tink77

Fort Charlotte is only a few minutes walk from the beach..literally right across the same street is the ocean and you can walk by the ocean until you hit the area where everyone swims within couple minutes.

Once you hit Bay St, there are a TON of shops to browse at. We seen a lot of shops advertising tee-shirts for $3.99 each--just basic ones that say something about Nassau or the Bahamas.

You can definitely find a lot of items within your budget, just not sure if they are authentic items? We bought a bahama calendar ($15)--very pretty. Tea (my mom loves tea), beach wraps ($10-$15)...just various things that we know people would like and you can easily find a lot of stuff for under $20. Bought some alcohol...but like others have said, it is comparable to ship prices!

Just wanted to post back how the day went!

When we first got off the ship, we walked a little and then hopped on a bus....quickly found out it wasn't the #10 that we were looking for and were given directions to the right place! Walked by the straw market on the way, peeked in and yes....very overwhelming! Keep your kids close and warm them not to talk unless they know how to say no and keep moving! ;)

We found the #10 bus and were quickly on our way to Fort Charlotte! We found out enroute that the distillery was closed due to it being a holiday in Nassau and only the bar was opened, so we nixed going. Dropped off near Fort Charlotte and walked past some soccer looking field, the area looks kinda sketchy as you approach the fort. We seen some random guy just sitting on the first fort area (before the shops) and walked to the top and seen some homeless men sleeping--quickly went back and headed to the main part of the fort.

If you aren't into history, then you might find it boring. However, we love history and enjoyed walking around with a guide and going through again taking our time. Beautiful views as well!

The fort is only about 5 minutes or less from Junkanoo Beach, so once we were down there, back down the hill and to the beach for a few hours!

Once we finished up at the beach, off we went to do some shopping and decided to peek in the straw market because I wanted a wrap I had seen on the beach! Ended up being a good decision, the beach vendors were asking $25 and the lady at the straw market was asking $10! And I agree, the Straw Market is extremely overwhelming and after 10 minutes in it, we were done! I was afraid my youngest was going to get sucked into a booth and never seen again! :p

Enjoyed our time in Nassau! Next time, will probably do a day pass and just relax or would love to visit way out of the way places!

We cruised on the Fascination October 6. Kids had a great time, as it was Fall Break and they made a lot of new friends. Since my kids were into their own things I was alone a lot of the time. I did a lot of people watching, both staff and guests. People being people, I observed people having such a great time that I was envious. Seems these folks were usually part of a group of friends or family. Then I observed some folks sitting at their tables, etc., who just looked like they would rather be someplace else. As for the staff, after many cruises (4 since June), they are just like any other people. Some love their job and some just count the days till they can go home. We have experienced both. If a staff member is rude, I avoid them if possible. But I must add our overall experience with staff has been excellent. On this particular cruise, I saw a young lady working at the morning buffet who had been one of our waiters on the Fantasy when it was in New Orleans some years ago. I made a point to tell her that I remembered her and she was all smiles. I did prefer the Dream to the smaller ships, but that is just personal preferance. Gonna try the Sunshine for Christmas! Cruisin......you either love it or ya don't.

I think for us, cruising will be a couples thing/with friends instead of a family thing from this point forward! We tend to enjoy relaxing and just soaking up the sun, our kids just like to be active, even on vacation!

I think this was just an off type thing. We would try Fascination again (adults only), especially to see Half Moon Cay again! I think I am definitely going to try a larger/newer ship next time!

Fascination is my favorite ship for cabins, Elation for interior and the Legend for my roll call friends, well that might be the Fascination too. The truth is I dont look for other people to entertain me. I bring my own party (in my head) and just being on the water and going to warm climates, and happy little fruity drinks with umbrellas and I am in heaven. That is how we vacation, we have our own fun. My comments were just what we witnessed, it didn't have any impact on our fun nor ruin our cruise--just wanted to post some of the con's based on what I seen--not on how it affected our vacation!

 

I understand about the ice bucket problem, our last cruise on the Fascination had the same problem, we would get one, and then it would disappear the next day, and we would ask our steward, and he would get one, and again it disappeared. Any one can spill water, that should not upset you, and he may have laughed because he was embarressed. Not getting what plate you ordered? Well if you didn't eat it, and you went to the maitre'd to complain then I am sure that they would fix the problem. If you ate it, well then I guess the waiter thought they brought the right thing. We aren't complainers, plus, I know how hard those people work on those cruise ships, so we never said a word when the order was wrong, just simply pushed it aside and waited for something else. There was no way I wanted to put them any more behind by fixing the order. We knew if we were still hungry, there was something to eat elsewhere on the ship without having the MDR work even harder than they already do! The spilt drink didn't ruin our vacation--nor did it even ruin a second of it! I liken it to seeing a trapeze artist flying through the air--once in awhile they fall and it shocks us because it just isn't typical to see--same with this situation!

I hope your next cruise is fun. Did your kids do Camp Carnival? Yes, they went one day and didn't care for it. I think that was more not knowing anyone then the activities/camp itself. I really don't think they are "cruise kids". I don't allow them to run all over the ship unattended. I just think they'd rather be outside hiking, tubing from our boat, ziplining, etc and didn't like the confines.

I never expect the CD to do anything. It makes my life easier that way. Jen was my favorite, but that was because I ended up being on the same ship with her 3 times. Miss her out this way After that didn't matter.

Question if you don't mind - did you ask your cabin steward for ice? I know you can order via room service, but I've always gotten it via cabin steward.

Yes, we asked him first and he said we get it through room service and to call them.

When I first cruised the Inspiration, I remember reading a lot of reviews about how bad it was.....we went on it and had an amazing time, same week read others reviews and they didn't have a good time.

Like I said, the pro was we were on vacation....the con's were things we noticed in comparison to cruising Carnival BEFORE, not bad mouthing Carnival.

I appreciated all the employees.....just used to more friendly ones based on my past experience with Carnival!

I am glad someone got room service!! lol But it was a port day and not a lot of people were on the ship when we came back around 4pm....so that would explain that. However, I know we never got the ice we ordered the entire cruise......the one lady I was talking to in line one night said they didn't get ice for 2 nights after ordering....and then the last night we ordered room service, it took an hour and a half for a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and apple juice to come.

Sorry if my perception is different than others. It is MY review of what I seen/encountered on MY cruise, which obviously is going to be different than someone else's!

I told them how much fun our first cruise was...they heard the stories of what it was like and just weren't impressed compared with past vacations that were non-cruising.

I would automatically not believe it either...but I did experience it this cruise! The photo staff (the ones who sold the pics) were really bad. Went to pay for my pics and he rang me up and just handed me the pics back, I asked if he could put them in the cardboard envelope so that they wouldn't bend and sighed loudly and did put them in an envelope. When I was turning to walk away, I realized he hadn't given me the "free" gifts you get when you buy pics, I turned to ask them about them and he leaned behind the podium and grabbed some of the stuff and threw it on the podium and walked away.......I didn't even inquire about the coffee mug...just decided to chalk it up and forget it.

The staff in the buffet area.....only ONE was friendly and actually smiled and talked. The rest looked pissed off a lot of the time and never once smiled.

The only staff that was friendly were the ones working directly for tips....and even then, I was 2 for 4 in the MDR that was friendly/good at their job.

Like I said....not typical at all for Carnival. Don't know what was going on because I had read a lot of positive about Fascination and I heard several times a day, every single day, other cruisers making remarks about it being the worst cruise that they have taken. So something was definitely different.

Quick run down of our experience on Carnival Fascination:

Pro's:

Embarkation process went quickly and smoothly, same as debarking.

Our room stewards were extremely great!

Half Moon Cay is the most amazing beach!

We were on vacation!

Con's:

Was told to call room service for a bucket of ice.....it never came, even after calling to check on it.

Anytime dining---orders getting messed up on 2 different nights and having items arrive that weren't even ordered and waiter never fixed the mistake. Special cake order was lost. Waiter spilling water all over the table and just laughing about it.

Buffet---drink station always was empty of coffee, cups or ice. Seemed hard to get anything to drink.

Food overall was pretty poor quality. We aren't picky eaters at all, but it was hard to find anything that was even "wow, good"!

Entertainment was meh........always loved seeing the shows, etc....this time it seemed like there wasn't much going on.

On our 1st cruise, we seen our cruise director frequently....on this one, didn't see/hear from him at all until our 3rd night on the ship.

Overall, when compared with our first cruise......this one sucked. It was our kids first cruise and they weren't impressed at all by it. Majority of the staff was pretty rude, which is not typical of Carnival staff at all! The changes to the food quality is noticeable and some days it was hard pressed to find anything besides the deli that tasted good! Debating on trying a larger Carnival ship, switching and trying RCL or even doing just an all inclusive for next time.

We just did anytime dining and will NEVER do it again! We ended up only eating in the dining room 4x's (one of those times was brunch though, so only 3 nights for dinner). Out of the 3 nights for dinner, our orders were messed up on 2 different nights with appetizers brought out that we didn't order and never came back around except to take the plates.....not once asked why we weren't eating. Often had issues even getting refills on drinks, at one point one waiter spilt water all over the table when attempting to pour it and laughed about it.

We ordered a special cake, they lost the order and finally found it....there went the "surprise" portion since we had to ask in front of our daughter about it.

The pro's....we never had to wait for a table.....and on Carnival Fascination--request Boris and Happy--we had them the last night we ate in the MDR and they are GREAT, wish we had them the previous 2 nights!

For us.....the benefit of arriving when we wanted wasn't worth losing the experience of the set dining and your waiters knowing you personally and everyone eating at the same time!

I definitely don't mind skipping the straw market--I just thought it was something that you had to experience at least once! lol

Is Fincastle as nice as Fort Charlotte? I was originally planning on taking the jitney to Fort Charlotte and then walking to the distillery--but maybe we should take the jitney back and then get off at a stop closer to the distillery?

Hello! Trying to finalize some plans for Nassau....our first visit here and my kids first cruise port ever! At first we were going to visit the zoo, then thought about just a beach day. However, I found some areas I would love to see and wanted advise on the order to visit them and the best route of getting around (between jitney and walking).

Fort Charlotte then head to John Watlings Distillery and onward to Junkanoo Beach for the kids to get some sun and us some food/drinks and then back to the cruise ship for the evening activities/dinner is my original plan. Would this work in this order or should I reverse the Fort Charlotte/John Watlings visitation order? I don't like to do a lot of backtracking--so trying to find the best order/easiest route to get between these places! Also, we are debating about visiting the straw market to see what it's like and to say we were there once....how does its location fit in with these other places?

TIA!!

Thank you! I wasn't even thinking about checking in!! :rolleyes:

Curious how this works.

We are scheduled for Any Time Dining on our upcoming cruise. I ordered a special birthday cake to be delivered to our table during elegant night to celebrate my daughters birthday.

How will they know we ordered this and be able to deliver it? I want it to be a surprise so I don't want to have to remind them or anything.

Thanks everyone! I wasnt sure how noise/etc would be..but going to go for it!

It is only $30 total for the upgrade. Is it louder on the empress deck?

Ok...we have a party of 4 going on the Fascination in Oct. 2 adult previous cruisers and 2 kids (15 and 10) who have never cruised.

Originally, I booked an interior, midship on the main floor. Was offered an upgrade today for aft empress floor with an oceanview.

Would you take this upgrade?? The window doesn't really make a difference to us adults, not sure if it really would with the kids since we wouldn't be in the room much. Plus, one kid deals with motion sickness in the car..but does fine out on the boat all summer.

Thoughts?

I was the only one that I noticed that had a small sign on our door. But you know what--we found our room VERY easily every single time! ;)

This is such a great idea! I will be cruising in Nov and will have a long black formal to pass on!