Nine of us embarked from Jacksonville on the Carnival Fascination. Embarkation was really quite smooth/easy. We arrived at noon, went through the line fairly quickly, and immediately went to the pool bar on the Lido deck. While on the Lido deck, an announcement notified everyone that all cabins would be ready at 1:30. We attempted to go sooner, but the doors to the hallways were closed. So, at 1:30 we headed down, changed into our bathing suits (we had packed 'em in our carry-on), and quickly headed back up to the pool bar.

The ship is in good shape, especially considering its age. It's one of the smallest I've been on, so that made it fairly easy to keep up with members of our group. I was surprised to find out we did not have voicemail on our cabin phones, though (although, I didn't really try too hard to figure it out, so it could've been there after all). The steward always kept our cabin very clean and tidy. We had a midship oceanview cabin on the Empress deck (I've gotta have a window, although I would prefer a balcony) and its location made it easy to get to everything. I could feel movement almost all the time (throughout the ship), but it was tolerable (kinda fun, actually).

The first dinner was "come as you are", and some (most) people did --- I was embarrassed for many. I'm not saying everyone should've dressed up, I'm just saying there's a level of self-respect that many of them lacked. It wasn't so bad at the other dinners, though. For the most part, the food was good, but there were a few ordinary items. On "elegant night" (they don't call it formal night anymore), two of the choices were lobster and prime rib. The lobster was very good, but the prime rib was extraordinary....the BEST I've ever had....it melted in my mouth. Speaking of "melting", the Chocolate Melting Cake was deeeee-lish too! I had read somewhere on Cruise Critic that punch is always available on the Lido deck, but I never could find it. Lemonade was all I could find, and I'm not a fan. Read more