Newbie's review of Carnival Fascination sailing July 24-29

[oceanbluegazer]

Just wanted to say that I love your pictures they are so good. Loving this review.:p

[GAMOM4]

We are leaving on the Fascination on Saturday, August 21st...I am so excited!! I would like to rent a cabana - but it is only me and my husband and we sure couldn't afford $225.00 for just the two of us. Love your review!!!!!!

[GrammyJill]

aw, GAMOM4 , you will be on there on my birthday! That was my first choice week but lost out in the vote! Have fun & send us pix & fun times!

[missdebi]

future1sttimecruiser:

In your opinion was Blue Lagoon and the dolphin encounter worth it? We are 12 women going in Nov. and were considering doing the encounter. Did you book through Carnival or on your own? I know excursions are a personal preference but I have been to Nassau 5x and have considered this several times but never followed through! Thanks!

[Cristallo]

We are leaving on the Fascination on Saturday, August 21st...I am so excited!! I would like to rent a cabana - but it is only me and my husband and we sure couldn't afford $225.00 for just the two of us. Love your review!!!!!!

 

Maybe there is another couple in your roll call that might want to get the cabana with you so you'd be able to split the cost.

[anamanxs]

Thanks for the review, also on the Nov cruise! Very undecided about Nassua. Really looking foward to Half Moon Cay, we have never been there before!

[Trainer84]

Thanks for the great posts on Fascination. My 19 yr old autistic daughter and I will be sailing VERY soon and are 1st time cruisers as well. Keep posting!

 

Thanks!

[future1sttimecruiser]

Sorry for the delay! Unfortunately "real life" is taking up so much of my time again...

missdebi - I am a very frugal person and I really felt that Dolphin Encounters was worth it. You will get a pretty good amount of time with the dolphin and then you get to use the beach for free. I booked it on my own to save money and it was $98 plus $12 for the lunch. I also took a waterproof camera and took extra photos. It was really fun!

GAMOM4 - I agree that you should see if you can split the cost with another couple. I did budget for it after reading about it here on CC and my sister and I decided that it was something that we really wanted to do. We were in the cabana from 10am -4pm (more or less) to get the full benefit.

[future1sttimecruiser]

Wednesday, July 28 - Sea Day

Today was our last day on the ship. After breakfast on the Lido Deck, we headed straight towards the Waterworks area and claimed chairs right at the front. Apparently, many people had partied the night before on Lido (we’d fallen asleep) so we practically had the place to ourselves for a while ;). We took that opportunity to ride the Twister Slide over, and over and over again since there is typically a wait for that slide and the line moves slower. The racer slides go much quicker and make a big splash at the end (my son would highly recommended that one). We slid, had drinks and just enjoyed the better part of the morning. We had a late lunch so that we could maximize our slide time.

 

The chocolate buffet was also on the Lido deck today for lunch. Uh, it was sort of a letdown. It was small and just ok, in my opinion. This is also the day that there is an "ice cream sundae" station set up. There was someone making ice cream into swans, that was very cute.

Since I had some downtime after lunch, I decided to go laundry. The cost is $3.00 to wash and dry. The machines are high efficiency so those Purex 3 in 1 sheets work great. No worries if you don’t have change, they can provide that for you at Guest Services. Now normally I hate doing laundry, I didn’t mind on the cruise and there was one on the Empress Deck and a few other locations, I think.

 

Dinner was back in our “regular” section and we had the Honey Bourbon chicken, just ok, not too flavorful and good crab cakes. We had Baked Alaska tonight, which was just ok.

 

Tonight was the Hey Mambo show which we both liked. We then stopped by Karaoke again; the crowd seemed more sedate, but it was still fun.

 

We watched the debarkation talk on the tv, and decided to use self assist - good choice (for us)!

 

 

 

Regrets

• That I didn’t stay up for the Mexican Buffet
  
• Didn’t get around to mini golf
  
• That we didn't get to the serenity deck
  

We had fun on this cruise and look forward to going on another one soon. I’d like to try a newer ship in the future.

 

More photos

 

Chocolate buffet, please excuse the blurry photo

 

Another chocolate buffet

 

Another interior photo of the ship

 

Ship's ceiling

[Cristallo]

GAMOM4 - I agree that you should see if you can split the cost with another couple. I did budget for it after reading about it here on CC and my sister and I decided that it was something that we really wanted to do. We were in the cabana from 10am -4pm (more or less) to get the full benefit.

 

The cabana and the behind the fun tour are the only things that we really want to do. We're sailing for our anniversary so between my need to be in shade and cool and celebrating that milestone we're going to book(or at least try to book) the cabana for the two of us. I know it's pricey but most everyone spends the day there and just raves about them.

[Cheerose]

Re: Laundry

 

Do you need to bring your own soap (like the 3-in-1 sheets) or can you buy some in board... and if so, how expensive/affordable are they?

[future1sttimecruiser]

Cheerose - You can purchase laundry detergent in the laundry room. I can't remember the cost, probably $3 or so.

[Biffer1997]

Thanks for the review! Looking forward to sailing in Dec. :-)

Are you able to check your sail and sign account on your cabin TV? I read that you couldn't check the menu :-( but was hoping I could check my S&S card.

Also is there Tea Time on both Sea Days?

[GatorMomInNC]

Maybe there is another couple in your roll call that might want to get the cabana with you so you'd be able to split the cost.

 

How many people can the cabana "hold" so to speak?

[future1sttimecruiser]

Biffer1997 - No, you cannot check your sign-n-sail on the tv. You can check the balance with Guest Services, located on the Empress Deck - Floor 7.

 

GatorMominNC - The price is for 4 people. There is not a ton of room in there. If you go over 4, there is a charge per extra person though I'm not sure what that is.

[itgeek]

Re: Laundry

 

Do you need to bring your own soap (like the 3-in-1 sheets) or can you buy some in board... and if so, how expensive/affordable are they?

We've hashed out on-board laundry in a few threads. The consensus is to pack some Purex 3-in-1 laundry sheets. They are detergent, fabric softener and anti-static in 1 sheet. They take up no room and can't leak or spill.

 

The powdered detergent on-board leaves much to be desired.

 

- IT Geek