Fascination- Caribbean leaving San Juan, PR

Hi. I've never been on Carnival and sorry to say, was always sort of biased against it due to a couple different things that I've heard. I'm typically a solo cruiser, so value is extremely important to me. I also prefer cruises with hardly any sea days but great entertainment at night. I feel bad saying this since I know most of you are parents and grandparents but it's not relaxing to me sharing the pool and hot tubs with kids especially ones like under 10. I just got off a Norwegian Cruise. There was a designated family pool and hot tub area which no one used. There were 4 hot tubs on the main level with 2 clearly indicating signs that 2 were reserved just for adults. No one followed that. There were also signs that children under 14 had to be under supervision with their parents/guardians, and that rarely happened. Staff just doesn't do anything about it. I would regularly see young kids in hot tubs with no parents clearly around. I love kids but I don't enjoy spending my vacations trying to get quiet time around them. I know the ship does have an adults only area but there is no pool there (just hot tubs) which I think actually has no problems with kids coming to it (am I wrong?). Are there any restrictions for families at all at the main pool? Not the one with the slide, but the just standard pool? Do kids still use the adults' only area? I know to have quieter times on the ship to not book around holidays, spring break, and the summer and winter break but I have to follow whatever vacation schedule I get which often falls around those times.

Also are the comedians on the ship raunchy or is it more PC entertainment to not offend anyone?

Did any of you go on the ship during a hurricane?

Lots of questions there....

During Spring Break there will be kids everywhere, out of control, never following any rules. On Magic this past March we saw 10-20 teens in every hot tub all day long, jumping in it, splashing over the walls, etc. Insane. AVOID spring break at all costs.

May we were on the Freedom and it was the exact opposite. Aft pool is adults only and we only saw kids in it the first day... someone must have pointed out the signs to the people violating it. Never saw a kid there afterwards. Ditto the hot tubs on aft deck. Main pool is families, ditto those hot tubs...kids and adults.

Comedy Shows....there are 2 PG shows, then 2 adult only shows every night that it is open. Two Comedians each night. They switch out the comedians halfway through the cruise, so you never have to see the same show twice.

Hurricane season... we booked the Glory in late August 2 years ago...and a hurricane was coming right in our itinerary path, so cruise was diverted to completely different ports. It happens. Still had a great time.

What sailing are you on? We are on September 24.

Like you, we stayed away from Carnival until last year. We are retired with no kids in tow.

I assume you are asking about the Fascination cruise from San Juan, as it says in your title. We took this cruise on April 30 (school in session) this year. The cruise was wonderful; we loved the ports.

My husband used the pool and slides several times. They were busy but not excessive with children. The Sanctuary area is nice and has 2 hot tubs; no kids there.

There are a few shows (singing, dancing, etc) at night. We missed the last night juggling because we had to pack. They are not scheduled every night like on Princess.

Last year we went to one comedian and I did not enjoy the show (rated PG), so I stay away from that entertainment. We find plenty to keep us busy.

They had good movies scheduled, but they interfered with our dining times.

I recommend that you stay a few extra days in San Juan; it is a wonderful place to visit and one day on a cruise ship stop is not enough.

I did a review in the review section of this board if you want more information.

We will definitely be back on Carnival, good return for our money, as well as cruise other lines also.

I've done a few solo cruises out of San Juan, one on the old Destiny and 2 on the Celebrity Summit. The Summit cruises, in December and then January, were actually less $$ than Carnival's 200% solo supplement. Very few kids on the Summit, so no interference with adult boundaries in the adult assigned areas.

I haven't been on Fascination yet but from what I'm seeing there is only 1 pool and it's sure to be family friendly. The slides don't go into a pool.

As far as kids in other adult only areas I would just find a crew member and ask that they enforce the rules. I don't know much about adult only areas on Fascination as I am going with my kids so I haven't researched them.

As far as hurricanes the Southern itinerary is actually better. Most hurricanes are a bit further north than the southern islands.

As far as comedy the PG is fine and the adult can be raunchy but it depends on the comedian style. No comedy should be politically correct as that wouldn't be funny, but it doesn't need to be raunchy.

I just got off this cruise. Kids were not a problem. My 17 y.o. Had about 30 kids in the club o2 with her. Kids seemed pretty well behaved, for the most part. The Serenity area was nice. Never saw kids there.

My husband, 18 year old son and I sailed this cruise on April 30th as well. We had a great time. Yes, the ship is old and dated but the entertainment was good and it never felt crowded. We only went to the PG comedy shows. We enjoyed one of them tremendously but found the others to be just okay. The pool area was chaos until it got dark, then my son pretty much had the pool to himself. I have nothing positive to say about the hot tubs. They were ALWAYS crowded with LOTS of kids! You couldn't pay me to go in there :)

Thanks guys for sharing your experiences! If I will ever go on a Carnival Cruise I will deliberately avoid times when kids are on a break. What did it for me is the idea of teenagers in there at all hours being loud LOL. I'm not anti kid but I have always enjoyed relaxing at a pool/hot tub and relaxing to me during that means no kids or at least well behaved kids (I think though most parents insist that they will have well behaved children just like every parent insists their kids are geniuses...).

I actually would prefer Celebrity over Carnival but it seems like Carnival has better itineraries generally. Haven't booked anything yet. If they had the same itineraries and with the single supplement were about the same, I would easily go with Celebrity. I actually would have no issue with Carnival anytime of the year if they truly had a separate adult pool and hot tub area meaning no kids allowed. I was wrong when I said 2 pools sort of. It's 1 pool but then a sort of pool for the slide