Fascination review-May 27, 2018

I'm starting to feel abandoned...anyone else??

Natefish95 my granddaughter leaves Sunday she has been asking me questions about things on the ship I have never been on a Carnival ship I'm sure a lot of things are the same on all ships but I am just checking. Are there hair driers, also are steamers allowed and is there a laundry room, years ago on Princess they had laundry rooms not sure if Carnival has them.

Natefish95 my granddaughter leaves Sunday she has been asking me questions about things on the ship I have never been on a Carnival ship I'm sure a lot of things are the same on all ships but I am just checking. Are there hair driers, also are steamers allowed and is there a laundry room, years ago on Princess they had laundry rooms not sure if Carnival has them.

I'll help you out if you don't mind. "Most" Carnival ships have hair dryers. If you can tell us which ship we can give you a more definitive answer. If the ship does not have a hair dryer, it is my understanding that you can ask your room steward and he/she will bring one for you to use.

Steamers are not allowed. There are laundry rooms that have washers, dryers, and iron and ironing board for your use. The washers and dryers are not free. I understand some take quarters and others you can use your room card (Sail & Sign Card). You can get quarters from guest services or at the casino.

Hopefully someone will post the prices for the washers and dryers.

If you go the website, cruisedeckplans dot com, you can look up the ship and the stateroom floors that have laundry rooms. That way you will know where they are located before the cruise.

E@syPe@zy Thank you she's on Fascination I think I will just tell her to take a dryer. I didn't think a steamer was allowed. Thought I would check glad they have laundry room wish the ships I go on had them but I think they make more money by having us have them do our wash. Thanks again for the info

Great Review!:D

mike

I'm starting to feel abandoned...anyone else??

I hope this isn’t another abandoned review...it was just getting exciting

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omg this is the best review ever I leave 7/15, I just can not find the rest of it!

Guys be patient. I know from experience from doing my reviews that these things take time and sometimes life gets in the way and delay completing them, especially if pictures are added.

Guys be patient. I know from experience from doing my reviews that these things take time and sometimes life gets in the way and delay completing them, especially if pictures are added.

Thanks, did not mean to be rude, new to using the sight, just thought I was unable to find it, thanks I am excited doing back to back RC freedom of the seas, then jumping unto my favorite line Carnival!

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.

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

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...

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

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.

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

Beautiful photos!

Well worth the wait, great excursion - incentive for me to lose weight!

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Thank you for such a nice detailed review and posting the Fun Times as well. Look forward to more of your adventure!!

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

Following. Great review!!

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Great detailed and well written review, and amazing pictures!

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!

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!

You're doing great!!! Life happens!! It also took me a while to write my reviews. I'm a bit jealous That it's you and not me writing this review...lol!! That cave adventure is somethingI might actually consider the next time I'm around Barbados. It would be a good departure from the breach bars and turtle swims. Keep it up!!!

Following. Really enjoying your review!

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.