On board the carnival funship fascination is like living with “aladdin’s lamp”

[idil]

First time on a cruise which has been postponed for many years, for many reasons. Then the “oh, never on Carnival” comments we heard/read from many, put a stop to our wishes to experience a cruise to the destinations we would love to go to.

 

If you’re impatient, or bored of reading long reports you can move to the next one, because this is long!!!

 

Although we are beach people, we do many of the “cultural” and exhausting sightseeing vacations too, or sometimes the two together. But, a cruise! Ten years ago it was a straight “no”, then it was a “maybe”, for the last 3-4 years “yes, but can we really do it”?…

 

Let me tell you: it’s a fact that we’re all getting old, and we all want our peace and quiet when vacationing, but, as much as I am not sociable, no more parties etc in my life, I thought I’d rather be on a party cruise than on a cruise where there is only elegant and quiet dining with high profile businessmen & women! And, this is what we heard about Carnival, only the partiers go on this one!!

 

Finally with my vacation period from work settled (Henry works for himself, so no concerns with his schedule), we only had one option for the destinations we wanted to visit, and that was on Carnival Fascination. Reading cruisecritic.com and many other websites, I was expecting a little boat, with lots of noise, a small room, terrible food, terrible staff, terrible service, and only drunk customers around…

 

Well …

 

It was about 3 weeks before the departure date, and I was able to get my work schedule, and plan/book the trip.

 

Arranging and organizing everything around it, we arrived at our lovely hotel in Barbados about 5 days in advance … Yes you can call it a “Vacation before vacation”.

 

This was not our first time visit to our little heaven Coconut Court Beach Hotel, and returning somewhere we knew, felt awesome (check my report about this place from several years ago on tripadvisor.com, but now it is even better than the last time).

 

Having this card waiting for us in our room upon check-in was another reason to come back to home away from home!

 

 

But the real worry on our minds was if in 7 days, were we going to find ourselves getting bored on the cruise, or really enjoying it!…

 

We were at the Barbados port right at 11am on the embarkation day, with some other passengers who were staying at Coconut Court as well.

 

The first observation: the employees at the port, who were lovely, fun & helpful, directed us to a shuttle bus between the port and the ship.

 

When we stepped on the ship we were in awe! My first reaction getting out of the elevator was “OMG… This is like visiting a classic Las Vegas hotel”. … So, it was a love at first sight for me! Yup, I love classic Vegas …new too…but, you know what I mean. That feel of a well established business is always cool ☺

 

Then we waited for our official check in, when we got our keys in our hands with tons of info, we got kind of nervous… Are we now really trapped in here? By the way, there were many employees everywhere wearing a red t-shirt, with large text on them “JUST ASK”. This was a really nice arrangement and comforting welcome.

 

While heading towards our room, we bumped into many other employees on duty, and all were smiling, working and welcoming us. And the second we opened our room door… Haaaaaa… Shock, a pleasant shock. The size of the room, the balcony, the view from our balcony, and the way our room was prepared.

 

Let me provide this info before we go on: if one finds these rooms small, and complains about them, one should never travel to Japan (my favorite, my #1 destination). The room & bathroom size together is 3 times bigger than any room in Shinjuku (except Hilton & Westin etc with CAD350+ price tags per night) ...............

 

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Although I submitted my review, it has not been published ... so I thought I'd post it as a forum thread to be helpful to some of you... It's a long one so you can read the whole thing, look at the pics and watch the videos here:

 

 

https://imaginairie.wordpress.com/2016/06/30/on-board-the-carnival-funship-fascination-is-like-living-with-aladdins-lamp/

[LMaxwell]

Nice website and enjoyed the photos/highlights

[meatloafsfan]

Great start to the review! I also love classic Vegas - all those lights and neon and glitz and glamour! I guess that's why I find many of the other lines kind of boring in design (Other People: "oh, look at that classic cruiseliner design! Isn't it wonderful and classy?" Me: "Boring. Where's the glitz? Where's the fun?")

 

Can't wait to read the rest! :D Off to do some reading on your wordpress site!

Edited July 5, 2016 by meatloafsfan

[pusywillow]

I enjoyed reading your well written review.

[crusinpsychRN]

First time I ever heard of sailing from Barbados. Every ship I've been on all had porcelain cups for coffee on Lido.

 

Your website is very professional.

[idil]

Thank you all for taking the time to read my really long report on wordpress (that I use only once or twice a year) :)

 

I wish many years ago I opened up a website to put my travel notes in (some are on tripadvisor but not all)... but at least with a wordpress page I can put my memories in.

 

Thank you all again ... and please you all keep writing too, I read them, I learn from them. I probably was more prepared for this cruise than any other adventures I planned in the past.

 

@meatloafsfan - glad to to hear I'm not alone about my Las Vegas comment :D

 

@crusinpsychRN - I guess you were very lucky and/or on a different ship to have the porcelain coffee cups at the buffet ;) Although, that was not a deal-breaker for me, I kind of envy you :)

 

There are departures from Barbados, and they've been available for a while as we've been looking into it for several years now. And, from Canada it's easier to go to Barbados than San Juan. There are direct flights out of Toronto, but for San Juan, we have to travel to the States, and then connect (adds extra $$$).

[CraftyJGinSC]

great, thorough review! glad you had a great time!

[sparks1093]

Loved the review! Thanks so much!

[CARNIVALCRUISE3]

Great review! So glad that you had a great time!

[pcvtmom]

Outstanding review! You thoroughly described all the reasons I love cruising! Welcome to the cruise addiction.

[idil]

Thank you for taking the time to read my review... We really can't wait for the next one

[Gypsywych]

We love the Fascination (we've sailed on her three times already) and I've been hedging on whether it was worth it to sail the Southern route on her.

 

Thanks so much for the great review. I really enjoyed it.

[pureromancegirl]

Wonderful review!

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[idil]

We love the Fascination (we've sailed on her three times already) and I've been hedging on whether it was worth it to sail the Southern route on her.

 

Thanks so much for the great review. I really enjoyed it.

 

 

Thank you for reading my review ... I'm not a pro on cruising, but we were really happy with the Southern Caribbean destinations .. So, at the end of this trip we were just feeling like we had been to the moon :) LOL ...

[ByuBayBee]

great review! thank You! going on this cruise in April 2017, have so many questions. you have answered alot for me already.

[SMSACE6]

Thank you for this wonderful review! I have been yearning to do this one for a few years now, and forgot that I could board in Barbados (been there about 20 times on land vacation) I like San Juan too, but is definitely cheaper for me to fly to Barbados than San Juan. I could tack on a few days before or after the cruise too, to visit one of my favorite islands again.

 

I also love the colors of Carnival's older ships. I loved them all, but especially Liberty, and Victory, and have the Pinkness of Splendor to look forward to this year!

 

This is one spectacular itinerary, thanks again.:)

[idil]

great review! thank You! going on this cruise in April 2017, have so many questions. you have answered alot for me already.

 

Glad you enjoyed it :) And, I think you will love the cruise ... the destinations are amazing (the food on board too ;) )