Carnival Fascination Review

Fascination Less Than Fascinating

Review for the Bahamas Cruise on Carnival Fascination

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Sail Date: Aug 2008

My girlfriends and I just got back from a three-night cruise on Carnival Fascination. We enjoyed each others company, but the ship had LOTS of room for improvement. This was my first cruise on Carnival; previously I sailed on Royal Caribbean and Celebrity. We picked Carnival for price and the short itinerary. Embarkation was fine, no problems and despite long lines, we were processed quickly. We were four in a room, and frankly, before boarding I was a bit nervous about space. They arranged the room fine, with 2 uppers and 2 lowers. Our cabin steward brought us extra towels and robes as requested. Two of us showered in the spa, so we were all fine. Other than our cabin steward, the staff on the ship left a lot to be desired.

The buffet on boarding was poor quality and there were long lines everywhere. We had originally requested a table for four at the late seating. Instead, we were put at a table for 10, including two children. My friend went to see if it could be changed. The attitude she encountered was typical of what we experienced throughout the cruise. Instead of a smile, and a "I'll see what I can do" she was berated for asking, told the ship was full, and nothing could be done. She persisted, and later that day a card appeared in our room with our new table and a note, saying "I moved some guests to accommodate you". One of my friends has major knee/hip issues, and wanted to use the elevator to get to our muster station during the lifeboat drill. She was told that all of the elevators were busy taking luggage to the cabins and she should "just take it slow" I complained to a crew member and he arranged for her to take an elevator. At dinner the first night, our waiter was harried, and hardly paid us any attention. I sat through most of the night with an empty water glass. He really didn't seem to care if we enjoyed dinner. I had wanted to order a bottle of wine to have throughout the cruise as is offered on other ships, but he never asked. Carnival has a cut system where they divide the passengers into teams for the various games played during the cruise. Our waiter never told us about any of this. His treatment of our table made us feel that we were being punished for asking for our table to be changed. The next night the neglect continued. We had ordered minestrone soup and a Caesar salad as our starters. Both could have used parmesan cheese, but none was offered. I assumed that none was available until I saw our waiter bring some to another table. Again, I sat with an empty water glass throughout most of dinner. When the maitre'd came by that night (he never came by the first night) and asked how dinner was, I told him how disappointed I was. His first response was to say that I should have found a supervisor the first night or earlier that night. I said it wasn't my responsibility to look for someone and I was telling him now since he was there. He also said that there were many Latin guests who came late and "threw their rhythm off." Finally, he offered us a bottle of champagne the next night and to be included in a special tour of the kitchen the next day. We took the tour and it was wonderful. The maitre'd ensured that we had a great table and service at lunch (not with our waiter) and it was wonderful. He promised that dinner would also be fine. Alas, it was not to be. The champagne was there, and our waiter poured it, but didn't come back until much, much later in the evening to refill our glasses. In fact, I had to get up to refill our glasses. The water was refilled promptly upon request, but I had to ask each time. My friend had ordered a main course that she wasn't sure if she was going to like. In fact, she had asked for a taste, but was told that he had to bring her the whole dinner. She did not like it, and we had to wait 10 minutes to have him come over to the table and get her new request. It took him 30 minutes to bring the new entree. By the way, the maitre'd never came over to see how things were at our table. The bar staff also had a lot to be desired. They had no personality, and couldn’t mix my friend’s drink right. She had ordered a Sloe Comfortable Screw, which is sloe gin, Southern Comfort, and orange juice and vodka. Even when she explained it, they couldn’t get it right. At one point, we were sitting in a lounge area, when a waitress came and took her drink order. My friend offered to write the drink recipe down. The waitress said it wasn’t necessary. She came back with the wrong drink, and when so informed told my friend (she of the bad hip and knee) to get up and tell the bartender. The last day, another friend was trying to find one of the pictures we had taken. We had all searched for the picture to no avail. When she asked for help, she was told they were “too busy”. These people obviously are not trained in customer service. We were told that the ship had a $30 million dollar renovation. It was not obvious. The lounge chairs were not comfortable. The bathroom in our room smelled bad. I do not recommend Carnival Cruise Line for its service.

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