Carnival Fascination Review
Carnival Fascination Jacksonville 5 Night Nassau/Key West
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Sailed Carnival for the 3rd time. Of all the cruises so far, this one ranked #3. The room staff was efficient, however the dinner staff needed to be a little friendlier and more efficient. There was a problem with one of the rooms on the Empress deck and a wretched smell wreaked through the halls of raw sewerage. The ship staff cleaning the room were wearing biological suites and masks. The first day at sea was semi-rocky and I think there was a problem with the ship that the staff didn't want to tell the passengers about (I overheard one of the employees talking about some engine issue, but that it got fixed.). The last day at sea was wretched. The wind was strong and the ship rocked back and forth all day long. Numerous passengers were sick, and stayed in bed. They cancelled the evening entertainment also. The food was sufficient, but not as good as I've had on previous cruises. The comedians were horrible. They either talked too close to the microphone, had a strong accent so you couldn't understand them, or their jokes just weren't funny at all. Dinner between the salad and the entree seemed to take forever. They used to divide cruise guests into red/blue teams, and you competed all week, but they must have done away with this. The wait staff still danced, but they didn't seem too into it...it was more forced than anything.
The accommodations were great though. We tried the Aft room this time and weren't disappointed. The rooms seemed roomier than other balcony rooms. The beds were comfortable and the room was always clean. The room was also VERY quiet as there's not a lot of traffic on that end of the ship. The middle AFT room was nice because it was more in the middle. Not sure how the end rooms were from the rocking back and forth. The deck was a good size. We travelled with another couple and sat four out there comfortably. Ours had 3 chairs the first day, but somehow one of them was taken from us and given to the cabin next to us. We ended up using a stool and an inside chair the rest of the week for our travelling companions.
Nassau was "OK", but I'd been there before. Key West was a lot of fun and wished we had more time to spend there.
Cabin Review
Cabin E244-AFT. The interior looked more spacious than most (outside balcony cabins). Balcony was nice as it gave the view of the entire back of the ship. The middle cabin you could hear the motor of the ship, but I thought it was soothing and it was just a "dull" motor sound...nothing annoying. The area was very quiet because there's not a lot of foot traffic at the back of the ship. The one thing I will say is DO NOT LEAVE CLOTHES ON THE BATHROOM FLOOR WHILE SHOWERING. They WILL get wet! Every day we ran into this problem. Not sure if it was caused by being in the back of the ship or if the boat was just rockier than normal.