So we just returned from a cruise on the Fantasy. We experienced both positive and negative aspects of the ship and staff: PROS: 1) friendly staff. We rarely encountered our steward and didn’t need any additional assistance, but it was nice to have the bed made and clean towels. The staff was nice and it was apparent that they kept the ship clean despite its shortcomings. 2) delicious food. The dining room had great selections. We are huge fans of the American Table series. There were a few duds, but the crab cakes were delicious!!!! 3) bartenders. The bartenders at the atrium bar were attentive and remembered our specific preferences. CONS 1) the ship is gross. The ship is the oldest in the fleet and it shows. The seats in the universe lounge have a musty smell and the rooms need serious TLC. The fake wood contact paper was peeling. There were poorly repaired holes in the walls. There was a red chair rail that runs the length of the room (I think to disguise cords for the lights, maybe). Under this the wall was moldy and disgusting. This was about 2 feet from my face as I slept so I felt gross. The bathrooms need a deep clean/refurb. When it dry docks in January I TRULY hope they completely gut the rooms because they need it! 2) our room stunk. Our room always smelled like fuel or sewage. According to a mechanic, this was due to the opening of the lines and could not be avoided. If you’re around the middle of the ship, you may experience this. Pretty bad- we knew we were getting close to our room from about 50 feet out. 3) sometimes there isn’t a lot going on. I wish there were more shows or offerings. We didn’t want to play bingo or go to arthritis seminars so sometimes there were limited offerings. Overall, we had a good time, I just wish the ship was in better shape. We may wait and see what the repairs look like or use another carrier out of mobile. This boat is not for us as it currently stands. Carnival- PLEASE make this ship clean and updated! Its sooo rusty and old when compared to others docked in Cozumel! Read Less

I love Carnival, but this cruise was my least favorite. Wonderful ship and destinations. I ordered the "faster to fun" $79dollars. They don't honor it on the fantasy they said it only works if you have tender ports? Gave me a phone number just for faster to fun package they told me that I can't use number due to I have "any time dining" I asked for refund was told no. Waste of money for faster to fun only on the fantasy. I killed cockroach in dining room, room M192 was only to be cleaned if we left room from 8-12 steward said after 12 room wouldn't be cleaned and he could give me shorter time to be out of room all or nothing, did come to agreement that I could call him and let him know we left for are 2hr breakfast. We cruise a lot and would take carnival again just not on the fantasy. Read Less

This was the first cruise ever for my husband, 11 year-old, 9 year-old, and me. Having researched the Fantasy extensively ahead of time, I already knew it was the oldest ship in the Carnival fleet, that the decor would be outdated, and that the ship was one of the smallest. If decor and asthetics are important to you, you will want to pick a different ship. Those things are not important to us, however, and we believe we can make our own fun no matter where we go, so we made the 12-hour drive from Indiana to cruise on the Fantasy. We LOVED it. Everything you’re reading about the friendly and accommodating staff is absolutely true. It seems like they never sleep and are always smiling. They made our kids feel special and they treated us like family - i have nothing but high praise for all of the staff we encountered during our five days on the ship. The food is just fine - it's better that what i can cook at home, so no complaints here. I wasn't expecting a five-star buffet, so i wasn’t disappointed. My kids had at least 15 ice cream cones a day. The bottomless bubbles for the kids so i didn't have to listen to them ask me for soda all week was priceless. My husband and i were happy with the tea and lemonade, and a few cocktails a day. Shout out to Denzil and Jorge in the Jubilee dining room for ridiculously amazing service every single night! We had a room with two upper pullmans and a king bed. I wanted to throw myself overboard a few times because of the sheer CLOSENESS with the fam in that one room, but it’s not Carnival’s fault I had to watch Teen Titans Go every night before bed. Next time we’ll get two rooms and that will solve that problem! Beds were comfy, not a alot of storage space but we got creative and made it work. Huge props to El for being the best cabin steward of all times, and greeting us by name every time she saw us - in room or out. Entertainment was plentiful and there was never a time where something wasn’t going on. I plopped myself in a deck chair by the pool from 8am - 5pm and read all day, but the rest of the fam went to shows, towel animal-folding demonstrations, learned the Thriller dance, met the cruise director, watched Black Panther, did some trivia, attending a stretch class, and played giant chess. Keeping the extroverts AND introverts happy at the same time = worth every penny. Embark and debark was organized. If you’re patient and you follow the instructions, you’ll be on and off in no time. We did the catamaran/snorkeling excursion in Costa Maya, and it was perfect for beginner through advanced snorkelers, and included time at a beach (with free drinks!) afterwards. We did the dolphin ride at Dolphinaris in Cozumel and THAT was magical. (Pro tip: i booked that excursion directly through the Dolphinaris website and saved about 70% off the Carnival price. We received the same experience that our fellow cruisers received, including free lunch and free drinks! The only thing we had to do separtely was grab a taxi.) The pool IS small. The ship IS old. But there is way more good than bad on this ship. If you’re looking for something to complain about, you’ll find it, but if you’re looking to relax and enjoy yourself, i think you’ll find that too. Read Less

We chose this cruise because it departed for Mobile(only an hour from home) and we were interested in relaxing on the cruise and not planning on getting off the ship for excursions. The ship is one of the smallest in Carnival's fleet, which was a plus since my wife cant walk long distances. We enjoyed the friendliness of the crew and the lack of the crowds that can be overwhelming on the larger ships. The entertainment was excellent considering the small theater and limited number of other venue's The main complaint I had was the food. I found that the dining room selections were more limited that on previous cruises on the Carnival Dream and Conquest. Even on Elegant night, the Entree's did not include Lobster tail and Filet Minion as was included on previous cruises, although Lobster tails were offered for an additional fee. I also found the preparation was not very good with most of my dinners overcooked and dried out and the steak was mealy and grizzly. While the Wait staff was for the most part friendly and helpful, I found the pace of dinner extremely slow, which probably the reason most entree's arrived cold. During breakfast in the dining room, I usually received my toast 5-10 minutes before I received my eggs, which were overcooked 2 out of 5 mornings. Another issue was people "Vaping" in the passageways and on the pool and Serenity decks. Even when crew members observed the "Vaping" they said nothing. Overall I enjoyed the cruise and am considering taking another on the fantasy in the not to distant future. I do hope that Carnival will work on improving the food service Read Less

If this was our first cruise I would have never gone on another! Still may not! This ship was awful. Sewer was constantly backing up, and all public restrooms at least 1 or 2 toilets that were out of order. The paint was falling off the walls, room smelled like smoke, rust on rails, elevators overcrowded. ONLY ONE TINY POOL. It was so crowded that we didn't even to use it. Same as the hot tubs. Did not enforce children to stay out of the serenity deck as well. So those hot tubs were crowded as well. "Fun Squad" was to busy having there own private staff parties to keep quest entertained. Never been bored on a cruise ship but by the last night of only a 4-day cruise, we were so boars that we just went to sleep early. None of the food except for burger place had any flavor and most of the bread and desserts were stale. Also, this boat rocked so much that I had to put a pillow beside me in bed because I was afraid that I would roll off. The waves were not that hight, and I even asked several of the staff if this was normal and they all said it was they just get used to it. There was a couple of good staff members such as our housekeeper and a few more. Debarkation was DISORGANIZED. The cruise director (who was nothing like the others we have had in the past.) was announced for us to go to one place, and when we got there they were told up to go somewhere else. Please keep in mind that most of the elevators were being used by staff for bags so we had to continue to walk up and down stairs. When I asked where we were supposed to go the employee told me he didn't know that I should have gone to the meeting. I am sorry but I'm on vacation I'm not going to a meeting that's what I pay them for. I will definitely rethink Carnival from now on. I was not the only one there were sooo many other people talking about how awful this ship was. Read Less

Our family choose to sail out of the Port of Mobile because it was close to home and we wanted a quick get away to Mexico following the 4th of July. Embarkation at the port was great: We took a shuttle from the Holiday Inn Downtown on Government Street in Mobile, so we did not have to deal with parking. Showed our boarding passes to get in the building. Boarding passes and Proof of Citizen Ship at the first stop, quick pass through security, on to the check-in desk where our Sign and Sail cards were already printed. Took quick S&S pictures for the file and off we went to board. Quick and easy. The shuttle dropped us off at about 11:20 and I believe we were on board by 11:40. Staff: The entire staff on board was great; I love that our Steward Randy knew our faces when we passed in the halls and he kept our towels fresh. He also delivered a coupon for $12 at Pixels because we were celebrating an anniversary. Didn't have much interaction with the Cruise Director or any one particular bartender. I can say that Mina, one of the pool servers was excellent. The dinning room staff was nice and attentive; we had anytime dining so we never had the same serving team - I did not like this, for me, getting to know the team is part of the experience, which you don't get with unassigned dinning. I loved the young lady at Camp Ocean, who's name I didn't get. She was spunky and fun and knew my son's face without needing a reminder. Entertainment: To be honest, we only attended two show, becuase we'd already seen the others that were offered. Country Roads was pretty bad, a poor representation of what the performers thought a "country personality" is. One or Two performers had amazing voices, and a few were great dancers. As for the ship herself: She is dated - very dated. This is not a complaint, none of the furniture was in disrepair or uncomfortable, but the decore was faded, and in some places looked like it had been updated and no longer matched the "classical" theme of the ship. One of the main staircases on the Lido deck was closed due to missing stairs; major safety hazard as it was just roped off with caution tape. The same caution tape appeared a few days later on the Sun deck along with "floor to ceiling" wood panels that covered some of the observation windows. Almost every public restroom that I encountered had 1-2 toilets that were out of service. Many of the toilets have an automatic flushing system installed, but they don't work and still have to be manually flushed. The sinks have major chips around the edges of the bowls. Cabin: Our bed was very uncomfortable, I could feel the springs in my side each night. The room wasn't hot, but it certainly didn't get cold - bring a fan. There's still only one outlet in the room, and a blow dryer was not provided. The blowdryer was a surprise, we traveled the Paradise 6 months before, in the same cabin catagory and had one. No refridgerator. It wasn't a bad cruise, again, the service was amazing. But I feel this ship desperatly needs to go to dry-dock. Read Less

This was our first cruise! It by far was the best vaction we ever had! The food was delicious! We never imagined so much food! The burgers were so good! The dining staff in the main dining room was amazing! They danced with the kids and provided excellent service! Ben the cruise director was wonderful and kept us entertained the entire time and very up to date on everything going on the whole time! Our room Steward Ed Marc was amazing I can not say enough good things about him! This was my 40th birthday cruise and he left me a 50 dollar spa gift card and gift card for pixels to get some photos! The whole vacation was amazing I just can't say enough good things about all the amazing staff! We definately will be sailing on the Fantasy again! I can't wait until our next cruise! Simply amazing! Read Less

My husband and I booked the 4-Day Cruise out of Mobile to Cozumel as an anniversary getaway and loved every minute of it. We showed up a few minutes before our scheduled boarding time and couldn't have had an easier experience going through security and on to the ship. We had an oceanview room with a king sized bed - the room (bathroom included) was a perfect size for just the two of us. I had expected much smaller accommodations and smaller bathroom but was pleasantly surprised. There is PLENTY of closet storage space in the room too. While the ship may be older they absolutely make the most of what they have. There are constantly people cleaning and making sure it looks it best. They also drain and scrub down the pool each night. We stayed on the boat instead of doing an excursion in Cozumel and LOVED having the pool all to ourselves. The food was pretty good - not the best we've had but definitely not terrible. Pretty much everything on the breakfast buffet was great - and Guy's Burgers are fantastic. The Dining Room food was always presented beautifully but tended to be a little hit-or-miss. The soups were always surprisingly good. SERVICE was 100% top-notch in every way. Always helpful and kind whether it was your room steward or wait staff in a restaurant. We would absolutely book this cruise again and already look forward to the next time we go. If you are simply looking to relax and enjoy, this is a great vacation. Read Less

I chose this cruise because mobile Alabama port only about 5 and a 1/2 hours from my home. I was a little nervous and hesitant about sailing on a smaller older ship but I have to say I was pleasantly surprised. I had a great time and so did my kids.Parking at the mobile port was a breeze. I did notice that check in lines works greenly long and we arrived around 12 o'clock. We did have priority boarding however because my daughter recently had foot surgery and was using a knee scooter to get around So we got on the ship fairly quickly. We stayed and I ocean view room and I was surprised with how large the room was compared to other ships I have been on. Previously have only stayed in interior staterooms. The beds were comfortable and the room was clean. Breakfast buffet was good But the other buffet items were so so. I mostly ate at the blue iguana and guys burgers and fries for the majority of the cruise. My 7 year old daughter utilize the kids club and she thoroughly enjoyed it and she absolutely loved the water slides at the back of the ship. The ship never felt crowded to me I was always able to find a deck chair with no problem. Even the lines for buffet and other restaurants were not too bad at all. This particular cruise had a much different vibe from other cruises I've gone on which I've only embarked from Florida previously. Lots of Southern people and country music being played. I really enjoyed Enjoyed the country road production. This was a great cruise and I look forward to sailing on the fantasy again in the future. Read Less

We choose this cruise for the Mexico destinations. The ship was smaller than the ones I had been on before. The buffet food was not very good. Even the assigned dining at night was not impressive. The free drinks are horrible. ( Tea, Lemonade, coffee ) But that is with all the ships we have been on. The pool area was not large enough, and we never got a chance to get in. Same way with the hot tub. Way too many people in both. We had to ask for fresh towels in our room. The room may of gotten half cleaned twice in 5 days. The staff was nice, but seemed over worked. The picture racket they have going, borders on harassment. Every time you turn around someone is taking your picture, on the ship and off the ship. I spent over $500.00 on pictures alone. My wife and kids just had to have the memory pictures. They need to cut back on this some. So much for the all inclusive cruise. With tips, drinks, casino, excursions & pictures. You will double what the cruise tickets cost you. Read Less