Carnival Fascination Review
Rating by category
Additional details
Not having cruised before, one of my "cruise snob" friends told me that I would love Carnival because I didn't have anything better to compare it to. Because the cruises are so much cheaper than the more fancy lines, I agree that you don't get all the frills. But it's still a great value - nice room, all you can eat food, non-stop entertainment, and transportation to great locations.
My experience began with my fantastic Carnival vacation planner who was very helpful getting the best prices, cabin location, etc. She even provided us with a seven page "secrets and tips" document which was so valuable to us as first-time cruisers.
Embarkation was relatively painless. We stayed near the airport and our motel let us park there for free and a shuttle picked us up and brought us back for $18 round trip. Much cheaper than parking at the port.
Cabin Review
Our cabin was an ocean view, although the window was extremely dirty. It had plenty of room with double closets, but almost no hangers - we brought our own. The bathroom was more than adequate and everything was kept spotless. We were right across from the mid-ship elevators/stairs, which got a little noisy at times. One morning at 2 a.m. I had to put on my Mom voice and send some middle schoolers on their way because they had sat down in the hallway to gossip and giggle loudly. But most of the time it was relatively quiet.