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Fascination Quick Review March 12-19

csj092809

By csj092809,
in Carnival Cruise Lines

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csj092809

csj092809

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Took a 7 year old and a 14 year old on a last minute cruise on the Fascination out of Puerto Rico.

 

Cabin: R110, inside mid ship (deck 4). I was not looking forward to the fold down bed, but teen said it was super comfortable and she slept great all week. The cabins are small and dated, but seriously..you do not spend much time in them anyway. My only complaint is how COLD the cabins are! Froze all week. The whole ship is actual pretty darn cold.

 

Food: We ate most nights in the Sensation (your time dining) and had "Mama" Maria as our head waitress. I highly recommend requesting her the first night and sticking with her all week. She was amazing. We never had issues with food. After the first night, she knew us by name and what we liked to eat. She was always encouraging us to order more food, lol. I had the wine package and they kept the bottles in the dining room for me so that I could have some with dinner. You can take the bottles out of the dining room if you like, I just preferred to have them stored in the cooler there. The food was okay overall. We spent a lot of time at Pizza Pirate ( the Quatro Formaggio is awesome!) and the deli. The deli cuts the meat fresh (except the ham..would steer clear of it, looked gross) and we had a lot of turkey sandwiches. The sea day brunch was really good, as well. Again, ask for Maria..you will be happy you did!

 

Entertainment: Jay Jay was a highlight of this trip for us. We are trivia people and had a blast every time he hosted it. He is one of a kind and we just loved him. I did not see Felipe (cruise director) much and he did not overkill on announcements. The Hasbro game shows were so much fun for kids and adults. I did not go tot Divas, but was told it was so-so. Apparently the Motown show and the juggler show in Palace were the must sees. Again, I missed them, but heard great things about them. Bingo was fun ( a little pricey for me) and I lost money in the casino. All in all, very entertained all week.

 

Teen Club (12-14)- Could not keep my teen away. Just a note, there is a "counselor" in the teen club for this age BUT the teens are not required to stay in the club. They come and go as they please. Not a big deal, but with bad wifi and no HUB app on the ship it makes it really hard to keep up with the kids. Several times I saw security out looking for kids that had not checked in with parents. I eventually had to stop letting mine go because I could never find her when I needed her. She made tons of friends and had a blast.

 

Ship: Yes, it is an older ship. Honestly I liked this cruise better than when I sailed the same itinerary on the Liberty a couple years ago. I have read that the lights in the atrium were not working. They must have fixed them, because they were on the whole cruise. I loved the layout. I never felt crowded, even on sea day. We had a lot of Canadians on this cruise. It was a blast. Cruising with Canadians is so laid back. No pushing or breaking in food lines. They just seemed so relaxed and ready to have a good time no matter what. Something I did not realize about the Fascination is that there is an entire smoking section outside by the pool. Normally they only allow smoking in casinos and on certain decks, but on this ship they had a covered bar area by the pool that people sat and smoked at.

 

I won't go through all the ports. I can recommend the Splash park in St Lucia. The kids had a blast! I would not pay for more than an hour, though. It really tires them out. Also, in St Martin I recommend a taxi to Marigot and eating pastries at Sarafina's bakery. I could have sat there all day eating eclairs and croissants and drinking wine. My favorite off ship "excursion". Maho was a circus, but the kids got their obligatory plane pictures, so all is good in the world.

 

Overall: Great ship, wonderful staff, decent food, stiff drinks, amazing itinerary.

 

**side note** we had Faster to the Fun and really did not even need it. Lines at guest services were never long and the staggered check in times make it super fast and easy to get on and off ship. We were off ship by 7 :10 a.m. I would only recommend FTTF if you have an early flight out on debarkation day.

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JohnSpo

JohnSpo

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Glad to hear you had a great cruise on Fascination. I will be on this ship in April of next year. I look forward to all of the ports, especially St Martin. I also will have Your Time Dining. I will have to make a note to ask for Mama. Thanks for posting your review. :)

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ontheweb

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I laughed at the Jay Jay trivia mention. On one of our trivia contests, he changed the last question to how old was he. I later mentioned that to one of the other trivia hosts (Ryan?) who was on his first cruise, and his reply was that was not on the computer.

 

One time when we were walking off the ship at one of the ports and Jay Jay was standing there, I said to my DW, I bet I can guess this guy's age. And Jay Jay responded with that great belly laugh of his.

 

Thanks for the memories. And yes it is an older ship, but a wonderful cruise experience.

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hishorselover

hishorselover

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Thank you for your review! We are going in 6 weeks and I cannot wait!! I chose this cruise for the itinerary after sailing it with my sister on Valor 3 years ago. I was a little concerned about the smaller ship but feel it's a non issue after reading some great reviews. Plus, it's my husband and son's first cruise so they won't know the difference. I am super excited. It took me 3 long years to convince my husband to go. I booked in early October and it feels like it can't get here fast enough!

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csj092809

csj092809

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Were the lights in the Atrium rainbow colored? Just curious. The problem lately isn't so much as they don't work at all, just that they haven't been working properly.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

They were on, but do not remember if they were rainbow or not :( Darn, should have taken a picture...

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csj092809

csj092809

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I laughed at the Jay Jay trivia mention. On one of our trivia contests, he changed the last question to how old was he. I later mentioned that to one of the other trivia hosts (Ryan?) who was on his first cruise, and his reply was that was not on the computer.

 

One time when we were walking off the ship at one of the ports and Jay Jay was standing there, I said to my DW, I bet I can guess this guy's age. And Jay Jay responded with that great belly laugh of his.

 

Thanks for the memories. And yes it is an older ship, but a wonderful cruise experience.

He had the age question for us once, as well. We asked if we could have an extra point for each year younger we put down, lol. He was a big part of the fun on our cruise.

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amydresh

amydresh

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How bad was the smoking by the pool? I am very, very sensitive to cigarette smoke and I have been worried about how bad it is when I saw that the whole area by the pool is smoking. I hate that I may have to avoid that area altogether on our cruise. According to pics I have seen it seems to be right by some food places, is that correct? Thanks for the review, I can't wait for our 20th anniversary cruise on Fascination next year!

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csj092809

csj092809

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How bad was the smoking by the pool? I am very, very sensitive to cigarette smoke and I have been worried about how bad it is when I saw that the whole area by the pool is smoking. I hate that I may have to avoid that area altogether on our cruise. According to pics I have seen it seems to be right by some food places, is that correct? Thanks for the review, I can't wait for our 20th anniversary cruise on Fascination next year!

It is not by food areas, those are away a bit. It really wasnt that bad. Nothing like the smoke from casino. It is by one of the pool bars.

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Neotericisis

Neotericisis

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Glad you guys had fun! My DH and I were on this ship in Dec, the itinerary is amazing! Jay Jay from Peru- loved him! And the other guy who did trivia and had a little dance (forgot his name). I got picked to be the "diva" of the night at the Diva show so it was quite memorable for me. I'm looking forward to our first cruise with the kids this August. Thanks for sharing!

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