My husband and I were looking for a 4-5 night getaway for his 40th/our 6 year wedding anniversary. This past week we traveled from Jacksonville, FL to Nassau & Freeport, Bahamas on board Carnival Fascination! We had a GREAT time!! We definitely would not consider ourselves "cruisers" so we did not have all that much to compare it to - as we did hear a lot of fellow guests say they found this particular ship to be VERY small compared to other ships in the Carnival Fleet. But here are our thoughts: We ate in Sensation Dining Room every night (open time seating from 545 - 930pm) we LOVED the food here- almost every single item was outstanding! I have a gluten sensitivity, and if you have any allergies/food issues, DEFINITELY tell them, as they brought me the menu for the next day every evening, and let me choose whatever I wanted for them to make sure it was gluten free! Also, if you have never cruised, a tip that you can order NUMEROUS appetizers, numerous entree's and numerous desserts off the menu! This was soothing we didn't know until the 3rd night! We were very happy with our stateroom, and the staff everywhere were super friendly and very helpful! The buffet and outdoor "grill" food eateries were good - definitely nothing to write home about EXCEPT the "Pizza Bar" -- PHENOMENAL - just be prepared to wait in long lines, but I promise you it will be worth it (and they even have gluten free pizza)!! The shows on board were really good … we really liked "DIVAS" but the "MOTOR CITY" (motown) was AMAZING!! I absolutely LOVED our Cruise Director George … he was the cutest and funniest little English gay fella I've ever seen! We also found out during the Q & A session we attended with him that he and his fiancé met on board and plan on getting married next July in Disney (his fiancé is also part of the entertainment team - and is a cutie as well)! My husband and I got involved in the 90's Trivia (which was SO fun), Karaoke, Bingo (cost money), Foot Analysis, and we saw the Comedy Shows (hilarious), Game Shows, and saw the Divas & Motown Performances - highly recommend ALL of these things! But - the absolute BEST thing by far that we participated in on the ship was the "Chef's Table" dinner. Unlike ANYTHING we had ever done … it was such a fabulous experience! It's $75 a person - but worth every penny! A private tour of the Galley and meeting the chefs, a 7 course meal plus appetizers and UNLIMITED champagne, red and white wine - PLUS - it's a private dinner with only a few other people and it's a great way to have some quality time with fellow passengers - we had a wonderful group and hung out with some of them throughout the rest of the cruise! The downside of the trip we would say - we had nasty weather in Nassau and in Freeport - we booked our excursions through "Shore Exursions.com" - not through the ship - and we were pretty happy with both of the tours we took. Many of the excursions got canceled due to weather … and overall, the two stops in Bahamas were FINE … we were probably a little disappointed in Nassau. Lastly, it was disappointing that SO many things cost extra money .. Bingo, Fitness Classes, Bottles of Water, Cappuccinnos, Latte's, etc. The coffee on board was pretty awful - so I would highly recommend spending the extra money in "Bogart's Cafe" - as I started off with a delis cappuccino from here every morning! Overall, the cruise itself was EXTREMELY affordable, and the majority of the guests on board reflected that demographic … unfortunately, with the money you end up spending on board (which we understand is similar to most cruises) the end result really isn't what you THINK you are spending on the trip. They also conveniently wait until the last night (after midnight) to slip your final bill under the door! Overall we would give this experience a "B" rating - and we would definitely recommend it to others!!
We were pleasantly surprised with our cabin - as we thought we would just have a port hole type window, but we had a very large window in our room. The service done on our cabin everyday was outstanding. Everytime we left our room it seemed like it was cleaned. We were told by other cruisers who have cruised on other Carnival ships that these staterooms were very small … but we were very satisfied with our cabin! We were on the 4th deck of the ship … although the Letters & Numbered floors were a little confusing … the elevators also were not the best. We took the stairs most of the time to balance out all of the delicious food we were eating!