Carnival Fascination Review
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This was my very first cruise vacation and I am not sure what I expected so it is difficult to state if my exceptions were met or exceeded. My husband and I cruised on the Carnival Fascination out of San Juan. We chose this specific embarkation point because we wanted to spend a few days with friends that live in Puerto Rico. Because of the late departure time on June 26th, we were able to spend an entire day in San Juan before boarding to set sail on the rest of our Caribbean vacation. The Fascination is one of Carnival's older boats and from what I am told it is also smaller than a few other ships. For me, the size was perfect because I cannot imagine dealing with crowds larger than those that were on our cruise. I was thankful we chose the "Your time dining" as we were not always ready for meals at the same time each day. The unfortunate part is that on some days and for some meals, the dining room experience seemed to take quite a long time, however, I did prefer the dining room to the buffet meals. For several nights we had Ayu as our head server and she was phenomenal. What was even more impressive is that when she saw us away from the dining room, she remembered our names. We had other servers throughout the week and while they were all very professional and pleasant, none were as personable as Ayu.
The room stewards were also fantastic. Not sure of what the beverage prices would be on board, we pre-ordered some beer and soft drinks. For some reason, I thought the cabins had refrigerators and when I realized they didn't, I asked the steward for something to keep our in-room beverages chilled. Each time they serviced the room, we had fresh ice in the chilling bucket.
If I had one complaint it would be that it seemed that the meal choices once you returned fro a day in port were limited to burgers, hot dogs, chicken fingers, pizza and deli sandwiches. Also, the crew never seemed to be quite prepared for the return of the famished passengers after a day in port. This resulted in long lines and waits for the "lunch" meals. Also somewhat mind boggling was the price of the daily drink specials. The entire boat has the same "drink of the day" however, you could receive a $1 discount if you purchased your drink on the Lido deck. Speaking of beverages reminds me that it would be great if alcoholic drink packages could be purchased on an individual basis and not have to be purchased by everyone in the cabin. My husband does not drink anything alcoholic so I could not purchase the package for myself. It seems Carnival has already put other constraints around the program which would help eliminate program abuse.
Cabin Review
Port Reviews
San Juan
San Juan is full of activities for all ages. We went a few days ahead and stayed a few days afterwards and still have not seen or experienced it all. Excellent night life as well.
Barbados
Of course, the blue water and palm trees makes any place spectacular. However, just as we did in other ports, took a taxi-like tour of the area. We felt overly pressured to be crammed into a little mini bus for several hours. When we explained to the taxi dispatcher that we did not want to be crammed in like sardines, he offered us a driver for 4 passengers which we thought would be perfect. We had a bit of a scare as the driver tried to solicit additional passengers on her way out of the port area--all four of us protested and we had to listen to the driver explain how the vehicle is capable of 8 passengers--NO WAY, not in that vehicle and not in that heat. Fortunately the other passengers declined. We did not get a real taste of the island from the so called tour
St. Maarten
We are definitely returning to St. Maarten. This was hands down our favorite island. We did not feel harassed when we left the ship and were able to make an informed decision on where we wanted to visit and to take a taxi directly there. What made it more perfect is that we got to preview a future vacation site that is owned by the same company that owns our Aruba timeshare.
St. Lucia
I always wanted to visit St Lucia and now I am not sure I will stay for any length of time. We took a taxi guided tour of the Pitons, the sulphur baths, and the volcano and we found that all so amazing. Other than those sites, I am not sure there is much more from a tourist perspective to see. We know there are other water, hiking, and horseback riding activities and perhaps if we were to visit again, we could partake in some of those activities.
St. Thomas
We did not take a cruise sponsored excursion but toured the island with a local taxi driver with others from the ship. We found St. Thomas to be a lovely island in which the locals are extremely proud of their home. St. Thomas is an island I would love to visit again for a longer stay.