JohnSpo

Carnival has some nice clothing in the on board gift shops. I am wondering why the OP could not come to an agreement with Carnival to choose clothing from the gift shop. It is a shame it came to tears because that just puts a damper on the cruise. You just have to make the best of situations like this and Carnival may have worked with you better. In my dealings with Guest Services, sometimes at first they come across as not wanting to help but as long as the interaction remains calm and positive, Guest Services has always remedied the situations for me. This was certainly not worth ruining a vacation.

I do one cruise a year now so I am already booked for 2019. It looks like Legend out for Tampa in March 2020 for me. Tampa is a nice city to visit and the port is convenient to their downtown and airport. I look forward to this cruise.

I enjoy the cheese plate as an appetizer with a glass of wine as a start to the meal. Sometimes the wait staff remember and have it ready for me before I order my meal. Nice service!

We went to Nachi Cocum. It's a bit more than Paradise beach, but you sit in a lounge chair under a palapa next to the surf, and they wait on you hand and foot. Bring food and drinks. There is a nice meal at a restaurant included.

I went to Nachi Cocum the last time I was in Cozumel and it was great. I look forward to going back. Great beach and not too crowded. The service, drinks and food were excellent.:cool:

I sailed on Splendor 3 times within about 2 years. I was recognized by the maitre d along with the hostesses at the MDR. I was also recognized by the atrium bartender. It was nice to be recognized.:cool:

In port in Barbados I did not hear any announcements. Perhaps they leave written instructions in the cabin for those passengers disembarking in Barbados. It was a fantastic cruise. I hope you enjoy it.

I disembarked Fascination on Apr 22 and they made many announcements that morning that everyone must vacate their cabins by 8:30am.

Bonsai Sushi Express is now on Fascination and it was great.

I was on the Fascination cruise the week before your cruise. I also really enjoyed the cruise. For a small ship, Fascination was great, especially with the new bars and and new eateries. I thought it was very clean and the crew was great. This was an awesome ship for a port intensive itinerary. It was great getting on and off the ship with no lines all week. Glad you also had a great time.

Also on this same Splendor cruise out of New York City, a family group (about 15-20) decided to have a family get together in the evening in the hallway right outside of their cabins which just happened to be by my cabin. They were having some type of prayer get together with their babies in diapers crawling on the dirty carpeted hallway floors. To get by them you had to walk around the babies and the family could care less. Strange behavior especially with so many other better locations on the ship they could go to hold this family get together.

The worst behavior was on Splendor out of New York City a few years ago. A young woman was dancing and seducing a young man on the dance floor of the disco. The young man evidently responded to the seduction and the family of the young girl beat the young man up. Security in the disco was useless.

Using the bathroom next to a casino dealer, who didn't bother to wash his hands before going on break. I ratted him out to the Pit Boss, resulting in an awkward time with him as my dealer soon afterwards.:o

Unfortunately I have seen this also.

Great review. i was on Fascination the week after you. I had a great cruise. I especially liked St Lucia and I also did the Spencer Ambrose tour and it was very good. The Spencer Ambrose crew were so nice. I would like to do this cruise again sometime. Glad you enjoyed the cruise.

I stayed in Hotel Milano right in the heart of Old San Juan and a few block away from the port. It was clean, comfortable and the staff was very nice. I would stay there again.

I disembarked the Fascination this past Sunday. I have been on 13 other Carnival cruises and I really enjoyed this one. I enjoyed going to some southern ports that I have not been to before. I did beach excursions in Barbados, St Lucia and St Kitts. I did not use Carnival excursions for the beaches and they were enjoyable. In St Thomas I purchased the Skyride from Carnival Excursions. At the top of Paradise Point, the view, banana daiquiri and the grouper fish lunch were all great. Look out for the iguanas in the trees at the top. of Paradise Point. I stayed on board at the last port of St Maarten to make it more like a sea day and it was great being on a quiet ship. The new bars: Alchemy; Blue Iguana and the Red Frog pub were all good. I thought the $3.00 upcharge for making your drink a double was a great deal. It was nice to have the new Guys Burger Joint on Fascination and the lines were minimal I really enjoyed the fresh sushi at the new Bonsai Sushi. It was worth the upcharge. I did not try the new Blue Iguana Cantina. The MDR food for breakfast, brunch and dinners was all very good. I liked the new healthier options for breakfast. I especially liked the homemade granola. For dinner I did try the $20 steakhouse filet mignon. I ordered it medium and it came out more like medium rare which is how I like it anyway. It was cooked very good. I did think the meals did take longer to be served in the MDR then on other Carnival ships but they were served at the right temperature. Besides minimal lines at Guys, there were no lines for embarkation/debarkation and no lines on port days. The only other lines I experienced were at the Pizza Pirate and the deli. Carnival never seems to have proper staffing at these 2 eateries. I thought the overall service onboard was great and I thought the ship was very clean. I chose the night time cabin service which worked out good for me. The decor of Fascination is very nice, not as glitzy as other Carnival ships. The live music entertainment around the ship was great.. I liked the Caribbean music, Latin group, rock group and the atrium musician were excellent. They all did a great job. The Play list shows and talent were very good. I did enjoy the Hasbro show, love and marriage show and the Clue show (based on the board game). They had 4 different comedians for the week and they all were very good.

For a smaller ship, Fascination had most of the bells and whistles of Carnival's larger ships. I did miss the steakhouse but the upcharge steaks in the MDR made up for that. It is a great ship especially for a port intensive itinerary for getting on/off the ship quickly. I plan on doing this itinerary again and I hope it is on Fascination. I hope Carnival keeps the Fantasy class of ships in their fleet for a long time.

If true, I don't get why Carnival would want to eliminate early cabin availability for Diamonds and Plats. A decision like this would be made to save money but they are already paying the cabin attendants to service so they are not saving much money.

Taking a valued benefit away from the Diamonds/Plats would reduce the trust and goodwill from your valued customer. That does not seem to be worth it.

Did Carnival think they would offer the early cabin availability only to FTTF and Diamonds and Plats would pay for it?

Maybe there are too many Diamonds/Plats and since they reduced the cabin staff they are not able to finish the cabins early enough.

It would be interesting to know if this was true, what the real reason was.

I've got Spencer Ambrose already booked for St Lucia. Glad I made the right pick.:cool:

I hear that the rain forest took quite a beating, and there appear to be less shore excursion options, but walking around OSJ was no issue.

Actually I plan on spending 2 days exploring Old San Juan on my own by foot. Old San Juan and all of the Ports Fascination is visiting should be great. I can't wait.:cool:

Glad to hear things are coming back. I'll be there in 2 weeks and look forward to adding to the San Juan economy.:cool:

I am not using a booked 2019 Carnival cruise out of Tampa with 100 OBC. I just moved the booking to a Nov 2020 Panorama cruise. I got the cabin I wanted with the $100 OBC transferred but I have to wait 956 for this cruise. I have never been to any of these ports since I have only cruised out of the East coast. A new ship and new ports. It will be worth the wait. In the meantime, luckily I have 2 cruises booked so the 956 days will not be cruise free.:cool:

Any idea when they normally have the Plat/Diamond party on the 7 day Fascination cruises?

i'll be on Fascination in 3 weeks. Good to hear you had a favorable review of the service, ship, food and entertainment. I look forward to this port intensive itinerary. I normally don't book excursions but on this cruise I have excursions booked in 3 of the ports.

Did you enjoy the new bars and eateries?

How was the new Bonsai Sushi?

Thanks for your review.

It happened to me 2 years ago and it was also an April cruise. Carnival told us about 3 months before and offered the same $50 OBC and honored our rate on another ship.

I suppose if Carnival cancels they would also refund cancellation penalties on airfares/hotels if you show proof. Luckily this has not happened to me yet.

Large groups will charter ships. Better than when a group takes over say half the ship and entertainment venues are reserved for the group

At least you had the option to cancel. I had this happen to me but the group did not book the entire ship so the cruise was not cancelled. The steakhouse got booked, the disco was closed certain nights and the lines were crazy all week. It just felt like this group was everywhere. They were nice enough but a loud group. It was good to see they were having fun but I did not appreciate having venues closed because of them.

For a two top and if you are not requesting a specific wait staff there is usually no wait for maybe a 5 minute wait. When cruising I stay up late so I get to the YTD as late as I can around 9:00pm. Even that late it may still be a 5 minute wait but at that time the the service is much faster because it is the end of service.