Cool Breeze Cruiser
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Milburn is quite funny! He was in the piano bar on the Fascination this past December.
Thanks for the review. Makes me want to sail on the Fascination again. Loved it!
We loved Milburn. We felt like we were leaving a good friend behind when we had to leave.
Thanks. This was our second time on the Fascination & it was a lot more fun than the first time so imagine what the third time could be :D. Jacksonville is so easy to cruise from! We are ready to go back too!
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Port Lucaya straw market
Lunch at the After Deck Bar & Grill
Back at our home away from home
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I really though I took a lot more pictures of the pools. There were several at Our Lucaya Resort. One had a waterfall & one had volleyball. This one was the horseshoe shaped infinity pool with the swim up bar.
Pool Pictures
Having a drink at the bar.
Lounging in the sun. There were umbrellas also.
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The water was gorgeous. A little chilly though!
Toes in the sand!
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PORTS:
Freeport
The view from our cabin window of Freeport
We took a cab to Our Lucaya Resort (also the Radisson). The cab was $10 roundtrip & they give you a ticket for the return trip.
You can go to the free beach at Our Lucaya (you go in by the police station) but we went to the resort because we wanted pools, lounge chairs, etc.
Our Lucaya Resort is STUNNING & HUGE!
We paid $15 each at the security checkpoint.
There are a lot of HUGE gorgeous pools including an infinity pool with a swim up bar. Drinks were expensive there though. We ordered two drinks that were $6.50 each & with taxes & built in tips the bill was $17.25. They were really small drinks & had very little liquor in them. The bartenders at the swim up bar were not very friendly either. That was our only complaint of the day. Everything else was incredible & we would definitely go back.
Lounge chairs are available at the pool or the beach. The pool loungers have umbrellas but I don't remember seeing any at the beach. The day pass does not include towels.
Jet skis, parasailing, banana boats, etc. are available for a fee.
Our Lucaya Resort is across the street from the straw market with plenty of shopping & restaurants. We bought my DH a goofy, touristy looking hat because his ball cap went overboard on the ship. He loses one every cruise & he even had it on backwards!
We ate at the After Deck Bar & Grill at the Port Lucaya straw market for lunch. My DH had a Conch sandwich & fries & I had jerk chicken with rice & peas & we had two iced teas & the bill was around $30. It was pretty good but there are a lot of places to eat at the market.
We headed back to the ship about 4:00. We walked over to where we were dropped off by the cab & luckily a cab was just boarding. They run every 30 minutes.
There is a little frozen drink stand close to the ship where you can get a 16 ounce & a 10 ounce (same flavor) drink for $6
We had a perfect day at Our Lucaya with gorgeous weather.
Our Lucaya Resort
Check out the white sand (& the goofy touristy hat)! :eek:
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The staff were all wonderful in the dining room from the hostess to the waiters & waitresses. I wish I could remember the name of the waitress from Russia. She had the most beautiful eyes!
The hostess bringing my DH to us! :D
Happy Birthday Simon!
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Having fun with one of our waiters!
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Having too much fun with Milburn & some of our new friends!
Milburn being Milburn!
More Milburn!
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Dining:
We love YTD & had excellent service the whole week. We never had to wait for a table at all. We made some great new friends & were able to dine with them every night. :) The waiters (& all the staff) were so friendly & made us feel special. How they call everybody by name so soon is amazing! The food was good but I don’t know that anything really WOWED us except maybe the omelets in the dining room. My DH ordered the banana split off the kids menu one night (thanks CC for that tidbit) & it looked yummy. The Bitter & Blanc was excellent as always!
I will say that the pizza on the Lido deck was not nearly as good as the pizza on the Miracle but the salad bar was very good & fresh & the Rueben was good. I almost forgot to mention how good the soft serve ice cream & yogurt ALWAYS are! :D
I always love the BLT from room service but we never got around to ordering room service this cruise.
The water on the Fascination was not very good. :eek: We were really glad we brought on a case of water. The water in the dining room was the best water on board but even it was not very good & we don’t usually mind the water on the ship.
Entertainment:
Trevor Block is the Cruise Director & he does a great job & is very personable.
We went to the Past Guest party & again thanks to CC we ordered Long Island Iced Teas instead of the drinks they serve on the trays.
We enjoyed the shows (never get tired of them) but we especially liked the Hey Mambo Show on the first sea day. We had seen it before but thought both singers were excellent. We did not make it to the Showcase of the Stars the day we were in Freeport or the Activity night with Bingo, trivia games, etc. the day of Nassau. Far From Over was the show the last night & it was very good also.
The Calypso Music on the Lido with Caribbean Breeze was excellent!!! A couple of times I had to look to make sure it was not a recording! True Identity playing at the Stars Bar were very good too & we meant to hang out there more than we did.
We went to the Punchliner Comedy Club the first night to the Adult Only show with Leighanne Lord but we were not overly impressed with her. :( We meant to go see the Cowboy Comedian the next night but never made it back because…....
We found the PIANO BAR & we had so much fun there we had a hard time leaving. Milburn Dumas was WONDERFUL & played such a huge variety of songs. He is quite the character & kept us all entertained with his antics. The Piano Bar on our last cruise on the Miracle was such a disappointment because the Piano Man took himself way to seriously but Milburn really encouraged us to all sing along (& believe me I can not sing)! He played everything we requested & seemed to have as good a time as we did. He is a man of many hats & let us borrow some of his props for this Kodak moment! :D
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We are on the ship!!!!!
Later that day we were in our cabin & there was a knock on the door. It was room service. I said we didn’t order room service & the girl smiled & said yes you did. It was the tray of goodies for being Platinum. Yay! They were yummy too, especially the chocolate covered strawberries. On the first sea day which is also Elegant night our Platinum gift was delivered to our cabin. We received the Carnival backpack & a Fascination collector’s pin. Thanks Carnival!!! We used the backpack the rest of the cruise.
Goodies
Platinum gift
Sailaway- It really doesn't look like we will make it under the bridge!
But we did!
Our escort!
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We are not usually a big fan of short cruises or the Bahamas but our five day cruise on the Fascination was GREAT!!! :) We took this same cruise in November 2008 except we went to Key West instead of Freeport .
We booked a quick last minute (to me at least) getaway because I found an amazing deal on airfare. Southwest offered $59 one way to Jacksonville from Nashville so I booked the air & started watching for deals on the cruise. Two weeks later I booked the cruise. I booked a guarantee ocean view cabin for the first time because it was $100 cheaper than choosing our room & we received U29. I was a little concerned it might be too far forward because we have always booked midship but it was fine.
We normally fly in the night before a cruise but since we had a non-stop flight of a little over an hour I felt pretty comfortable flying in the day of the cruise. We arrived in Jacksonville at 11:25 AM & caught a cab to the cruise port. The cab was a little pricey at $33 since the cruise port is only about 12 miles but our cab driver was nice & stopped at a little market so we could buy water, cokes & two bottles of wine.
CHECK-IN
I was finally Platinum on this cruise so we got to go through the VIP line at the port. Yay! :D My DH is one cruise behind me :p but I let him share my perks!
Check-in was very easy & we were on the ship in just a few minutes. We got a treat at check-in with a revised itinerary allowing us to arrive in Freeport at 8 AM instead of 12PM giving us four extra hours there!
CABIN:
Our cabin U-29 was in an excellent location with the stairs & the elevators nearby & very close to the Sensation Dining Room & the Palace Theatre. Our cabin steward, Wy (not his real name but that is what he said to call him), was wonderful as all of our cabin stewards have been.
Our cabin
And our door
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Did you go to scrapbooking hour in the library, was it worth going? I heard that you can buy a scrapbooking paper kit, that would help, since I dont have much selection up here in NS.
Sorry. I never go to the scrapbook class. I love to scrapbook but I love to watch the ocean go by more!
I have purchased the scrapbook pack from Carnival but there are some amazing online scrapbooking suppliers that offer great cruise & beach supplies. I even custom ordered a cruise ship with the laser cut Victory 2010 & ordered most of the islands we went too & a lot of beach things!
I love to relive our cruise through scrapbooking when we get home!
Juli
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I am finally getting around to scrapbooking our Victory cruise & OMG does it ever make me want to go back to all those gorgeous islands!!!
For all the future Victory cruisers, take lots of pictures!
Juli
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They were correct on the insurance. They would have had to pay upfront to be treated. Another reason to take out trip insurance. You still have to pay upfront but are reimbursed after you get back.
Also what they had to pay in damages to the scooter is going to be shocking enough. They are lucky they did not have to go to the police station which is standard procedure in Mexico for a traffic accident. (criminal offense) Statements are taken and a hearing is held that day. Any damages/fines must be paid before they will release you.
Dave
They were just college kids & besides being pretty scraped up I am sure they were scared to death & probably did not have a lot of money (or credit) between them. They were very lucky it was not worse than it was! Juli
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There are some shops & a couple of bars as you get off the ship.
Auto Progreso provides free shuttles to go down the 5 mile pier into Progreso. After we got off the shuttle, we went over to a relatively new beach resort called Silcer beach Club that is also a marina that is geared towards cruise ship passengers & is only about 10 minutes away. It was $15 each for transportation to & from there & the use of the facilities.
We were impressed. For the $15 each we paid we got roundtrip transportation with vans leaving every 30 minutes, nice beach chairs, pool, VERY clean nice restrooms & showers, & the use of ocean kayaks.
They had an all-inclusive liquor package for $25 each or food & liquor for $35. We did not plan to stay that long so we just paid as we went. We saw one family that was really getting their monies worth though! Beer was $3 each. We also ordered chips & salsa that was very good. The salsa had lime in it giving it a different flavor. The service was EXCELLENT. The family that did the AI had a waiter almost at their beck & call.
The beach was nice (it is not Barbados nice but much nicer than at the Reef or what we saw of the beach close to the pier (the seaweed was horrible the day we were there). We had a view of the ship from the beach.
My DH & I took a long walk down the beach & met some really nice people that were wintering in Progreso in condos. We watched some locals out fishing & pulling their cart with their catch down the beach. It was really very quaint & not crowded at all! If you like to collect shells we saw TONS of beautiful shells on the beach while we were walking.
Massages were available & there was only one vendor there selling his wares & he only approached us once!
The man that told us about Silcer Beach Club, Cristobal Figueroa (he said everybody calls him Cris) showed up to make sure we were having a good time. I told him I wanted to post about the Silcer Beach Club on CC when I got back so he gave me a card. If anyone is interested his e-mail is criss.tours@live.com or his website is www.crisstours.webs.com
Progreso is very quaint & the people there are so friendly.
Juli
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One more note about Cozumel. The cruise staff always stresses not to rent scooters & we never have or would. I grew up riding motorcycles but would never try to drive in Cozumel.
A young couple from our cruise had a bad scooter wreck in Coz & got pretty scraped up. The boy said they tried to take them to the hospital but he was afraid they might miss the ship & wasn't sure their insurance would cover them in Cozumel. They were pretty shaken up & said they will never rent scooters again!
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We did the self disembark & we were off the ship & standing outside by 7:30! They called us by decks & we were in the 2nd group. We could have been a few minutes earlier but I wasn't ready. I really didn't believe they would call for us so soon so I didn't get up until 6:30!
We called the Microtel to pick us up after we went through customs & they were there in just a few minutes. I was so impressed with the driver. Great guy. My DH was very appreciative of the coffee he brought (he even had cream & sugar) since we didn't get up in time for him to get any.
We were back in our car & headed towards Lebanon by 8:15! It is still hard to believe how fast the week went by!
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One of my favorite sights!
Makes me want to go back!
No review can be complete without a picture of a towel animal!
Cabin M76 was in a great location
Saying goodbye to our cabin (I can't seem to get a pic of the whole cabin)!
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The Elation is the easiest ship we have ever been on to navigate. It is a smaller ship than we have been on in awhile but never felt crowded.
Pat at the Drama Bar is really good!
Don't remember our waiters names but they were excellent!
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Can't wait for our cruise (16 days)! I had to take my husband out to lunch today at our favorite Mexican restaurant.
Parasailing is on my bucketlist, I hope that I can get up enough nerve when we cruise in October.
Wonderful review! Thanks again for all the information..
Para-sailing was such a wonderful experience. If I can do it anybody can! I hate heights & could never go ski-diving but the water is under you when you para-sail & the para-sail would float you to the water. At least that is how I rationalized it to convince myself to go up. Once I was up there I never thought about the height. I was to in awe of how amazing it was!
Hope you have a great cruise!
Juli
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Parasailing at Mr. Sanchos
The boat ride out
Getting strapped in
My heart was pounding! Put me on a 1000 pound bucking horse but I am scared of heights!
Here we go!
What a view!
Parasailing was so much fun! We try to do something different on every cruise. A couple we met on the cruise went too & took pics of us parasailing. I wish I had taken my other camera too so we could have taken pics from the air. It was gorgeous up there!
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More Mr. Sanchos Pics
Looks like we have our own private beach!
Mr. Sanchos
You can rent horses.
Swinging the day away!
The little shop where I bought my coral bracelet
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Mr. Sanchos in Cozumel
Great food!!!
Chips & salsa & guacamole
The drink menu (sorry I didn't take one of the food menu, guess you see where my priorities were)
To the right of Mr. Sancho's
To the left of Mr. Sanchos
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Cozumel
There are so many things to choose from in Cozumel that even though we have been there several times it is hard to decide what to do. We decided to go to Mr. Sanchos because I had researched it for my daughters cruise back in September & she loved it there & actually got engaged while horseback riding on the beach.
We got off the ship about 9:30 & caught a cab ($15 one way for up to 4 people) to Mr. Sanchos. We were some of the 1st people there. Mr. Sanchos is nice & the restrooms are clean!
You have the option of paying as you go or doing the all-inclusive. We chose the all-inclusive. It is $50 for unlimited food (except lobster) & drinks or $45 if you book online & pay a $5 deposit. It also includes ocean kayaks & snorkeling equipment. There are lockers available for a $10 deposit. The center section at Mr. Sanchos is reserved for all-inclusives & you get a table with an umbrella & lounge chairs. The service was incredible! We had a wonderful waiter, Roman, that made sure we had everything we could possible want. Very friendly staff!
We sampled MANY of the frozen drinks (the Dirty Monkey was our favorite), beer & a couple of tequila shots. What happens in Mexico stays in Mexico right?
We ordered chips & salsa, guacamole (my DH said it was the best he had ever eaten), chicken nachos, chicken fajitas, coconut shrimp & Caribbean fries. All of it was DELICIOUS! Wish I had some of the fajitas right now!
There is so much to do at Mr. Sanchos. There is an infinity pool (kind of small though) & they have just built a nice pool with a swim up bar (it was not really finished yet though but will be nice). They have swings & hammocks. You can rent ATV's, horseback riding, camel rides (yes, I really said camels), para-sailing, banana boats, jet-skis, get massages (a lady sitting next to us raved about how great it was), get henna tattoos, hair braiding, etc.
We went para-sailing & it was WONDERFUL! I am scared of heights but I loved it. My DH & I got to go up together & it was one of the highlights of our trip! We paid $55 each for about 15 minutes after we talked them down from $65. The boat ride out was fun too!
There is an aquatic park at Mr. Sanchos that is an additional $12 each but has great slides & climbing walls & things. Not sure how to describe it. We didn't do it but it looked like fun. The water was a little chilly though.
There is a little craft market as you go into Mr. Sanchos. Definitely bargain. My DH asked about a cap & was told $15, then $12, then as we were leaving the guy asked $8! We found great prices for vanilla & meant to go back & buy some but forgot. There is one shop there that I was really impressed with. The man makes jewelry & trinkets out of coral. What a craftsman! He is very interesting to talk to & not pushy at all. I ended up buying a beautiful coral & freshwater pearl bracelet.
To the left of Mr. Sanchos is a long stretch of deserted beach that we took a long walk down. Even though there were a lot of people at Sancho's it did not feel crowded especially in the AI section.
There were plenty of cabs lined up waiting to take us back. It was $15 for up to 4 people. be sure to have the right change or most of the cab drivers will tell you they only have pesos for change.
What a great day we had at Mr. Sanchos! We definitely got our money's worth! We stayed longer than we meant to & got back to the ship right as the 1st horn was blowing!
Juli
2nd Time on the Fascination was great! 2/18/12
in Carnival Cruise Lines
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The backpack is really nice! I am jealous that you live so close to any cruise port!!! lol! The friends we met on the cruise stayed in Savannah at a B&B the night after the cruise & said it was gorgeous. JR & I will have to come your way & check it out.
OMG! You live in Jacksonville?!? If I lived there I would be on the Fascination way to often spending my kids inheritance! :D And your zoo is AMAZING too! More on that later!
I am really jealous now! I want to go back. Hope you have as much fun as we did!
I am not sure how long Milburn has been on the Fascination but he is definitely tons of fun!!! I think I read he will be on there through sometime in March but I don't know for sure & did not ask him. If you get the pleasure of meeting him please tell him Juli & JR said hi & wish we were there with you! He is GREAT!!!!
Thanks! I DEFINITELY could not work on a Carnival ship because I am horrible with names! :eek: I can recall them during the cruise but as soon as we get off the ship my memory is blank! I think it is to much back to the real world! She was great as was every staff member we encountered!
I will try to get to Nassau (we had way to much fun there) & the rest of the cruise soon. Trying to research our next cruise too!