Carnival Fantasy Review
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I have sailed with Carnival twice before leaving from Cape Canaveral and Tampa. A 5 day is preferred by myself and family because on our 7 day it was just too long away from home. Since we heard of Carnival sailing from Charleston, saving us gas and time to get on board we thought we would try it. We had been to the Bahamas before a few years ago but had never checked out Freeport, so here is my review in case you consider the trip!
Embarkation: I read bad reviews about this before we left, and they were on point. The process took about 2 hours, maybe more. They seem to not have this figured out compared to other ports I have been to. We arrived around 10am and did not get on the ship until about 1. We drove through in our car most of the time which was nice because of A/C but it did waste a lot of gas idling for about an hour at one check point to pay for parking (which is about $85 for 5 days fyi) and we turned the car off several times, but it was just too hot! You then park in a warehouse and wait for a shuttle to take you less than a mile to the boat. (You might consider walking this unless you have a lot of luggage). Then waited about 25-30 mins to get our room keys/check in. This process was not organized well and really aggravated us. Definitely try to get to the port early, I can't imagine people who got there later in the afternoon, the lines must have been insane. Finally when we got on board there was hardly anyone there, the buffet was filled with tons of food and we were able to get in our rooms at 1:30 where 3/4 of our luggage was already at.
The Trip: I have been on two cruises (5-day and 7-day) and grew up on a boat and the first 48 hours I was sea sick. I finally took dramamine, and it make me drowsy but able to enjoy the trip at times. There were not rough seas or storms, maybe its because it is a smaller ship. I have to say, the $6 I spent on the medication just in case, made my hundreds of dollars investment in the trip worth while, without medication I would have been miserable. So, I would suggest bringing something in case this happens to you. And after I got off the ship, my mom and myself had sea legs for two-three days, IB profen and sleep will help this!