Just back from Fantasy... mixed review

[angiegal]

We (me, DH, DD- 12 and DS- 15) just got off the Fantasy yesterday. We took a 5 day vacation to Nassau and Freeport out of Charleston. Great vacation? YES! Great ship? For her age, sure. Great service? well....

This was our fourth Carnival Cruise and we had a great time, but we didn't receive the service we expected.

 

Let's start with day one: we have family is Goose Creek, so we drove down a day early and spent the night with them. A family member drove us to the port so we didn't have to pay the port parking fees. We arrived at 12:05pm. The port area is confusing and has a strange layout, but the longest wait we had was waiting for the shuttle to fill up! The process was fast! After driving through a bank lobby-like obstacle course, ID is checked and your car windshield is marked (at least ours was) denoting parking or not parking. You then drive to the porters who unload the luggage. This part was strange. It appeared that there were supposed to be four lines, but nobody was directing cars, so it was a bit of a free for all. We pulled up behind one car who was having the luggage unloaded. It was less than two minutes until they were on their way. We pulled forward and put the van in park only to have someone tell us to back up and drive to the other side of the luggage truck. Before we could put the van in reverse, someone was knocking on the lift gate saying, "open it up and I'll unload for you!" We let that porter unload the luggage (and tipped him) and sent our family member home while we headed over to the shuttle. Sorry for all who park their car at the pier, can't help you here! We boarded the nice, air-conditioned shuttle and in about 10 minutes, the shuttle was full and we were off. Check in was quick and painless. There was a line when we arrived, but it moved fast and before we knew what hit us, we were having our picture taken and walking on the gangway. My DD said, "Wait- that was it??" The last two years we were in New York and before that we were in Port Canaveral and we thought those port were easy, too. This one just seemed to move faster. We were onboard and having lunch before 1pm. Just after lunch, our room was ready.

Pros: fast, easy process! Cons: weird layout.

 

Now on to the room! This is the first time we've had an interior and all four of us travel in one room, so I was dreading opening the stateroom door, but it really wasn't bad! Because of the two upper bunks, we decided to keep the other two beds (that could be a queen) seperate. It looked like the room had two sets of bunk beds. As long as we kept the upper bunks in the wall during the day, we had plenty of room. We've always shared a room on vacation, so we are pretty good and managing one bathroom, sharing counter space, etc. I knew that I would miss the balcony, but I didn't want to pay for a suite. I really didn't feel like we were missing anything in an interior. We used a $1 cone-shaped air freshner in the bathroom, had a dryer sheet in our laundry bag, and limited hairspray use for our DD and AXE use for our DS. I don't think there was a single time all week that odor bothered me. Air temperature was easily controlled and we were always comfortable. We were forward and on the Main deck, so there was some movement, but that was to be expected. The room and the hallway were very quiet.

Pros: cheap, quiet, adequate space. Cons: a little bit of motion

 

Now onto probably the worst part of our cruise: the steward! Let me first say, we have always loved our room stewards! We've always tipped them extra each day! But not this time. We didn't see him/her the first day at all. We don't spend a lot of time in our room, but I expected to at least meet him/her. I couldn't even tell you his/her name! Throughout the week, our room wasn't cleaned until sometime after lunch (most days around 3pm) and our turn down service happened somewhere between 5pm and 10pm, but that's the best I can say. On the last sea day, our room wasn't cleaned at all, but we had turn down service around 4pm. We keep our room clean (we have to with four people in one room!) and make our beds in the morning (including putting the two upper beds away) so there isn't much to do. Our room stayed clean and orderly, but our wet towels sat on the bathroom floor (well, in the shower) most of the day. Did he/she do a bad job? Not really, but the only thing he really had to do was bring clean towels, take away the dirty ones, make a towel animal and leave Funtimes and mints. We kept the auto tips the same, but didn't tip any extra. It really wasn't worth complaining about, either.

Pros: made great towel animals Cons: don't know who he/she was

 

The overall impression of the ship is next! The first thing that we found is that there wasn't as much "Vegas" as others that we have been on. There also isn't really a theme. As far as being the oldest ship, it really is well maintained. There's some wear and tear, especially seen in the carpet on the steps. There was also trouble with a few of the elevators throughout the trip. One forward elevator seemed to get stuck on deck 9 a lot (go in the elevator on deck 9 and no matter which button you push, you aren't going to move!), but we do our best to stick with the stairs anyway. The layout of the ship is not user-friendly at all. We were assigned to the Jubilee dining room, and it took us three days to figure out how to get there without a series of going up two decks, looking at the map again and saying "how do we get there???" then going down two decks. We had this kind of problem on the Triumph, too, but it seemed more frustrating on a smaller ship. Another problem was the sewer smell near the stairs. At least once every day we were hit with "the smell!" as my DD called it. There didn't seem to be time or place specific, just randomly "EWWWW!!" when we were walking up or down the stairs.

Pros: not so Vegasy as other ships Cons: difficult to navigate and "the smell!" every now and then

More to come...

[okgirl]

Great start and very balanced....I too have had some stewards that were largely absent, but if my cabin isn't cleaned by noon on a regular basis then I would probably have called the housekeeping manager.

 

With that many people in a cabin I would probably have needed fresh towel as I tend to shower in the morning but shower for the evening when I return from shore excursions or in the early to mid afternoon...

[EastCarolina]

Very similar experience as you had when we were on the fantasy just two weeks ago. Steward was non existant and seemed to do the bare minimum. We also had nasty hair in the shower when we first got in the room which means the shower was never really cleaned. We cleaned it ourselves and never filed a complaint.

 

Its weird how the funky smell is only around the stairs! And we only noticed it around the stairs in the front of the ship.

[CMstreet]

We (me, DH, DD- 12 and DS- 15) just got off the Fantasy yesterday. We took a 5 day vacation to Nassau and Freeport out of Charleston. Great vacation? YES! Great ship? For her age, sure. Great service? well....

This was our fourth Carnival Cruise and we had a great time, but we didn't receive the service we expected.

 

Let's start with day one: we have family is Goose Creek, so we drove down a day early and spent the night with them. A family member drove us to the port so we didn't have to pay the port parking fees. We arrived at 12:05pm. The port area is confusing and has a strange layout, but the longest wait we had was waiting for the shuttle to fill up! The process was fast! After driving through a bank lobby-like obstacle course, ID is checked and your car windshield is marked (at least ours was) denoting parking or not parking. You then drive to the porters who unload the luggage. This part was strange. It appeared that there were supposed to be four lines, but nobody was directing cars, so it was a bit of a free for all. We pulled up behind one car who was having the luggage unloaded. It was less than two minutes until they were on their way. We pulled forward and put the van in park only to have someone tell us to back up and drive to the other side of the luggage truck. Before we could put the van in reverse, someone was knocking on the lift gate saying, "open it up and I'll unload for you!" We let that porter unload the luggage (and tipped him) and sent our family member home while we headed over to the shuttle. Sorry for all who park their car at the pier, can't help you here! We boarded the nice, air-conditioned shuttle and in about 10 minutes, the shuttle was full and we were off. Check in was quick and painless. There was a line when we arrived, but it moved fast and before we knew what hit us, we were having our picture taken and walking on the gangway. My DD said, "Wait- that was it??" The last two years we were in New York and before that we were in Port Canaveral and we thought those port were easy, too. This one just seemed to move faster. We were onboard and having lunch before 1pm. Just after lunch, our room was ready.

Pros: fast, easy process! Cons: weird layout.

 

Now on to the room! This is the first time we've had an interior and all four of us travel in one room, so I was dreading opening the stateroom door, but it really wasn't bad! Because of the two upper bunks, we decided to keep the other two beds (that could be a queen) seperate. It looked like the room had two sets of bunk beds. As long as we kept the upper bunks in the wall during the day, we had plenty of room. We've always shared a room on vacation, so we are pretty good and managing one bathroom, sharing counter space, etc. I knew that I would miss the balcony, but I didn't want to pay for a suite. I really didn't feel like we were missing anything in an interior. We used a $1 cone-shaped air freshner in the bathroom, had a dryer sheet in our laundry bag, and limited hairspray use for our DD and AXE use for our DS. I don't think there was a single time all week that odor bothered me. Air temperature was easily controlled and we were always comfortable. We were forward and on the Main deck, so there was some movement, but that was to be expected. The room and the hallway were very quiet.

Pros: cheap, quiet, adequate space. Cons: a little bit of motion

 

Now onto probably the worst part of our cruise: the steward! Let me first say, we have always loved our room stewards! We've always tipped them extra each day! But not this time. We didn't see him/her the first day at all. We don't spend a lot of time in our room, but I expected to at least meet him/her. I couldn't even tell you his/her name! Throughout the week, our room wasn't cleaned until sometime after lunch (most days around 3pm) and our turn down service happened somewhere between 5pm and 10pm, but that's the best I can say. On the last sea day, our room wasn't cleaned at all, but we had turn down service around 4pm. We keep our room clean (we have to with four people in one room!) and make our beds in the morning (including putting the two upper beds away) so there isn't much to do. Our room stayed clean and orderly, but our wet towels sat on the bathroom floor (well, in the shower) most of the day. Did he/she do a bad job? Not really, but the only thing he really had to do was bring clean towels, take away the dirty ones, make a towel animal and leave Funtimes and mints. We kept the auto tips the same, but didn't tip any extra. It really wasn't worth complaining about, either.

Pros: made great towel animals Cons: don't know who he/she was

 

The overall impression of the ship is next! The first thing that we found is that there wasn't as much "Vegas" as others that we have been on. There also isn't really a theme. As far as being the oldest ship, it really is well maintained. There's some wear and tear, especially seen in the carpet on the steps. There was also trouble with a few of the elevators throughout the trip. One forward elevator seemed to get stuck on deck 9 a lot (go in the elevator on deck 9 and no matter which button you push, you aren't going to move!), but we do our best to stick with the stairs anyway. The layout of the ship is not user-friendly at all. We were assigned to the Jubilee dining room, and it took us three days to figure out how to get there without a series of going up two decks, looking at the map again and saying "how do we get there???" then going down two decks. We had this kind of problem on the Triumph, too, but it seemed more frustrating on a smaller ship. Another problem was the sewer smell near the stairs. At least once every day we were hit with "the smell!" as my DD called it. There didn't seem to be time or place specific, just randomly "EWWWW!!" when we were walking up or down the stairs.

Pros: not so Vegasy as other ships Cons: difficult to navigate and "the smell!" every now and then

More to come...

 

What room where you in? We have M 159 & M 163 in a couple of weeks. Looking forward to the rest of your review.

[twentyknots]

We just got off the Fantasy too. I didn't expect many children to be on board this time of year since spring breaks are over and the school year has another few weeks in most places except for colleges, yet there were 200 children on board, down from 1200 a few weeks earlier. They all seemed very well-behaved.

 

I wondered how the parents explained why the kids missed school for 4 days.

[scchasgal]

I wondered how the parents explained why the kids missed school for 4 days.

 

Home schooled maybe?

[firefly333]

I just came back from Elation Sat with mixed reviews. I loved my cabin steward .. best ever. In fact I wrote him up and turned it into the purser's desk to say how good he was.

 

The only complaint I had that was Carnival's fault was my a/c not blowing air (yes my cabin steward had it checked and per carnival it was ok). not to me.

 

Good cruise, I just think its time for a break from Carnival. This was my 4th Carnival cruise since last Xmas.

 

PS they said we had less than 150 kids onboard ... I swear they were all babies. We sure had a lot of very little ones this time.

[mumofsons]

Had the same problem with the AC on the Liberty. (April 16-23rd) The room never seemed cool enough and we called maintenance about three times, they would check it and say there was nothing wrong with it. On a couple of nights it was almost hard to sleep. I thought it might be one of the suttle cut backs that we noticed. Nothing to ruin our trip - just a couple nights sleep.

[angiegal]

Okgirl- fresh towels were our biggest concern, but we did ok. And I guess we figured it wasn't worth complaining. As long as it got done, we were ok, but that's our vacation mentality.

Eastcarolina- we tended to use the forward stairs so I would say that's probably where we experienced the smell, too.

Cmstreet- we were in M49

Sorry all, very few pics in this review. One SD card didn't survive the trip.

Yep, our kids are homeschooled! And we picked a week after most school's Spring Break and before summer so there would be fewer kids. I love my kids, but that doesn't mean I love 2000 kids :)

 

This is a good place to talk about the kids' programs, I suppose. First, I will say that we have always had great experiences with the kids' club. Our kids spend some time in the clubs just about every day because they want to. But, in our opinion, it's a family vacation and there has to be family time each day. Meal times are spent as a family as are at least 2 shows throughout the cruise, and few activitities each day. We also enforce a curfew on board. 11pm for the 12 yo and midnight for the 15 year old. Considering a 13 year old girl knocked on our door at 2am asking if our DD could do get pizza with her, I would say not everyone feels the same. Having said that, the 200 on board seemed well behaved. I didn't hear any complaints and I didn't see anything out of line. However, I am not naive enough to think that my kids were little angels the whole time. If they were a pest to anyone, I apologize!

 

Having said all of that...

Club O2 (15-17 year olds) was great! It has to be a challenge to entertain teens in that age group, but Kelly did a really good job! There were less than 20 teens registered in this group, and from what I saw and what my son said, only 10-15 actually used the room. To be honest, the room is really a meeting place for the teens. They spend half an hour or so in there, then they go off to eat, use waterworks, play mini golf, or walk laps around the ship (like a mall). DS made great friends and they all exchanged facebook names before they left. As far as programming, there were video games and a few "parties", but all of the teens seemed to really love Kelly, so she was doing something right!

Circle C wasn't really Circle C (12-14 year olds). The first night they had their own activities and from what I saw there were about 25 teens. But most of the week didn't really follow the schedule. Often, we found the room to be closed with a sign on the door directing us to Club O2. My understanding from Jenny (counselor) was that because there were so few kids, there were times that less than 5 kids showed up for an acitivity, so they would just combine with Club O2. There was a lot of crossover and mingling between the two groups. One boy started out in my DD's group, but half way through the cruise, he was in my DS's group. At night, you could almost always find a group of teens (12-17 years olds) at the pizzeria. Was I comfortable with the situation? Yes, but I knew that my DS was watching out for my DD (and that he told all of his friends "she's 12! Don't even think about it!" But, I still wasn't crazy about the idea of my 12 year old DD hanging out with 15/16 year old boys.

Regarding Camp Carnival, we obviously didn't have kids there, but one of our tablemates had a 7/8 year old. They complained that the programs were closed for a few hours each day and that the counselors didn't take them outside or to the pool. I did see kids with a counselors a few times (going for ice cream or walking throughout the ship). Just a note, our tablemate had a lot to complain about. Verdict: I have no idea.

Pros: great counselors! My kids both asked to tip both counselors. Cons: less kids=less structured activities. 12 year olds and 17 year old together??? Another pro: less kids, less waiting for waterworks slides:D

[wannago35]

Great review so far, thanks for sharing. I do have one question. I am traveling with 3 other couples & they have kids ranging in age from 3 to 17 y.o. Wondering if its true that there is a cost for some of the kids activities? One parent said she heard laser tag cost money & a few other things but, she didn't think it fair since she practically paid full price for her kid. Can you tell me what activities, if any, cost money?

 

Thanks and please keep the info coming, we're crusing Fantasy in July & can't wait. Your review is very balanced.

[angiegal]

wannago- some of the activities do cost money. For younger kids, I know there's a fee to make the build a bear type stuffed animal. We've never done it, so I'm not sure how much. For 9-11yos I know there's a late night party that costs some money, but again, we've never done it so I'm not sure how much. Other than those two and the arcade, I don't really know about other activities that cost money. Each kids does get a free T-shirt. Younger kids can color them in (for teens it's a plain T with Carnival logo on it). Our kids always have their shirts signed by their friends. As far a laser tag, we didn't have it (or at least I didn't see it), but I'm pretty sure there's a fee. Our kids spend very little money: just a frozen drink each day and maybe a photo or little gift on board. Our sail and sign bill was $130 for the four of us on a 5 day cruise. That includes 3 pictures (about $70) and one soda card for me (about $30, I think). There's plenty to do without spending money.

[angiegal]

 

View from the Universal Lounge. I really loved the windows!

 

 

I'm pretty sure this is the piano bar??? We don't spend much time in the bars/lounges, but I though this was interesting

 

 

Near the 21st Century Bar... where the trivia, games, and some karaoke was held. See what I mean about no "theme"

[angiegal]

[Drava]

I love the pics!

[nybumpkin]

Thank you for your review and photos! We're sailing in August and have never sailed a Fantasy-class ship, so this is new to us. As for the laser tag - we've seen it on other cruises and it's not just a kids' activity - it's open to everyone. There is an extra charge.

[angiegal]

On to entertainment I suppose...

Day activities were typical. Trivia games, BINGO, hairy chest contest, etc. For Cinco De Mayo they added a pinata, mexican hat dance (hot potato with a sombrero), and a few other things. Trivia games, bean bag toss and day time karaoke were held near the 21st century bar. We do these things every now and then and I will never understand why they schedule them where they do. It's hard to hear, even with the microphone, and people walk by shouting out answers. If I took it seriously,as some do, I would have been mad! There are plenty of bars/lounges that they could use, I'm not sure why they don't.

 

Night time entertainment was hit or miss. Perhaps I'm getting old, but Nightclub Express did have one risque act- the Mission Impossible Theme. In my opinion, it looked as though the dancers were naked and I'm pretty sure that was the effect they were going for. The dancing was quite provocative. 99% of the show was family friendly, a talking couch was in it for crying out loud, so I'm not sure why the one risque dance. I expect thongs and butt shaking, I just didn't expect this. I wasn't a big fan of the YMCA act either, but it wasn't nearly as bad as Mission Impossible.

 

Ticket to Ride was ok. There were some obvious mistakes (someone took a chair off stage to early for example) and some wardrobe malfunctions, but it was ok. I'm not usually a fan of the shows, anyway.

 

The Talent Show was typical, four singers and a hula hooper. But in the middle, someone proposed which was wonderful. He was a young guy leaving for Afgahnastan soon. His poor fiance couldn't talk and was shaking so much it was amusing. They had family was there, too, so it was really touching for everyone. That was the highlight of the show for sure!

 

One night they had karaoke in the Universe Lounge, which was fun enough, but the karaoke host awful! You hardly knew he was even there. I think that was the night that the comedians were in the smaller lounge (two family shows and then two or three adult only shows). We didn't get to see them because we never got there early enough to get a seat. I heard they were good, though. I wish they had had the comedians in Universe Lounge. Not sure why they didn't.

 

We rarely go to the bars or lounges, so I can't tell you about those.

 

The lido deck was pretty full during the day, but we didn't have trouble finding deck chairs. The chairs at the water works area were empty every time I walked by. Mini golf, ping pong, etc were available, but we didn't take part in them.

 

Pros: there's quite a variety to do. Cons: Night time entertainment felt lacking.

[Bradpinksc]

Thanks for the great review..We leave next Thursday on the Fantasy. Can't wait.

[mousey]

I've never been on a 5-day cruise, mostly 7-day ones. So, my question is...is there a formal night on a five-day cruise? Thanks for any info.:D

[spideyfam]

Thanks for the review.

[hn7609]

I'm on the Fantasy in July.......Curious about what you thought of the Food???? I've seen lots of mixed reviews lately.

[wannago35]

wannago- some of the activities do cost money. For younger kids, I know there's a fee to make the build a bear type stuffed animal. We've never done it, so I'm not sure how much. For 9-11yos I know there's a late night party that costs some money, but again, we've never done it so I'm not sure how much. Other than those two and the arcade, I don't really know about other activities that cost money. Each kids does get a free T-shirt. Younger kids can color them in (for teens it's a plain T with Carnival logo on it). Our kids always have their shirts signed by their friends. As far a laser tag, we didn't have it (or at least I didn't see it), but I'm pretty sure there's a fee. Our kids spend very little money: just a frozen drink each day and maybe a photo or little gift on board. Our sail and sign bill was $130 for the four of us on a 5 day cruise. That includes 3 pictures (about $70) and one soda card for me (about $30, I think). There's plenty to do without spending money.

 

Thanks so much Angiegal, loving your pictures! Will share this info with my co-cruisers :)

[wannago35]

Thank you for your review and photos! We're sailing in August and have never sailed a Fantasy-class ship, so this is new to us. As for the laser tag - we've seen it on other cruises and it's not just a kids' activity - it's open to everyone. There is an extra charge.

 

Ahh OK, thanks NYbumpkin!

[mistory]

I'm on the Fantasy in July.......Curious about what you thought of the Food???? I've seen lots of mixed reviews lately.

 

I've been on the fantasy twice. The food had it's good and bad. The white cheddar mac n cheese was hands down the best I ever had. Also on the last sea day they had the BIGGEST, BEST shrimp I've ever had as well. I was raised on the beach so that was hard to top.

 

All the cakes though were hard and stale. It was almost like they were shipped in from somewhere. Not really sure.

 

I enjoyed the lobster the second time but not the first. My second time on the fantasy I tried a wide variety of foods and it's hit or miss. I am a very picky eater though.

 

Overall you should find something that you like. There are alot of places to chose from. Just get to each station early to get the freshest food.

[angiegal]

I've never been on a 5-day cruise, mostly 7-day ones. So, my question is...is there a formal night on a five-day cruise? Thanks for any info.:D

yep, it's the first day at sea

[angiegal]

Regarding food:

 

I guess breakfast is first! We like to have continental room service (bagels, cereal, etc.) and it's pretty hard to mess that up :) We did go to the Lido deck on the first day at sea and it was good. There were no bacon police to be found. Eggs, oatmeal, pancakes, etc. No complaints from us. My son said that he found the omelette station back by the pizzeria (probably the deli). He was very pleased with it. We haven't done breakfast in a dining room since our first cruise, so I can't help there.

Breakfast is served on the Lido deck until 11am (maybe 12noon)

 

Lunch is next! There are a lot of options available. The Mongolian (Wok or Grill- I can't remember which) always had at least a small line. Considering it's all cooked to order, that's not a suprise. DH said it was spicier than he expected (you can order it with varying degrees of spice) but it was really good.

The deli was good although my daughter had grilled ham and cheese and they put mayo on it. I'm pretty sure they do that will grilled cheese, too. Not sure why, but be specific when you order.

Pizzeria was good as well. This was where my DS and his friends were just about every night. He loved the De Chevre (goat cheese and mushroom)! None of us spend much time at the grill area, but it was typical fare- hamburgers, chicken fingers, etc. Again, it's pretty hard to mess those things up.

Taste of Nations (the Bistro) was good for the most part. There was very little that we tried that we didn't like. Also the fruit, cheese and cold cuts area was nice. It's in a different area (near the desserts) so you don't have to wait in line to grab something light. We also found Sushi here in the evenings.

We only went to lunch in the dining room once. DH was a bit disappointed with the Neptune's Salad. He expected a salad with all of the different seafoods on top. Instead, it was a lot of seafood with an iceberg wedge. Not bad, just not what he expected. For the life of me, I can't even remember what I had. That's probably good because I almost never forget the bad!

 

On to dinner! We ate in the dining room every night. The food was always good. One tablemate complained that her Chateau Briand was grainy, but no one else complained. The first night there was a huge portion of wonderful lasagna. That was probably my favorite meal of the whole cruise! I'm not a big fan of most of the dessert on Carnival, with the exception of the Warm Chocolate Melting Cake (which I had every night). We really didn't go for late night snacks, but both DS and DD did. DD wasn't crazy about Mexican. She said it all tasted the same.

Of course there's always the 24 hour frozen yogurt and ice cream.

We didn't go to the chocolate buffet because the last two times we went, we didn't really care for much.

We didn't go to tea time either.

The sushi was ok, not good, not bad. It varies nightly (three different kinds each night) and we never found it busy.

 

As a note, our wait staff was wonderful! Margarita was a doll! One night someone ordered chicken noodle soup and she brought out a a bowl of what with a rubber chicken in it. Another night, DS ordered Strawberry Bisque (if you don't know, they bring out a bowl with a strawberry in it then pour the bisque tableside) and when she brought out the empty bowl, she almost had him convinced that that was all he got. She remembered our names (of course she took notes the first night) and we really appreciated that she always addressed us by name. She always seemed to have fun with the dancing and entertainment part of the night, too. Some others looked like they were going to die of embarrassment. As far as the overall staff, they were good. Our drinks were always waiting for us after the first day and there was very little wait between courses.

My only complaint is the table. We were at a table for 12. It was a few tables pushed together with the last one being wider than the rest. it reminded me of something they would do at a diner if there wasn't a big enough table available. Also, 12 at a table was a bit tight. The worst, though, was the window seat. If you sat on one side of the table, your chair was between the storage area for the waiters and the table. You literally could not get out of your seat unless the person next to you got up, pulled there chair all the way out and moved over 5 feet or so. Needless to say, nobody wanted to sit there.

Pros: wait staff in the dining room and the variety of food available. Cons: strange configuration of the table in the dining room and lack of good desserts (I am picky, though).