Carnival Fasination Review. Great Vacation.

Embarkation - Great as we are now VIP cruisers so we get to skip the lines and go straight to the boat after we get our cards.

This was the second time on this ship within 5 months. We went on the 7 day in May and just came across this one in October. We could not beat the price. We got a balcony room for around $700.00 for the both of us. My husband loves to cruise and we could not beat the price. I was not excited about going on the same exact cruise with stopping at the same ports I just visited 5 months earlier.

PORTS:
Nassau-We have been here plenty of times so we just walked around the straw market, took a horse and carriage ride and ate the Hard Rock cafe. The downer was the straw market was all over the street as someone had burned the original location down and it was very crowded and not easy to shop. The horse and carriage ride cost us $50.00 and was fine, nothing too special but we like to help out the locals at each port we go too. We had the sampler platter at the Hard Rock and it was enough for 2 to eat.

Half Moon Cay- This is carnival's own private island. This is the most beautiful beach in the world and we live in the panhandle in Florida and we have some beautiful beaches. It has the clearest water I have ever seen in my life. On our first cruise we rented the cabana with another couple and it is well worth the price of 109.00 for the day. This included the air conditioned cabana, snacks and soft drinks for 4, hammocks, padded lawn chairs, floats, snorkeling equipment and a warm shower. This time it was just the 2 of us so we just got one of the canopy's for the day and it was suppose to be 19.00 but they never came around and collected the money. This excursion is free with a buffet included. Food was good. You could rent floats and water toys if you wanted to for an additional fee.

Food- Great every night. We were disappointed that they didn't offer the steakhouse on this ship as it is worth the extra 30.00 per person to eat there one night. We always ate the buffet for breakfast and used the omelette station frequently. Lunch we usually ate the buffet but decided to go to the dining room one day and they had ribs to die for. Dinner-Always ate in the dining room. Chocolate melting cake is my favorite. I ate it 3 out of the 5 nights there.

Service-Awesome. We had the best waiter and asst waiter ever. My only complaint was that our steward would only give us ice twice a day. I love to stay in my room and read on the balcony on sea days and need a lot of ice for my soda.

Cruise Director Jen was on one of our past cruises and the same old jokes were kinda old. She was one of our favorites though, she was always very bubbly and always on time for all events. Debarkation _ We were also allowed off the boat first and were out and on the road by 9:30 am.

So overall another happy customer. We already have our next cruise booked through Carnival in March 2012.

Nice size room for 2 people, a lot of space for 2 people, great balcony. We were at the very back of the boat with the extended balcony.