Considering Southern Caribbean cruise from San Juan on the Carnival Fascination

[Tapi]

I like the Southern routes too, but I leave out of Port Canaveral. Only 1.5 drive and no flying hassle and transfer problems. A little longer cruise and a tad higher in price, but again no hassle with airport or transfer issues.

 

 

Unless it's an extended length itinerary, the Caribbean itineraries out of Florida leave a lot to be desired. Yes, you visit some of the islands in the Northern portion of the Lesser Antilles, like St. Thomas, St. Maarten, and sometimes Antigua or St. Kitts, but you don't get to visit the islands in the Southern portion of the Lesser Antilles like Barbados, Grenada, St. Lucia, and Dominica which are the true gems of the Southern Caribbean itinerary.

 

This itinerary is one where the reward of truly magnificent ports of call is worth the inconvenience of getting on an airplane.

Edited April 13, 2016 by Tapi

[luv2cruiseeverywhere]

We sailed on the Liberty out of San Juan last June and the ports are great. You can not go wrong with these ports. I look at the ports we will be visiting, don't really at the ship. As other posters have mentioned, go in early in the day or the day before. PR is so pretty. All of the islands are great.

[Bringonthesun01]

We are doing this cruise in June, I'm excited for the ports but not crazy about an aging ship. We just sailed the Disney Dream in March and it was wonderful :)

 

We have plans for St Lucia but would appreciate feedback on private or ship sponsored excursions for the other ports.

 

We are doing this cruise for a second time in November, our first was on the Valor in 2014. I agree with you, when it comes to these ports, you have to look past the ship. In Barbados there is an AMAZING catamaran cruise by Elegance Catamaran. They have a large boat, but only allow 14 people on board. Everything is included (home cooked meal) and all the booze you can drink. The staff and Sarah are amazing!! I would highly recommend Elegance.

[ontheweb]

I'm the OP, and we have just booked this cruise.

 

Thanks to everyone for their feedback.

[ontheweb]

Just for giggles, I priced the Fascination and the Celebrity Summit for San Juan departures in early December.

 

Celebrity was $20 higher for an inside, which is what I book when I sail solo.

 

That's a no brainer, Celebrity by a landslide.

 

You are truly comparing apples to oranges.

 

We are not sailing in December. "For giggles" I checked out the summit when we are sailing. It sails from NYC to Bermuda.

 

But even if your $20 difference was correct, watch me change it into over $200! First we own Carnival stock, so that qualifies for $100 in OBC. My credit card has an offer of a $75 credit on the card for spending at least $250 (which was our deposit) on Carnival. And last there is OBC from our TA and Carnival. The OBC from the TA would probably be about the same for the approximate same spending, but the Carnival portion of the OBC is I believe $50. So we have 20 + 100 +75 + 50. That is $245, considerably more than $20!

[pr1vatepiles]

Currently looking at several different cruises for my honeymoon next year. My partner has found one on Carnival Fascination stop at:

 

Cruise Itinerary

 

Day 1 Barbados

Day 2 St. Lucia

Day 3 St Kitts

Day 4 St. Maarten

Day 5 San Juan

Day 6 St. Thomas

Day 7 Fun Day At Sea

Day 8 Barbados

 

Is this the area everyone is referring to as South Caribbean? New to this part of the world and want to make sure I'm following the thread correctly.

[ontheweb]

Currently looking at several different cruises for my honeymoon next year. My partner has found one on Carnival Fascination stop at:

 

Cruise Itinerary

 

Day 1 Barbados

Day 2 St. Lucia

Day 3 St Kitts

Day 4 St. Maarten

Day 5 San Juan

Day 6 St. Thomas

Day 7 Fun Day At Sea

Day 8 Barbados

 

Is this the area everyone is referring to as South Caribbean? New to this part of the world and want to make sure I'm following the thread correctly.

 

Yes, that is the Southern Caribbean.

[pr1vatepiles]

Yes, that is the Southern Caribbean.

Thank you. From what I read the fascination is a dated ship and certainly not got all the bangs and whistles you see and read on newer ships. But with an intinary like that, surely the ship is perfect? A new port every day more than makes up for not having a rock climbing wall or that surf thing royal has.

 

Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk

[evandbob]

You are truly comparing apples to oranges.

 

We are not sailing in December. "For giggles" I checked out the summit when we are sailing. It sails from NYC to Bermuda.

 

But even if your $20 difference was correct, watch me change it into over $200! First we own Carnival stock, so that qualifies for $100 in OBC. My credit card has an offer of a $75 credit on the card for spending at least $250 (which was our deposit) on Carnival. And last there is OBC from our TA and Carnival. The OBC from the TA would probably be about the same for the approximate same spending, but the Carnival portion of the OBC is I believe $50. So we have 20 + 100 +75 + 50. That is $245, considerably more than $20!

 

Had you mentioned all these qualifiers in your original post? If they are so important in making your decision, them omitting these facts in your OP was an injustice to all who replied.

 

I mentioned early December because that is when I sailed Celebrity solo and know the pricing. Even so I went to the bother of checking this years' fares, and the fares I quoted for my situation are darn accurate.

 

Enjoy your cruise.

Edited April 15, 2016 by evandbob

[ontheweb]

Had you mentioned all these qualifiers in your original post? If they are so important in making your decision, them omitting these facts in your OP was an injustice to all who replied.

 

I mentioned early December because that is when I sailed Celebrity solo and know the pricing. Even so I went to the bother of checking this years' fares, and the fares I quoted for my situation are darn accurate.

 

Enjoy your cruise.

 

I was not questioning the accuracy of your figures, only the relevance. You were the one who picked December, not knowing when we were cruising.

 

Thanks for the good wishes.

[Tapi]

But even if your $20 difference was correct, watch me change it into over $200! First we own Carnival stock, so that qualifies for $100 in OBC. My credit card has an offer of a $75 credit on the card for spending at least $250 (which was our deposit) on Carnival. And last there is OBC from our TA and Carnival. The OBC from the TA would probably be about the same for the approximate same spending, but the Carnival portion of the OBC is I believe $50. So we have 20 + 100 +75 + 50. That is $245, considerably more than $20!

 

 

It's an awesome feeling to maximize the discounts that one can possibly get when booking a cruise. Finding and applying these discounts is part of the fun! Good job with yours! [emoji106]🏼

 

Keep in mind though that Carnival is not the only one offering credit card offers as well as some incentives. Several cruise lines, including NCL and Celebrity are offering very generous perks including free drink packages, alternative dining packages, gratuities, etc which can easily add up to anywhere from a couple hundred dollars to over a thousand dollars. On some categories, you're allowed to take advantage of multiple promotions at the same time. In addition, several TA's still offer free prepaid gratuities, and contrary to Carnival which limits the amount of OBC that a TA can offer, many cruise lines do not impose these restrictions which translates into even more generous OBC.

 

All in all, it pays to shop around and do some research. And even if you've made the decision to book this cruise, keep shopping around. You never know what promotions will pop up later that may make another cruise more attractive. We were booked to sail on Carnival this summer for what I thought was an amazing price, but I kept comparison shopping. I ended canceling our cruise when I found an even better deal on a different cruise line. We went from a porthole stateroom for 5 nights on Carnival to a balcony stateroom for 7 nights somewhere else. Now that was something to get excited about! [emoji3]

Edited April 15, 2016 by Tapi

[OntarioTraveller]

We have done this itinery 3 times on the Valor and Liberty (loved Guys burgers btw). We love port days over sea days so worked for us. Loved the beaches....

We wanted to book this itinery again for next February and decided to book the RC Jewel of the Seas for not much more money than the Fascination. We have been loyal to Carnival but didn't want to settle for a yet older ship to save a very few bucks.

I would recommend looking around at RC or Celebrity cruise going out of San Juan. You pay a lot for airfare to get to San Juan, consider paying a little bit more to up the experience.

Just my 2 cents!

[ontheweb]

It's an awesome feeling to maximize the discounts that one can possibly get when booking a cruise. Finding and applying these discounts is part of the fun! Good job with yours! [emoji106]

 

Keep in mind though that Carnival is not the only one offering credit card offers as well as some incentives. Several cruise lines, including NCL and Celebrity are offering very generous perks including free drink packages, alternative dining packages, gratuities, etc which can easily add up to anywhere from a couple hundred dollars to over a thousand dollars. On some categories, you're allowed to take advantage of multiple promotions at the same time. In addition, several TA's still offer free prepaid gratuities, and contrary to Carnival which limits the amount of OBC that a TA can offer, many cruise lines do not impose these restrictions which translates into even more generous OBC.

 

All in all, it pays to shop around and do some research. And even if you've made the decision to book this cruise, keep shopping around. You never know what promotions will pop up later that may make another cruise more attractive. We were booked to sail on Carnival this summer for what I thought was an amazing price, but I kept comparison shopping. I ended canceling our cruise when I found an even better deal on a different cruise line. We went from a porthole stateroom for 5 nights on Carnival to a balcony stateroom for 7 nights somewhere else. Now that was something to get excited about! [emoji3]

 

This was a cruise was were seriously considering, and then the discounts put time pressure on us to make a decision whether to cruise or not this year. (We had earlier taken a land vacation to Iceland and were considering whether to call it our travel for the year.) The Carnival offer ended at the end of this month. And the offer from our credit card actually ends today!

 

As for flights, if we use the same major airline we used last summer, we each have a use it by 8/30 or lose it credit because the entertainment system went down about 2 hours into our flight from Amsterdam to NY last summer.

[angiebachner]

Long story short. We had a cruise booked for my husband and I to celebrate out 15th anniversary in December 2015. Earlier in the year my dad was diagnosed with brain cancer and given 6 weeks to live. Fast forward 9 months and he was still with us although under hospice care and had been unable to get out of bed since August. Two days before our sailing we decided to cancel because hospice said it "could be any day." We did not have travel protection and at that time money was the least of my concerns. It just wasn't important. I was overwhelmed with emotion two days later when I got an email from Carnival saying that they were very sorry to hear of my dads medical situation and they were willing to take all the money we had paid and reserve it for a future cruise that we could book after we got through this rough time. At the time they had no idea how rough it was about to get. My mother-in-law who was in great health unexpectedly passed away on Christmas Eve and we laid her to rest on New Years Eve. My aunt passed away 2 weeks later, and my dad lost his long battle with brain cancer in March.

 

I just wanted to share a feel good story about Carnival because the treatment we have received with this situation alone has been above and beyond that it doesn't matter how old or new a ship is. I am confident in their service and attention to their guest and can't wait to set sail even if I have to wait till March 2017 for Spring Break!

 

We are looking at this Southern Caribbean out of San Juan because it is full of so many new places for us to explore and this time the kiddos are coming with us because after loosing two grandparents in such a short amount of time they deserve some pampering and love too. Now....2 OV side by side, balcony, balcony wiht interior across the hall, or go for the grand suite... oh and what island should we renew our vows on?