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A Fantasy[tic] Cruise - review with pics

Cruise, J.D.

By Cruise, J.D.,
in Carnival Cruise Lines

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Cruise, J.D.

Cruise, J.D.

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We had a wonderful time on the Carnival Fantasy! Our cruise was a 7-night cruise to Nassau, Half Moon Cay, and Grand Turk from July 16th - July 23rd. I hope you enjoy this review, with some pics thrown in to hopefully make it better.

 

 

I was traveling with my wife, 4-yr-old son, and my parents and 16-yr-old brother. Our cruise began in Charleston, South Carolina, and what a great city to begin a cruise!

 

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We arrived in Charleston on July 13th and stayed three nights at the Hampton Inn Patriots Point. This was a nice hotel and conveniently located between the historic district of Charleston and the beaches of the outer islands. The hotel also offers a park-n-cruise package which we took advantage of.

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We spent some time at the beach at Isle of Palms and in the historic district. We also took the water taxi one day and saw some dolphins.

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More to come . . .

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Cruise, J.D.

Cruise, J.D.

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Of course, Charleston is known for its seafood and restaurants and we had a great meal at Amen Street Fish and Raw Bar.

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I started off with some raw oysters . . .

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and had the ceviche for a main course. Watch out if you order this because it has a definite kick!

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Cruise, J.D.

Cruise, J.D.

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Embarkation in Charleston is a bit of a pain, but we endured it. If you don’t already know, once you make it the port area, you have to stand in line outside and take a shuttle bus to the terminal. The boarding process was further prolonged by some kind of Coast Guard inspection. The initial boarding on the Fantasy is on the seventh deck at the atrium lobby.

 

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I rushed to the Shore Excursion desk when I made it onboard to pick out a cabana for Half Moon Cay. I had reserved one online months ago. Six through ten were already taken, so I took cabana number eleven.

 

Our cabin on the ship was U164, an ocean view cabin. We didn’t have any problems with our cabin during the cruise and our room steward was wonderful.

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More to come tomorrow . . .

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Cruise, J.D.

Cruise, J.D.

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Thanks so much for the responses! I have to say I'm having a blast doing this review and reliving the moments.

 

Before I move on, I'd like to backtrack a bit and discuss the weather and beaches in Charleston. Unfortunately while we were in Charleston, the weather was overcast and rainy. That didn't stop us from hitting the beach though!

 

We had promised our son the first thing we would do when we got to Charleston would be to go to the beach.

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The wind and waves were pretty rough at Isle of Palms both times we went to the beach. We still managed to have a great time.

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PalmettoNative

PalmettoNative

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It's fun to see our town through anothers eyes.

 

+1

 

I was born and raised in Charleston, it's an amazingly beautiful city rich in history. Though I live 3hrs away now, I never seem to go home these day (even though my parents still live there).

 

Great photos...don't miss the "locals" beach [Folly Beach] next time, IOP, Mt. P, and Sullivan's Island are more expensive areas...but you definitely can't lose.

 

How I miss seeing concerts at The Windjammer and Music Farm...and the wings/live music at Wild Wings (Downtown) and our favorite watering hole: Big John's.

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Cruise, J.D.

Cruise, J.D.

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After eating some lunch, the first thing we did was . . . play chess! My son saw the large chess board on the Lido deck and got real excited. So, we played, and he beat me.

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I thought the Fantasy still looked pretty nice and we had a fantastic time on the ship. In addition to chess, we played mini-golf and ping pong, went swimming, played in the waterworks, went to the shows and comedy clubs, hit the casino, listened to music, danced at the deck party, etc. We really tried to stay active on this cruise.

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This was our first cruise since the introduction of the Punchliner Comedy Club and I think it worked great. The comedians were hilarious and the lounge was standing room only for every show we went to. The rock group on this ship, Music Boardwalk, was also very good. They played on the Lido deck one night and it was awesome.

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