Review: Fascination Cruise march 6-10

[soon2bretired]

Travelers: Me-age 46, husband-52, sons age 11 and 21 (his spring break)

Pre-Cruise Hotel - Holiday Inn - Downtown Miami

Ship: Fascination

Dates: March 6-10th to Key West and Calica/Playa

Stateroom - Penthouse Suite-Category 12

Cruising Experience - 11 or 12 cruises on various lines, including Disney, NCL, Carnival

 

We flew in the the day before, using Larry's Limo - they were right there on time with our name on a card with the stretch i requested. This was a surprise for my kids, they loved it, first time in a limo for all of us. Took us to Holiday Inn Downtown. Lobby was crowded, got in the Priority Line and got checked in and room was ready, 9th floor facing the port, yay! We walked over to the Bayside Marketplace which was hopping pretty good. Really enjoyed the beautiful weather, the ambiance and just about everything there! We ate some quick lunch and came back later to eat at Bubba Gumps. We were very pleased, overall, with our Holiday Inn Room. It was a king with pull out couch. Very clean, spacious and we would definitely stay here again for a pre-cruise night. We cabbed over to South Beach later in the afternoon - $16 before tip. Wow, this place was nuts, even later in the afternoon! We loved the art deco look of the area, although this isn't exactly a family-oriented place, but we knew that and just took it all in. Kids said the water was cold but they still had fun swimming. Cabbed back to Holiday Inn and called it a night.

Next day, had breakfast in the hotel, pretty good, had a $5 coupon that they gave me at check in, was only $23 for the 4 of us. We cabbed over to the port for $10. I asked for the VIP check in area and was immediately taken to a private office. This was a surprise for my husband, he had no idea i booked the suite and was wondering what all the special treatment was for. We were checked in very quickly and an escort took us past the lines and all the people waiting upstairs and before we knew it, we were walking onto the ship and it was only 11:00! We found our room with no problem and my husband was happy to see our large stateroom and balcony. The kids knew about this but loved it just the same! We looked all around, unpacked and everyone took off in different directions. My son-11 found the basketball and that is pretty much where he spent the entire cruise!

My overall review is as follows:

room - nice big size, huge balcony

ship-pretty good shape for an older ship, some wear and tear, but nothing that took away from the experience.

Food - Very good! even better than i expected actually. Portion sizes were large, nice variety to pick from and served hot.

Service-Dining service-very good, friendly and prompt. Room Steward-room wasn't done up as fast as i'd have liked but there were times one of us was in there and i don't think he wanted to bother us. we told him just do whatever it was he needed to do. I would say the room steward was just a level below what i would expect on a cruise ship.

Entertainment - Excellent! We really enjoyed all the shows, especially the broadway themed show.

Excursions: We did our own thing in Key West. Hit sloppy joe's, Hog's Breath Saloon, Blond Giraffe for one of those great key lime pie's on a stick-YUM! Funniest thing happened in sloppy joe's, my husband ordered a "sledgehammer" which had in it Bacardi 151 among other things, anyways, he barely drank 1/4 of it and reached across the table and it just went everywhere! all over HIM, all over his new t-shirts he bought, just everything! he didn't know whether to laugh or cry! After much kidding about him making a mess (his name is joe) in sloppy joe's, we got it all cleaned up. We got some oxy clean at cvs and he washed the stuff out in the sink back in the room. you'd never had known it happened! too funny.

Calica - older son and me did the beach break, husband and younger son did the ruins. Ruins priced kind of high but they enjoyed it. Beach break was open bar, included kayaking. Snorkeling was an extra $10 (get to keep the snorkel tube). Hard to get chairs here, buses coming and going. They had a mexican "walmart" but the merchants were a little pushy. Also had cuban cigars (take the ring off to get back home). Nice swings hanging at the bar instead of stools. Kind of a neat place to go. Price was $39 each.

 

We noticed alot of chair saving every day. Had i had any trouble getting a chair on my own, i would have just moved the towels on the chairs. There were mostly spring breakers doing the saving. I have to say, all the passengers we encountered were very nice, people would just start talking to you about where you're from and how you were enjoying your cruise and everyone seemed to be enjoying theirs as much as we were ours. Also, the carnival staff were VERY friendly, speaking to you every morning and evening. Some cruise lines, they just look the other way.

One pet peeve none of us liked was the automatic gratuity. This is our first experience with doing it that way. We've never stiffed anyone on any of our cruises, although i'm sure it is done. It was nice to not have to hand out envelopes to everyone on the last night, but i want to be the one that says who gets what, not automatically added. It didn't seem there was any incentive to do better (room steward).

We got a nice litho (one for each of us) on our last night, from our dining staff.

We were pleased with the Coconut Grove Dining Room (alternative dining). What a great place to go for a quick lunch, pizza or deli sandwich. Great theming in here! Hot dogs and burgers were very good also out by the pool. We pretty much sampled it all!

Overall, we all decided we give this cruise an 8 out of 10. I knew it would be a different crowd than Disney, so the spring breakers were no surprise. We never noticed anyone drunk and out of hand, even though this was a full ship. Now if i could just find a way to stop "rocking" on land, i'll be fine!

Thanks to everyone for the tips on Larry's Limo and Holiday Inn Downtown Miami! :)

[theluckiest]

thanks for the great review! i'm 21, same age as your son, and leaving on monday for my first cruise on the fascination for spring break. :o) we're staying at the holiday inn also, thank you so much for all the info! one question: would you reccommend the calica beach break excursion or would you have rather just done beach / shopping on your own? thats one thing i'm still debating! thanks again!

[soon2bretired]

thanks for the great review! i'm 21, same age as your son, and leaving on monday for my first cruise on the fascination for spring break. :o) we're staying at the holiday inn also, thank you so much for all the info! one question: would you reccommend the calica beach break excursion or would you have rather just done beach / shopping on your own? thats one thing i'm still debating! thanks again!

 

Actually, if you do the beach break, you can do both. The bus will stop on the way back, for those wanting off at the ship and will continue on to playa del carmen for those that want to shop for awhile on their own. If you do that, you are responsible for your cab ride back to the boat ($10, 15 min cab ride back). We chose not to as we were all sandy and had a few drinks and wanted to get ready for dinner). They also have food at the beach break but you have to pay for it. I asked someone and they said it was pretty good and reasonably priced. Looked like authentic mexican but i didn't glance at the menu. they also have regular facilities here for your use. It's pretty americanized but you feel like you're in mexico also. The mexican music is playing, these goofy yellow hammocks to lay in and they were easy to get. it was the beach chairs that were hard to get if you have a bus that pulls out after the first one. Everyone seemed to be having a good time. Have fun!

ps: try to bring your own water...it was expensive on the ship and of course they recommend you drink bottled water!

[jerseygirl3]

Soon, thanks for the great review. Glad you had such a nice cruise. One thing I would like to correct, just so nobody is confused. If you stayed at the Holiday Inn across the street from Bayside (which it sounds like you did), it is actually called Holiday Inn Port of Miami. I'm not sure if calling it Holiday Inn Downtown would confuse anybody, because it's not actually downtown Miami.

[soon2bretired]

Yes! you are right! I originally had the hampton inn downtown miami booked and switched to holiday inn, so i was probably thinking of that when i typed downtown. It seemed in a very "downtown" type area though, busy road and the cars don't stop for pedestrians! lol! They really need a ped walkway over that road over to bayside marketplace.