Hey fellow Cruise Critics.....This was my 5th Carnival Cruise overall and my second on the Fascination. We did the 4 day W. Caribbean, stopping in Key West and Cozumel. Four days is a nice little getaway during the cold Indiana winter. On this cruise I traveled with my good cruise friend Jody.
Miami/Embarkation-Since I am an airline employee and fly standby, we always fly to our cruise port the day before the cruise. However, I would recommend this to everyone as it is less stressful and doesn't make that first day quite so long. I got us the "el cheapo" special from Priceline. We were at the La Quinta Airport North for $30. We got a shuttle to the port for $30 and scheduled pick up at the hotel for 10:00AM. I always like to get to the port early. We arrived at the pier by 10:30 and were eager to see our cabin assignment. We booked a Cat 5A guarantee and were please to be upgraded to a Cat 6 on the Empress deck. Our cabin was in a great location and our room steward (Ronald) was wonderful. All in all, it took us less than 20 minutes to drop our luggage at the pier, go through the checkpoint, get checked in, up the escalator and into the waiting area. It was a piece of cake. Once boarding began, we were among the first to board. We found our cabin and headed to the lido deck. It was chilly and windy out. So we just sat on the lido deck, had lunch and the first of the Fun Ship Specials.
We had the 8:00PM seating in the Imagination Dining Room. Our waiter, Ibraham, was great. He was sweet, pleasant, prompt and very funny. Everything at dinner moved along very nicely without ever feeling rushed. The food was great as well. I tried many new things and liked most of them.