My husband and I wanted to sail from a city close to us so we chose Carnival Fascination out of Jacksonville. Even though we both prefer the larger ships Carnival runs, the Fascination turned out to be a very good ship. It was clean and looked newly refurbished. The crew was extremely friendly and helpful and the guests were very happy and friendly as well.

One of the smartest things we did was to start our trip with Carnival's Faster To The Fun program (they classify it as an "excursion",) Faster To The Fun is one of the best $50 I have spent on a cruise line so far. From the moment we arrived at the terminal, we were treated like absolutely royalty, being moved to the front of every line, bags were at our door when we arrived at our cabin, our steward was there to greet us and make sure we had everything we needed.

Service was exceptional in every area, and although we typically get fantastic service to our room (I always present our room steward with a nice bag of chocolates and a thank you card with $20 at the BEGINNING of the cruise) every one of the Fascination crew members were helpful and ready to assist whenever needed. Read more