LMHC

Our daughter stayed in 4115.  Nice view for the price.  It had a good view looking straight out with large windows.  She didn't have any problems with noise.  It was a really good value.

We had our first MSC cruise in December and we went on the Divina for the price and itinerary.  We have been on all the mass market lines and are generally low maintenance.  On our Pros list were beautiful ship, friendlier staff than we thought and nice aft balcony cabin.  The cons would be the food wasn't as good as other lines and very inconsistent in quality.  The buffet lines were the worst I have ever seen on a ship and we have probably been on 30 cruises total.  The organization on this ship was the worse that I have seen, so disembarkation, ports and debarkation were all a long terrible mess.  MSC would be our bottom choice by a decent margin when we are looking to book a cruise, but perhaps it was just this ship, however not taking that chance again unless it's super cheap or somewhere I haven't been.  

On 1/6/2024 at 2:01 PM, Fogfog said:

Thanks for this-- Typically have to use an extension cord at night and then roll up/set aside during the day. Was this a recessed euro plug? 

It was slightly recessed, but our adapter worked fine.  Her travel CPAP sat nicely on the bedside table.  Our adapter also has 2 USB outlets, so it added additional USB ports.  By the mirror there were 2 American outlets and 2 more euro outlets.  

We are just off the Divina and there was a euro plug under the bed where the lamp plugged in.  We took an adapter and my wife plugged her CPAP in there so we didn't need an extension cord to go across the room to the other outlets.  We were in a balcony cabin, so I have no experience with the inside, but that is our experience.  

Thanks so much for taking the time to do this review and post all of the pics.  We are first time MSC guests later this month, so this helps us greatly when trying to figure out what to order.  I appreciate the balanced feedback.

You can sign up via the Hub app.  We managed to get in one class the first sea day and everything else for the week was filled up by day two of a seven day cruise.  It was free and everyone had fun, but very difficult to get a space.

Thank you for letting me know.  My wife will be relieved that she doesn't have to remain on the ship.  We are looking forward to this stop.  TTT

Can any unvaccinated passengers verify that this Carnival policy on Bonaire is still in place?  The Bonaire travel site shows no restrictions, but Carnival website shows the following.  Any recent information would be appreciated for travel in a couple months on the Magic.

• Unvaccinated guests are free to disembark and enjoy their time ashore. However, certain destinations have imposed certain restrictions and we cannot guarantee that more will not be added.
  • Bonaire and Tortola – age 12 and older will have to remain on board.

Another thing to consider is the itinerary on the Fascination is very port intensive.  If you are looking to see new and beautiful places daily the islands offered with Southern Caribbean are preferable to Western Caribbean in my opinion.  However with so many port days this is not really a "relaxing type" cruise since there are very few days at sea to recover.  So you may come back more tired than when you left depending on what you do for excursions.  You do spend less time on board since there are so many ports so we found the ship size was less important since there was only one sea day.  Now if you are a balcony person there are very few on the Fascination so book early and be prepared to pay a premium for them, however, with so much port time you would likely be out there less on a balcony.  As an earlier poster pointed out leaving from San Juan was a bonus for us as we stayed a few days there prior to our cruise and really enjoyed it, but this may not be of interest to some.   Personally we would opt for the Fascination having done your  number two choice and wanting to do number 3 at some point in the future, but it depends on what you are looking for in your vacation.  Fortunately no bad choices there.

We enjoyed the horn band Hornopolis and they played with the rock band a couple of time that made for a good show.  

We felt like the singers on the Glory were not as good as other ships so I don't think we enjoyed the shows as much as we wanted.  We loved the Amor Cubano show on the Sensation, but it was just okay on the Glory.  We love Motown music, but the Motown show was also not too good.  We enjoyed Epic Rock show on other ships, but did not even try on the Glory after attending the other shows and just stuck to the comedy shows by end of the week.  We did think anything the cruise director did was pretty entertaining, but the show cast left a lot to be desired in our opinion.  The casts are so small now it really makes or breaks a performance.  We did enjoy the horn band Hornopolis that performs throughout the ship.  

It depends on your tolerance for vibrations.  We like the location due to it being quiet as there is very little foot traffic and hallway noise back there compared to other locations on the ship.  The shuddering when entering and leaving port will certainly awaken you and is quite loud.  During the time at sea it is more of a chugging along vibration, but nothing that kept us up.  We enjoy being aft of the rear elevators, but not usually all the way to the back due to the early morning coming into port shaking.  The size seems to be same as other oceanviews which tend to be a little larger than the balcony or inside rooms.

They do seem much lighter than regular golf balls.  It is pretty windy up on the sports deck and they are so light they blow around a little too easily to keep them in one spot at times.  It would really surprise me if they were edible to fish.  

We typically keep the same seats as it seems like the predictable and polite thing to do.  However the larger the tour bus the greater the chance of "your seat" being taken unless you do leave something in it.  I would be mentally prepared to mix it up and you won't be disappointed because seats are not "officially assigned" by anyone on the many tours we have been on.  Keep a good vacation state of mind and it will likely serve you well.

Loved the review. We just returned from the Costa Mediterranea I guess a couple cruises after you to many of the same ports. We really wanted to love Costa due to prices and itineraries which are varied for Europe. However Costa communication and organization were poor, which for us limited time in ports and threw our pre-planning off more than once and ended up costing us additional money. Also included food and drink options/times were very limited, so this will likely be out last Costa cruise. I love the pictures of Bruges, which was our favorite port as well.

We just returned from a Costa cruise and as said water was free at dinner for USA customers. It was available from some dispensers at the buffet areas during times the buffet was not open. No hot water except for meal times, but we were able to go to the bar in the back of the ship to get hot water for tea. Free coffee is only in the morning and from 4 to 5pm, which was weird. It was made quite clear that they really are pushing the drink packages.

We enjoy the aft cabins, although my wife is prone to sea sickness. On the positive side there is very little traffic back there so it is quite peaceful. You will definitely feel vibration in and out of port, but it serves as our alarm clock when arriving in port. We did not experience much noise from the dining room. There is more motion there than mid ship, but much of our time is spent outside of the cabin and a Bonine dosage before dinner usually would have my wife very ready for bed, so she slept well. Enjoy your cruise.

Thanks for taking the time to share your review and your beautiful pictures. We will be on this ship and Costa for the first time next year, so your review makes us feel better about this choice.

Thanks for taking the time to review. We are on this cruise on Jan. 14th. We have 12:30 check in so we hope to be on board around 1pm do you know if the rooms were ready by then?

Seems Carnival is going more in the way of Norwegian with more pay restaurants and the pay items via room service. I hope the a la carte is a way to keep initial fares low, which is fine with me. I do enjoy having choices, but certainly would have frequented the old free Fish and Chips more than this new seafood corner.

We just returned from this cruise a couple weeks ago and had a great time. We had not sailed a Fantasy class ship in 13 years and were a little concerned, but had just as good of a time as other cruises. The ship was well maintained and we enjoyed the crew whom were as helpful as other cruises. Our outside cabin was fine and wife enjoyed the spa just as much as other ships. The comedy club is larger so easier to find a seat in there and the main theater is a bit smaller so get there early for the big shows. We found lines getting off and on the ship shorter than the larger class ships. Yes there were quite a few Puerto Ricans on the ship so lots of Spanish around, but we enjoyed a nice cultural exchange with our Puerto Rican table mates and the fact other cultures on board also did not effect our cruise. Greats ports with a good price and the ship was fine as a floating hotel with nice service. I would not hesitate to do it again. Enjoy

We just finished a cruise on the Fascination. We had not been on a Fantasy class ship in 13 years so were a little worried about the smaller size, but it was not a problem for us. The ship was well maintained, there was enough to do, and staff were great. We loved the itinerary and the cruise was just as good as other Carnival cruises. The hotels in San Juan can be pricey, but it is a nice place to spend a day or two pre-cruise. We has not been on the Dream, but have done a 7 day out of New Orleans and we enjoyed the Southern Caribbean ports more in comparison.

We just returned from staying in a main deck aft cabin. There is a good bit more vibration from the thrusters when coming into and out of port which woke us up each time we docked. Usually starts about an hour to half hour prior to port so time to get up for us anyway. The engine noise was more of a light chugging along noise, but nothing excessive. We did like not having much traffic down the halls and being close to the aft elevator/stairs. Enjoy your cruise.

We would love to hear another review. We depart on June 5th so any information would be helpful. Thanks for taking the time.

Just got mine. Thanks for the info. It gave me an error the first 3 times, but did finally go through. I assume there may have been too much traffic the first few times.