Not really a review, more my experience on the Fascination

[jaybertx]

Sorry this ended up being so long!

 

First let me start off by saying that overall we had a good time. Me, my wife and our three sons, 16, 9, 9 went on the 4 day to Cozumel.

 

We arrive at the port of Miami at about 11:30a. We were on the ship by around 12:15p. My first impression was a little less than a lot of people have expressed. I was not "wow'ed". I was glad to be on the ship and we immediately headed to the Lido deck for soda cards and lunch. While we were waiting for soda cards(10 minutes), no less than 3 different people offered us the "drink of the day". That would not have been a big deal but it began a trend that would begin to bother me by the end of the cruise but more on that later. After lunch we went to our cabin, M174. I was worried about space because it was the 5 of us but the space ended up being enough for us for as much time as we spent in the cabin.

 

We then proceeded to explore the ship to try to start getting a feel for where everything was. The muster drill was scheduled for 4:15p and the sailaway for 5p so we grabbed our life preservers and went up to our muster station. Although I know the drill is required, it really did seem like a waste of time. We simply went to our muster station, put on the vest, and then it was over. There was no real instruction on what to do in an emergency other than to report. It was only 15 minutes so it was no big deal. We took our vests back to the cabin and headed to the sports deck for the sailaway.

 

We had a 6:15 dinner seating in the Sensation dining room so we went down to find our luggage. We were worried for a bit because all of the luggage went in the same container at the port but it showed up bit by bit. We got changed and headed up to dinner. This was one of the things that I looked forward to the most because all I've read is about how wonderful the food is. The food was good but not great. Every meal I was hoping for great and the only time I experienced it was the lobster on formal night. Cooked to perfection. Nothing was ever bad but it wasn't great either. My main complaint came from the dining rooms. Whether we were there for breakfast, lunch, or dinner, the drink service was horrible. EVERY single meal we would order drinks before we received the appetizer and receive them when we were almost finished with the main entree! It didn't matter what we ordered (soda, alcohol, etc) it was always late. We took the young kids to the camp carnival orientation after dinner and then spent the rest of the evening participation in the kids events. After we put the kids to bed, we went and checked out the casino. I was severely dissapointed to find that the minimum bet at the regular blackjack tables was $10 when every other card game was $5.

 

Day 2 was a fun day at sea. The pool was absolutely JAMMED. We took the kids for a little while but there was only enough room for them to get in, they couldn't even move. We took them to camp carnival for the days activities and headed to the Palace lounge for some of the daily activities. It was nice to relax with some bingo or silly contest or something of that nature. Day two was also formal night so after a day of relaxed fun, we got dressed up and headed to the Captain's cocktail party and then dinner. The young kids chose to eat with the camp so they were not with us for dinner on formal night. I understand that "formal" means a lot of different things to a lot of different people but there were some people that had no business being there. There were people dressed in slacks and hawaiin shirts. I'm not sure where that is formal (maybe margaritaville?) but it wasn't fair that I had to dress up to "earn" my lobster and they didn't. :)

 

This is where my other major complaint comes in. EVERYONE was trying to take our picture all of the time. I understand that some people are interested in the photos but I wasn't. No one was over aggressive but it seemed that we could hardly move around the ship or have dinner without someone asking if we wanted our picture taken. I didn't expect there to be SUCH a sales pitch on everything we did. If we were in the Palace lounge for trivia or something they were *constantly* peddling raffle tickets, scratch offs, duty free gift shop, etc, etc, etc. I was accustomed to it by the time the trip was over but it was kind of disappointing for me.

 

We blew it on Cozumel. We didn't book a shore excursion because we couldn't find something affordable enough that we all wanted to do. So we got off the ship, rented a jeep right off of the pier and took to driving. It was madness! I can't believe how crazy people drive on that island. Psychotic taxi drivers I tell you. It's like driving in a big city with about a million people zipping by you on scooters.

 

We drove around trying to find the San Gervasio ruins using a hand drawn map that we were given by the Alamo people. It took us TWO freaking hours to find it and it was so hot that by the time we got there, we didn't want to be there anymore. :) We walked around for about 45 minutes and left after we couldn't take the boredom anymore. We decided to go to Carlos and Charlie's for lunch. When I couldn't find ANY place to park the jeep, we took it back to Alamo and took a cab to C&Cs. It was a lot less stressful. Carlos and Charlie's saved our Cozumel experience. That place was just a ton of fun! :)

 

We got back to the ship and had a nice evening.

 

There wasn't much to report on Thursday. We had a decent day. We went and saw the "Newlywed Not so Newlywed" game at the palace lounge and it was hilarious. We called it an early night because my wife is a canadian citizen and she had to report for immigration at 6:30am. Ugh!

 

Debarkation went smoothly. They told us that we couldn't "self-debark" because my wife was a canadian citizen but it ended up that we could have easily done so. The pursers desk was very confused as to what she needed to do (we got 3 different answers from 3 different people) but we got off of the ship with no problems at all.

 

All in all, it was a good experience although I don't know that I would cruise on the Fascination again. I assume that all cruiselines are different and that the experience would be different on even a different class of ship so I will definitely give it a whirl again sometime soon. In going back and reading my entire post it has kind of a negative slant to it but it really was a good experience and we had a fun vacation.

[Cruising89143]

Thanks for the review. I cruised on the Fascination several years ago and that is one ship that I will not go back on. It just wasn't up to par with some of the ships in the fleet.

[finoky]

Thanks for sharing your experiences with us. I know you made the best of it but a 4 day cruise isn't always a good representation of what a longer cruise would be like. I do agree that bar service in the dining room tends to be lacking fleet wide. Carnival should definitely address this. We loved the Fascination though when we sailed her. Perhaps it was because we took a 6 day from our hometown.

[CRUISER2B]

I know that not everyone gets the same from a cruise. This board will attest to the fact that 2 people could cruise on the same ship at the same time and we would get two different views.

 

Let me first say that I was (like the sound of that) 1st time cruiser. I took the 4 day trip on June 28th 2004 on Carinval Fascination. I went with my hubby and 2 boys (13 & 8). We were celebrating my in-laws 50th Anniversary. So we add to the mix my 70 yr old in-laws and my brother in laws family of 5 (3 girls - 15,14,11).

 

We had a blast even though my father of 65 passed away unexpectantly a week before our trip. Yes they pushed the drinks and took pics all the time. Yes they hawked the raffles, etc. But I never felt pressured. I had one drink of the day each day. My hubby stayed with his beer.

 

I bought my older son a drink card (well worth the money). My youngest stayed in the camp carinval and got upset if we tried to take him out. He loved it!!

 

My hubby roamed and gambled (slots only). I took in the bingo. We all saw the shows. They were nice. However the comedian stunk. We people watched on Lido and watched the sun set each night.

 

We had the early seating in the Imagination dining room. Our meal team was the greatest. Drinks did not take that long. We always had them before our appetizers. Whaterever our table of 11 needed we got. (We did tip them the first night.)

 

My kids enjoyed room service of milk & cookies each night. My oldest even tipped the delivery and from then on always had his order within 15 minutes each time.

 

Yes the pool was jammed, so we never went and did not miss it.

 

Cozumel was great thanks to this board. We went to Paradise Beach and had a great time. My brother in law went to the Dolphin Encounter at Chank. Park and my in laws wanted to explore the ruins and gardens there also.

 

I am glad that you overall had a good time. I choice Carnival due to my time constraints and for the kids mostly.

 

My next cruise is for my 20th Anniv in 0ct 2005 to Canada (Princess or Carnival) and then an RCCL Voyager class family cruise in 2006.

 

After 15 years I made my Hubby a believer in cruising!!

[darjensil]

Thanks for the reviews-I have had a hard time finding any reviews on the fascination. We will be traveling on it in March and trying to find the good and the bad of the ship. Thanks.

[TrinaLC]

I think it may be the attitude that you bring that determines your satisfaction with the Fascination or any other cruise for that matter.

 

We went with MIL and 2 pre-teens, same 4 day itin, and had a blast - so much so that we are booked for another 4 day cruise on the Victory in 2 weeks.

 

Yes, they were constantly offering the drink of the day, but a simple shake of the head was all it took to say no; and the only time I found the photos being pushed was on disembarkation. We let them take the photos even though we had no intention of purchasing. (we did end up buying some though!)

 

The OP's experience in Cozumel was due to lack of planning on his part, and yet it obviously colored the experience.

 

Anyone thinking of sailing on the Fascination should not be deterred - go, and enjoy! (Oh, and as to the food, it is good, to very good, and plentiful. Great? No, but they are serving over 2000 people/meal, what do you expect?!)

[kkorman]

A danger on these boards is higher the expectations of new cruisers. You have to always take what you hear with a grain fo salt as you do not know the cicumstances or tastebuds of the person writing. When you are paying <$100 a day, you can't expect 4 or 5 star dining. Cruise food has gotten pretty average and service levels ahve dropped... unfortunately, they have not dropped in the areas where extra income to the cruise lines are concerned. Carnival is the absolute worst with the picture thing and nickle and diming. THe drinks and photo situation is just aweful.

 

Glad you made the most of your cruise. Trya gain and you may not have the same expereince.

[jp2001]

My kids enjoyed room service of milk & cookies each night. My oldest even tipped the delivery and from then on always had his order within 15 minutes each time.

I hope they tipped the delivery guy, it's the way it's supposed to work, room service is free but you need to give them a tip, at least.

[bhardy1]

We are going on the Fascination in Nov. (Thanksgiving week), do you think that summer is more busy than even Thanksgiving week?

 

I wonder if a cruise is really full and busy, the experience could be more negative??

 

I have taken 4 night cruises before and had a lot of fun on everyone of them! I hope the same will be for the Fascination...

[kkorman]

Summer is busy, but so is THanksgiving!

[jaybertx]

Don't get me wrong. We had a great time. People get the impression (even in speaking with them in person) that I didn't because of the way that I described the trip. That couldn't be farther from the truth.

 

My expectations were set by everything that I've ever heard about cruising from people who love it, read here, etc. I've always considered cruising an "all-inclusive" type of thing (aside from tipping) and was not prepared for the amount of nickel/diming that we experienced.

 

I admit that we definitely could have had a better time in Cozumel. Especially if DW could swim so that we could have at least done some snorkeling. She's promised to learn for next time! :)

 

All in all it was a good trip and my intentions were not to discourage anyone from taking a trip on Fascination. Everyone's experience is different and I was just relating mine. :)

[SadieQ]

I've noticed slow drink service with dinner on both of my cruises too. I think in the future we'll just order a bottle of wine (which you order from the regular waiter) the first night. We did that the 3rd or 4th night this time, and it came much faster. If you don't drink it all, they put it out for you the next nigiht, and ours was on the table when we sat down the following night. No waiting.

[JkyLovesRuss]

You will love the fascination, we did... ! ship was clean and Food was excellent! even on the Lido deck... we had alot of fun.... Carnival is definately NOT for snoots! :)

[CruiseFever]

Glad you had a good time on the Fascination, our first Carnival cruise ever. Gladder you were able to have a good time and overcome the icky parts.