Boarding the ship was pretty easy for us. We stayed at the Holiday Inn on Blount Island a 5 min drive away from the JaxPort and had the cruise package which is much cheaper than parking at the port and having a hotel stay the night before.
To get to the point of it all...this was an OK cruise. The best thing about our cruise is we had an Aft Balcony cabin (U243). Now I know why "once an aftie always an aftie." This is bar none the very best place to be on this ship. The view is so cool and we really spent a lot of time in our cabin because there really was no need to go anywhere on this ship to have a better view.
The food has gone down I'm afraid. It did not "wow" us. First of all it was clearly cheap menu offering for the main dining room. Flank steak and puny, rubbery lobster tail just does not cut it. The cold soups were good. Cabin service was OK, had to ask for ice. Bed was really WORN out. Twin beds put together and had a curve in the middle of each twin.
If you are booking a balcony cabin on Fascination the VERY BEST is the aft ext balcony cabins. We had U243 and it was breathtaking.