So Fascinating--Southern Caribbean (plus 3 days in PR) with Kids

[perfect match]

Wow! That's a lot of iguanas! Guess they know where their next meal is coming from! :D

[tomsuelaw]

Thank you so much for taking the time and effort to post a pictorial review! Your efforts are so appreciated! Love it!

 

We will be on the Fascination again in March!!I love the Fascination, it is actually one of my favorite ships!

[tatt2ed]

Thank you so much for taking the time and effort to post a pictorial review! Your efforts are so appreciated! Love it!

 

We will be on the Fascination again in March!!I love the Fascination, it is actually one of my favorite ships!

What makes it so special to you ? Ive been on 8 carnival cruises and actually always avoided the older ships. We wanted to go back to PR and piggy back a cruise. We liked this itinerary over others lines. Im just not to sure ive made a good decision

[lolavix]

Perfect Match--No kidding. The kids loved it.

 

Tom Sue Law--You are very welcome. I'm envious!

 

Tatt2ed--I can't say I loved this ship, but again, I've only had one other cruise (on Norwegian). We wanted this itinerary, and for the five of us, Carnival had the best price (which became even better when a random Resident Sale saved me about 25% on the fare). Because we are five, the cost does become an issue that can start adding up with the difference in prices between cruise lines. With that said, we would do this itinerary again on the Fascination. No question.

 

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I'm back and trying to finish this up. I apologize for the sporadic posting. I guess that is the result of returning the day before school started for my kids, and then my own return to work. Thank you for all hanging in there.

 

Here is one I missed from the earlier beach we visited:

This one came home with us. It's on DH's desk.

 

Anyway, we left the iguanas and continued on our way.

 

 

We crossed over to the French side. I think this we had already been on the French side and back to the Dutch side in our tour. It was interesting to me how it was so easy to go back and forth, much like it is crossing state lines here in the US. I think that's why I lost count.

 

There was a specific place I wanted us to visit on the French side:

 

Oh, yum!

[tatt2ed]

Oh believe me do i know how it adds up. Funny how 12 is the "adult price" and with that i now have 4 adults and one child. The ring of the perverbial cash register is no friend of mine. I cringe everytime we go out.

[lolavix]

Tatt2ed--Word! I have a few more years before I have another adult. Right now, we're 3 and 2.

 

____________________________________________________________

 

We hit Sarafina's, and it was so good.

Nah, too healthy.

 

Nah, not sweet enough.

 

Getting closer...

 

We all picked out a treat. Joyce joined us as well.

This was DD's.

 

This was mine. Very good!

 

I think this was DS1's:

[lolavix]

You have a nice view of the road as you sit and enjoy your treat.

 

This was a nice stop, as it doubled as lunch for us for this day.

 

We paid a short visit to the market after lunch.

 

 

 

This market was full of all sorts of trinkets. We looked and were tempted, but didn't buy anything here.

 

Time to move on...

 

and unfortunately, this might be it for me today.

 

We're getting toward the end!

[lolavix]

Next stop...Mullet Bay Beach!

 

 

There is a snack bar, although we still were full from Sarafina's.

 

Looks like your typically beachy restaurant.

 

We had about an hour to spend here, so not tons of time. Since we didn't bring our tent, we got two chairs and an umbrella for $15, mainly to have a place to put our stuff. I think the only time any of us sat on the chairs was to brush the sand off of our feet before putting on our shoes.

 

Anyway, we brought the snorkeling stuff in but given the brief time, only DH really went out to look. He said it was pretty good, but I don't know how many photos he took on his GoPro.

 

I've got regular "playing in the water" photos.

 

We don't usually see dogs in the water with us. DS2 loves dogs.

 

I like this photo. The umbrellas are colorful, and DS2 looks peaceful floating there.

 

Mullet Bay is pretty close to Maho Beach and the airport. There is a plane off in the distance.

[lolavix]

A closer shot.

 

 

 

 

And a larger dog, which DS2 still had to greet.

 

As I said, we didn't have a lot of time. This was a great beach. The water was warm and fun to splash around in. It would have been nice to have a bit more time...oh, well. Next time.

 

 

We were on our way to our last stop. This looks like it would have been a fun place to window shop.

Edited September 29, 2016 by lolavix

[perfect match]

Mullet Bay beach looks nice, and not too rocky. :) I think I'd like to give it a try. Sarafinas looks pretty good, too. :D

[ontheweb]

So, you never actually got to Maho Beach and experienced the planes seemingly right over your head?

 

I competed hard (though in fun) for my ships on a stick; if it was not for the fact that your kids are so cute, I would resent the waiter just giving one of your sons one of those ships.

 

On our last Carnival cruise before this one, there was a team trivia competition of the men versus the women. The men won all 4 and according to the assistant cruise director running the contests that was the first time either gender had won all 4. One of my trophies was for being the captain of the men's team in the first contest. They tried to elect me again, but were told you had to have a different captain each time. On one team answer that the captain had to say, I said the answer. the captain had to repeat it, but said he could not say that, and I had to spell it out for him. (The answer was Simon Bolivar, but I only spelled out the last name.)

 

On our plane ride back, there was a woman and her teenage son direcctly in front of us who had been on our cruise. The youngster said, "Oh, you're the trivia guy".

 

BTW, I now understand why you got an e-mail as to the meet and greet being cancelled. I never registered since I was waiting to see if there would be the required 25, so they never e-mailed me. It does seem from that thread that it is poorly done, often on a later day or at a time like 5:30 which is of course not workable for anyone like your family that signed up for early dining.

[lolavix]

Perfect Match--We did enjoy Mullet Bay and would go back. Although, we'd probably also want to try somewhere else, too. Definitely a yes to get back to Sarafina's.

 

On the web--Patience! I'm not following why you didn't register for the Meet and Greet. If there were others who were waiting, how would Carnival know that there was interest? The other bad option would have been cramming it into the sole sea day.

 

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Last stop...Maho! We couldn't miss this, as DH had been looking forward to it.

 

Joyce dropped us off and told us she'd be back around 2:45. That gave us about 45 minutes to watch.

 

I apologize for the wonky photo. I think there were rocks there? We were walking along quite quickly and I snapped what I could.

 

Here we go!

 

We kept walking until we liked our position.

 

View of the beach.

 

Looks like no one is here in this photo.

 

The restaurant behind us. I had heard this was a great place to sit and watch the planes, and I have to agree that it does look like fun. Maybe another time, when we don't have so much we want to see.

 

The runway, which is across the street from the beach.

[lolavix]

Ready for take off. Note the signage which tells folks "danger" and "do not stand".

 

This is when I wished I had my DSLR. The delay on my water camera is something I don't really adjust to, hence the missing nose of the plane.

 

In between take offs and landings, I got this shot. I want to be back there now!

 

I love the outstretched arms as the plane comes in here.

 

 

DD and me:

[lolavix]

 

We didn't see any 747s, but we did get to see a decent number in the short time we were there.

 

 

Bracing for the take off...and blocking the danger warnings. ;) I had been warned at how strong the blast is, so I stayed on this side of the road.

 

Around 2:45, we started walking back toward the airport to meet Joyce. We noticed Joyce coming down the street and we hopped in and we were headed back to the port.

 

With some refreshments.

 

Right by the airport.

 

Views on the way back.

 

I will mention that the bad traffic that I read about wasn't an issue at all. I have to wonder if it was because it was Saturday and we were the only ship in port.

[lolavix]

 

 

Darn. Almost back.

 

I think it was only about 15-20 minutes to the port. When we got out, Joyce had us try her homemade punch, which was very good. We said our goodbyes and then hit the shops.

 

The kids got a souvenir each:

This is a doll which you can flip and she has another head and dress.

 

DS2 with his monkey and DS1's iguana. We figured the iguana was appropriate for the day.

 

DH and I spied a cart selling mojitos for $4. We figured, why not? We still had about 45 minutes to kill and we were right near the ship.

 

 

So good. We were bummed that we didn't have time for a second round.

 

We boarded the ship for the last time. Twenty-four hours from that moment we'd be back home.

 

But we still had one more night of fun...

[ontheweb]

I did not register for the meet and greet because I was waiting for there to be 25 of us on the roll call. I know they do not set one up with less cruisers signed up.

 

I showed Pat the Maho pictures, and her comment was that we were more directly right under the planes.

 

I think I described our last night previously. It was the night we went dancing and were there at the time the Latin Band's break was about to end. And just before they started again they said they thought they had seen us dance, and I said meringue was our best. They of course played one for us. Before we left I thanked them for how much they had added to the enjoyment of our cruise.

[perfect match]

Your pictures from Maho brought back great memories from our last cruise. Maho was everything I had hoped it would be. We rented 2 chairs and an umbrella at the water's edge, right behind the rocks. We spent several hours enjoying the view, saw planes of every shape and size. Thanks for the memories! :D

Edited September 30, 2016 by perfect match

[lolavix]

On the web--I've seen better photos of the planes, yes. I mentioned that I didn't have my DSLR with me, and we were happy to see the planes we did, given that we arrived at 2 and others had staked their spots long before our arrival.

 

Perfect Match--You are very welcome. I'm glad you've been enjoying the photos.

 

__________________________________________________________

 

We're coming down to the end. Finally!

 

We got back on the ship and headed back to the cabins. I don't think we did the pool, because we wanted to get some of our packing done so we could enjoy the night. DH and I got our showers and poured some wine. I think wine makes packing easier. :p

 

At 6, we went to the MDR for our last dinner.

 

Some portobello mushrooms for me, frog legs for DH and DD1, and I don't remember what the others had. Dinner was bacon mac and cheese for me.

 

 

Gran Marnier Souffle, please!

 

And of course, on this night, Andrias had one last magic trick for DS2.

 

DS2 was enthralled again.

 

And then it was time for the entertainment. I knew what was coming..."Leaving on a Fun Ship". What I didn't realize was that DS1 and DS2 would get up and join in.

 

[lolavix]

 

I know the above photo is blurry, but it amuses me that the boys are up there as adopted Carnival employees.

 

I love this photo. It's amazing to me how quickly you can grow attached to people. We loved the waitstaff who served us. I felt bad saying goodbye. They were terrific.

 

After dinner, DD went off to her club for the last time. She was looking forward to getting her souvenir T-shirt which all the kids would sign. I went to get a copy of our charges.

 

An aerial view of the line at Guest Services around 7:45 or so. I haven't mentioned this, but I waited in that line almost every night. We had brought travelers' checks, because all of the private tours we did wanted cash and I didn't feel comfortable carrying so much cash for the first three day of our trip. So each night, I'd cash what we needed the next day. The lines were never that long on regular nights.

 

I was entertained while I waited my turn at the kiosk.

 

DH and the boys met up with me. I'm including this shot of DS1 for the elevator as well.

[TravelingAPor]

I did not register for the meet and greet because I was waiting for there to be 25 of us on the roll call. I know they do not set one up with less cruisers signed up.

Here is the BIG problem. On my cruise we were unable to even get 10 people to join the Roll Call. Everyone is waiting for it to hit 25 but no one is joining, therefor Carnival won't make a Meet & Greet for 10 people..

Fascination only has about 2000 passengers and every other sailing doesn't have enough joiners to have a Meet & Greet. I was very disappointed that I never got to meet Mitsugirly on my cruise. We were on the Roll Call but had no joiners. :(

[lolavix]

DH decided that he didn't want to see the magician, so I took the boys.

 

Felipe introducing RJ Cantu, the evening's entertainment.

 

And here he is:

 

The show was OK. There was a lot of lights and flashing.

 

 

His fiance was his assistant, and the last trick involved her floating.

 

RJ is in the lower left corner.

 

At the end, they posed for photos with anyone who wanted a photo. The boys did, so I obliged.

 

I brought the boys to the kids' club for a bit, and then I went to see Thea Vidale in Punchliner's.

 

I saw all four comedians that had shows. It was a nice way to spend 30 minutes, and for me, very convenient as the boys were in a conference room near to the club.

 

I picked them up at 9:45 and brought them back to the cabin. They got ready for bed.

 

I wasn't ready to sleep myself, so I went up to Pixels, and spent about an hour going through all the stacks of photos in an attempt to see if I wanted to buy any. I think I found the bulk of them, although there were at least a few which I had seen at various times throughout the week but could not locate. I settled on the three that I have already shared (embarkation, the one of DH with the pirate at dinner, and the one of DS1 with the bird in Barbados). I was disappointed that we couldn't buy a package like we did on NCL, but at least I had a few of things that I knew I hadn't gotten photos of myself.

 

By then it was around 11:30, and time to go to bed.

 

The end was fast approaching.

[TravelingAPor]

I know you worked hard on the photos & review. What a fantastic job! Thank you for helping me relive my cruise. You have a lovely family. Thank you again! :)

[lolavix]

We awoke around 6 AM, because we were doing self-debarkation. I had read lots of information about the SJU airport, ranging from "no problem" to "long lines". When I booked our return tickets, I didn't have many choices. We needed to get home on Sunday, if at all possible, because the kids were starting school on Monday. My flight choices were either times that we were still on the ship (5 AM?? :eek:), flights which would have returned us to our home airport at 10 PM (and then we'd still need to get home) or the one I selected, at 11:45 AM. I figured, it was close enough to the earliest recommended time by Carnival (noon). At one point, Jet Blue bumped the time up to 11:40, but they left it there so I figured, we'd be good.

 

We went to the Lido one last time to have breakfast and then went back to the cabin to retrieve our bags. We went down to the fourth floor, as that was the furthest they were letting us go on the elevators, and we waited with the growing crowd of other self-debarkers.

 

We didn't have to wait all that long. I don't have any photos, but I would say we were through the customs line by 8. We had no trouble getting a cab, and we were quickly on our way to the airport. :(

 

When we arrived, we checked in and got our boarding passes. Then we went to the agricultural inspection, where there was no line. I would say it was probably 8:30 or 8:45 by now. Still plenty of time. With our agricultural approval tags, we went through regular security and set off to the gate. I would say we were at the gate no later than 9 AM.

 

I felt good. I'd rather be waiting at the gate (or the food court, where we had more room to spread out) than waiting in lines getting nervous. We killed some time playing with some of the games DH had won at the Hasbro Game Show and also checked email.

 

Around 11, we got in line to get on the plane. No issues here.

 

We took off pretty much on time.

 

The only photo I have from this day is this:

DD's stuffed friend saying goodbye to Puerto Rico.

 

We arrived about 30 minutes early. My dad came to the airport to get us, and we were home by about 5 PM.

_______________________________________________________

 

This was a fabulous vacation. We had a very quick re-entry into regular life, but so be it.

 

For a few days, I thought about our going back to see additional islands next year. However, right after we decided on this trip in January, I started researching Alaska, because I'm having a milestone birthday next year and that is what I want to do for that birthday year (and DH agrees). I mentioned here that we booked plane tickets about 2 weeks after we returned, and since our dates were now solidified, I've been busy booking lodging, rental car and excursions that book up quickly. (Yes, September is not too soon to do this, as you can sometimes get early bird/this year's rates if you commit right now).

 

So, maybe I'll be back here on CC with a review of our land-based Alaska trip next summer. :)

 

For sure, though, whenever we do our next cruise, I'll be back to do another review.

 

Thank you for reading along. If you have any questions, please ask!

[perfect match]

Thanks, Lolavix, for a great review! I have enjoyed following along with you and your family. Hope you enjoy your milestone birthday in Alaska next year! :D

[ontheweb]

This was our 3rd Carnival cruise, and on the first two disembarkation was an awful mess. They called decks, starting at the top. But, on our first carnival cruise, we realized they never got past that top deck, and everyone was just leaving. It was a true mess, and the next one was not much better.

 

We also did self embarkation. We were on the elevator not realizing they had blocked it from going as far down as floor 3, so we all of a sudden were going back up. We figured it out and used the stairs.

 

I think I posted earlier about checking our bags at the Sheraton, and seeing that same fort as you did pre-cruise.

 

The airport was the easiest security I can remember. We went through a TSA precheck, and did not have to take off our shoes, belts, etc. I thought this was good, but it gave us too much time to kill in the airport. DW HATES waiting around in airports! We did say hello to one couple we had met on our Harrison Caves tour and who were later on our St. Martin/St. Maarten tour.

 

A few things about the ship in general. The crew was extremely friendly; none of them ever passed you without greeting you. DW said she missed the big screen with movies at night and one of the network shows on in the morning. I pointed out that if we had gone to a movie, we would have danced less. We didn't really miss the alternate dining choices, though we both very much liked the no extra charge fish and chips on our last Carnival cruise. You did not have to go way early to shows to get seats (like on Princess). Another good thing about this ship was there was an abundance of lounge chairs in the pool area. Even though it was a cruise in a very warm area, there was never a problem getting one of those lounges. We have been on ships where this has been a problem, and that often leads to "chair hog" who just put their towels down and disappear for hours.

 

And lastly, Lolavix, thank you for starting this thread (and our roll call).

Edited October 2, 2016 by ontheweb