Eight of us took this cruise on the Fantasy out of Mobile Al., due to it's close proximity to where we reside. We knew that this was a bargain cruise right from the start. We were scheduled to embark Monday morning after arriving Sunday and staying overnight at the Drury Inn (highly recommended). Early Sunday evening we received a text from Carnival that there may be a change in the schedule, no facts given. As we were about to leave the hotel Monday morning to head to the terminal another text from Carnival advised that the ship would not arrive until Tuesday due to high seas and that we would be loosing a port day in Cozumel. That meant scrambling to find a hotel room for another night along with hundreds of other stranded passengers. Thankfully the Drury came to our rescue and booked us another night. They even arranged transportation over to the terminal for $25 for all of us. Carnival sent another text Tuesday morning that the ship would be docked at 11:00 AM and head over to the terminal at the normal time. An hour later they sent another text advising to extend the boarding appointed time by 3 hours. As we had a 11:00 time slot for boarding we arrived at 2:00 PM only to find total confusion. We figured not everyone received the memo. The parking garage was closed so vehicles were backed up blocks long and even at that time the ship was not ready for check-in. Port employees were shouting at each other and giving conflicting information. Beyond rude was the best way to describe it. Finally a baggage handler came over to us, checked our luggage and escorted us over to the entrance. After that things went smoothly and as suite guests we were shoved to head of the line even before the Faster to the Fun group. Once on board it was the usual embarkation drill, funnel everyone to the Lido Deck to eat. Cabins were blocked off, however we managed to drop our hand luggage off anyways.

The buffet was a huge disappointment with few choices, poorly laid out and not enough tables. The food was warm at best. We went with Guy's Burgers which were all the same. Gone are the 5 choices from previous cruises, however what they made were good anyways. Assigned dinning in the Jubilee was just satisfactory at best. Food was bland and service spotty. Like many other cruises we have been on lately Carnival like other cruise lines have reduced staff. We miss having our waiters spend time getting to know us and addressing us by name. Every evening the wait staff do a dance number to a very odd song and it is fun to watch them. We ate breakfast in the Celebration Dinning Room and even though it took about an hour it was pleasant and the food was better than the buffet. The pizza bar at the back of the buffet is worth a visit along with the made to order sandwiches next to it.

There were only two headline shows for the week, both tried and true Carnival fare. The Brits show was old, however the Motown show was excellent. The various entertainers around the ship were also good. This cruise seemed to have more smoking areas than others and you could not go anywhere near the casino which was in a haze all of the time as well as most of the corridor and adjacent rooms. Read more