Photo Review of Fascination 8/25 to 8/29 – with food porn!

[CruiseOrLoose]

I'm wondering about the booze... I didn't know Carnival offered the purchase of booze in your room other than wine. Please explain and give me an idea of the prices. Thanks

 

Bon Voyage doesn't list liquor on their website, but you can order it by calling 1 800 522 7648.

[Brittasbay]

Day 3 continued....

 

After dinner I hit the shops on the boat (Tortuga Rum cakes, yummy!) and then I went to get my DH some chocolate covered strawberries as a late birthday treat. I forgot to mention his birthday was on day one of the cruise and I had planned on surprising him with the strawberries. The only shop open the first day was Formalities and they would be out of the strawberries until the next day anyways and they were more pricey. So I just got them when I could and DH was happy.

 

 

We had some strawberries with some cocktails from our stash and then we headed back out of the room. More casino time and then we tried the Mexican buffet. I know some people rant and rave about this but I wasn’t that impressed. Back to the room for balcony time with DH, some reading on my Kindle, and then bed!

 

Day 4-Freeport

 

So Jenn, the cruise director, had announced the day before that we would go to Freeport but we would only be there from 7am to 2pm. I refuse to get up early on vacation unless there is a HUGE payoff to do so and in Freeport, there really isn’t :rolleyes: We had originally planned on going to Billy Joe’s for cracked conch and then head to the public beach when the Freeport stop was supposed to be our first stop. Since now we had to be back on the ship by 1:30pm, I decided it was not worth the cab fair and the stress to go this time. Of all of the hurricane Irene woes we encountered, this one bummed me the most. Billy Joe’s is so cool and laid back and the food is awesome! I hate that we couldn’t do it without worrying about getting back to the ship on time. So off to the Lido for a quick bite...

No Bacon police this time!

 

[Brittasbay]

So we were ready to head off the ship and we went off to the little market next to the dock for some last minute souvenirs for people back home. There were very nice vendors this time at this port, which I appreciated. They were not demanding or yelling. One thing to note, they were not willing to haggle prices at all. I was not willing to pay $65 for a faux Coach purse that looks like it will break easily :eek:

 

 

 

 

 

[Brittasbay]

Now back on the ship for lunch and some pool time. First we had to head back to our room to get in our swim suits. When we got back to the room we had the saddest sight any of us can get when on a cruise, our disembarkment info:

 

 

 

 

We went through the Lido buffet for lunch and it was insane! We waited too long and there was very little to offer on the chocolate buffet so that was a bummer. I just got an ice cream cone to make myself feel better :D

 

 

 

Shots from our balcony and sail away:

 

 

 

 

[Brittasbay]

OK, I have to finish this review today as once my work week starts, I will never have time to do it!

 

Thanks to everyone reading and commenting the review, I appreciate it!

 

Day Four continued:

 

DH and reluctantly try to start packing up our stuff and we find we just don't want to do it! So we walk around the ship some more instead:

 

 

 

DOD break to destress us from packing!

 

 

 

Off to the casino to get in some more slots and then we did go finish packing.

[Brittasbay]

The last supper on the ship. DH was starting to get depressed that this would be our last meal in the MDR. He starting talking about wanting to come with me on The Liberty in January and fantasizing how he would just tell his boss how he was going and there was nothing the boss could do, LOL

 

 

Me listening to DH's plans to tell off his boss, hehehe

 

Crab Cake-not the best I have ever had but really tasty

 

French Onion Soup-I had never tried this before so I tried it this night. Turns out I really like this kind of soup!

 

Veal Parmigiana-I only eat this when on a cruise, it was tasty

 

Pasta with Seafood-DH loved it, me not so much...

 

 

Believe it or not, we did not order any dessert at this meal! It was baked alaska night and I don't like this much. They did have WMC but it is too rich for me. So I went down to the Lido to get some dessert...no pics of these desserts.

[Brittasbay]

So with dinner and dessert done, I decided to wander around the ship and take a few more pictures. My camera continued to acting messed up so many of my shots, including the ones of the waitstaff, didn't come out. I guess I will have to get another camera and learn how to use it before my next cruise.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Brittasbay]

Another round at the casino so my DH can cash out his S&S gambling account. He put $30 on his card the first night and cashed out at $29.76! I put $10 at a time on my card and ended up spending $60 or $70 and lost it all! Oh well, at least we had fun!

 

Back to the room to put the bags out for pickup. I realized that many of the towel animal pictures I took did not come out, which bums me out! Here is our last towel critter:

 

 

We had a few cocktails, read for a bit and then DH wanted to get room service one last time. Apparently he had ordered it quite a few times when I was out roaming the ship without him! He fell in love with the BLT:

 

 

I tried the steak sandwich, it was pretty good but I was still too full to enjoy it:

 

 

Disembark time!

 

I have no pictures from this as my camera decided it did not want to power on again, even with a new battery in it! The lines for breakfast were crazy but that is to be expected if you don't wake up at the crack of dawn. We were zone 10 so we would be able to go around 9:30 so we got up to the Lido at about 8:20am. We had our omelets for the last time and then I decided to get just one more ice cream cone before we left :D

 

Disembarking and customs are a breeze in Jaxport so we were back to our vehicle by 9:55am and we hit the road to go home. At this point my feet began to swell up for some reason so I was not comfy at all. It took us 6.5 hours to get home.

 

All in all we had a very relaxing, decadent trip, even with Irene messing up our plans. I found that just doing what we felt like doing instead of trying to do all the stuff in the Fun Times works better for us. Last cruise we tried to see everything and do everything so we didn't feel refreshed at all when we got home. This time we did feel refreshed and somewhat ready to face the real world again.

 

Thanks for taking the time to read my review! If you have any questions, just ask, I am happy to assist!

[dane225]

Great Review!!!! Thank you for taking the time to post with all the wonderful pics!!!!:D

[tright]

I really enjoyed reading your review we just came of the imagination and this brought back some nice memories. thanks for taking the time

[atinys]

thanks for writing your great review of the Fascination.... i live in atlanta and i am definitely looking at Jacksonville/Fascination as a quick weekend getaway soon..

 

 

thanks for easing my "this would be a GREAT weekend to cruise" blues......

 

:)

[brwnIgir1]

Thanks for the review and for the information regarding the Bon Voyage options. I don't have any plans for a cruise so I'm living thru others! I loved your review and shed a tear when I saw the disembark stuff on your bed.

[pettrib]

The Bitter & Blanc is my favorite as well and I love the quarter game in the casino! I won a free bottle of champagne on that game :)

[Brittasbay]

The Bitter & Blanc is my favorite as well and I love the quarter game in the casino! I won a free bottle of champagne on that game :)

 

I wonder if there is a recipe for Bitter & Blanc out on the web? I may have to go look! I sure hope they don't take this off the menu when they switch to the new menus fleet wide :eek:

 

I just downloaded a couple of games like the quarter game on my Droid. Plus I put a slot machine app on there as well! I am not adjusting to life after the cruise very well, LOL!

[Brittasbay]

thanks for writing your great review of the Fascination.... i live in atlanta and i am definitely looking at Jacksonville/Fascination as a quick weekend getaway soon..

 

 

thanks for easing my "this would be a GREAT weekend to cruise" blues......

 

:)

 

Just be warned, the drive feels much longer than 6.5 hours, not sure why? You are on big highways and not state highways so it shouldn't seem long. My friend who has also cruised on this ship and lives here in Atlanta said the same thing....

[BettyPC]

I enjoyed your review also! I would tell the boss that 7 days is a must & get over it (lol)

[Brittasbay]

I enjoyed your review also! I would tell the boss that 7 days is a must & get over it (lol)

 

I WISH! DH's boss basically threatened to fire him after 11 years of working there if he "dared" to take 7 days off in a row :mad: Needless to say, I do not like his boss at all! DH is working on getting his teacher's certificate so hopefully by next summer he will be a teacher with summers off :o We will know in the next 20 days if he passed the tests that will allow him to start teaching middle school ASAP. Keep him in your thoughts and prayers, he is a wonderful teacher and deserves this chance!

[MrFunInTheSun]

I WISH! DH's boss basically threatened to fire him after 11 years of working there if he "dared" to take 7 days off in a row :mad: Needless to say, I do not like his boss at all! DH is working on getting his teacher's certificate so hopefully by next summer he will be a teacher with summers off :o We will know in the next 20 days if he passed the tests that will allow him to start teaching middle school ASAP. Keep him in your thoughts and prayers, he is a wonderful teacher and deserves this chance!

 

Sounds like your DH's boss should not be a boss and has a personality of a wet dish rag.

 

With that said if you involve weekend days in the mix it'd just be 5 work days off for a 7 day cruise if you travel out on a Saturday or Sunday. :-) Course where you are traveling from makes a difference too.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[richstowe]

Oh Oh, your beautiful pics are gone.:(

 

Enjoyed them all.

[bonnys]

]I wonder if there is a recipe for Bitter & Blanc out on the web?[/b] I may have to go look! I sure hope they don't take this off the menu when they switch to the new menus fleet wide :eek:

 

There is and it is yummy!

 

OP, thanks for the review. DH and I decided on Saturday that we wanted to go on a spur of the moment cruise and chose the Fascination on 9/12/11. All my other cruises I have had at least 4 months to prepare so we are winging it this time.

[Brittasbay]

Photobucket is fixed so now my pictures show up again!

[RaiderFaninNM]

Thanks for taking the time to post!

 

I love pics from others vacation, it looked like you had a great time!

 

We were lucky in that after our cruise this June we spent 3 days in Key West, that place is awesome, and would love to go back sometime!

[oldcowhand]

Thanks for the review & all the pics.....me & hubby will be on the ship in 59 days........can't wait:)

[GENEVA4]

Great review, especially the food porn. Hoping all goes well with your husband's test scores and his career.