 

 

 

I hadn’t noticed, but as we were led to our table, Patti recognized the person that was leading us as a waiter that we had on another cruise. Sure enough, it was Laurean, who was one of our waiters on our Liberty cruise almost two years ago. He stopped by to chat with us for a while……

 

 

Here’s a picture taken on that Liberty cruise. Here’s our son Ryan flanked by Maribel on the left, and Laurean on the right…..

 

 

He even remembered that I ordered two Angry Orchard’s at dinner each night. How does somebody remember something like that?

 

To be continued…..

[Jamman54]

The Sea Day Brunch was awesome as usual. I had the huevos rancheros with a side of corned beef hash……

 

 

Patti had a cheese omelet with turkey bacon, and a side of mac and cheese…..

 

 

 

With my free drink coupon I ordered up a watermelon bellini. Patti wasn’t quite up to drinking just yet…..

 

 

At the entrance of the dining room, there is a model of the Sensation…..

 

 

A view of the atrium from the entrance of the Sensation Dining Room…..

 

 

To be continued…..

[Jamman54]

Looking down, it seems that the Atrium Bar is pretty deserted…..

 

 

At this point Patti said that she wanted to do a little shopping and then go play bingo, so I took the camera and began taking some pictures. I took a peek into the Palace Theater, and saw our Cruise Director Felipe (in the blue shirt),on stage doing The Morning Show…..

 

 

The Fun Shops are now open for business…..

 

 

 

Is that Patti I see in there?

 

 

How sweet! Patti has done some shopping for me!!

 

 

To be continued…..

[Jamman54]

A couple of shots of the internet café on Empress Deck 7 in the Lobby…..

 

 

 

Looking all the way up to the skylight…..

 

 

I made my way up to the highest deck on the ship which is the Sun Deck 14. Looking over the side of the ship, I could see that the seas were fairly smooth…..

 

 

This is the City Sports Park, forward on the Sun Deck…..

 

 

This is where you will find the Mini Golf Course…..

 

 

To be continued…..

[Jamman54]

Here’s another shot of the Mini Golf Course…..

 

 

If you go all the way to the front of the Sun Deck, there are doors on either side that will lead you onto the walkway. This is a shot looking down at the bow from that walkway…..

 

 

This is the starboard side bridge wing……

 

 

And this is the port side bridge wing…..

 

 

Here are a couple more pictures of the Mini Golf Course…..

 

 

 

To be continued…..

[Jamman54]

This is looking aft from the Sun Deck…..

 

 

Looking down at the Lido Pool and one of the very crowded hot tubs…..

 

 

This is a shot of the other hot tub. Do you think we can squeeze a few more kids in there?

 

 

It looks like the chair hogs are out in force today!

 

 

The ping pong tables on either side on Verandah Deck 11 were getting a lot of use…..

 

 

Here is the Towel Station, located on Lido Deck 10…..

 

 

To be continued…..

[SenatorsFan]

Hi Jeff, I'm just getting started but I know this will be another entertaining review. Congrats on your anniversary and Patti's upcoming retirement.:):):)

Heather

[Jamman54]

Hi Jeff, I'm just getting started but I know this will be another entertaining review. Congrats on your anniversary and Patti's upcoming retirement.:):):)

Heather

 

Hey Heather! Glad to have you along for the ride once again, and thanks for the anniversary and retirement wishes! :)

[Mikewall9]

Thanks for the review Jamman! Looking forward to seeing the rest of your trip.

[Jamman54]

Thanks for the review Jamman! Looking forward to seeing the rest of your trip.

 

Thanks for reading! Much more to come!

[afcruiser]

Welcome Back Jeff and Patti.

 

I saw you were back and starting your review during the week.

 

But saved reading it until this morning, with my coffee and a quiet house.:p

 

Fabulous as always. Love your reviews. Thanks so much for taking the time to do them.

 

Happy Anniversary and CONGRATULATIONS to Patti on Retirement plans. Always good to have a plan.

 

We might just see you on the Magic. Our favorite ship. Especially after dry dock.

 

Glad you had safe travels.

 

Mary n Dave

[aztekpm]

Welcome back and Happy Anniversary to you both! Enjoying this and looking forward to more. :) ... just call me greedy!

[marty1950]

Again you abd Patti take AWESOME pictures thanks. Gary:D

[Jamman54]

Welcome Back Jeff and Patti.

 

I saw you were back and starting your review during the week.

 

But saved reading it until this morning, with my coffee and a quiet house.:p

 

Fabulous as always. Love your reviews. Thanks so much for taking the time to do them.

 

Happy Anniversary and CONGRATULATIONS to Patti on Retirement plans. Always good to have a plan.

 

We might just see you on the Magic. Our favorite ship. Especially after dry dock.

 

Glad you had safe travels.

 

Mary n Dave

 

Thanks for coming along for the ride, and your kind words! We hope we do get to see you on the Magic next year!

[Jamman54]

Welcome back and Happy Anniversary to you both! Enjoying this and looking forward to more. :) ... just call me greedy!

 

Glad to have you along, and thanks for the anniversary wishes. Love that Dr. Seuss quote!

 

Again you abd Patti take AWESOME pictures thanks. Gary:D

 

Thanks for reading Gary!

[Jamman54]

Here is a warning for the chair hogs, but I didn’t see it enforced on this cruise…..

 

 

I was getting thirsty from walking around the ship, so I made my way to the Port Side Lido Bar to see Anita, who would keep me well supplied with Coronas for the next hour or so. Here is my view of the Lido area from my seat at the bar…..

 

 

Getting a little hungry, I made my way to the Coconut Grove for an “American” lunch of mashed potatoes, fish, fried chicken, corn bread, & stuffed tomatoes…..

 

 

I went back to the cabin to collect Patti, and together we made our way up to the Casino Royale for the first slot tournament of the cruise. We picked up our BOGO entries at the casino cage, and then we went to try our luck. Patti didn’t have enough points to qualify, but it appears my machine did…..

 

 

As of right now, with almost two hours before the finals, I am the 3rd highest qualifier. We’ll see if it holds up…..

 

 

To kill the time while we waited for the finals, Patti and I both played some blackjack. She wound up breaking even for the session, while I won another $100. I’m doing OK so far. Now let’s check back and see if I did qualify for the slot tournament finals. Looks like I hung on by the skin of my teeth, and was the final qualifier…..

 

 

To be continued…..

[Jamman54]

Here I am in the finals, and sadly I placed 4th out of 6, so all I won was another t-shirt that wasn’t going to fit me, so I’ll give it to Ryan when we get home…….

 

 

 

 

Patti was going to head to the Palace Theater for another round of Bingo, (she didn’t win), and I was going to play blackjack again for a little while. Here, Patti catches me at the blackjack table……

 

 

I won another $50, and feeling a little hungry, I made my way up to the Deli for a grilled ham, cheese, & tomato sandwich to hold me over until dinner. Then I made my way back to the cabin to rest up for tonight’s Elegant Night Dinner.

 

Meanwhile, Patti,also heading back to the cabin, took these shots of guitar player Travis, playing an acoustic set at the Stars Bar on the Promenade by the casino……

 

 

 

To be continued…..

Edited April 10, 2016 by Jamman54

[Sorry Muffin]

I'm enjoying your review. I might be on the Fascination in Nov/Dec 2017., with a POC in Barbados. Since I travel solo, it takes some time to save my pennies, but so far want Fascination is the most reasonable.

I've found out in my research is that Carnival Inside cabin are larger that some of the other. Can you please tell my the square footage of one? Thank you

 

Thank you

Mary Louise

[Jamman54]

I'm enjoying your review. I might be on the Fascination in Nov/Dec 2017., with a POC in Barbados. Since I travel solo, it takes some time to save my pennies, but so far want Fascination is the most reasonable.

I've found out in my research is that Carnival Inside cabin are larger that some of the other. Can you please tell my the square footage of one? Thank you

 

Thank you

Mary Louise

 

Inside cabins on the Fascination are 170 sq. ft.

[sweethart9510]

Following[emoji16]

[jzad]

So glad to see another review Jeff! Happy anniversary and a happy retirement to Patty!

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

[Jamman54]

Following[emoji16]

 

Thanks for coming along for the ride!

 

So glad to see another review Jeff! Happy anniversary and a happy retirement to Patty!

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

 

Glad to have you back! Thanks for the well wishes!

[Jamman54]

Soon it was time to head to dinner. We had the late seating in the Imagination Dining Room. If you remember, we didn’t eat in the dining room yesterday, so we would be seeing our table for the very first time today.

 

I had emailed the Maitre’ d Dario a few weeks prior to the cruise requesting a table for two, and he came through for us. It was a real table for two, in a very good location. Patti and I were pleased. Our wait team was Elmer, Minggus, and Larssen. They did a great job for us the rest of the cruise. Here is our table for two, # 371 …..

 

 

Here are Patti and I at the Elegant Night Dinner…..

 

 

 

We had brought two bottles of wine with us when we boarded, and we brought one of them to dinner tonight. Elmer gladly opened our wine for us, got us glasses, and never charged us a corkage fee.

 

They are still using the old menus on the Fascination, so we were very familiar with them. The only change in the Elegant Night menu is that because this was only a five day cruise, lobster was not being served. You could get it as a Steakhouse Selection on the Everyday Menu for a $20 fee…..

 

 

Here is today’s Elegant Night Menu…..

 

 

Patti and I posed for the photographer at our table…..

 

 

To be continued……

[Jamman54]

Tonight, Patti and I both started our meal with the broiled sea scallops…..

 

 

I also had the baked stuffed mushroom and the spicy alligator fritters…..

 

 

 

Patti also ordered a Caesar salad.....

 

 

Patti and I both had the grilled jumbo shrimp as our main course…..

 

 

This is tonight’s Dessert Menu…..

 

 

To be continued…..