Jacksonville port is easy to get to, especially from NC. Straight down I 95. It took us about 5.5 hours. Not too bad and saved us 4 airfares. Parking was simple. Hubby dropped me and the kids off with the luggage and then parked in a gated lot. Check in was quick. The fellow checking us in was also the security guard right before getting on the ship. Still not sure how he did that. Walked onto the boat and the fun began.

The boat was clean, but often had a stinky smell to it. Our cabins were on Deck 5 Rivera. We were in R3 and the kids were in R5. We were low on the ship and at the very front. We had 2 porthole windows which were sufficient. The kids room did smell like cigarette smoke but ours had a nice perfumed smell to it. Rooms were large and bathrooms were sufficient. When we booked we were told that the kids 15 and 18 could not share a cabin. So we booked 1 adult with 1 child in each cabin. This actually saved us $250 when my hubby bought the alcohol card. Apparently any person 21 or older in a cabin must purchase the card if the one does. Since I rarely drink, this saved us money as my hubby was booked sharing a room with our son who was only 18. We remedied that by getting extra key cards to each cabin so that we could switch for the adults to be together and kids to be together. Being at the front of the boat, we got very little hallway traffic which was nice. But, we were low and could hear the noise of the motors when docking at ports. These were pretty loud. Also, the last evening of the cruise was pretty rough and we could hear the waves hitting the sides of the boat. I did not feel that the motion was worse than any other place on the ship. None of our family got motion sickness and another family we traveled with who were 2 floors above and in the center of the boat did have motion sickness the last night.

Carnival fascination is a relatively small boat. The good about this was that you found your way around the ship pretty quickly and rarely got turned around. The atrium is a happening place with a bar in the middle, and a guitar singer or DJ for entertainment. Travis was very good with the guitar and loop and I thoroughly enjoyed his singing. The men in the group enjoyed the bar there as well. My kids described the boat décor as "movie theaterish". I have to agree with this. This was their 2nd cruise and felt like it wasn't as classy as the first which was a princess cruise 5n/6d. I must agree but I did not feel that it was tacky décor. I enjoyed the MoTown show. The 18+ comedy was funny but raunchy at the same time. We did not gamble. Hubby played bingo while I napped but did not win. Disappointing as he won on the last cruise but you can't win them all. Read more