We choose this cruise because our friends son’s senior trip. We were all celebrating. This cruise has us wishing we’re were back on the boat. We had so much fun. The boat was very clean. We had a balcony cabin and it was just perfect.we went to a little bar early in our trip called Sid Norman’s the Guilty Pleasures was playing 80’s music. This show was amazing and we went back every night they were playing. It was so much fun and the kids on stage are amazing. We left with wanting more. They did a great job it was fantastic. Debra, Grant, Niki and Billy put on an amazing show time after time. I also want to pay kudos to the Japanese restaurant we eat at. The name started with a T. The food and entertainment was really good. The island of Belize also won us over. The white sand beaches. We can’t wait to go back. Read Less

We chose this cruise as it was stopping at ports we wanted to visit on dates when we wished to be away. The Bellissima is a stunning looking ship and has something for everyone. Our cabin was on deck 10 midship and was lovely with a balcony, reasonable space and being a new ship did not show any signs of wear and tear. Our cabin steward Genesis was attentive, friendly and always happy to see us. He maintained our cabin beautifully and recognised a particularly special date that we celebrated whilst on board ship. At this location on the ship it was difficult to know whether the ship was moving it was so quiet with no noise from adjoining cabins or fromthe engines. Our allocated restaurant was The Lighthouse on deck 6 excellent choice for us as we had a table for 2. The menu was varied and offered something different every day to suit most requirements. Meals were well presented and of good quality. Service was excellent and the staff who served us each day at table 479 were Carissa and Abdul and are worth a special mention for their professionalism and attention nothing was too much trouble and again went out of their way to celebrate our Ruby Wedding Anniversary. Breakfast and lunch served in the Marketplace was a challenge. There was plenty of choice and something for everyone but the shear numbers of diners at any one time made the experience quite stressful. The staff were as efficient and patient as they could be given the logistics of numbers and seats available at any one time. There were good shows on board and plenty of entertainment for all ages. The musicians who played in all of the areas were first class with music choices to suit all tastes we particularly liked the Jazz trio who played each evening on Deck 16. We purchased the Cirque Soleil show and dinner at 40 euros each which was very good value for money . The show was excellent, food very good and Alwyn and his team served everything beautifully so that dinner was served before the show commenced. We have scored food at 3 because of the breakfast and lunch experience. Weather whilst on board ship was not particularly good so consequently much of the outdoors facilities were not in use. They were however very clean and well presented with water facilities to suit all tastes the water park on deck 18 would be great fun for families. We enjoyed our holiday we would cruise again but not for cruising sake but to see particular places that are included in the itinerary. We did not book MSC excursions but instead booked with local providers in Naples we did a tour if Naples and went to Pompei in a small group of 6 with a very knowledgeable guide. In Messina we did the same and rode the cable car to the top of Etna and visited Tourmina. Again an excellent excursion with small numbers and a local guide. Every other port we did our own thing and really enjoyed. This cruise met our expectations and we would consider MSC in the future provided the itinerary met our requirements. Read Less

I don't normally complain. We love cruising and being on the ocean. There was nothing absolutely horrible. Nothing great either. Service is slow and poor. Had to wait forever to be served at the bar, or flag down bar service who always seemed irritated to be asked. The main dining service was awesome. We had wonderful servers and was the highlight of each day. Julius in the seaside lounge bar was the only great, kind, friendly bartender. None of the shows were good, except the Michael Jackson show. Comedy was all vulgar improv. The food was fine, but the salad bar was literally lettuce and shredded carrots. We saw our cabin steward once. He never cleaned our shower or bathroom floor. It was nasty by day 7. This was our second msc cruise. Both have had a theme of poor service. Hoping they can use these reviews to improve in the future, as their ships are beautiful. Read Less

We have cruised on this ship 10+ time and will return for another cruise in October. This is the smallest of the Carnival ships. We enjoy having a fewer number of guests, shorter lines and frankly, just less people everywhere. Sometimes on the larger ships it seems like they increase the cabins but not the common areas. guests who sail on the Fantasy range from babies to seniors, but it always has a southern hospitality charm. Having sailed nearly 30 times, I can say with confidence that the crew of the Fantasy is second to none. They are open, friendly, and in the few short days you are on the ship, they become friends. The dining room staff always remembers what you doing and most of the time, my drink was sitting on the table when I arrived. The waiters around the pool are awesome. On the cruise last week, the waiter remembered that I ordered a bottle of water with every other drink-FROM THE LAST CRUISE IN DECEMBER! He just started bringing it to me again. On the Fantasy, you will not find rock climbing walls, roller coasters or trampolines. However, the children seem to be entertained and happy playing old school games as ship scavenger hunts. Believe it or not, they even have an adult one that is hugely popular. Our favorite places on the ship are the piano bar, the comedy club and wherever the live band is playing. We do frequent the shows as well. While Country Roads is not my favorite, they are all well done and great entertainment. Sometimes on the larger ships it seems like they increase the cabins but not the common areas. I have read several reviews where people have said this is a great ship for first time cruisers, and it is. However, you will also find diamond guests with over 400+ days who sail this ship out of choice. It truly is a ship with a personality and that personality is based largely on that time of year. During the winter months while school is in session, it is mostly adults taking a short break from parenting, holiday celebrations, and work. Summer months, the ship is all about families making the ship seem twice as crowded (4 people in cabins instead of 2). If you do a Journey cruise on the Fantasy, or any other ship, the clientele seems to be much older. I guess its difficult for working families to take 10 days or more but it is still tons of fun. Just different fun. During spring break, well, the ship "rocks" until 3am or so. I love all the ship seasons but you just have to be prepared mentally for what to expect. The dining room food is great and they will bring you one (or two) of everything on the menu if you ask. Embarkation is so easy. Mobile certainly has it down to a science. Debarkation is typical but not nearly as crazy because you simply have fewer guests leaving the ship. Finally, the Fantasy is a popular ship for people to sail back to back (and to back and to back). We met guests on the last cruise that had been on the ship for 2 months. Don't let the age of the ship (and yes, in places it shows) fool you, the Fantasy is consistently one of the top rated ships on customer service. Enjoy. Read Less

We were a group of eight, but knew 40 people on this sailing ranging from Elementary school to adults and grandparents. Everyone had an amazing time. We were in adjoining rooms 11286 and 11288. Room 11288 was larger with an angled balcony. I believe it is considered a hump room. It was set up for our children with the couch in the front and their beds in the back. I much preferred that set up, to the king bed in the front of the room of 11288 because it made the room feel smaller than necessary. By my measurements room 11288 has about 5 extra inches in width. The balconies can be partially connected, but there is still some portion blocked. But having both of them was really a nice feature. Our dining staff were exemplary and went out of their way to assist with our allergies. At no time did it feel like I inconvenienced them, and they always took my concerns and needs very seriously. I do wish they had better dessert options for dairy allergies, but I know the chef tried to come up with items. It would have been nice if they had dairy free desserts. Overall the food was good, and the service impeccable. We did the ifly and the north star. Both were really fun. Our ifly instructor was incredibly calming and funny. He helped us go beyond the basics for those that had done it before, which was really appreciated. For those in our party that were afraid, he helped them overcome their fears and succeed in creating amazing memories. We took RC excursions to NASA. They used a company with yellow shirts, although the man on our bus said we could ask any guide with a yellow shirt questions in the park, when I tried to do so, a woman with the company said I did not pay for her tour guide services, merely to ride on their bus when I asked what the best attraction for children would be. I had no idea that there were two different tour options, but that was not a pleasant response. She had not begun any tour as I would not have asked that of someone giving a tour, since we were all congregating around the main entrance I figured a question on where to go was appropriate. So be forewarned that they don't give advice. Coco cay was lovely. It is a long walk on the pier, so wear comfortable shoes. The beach is beautiful and there are plenty of chairs. The pool is fantasy. I loved the white chairs in the water, as well as the swim up bar. There are plenty of chairs with umbrellas to use. The shops have decent souvenirs. Be mindful of the trees as they are planted in cement and I unwittingly stubbed my toe on one. The Atlantis is huge. It really helps if you know where you are going. Please look for a map before going to really understand the resort layout. They have dole whips which are great, near the kids pool play space. Because of height requirements I would recommend going with children who really exceed the limits. The rides are a lot of fun, but I saw kids who were too small denied access to the slides quite miserable. Please make sure to look at the height and weight of your child to not disappoint them. I have to speak about the shows on board. While the acting, singing, stagework, anamatronics, musicians, lighting all did an excellent and amazing job, the overall stories of the shows were confusing at best, and disturbing at worse. If you have a dying family member, skip the gift. The story was terrible. We sat next to someone who saw it 10 times and still could not figure it out. It was just a terrible plot and unnecessarily sad. Spectra's Cabaret was very loud, please bring ear plugs to save your hearing. The TVs were cool, and the stage work was excellent. I enjoyed the music and the showmanship. The bumper cars were a huge, huge hit with my family. I wish we got towel animals daily, but only received two. What we did get were interesting, a frog and a dog. My in laws got a peacock. The one issue with the ship is that the elevators were always going out of order in the aft section of the ship. I spoke with maintenance in person after we were stuck inside the elevator. From speaking to numerous other guests, our experience was not isolated. The elevators would stop on floors and not open doors until someone outside of the elevator would push for the elevator. Sometimes, even when you had a floor pushed and the elevator was going in that direction, it would stop and change directions missing your floor, or not taking you to a higher level floor. The forward elevators seemed to work properly, but with a room in the aft section it made traveling slightly difficult. Overall the ship was great, the staff excellent, and the weather wonderful. We already miss being on board. We were sad to see no April 2020 ships from NJ, except a transatlantic ship which does not fulfill our spring break needs. Read Less

We picked this cruise because DW, niece and nephew had never been on a cruise and we wanted to make sure everyone would be ok locked in on the water. Embarkation went very smooth in spite of us being late (or maybe because of it, the world may never know) we had 11:30-12:00 check in but didn't arrive till about 1:00 and walked right on. Well after going through security and all of course. Guy's burgers were real good and the kids liked the hotdogs from the deli. Lido buffet seemed to be lacking in my opinion. Oh the food was good just seemed to be less verity than what I remember from my last Carnival Fantasy cruise. This could be from 1) my failing memory, 2) there really is less verity or 3) a combination of the two. We had anytime dining in the Golden Olympian and it was great. No lines, no waiting either night. Sorry if I offended anyone wearing my jeans on elegant night but we had decided while we were packing that we would eat on Lido that night but DW decided otherwise on the night of. Good thing it was cool the morning we left home or I wouldn't have had any long pants. DW did keep saying "I just don't understand the allure and all the hype of cruising" but as we were sitting discussing what we were having for dinner last night she said "too bad we can't just go to lido and pick up something, I miss that ship" so I think she is hooked. I see more cruises in our future! We only saw the America Rocks show which was pretty good, but if you go to the Venetian Palace to see a show, try to avoid the back seats on deck 3. The overhang from deck 4 will block part of your view and you may not be able to see the entire performance. Not sure about deck 4. The kids, 5 and 13, loved the kids clubs and didn't want to leave. Even the very shy 13 year old made friends. Now the 5 yo can make friends with a signpost so we knew that wasn't going to be a problem. Most people say not to take a 3 day weekend cruise, it's just a party cruise with a bunch of rowdy drunks, but I didn't see a lot of that, just pax having a good time and mostly respectful and polite to each other. Overall great cruise I just don't think I will do another short one. Just to much work (packing, driving, unpacking, etc) for the amount of relaxation time. Read Less

5 hours from Mobile so we drove down. Getting on and off the boat simple and easy in Mobile. It’s a nice big port with $70/5 day parking. Get a better ship in there it would be worth it. We chose this cruise because we wanted to take our 4 boys (10 to 17) and it was cheapest we found. The boys thought it was awesome, and for them it was, my wife and I not so much. But before I go further I do want to say that everyone was super nice and friendly. It was my first cruise and if it wasn’t for people I know that wouldn’t lie to me it would be my last. It was like staying in a musty ran down motel with excellent room service (if that makes sense), the king size bed was so uncomfortable that I was ready to take the frame out in the hall and lay the mattress on the floor. We paid for extra for an ocean view which landed us at the main back of the noisy ship but that was a WASTE because the window had not been cleaned in so long that you couldn’t be 100ft past the back of the ship. The food was ok the best was Guy Fieri burgers and the Blue Iguana was great. We ate lunch there and dined at ships restaurant it was ok fancy food cooked up and served with a smile but lacked variety and flavor I thought. And believe me I tried everything 6 people 4 being teenage boys can put some food away and I tried everything that we ordered. The entertainment was ok I enjoyed name that song, the live music at the bar and marriage game was halirious. Kevin wasss ssso over the top but he wassss funny I thought (If you know him you’ll get that). The shows were ok except for the Country Roads show it was terrible I thought. The ports were ok, Progreso that shops were in your face almost. Cozumel the boys swam with the nurse sharks and stingrays they had fun but they had never done anything like that but it’s was like a petting zoo in the ocean where you can touch it if your fast enough to corner it. I’ve found out that I just can’t afford to take 6 ppl on a cruise. I’ll find a resort, condo, time share or something else because the 5 days on the boat with the excursion was over 6K. I just read over this... Lol I sound like a hateful old man but one of the easiest going guys I know. I just excepted more and better Read Less

I picked this cruise rather last minute, which for me is unusual. I am usually the deal hunter who books in advance. In fact I still have a booking for Carnival Magic in December 2019 that was already booked when I found this cruise. This cruise fell into spring-break for my kids schools. We had originally planned to vacation at Destin on the outer bank, and my wife had submitted her vacation request as far back as last November. Unfortunately they did not approve her vacation until 2 weeks before spring break. We actually booked this cruise early march and had resigned ourselves that she would have to put in her 2-weeks notice if it came down to it, as that is required in order to get re-hired there. It was rediculous. Needless to say the condo's we were looking at had become unavailable by mid january. This was the only cruise that happened to have a schedule that did not require leaving school days early or arriving after classes had resumed. Given its last minute nature the pricing was not too egregious, but I am sure booking earlier might have yielded better results. This was the fifth cruise I had sailed on and subsequently the 5th distinct ship as well. In the order of sail date I have sailed on: Carnival Victory, Allure of the Seas, Brilliance of the Seas, Carnival Liberty, and now Norwegian Sun. We were excited by the free open bar and the free-at-sea upgrade to the ultimate beverage package. We usually get the drink package on all our cruises, as they not only get you premium wines and sprits, but also those special irish coffees and mochas, as well as bottled water. My first bar experience was the Atrium Cafe and Bar. Having the Ultimate Beverage Package (UBP) I looked over the menu to find a decent Cabernet. They only listed one wine that wasnt just a generic name 'cabernet'. It was a Simi Cabernet, which is a fairly decent $20 bottle at most retail stores. Some excuse from the bartender about not having come up from the stock room yet. This was his excuse also on Day 2 and Day 3. Ironically this was a similar excuse at other bars EXCEPT for the Observation lounge, who had Simi available on the first night at sea. The 'house' cabernet they kept trying to pass off ..... Livingston. This stuff is worse than franzia. Its normally sold in JUGS. I have no idea how they got these 750ml screw-top bottles. To upgrade someone to the UBP and then deny them any premium wine is just plain wrong. They listed 6 different premium tequila, gin, and vodka's. But if you were a wine drinker they just wanted to serve swill. DAy 2 my wife came to another realization regarding the bait-and-switch nature of the UBP. BTW when you get your free upgrade they still make you pay the gratuities (20%) of its essential value. This means that not only are you paying an increased daily gratuity on your cabin ($20.50/pp/day instead of $15) but you're essentially paying another $6/pp/day for those with the UBP. My wife goes down to the Cafe to get a specialty coffee. These are supposed to be included like every other cruise line as long as you dont go to the starbucks counter. Well they only have ONE cafe on the whole ship and even though its not starbucks, thats the only kind of coffee they serve. So another bait-and-switch lie. She found out when they charged her account $6.50. Later on day 2 I noticed everyone complaining that ALL the bars kept denying them bottled water even though the UBP includes that. They claimed they were out. Its an unlimited open bar cruise. To not have water is purely irresponsible considering the risk of dehydration and alcohol poisoning. It wasnt until I complained to management about the wine, coffee and water did it get rectified on day 3. Their plan was to deflect and excuse until it was too late and assume the guests would just go along with it. Day 3 had the whole ship angry. Harvest Cay clearly says no tenders on the information. We and everyone was told no tenders. So guess what? Info in the Freestyle schedule talked about tender tickets. My wife calls the customer service desk, gets fed a lie about low ocean levels. The NCL Sun weighs 78,000 GT, its the lightest ship in their fleet. The fact that the NCL Getaway weighs 147,000 GT and was tied up to the peer blew that story out of the water. Heavier ships sit DEEPER in the water. its called submerged displacement for a reason. So our 10am peer time turned into sitting around for an extra 2hrs before the first passenger got off the ship. They only had 3 tenders and they were taking too long to cycle. They needed 6 tenders so they could get people moving faster. The lines consisted of 15min periods where nothing moved. The last group made it to shore at 2pm for a all-aboard 5:30pm departure. UNACCEPTABLE. IF that was not enough the captain of the NCL Getaway did the most irresponsible, dangerous, maneuver you could imagine. I was on the tender at 4:30 returning to the ship when the Getaway starts backing out of port. We were next to the ship trying to get off when that IDIOT captain spun up his engines to rotate at flank speed (full speed) it sent such a turbulent wake our tender kept crashing into the ship repeatedly. My daughter (16) and son (9) had litterally just stepped off the tender when this happened. They were not 6 feet in front of me when we had to hold on and try not to capsize. My son (handicapped) standing there crying and terrified that he is watching his parents die right in front of him because this IRRESPONSIBLE captain could not wait till the tenders were clear of collision before tearing out of port at break-neck speed. It was bad enough he came along and screwed us out of the peer, but letting him leave first??? Should have made his butt stay at the peer until ALL tenders were completed. Had I been on that ship I would have charged up to the bridge and relieved him of duty myself (possibly more than just that) I have the martial acumen to back it up and endangering peoples lives unnecessarily is unacceptable. He should not have command and NCL policy should state that peered ships must remain in port as long as tendering operations are underway if within 1 nautical mile of the anchored ship. Read Less

We booked this cruise for Our 16th anniversary. We have never taken “real” vacation with just the two of us as most of our time off has been camping with our kids. Overall I would not be opposed to taking another cruise maybe in a couple years. Good: 1. The staff on board was excellent. Our room steward Arthar. Corina served us at both the pool and in the main dining hall on several occasions and she was awesome. Oscar and Mark at Alchemy bar were great 2. La Cocina Italian restaurant 3. Gigi’s Asian restaurant Bad: 1. The sushi bar was edible but I would not go back. We did have a cooked sea bass that my wife raved about. 2. Most of the mixed drinks at the bars were supper sweet, weak, not very good. Go to Alchemy 3. The dinning hall was ok but nothing to rave about Read Less

We wanted to be on the cruise on our anniversary, so we selected this cruise. We usually go on smaller ships, such as the Pearl, but there were none available from Miami on our dates. We were pleasantly surprised by the Getaway. The staff and crew were fantastically friendly and accommodating. The ship was very upbeat, and we were able to find quiet areas, although it was spring break. Our cabin steward was the best we have ever had, and we’ve been on 25 cruises. We loved the Ice Bar, and enjoyed Fat Cat’s and the Headliner. We liked the Trivia contests, the various competitions, the Tropicana for dinner, and everything about the ship’s set up. Our only two suggestions would be to have more shows in the theater. The same shows kept repeating. Also, the shows in the Atrium were great, but seating was not available. Maybe these should have been in the theater. We did not take any shore excursions. We visited Roatan by taxi, and enjoyed the chocolate factory. The guide there was very knowledgeable. Harvest Key had something for everyone, including giant chess and checkers games and zip lines. Read Less