Although Celebrity is my cruise line of preference (74 nights in the Baltic, Black, Caribbean, & Mediterranean Seas with them), I am not entirely a Celebrity loyalist and occasionally cruise Carnival (11 nights in the Caribbean Sea with them). Following is a review of my recent three-night Bahamas cruise onboard Carnival's Fascination.

The purpose of this cruise was to fulfill a quick and fun escape for my 50th birthday and to that end, the voyage accomplished its goal. Residing in a port city (Miami), a three-night weekend cruise is an easy an affordable escape that doesn't require taking any time away from the office (I only needed to leave work a little early on Friday to make embarkation).

Embarkation (3 Stars): I arrived at the Port of Miami at approximately 2:20 p.m. for the scheduled 4:00 p.m. sailing. The check-in line was long; however, was efficiently dispatched by Carnival's staff. It saved time to have completed some of the pre-boarding documents and print my boarding pass in advance of the cruise at carnival.com. I was on the ship by 2:50 p.m., which sailed at approximately 4:30 p.m. Read more