Fascination - Tell Me All About Her!

[CruzerDeb]

Sailing on the Fascination next April.  What do I need to know?

[Crusin Hogs]

Small and old  

[Garth2]

Carnival's website will show you the deck plans, the dining options, the entertainment, etc.

[CruzerDeb]

10 minutes ago, Garth2 said:

Carnival's website will show you the deck plans, the dining options, the entertainment, etc.

Yes, I know that.  I'm looking for firsthand experience, opinions, secrets and the like.

[May1cruiser]

Just back from her this January. Enjoyed everything about her.

P.R. is the easiest Debark/Embark ever.

 

Ship was clean, staff was great. 

 

I am an optimist. We enjoyed the ship perhaps more than Vista, bigger not always better. 

They were updating during the cruise such as new fabric on the theatre seats. 

 

 

[soonernstlouis]

You need to know you are getting 5 ports on a 7 day cruise and are probably paying less than

anything you could similarly book (eg RCCL Freedom of the Seas).

 

If you live for sea days or want to splurge more

on cabin level than excursions, look elsewhere.

Edited April 4, 2019 by soonernstlouis

[LittleYiaYia]

We have sailed this ship with this itinerary twice and will sail her again next February.  We have sailed Celebrity (13) Holland (5) and now Carnival (3).  We have sailed maiden voyages and older ships.  All of our cruises have been great, Fascination and these ports just happen to be our favorite.  Just like Sooner said, if you check the price for the Celebrity Summit for the same southern Caribbean cruise for the same dates, the price is $1000.00 more per cabin.  This does not include any perks.  Is it worth it?  NIMO. 

 

One of the best things about this ship is no lines.  We never waited for anything .  There were many times some of us would look at each other and ask, where are all the people?   Boarding is quick and easy, be prepared for a long walk, the terminal in OSJ is huge.  If you want to bring on wine, do so at first embarkation and then get off again and bring more on.  You can get off and on as much as you want. 

The ship was clean and you could see evidence of the dry-dock done in 2018.  Our cabin had new bedding and carpet.  There was wear and tear on the furniture.  Storage is more than adequate.  We have had two handicapped cabins and the bathrooms were clean and well maintained.  Ask for an ice bucket, there is no mini-fridge.  We had an ocean view and our window was washed once each cruise.  Everything seemed to be in working order on the ship, the public restrooms had been up-dated in 2018.

 

We had anytime dining and met our friends fairly early around 6:PM and never had a wait to enter.   We were in and out in about 1 hour.  A great place for a pre dinner drink is the atrium bar. We don't do buffets, so I can't address the lines or lack of at breakfast or lunch.  We ate in the MDR for breakfast each morning.

 

No lines for the shows or comedy club.  We typically got there about 5 to 10 minutes before show time and never had a problem getting good seats.  The casino can get crowded.  This was a premier cruise and there were a lot of serious gamblers.  I didn't think the casino was too smoky.  Honestly, this itinerary really wears you out.  You are gone all day, everyday, and you only have the one sea day.  We found seats on lido at noon on the sea day.  Where are all the people?  Not many kids, school was still in session.

 

The best thing about the Fascination is her crew.  Out of all of our cruises, we think they are the best. Never saw a frown, always smiling and eager to help. 

 

Enjoy your cruise!!!!

 

 

 

 

 

[Vacationlover2]

Two questions.  We are going on the April 21 cruise.

 

1.  My embarkation time is 1:30.  If I show up early, do you think I can get on earlier or should I just wait to show up at 1:30.

 

2.  We have 9 people in our party.  If we switch to anytime dining, do you think we will have difficulty getting a table?

[purplephenom]

43 minutes ago, Vacationlover2 said:

Two questions.  We are going on the April 21 cruise.

 

1.  My embarkation time is 1:30.  If I show up early, do you think I can get on earlier or should I just wait to show up at 1:30.

 

2.  We have 9 people in our party.  If we switch to anytime dining, do you think we will have difficulty getting a table?

 

 

Yes you can likely get on early.  We figured we would drop off our check in bags and wander around Puerto Rico- because we had to check out of the hotel by 11 and didn't have a check in time until 1:30.  We got to the port, and saw a line forming.  We showed our passes with our time and were told to get in line.  They came by and pulled our priority people, and then the main line just started moving- our check in time was never checked.  We absolutely weren't trying to hide our check in time; I made it pretty obvious because I was conflicted between walking around and boarding early. We figured we would just go with the flow and see what happened.  We were on the ship and done with lunch with time to spare before cabins opened at 1:30.  

[LittleYiaYia]

49 minutes ago, Vacationlover2 said:

Two questions.  We are going on the April 21 cruise.

 

1.  My embarkation time is 1:30.  If I show up early, do you think I can get on earlier or should I just wait to show up at 1:30.

 

2.  We have 9 people in our party.  If we switch to anytime dining, do you think we will have difficulty getting a table?

 

We usually go around noon.  We have Priority so we have not had to wait.  The regular boarding lines never looked too long at noon.  I would think they would let you on early.  I can not speak to an 11AM arrival.  I have been down at the pier around 10-10:30 and it has been a cluster with people trying to get off and get taxis and people arriving.  I would at least wait till 11 if you can.

 

I know they have large tables in anytime dining.  I would speak to the Maître D after boarding and ask about your chances of them holding a table open for a party of 9.  We had a table for 4 and we asked for the same wait staff and table every night and they kept it open for us.  The dining room was never full. 

 

 

[ontheweb]

2 hours ago, Vacationlover2 said:

Two questions.  We are going on the April 21 cruise.

 

1.  My embarkation time is 1:30.  If I show up early, do you think I can get on earlier or should I just wait to show up at 1:30.

 

2.  We have 9 people in our party.  If we switch to anytime dining, do you think we will have difficulty getting a table?

We got there before our time after it took way less time at the airport after our flight than could usually be expected. We were able to get right on. Then we left and negotiated with a taxi driver to tour old San Juan. 

[Joebucks]

On paper, she isn't pretty. Older and smaller. With that said, it was one of my favorite vacations ever. We went almost a year ago and got it for $400 a person, including taxes and fees. I dare you to show me a vacation where you get such a trip for anywhere near that. You cannot. The itinerary is just a blast.

 

While it doesn't have all of the frills, you still have most of your basics. Guys, Blue Iguana, Alchemy, Atrium, Ocean Plaza, Casino, Main Theater, etc. The Punchliner (which is very important to me) was far superior than bigger ships. 4 comedians and never a battle to find a good seat. My only real gripes were minor. I really wish they would redo the Lido deck and/or add a screen for dive-in movies. I also don't like not having a fridge in the room.

 

We're talking about doing the same one again. You have to do it!

[bigwill25]

Don't waste your time on this old relick 

 

 

[Aplmac]

16 minutes ago, bigwill25 said:

Don't waste your time on this old relic

.

My time is not so important, but rather the money!

 

Where I live I pay about $ 4-5,000 (local money) to take a cruise

and I'd rather spend that kinda $$ for a more modern product

that also won't roll around as much.

 

My stomach is not the greatest sailor

and 70,000 tons GT is just a cork bobbing around on the ocean!

[soonernstlouis]

Good thing Carnival doesn’t solely cater to cruisers with fat wallets or elitest attitudes or we’d be back to only the “good ole” days of only the rich cruising.  

[OceansOfTravels]

I cruised the Fascination this past December for my birthday, and after stepping off of the third-ever voyage of the brand new MSC Seaview, I was nervous. I wasn't nervous about the ship being too small to enjoy, but I was nervous that all the glitz of the Seaview would stop me from enjoying the Fascination. I had just gotten off of a ship with two lido buffets, so I was scared that just one would be crowded. These boards can sometimes make you feel as though your upcoming cruise is going to be a letdown before you even step onboard, which can be a sad thought when you really want a fun vacation.

 

But, I thoroughly enjoyed the Fascination because I got exactly what I wanted; relaxation away from the cold, and fun in some of my favorite ports. I actually ended up enjoying the actual ship as well, I loved that it was so small and I could walk everywhere. I didn't take an elevator once, and rarely waited in line for food (except for the breakfast rush). You can see the ship's age in some places, like in the bathrooms, some furniture, and in lounges, but I don't feel like that got in the way of my trip whatsoever. I just loved being away on having the comforts of a small ship. I will definitely be looking into the Fascination again for the future since they have it at such great prices and it provides a beautiful vacation for its value. Enjoy!

[Irule7]

We sailed on Fascination in Jan. 2017, she's since been updated.  The decor was a little old looking, but when I go on a cruise I'm there to get away from the snow and enjoy some warm air and not cooking for a week.  We are really relaxed people and don't let much bother us.  With that many ports, if you get off at every port and spend the day there, you aren't on the ship that much.  We loved that we got so many ports out of that cruise and we fell in love with San Juan!  We flew in a day early and enjoyed the area around our hotel.  The food in the buffet was fine, the desserts lacked flavor in my opinion.  We arrived a little bit earlier than our embarkation time and got on no problem.  We dropped off our luggage and then got back off and walked around Old Town for awhile.  Debarkation was horrible, we were some of the last groups to get off and the line was really long and took forever to get through.  In retrospect, I wish we would have waited on the boat a little longer before we went to leave.  When we handed the guy our passports, he didn't even open them, just saw that there were two passports and two people and then handed them back with a look like "am I done yet?"

 

Overall, I would love to go back and do it again.  It makes sense that Carnival would put a smaller ship there too, most families aren't going to fly all that way for a cruise.  We didn't take our kids on this one for that reason.  We had long layovers and not great flights and our kids would have had issues traveling that long.