We just returned from a five day cruise on the carnival fantasy to Freeport and Nassau and had a great experience with the ship, ports, and service. Dining was our only disappointment.

The boat - We were pleasantly surprised by the "aging" vessel and had perhaps over compensated for some lackluster prior reviews. The ship has a very retro, "90s Vegas" feel. Lots of neon colors and strip lights, it reminded me of the old Flamingo Hilton, but everything seemed very well maintained (One port day, they were replacing a bunch of the carpet, which hadn't even looked all that shabby before.) Very clean. Our cruise did not seem to be pushing capacity, comparatively few kids onboard, and usually space on the serenity deck except perhaps in the early afternoon.

Stateroom - We chose a porthole room on Riviera Deck at the front of the boat. These porthole rooms were the same price as an interior room when we booked, and it was a great upgrade. The room is 185 sq ft, so it's basically just enough room to walk around the king size bed, but more space honestly than we anticipated with three closets (one is mostly taken up by safety equipment). The portholes are small, but the natural light and sense of time of day were welcome. Our cabin steward, Budiarta, was excellent. There was noise in our room only when we were docking in the ports, which I think is felt all over the ship anyway. Very quiet. Read more