Carnival Fantasy Experience (May 17-22)

[redhawk94]

Am using the boards for this as it is mostly an account of what we did on our cruise. So here it goes.

 

Booked this cruise as a gift to my DW, who graduated and became a doctor. I booked through Carnival and got the past guest rate with an oceanview stateroom. Our room was on the Upper Deck.

 

Saturday, May 17: We left Baton Rouge at 9:30 a.m. and made it to the Port of New Orleans and was inside the parking garage at 11 a.m. This process was very smooth as you just swipe your credit card at the gate and pay your $70 for the five day's worth of parking in a secure covered garage. We then stopped inside the garage to let the porters take our checked luggage. I wanted him to take a case of water that had a luggage tag on it, but he said he couldn't so I just carried that on myself. We then parked and went to the embarkation terminal. This process went very smooth. We were given our Sail and Sign Cards/Room Keys and were assigned our requested 5:45 p.m. dining time. By 11:45 a.m. we were already on the lido deck eating hamburgers and fries (very good and just as good as McDonalds by the way) and drinking a few fun ship specials and beers. Before going to the lido deck, I dropped off the case of water at our room, which wasn't ready, but a room steward put it inside for me so that I wouldn't have to lug it around. When arriving onto the ship on the Empress deck there was a lot of confusion because nobody knew where to go and everybody was waiting on the two little elevators inside the atrium. After a couple of minutes of figuring things out we found the stairwells and the other elevators and went to the lido deck and did a lot of exploring.

 

I had put a lot of booze and beer in my checked luggage so was very curious on if and when my luggage would make it to our room. We went to our room at 1:30 p.m. and found that one of our bags had already made it. I figured the other ones were in the naughty room because I thought all of our bags would come together. We then went to the muster drill around 3 p.m. This lasted about 40 minutes, which seemed a tad long but no big deal.

 

After that we dropped of our life jackets and went to the deck for sailaway. This was awesome as the ship did a 180 degree pivot to turnaround and then you could watch as you sailed down the Mississippi River passing New Orleans and all the smaller towns along the way down to the Gulf. After this we made it back to our room and all of our other bags showed up with the contraband.

 

We took it easy this first night and ate at the buffet, which was decent but not really good either. I then packed our collapsible cooler with some refreshments and we made our way to the aft deck outside and below the Windows on the Sea buffet. This was a very peaceful and private deck for us. We laid out there for about an hour just looking at the stars and watching the wake.

 

We then made our way back to the cabin for the night around 10 p.m. We watched American Chopper on the TV and then fell a sleep. I was actually surprised that there were so many different channels on the TV. We had 3 different movie channels showing new release movies.

 

I thought the ship was very clean and our room was spacious with great closets. I even put on the bath robe which was very comfortable. The closets held all of our belongings so that we didn't have to clutter up the bathroom, bedroom or desk. Our room steward also kept ice in my cooler all week and I made sure he received high marks on my evaluation form and he got an extra tip.

 

Tomorrow I will post: Day 2, Fun Day at Sea

[kjunea]

Great start! Looking forward to reading more!

[LSUcajunmom]

Oh, I love reading reviews for ships I have been on but it just makes me want to be there having it happen to me again. We cruise the Fantasy again in Feb.(Mardi Gras cruise, woohoo!) having just got off of her in April. Can't wait to read more. Thanks!

[soon to cruise]

We'll be on her June 5th for the first time. Please keep the review coming!!

[louie_jr2005]

I was on that sailing may 17-22. first cruise I loved it. http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=779948 here is my review. Can't wait to hear how you like or hated this cruise. I hope you like it because i did.

[redhawk94]

Sorry, but am busy at work today so I'm just now getting around to writing this.

 

Woke up after a good night's rest around 6:30 a.m. The bed, comforter and pillows that Carnival uses are great. They are very comfortable. Me and the wife put on our workout clothes and headed to the sports deck to work out and use the gym. The gym is hard to find because you have to walk through the spa bathroom to get to it without any signs that I saw. The gym is very nice as it has about 7 treadmills, 5 ellipticals and a couple recumbent bikes. It also has a lot of weight machines and dumbbells. I also used the track on the top deck and 11 laps make one mile according to the sign.

 

After our workout we would cleanup and grab some breakfast from the buffet around 9 a.m. The omelets can only be ordered at the pool side buffet and they were good. Breakfast as a whole was good with good hashbrowns and sausage. About the only thing that was bad was the bagels as they were dry and almost stale. Also, the Orange Juice is loaded with sugar but good.

 

After breakfast we went back to the room to grab our pool stuff. We toured the decks the looking for a good spot to spend the day soaking in the sun. We started off in the aft, but the wife wasn't happy with this spot so we ended up with a spot next to the stage on the lido deck. This spot was perfect as I could people watch and watch the events on the stage as the wife either took a nap or read a book.

 

I did bring the same collapsible cooler with me loaded with beer, vodka, water and coke and ice that the room steward filled up every morning. Whenever I had to go to the bathroom I would come back with a glass from the Windows on the Sea buffet filled with lemonade and ice. I would then take the vodka and spice up the lemonade a little and that made a very refreshing cocktail.

 

We ended up watching the Tom Cruise contest where people make different cocktails trying to emulate Tom Cruise from the movie Cocktail. This show was entertaining. We also watched the Hairy Chest Contest and that too was fun to watch. We were able to do this from our deck chairs. The photographers were out in full force and they caught me in a very unflattering photo that my wife had to buy of course.

 

We went back to the room for a nap around 2:30 p.m. and then woke up to eat in the dining room at 5:45 p.m. This was formal night so we went to the Captain's party at 5 p.m. where we drank free whiskey sours, martinis, screwdrivers and wine. We also slow danced on the stage and my wife loved that part as we don't do that sort of stuff enough she said. At dinner I ordered the lobster, which was actually really good and wasn't rubbery at all, and the wife ordered some kind of fish that was so-so. We also bought a bottle of water by accident when we didn't know when we ordered the water from the bottle that we had to pay for it. Our tablemates also said they made the same mistake the first night and were laughing when it happened to us. I had the warm chocolate melting cake with vanilla ice cream for dessert and the wife had a cappuccino and both were excellent.

 

We ended up going to the show that night called Nightclub Express. Before the show started we took our picture in front of the Universe Lounge in our Formal wear and we really liked this picture and bought it. We got to the show about 15 minutes before it started and already the Universe Lounge was packed. The Universe Lounge is poorly designed as there are not many good seats to be had. We ended up sitting on the bottom behind a beam and had to sway back and forth to see the show. Despite that, the wife really liked the show and is still singing and humming the songs. After the show we decided to call it quits around 10 p.m. and headed back to our room to go to sleep.

 

Tomorrow: Day 3-Progreso

[starstruck05]

i wrote in the letter i sent to carnival about how the seating is designed in the fantasia lounge on the sensation. if you sit in the boothseats and someone sits in the front 2 seats you have to hurt your neck looking around them. and we had a very tall lady sit in front us! :eek: and in the other sits up top , if you shorter u can't see. i'm 5'7 and i had to sit up to see better. the only place really to see is downstairs. i don't mind were i sat for the comedy shows but for everything else you need to see!!

[soon to cruise]

Cant wait for more.......

[soon to cruise]

Cant wait for more.......

[redhawk94]

Again we woke up at 6:30 and went to the gym at 7 a.m. Worked out for an hour and then headed to the Windows on the Sea buffet for some breakfast. We returned to our room around 9:30 a.m. and started getting ready for our day in Progreso. We were not in a hurry as we didn't book any shore excursions or have any plans.

 

Getting off the ship was a breeze and there is a nice modern store right there at the port that you walk through. After a few minutes in there we decided to find a bus to take us to the town of Progreso. There was a lot of confusion here as nobody knew which bus to get on. There were a lot of busses for the excursions and then the busses for Progreso. We finally found the right bus and it did not have AC and it was very hot outside. The free bus ride takes you off the 5 mile pier and into a market place (flea market) in Progreso. Here we wandered around looking at what they had to offer. We didn't buy anything but were offered cuban cigars at every turn. I don't think any of those are real cubans though.

 

We then wandered out on the street to find the Double Decker bus tour of Progreso for just $2 per person. I gave the guy $5 and told him to keep the extra dollar and he gave us two tickets. We went to the top of the bus and sat in the first row. I liked the top, but wouldn't sit in the first row again as the speakers are right at your knees and very loud. Once on top, I saw the guy who won the Hairy Chest Contest and said this trip would be better if we had a beer to drink. He agreed and asked the tour guy if that would be alright. He said no problem and pointed out a place that sold cold beers across the street. I ran across the street and grabbed a liter bottle of Sol for $3 and got on the bus for the tour. The tour was great and probably the best bargain of the entire cruise and it lasted about 30 minutes. TIP: When riding on top of the bus watch out for power lines and tree limbs as you have to DUCK!!! (LOL). What I liked about the tour is it really lets you know where everything is, so when you start walking you will know where you are.

 

We then headed toward the beach and walked down the street looking for a good restaurant. We passed Le Saint Bonnet on our right and kept walking until we stopped at Seafood and Steak House (I think it was called that). It was run by an American named Gene. They served my wife a Pina Colada in a Cocunut that was very good. I ordered the fried Grouper and they gave me the entire fish to eat and that was great. We stayed here most of the day as it had a great view and there were some very entertaining tourists to watch as they were dancing on the stage.

 

At about 2 p.m. we left as the wife wanted a massage. We found her a massage on the beach for only $20 for 40 minutes. However, she only laid there for 20 minutes as she said the lady didn't know what she was doing. We ended up meeting some of the entertainers from the ship on the beach next to us and they took our picture on the beach. They were all very nice.

 

We went back to the ship at 3 p.m. and the ship left at 4 p.m. We went back to our room for a quick nap and woke up at 5 p.m. to get ready for dinner. At dinner I had the Beef Wellington and she had the Mahi Mahi. Both were excellent. You could cut my Beef Wellington with a fork and I don't think it could have been cooked any better. For dessert, I again had the chocolate melting cake and the wife had a cappuccino. We finished with supper very early so we wouldn't miss the sunset.

 

This would be the last night we ate in the dining room as the time didn't work very well the next two nights. For our next cruise, we will probably do the late dining. I thought the food was excellent the two nights we went, but our server was only OK. He seemed like he had been doing this job a long time and was tired of all the extra things they make him do like sing and dance around. Can't say I blame him either.

 

After watching the sunset on the aft deck behind the restaurant, we went back to the room. My wife wasn't feeling very well and decided to just lay down. We both wanted to go to the talent show that night, but with her feeling under the weather she decided not to go. I stayed with her until about 10:20 and then went to the talent show myself. The last talent show we went to on the Holiday in 2003 was like watching American Idol. This one was a big disappointment. I got there late so had to sit in the balcony and could barely see the stage. There were only four or five performers and they all sang a song with nobody really standing out. I did like Big Tex's dance moves and made sure the wife watched those on the TV.

 

I then headed back to the room around 11:45 p.m. to sleep and get ready for Cozumel.

[gottacruisesoon]

More more more!

[Coonasscruisers]

Was very pleased to read your review and look forward to reading more before we leave. Can't wait to do the same things you did rest, relax and consume some nice cool adult beverages. We are going with a small group from Iota, LA. looking forward to the trip.

[redhawk94]

Forgot to mention during the first fun day at sea that we participated in the Mardi Gras pub crawl. This was a lot of fun as we went from bar to bar singing and dancing all the way and catching beads.

 

Tuesday, May 20th: Cozumel - Again woke up at 6:30 a.m. and went to the gym at 7 a.m. Went to breakfast at 8:00 a.m. and returned to the room to get ready for Cozumel. I had booked the Nachi Cocum beach resort in Cozumel so we were in a semi hurry to get off the boat as were a lot of people. When we left our room at 8:45 a.m. there were people lining up in the stairwells. Our room was on Upper and we made it down one level to main before we reached the end of the line. We still had two more decks to go to get off the ship. Finally around 9:10 the line started to move very slowly. We finally got off the ship about 9:30. When we got off, we found out why the line was moving so slow. They were trying to take pictures of everybody getting off the ship on the gangway, thus slowing the line down to a crawl. I don't think that is a good idea and we just kept walking when it was our time for the picture.

 

We made our way to the end of the pier to try and find a taxi. This was a little harder than first appeared as you have to walk up into the market place and then back down, but it is hard to find a stairwell or escalator that goes down once you go up. After doing a little walking, we finally found a place to go down in the back of the market. Once outside we found a cab quickly and off to Nachi Cocum we went.

 

The cab ride was about 10 miles and it cost us $15 and tipped the guy $2 since he was so nice. We then got a picture taken as soon as we arrived and then ushered into the main bar area where we meet Carlos our main waiter. We ushers us down to our very own Palapa, which had a connecting table and two lounge chairs with pads on them. This was an all inclusive for $49 per person and included drinks and food for the day. We like to drink so we knew we would be getting our money's worth.

 

Carlos was great. I don't think my beer was ever empty for more than a minute before I saw him bringing another cold Tecate. We were about 15 feet from the ocean laying in our chairs and just taking it all in. There were only two other people there when we got there and through the day there were only 10 to 20 people there. This was exactly what we were looking for. After a brief swim in the ocean, it was time to order our appetizers. We got guacamole and Nachos and both were excellent. They would also bring all our food down to your palapa.

 

We then ordered our main course. The wife got beef fajitas which were decent and I got the grilled grouper with garlic sauce and that was fantastic. We swam, napped and drank the day away here. Once I was tired of swimming in the saltwater, I went to the freshwater pool with swim up bar. I would order a beer and then go swim for a little while and then swim up to the bar and order another. In between naps and drinks my wife said "Now this is what I call a vacation." I only made one mistake the whole day and that was, you guessed it, TEQUILA! I probably have not taken a shot of Tequila in over 10 years, but felt like this was the right time. I ended up taking 3 double shots and before you knew it, I was a little drunk.

 

Anyways, we told Carlos we had to leave at 3:45 to be back on the ship at 4:30 as we were leaving at 5. He said no problem and he had a cab waiting. This place was the highlight of our trip and will go back again on our next cruise. Oh yeah, we ended up getting the picture that turned out very nice for $10.

 

Once back on the ship, I had to sleep of the tequila shots. After showering, we both fell asleep. We woke up around 8 p.m. and headed to the Windows on the Sea Buffet. I made my way back to the deli for the first time and boy was I missing out. They made me a corned beef and swiss on rye on a sandwich press and it was outstanding. I also had some pizza and it was decent. The wife went through the buffet and said it was ok. We then called it a night and went to bed around 10 p.m.

[redhawk94]

Wednesday, May 21: Fun Day at Sea - Again we woke up at 6:30 a.m. We never set the alarm clock and never had a wake up call, yet we woke up at about the same time every day. Anyways, headed to the gym again for our final workout on the ship. The gym on the Fantasy is 10 times better than the one on the Holiday and I'm guessing the gym on the bigger ships is even better. Anyways, we loved the gym on the fantasy as you can tell. After the gym went and had breakfast again.

 

Got back to the room around 9 a.m. and got ready to lay out on the deck. The wife wanted a spot on the very top deck with the running track on it. They have a half circle up there that overlooks the lido deck. This place was great as it offered me the chance to people watch with a bird's eye view and you get a lot better breeze up here than you do on the lido deck. Waiters also come by so you don't have to go downstairs to get a drink, which wasn't a problem for me as I again packed my cooler with beer and some liquor and brought it with me.

 

When we got to the top deck I noticed the slide had little to no line. So I figured now was as good a time as any and ran downstairs like I was 11 and climbed the stairs for the slide. The Fantasy hasn't gotten the Evolutions of Fun upgrade yet, which I hear will include an improved and bigger slide, but I don't know how much better that can get. The slide was FUN!!!! I did it 5 times before I even made it back up to the deck. After doing the slide it was time to sit back and enjoy a couple of cold beverages while reading the capers to plan our day.

 

We sat up on the deck until lunch with me periodically running down to do the slide again when I would see the line shrink. For lunch I had a hamburger (great as always) and their fries. The wife had a salad that she built and said she needed to try and at least healthier. I could care less about that as healthy is something I do when I'm not on vacation. I didn't even touch a piece of fruit the whole time on this cruise except for the pineapple wedge that was on my wife's pina colada.

 

After lunch, we made our way back to our deck chairs and lounged around till 2:15 p.m. We then went to the Newleywed show or whatever it is called. They bring three couples up on stage (newleywed, middle of the road, and the couple that has been married the longest) and ask them questions to bring on a funny response. This show was great as for the last question Big Tex had was, "What is the phrase heard the most often in your bedroom?", and the guy without even skipping a beat said, "Oh that is a HARD one." He was talking about the question, but the crowd instantly died laughing and I thought poor Tex was going to have a heart attack from laughing so hard. Then to find out at the end of the show, the guy was a Baptist Minister from California.

 

After that show we went back to the room for some ZZZZZs. This is when the wife started to get sick. Don't know if it was something we ate or drank in Mexico or on the ship or a combination of everything, but she was sick and on the pot for most of the night. We had to miss the past guest party and our dining time because of it. I went to the buffet by myself, because she needed to be close to homebase. I had two slices of pizza, another corned beef, swiss and rye sandwich (YUM!) and a little of the stuff from the buffett. Excellent meal!

 

After the buffet, I went back to check on the wife, who wanted to see the last sunset. She still wasn't feeling well and told me to go take pictures. I went up there and started chatting with another guy for about 10 minutes. Before I knew it, my wife was coming around the corner saying she felt a lot better and didn't want to miss it. This was a beautiful sunset and we watched the sun disappear into the gulf. The wife said she could hear it sizzling when it hit the water (LOL).

 

After this we went back to the room to do a little packing and get ready for the morning. With me being a huge beatles fan, I wasn't going to miss tonight's show, TICKET TO RIDE! The wife told me to go early and save her a seat and I got to the show at 8:10 for the 8:45 show. I got great seats this time and glad I got there early as this place was filled in 10 minutes. My wife showed up at 8:40 and the show started on time.

 

The show was good and I liked the songs they picked, but I was a little disappointed in the performance. Nothing major, but something seemed off with the performers this night. No big deal as I'm sure they are allowed a few nights where they are not up to snuff every now and then. After the show it was off to bed.

 

We woke up the next morning at 6 a.m. this time to give us enough time to eat breakfast, pack and be ready for self assist debarkation at 7 a.m. We did all of the above and were ready to go with our door open waiting for our floor to be called like Big Tex said. My wife started getting antsy about 7:05 a.m. and went to the debarkation deck to see what was going on. She came back down and said grab the bags, people are already getting in line. I didn't want to budge in front of anybody, but there were people from every floor in line and nobody was a VIP. I decided to just go ahead and try it and am glad we did. We were off the boat and in our vehicle pulling out of the parking garage by 7:30 a.m. and were back home at 8:45 a.m. That was very smooth.

 

Overall we had a blast and relaxed at the same time. Probably won't drink for a couple of weeks now and it will be hard to start cooking and cleaning again. Would do the Fantasy again in a heartbeat, but will probably book the Conquest out of Galveston for our next cruise.

 

Thanks everybody for reading and I hope it wasn't too boring.

[LSUcajunmom]

Hey, we must have had the same elderly couple on our cruise in April. He gave the same answer hope "that's a HARD one" and he, too, was a baptist minister and big Tex laughed until he said he thought he pee'd in his pants. What a coincidence!;)

Great review! Thanks so much! Can't wait to do it again in Feb.

[redhawk94]

Hey, we must have had the same elderly couple on our cruise in April. He gave the same answer hope "that's a HARD one" and he, too, was a baptist minister and big Tex laughed until he said he thought he pee'd in his pants. What a coincidence!;)

Great review! Thanks so much! Can't wait to do it again in Feb.

 

I'm starting to guess that maybe the cruise had something to do with this as Big Tex also said he peed a little on our cruise. I think something is fishy with this and hope that it isn't true as it is only funny if the answers are real by real people.

[LSUcajunmom]

I'm starting to guess that maybe the cruise had something to do with this as Big Tex also said he peed a little on our cruise. I think something is fishy with this and hope that it isn't true as it is only funny if the answers are real by real people.

oh, yes, believe me it is definitely set up. My good friend went on a cruise a year ago and had the same answers to the same questions. They were the middle of the road couple and the answers were fixed but it is still a great show. I think it is a hoot that they can convince the couples to come out on stage in those boxers. Gotta love it!

[soon to cruise]

I enjoyed your review. We'll be going June 5th on the 4 day to Cozumel. Almost booked Nochi, but thought it might be boring for the 3 kids. Sounds like paradise to me though! You SHOULD book Conquest. That was our first cruise last summer. It was GREAT! I'm looking forward to experiencing the Fantasy though and sailing down the river to start with.

[ClevelandTNCruisers]

That was a great review. Thanks for all of the good information!!!

[happy cruzer]

Ok, I'm pushing 50 years young and sooooo want to go on the slide.

 

I bet I do.

 

Great Review!