The Introduction: I am a 24 year old male in the public service field. This was my fourth cruise with Carnival, and my fifth overall. My girlfriend and I found this cruise on Carnival's website in the Specials section. We booked five days before the cruise, so it was a spur of the moment vacation. We paid $158.00 per person for an interior room, mid ship on the Riviera Deck. We drove down to Miami on Sunday, the day before sailing, and stayed the night at the Downtown Miami Radisson.

The Embarkation: We arrived at the cruise terminal around 10:00 am. We had to wait for awhile because they weren't ready to load the ship. By noon, we had checked in, gotten our room keys and were on the ship. The rooms were still being cleaned, so we had lunch in the Coconut Grove restaurant on the lido deck. The embarkation went smooth, and wasn't crowded since we got there so early.

The Ship: I had never been on the Fascination before, although I have been on two other Fantasy-class ships (Sensation, Inspiration) so I was familiar with the ships' layout. The Fascination was recently dry docked and the cabins were extensively remodeled. The cabins now have flat screen TVs, and new sinks and floors in the bathroom. They installed new cabinets, bunks (where applicable), lighting, wall coverings and a totally redone desk area. I was very impressed with the new look of the cabins; it gave the room a much more luxurious and modern feel. The exterior of the ship was freshly painted and looked great. This ship also has one of the new mini golf courses on the sun deck. While the ship is moving the wind hampers play, but the games we played in port were very fun. Kudos to Carnival, the golf course is much more useful than the shuffle board courts it replaced. The ship was very clean and well kept, and I liked the decorations more than those on the Inspiration and the Sensation. My one major complaint deals with the renovations to the spa. They removed the two hot tubs that sat between the steam/sauna rooms and replaced them with an exercise bike room. I really enjoyed those tubs on the other ships because they were rarely crowded, and never had any children in them. Other than the deletion of the hot tubs, the spa looked fantastic. It had new showers, sinks and a really fancy entrance area. Overall, I was very impressed with the look and condition of the Fascination. It shows that when polished, the Fantasy-class ships can still be very nice vessels. Read more