Fantasy Review - Aug 14-19

[Joaljoe]

Hi all, we sailed on August 14-19, 2006. Grand Turk, Half Moon Cay and Nassau. Have been back for a week now and miss the ship. LOL

 

Boarding the ship was REALLY easy! They are very organized and efficient. We got our room keys, our sail and sign cards and off we went to board the ship. The photographers were all ready set up to take our first picture just before we got on the ship. We were on around 11am and just spent 2 hours looking around the ship, had the buffet lunch (which was just okay) and around 1:15pm our room was all ready. Since the ship didn't sail till 4pm we decided to take a little nap....we were so tired from travelling since 3am that if we wanted to stay up at all we needed it. The room had AC (thank goodness) and was very clean. The bed, pillows and duvet are SOOO comfortable....I wish I could've taken it all home with me. Heehee.... Our luggage was at our door before 4pm which was nice.

 

Our cabin steward was very friendly, was always there to tell us where we were going and made some nice conversation about the Islands. Our ice tray was always filled, cleaned towels were always supplied and our towel animals were very cute. I was surprised the first night when we came back after dinner to see the towel animal on our bed, with the sheets pulled back a little, curtains where closed, lights were off except for the little night lights above the bed. Chocolates where left on our bed along with the next days activities. I wish someone would do that for me at home. LOL

 

On the first night we didn't do the formal dining because we didn't feel like dressing up. Although later on we found out it was casual night and if we had known that we would've gone...especially now knowing how good the food is! Actually we only planned on going to formal night 1 time (Captain's dinner) which was on the second night but then ended up going 2 more times because it was so good. And the people at our table were fantastic. We all clicked and had a great time during our meals. The waiter was very friendly and his service was great. The 3 nights that we ate there all the waiters performed at the end of the night and they always acknowledged a Birthday, Anniversary, Honeymoon etc....by all singing.

 

And before the Captain's dinner there is a reception in the Universal Lounge where you get to meet the captain and enjoy free alcoholic drinks. I only got 2 glasses of wine but the people next to us did not waste any time I think they went through 5 glasses each.

 

For lunches, we were all over the place....the first day when we first got on the ship we went to Windows by the Sea for buffet and it was just okay....the second day we went to the buffet on the Lido deck and had a burger with fries. This is an everyday option and we enjoyed that. On the 3rd day we were at Grand Turk and debated weather we should eat there (since we heard all good things) or wait till we got back on the boat. But we decided to eat at Margaritaville and the food there was great, plus our free Margaritta coupon we got from their website. On the 4th day we were at Half Moon Cay and all the cooks off the ship go to the Island and prepare a huge buffet there. It was amazing at how much work they do, there was sooo much food and even all the waiters from the formal restaurants were out there working. The food was good...not spectacular but I'm not picky therefore I enjoyed it all. And on the last day in Nassau we just held off till we got back to the boat to eat at ate in the Windows by the Sea again...and this time the buffet was amazing...for me anyway! =)

 

Entertainment was great. We missed Adult Comedy night but heard it was really good. We liked to watch all the game shows they had. Newlywed Game was really good. Bingo was too expensive but hubby did play once.....couldn't resist trying to win a cruise. We felt the boat move a lot on the first night....I was feeling a little sick from it. But went to bed and woke up fine the next morning and was fine for the rest of the cruise. We did feel it a little here and there but it wasn't that bad.

 

We didn't have too much bad weather which was nice. We were able to make all of our stops and enjoy the Islands. It rained at Grand Turk an hour before we were suppose to leave so it didn't spoil our stay too much. Half Moon Cay the weather was great, Nassau was on and off towards 1pm. By the time we were leaving at 3pm there was a storm coming in. Lots of lightening, dark clouds and rain. But within 10 mins of when we left it was all gone and there was a beautiful rainbow in the sky.

 

Okay, the Islands....

 

GRAND TURK - Not much here but we still enjoyed it. We knew coming on this trip that we probably weren't going to do any excursions so there were no disappointments there. The beach I could do without....the sand was nice but trying to get into the water was another thing. Way tooooo many rocks! Everyone was hurting their feet trying to get in....and even once you're in there were quite a lot of rocks. So we didn't stay in there too long. We headed over to Margaritaville...which is right there in front of you...literally!! We enjoyed the pool. The DJ was great!!! The contests were entertaining! We shopped a little, ate lunch went back in the pool and were heading over to the wet bar but it started raining so we decided to pack up and leave instead...along with everyone else. The long line trying to get back on the ship in the rain wasn't fun but what are you to do?? No one can help it and I'm not a complainer so I made the most of it.

 

HALF MOON CAY - The most beautiful beach I've ever been too. The water and sand was just amazing!!! They have very little shade there but you can rent a clamshell that they put over your beach chairs to give you shade. They have a lot of them....they build them as you come and order them. Again, we did no excursions here we enjoyed the beach and water all day long. A little too much because we got sunburned. LOL Like I mentioned above....the cooks came off the boat to cook lunch. The Island is owned by Carnival so all the staff come off and work on the beach. The entertainers do their thing with contests and stuff. They blast music from the bar. They have a whole childrens area with a fountain, waterslide etc. And then they have a playground off one of the paths which we saw on our way to the buffet area. The Island is very nicely maintained. When we were eating lunch there were a few lizards that came out of the bushes which made me jump. LOL Shopping area was nice too....we were able to use our sign and sail card in one of the shops which was nice. All in all...we loved this place and was by far our favourite stop.

 

NASSAU - There was 5 ships there in total including us. Pretty crowded everywhere but it was nice to experience. The Straw Market was very busy, it was so hot in there and everyone was selling mostly the same stuff. I personally don't like crowded area's like that so we didn't spend too much time in there. Got some stuff for the kids and that's pretty much it. We then took a water cab to Atlantis. We waited like 20 mins before they filled the whole boat up so it felt like forever before we left but once we did it was a nice ride. Atlantis was absolutely beautiful!!! I'd have no problem going there for a week vacation. We walked around the place, went to the aquarium and looked around the shops. We then took a regular cab back. It was nice seeing different parts but our driver was a crazy driver. We thought we'd get into an accident at one point. She was very impatient with the traffic and wasn't too happy about taking us back to the port area. She kept complaining about how busy it is over there and not sure how she's going to make it over. But nonetheless...she finally made it over. We did some more shopping and headed back to the ship at 2:30pm. As we were leaving a storm started approaching us but once we left it took like 10 mins before it was clear again.

 

Leaving the ship was a piece of cake for us. Not a lot will agree but you have your good and bad right? Not everything will be perfect. We had to be downstairs in the Conference Room at 6:15am for Immigration since we're from Canada. That was a little tiring because we had to get up so early and then just wait around. But I believe we were done at 7:30am and went off to breakfast. We had to leave our rooms by 8am so after breakfast we went back to our room and got our bags. They give you the option to leave your luggage outside your door the night before and they'll take it off the boat for you or you can take it off yourself. We took it ourselves which was a lot easier and saved us a lot of time. Once we left our room, we went to the Universal Lounge and just waited around. There were 3 meeting spots and they called you in order to go down. I guess we were the first ones or something because we waiting maybe 40 mins not even and got off. Once off the boat it wasn't that bad either. Yes, there were lines to get ID and papers checked but it didn't seem that bad. Once we were off, there was confusion as to were to find the luggage and that's what delayed a lot of people. We were just able to pass it all since we kept ours and just kept going. Before we knew it we were out down by the buses and there were people waiting calling out to you asking where you're going. We got lucky because ours was the first bus....we were almost the last ones on so we didn't have to wait too long to leave and off we were to the airport.

 

We decided to stay in Orlando an extra night to go to Universal Studio's and made it to the hotel around 11:30am. I don't think I would suggest doing that to anyone though...I think next time if we ever wanted to do something like that again we'd do it a day before the cruise because we were just so tired from waking up so early and going through all that trying to get off the boat. Plus, it was a rainy day in Orlando, we didn't get to the park until 12pm and after paying all this money to get in we found out the park closes at 8pm. Which was really surprising to me! And then a lot of the outside rides were closed down early due to the lightening and rain. So that day was a bust for us. LOL We both said that we would've preffered just going back home to rest (since my husband had to go back to work the next morning) and it would've saved us a lot of money. But I'm still happy I got to see the place and would never stay at the Holiday Inn across from Universal again. LOL Not because it was bad or anything, but because there really isn't anything walking distance to do.

 

And that's it in a nutshell. This was a perfect vacation for us. There really is something on a cruise for everyone. We really enjoyed ourselves and hope to do it again sometime. This was our first vacation since we've been together in the last 10 years, we didn't have a honeymoon so going on our 7th year Anniversary was great! We loved just sitting outside and watching the ocean. Staff were all friendly, the cruise director was a blast and all wait staff was great. There was one guy who seemed to be in a bad mood a lot but I just think it's time for him to take a break and go home. LOL

 

Hope you all enjoyed the review. If you'd like to see some pictures here is my link. Thanks for taking the time to read. :)

 

 

Take Care!!

 

 

http://community.webshots.com/user/Chasey_Shorts

 

 

 

Jo

[heymom32000]

Thanks for posting a review! I get more and more excited with each review I read and picture I look at. Oct 14th will not get here soon enough. I actually think time is slowing down the closer it gets. :( We have some friends that are looking at joining us on this cruise. I'm going to send them to your review and see if that helps them make a decision.

 

Did you find any great deals shopping? Any stores that you feel are a "must check out"? Was there a chocolate buffet?

 

Again, thanks

Michelle

[tahitidreamz]

"JO" thanks for the review! Sorry about the rain- but hey it happens right??? How about those burgers at the Lido???? Did you try the Pizza???

 

At any rate- glad you are safe and that you had a great time.

 

 

tahiti:D

[seashell36]

Jo, thanks for the review. I can't read enough about those ports as we are going on the Elation when it takes over the Fantasy's route on Oct 23. Did you notice the childrens play area on HMC? I was wondering what it looked like.

[Mud Diver]

Great review and now I know now what I am going to do in Grand Turk! I couldn't find a coupon on the Margaritaville site, does anyone know if it is still there and I am just not seeing it?

[heymom32000]

you have to go into the different areas of the stores and scroll down to the bottom of the page and find the salt shaker. Click on it when you find it and the coupon page will pull up.

[CarribbeanTina271]

Thanks for the Review!! I love the Fantasy!! I can't wait till my next cruise on her on Oct 5!!!

Tina

[Joaljoe]

Heymom - Hope your friends decide to join you. You'd all have a great time! We did some find deals at the Straw Market in Nassau. Most of it was for the kids though. Got some nice outfits and trinkets for them. I felt so akward trying to make a deal with them but I DID IT!!! Haha!!! One of my favourite store in Nassau was DEL SOL....everything in there changes colour in the sun. I got some nail polish there and got a clear one for my daugther which goes pink in the sun. The t-shirts there are really cool too.

 

Chocolate Buffet??? If there was one no one told me about it!! LMAO!!! But there were a lot of different desserts to keep us happy!

 

 

I must admit I did not have any pizza there. I was always happy with the buffet. I eat too much pizza back home. LOL But since my hubby is such a picky eater he had the pizze A LOT and he really liked it. Lido burgers were yuuummmmy!!!!

 

Seashell - I did take a picture of the children's play area. It's in my album 'HMC". But I'll go find it and figure out how to post it on here so you don't have to go on a search. =)

 

And just like heymom said.....go through all the sections in the shopping area and scroll down to the bottom. It changes all the time. When I found mine it was in the T-shirts area and then I checked again right after and it was in another. You'll just see a small white salt shaker. =) Good Luck!

[Joaljoe]

Okay, here is the kids area on the beach.

The picture is a little far but you can get an idea.

And to the right of this which I didn't take a picture of is a waterslide for the kids.

I still have pictures on my waterproof disposable which I think I took some pictures closer and might've even got the waterslide so when I develope those I'll send them your way.:)

 

 

And this is the playground which is just off one of the paths. I saw a few people take their lunch back to this area and just let the kids play when they were done eating so the adults can enjoy a longer lunch. :)

 

 

 

Hope this helps a little. :)

[Caribbean Buckeye]

Nice review. Thanks for brightening my Monday morning!

[pacerzfan]

Thanks for the Nice Review, Joaljoe!!

[Joaljoe]

Mud Diver - My husband went and found the shaker. This is the page you'd need to print out and just give it in at the bar and you'll get a "small" margarita. LOL They'll just ask you to put your email address on it when you're handing it in. :)

 

http://www.margaritavillecaribbean.com/winshaker.php

 

Enjoy your drink! =)

[Vidimom]

Joaljoe: Thank you for a wonderful review of the cruise!

 

We will be sailing in 4 weeks so we are very excited! Loved all the pictures taken. Just a question. Did you take the tour at the Atlantis. You have alot of pool pictures which from what I heard can only be accessed by guest.

 

Do you happen to have all of your capers from the trip? We would love to see those if you can post them.

 

Again, thank you for a great review and great pictures!

[heymom32000]

Glad to hear there is a Del Sol. I bought some of their nail polish in the Caymans last year and want to buy more on this trip. It stays on really well and looks nice.

[Mud Diver]

Mud Diver - My husband went and found the shaker. This is the page you'd need to print out and just give it in at the bar and you'll get a "small" margarita. LOL They'll just ask you to put your email address on it when you're handing it in. :)

 

http://www.margaritavillecaribbean.com/winshaker.php

 

Enjoy your drink! =)

 

Ahh, thanks I couldn't find the darn thing! I had given up..:D

[sportsterjohn]

thanks, I just printed mine out.

[dexter]

That was a fun and enticing review and it made me want to go...and I am going in under two weeks...can't wait. Half Moon Cay is beautiful...we went there on Holland America a couple years back. Didn't think we would go back but thankfully Carnival ships are now visiting there.