natefish95

Some more shots from the boat ride. St. Lucia is gorgeous.

We then arrived at the small town of Soufriere (pictured below)

We then transferred to buses for the ride up the mud bath. It was only about 10 minutes along some winding roads. When we arrived at the mud bath, we were immediately slapped in the face by the smell of sulphur. Yummy. It also started raining again. One of the other guides, Kelly, and Shi Shi walked with us down to the mud bath. The stairs were a little steep and slippery, so they may be challenging for those with mobility issues.

Is it weird to say I didn't understand this mud bath? Hang with me for s second. The first pool you came to was a square mud bath. I honestly think the might have been the rinsing off pool now that I think of it. Nothing was really explained, so we got out of that and moved to the middle area which had a big bucket of grey mud in it that you lather all over you body. Ok, this is pretty fun. You then go to the last part, which is a very rocky "pool". It's nice and warm, but very difficult to get in and out of. The bottom has thicker black mud. We spent a few minutes in here. Kelly and Shi Shi offered to take pictures of us, which was super nice of them. Traveling solo, I want pictures of myself, but don't want to constantly ask people.

Once we got out of the final pool, we were still filthy. I didn't see any kind of shower facilities (I did see changing rooms though). We were told to just walk back to the bus and sit on our towels. Ok, but now my nice Carnival towel, which I'm using to lay out on at the beach, is now covered in mud. We then waited for some stragglers to come up the vans and then we set off for the waterfall.

Overall, I was not impressed by the mud bath. I felt dirty, but not in a good way. There was so much sediment and silt in the mud mixture that it just really clung to your skin. I felt gross. I've done a mud bath once before in Ecuador a few years ago and it was very relaxing with no sediment and washed off easily. You get the choice of the mud bath or a volcano tour and I would not do the mud bath. After talking with everyone at the dinner table who went, we all agreed it was not worth it. Someone mentioned she did find a shower, but it was only a trickle and didn't really help get the mud mixture off.

Smiling through the mess. That's an old bathing suit and it was definitely thrown away at the end of the day.

Day 5-St. Lucia

Welcome to St. Lucia!

Fun Times

For a second day in a row, I woke up early enough for breakfast in the dining room AND remembered to take pictures. I deserve a ship on a stick.

As you can see, it's quite a large menu, which is why I enjoyed it so much.

Today I went full millennial and got avocado toast and took a picture of it.

Today I prebooked the Spencer Ambrose Land and Sea tour for $105 ($10 up front and $95 in person). This tour includes a boat ride, visit to a mud bath, a waterfall, beach time, and a boat tour on your way back to the ship. The Spencer Ambrose (SA from now on because I'm lazy) folks were great about communication and provided maps in the emails about meetup points and what will happen in case the ship gets in late.

I got off the ship easily enough and met Shiquana (no idea how to spell her name but everyone called her Shi Shi), paid the remaining amount and waited for others to show up. We had about 15 or so on our tour, so it was a nice small group. 2 more met us in Soufriere who were staying in a hotel on the island.

We walked to the boat dock and quick rain shower moved through. Most people ran for shelter, but our group stood there and judged everyone else. You're in your bathing suits and about to get on a boat...as we say in the south, bless their hearts.

We then boarded the boat, met Spencer himself (who was the Captain), and set off for about a 30 minute boat ride to the town of Soufriere.

Love your writing. The Eco-Adventure tour at Harrison Cave sounds great for you young folks, though not sure DW and I could handle it. Did you get any appreciation for the regular tour? It sounds like we might be able to handle the tram ride version - what do you think? Though your adventure really sounds like the way to really enjoy it! Thanks for taking time to describe it all so well.

I think the tram ride would still be good. I'm not sure about the specifics of it, but you definitely have opportunities to see the amazing rock formations, learn the history and take pictures. I think it would be worth checking out.

Sounds sooo fun! You should write an adventure book, I would totally read it!

If it's taken me this long to write a review on Cruise Critic, I could never finish a book! Thank you so much though. I'm glad you're enjoying it!

We had three guides and they were all great.

After we all got changed, we got back on the bus and drove back to the port.

Overall, this tour was incredible and definitely one of the most memorable excursions I've done on any cruise. I love beach days, but I like doing unique things like this even more. It was a steep price, but worth every penny in my opinion. If you want an exciting experience, aren't afraid to get dirty, in reasonably good shape, and aren't afraid to get a few cuts and bruises, I highly highly recommend doing this excursion. If I'm being honest, older people and those who may be of a large size, would likely struggle with this excursion and may not have an enjoyable experience. Any knee or wrist issues would definitely not be good. Feel free to ask any specific questions you have and I'll be more than happy to answer.

OH! I forgot to mention one thing. You CAN bring your phone and any camera into the cave. The guides have a waterproof box they bring with them and collect all non-waterproof phones and cameras when needed. I had my GoPro the whole time, but it died halfway through and I haven't checked the footage. If you plan on bringing a GoPro, I don't know which type of mount to recommend. I had a normal hand grip on mine and it was a bit tricky at some points where I really needed two hands to grip something. One guy had a chest mount, but your chest is facing the ground so much, I don't think you would get great footage. Head mounts wouldn't work because of the helmet. I think wrist mounts exist and that would probably be the best. The footage might be shaky, but it would probably provide some cool footage.

Once we got back to port, I saw this ship next to us and remember reading something about an older ship like this one belonging to some cult. I researched it after I got home and it's called the Freewinds and belongs to the Church of Scientology where they do trainings for high up members. Alrightyyyyy then...

I was back on the ship by 3:30, but I was starving and went up to Guy's for a burger. I relaxed in Serenity for a few hours before getting ready for dinner.

Menu pictures

The braised ox tongue was delicious

My other appetizer was probably the caesar salad and my main was the linguine with sausage. It was average. Nothing special, but there definitely could have been more sausage.

Dessert Menu

The S'mores parfait was a huge hit! I got the melting cake like normal, but wish I would have gotten the parfait after everyone loved it so much.

Tonight they began the game of "Clue" which would last until the end of the cruise. Tonight was also karaoke in the Ritz lounge (uh no thanks). I sat at the Alchemy bar and judged the singers with the bartenders. I played in the casino for awhile. I started out with $20 and was actually up for awhile, but kept playing and lost it all. I lasted a long time though, so it was a fun evening. I turned in early because I had to be up early the next day and was exhausted from cave exploration.

Next up-St. Lucia and Spencer Ambrose land and sea tour

My first thought in the cave was how hot it was. You'd think it would be cool being underground. We walked for about 10 minutes with the guides pointing various things out. My pictures from inside aren't the best because the lighting wasn't great and I'm just not a great picture taker.

Before getting down and dirty (also thought you'd like to see my face. I know I always like putting a face to the name. NOTE-I normally wear glasses, but highly suggest you leave them in the lockers.

More cool rock formations

I don't want to give the surprise away, but the guides made sure to get us all soaking wet before we continued further into the cave. This really got us in the spirit and ready for more. We walked further into the cave, turned our headlamps on and got into a natural pool of crystal clear water. It was beautiful. It was deep so we used a rope attached to the side to walk along the edge. As we were hanging on, the guides scooped up some mud and slathered our backs in it to get us dirty and prepare us for what's to come.

We climbed a ladder up onto a ledge, which was the opening of the real adventure part. No nice paved pathway like before. We're crawling on all fours now. We actually started out walking and then slowly got lower and lower until we were crawling. You had to watch the person's back in front of you to make sure they weren't getting too close to any low hanging pointy stalactites (had to look up which one hangs down. Stalagmites point up.) In parts where we could stand up and walk, it was very slippery and uneven and ankle deep mud in some parts.

It was very strenuous. In case you hadn't guessed, crawling in tight space while trying to avoid being impaled by stalactites is pretty exhausting. I can't even tell you how long we crawled for. We eventually made it to another opening and rested for a few minutes and chatted. One of the guides gave each of us mud facials. By that I mean he scooped up mud from the ground and slapped it on our faces. We then crawled back the way we came. I stumbled a few times in the awkward "can't quite stand up fully, but it's too open to crawl" because you're in an awkward hunched over position and I don't have good balance to begin with. The guides recommend to maintain three points of contact at all times. That does not include your butt or your face. Ideally two feet and a hand, but s#it happens. We made it back to the first deep pool and jumped in. It was cold but super refreshing. We were caked in mud and this washed a lot off. The guides then gave us bottles of water. On each bottle of water was a name of someone important to the history of Barbados, so that gave us something to talk about as we recuperated from the trek. My bottle said "Rachel Pringle" and I thought it was a joke. It reminded me of those FB things that are "your middle name + the last thing you ate is your stripper name". Nope. She's a real person. She was born into slavery in Barbados and went on to become a hotel and brothel owner! Very interesting and successful woman.

We walked for about 10-15 more minutes in another part of the cave with more cool formations.

Remember where I was all clean? Not anymore.

We then wadded through another pool, climbed down a ledge and the guides told us to turn off all our lights. Um, why? It's pitch black and I literally can't see my hand in front of my face. Turns out we had a tunnel to crawl through (on all four, thankfully not Army style). It also thankfully had a mostly smooth bottom, but water was flowing through it, so you had to bring your knees up high so the force of the water wouldn't pull your knee pads off. I think this experience successfully cured any underlying feels of the dark or claustrophobia. If you know you are afraid of the dark or are claustrophobic, you should probably not do this excursion.

We eventually made it out of the tunnel and worked our way up to the surface. Walking up the steep incline out of the cave felt like I was climbing Everest. My legs were screaming. Once we made it back to the lockers, our guides took pictures of each of us all dirty. They took pictures with our own cameras. I was so pleased to see they didn't take their own and make us pay extra for some USB stick of pictures. We then had time to shower and get changed. We were also given a small snack of crackers. If you get hangry easily, you might want to bring a protein or granola bar. Or a family sized bag of Doritos. Live your best life.

Awkward, posted two of the same pictures. Here's the one I meant to post

The port area of Barbados is actually laid out very nicely. There are colored markers on the floor leading you to the ship tour area or the general taxi area. It's impossible to get lost. I followed the directions to the area, found the lady with the sign for "Harrison's Cave Eco-Adventure" NOTE: This is not the same as the "Harrison's Cave Tour" The Tour is $83.99 and the Eco-Adventure is $122.99. The Eco-Adventure was worth the price though, just want to get that out there.

We only had a group of 12 today, so it was a nice sized group. and definitely not too big. It was about a 30-40 minute drive to the cave and we got a nice tour of the island on the way. As we drove further inland I was really surprised by how flat it was in some places. Definitely not what I expected from a Caribbean island.

We eventually got to the cave and met our three guides. They first took us to the locker area. There are small locker rooms for men and women with sinks, restrooms, and showers. The lockers are included in the tour price. We put our stuff in the lockers and then started putting out gear on.

Quick note on clothing. I wore tennis shoes (or sneakers if you will although neither name really makes sense in my opinion) that I planned to throw away along with shirt and shorts that I also planned to trash. I feel like this is the best course of action because you won't have to worry about lugging around wet and dirty clothes. Just plan to throw everything away. One guy showed up in jeans and the guides recommend putting shorts on.

We were given helmets with head lamps, knee pads, gloves and elbow pads. This is the real deal folks. The guides were really great about making sure everyone had their gear secured. We then walked down a hill towards the entrance to the cave.

And one of our guides showed us how to crawl properly. Yes, we had to practice Army crawling and yes we actually had to do this in the cave. I'm no stranger to crawling, but I've usually had some tequila first at least...

We then went to the little information room, which had some interesting information to read about the cave's history and geology in general. We then watched a short video detailing the cave's history. The 12 of us watched the video with people doing the normal tour (in trams), but we had all our gear on so I can only imagine what they thought we were about to get ourselves into. Overall, it was interesting and informative without being and overload and boring.

We then officially entered the cave...

Day 4-Barbados

We had beautiful weather all day, so I didn't need to stand under anyone's umbrella-ella-ella-ay-ay. I've been sitting on that one for awhile.

On to the fun times...

Close ups of the important stuff

So I finally woke up early and had time for breakfast in the dining room before my excursion. I got there around 8:00 and was seated at a shared table. Met a super nice guy from Bermuda, but there was a language barrier with the couple seated with us. If y'all followed my Getaway review, you'll know I love Eggs Benedict. Confession-never poached an egg in my life, but can't wait to try in my new kitchen. I digress... I got some great EB today! Was delicious and my side of bacon was nice and crispy. Highly, highly recommend breakfast in the dining room.

Prior to the cruise, the itinerary was showing a port time in Barbados of 8:00-5:00, but a few days before I noticed the time changes from 9:00-6:00. My excursion initially had a meet time of 8:45, but the tickets I received in stateroom reflected a new time of 9:30 meet time in the port area.

I grabbed a bottle of water from the atrium bar and walked off the gangplank shortly after 9:00am.

Look at dat aft

Sorry for leaving y'all hanging! Just finished my move and got internet installed in my new place. I'll pick back up with Barbados shortly.

Not going to get into Barbados right now because that will be a long post and it's 2am. Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there though!

Tonight was the first of two formal nights. I'll be honest and say that I hate formal nights. I wear a suit and tie for work and I'm sure as heck not going to wear one on vacation. I must be in the minority because everyone was dressed up with most in suits and a few tuxes. I understand wanting to get nice family pictures, but no formal nights is my favorite thing about NCL. Nonetheless, I put on long pants and a button up and went up to the dining room to finally meet my dinner mates for the first time.

I was at a round 12 top table. When I arrived there was another solo traveler there from Puerto Rico. Soon after a family of 4 from Chicago joined us and then another solo traveler from Atlanta. They didn't show up that night, but the other table mates were a mom and her two daughters and another solo traveler from Maine. My biggest fear was that I would be sitting with like a family of 4 for dinner, which is awkward. Thankfully, Carnival seemed to group some solos together, which I was really pleased with.

Dinner menu

I started off the with kale and pork tarts

These were one of my favorite things all week. They were so good.

Then I had the fried oyster.

Good, but nothing special

And for my main, lobster tail! I do love that Carnival still serves lobster tail in the MDR. This has disappeared from NCL in recent years.

Really delicious

Dessert menu (I had the melting cake of course)

Now before the cruise I thought the shows would be annoying and loud and ruin the atmosphere of dinner, but they were actually good. They played popular songs, so you can't help but sing along.

Tonight was the Divas production show, which was good. I don't want to be mean, but the talent was definitely much better on NCL. Still 100x better than anything I could do, but just wanted to point that out. Good show though. One of my table mates was actually chosen to be the Diva of the show and got a makeover backstage and $50 spa gift card and became part of the show at the end.

I went to a few comedy shows that night and spent some more time at the Alchemy Bar.

Day 3-Antigua

Antigua Fun Times

Close up on activiites

Close up on dining

So our port time in Antigua was 7:00am-3:00pm and I had researched beaches. I settled on Darkwood beach because it seemed rather remote, easily accessible by public bus (or taxi), and had a small shack for food and drinks. My body had other plans though.

My CHEERS count from the day before was in the double digits (not maxed out though) and I was feeling ROUGH. To sum it up, I did not get off the boat in Antigua. I was super bummed too, because I was looking forward to seeing Darkwood Beach. Antigua looked nice from the boat though

I knew I needed to eat and finally discovered the deli in the back of the buffet. I settled on the turkey wrap, which was honestly oddly watery. The flavor was fine, but the turkey itself was very moist. It's like it was sitting in a bucket of water. It was just weird. I had much better experiences at the deli later on in the week though.

We pulled away from Antigua late because people were missing and I learned later that we left them (we also left people in Barbados from what I heard).

You could feel the ship movement a little while leaving Antigua, because Barbados is a pretty good distance away. Nothing too bad though. Before getting ready for dinner, I went up to the steam room and relaxed there for a little while enjoying the silence and the motion of the ship.

This was also Memorial Day, so it was nice seeing the flag hanging in the lobby.

I hung out at the Alchemy Bar, and then went to the Love and Marriage show, which was hilarious. I went to the adults only comedy shows from Johnny Millwater, which was really funny. While I was at Alchemy after the show, I met a couple and we went to the casino together. I've never really gambled, but they were roulette players, so I tried my hand at that and lost $20, but it was a lot of fun. By this time it was like 1:30am and I had a beach day planned for Antigua. We'll see how that turned out...

Day 2-St. Thomas

Welcome to St. Thomas! I didn't get off the ship, so if you're looking for port information, go to the destination boards.

Before the cruise I had decided to treat St. Thomas as a "sea day" and just stay on the ship and relax. I didn't get too many pictures from today, so let me try and reconstruct my day.

Docked in St. Thomas

I was in St. Thomas last year on the Escape and enjoyed it. I highly recommend Sapphire Beach if you're looking for a beach day. From my POV on the ship, you could definitely still see some damage present, which is sad to see. I'm hoping hurricane season is much kinder this year than last.

Apparently I forgot to take pictures of the St. Thomas dailies. Oops.

Anyways, I slept in and missed breakfast in the dining room. So I went down to Serenity to relax in the sun for a bit.

Eventually I went up to Lido and grabbed a Guy's Burger for lunch and went back down to Serenity to do some reading, listened to a few podcasts, and just enjoyed the quiet.

They do have waiters coming around taking drink orders periodically, but it always took awhile, so I would always go one deck up to the bar in the back of the buffet and get a drink there. I'll give a shoutout to John the bartender from India. I met him on embarkation day and he was so much fun. He got me to try some new things and made who knows what when I told him what I liked and told him to surprise me.

At some point I went and freshened up, had a few drinks at Alchemy, and then went to our official FB meetup with some of the ships officers. The Entertainment Director Caitlin was there as was Marcelo and members from the Fun Squad. Our FB hosts and organizers also had a raffle and I won a ship on a stick! I never win anything. We had a mini family game night tonight and I didn't even win at that.

Proof

By this point it was too late for dinner, so I went up to the buffet to try and scavenge. I really don't know what I ate, but I did go to the bar. Drinks with a view!

I can't remember if the dining rooms that night opened at 5:00 or 5:30, but it was open seating anyways. I went around 5:30 and was expecting to eat alone, but was unexpectedly shown to a sharing table. Now this was a nice gesture, but I wish the hostess would have asked my preference first. I wish I would have eaten alone because it was a little awkward. It was a long table of 12. Some couples at the end didn't speak English so conversed amongst themselves at the far end. I was near a nice mother and son, but we didn't really have anything in common or much to talk about. Same for the other people. Nice, but nothing in common and nothing to talk about, so it was mostly quiet.

Night 1 menu pics

I did not take any food pictures because that just seemed a bit weird around people I don't know and barely talked to.

For my appetizers I got the chilled Vietnamese roll, which was decent. Not too much flavor and the peanut sauce was very strong. I'm pretty sure I got the corn chowder as well, which was pretty good. For my main I got the sweet and sour shrimp. I'm not sure why because I'm picky about shrimp. I wasn't a big fan, but it was edible. And for dessert, what I've been dreaming about for years, the chocolate melting cake! It was delicious and exactly as I remember it. Perfection.

Forgot I took this picture. Almost everyone skipped dessert, so I was sitting alone shoveling this deliciousness in my mouth.

Service this night was very fast and only took about an hour from start to finish.

After dinner I walked around on deck and took pictures.

Around 7:00pm I believe was when we had our FB page meetup. We had a very active group with awesome hosts. It's always so much fun to meet people in person who you've been chatting with the past few months. Super fun group. We had all kinds of activities organized including a slot pull and a onesie/PJ contest. But let me tell y'all, there was so much drama after that slot pull. All I'm going to say is that some people wrote nasty messages on the FB page and then left the group. Some people need to chill. You're on vacation. Don't get your granny panties in a wad. Nonetheless, super fun group!

I went to the welcome aboard show at 8 in the theater, which was nice. I really can't remember what all it involved. Marcelo was an amazing Cruise Director. Lots of personality and super engaging. I know he left the Fascination last week though. He was replaced by Marq Anthony. Marcelo will return July 28th according to John Heald's schedule.

Muster drill was at 9:00pm and I was falling asleep. It lasted around 30-40 minutes, so not awful. We did not have to stand outside thankfully. There was a muster station located by the pool, which I thought was a little bizarre. I was in the Ritz lounge, so it was cool and comfortable.

Sailaway was at 10:00pm, but there really isn't much to see.Was very different sailing out so late and while it's dark.

Later on I went to the adult comedy show by Lance Montalto, which was pretty funny. He was the least funny comic all week, but was better than both of the NCL Getaway comics.

I then headed back to my cabin and fell asleep almost instantly. The bed was very comfortable!

Day 1-done

Next up-Day 2: St. Thomas

Day 1 Fun Times

Hallway outside my cabin

I spent some more time wandering and exploring. I know at some point I went to the Blue Iguana Tequila Bar for some margaritas and then a while later I discovered my new favorite bar, Alchemy Bar.

Alchemy menu

The bartenders in Alchemy this week were Milan, Marc, and Jelena. They were all incredible and super nice and great at suggesting new drinks I might enjoy based on what I usually order. They were also super fun to chat with. This bar never got busy (probably because these drinks are a bit more expensive and most didn't have CHEERS this sailing).

The rooms opened right on time about 1:30. I was staying cabin U-171, which is a interior upper/lower. This means that there is one twin and then another twin bed pulls down. I was shocked by how spacious the cabin was!

There was plenty of storage space. The desk area was nice and large. I never turned on the tv, so can't speak to that. I hate how Carnival refuses to use shower doors. The clingy curtain is just gross in my opinion, but the shower was actually very big. Carnival provides their own shower gel and shampoo. For those that followed my NCL Getaway review, they know I forgot my own so I had to use the ones NCL provided. Thankfully, I remembered my own this time.

Random literature waiting in my room that is "Good to Know"

Show schedule for the week. Love how Carnival does this. I referenced this picture many times throughout the week to see when things were going on.

Further down the main boulevard

Bonsai Sushi Express

I had all the intentions to go here, but it just didn't happen. The rolls looked pretty good and they were priced pretty fairly.

Looking down from the balcony in the main theater

Overhead view of the Lido

Hidden on the very top deck all the way forward is the mini golf course

The gym looked adequate

I didn't go to the gym, but you have to walk through the spa and locker rooms, so it can be a bit tricky to find. In the locker rooms there was a sauna and steam room, which are free of charge. You can get a locker key from the spa reception desk at no cost. Just hand over your key card, which you get back when you turn the key in. The men's sauna was out of order all week, which was disappointing, but I really enjoyed the steam room. I went almost every day. There was almost no one in there the entire week and it was very quiet and relaxing. It can comfortably seat 5, so a little small, but perfectly adequate.

My favorite place on the entire boat, Alchemy Bar. More on that later

On each side of Alchemy were comfortable seating areas that were great for reading.

This is the main walkway on deck 9.

Bogart's Cafe, where I got iced lattes every day

Bogarts Cafe menu prices (sorry for the glare). This is all included in the CHEERS package.

The passage to India lounge was themed pretty cool

I really wanted a drink, but I was also starving, so I went to the Lido Buffet first.

Let's talk about buffet food. It was not good. This was the saddest spread of food I had ever seen. There was not much selection and the buffet areas themselves are quite small, which limits what can be put out. Towards the center of the buffet were salad and dessert stations, but the main entree areas was sad. Here was my plate of sad food.

I got a little bit of almost everything just to try and I'd go back for round two and get what I liked best. The only thing I really liked was the potato salad, but that's not a meal, so I went to Guy's Burger instead.

Now that's what I'm talking about

I love burgers. They're one of my favorite foods. Was this the best burger ever? No. Was it delicious? Absolutely. I think it's better than NCL burgers because their patties are always on the brink of being burnt. Plus, the toppings bar at Guy's is great. The chipotle mayo was amazing.

Afterwards, I went exploring this little ship.

Above the lido buffet is the Waterworks area.

Below the lido buffet and behind the Puttin' on the Ritz lounge is the Serenity adults only area

There was a good amount of loungers and some chairs further back in the shade. I spent a lot of time here. There was a towel station where you can check out a yellow Serenity towel, but I didn't think they were any better than the normal blue towels you're given. There are supposedly public bathrooms a flight of stairs down from Serenity, but they were always locked, so the closest restrooms are through the Ritz lounge and in the elevator lobby area.

Putting on the Ritz lounge where the comedy shows were held and some movies

The cruise begins!!

Day 1

I woke up, showered for like the 20th time since I've been in San Juan (it's hot, y'all), and got ready. I'm pretty sure my check-in time was at like 1:30, but I decided to just head to the port anyways and see what happens. The Fascination docks at the port in Old San Juan (I did see the Royal Caribbean Freedom of the Seas at the other port across the bay).

Uber was fast and affordable like always.

My first glimpse of the Fascination in person!

Outside the terminal building there are porters taking luggage like every other cruise port in the world. They check your ID's and cruise docs like normal, and then you walk down this covered walkway into the building. This building was like a maze. Let me explain.

You go up an escalator and you're at the embarkation photo station. No thanks. I look like a hot mess already and posing alone is awkward. You then the corner and that's check-in. I got there around 11:30 and it was EMPTY! I walked right up and was checked in in five minutes. Fastest ever. You then walk around a wall (photos are on the other side) down some hallway and through security. It was weird doing that after checking in... You then go down another hallway, turn, down another hallway, down an escalator, across the baggage claim area, outside and then you enter the ship on Deck 3. Thankfully people were directing us.

Entering the ship in 3...2...1...

I am finally onboard the Carnival Fascination, my first Carnival cruise in basically forever and I was stoked! Honestly, one of my first thoughts was that this carpet is hella gaudy. It's like purple and gold, but I don't care. I want food and a drink and maybe not in that order. They had a lunch express elevator up the lido.

Looking down into the lobby

Lido deck. Looks inviting, huh?

Blue Iguana Tequila Bar

Guy's Burgers menu

We're leaving Saturday morning for San Juan, sailing this same itinerary next week! Also, size is important, but it's what you do with it...

 

Sent from my SM-G960U using Forums mobile app

One without the other is fine, but both together is far better. Piloting a dingy is fine, but being the captain of a cruise ship makes many people happy. ;)

He suggested we go to a place called Lote 23 (Lot 23). This is basically a vacant lot that has been turned into a mini food vendor area. Think of a food hall with different small restaurants of all different kinds of food. There was a good amount of seating and there was a huge variety of food available. There was a stage towards the back that has live music later on in the evening. We walked around a bit, but decided to go somewhere else for dinner. He wanted to show me something more authentic instead of fusion type food. Everything I saw looked delicious and reasonably priced too. This is definitely a local hangout and off the beaten path a bit. Highly recommend if you want something a bit different. Just google "Lot 23 San Juan" and you'll be able to get directions. It was also easy to take an Uber there.

Lote 23

My friend suggested we go to a very authentic Puerto Rican place called Bebo's. I have no idea where it's located, but it's popular and should be easy to find. I would recommend an Uber because the parking lot was extremely tight! We waited about 15 minutes for a table and then were seated.

Menu pics

We started with some empanadas

For my meal I got a mofongo relleno (stuffed mofongo) with Ropa Vieja. So Ropa Vieja is more Cuban, but it looked delicious anyways. Mofongos are super Puerto Rican, so don't get upset. A mofongo is somewhat like mashed potatoes but with fried plantains and some other stuff. I should really start a food blog with that descriptive description. Bottom line it was DELICIOUS!

We then decided to drive around a little bit and my friend showed me the business district and some outer areas. I was shocked by how dark it was in many places. Either the light posts were blown away during the hurricane and not replaced or they were replaced, but no electricity to power them. We were on a major road and it was pitch black in some parts. If you're going to drive at night in San Juan, be careful. This was further out from Old San Juan and not around the normal touristy areas.

Went back to the AirBnB took what was probably my third shower, packed, and went to bed dreaming of what a boat built in 1994 (note-that's older than me) has in store for me.

More exploring El Morro

Just kidding about the earlier picture. This is actually the one I put on Instagram. I was not kidding about getting lots of likes.

I probably spent about an hour walking around and exploring. It was very fun to explore the different areas and read the history about the fort. I then began the short walk down to San Cristobal. This next photo is shortly after leaving El Morro. You can see San Cristobal in the distance. Definitely doable.

It's gorgeous.

By the time I reached San Cristobal, I was just too tired and too short on time to explore it. I easily grabbed an Uber and went back to my AirBnB to shower and freshen up. One of my good friends lives in San Juan and we had plans to meet for dinner.