This was our fourth cruise, the third one with Carnival. During embarkation, the baggage screener threw out my empty water bottle, while she allowed water bottles for all the other 5 family members with me. That started off my cruise on the wrong footing. Guest Services: There was always a long line at guest services. I had to wait more than an hour. For the most part, they had only two people at the desk, at times only one, especially on the first day of the cruise when they would be expecting more guests at the guest services desk. Carnival Hub App: The app is great if it works. I paid extra for the ability to use the Chat feature to be able to communicate with the rest of my family. The chat did not work couple of times. When reported to the guest services, all they could say was that they have made a note of it. How difficult would it be for the technical staff to keep a tab on something as simple as an app and ensure that it is working at all times especially when guests depend on it to communicate Cabin: Cabin was great and the housekeeping crew did a good job. However if the lid on the toilet was kept open it would stink like urine all the time. Dining: The food variety on the Lido deck was mediocre, especially the desserts. The Sensation room dining staff seems to be overworked or busy to interact with guests. Some wait staff were simply rude or uninterested,, whereas others were great.So it was a mixed bag. Entertainment : Entertainment was so-so. The cast and performances lacked quality. Considering the ethnic diversity in the demographics of the guest, the main entertainment cast lacked diversity. Some of the fun staff were rude and acted more like celebrities than fun staff. Port and Shore excursions: The saving grace for us was the number of ports on this itinerary and the shore excursions which were good. Overall, other than the ports and excursions it was a very mediocre experience. We had cruised last year on a different cruise liner to Alaska. We did not feel like leaving that cruise ship, but on this one we were so looking forward to go back home. Read Less

This was a 70th birthday celebration cruise. I don't eat of any reason why this cruise other than the great stops. This was a great cruise! Boat was kind of old fashioned compared to my other cruises on Norwegian. Boat needs to be retired. Our cruise director Mel was the best compared to other cruises. Her energy was awesome, we look to see where she was gonna be and followed her around. She was that good. Mel interacted with everyone one. We have never seen a cruise director like Mel. Mel and our cabin Stewart made our cruise an awesome one. Dining Staff at table 311 was awesome with Candy, one of our waitress was exceptionally awesome. We look forward to seeing her each night. Even when someone did not like what they ordered, Candy never showed an unhappy face she went up and beyond to make everyone happy. Candy made us all take part in the dining room entertainment, she just have that spirit to make everyone happy. My 6yr old loved camp Ocean and cried even when we got back to New York. Ms Thunder made his time there at camp ocean unforgettable. On another note there was not enough for my 16yr old according to him. He loved the karaoke but got upset when he had to leave at 9:30 , for him that was too early, Carnival Fascintion cruise was an awesome one because of all the people I mentioned in my review Read Less

We chose this cruise because we live in the Caribbean, and wanted an opportunity to explore other islands, and this was by far the most affordable option. We live in Barbados, and this particular cruise makes a round trip to and from the island, eliminating the need for a flight. Getting on and off the ship was a painless experience, and both the Carnival staff and the customs and immigration officers who work at the port are pleasant, efficient and professional. Beware of San Juan though - the immigration process was a lengthy wait. THE SHIP Being first time cruisers, we didn’t know what to expect, but it only took us a few hours to acclimatise to the new surroundings and get our sea legs. The Carnival staff were helpful, wearing “ask me” shirts for the entirety of the first day to ensure all the guests could ask their questions without feeling awkward approaching about staff members. The ship itself is on the smaller side, only made abundantly clear when we were docked next to another cruise liner, but this meant it was more manageable to navigate! The decor was a bit outdated, but the public areas were always clean and inviting. They have so many activities going on at the same time, and they make do with the space they have, so don’t be surprised when you’re walking in the hallway and have to make your way through a crowd of people listening to a band playing IN the walkway itself. CABIN We selected a twin bed cabin with an ocean view and it was the perfect size for two people. The layout of the room maximized the space and it did not feel cramped at all. There was plenty of storage space and the bed was very comfortable; a welcome sight after a long day exploring. The windows were clean and with minimal sea salt on the outside, so we could take a picture of the sunrise or sunset or port of call through the window without seeing any little smears. (Perfect for when you’re feeling lazy and don’t want to leave your bed). The towel creations were cute and the steward assigned to us was awesome at making the room feel like a fresh new start every day. Before we even met him, he knew our names and throughout the cruise would make a point to greet us if we saw him out and about. Very friendly and pleasant. ENTERTAINMENT and SHORE EXCURSIONS Our cruise director on board the Fascination was Mel, who was a young lady with boundless energy - the definition of hype. She was part of the fun team, and did a great job at making sure all the entertainment was engaging and enjoyable. Every day, a “fun times” package is slipped under your door with the activities planned for the following day, and there is something for everyone. Art auctions. Bingo. Karaoke. Dance parties. Trivia. Casino. Comedy nights. Board games. And these are the planned events. There are many more things to do just by walking around the ship - giant chess, pool, spa, mini golf, water slides and even a small library if you want a quiet moment to read. But as much as there is to do ON the ship, we booked this cruise to experience the islands, and there was something exciting on every island that we visited. So many options of shore excursions to appeal to people of all ages and particularities. You want to ATV across the island? Check. Take a bus tour? Check. Lie on a beach? Check. Swim with turtles or dolphins or rays? Check. Zip line? Check. Shop? You bet. We enjoyed all of our ports of call, and while it’s out of Carnival’s control, the guide really does make a huge difference re: the quality of the tour. The shore excursions are locally operated and the companies work with the cruise line, so while Carnival makes the connection for you, they don’t have control over the individual who takes you on the tour. It’s the luck of the draw who takes you out to visit the island, so cross your fingers for a good guide! Because we embarked in Barbados, the shore excursions did not show up on the carnival website when we booked, so do not be alarmed if this is the case for you. When you board, you can book on the ship, with low chance of the tours being filled. Also, because we boarded in Barbados, the carnival app did not work throughout our entire trip - “technical difficulties”. Hopefully they fix this soon. DINING There are several dining options included in the ticket price - both casual and slightly more upscale. The buffet, pizza, deli, burger and taco options (on the Lido deck) are all exactly what you would expect quality wise, so we were not disappointed. We enjoyed everything that we ate in the MDR for both breakfast and dinner. At dinner there is an option for “rare finds” for the more adventurous diner, and we had the opportunity to try some cuisine that we wouldn’t usually try (eg: frog legs). If you like sushi, Bonzai Express had some delicious options. You have to pay extra, $5-7.50US per roll, but it was worth it! We definitely gained our obligatory 5lbs over this trip! SERVICE One of things I enjoyed about this experience, was that on every employees’ name tag they listed the country where they were born. There are people from ALL over the world working on this ship - Philippines, Indonesia, South Africa, Mexico, England, the Caribbean, Australia, Myanmar, Columbia Serbia, and this list goes on. When you take this into account, you can be a bit more understanding when a staff member speaks to you in absolute earnest, but in broken English. I myself can speak only one language, and I think it’s awesome that they are expanding their horizons and learning a new language while they work! I would not be able to do it! Everyone on board was either cordial, pleasant, friendly, or outgoing. I received no bad service at all. Because we did not plan to spend the entire day on board, we did not buy a Cheers drink package, opting to just buy a drink here or there throughout the evening. If you have no intention of drinking alcohol while on this ship, be aware that the staff who work as roving bartenders are like Liam Nesson. They will find you, and do whatever they can to encourage you to have a few drinks. If you ARE looking to drink and have a good time, you will be well taken care of. OVERALL In essence, we were looking for a hotel that could move us around the Caribbean while we explored new islands, feed us along the way, and give us some entertainment options during the afternoon/evenings while we were on board. That is exactly what we got. 7 days was the perfect amount of time to spend on board, as towards the end we were starting to feel burnt out (as we went on excursions every day). We loved this cruise so much that we are looking to book our next one to visit more places. We had a lovely vacation and we hope you do too! Read Less

My wife and I had been trying to get to St. Lucia for two years due to the last hurricane. The Fascination is an older ship and smaller than others, but we found it to be very clean and easy to embark and debark. Both were very smooth and we used Faster to the Fun. The ship was very easy to get around and our cabin to our liking with a balcony. The one thing I missed was having a refrigerator and couch. Carnival has definitely cut back on their wait staff and it showed in the amount of time it took to serve only four people at our table the first night. The food was good but we found the side dishes to be lacking. Our cabin steward “wayman” was incredible and kept the room spotless and always greeted us by our first names. Kudos to our fabulous Cruise Director and the staff in the Alchemy Bar. I tested the bar with a prickly pear margarita and they came through, even without using a true prickly pear. The ports was the main reason we chose this cruise. We arrived in San Juan a day early and stayed at Casa Los Cummins. Half way from the airport to Old San Juan at Coronado Beach. Great overnight stay. We had rain in St Thomas so we opted for a couples massage at the local dock. Trust me, this was the best hour massage my wife and I have experienced at $80.00 USD. They are twice that amount on the ship. We did a quick cab tour of St Maarten and enjoyed the history and their famous airplane landings over the beach. Book the Jeep Wrangler tour in St Kitts. It was great seeing the Island from a rustic view. The lookout where we say the Atlantic Ocean, St Kitts, the Caribbean Ocean, and Island of Nevis was breathtaking. We took the Land and Sea excursion in St Lucia. Do not take this trip if you are prone to car sickness. It traveled up steep inclines and hairpin curves,but gave a great photo opp of the Pitons. The bus took us to s powered catamaran and the party began. Be aware their is no alcohol served before your beach stop. After the beach stop the rum punch flowed and the music was loud. Sailing into Margot Bay was gorgeous. The food on the boat was fabulous. Focal port was Barbados and very easy to walk or taxi to town and explore. When you get off the ship , and go through the shops try out the local bar at $3.00 USD for their beer. If you enjoy the craft beer make sure to try Banks and 10 Saints. Final day was a sea day and plenty of activities to keep you busy. After 10 cruises we finally made it in the Love and Marriage show and was lots of good laughs Read Less

I choose this cruise because of the destinations and because it started and ended in San Juan Puerto Rico. So I made time to explore the awesome city of San Juan, and HIGHLY recommend you do the same. This particular cruise itinerary we were at a different island 5 out of 7 cruising days. First ill admit I was skeptical about being on Carnivals oldest ship in the fleet, but boy was I in for a surprise! The dinning room was by far the best I have ever experienced on Carnival, keep in mind its the only formal dinning option on the ship, there isn't any (specialty dinning) Other food options include Guy Fieri's Burger Joint and the Blue Iguana Cantina. Which were both awesome! Tortillas were prepared fresh right in front of you, plus not to mention several options including Taco salads, Burritos, and tacos with the options of chicken, beef, shrimp ,fish. The ship its self was in good condition, apparently it has been remolded three different times. At no time did I ever feel trapped or claustrophobic. Since the ship is smaller it did not feel crowded. Going back I would not do the Parasailing in st Thomas, don't get me wrong I had a great time and the staff was great however we were only in the air for about 5 minutes, just not worth spending over $100. Embarkation and disembarkation were painless, being a smaller ship the lines were not too long. Read Less

We were so excited to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary without the kids. We flew into Puerto Rico and did a Southern Caribbean on the Fascination. We brought a suite so that I could soak in the tub to ease my pain. Our cruise started on May 5th. It was a busy day and we retreated back to our cabin after dinner. I wasn’t feeling well so I decided to take a hot bath. As the bath was filling we found that water to be pumpkin orange. We called down and they sent a plumber up. He explained that they filled the tanks in San Juan and said the hot water would run clear. He asked us to keep the hot water running so it would happen quicker. On day 2 am the water was the same and we again notified guest services. They assured us it would be fixed upon our return on the ship. When we got back the hot water was the same. After we retreated back to the cabin for the night we received a letter from Customer Service wanting to speak with us about the assistance we received from maintenance. I called down and the service rep who answered my call asked if we were satisfied, I said no because I was still unable to take a bath or shower (Leon was filling the tub with hot water while I was on the phone) because the water was contaminated. She started yelling at me saying she was personally was in our cabin and the plumber has the water running clear. I told her she was welcome to come up with the maintenance dept to see the hot pumpkin colored water that was on our tub. Within 10 min they we all in the cabin once again. They looked at the water and said it was safe. I asked if they showered in water that looked like ours. They left. Day 3 by now we needed a shower. We got up ran the water and again contaminated. We missed our shore excursion and I wasn’t feeling well so we stayed. on the ship. We received another letter under our door. The guest service manager wanted to speak with us. They all came up at 600 pm. We filled the tub and they saw how bad the water was. We told them we are bathing out of the sink with bottled water because the water was contaminated and it was making us itch and made our hands hurt! (we had to wash our hands in the water thru the day) They assured us they would get a handle on things and get back with us. I also showed them the balcony during this meeting. After dinner we went back to our cabin and people were in and out until 11 pm. They asked if they could paint the balcony we said yes and that never happened. On day 4 I called and told them I was still unable to bathe in our cabin, I was screamed at and told once again our problem had been resolved. I said thats funny because I am looking at our tub filled with hot orange water, much darker than any previous time. We went off the ship for a couple hours and came back because I wasn’t feeling well. I needed to soak in the tub so the pain in my ankle could get better. After dinner that night I asked for the plumber to come look st the hot orange water that I had just filled in the tub. They sent the plumber back up. He turned on the sink faucet and filled a white paper cup with cold water and said look the water is clear. He extended the cup of water to my husband and told him to drink it.. My husband angrily said no and told him to drink the damn water. The plumber said there was no way he would drink the water. My husband told him he was clueless. The plumber was standing next to tub that was filled with dark dark orange water. We agreed the cold runs clear but the hot is contaminated. He got extremely mad at us and started screaming: YOUR STUPID AMERICANS you only want want want want something for nothing. Leon asked him to leave immediately after I got upset feeling extremely unsafe. We asked for nothing but clean safe water. For the last 4 days the only thing we asked for was clean safe water to bathe in, After feeling threatened we were hesitant about allowing people in the cabin. We have never been referred to as stupid Americans. On day 5 we received a phone call from guest services telling us they wanted to give us $150.00 for our inconvenience. I said no I want clean safe water. Then I received another call offering us $300.00 I just hung up the phone. Within 15 min the guest services manager came to our cabin and asked us what would keep us quiet the remainder of the cruise. I told him clean safe water. He said obviously that can’t happen. I simply said if you can’t provide the services we paid for than the answer is simple, I want to be reimbursed for our cruise. He told us that was an impossible request. He reminded us that we were the only guests complaining on ther entire ship. (Later after asking several guests and staff members if the had stinky pumpkin orange water we found out it was many including staff cabins). He reminded me thar he offered us the keys to a cabin 49 down from ours to shower in. I told him when he gave us those keys it was to long of a walk for me. My husband went down for a shower and the water there smelled worse than ours did (ours would make you gag). I also reminded him staff members were in and out of our cabin day and night from day 1, sometimes without knocking. Giving us different reasons why the color of our water was not clear. Giving us False hope each day. I reminded him We were unable to use our balcony as well. Anytime you went out on the balcony the condensation from the roof dropped droplets of rust on our clothes half of the clothes that we took are ruined from rust stains.. If you wanted a good case of tetanus all you had to do is come on our balcony. I sternly reminded him WE NEVER ASKED FOR ANYTHING WE DIDN'T ALREADY PAY FOR! I shouldn’t have to wash in the sink with bottled water for 6 days while staying in a grand suite. Supposedly the best rooms on the ship. The water has my skin on my hands inflamed and raw. That was the last time we heard from him or any other staff member was on day 5. Today I was contacted by someone in Miami who informed me that she had the crew members report and pics. She informed me the water we claimed fo be orange and contaminated looked crystal clear to her. I was floored. I explained the cold water was clear and they took pics of the cold water. We watched them fill the tub and sink with cold water and take The pics. I explained the pics I submitted were taken everyday morning and night. I asked what compensation was given? She stated we received a $915.00 on board credit. I had no idea that this happened. We did not ask for it. That was the first I heard of that. No one on the ship spoke to us about that nor did we agree to it. I told her I wanted to escalate our case higher than her. She stated “THE PRESIDENT OF CARNIVAL AUTHORIZED HER TO TELL US OUR CASE WAS CLOSED”. She informed me we would not see any further compensation. So by compensating us does that mean the staff on the ship and the president of Carnival admits fault? Do they agree the water was contaminated and we were unable to use what we paid for? We took a water sample and sent it off to a lab to Be analyzed. Can’t wait for that to come back. We wanted nothing but clean water. Then the last time the plumber came to our cabin we were threatened by him and felt extremely unsafe for the last two days of our cruise. My dream vacation was turned into a nightmare that won’t end. I Read Less

While I realize that this is an older ship and the prices are cheaper than most cruises, this shop was very disappointing. It is very ugly and outdated. The whole ship smells like sewage. One particular day, there was actually brown water in all of the toilets thru out the ship. The entire ship is very dirty and not maintained. The “shows” and “entertainment “ were sub optimal. Food on buffet on Lido deck was actually gross. Dining room food was not great either. Guys burger joint and the deli were good. Ice cream was good. The captain did not keep the guests informed at all. We have sailed on 13+ cruises and this by far was the worst one. It seems carnival has cut back on many things, or at least that was the case on this sailing. The ports however are AMAZING! My suggestion is use another cruise line if you want a nice vacation. Read Less

Older and smaller ship. But unlike other reviews, we enjoyed the smaller ship. Didn't really pay attention to the age problems, hey we were on vacation. Ate in Dining room every night food was great, service was top notch. Elizabeth was our server and we asked for her every night. We did the anytime dining, only had to wait for a table the elegant night. Very busy itinerary with only 1 sea day and islands every other day. Went to the shows every night. Very entertaining, but people these are not Broadway shows, lower your expectations and enjoy yourself. Had an outside cabin with a full window, not very large but comfortable. Did Mud bath excursion (waste of time and money) and airplane beach (good but not worth the money). Pizza was just ok. Guy's burgers were great and the mexican was great. Casino has very modern machines. All in all a great trip. Read Less

We absolutely loved this cruise ! Not only for the great stops but the boat! Although it is a smaller boat it was so much easier to get around and it never seemed like there was a lot of people around ! My kids absolutely loved the water slides , Zandy was their favorite !! He was so good with all the kids ! The food was great ! We loved the burger in guy fieris and the iguana burrito bar ! Dinning room food was by far the best ever ! We never had a appetizer, meal or dessert we didn’t like . We will definitely be planning this boat again and would highly recommend The entertainment was great and JayJay was the best ! He was great with the kids as well ! We ended up on the same catamaran cruise as him and he sent my daughter an extra gift to the room , she was so happy ! Read Less

It was not my choice for this sailing, but I did have a great time. As I work in hospitality (guesthouse manager), I did notice little things that needed attention. I am in the habit of looking at the little details, like there was a loose screw on the bathroom door, and when you shut the door, the screw would pop out and fall to the floor, trimming loose around the desk inside the cabin. But overall, the ship was fantastic! Do wish that the buffet had longer hours, and there were not may dining options open late. The onboard entertainment could have been better, but again, overall was great. The crew were fantastic and attentive! The main public areas were clean, but once you got into the cabin areas, you start to notice little thinks, like the carpeting could have used a good cleaning, and some areas actually smelled of cigarette smoke, and on our sailing, just down the hall from us, you could smell sewer in the hallway. We did notify our cabin steward and did see some crew working in the area to try and fix the problem. Read Less

I booked the Carnival Fascination for my friend and I, so I could go back to St. Lucia for the 3rd time (may be the last time), and to show her what it was all about. I have been on many ships, of different sizes. The Fascination ship was smaller, but for me, it was so much easier to navigate, than a large ship. There were no long lines, and the elevators go by letters, instead of numbers. We were on deck 5, so our letter on the elevator was M, as our room number is M82. The bad part of these letters is that most people, young and old, had a hard time trying to see the correct one to push. I am not nit picky, so I was happy with the layout of the ship, and how it looked. There were several things going on like Love and Marriage show, Quest, Hasbro Game Divas, Motor City (Motown Music which was good). Outside, ice carving, hairy chest contest. Piano bar is good too, and there is no smoking, which is great. We ate in the MDR, and the food for us was good, especially their Portabella mushrooms, and mashed potatoes. I have never had this problem before, but I ordered pork chop, and I could not cut it, but other than that, all the food and deserts were great in the MDR. The lido buffet area, deli, pizza, Guy's Burgers, Blueguana had really good food most of the time. My friend had a bad accident while we were on tour in Barbados, so the rest of the trip sort of went down hill, but we made it!!! I won't go into all the details, but here are a few of the stops, and who we used to take us on tours, and we were happy with all of these. St. Thomas we took a taxi and went to town, and they have some wonderful jewelry without paying taxes, and we both bought some! Barbados we had Carson Taxi and Tours, and I'm sure it would have been good, but unfortunately half way through my friend had a bad accident, and we had to head back for the ship. After this accident, my friend went on the other tours with me, but stayed in the van all the time, as she was not able to move around much. St. Lucia we had Cosol Tours. I won't go into the details, but they are wonderful, and you can read everything they do on the tours, and it is worth every dollar! St. Kitts we had planned on going to the beach but after my friends accident we decided to just take a Taxi. We had Jimmy's Taxi sightseeing tours T-438, and it was a wonderful tour and I learned so much about St. Kitts. St. Maarten we had Bernard's Tours, and what a wonderful tour it was. We learned about the French and Dutch side, and see so much beauty of St. Maarten. Read Less

service was amazing. I want to compliment Nestor, our server for dinner. he made it entertaining and was overall a very cheerful person and made my cruise. the food was amazing and the first time I was full every single night. and trust me, I eat a lot of food. loved the different variations of food they had to eat throughout the cruise especially guy's burger shack. i loved that they had water slides on the ship so you had something to do on the sea day. cabin was always spotless and i loved the towel animals they made especially the heart on the last day of the cruise. i loved club o2 and all the activities they had especially the ps4s. the ship was a lot larger than i expected it to be. so first impressions, amazing. overall, i would definitely sail with them again and i would definitely recommend this to someone else. Read Less

This is my 3rd time on this itinerary but first time on Fascination. Love the stops but not the ship. The service on the serenity deck was lacking. Sometimes it took an hour to get a drink. There were kids under 21 all over the place on the serenity deck as well which made it a challenge to get a spot. The buffet area was crowded and again the service for cleaning tables was slow. The formal dining was nice, and the service was good. Waiters learned our names and preferences right away. However, the room itself felt small and claustrophobic making it hard to see the activity during the show times. The "sports bar" is just that in name. There are 4 televisions but 3 are solely for showing commercials for products they are selling on the ship. The register is in front of the only one showing sports, so you spent the majority of the time looking at the back of the bartenders heads. I went during March madness. Impossible to watch a game in there. So small, only one television, and they schedule band performances in a cramped area making it impossible to hear or talk to anybody. Absolutely the worst setup for a "sports bar" I have ever seen. I missed having a large TV screen on the Lido deck over the pool area that I have seen on many other ships. I find it nice and relaxing to sit out under the stars and watch movies on the giant screen. Also helps make it easier to see what is happening during events like ice carving, hairy chest, etc. Like I said earlier though, the port stops are great and help offset how lacking the ship is. I would do the itinerary again but would never go on this ship. I think of the ships as floating hotels. I’m on shore doing stuff all day so the ship is a place to eat, have a few drinks, and then sleep. Typically, I consider Carnival ships to be along the Holiday Inn level – get the job done at a great cost. This one felt much more along the lines of Motel 6. It got me where I was going and that was about it. Read Less

I found I like not fighting to board and leave the ship, jostling shoulders, almost tripping over others. so what if the buffet is smaller- there are less people to be in line. the only thing I didn't like was the height of the overhead bunks, as you cant sit on the lower without contortions to your neck.4 adults had cabin M-58- perfect to the elevator access-no noise. the itinerary was almost frenetic as only 1 seaday so off on adventures daily. love the water colors and no tendering. ate in dining room the most as I prefer not being in lines. wish the menu would change more as the same selections seem to be there every year, and limited selections for the vegetarian passenger. as usual hate the upsell and the outrageous prices in the salon. used the gym for prescribed physical therapy and it worked out well. staff good. hate the staff doing "showtime" during my dining which I like to be quiet for conversation. Read Less

We knew going in the Fascination is an old boat, but it has a great itinerary and only one day at sea so we went ahead and booked. Overall we were more impressed than we expected. We were a party of 5, two parents and teenagers aged 19, 18, and 14. The cabins are very clean and look updated, no wear and tear to be seen (and we were on the Riviera, so bottom deck). Beds and pillows are comfortable. Bathrooms were also very clean. There is a hair dryer in all of the rooms (online information said there was not). Plenty of closet space, but the safe is not large enough for a laptop. We had no issues with anything missing from our room. There's only one standard outlet in the room and one in the bathroom (the kids struggled for charge time!). Our room steward was attentive and friendly. Around the ship you could see a little more wear here and there, but overall not much. The public bathrooms were all clean and look recently updated. The decor is a bit out of date, but didn't detract from a good cruise experience. The ship was full, but we had no trouble finding a pool chair on the sea day (or in the late afternoons) and other than the buffet you didn't really feel too crowded. Getting on and off the ship at the ports was very easy and organized. The ports are great. We did the social WiFi for the kids and the basic WiFi for my husband and they worked fine with the exception of one day. We struggled a bit with the entertainment staff, while they were very friendly and outgoing they seemed to be screaming into the microphones, both out at the pool and inside during bingo. I am sure they have to have the volume up for some guests, but it was always so LOUD and sometimes distorted. We did not attend any of the evening shows or entertainment except the 80's dance party on the Lido deck, which was fun. We would recommend the mini speedboat tour in St. Kitts, and the Golden Eagle Catamaran on St. Maarten. Both were excellent and well run excursions, booked through Carnival. In Barbados we went to The Boatyard, which was a great day. Just get off the ship and go to the taxi stand and say the boatyard, it's $5 each to take a shuttle there and they will shuttle you back in the afternoon. It's $25 each to get into the Boatyard and that includes a beach chair and umbrella and one drink each, plus a short snorkel tour on a boat you board right off their pier. It was the best snorkeling we did all week, we saw several stingrays and a sea turtle. Food and drinks were good and not too expensive, and the staff was really friendly and fun. We had a great day there and highly recommend. I recommend getting the Carnival trip insurance, we ended up with cancelled flights that caused us to board the ship at the first port in St. Thomas. Carnival was very accommodating, they allowed us to cancel our excursion we had booked through them for that port with a full refund and arranged for our check-in that day. Upon return home I submitted the receipts for trip delay and baggage delay along with a letter from the airline explaining and we were reimbursed right away. The only real disappointments were the buffet, which is laid out poorly. You have people coming and going with strollers and wheelchairs and not wide enough spaces. The ice machines were working sporadically in the buffet and outside by the Mexican/ burger joint. Then workers would be using the ice machine to fill up glasses when customers were trying to get ice. Didn't seem to be a good system. And they seemed to be doing work continuously around the ship, varnishing railings and closing stairs, along with loud drilling. It made getting around a challenge. You would think they would take a week off and just do all the projects at once. Food was good, drinks are good but of course pricey (we don't drink enough to justify a package). We only ate in the dining room one dinner and it was fine (we aren't foodies). We wouldn't go back on this ship, but that's only because we try and go new places on each trip. If you are looking for a way to see these islands, we would recommend this cruise. Read Less

This is by far the smallest ship we have been on in our years traveling with Carnival but it was an unexpected plus in our mind as there was rarely a wait to get on and off ship and to get food, there was always a seat outside in the sun or inside at the shows and it was nice seeing people you met along the way a bit more as the ship was small and you would cross paths more. Also I felt like we were not as jammed into the buses and vans on excursions as we have been on past larger cruises. We would LOVE if dining room buffet opened at 5. We only eat in the actual waiter/waitress/full service dining room once or twice when on cruise and you can only eat so many Guys Burgers and Pizzas- saw many people just like us who were coming down after a long day of excursions ready to eat some fruit and salad only to be told it wasn't open until 6. Again...minor. Its not like we are going to starve on a Carnival cruise but would be a nice thing for the company to consider. All in all - the trip was great. Loved the destinations- very interesting. Everything was up to par with what we expect from Carnival. Read Less

We had a wonderful cruise vacation on Carnival Fascination sailing from San Juan, Puerto Rico. The number of island destinations was the main reason we chose this cruise (Charlotte Amalie, St Thomas; Bridgetown, Barbados; Castries, St. Lucia; Basseterre, St Kitts; and Phillipsburg, St. Maarten). We were happy we selected the FTTF (Faster To The Fun) as we were able to board the ship near noon on our sailing day and disembark early. As well as obtaining the early seating for dinner and priority service at Guest Services. Boarding at San Juan, was the worst part. People stood all around the outside of the dock area in no real discernable order. Thinking we were in a line for early boarding, we were stopped from entry when the people in front of us had a 2 pm board time. We kept trying every employee and finally gained admittance around 12:30. Later, we found out that this cruise also boards people at St. Maartens and (we think) St Thomas-which adds to the confusion in Puerto Rico. It seems that ALL passengers must be off the ship for 4 hours in San Juan for customs-including those who are not boarding at San Juan. So those people-who have valid sea passes are also waiting around trying to re-board. There should be a better way to allow those with sea passes and noon boarding unfettered access to entry. The ship is smaller and originally put into service in 1994, but they continue to update as recently as 2013. What our balcony cabin E249 lacked in a more modern bath area, was made up in the automated floor lighting when you got up at night, as well as the window beside the door to the balcony. We Love Guys Burgers (and fries) and had them continually! Plus we enjoyed the Blue Iguana for great Mexican food out by the pool. Also we Love that the ice cream is available 24/7! We enjoy dining in the main dining room and were not disappointed with the food, the service, the presentation or Lobster Night! Our main waiter, Elmer, is wonderful anddeserves recognition. As well as Ronnie and Yasa who assisted with our fine diningexperience. And finally, our cabin steward, Marlon, was one of the best we have ever had among allour 30 years of cruising. In St Thomas, we chose to walk around the town and stopped into "Pirates TreasureMuseum" for $16 per person and spent several hours learning about the shipwrecks,seeing items found below the sea, reading diary entries, and even speaking withCaptain Jack Sparrow's little brother. We recommend this adventure. At Barbados, we didn't take a cruise tour either, choosing instead to take a taxi to the George Washington House and Garrison Tunnels. This is only about a mile or so from the dock. The tour guides are knowledgeable and pleasant for both the restored home as well as the newly found Garrison Tunnels. Again we recommend. At St Lucia, we opted for the Carnival excursion of the Catamaran Cruise to the Pitons and were very pleased. The catamaran crew was wonderful, the scenery from the shoreline was amazing and we were able to stop for about a half an hour to walk along a little beach. For St Kitts, we chose the Highlights & Brimstone Hill Fortress sold by Carnival. Here our bus driver allowed a woman at the entrance to Brimstone (a Brimstone employee?) onto our van who pressured us to rent a device to tell us about the Fortress. However, the device repeatedly tells you to find "stop # blank on your map"-but there is no map! You have no way to know when to listen to your information at what location. Do NOT purchase this scam at the Fortress. Finally, we chose the new Rainforest Adventures St Maarten for the Sky Ride. The viewsare incredible and the Flying Dutchman looked like a wild ride! This is a definite GO. The only glitch we had was with our return flight, which we chose. The Boeing 737 Max 8's were downed days before our cruise. We called our airline, Southwest Air, and wereinformed that since neither nonstop flight to or from San Juan|Baltimore MD were onthe Max 8, there would be no problems. The flight to our cruise had no issues. However, when we got off the cruise at the end of our vacation, we found that Southwest had cancelled our return flight while we were at sea and then failed to notify us. Later we were informed that the Carnival system must not interact well with the Southwest system and that is why Southwest did not notify us of the change in our return flight cancellation. Instead of taking our confirmed nonstop flight at 2:50pm to Baltimore, we waited at the airport with ALL our luggage until 4 hours before an 8 pm flight to Orlando Florida. Southwest did give us a lunch ($10) and dinner ($14) voucher, but did nothing to help us with a room overnight in Orlando where they stranded us. We called Southwest following our trip and found that Southwest will only hollowly apologize. The $130 we paid to have a room to sleep was an additional expense that is our problem. We used to think Southwest was a premier airlines. It was disappointing to see how they reacted when a problem arose. At the very least, we now know. Again, Carnival has given us a wonderful vacation. You really should go on this one. Read Less

Great ports. Wonderful experience onboard. Staff was very attentive. Smaller boat so I felt the movement of the boat more than last cruise. We are looking to do this one again next year. The food was good. Ate in the dining room more this time than last year. Wonderful experience with the crew there. The ports were the best. Learned so much from each place. Great being able to visit places that are older than our county. The entertainment crew did a superb job in making people of all ages and backgrounds had fun. My son loved the kids programming and wanted to be there whenever we got back in port. We did the Faster tot he Fun and that was worth the money. We were the first people on the ship . It was great for guest services as well. I actually felt bad because at one time there was a long line of people waiting and I got to go ahead of the because of FTTF. Worth the money! Read Less

I chose this cruise because of its itinerary. I have been on other Carnival Cruises before and was looking forward to going on a smaller ship as smaller ship = less people. As soon as we got to the Carnival Cruise area, there were porters there to immediately help us with our luggages. Embarkation went smoothly. We embarked around 4:30pm and it wasn't crowded. The food, overall, was okay. We have had better on other Carnival cruise ships. Even food in the dining room at dinner was just okay. The desserts offered at dinner, I felt, was nothing to write home about. I preferred the desserts offered in the buffet room. The servers were very efficient in the dining room. If you had a show to catch, you just had to let them know and they served you quickly so you could make your show. In the buffet room, there were always tables available. We also had a baby with us so whenever a server saw us, they would offer to bring us drinks, more food, or a baby chair. The entertainment was pretty good. They tried to mix it up and have a variety of different entertainment (gameshow, lip sync, magic show, singing and dancing). Most nights were singing and dancing shows. Still very entertaining. Our cabin steward was pretty good. We had a baby with us so we could only get our room cleaned/turned down once a day and we opted for the morning to get it done. Sometimes it was a hit or miss (depending on nap time). I wish our cabin steward would have attempted to check on our cabin room in the evening if he missed the morning as I told him I wanted our garbages cleared even if he couldn't come in to clean the room. Other than that, he was very nice and always said hello to us and inquired about our baby. One thing I didn't like at all was the service in the dining room at breakfast time. If everyone in your group wasn't there at the same time to get a table, they refused to seat you. I found this ridiculous, especially since we had a baby and wanted to get her settled before we even ordered our food and as we waited for the rest of the people in our party to show up (which was 5 minutes later). The debarkation and embarkation at the ports were surprisingly quick and efficient (compared to other Carnival Cruises in the past). I was surprised at how we didn't have to wait in long lines to get out of the ship. I felt there were lots of room on the ship for everyone. We were able to find deck chairs and tables for dining. The lines for food were not overly long. Overall, this was a pretty good ship. We had a great time and your vacation is what you make of it. Read Less

This was only my second cruise but I have travelled a lot. I decided to go along with my mom and aunt mostly because I was intrigued that we flew into Barbados to board the ship. What I didn’t know is that only about 200 people are exchanged at this port and the other 1800 get on at San Juan... this is what they don’t tell you! They cater more to those guests than the Barbados. When you get to San Juan there are no real excursions you can do as you have to go through customs to do this .. this wasted 2-3 hours of our day. Then that night when the rest of the guests are doing their safety briefing they send the Barbados guests to drink on them for free for an hour ... thank god at least for that because I felt like the day we wasted. Also if you wanted to do an excusion on your last day in Barbados the excursions will not drop you at the airport like they have arranged for the San Juan guests. The food on this ship was very good the dinner were awesome however the buffet was not stocked often enough and you felt like you were fighting to get the good stuff. The ship entertainment was fun to watch I liked the interactive shows. At some ports I would have liked more time and felt rushed to get back some days. My worse part of this ship was the room... there were loud noises every single night we were on floor 4 and the workers were doing stuff on the 3 rd every night waking us up. Also, we encountered some rude staff only 2 the rest were great ... but there was an awful statement made to my mom. We complained about these issues to the front desk and they were quick to pay for our tabs while on the ship which was a few hundred dollars which did make the ship more enjoyable. My favorite part of the ship was a band called under the covers! Man they are good and the girl can sing! Read Less

We did a repeat of last year's cruise on the Fascination. Same week of the year and same itinerary. We have done this itinerary 6 times now and it remains our favorite. We flew into Puerto Rico on Saturday 2/23 and spent the night at the Forteleza Suites in OSJ. I have reviewed this hotel on the Puerto Rico Forums. Embarkation was very easy and swift. We got to the port around Noon and walked right on. We did have FTTF, but I noticed the line outside to enter the terminal was not that long. We walked up to the check-in desk, had our passports checked, picture taken and received our S&S cards. We went immediately onto the ship. Our cabin was ready and we dropped off our bags, had a drink and disembarked to buy more wine and essentials. We were upgraded to an ocean view on deck 7 Empress, right off the atrium lobby. Same location as last year. Our room steward kept the room clean and brought ice and extra towels 2X a day. He decorated our door and room for our anniversary. He was very pleasant and efficient. Our window was washed while in port one day. We ate breakfast every morning but one in the MDR. That morning we had breakfast burritos on Lido. We ate sea day brunch in the MDR. We did enjoy Guy's burgers one afternoon when we returned to the ship from port. We ate dinner very night in the MDR. I am not going to go into detail about the food, we found the food to be good to sometimes very good, Food opinion is so subjective. We had no complaints. We enjoyed all the production shows, laughed till we cried at the comedy shows and did enjoy some of the live music at various venues around the ship. The crew on this ship is the best. When I read other reviews, I sometimes wonder if we were on the same ship. Every crew member we interacted with was pleasant and had a smile. We ate breakfast on disembarkation morning in the MDR and left around 9:30 when they made an announcement for all remaining passengers to leave the ship. We grabbed a porter and were through customs in no time. This ship is small and easy to navigate. Never waited in a line for anything. We were able to walk into the theater and comedy club 5 minutes before show time and secure a good seat. We found loungers on the lido at noon on the one sea day. We will probably do this itinerary and ship again next winter, the weather is usually good and the ports are fantastic. We can do other destinations in the summer and fall. Read Less

We traveled on the fascination out of Puerto Rico February 17-21 2019, this was our third cruise with Carnival and our first and these ports. Our stateroom was R20. We have cruised carnival previously and always had a good experience. We enjoyed the fact that this ship had a smaller population of cruisers and a large staff 2000 customers and 900 staff. Overall we only had positive staff experiences. Some of the staff went above and beyond, ALL of the Camp Carnival staff for the Sting Rays group. These girls constantly went above and beyond to help my child and others feel loved and enjoy their time in camp. There were activities planned and they were consistent with staying on schedule for these. They were always pleasant and caring at drop off and always excited to greet him. They delivered a hand written note to our room on the last night. Our dining room and stateroom staff was always efficient and attentive to our needs. We were constantly greeted in the elevator or hallway with a “hello, how is your day” or “Is there anything I can help you with?” We dinned every evening in the dining room. Food always came out hot and fresh in a short amount of time (depending on the pace of other people at our table). We would love to see carnival do a slightly earlier seating for families with children though. We normally eat dinner 5-5:30pm so it was difficult for the kids to wait until 6pm after a long day at the beach. On average it took a little over an hour to order, receive our food and sometimes desert and leave. We were pleased with that amount of time. Kids enjoyed the coin trick person in the dining room also. Our stateroom was clean when we arrived and was cleaned daily. Eduardo came the first day introduced himself, gave us his number to call with any issues and we never needed to because things were always cleaned. We were impressed with how neat and clean the staff attire always was and how clean the ship was kept. We frequented the pool and water slides area. These were always clean and well-staffed we had excellent experiences with some of the life guards the interacted with parents and children with a smile and positive attitude. We attended the Dr. Suess breakfast and story time all staff and performers at this event were great. We enjoyed the fun breakfast options that day and look forward to returning for this event. Evening shows were great and we loved how the first show was family orientated. Although due to the later dining the kids could not stay up late enough to make it. We enjoyed the islands and spending time on board on the sea day. A few things I would love to see Carnival consider are more trash cans for debris. It was hard to find one when needed in and around the ship. This is an older ship so does show its wear. For us the variety of ports made up for it. We also would love to see the Camp Carnival band changed to a different material. The hard plastic bracelets are normally meant to be worn only for a 24-hour period, as the can irritate the skin. Having the children wear them for a whole week was frustrating for the kids. They often complained they were annoying or scratchy. Many other ships use elastic and fabric bands that don’t irritate the skin. I also would love to see other burger options at Guys Burgers, such as turkey or veggie burgers. Since we don’t eat beef we were unable to get burgers, although they smelled delicious. More vegetarian options in the dining room would be another thing we would love. We noticed an option nightly but it always had an Indian flair and those flavors are not something we enjoy. At Blue Iguana the taco options were, beef, chicken or fish…maybe adding a grilled vegetable option could be an option. We found it difficult to find food for the kids outside of the dining room kids menu and they did not overly enjoy the Lido buffet. Since there was themed lunch option like Caribbean and Mexican there was not much for the kids to eat. Guys Burgers fries (spicy) were very different than the regular dining room fries and we were often left with hungry kids. Our MAIN complaints (the reason for one less star) on this trip were our room location and its SMELL. We were on Riviera deck Fwd R20, this was an interior room with porthole. When we would get off the elevator and come around the corner toward our room we were instantly hit with the smell of raw sewer. This definitely took away from our overall cruise experience. We smelled this while the ship was at sea and in port. It was a constant smell. The kids referred to it as “sewar alley” when we would head to our room. This smell was also very present in our bathroom. We searched in port for something to help deodorize the room. The smell was not present IN the room, mostly hallway and bathroom. However, we did smell it other times on the ship such as in the pool area, near the elevators and when leaving and getting on the ship at ports. We also smelled the same sewer smell near the pool area and outside on Deck 11. Our room location was extremely loud. The first night I had ZERO sleep due to a motor or engine of some sort running directly below my bed. I did ask at customer service how this could be resolved and she stated to talk to maintenance. Which we did and the noise under the bed become less for the rest of the cruise. However, the overall noise in the room did not. Starting at 5:45am on port days were began to hear lots of banging noises. That woke everyone in the room up. This was Every day except Tuesday the sea day. The sounds varied from cranking, to banging, to motors , chains and engine noise. There was also loud bumping music at night present. We did not enjoy being in the room and were disappointed our sleep quality was disrupted by the morning noise. I will never stay in this section of the ship again due to the noise and the smell. Overall we loved our cruise on the Carnival Fascination. We look forward to our next trip…and booking a different room. Hoping the staff continues to be outstanding and delivering excellent customer service. Read Less

Ok let me start by saying that our family has cruised with Carnival for years and have had a great time until now. I will tell you a couple of positives first. Our waiters in the imagination dinning were fantastic along with our stewards for our room. Now here we go.... we had a sewage smell in our cabin the entire cruise. Our stewards tried to help, but could not get the smell to leave. We kept our balcony open a lot. On the second day of our cruise, I went upstairs two flights to get a latte and was hit in the face with a putrid smell that was unsettling. I looked up and brown sewage was pouring from the ceiling and crews were trying to clean it up. A raw sewage pipe had burst. Horrible! Along with the coffee shop closed most of the time for different reasons. On the third or fourth day of our cruise when we came back from the Island, the same smell was on our floor(7th). Several of our family members including my granddaughter became physically ill. Another sewage pipe had burst on our floor. We went to guest services where we were given 150.00 credit for drinks. The smell was there for the rest of our cruise. We paid a lot of money for four balcony rooms to smell poop for a week. Next.... my 19 year old son and his best friend went on a snorkeling excursion with friends and their parents they had met on the cruise. This was in St. Kitts. This excursion was booked through Carnival. While they were snorkeling, my son was robbed over two hundred dollars along with other guests. To make this story shorter..... carnival did nothing to help and when my husband and son went back to guest services to see if he could at least get a refund.... they called security on them.... what???? Two of the nicest guys you would ever want to meet! Shame on you Carnival! We will never cruise with you again! Robin B. Upstate NY Read Less

This cruise is definitely going to affect rebooking with carnival. This is my 10th cruise with them and 3rd time doing this itinerary. Which is One of my favorites. We spent money on each island on excursions, booked prior to the cruise which was booked all thru carnival. We spent a lot of money on them. And they are all rushed. Seems price goes up, but value goes down. Today’s tour on st kitts was 8:30-11:30 on the rail and scenic drive, $105.99 to sit and barely hear the tour guide, and the drive back we flew back in the van. Not worth the price tag. The 4x4 safari and beach in Barbados was another rushed excursion. The driver drove like a maniac, thank god for seat belts or I would of flew out the back of the truck. He barely slowed down to see anything. Oh and we saw two car crashes along the way and he still drove crazy. Kon tiki in st Thomas was boring. Those 3 islands I’ve been too and always did my own thing, wish I never purchased excursion and did my own thing. Seems the descriptions are so vague it covers them to be like well they did that and that was the description. Spoke to the bar manager about the rude employee upon arrival. We arrived and went directly to the red rum frog bar and I was reading the menu to my friend and the bartender never greeted us, only words out of his mouth was rudely, we don’t have that. Why have a bar menu? We had a light out in the closet and the ac unit was so loud we could barely sit and have a conversation in the room. Informed guest services on the Second day and guest services asked if they fixed the light and the ac the next day while in port and I informed them they didn’t. So she’s like can we send someone now, im like we just got back and want to relax. So when we went to dinner they finally sent someone. We paid for a junior suite and it’s not worth the money spent. They called for us to upgrade to the grand and I’m glad I didn’t spend anymore money on this trip. This ship is just run down and tiny. The staff on this ship also walk the ship as if they are on their own vacation. I have said excuse me several times at different times throughout the day to pass by them and they flat out ignore me. The food on the lido deck buffet is disgusting. Looks like they threw together the food and topped it with garnish. In the dining room- We’ve asked for lemons to put in our water. They bring lime. Ok maybe they didn’t understand. Second night, limes again. Third night didn’t even ask but there were limes on the table. Asked for lemons and they said they didn’t have. Playing in the casino, one person couldn’t read their cards and they asked if something could be done. Carnival employee said no they were conserving energy. I am in the hospitality industry and the service on this ship is not up to par from what I have seen on past carnival cruises. And no carnival employee seems to care. Not guest services and no one on the phone with carnival. If you do not care, I can take my money elsewhere and all the people i have brought to carnival along with me. Read Less

We chose this cruise because we had not sailed out of Puerto Rico before and we wanted to go on an eastern Caribbean tour. The ship needs some maintenance and the ship's crew seems tired and not really enthusiastic to be on board. We have taken several other cruises out of various ports (all on Carnival). This is a smaller ship and the talent on board (singers, dancers, and choreographers) seem to be in the "audition" stage to be promoted up to bigger and new ships. They all seemed to lack the verve that we have traditionally found on other ships. For those who desire to take advantage of Carnival Hub - don't bother. It didn't always contain correct information and the "messaging" didn't usually work. We had three people who purchased the messaging and by the end of the week only about 25% of our messages got through. We had already been warned about the data plan being worthless so we didn't even try. There were a few standouts - Dinesh back making pizzas was a real treasure. We weren't really pizza people but the guy's kindness and enthusiasm was infectious. I was surprised that the ship didn't have a cigar bar area (though you are welcome to smoke a stogie up on 11 in a designated "smoking" area. Guy's hamburger bar was perfect. The burgers were made from real beef and they were very consistently great with real fries. We did tour the galley between the two dining rooms and I'm telling you that it was clean and tidy. The debarkation was excellent. We carried our own luggage off and we exited through the tender portals and were off and out on the streets of San Juan in about 10 minutes. Brittany (Cruise Director) was engaging and fun. I do hope that she stays on and moves on up to bigger and better ships. Read Less