We had a GREAT time on our Carnival Fascination Birthday Bash Cruise with daughter Jacquie, son-in-law Julio, his Mom Antonia, their 4 kids Jacob, Mackenzie, Tristan and Ryan, our son-out-law Chris and grandsons Nathanael and Jack. This 5 day cruise sails out of Jacksonville to Key West and Nassau Bahamas. Though generally I prefer longer cruises this was a great get-away with half of our family...and since we had cruised to Bermuda in July with the oldest daughter and family it made this summer extra special. Being it was mid-August the ship was FULL of families on vacation before the start of school...just like us. For one of the older ships in Carnival's fleet, we found her to be in very good shape and well maintained.

We drove to Jacksonville from Fredericksburg VA. Chris and the 2 boys rode down with us and Chris took on the duties of driving...I road shotgun and Bill sat in the back watching movies with the boys. Jacquie and family left on Wednesday as they were doing Disney pre-cruise. We hit 95 about 6:30 a.m. on Sunday and made it to Jacksonville by 5:45 with 4 stops, 2 short gas stops and breakfast a Cracker Barrel and lunch at a Wendy's. The boys were so good. Those DVD players for cars are a Godsend! The last hour they got kind of giggly and the grouchy old man (Bill) was a PITA about it....he was worse than the kids LOL. He said we will never drive that far again LOL. I booked two suites at the St. John's Suites and was VERY pleased with the accommodations and the price ($79 plus tax). I was too exhausted to go out to eat...and Bill didn't want to either. Chris took the car and he and the boys went looking for someplace to eat. He called me and said they decided on Red Lobster so I had him bring me an appetizer of coconut shrimp.

Monday we headed out of the hotel about 11:30. We were on board by 12:30. Went to lunch and then sat at outdoor tables by the pool to eat. Jacquie and Chris had bathing suits in their carry ons so the kids hit the pool. At 1:30 Bill and I headed to our room. We had an aft balcony handicapped cabin, nice size. We had early dining and a table for 12 in the Imagination Dining Room. Dinner the first night was a nightmare zoo! It was not the thing for Tristan and Ryan (age 5 & 3)...they did everything but dance on the table. Like Jacquie said all the silver and glasses on the table were just so tempting to them. Jack and Nathanael (age 5 & 7) did very well all week at dinner in the dining room. That was the only night Jacquie brought the boys to dinner...they went to Camp Carnival and the camp counselors took the kids to the buffet for dinner each night....Mackenzie (7) and Jacob (13) ate a couple nights at the buffet too, though Jacob would pop in and out of the dining room to see what was going on LOL. Read more