The Carnival Fascination was a great cruise for 1st timers. I have cruised before but my 3 companions had not. I have been on Carnival before on the same class of ship, and the layout and decore was the same, somewhat dated and gaudy. This ship does not have all the bells and whistles as the newer ships, but for 5 days was not a problem.
I sailed with 2 children age 11 and they used the children's programs a little and were able to sign themselves in and out as they pleased. Only issue was that their age group was sometimes lumped in with younger children which the 11 year olds did not enjoy. They tried the arcade but it is dated and had less than 10 games in it.
Hasbro the game show was great for families or any age, but there were only 2 shows and each show had 16 participants, so many kids were disappointed as they did not get a chance to play. We saw the family friendly comedians and their shows were both great! Adults and children both were laughing. We did not see any of the other shows.
We had two 2 person cabins. Single beds which can be converted into a king, beds very comfortable, flat screen TV and plenty of closet space. Of course the shower is tiny as usual, but was fine for 5 days.