We chose this cruise because we had not gone out of Mobile yet and it fit our schedule perfectly. As platinum level cruisers on Carnival we seldom deviate and look forward to becoming Diamond. Embarkation was smoothe and easy our room was ready when we boarded and parking was easy. This ship used to sail out of Charleston which is only a few hours from our house and we have been on it three other times so we thought we knew what to expect. That being said we were in for a surprise. Time and cost cuts by Carnival have not been kind to the Fantasy.

The ship is showing its age and in spite of the hard work by the staff it just seemed dingy and the bathrooms were not in good shape at all. In addition they had an awful time with the main dining room the first, giving out pagers for people to come back and be seated. In all of our cruises we have never seen the main dining room be such a failure. We decided to give it another shot on the second night and ended up with cold food and awful service. In all of my reviews I have always pointed out how great the food is and the awesome service we had in the Main Dining room and this time it was not the case. We ended up eating on Lido after leaving mid meal and did not return to the dining room.

The serenity deck was great with no chair hogs. The area set aside for Cigars was also great as it had great airflow and did not infringe on others and still allowed for great socialization. In some ways this cruise is part of the general trend on Carnival of worse food and service I wish they would just charge a ;little more and maintain there standards. Part of the problem with this cruise was that it was a 4 night and really attracted different type of cruiser then the week long cruises attract. Hopefully when we go on the Sunshine in March Carnival will return to level we expect but as of now I can not suggest the Fantasy unless your fantasy is to go on a ship that is past its time!