Carnival Fantasy Review
Great cruise except for the last day of bad weather
Rating by category
Additional details
Leaving from Charleston saved us quite a bit of money by not having to purchase air fare. We decided to stay in the Hampton Inn right across the bridge because they offered a parking and transportation package. This turned out to be really good for us because we were able to board the ship quite quickly and not have to worry about parking the car. Because we booked a suite we were able to enter the fast line for boarding. The only problem we had was the camera was broken at the check-in desk so when we went upstairs we had to have them take our photo for the sign and sail which seemed to confuse them a bit. The walkway up to the boat is also quite long and steep but hey, I needed the workout anyway.
Once on the boat our room was already prepared so we dropped off the bags that we carried on board and went to the lido deck for something to eat. The standard buffet fair was out, burgers, dogs, chicken fingers but they also had a stir fry wok that my wife really enjoyed. The burger was quite tasty as well. The boat wasn't too crowded yet. We opted in for the cheers package which gave us up to 15 drinks per day. If you are even a moderate drinker I'd suggest looking into this as depending on what you drink it could pay for itself with as little as 5 drinks per day. We got the bubbles package for our 8 year old but it was a waste as he mostly drank water all week.
We checked out the water park before we left port. My son had a blast and the lines weren't too long. They were longer for the twisty slide than the racing slides which turned out to be ok because he said the racing slides were faster anyway. It was windy on deck so there were plenty of chairs available for us to sit while he played. After about an hour we went to back to our room to prepare to muster.
Cabin Review
V26 is a nice suite on the 11th deck, veranda. We had 3 people in there, 2 adults and one 8 year old. The steward left the couch made into a bed at our request for the entire week which was nice if we wanted to come back as a family and nap or read. The bathroom was spacious enough but there was a big problem with the hot water, it was too hot! Most mornings if you didn't get up early enough your shower was scalding hot. One morning I actually was in the shower and soaped up only to have the water turn crazy hot on me. I ended up scooping handfuls of water from the sink onto myself to complete my shower.The balcony is small but nice to be able to go outside for coming into and going out of ports. There are two chairs and a small table out there. If it is windy outside there is some noise from the door, sounds like a high pitched whistling. We did hear some conversations through the walls if they were loud. You could hear people running up and down the hallways as well but we didn't hear anything from above or below. One night during the broadway show I heard some bass from the sound system but it wasn't enough to keep me from falling asleep.The proximity to Lido deck was nice as there were no stairs involved to get to the pool area. The flip side of this is that you're 3 or 4 decks up from the rest of the action. The other problem is that I think the height of this deck made our crazy weather day that much more worse as the motion of the boat in rough seas if VERY pronounced!I think next time I will try the grand suites on the lower deck.