Carnival Fascination Review

Half of our Huge Family Hits the Bahamas!

Review for the Bahamas Cruise on Carnival Fascination
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tandmindiana
First Time Cruiser • Age 20s

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Sail Date: Jan 2009
Traveled with children

My husband and I and five (of our 11) children flew into Jacksonville the day before our cruise. We had reservations at the Wingate by Wyndham Airport. There is a convenience phone near the baggage claim area from which we called the free hotel shuttle. Much to our relief, the shuttle was there very quickly. The hotel was nice and clean and we were happy to get our five restless children into the indoor/outdoor pool which is well-stocked with towels and thankfully warm (it was low 50s in Jacksonville). The complimentary breakfast which is described as continental was quite extensive with eggs, sausage, waffles, etc. We asked the front desk about a shuttle from the cruise port and found that the cheapest way would be a shocking $17 per person for a ten minute ride. We were not prepared for this after traveling to Tampa the previous year with our older kids where there is a flat rate of $20 total per cab between the airport and cruiseport. Thankfully, my parents were driving down from NC to join us on the cruise and they came by our hotel to pick us up.

JAXPORT is a temporary cruiseport. Though it is not as nice as Tampa, they were just as efficient in getting us through the embarkation process. My poor mother was jumped though for trying to get a family photo in the waiting area. Calm down, people!! There is a tactful way of pointing things out to good, paying customers.

I read that the Fascination had been refurbished and was expecting the same sort of dramatic changes that had been made on the Inspiration. We had sailed on the Inspiration in April '07 and after the improvements in April '08 and were very impressed. The only changes I noticed on the Fascination were new carpeting and bathrooms. Other than that, the children's pool area is looking a little faded and sad with rust here and there. And the same for the larger pool on the Lido deck. I must admit we were a little spoiled by the crew of the Inspiration. On both of our sailings every crew member we met was cheerful and helpful. Service on the Fascination is a little patchy. Our dinner waiter was fabulous. The ladies at the service desk were quite nice. The pool staff was far from cheerful including the bartender at the pool. A lot of the staff members seemed like they were just plain tired. We were disappointed the last evening at sea. We took the children up to play putt-putt but were turned away- they close early the last day. Hey! We're still on vacation! My husband's passport came up missing. We frantically tore the room apart looking for it and asked for help from our cabin steward. He just kept repeating "Go to the information desk."

Cabin Review

Cabin E

It was what we expected for the price range. It appeared clean until we started looking for my husband's passport and found heavy dust (and candy wrappers not belonging to us!) on the ledges above the bunks and under the dresser.

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