Fascination August 8-13 Review with LOTS OF PICTURES!!!!

[gsu_paintballer]

ARRIVAL IN JAX AND EMBARKATION

We arrived in the Jacksonville area Thursday (August 6) night around 9:00. We decided to spend a couple nights in Ponte Vedra to get amped up for vacation. Friday saw us playing a round of golf at Jacksonville Beach Golf Club and getting a meal and having a little fun at Dave and Buster’s.

 

 

On Saturday, we arrived at the port at 12:30. We were quickly processed and onboard within 40 minutes. Ideally, we could have been onboard quicker, but we decided to carry on all but one piece of luggage. We were told our rooms would be ready in 20 minutes, so we waited at the elevator lobby on the Riviera deck. Right on time, the doors opened up and we were allowed into our rooms at 1:30.

 

We were well pleased with the size of the room and accommodations within. There was ample space for the two of us to be able to get ready and still have room to move around. The bathroom was a little smaller than I anticipated, but I would rather lose room in there than in the actual living space.

 

 

 

After getting settled in, we walked up to the Lido Deck for food (isn’t that what you do on a cruise?). There was a good selection of food available, and everything moved along quite well. Throughout the course of the cruise, I’d say we ate at the buffet three times. The buffet was, at times, a little slow. Maybe they could consider “stationing” different items to expedite the process a little for people who only want to get a certain thing on a second trip back (because we all make those).

 

We were originally assigned the early seating, and saw the Maitre ‘D to change to late. This was a painless process, but was negated by needing ANOTHER change due to the fact that half of our tablemates did not speak English.

 

We spent the rest of the night touring around the ship before seeing the “Welcome Aboard” show.

 

DAY TWO – FUN DAY AT SEA

Our awakening was from a 9:30 delivery of room service breakfast. We woke up not having a clue what time it was, and thinking it was the middle of the night. That’s pretty easy to do in the inside rooms. We had cereal, muffins, and fruit for breakfast in bed. We headed up to the miniature golf area for the Hole-in-One challenge. I didn’t fare so well (zero ), but it was fun nonetheless. Afterwards, I attended the golf clinic at the Puttin’ On The Ritz lounge. It was relatively informative, but should have been outside to allow us to swing clubs. We spent the rest of the afternoon just wandering around the ship and spending some time outside.

 

 

 

Tonight was Elegant Night, so we dressed in our best and headed to the Captain’s welcome reception before dinner. This was a nice event, and I thought the drink servers did a good job of moving around the room to make sure that no one was kept waiting. Afterwards, we traveled on towards the Sensation dining room for dinner. I had steak and lobster, while she had lobster only.

 

 

Tonight’s show was “Far From Over”, a musical show covering the 1980’s. We were quite impressed with the show. The Palace Orchestra and dancers were very talented. No pictures for you here, as they weren’t allowed.

[gsu_paintballer]

DAY THREE – HALF MOON CAY, BAHAMAS

We were awakened by another 9:30 room service breakfast. Afterwards, we went up to the mini golf course for another shot at the Hole-in-One challenge, but alas, we couldn’t find anyone there to run it, so we headed on down to the tender for Half Moon Cay.

 

HMC is amazing. I’ve travelled to Coco Cay with RCI before, so I had an idea what to expect. However, this was my girlfriend’s first trip to such an island. On her suggestion, we rented a clamshell to be able to beat the heat once in a while. This was a great purchase ($17) and I’d definitely recommend it. We had lunch on the island, and we were well pleased with it. Afterwards, we spent the afternoon relaxing in the water and clamshell, as well as photographing different parts of the island.

 

 

 

 

Our late seating dinner was again another pleasing experience. She had the jerked pork loin, and I had another steak (don’t fix it if it’s not broken ). The nightly show was the guest talent show, where different passengers were featured and given an opportunity to display their talents. Each was given a bottle of champagne and a “genuine authentic 24k gold plastic ship on a stick”. Wish I could get one of those .

 

DAY FOUR – NASSAU, BAHAMAS

Unfortunately, Day Four started a little earlier than planned when we were awaken by a 2:30 room service call. We, of course, did not order room service. We were fast asleep at that time (until the delivery arrived). We headed back to bed until about 10:00.

After waking up, we grabbed breakfast on Lido and got into some decent clothes for the day. We toured the island on foot for a while and stopped into an internet café for thirty minutes of catching up to what’s going on in the real world. Afterwards, we came back to the ship for lunch (pizza and sandwiches).

 

 

 

We walked back onto the island and headed back to some of the shops to look for some opportunities to add to our shot glass collection. We were successful in doing so, as well as picking up a few free items from some of the shops, along with a couple cigars.

We took the opportunity to take a few trips down the slide (who says it isn’t for big kids too?) while the ship was relatively empty.

 

[gsu_paintballer]

DAY FIVE – FUN DAY AT SEA

We didn’t do much at all on this sea day. We mainly used it as a day to recover from our experiences. We went to the Newlywed game and spent the day napping or roaming around.

 

 

 

 

 

FINAL THOUGHTS AND SUMMARY

We were both WELL PLEASED with the service on the ship. Our steward greeted us EVERY TIME we left our room, as he was always in the hall. Our waiter addressed us by name each night and was a generally happy person to be around. All (almost) of the crew members throughout the ship made it a very pleasant experience. The only exception to the great attitude among the staff was the pizza guy. He had a terrible attitude. He did, however, have good pizza, so I overlooked it .

 

As I said earlier, we were well pleased with out accommodations. The room was of good size and had everything we needed. There was a good deal of movement in the Palace Lounge (forward) and Coconut Grove (aft), but our midship Riviera cabin experienced almost zero movement throughout the entire cruise. No problems at all here.

 

I’ll get slammed for this, but the Warm Chocolate Melting Cake is pretty bad. It was good once throughout the cruise, but most of the time it was unpleasant. I gave it several tries, because I didn’t want to give up on it with the good reviews that I’d heard.

 

Debarkation was quite fast, as we did self-assist (thanks CC for letting me know you could actually do this). Naturally, people crowded in the elevator area early, but it wasn’t a terribly experience. There was some complaining and whining from multiple people, but we made it out alive. Once down the stairs, we merely scanned our card, walked off the gangway, handed over our customs form, and headed out. It was extremely simple and quick.

 

All in all, it was a wonderful experience, and we WILL do it again!

 

Thanks for all of the information that you've shared with us as first time cruisers.

[TnTnFlorida]

Thanks for the review! We will be on Fascination on September 28th.:D

[gsu_paintballer]

Thanks for the review! We will be on Fascination on September 28th.:D

 

You should love it.

 

Watch out for the pizza guy though :eek:

[TnTnFlorida]

Thanks! DH and I love ballroom dancing. Were there many opportunities for dancing?

[gsu_paintballer]

Thanks! DH and I love ballroom dancing. Were there many opportunities for dancing?

 

ABSOLUTELY.

 

She begged me to go, but I am no dancer :o

[TnTnFlorida]

Oh, you don't know what you are missing! Look for a local dance studio...Arthur Murray or Fred Astair... and see if they have a trial package. They are used to people walking in who know absolutely nothing, and this is an activity the two of you can share clear into your old age! (This would be a wonderful surprise for your sweety!;))

[jus4fun]

Thanks for the review. I am counting the days. My DH and I will be on the Fascination, 8/31 and we can not wait.

[Gater Girl]

That was the most cheerful Review! I think that is what makes Carnival so much fun....the Guests who have a good time..make lemons out of lemonade...and are just delightful to be around. You and Your girlfriend are two such people.

 

I hope you and your girlfriend consider a longer cruise. And You make me...want to cruise on the Fascination!!

[cuted126]

Glad you had a great time! Me and my DH will be sailing her in about 36 days!! I cannot wait!

[dancindukes]

Your review and your PIX are great. We have traveled LOTS and we will be doing this same trip as our 4th Carnival Cruise. The pix of the 2 of you with the sea at your back is just beautiful. Blow it up wall size and put it in your living room. It is one of the best I've ever seen.

 

Keep traveling the world. It's one of the greatest pleasures you can have.

 

10 countries down and lots more to go! ----- Dancindukes

[gsu_paintballer]

That was the most cheerful Review! I think that is what makes Carnival so much fun....the Guests who have a good time..make lemons out of lemonade...and are just delightful to be around. You and Your girlfriend are two such people.

 

I hope you and your girlfriend consider a longer cruise. And You make me...want to cruise on the Fascination!!

 

We definitely had a great time. We're looking into a Caribbean cruise for next Summer. By then, she will have graduated and I'll have one semester left (she's older than me :o)

 

Glad you had a great time! Me and my DH will be sailing her in about 36 days!! I cannot wait!

 

You'll love it

 

Your review and your PIX are great. We have traveled LOTS and we will be doing this same trip as our 4th Carnival Cruise. The pix of the 2 of you with the sea at your back is just beautiful. Blow it up wall size and put it in your living room. It is one of the best I've ever seen.

 

Keep traveling the world. It's one of the greatest pleasures you can have.

 

10 countries down and lots more to go! ----- Dancindukes

 

Thanks for the compliments. It's tough sometimes asking people to take a picture when you travel alone. On this trip it didn't seem that we bothered anyone when we asked and they generally offered to take multiple shots to be sure we found one we liked.