Fascination Review 4/25/05 - Just got Back! (Long!)

[jayne733]

Just got back from our vacation on the Fascination! I thought I would go ahead and write a quick review while everything is fresh in my memory.

 

 

 

About me and my group: My husband and I traveled with one other couple. We are all in our mid-twenties. Essentially the first cruise for all of us, though my husband and I each had been on cruises when we were younger.

 

 

 

Embarkation: Actually, not too bad. We got to the port around 11:30 and from the time we dropped of our luggage, parked, and got through all the lines, we were on the boat around 1pm. The parking in the deck costs $48, cash only, up front. Everything went fairly smoothly.

 

 

 

The Room: We were in R215 and R219, both inside Riviera Deck. Rooms were very clean, decent sized. Plenty of amenities in the bathroom. Dispensers for shampoo and body wash in the shower, but no conditioner. Basket with his & her razors, lotion, toothpaste, floss, sample packets of shampoo, conditioner, moisturizer. Plenty of storage space in closet. The safe uses any card with a magnetic strip. We used a “points card” from a radio station, our friends used an old student ID. Beds were very comfortable, the duvet covers were awesome! Definitely impressed with our room steward, Charles. We met him the first afternoon, asked for our beds to be pushed together, ice in our small cooler, and a corkscrew for the bottle of wine we brought. Everything was ready when we got back to the room before dinner. Our luggage was delivered by 5pm.

 

 

 

Dining Room: We had the latest seating, 8:30pm in the Sensation Dining Room. The 4 of us were at a 6-person booth by ourselves. I don’t think our seating time was very popular because there were a lot of empty spaces. Our waiter, Suchart, was very good. Not the most talkative, but very friendly and attentive. Definitely try: Filet Mignon, Prime Rib, Seafood Newburg Style, Lobster, Escargots, Grand Marnier Soufflee, Strawberry Bisque, Ceasar Salad. Didn’t care for: Beef Wellington, Veal Parmigian, Onion Soup. Everything else was ok, the desserts that were supposed to be cold were more room temp (key lime pie, cheesecake). We didn’t eat dinner the 3rd night (Cozumel), but they did offer open seating until 9 in case you wanted to get back in time. We brought 2 bottles of wine to dinner, and our waiter didn’t charge us the $10 corkage fee, which was nice. The cheese plate served for dessert went very well with the red wine. The coffee was very good, and they also had a nice selection of hot tea.

 

 

 

Alternative Dining: We tried the pizza place as soon as we got on the boat. It was pretty good, very hot and fresh, but not as good as I had anticipated. Maybe because I work in a pizza place. One of the chefs was kinda rude to us. He wouldn’t make us a whole pizza with our choice of toppings, even though we wanted the whole thing and were willing to wait for it. Breakfast and lunch in the Lido restaurant was ok, we usually opted for the Deli or the Grill by the pool for lunch. The hamburgers at the grill were really good. I ate breakfast in the dining room one time, but didn’t find many options that weren’t available at the buffet, plus I preferred to eat my breakfast outside on the deck. We found the sushi bar on the last night. It is kinda hidden. You wouldn’t be able to find it when it is not open. It is near the entrance to the Casino on the Promanade Deck Forward. The line gets pretty long, but the sushi is pretty good. Makes a nice appetizer if you have a late dinner.

 

 

 

Entertainment: We weren’t really interested in any of the shows. We spent most of our evenings in the Piano Bar. It wasn’t ever too crowded, we could usually get a seat around the piano. Veronika, the server, was good to us. Brie was the piano player, she was really funny and had a good range of songs. We also enjoyed the Passage to India lounge, where a band called Azziz was playing. They were awesome, playing everything from Marvin Gaye to Van Halen. I participated in the Blackjack Tournament in the casino. Definatly worth the 20 bucks. I made it to the final table and won a t-shirt, key chain, and a disposable camera. The winner won $500. We didn’t really participate in many of the other activities.

 

 

 

Key West: Getting off the boat at 7:30 am, nothing was really open yet, so we wandered around the city and took pictures of some of the buildings, Hemingway House, the Lighthouse, some old houses. Finally, the town started to wake up a bit and we did a little shopping. My husband enjoyed the Mariner Museum while the girls went shopping. We ate lunch at a Cuban restaurant that was overpriced and kind of disappointing. If I could remember the name, I wouldn’t recommend it. We got back on the boat around 1 pm. The last trolley leaves from town at 1:15pm.

 

 

 

Cozumel: Probably the most disappointing part of the trip. We didn’t book an excursion, and the plan was to go to Playa Uvas to check out the Clear Kayaks. I had emailed the company who had replied that the kayak tour was not available, but you could rent them. So our plan was to do that, plus a little snorkeling. The boat was scheduled in port around 12 noon, but something about some strong currents, we were running late. We didn’t anchor until 1:30pm and of course the people who booked excursions through the cruise ship had first dibs on the tenders to take them too the island. The tender process went very slowly due to some choppy seas, so it was 2 more hours before we got to the island. [My biggest issue with Carnival on this process was that our time in Cozumel was cut way short, and from the time that we were told that we were running late, there was almost NO communication to the passengers about what was going on.]

 

The beach clubs on the island closed around 6pm ship time, so we really only had a couple of hours for the beach. When we got to Playa Uvas, the people told us that we would have to take the kayak tour because a guide was needed since the seas were kinda rough. This would cost $25/ pp for 45 minutes, plus we wanted to rent snorkel equipment (another $13/pp). We agreed since this was the only thing we really planned on doing. Well the snorkeling was not as good as other places that I had seen but still enjoyable, and the kayak made one of our friends sick so the time was cut short anyway. Not really worth the money IMHO.

 

We caught a taxi back to the Puerta Maya where the boat was now docked. We didn’t think we had time to go downtown so we ate there at a restaurant called Pancho’s Backyard. It was VERY good! The margarita that I had was very strong, and the food was awesome! We were really tired and did a little bit of duty free shopping until getting back on board around 9pm. The boat left at 10.

 

 

 

Good Tips: There were a few things that I was glad that I brought that I had learned on this board: plastic Ziploc bags, a Glade Plug-In nightlight, Ginger capsules (for motion sickness), a large coffee/ drink mug, bottles of wine for dinner, a bottle of rum (transferred to a water bottle), a couple of 12 packs of coke/diet coke, bottled water, extra batteries for the camera, lots of small bills for tips, cab in cozumel, slots, ect. .

 

The library has board games to check out as well as books. We checked out a Trivial Pursuit game, and they also had Pictionary, chess, a few kids games, Skipbo, and some other stuff. But check the Capers for the times when the library is “open” (meaning staffed), because they lock up the cabinets where everything is kept.

 

The TV in your cabin has a station that airs shows and talks that the cruise director does throughout the cruise. I wasted an hour on our last day trying to go to the “debarkation talk” only to find that they were trying to lure people into playing bingo first, and then listening to the cruise director trying to sell you stuff from the gift shop. Later I found the debarkation talk on the TV and watched it as I was getting ready for dinner. Also, it isn’t listed in the capers, but Channel 7 had ESPN (Latin America) for the guys who really need to watch some sports. My husband loves soccer, and they aired a lot of that.

 

 

 

Debarkation: We chose the Self-Assist option, which meant that we had to meet in the Palace lounge with all of our stuff at 7:10 am. We were able to walk off the ship, go through customs and everything. We were at our car by 8am. If you have early flights or somewhere to be and you can handle carrying your own stuff, this is defiantly the way to go.

 

 

 

Overall: We had a really good trip, I think mostly because we made the most of it. We enjoyed playing games and cards during the day. Most of the staff was incredible, particularly our waiters and room stewards. I think if we were to cruise again, we would put more priority on the ports visited and the times scheduled there. I think Key West should be scheduled more in the afternoon/night time, and Cozumel, the morning-afternoon time. I would probably also choose a newer boat. But for the money and fact that this trip worked into our schedule, I thought it was a very decent value.

 

 

 

Let me know if anyone has any other questions!

[dickinson]

Thank you for the review. Except for Cozumel sounds like you had a wonderful vacation.

[lrizit]

Man....if I had to see Cozumel the way you did, I'd have been mad!!! That's one of my favorite places!

 

I'm glad you had a nice trip otherwise.

[jayne733]

Next time I go back (and there WILL be a next time) I will choose a ship with an itenerary that docks earlier in Cozumel. It was definatly one of the main draws for this short cruise, and people were mad that the time was cut short. What I don't understand is why Carnival didn't utilize other sources for tenders to the ship. We seemed to be using 2 and had to wait for them to come back to get us. I bet there were plenty of contractors just waiting for the call to use their boats. Also, 2 other Carnival ships were docked at Puerta Maya who were scheduled to leave before us. Why doesn't carnival schedule each ship time to dock at the port to load/unload, and then move from the pier to allow the other ship to load/unload? I'm probably naive in suggesting this, but it just seems like there should be a better solution.

 

Never the less, we did not let it ruin our trip;)

[lrizit]

I've never tendered anywhere, but I've heard it can be a pain in the butt. We took the same trip as you...and got lucky I guess. We docked right on time, and went to Paradise Beach. I liked being there later, and having a long day, rather than having to be on the ship at 6:00.

 

Course, we then went to Carlos 'n Charlies....and I couldn't miss that ever! lol

 

Until next time! :)

[Opie]

jayne733: Thanks for the detailed review! It is much appreciated.

 

We are looking forward to sailing on Monday, May 9. There will be eight of us, including 4 Ukrainians that don't speak English, so it should be interesting. We have window cabins towards the front on the bottom level.

 

We are debating doing the snorkeling excursion in Key West. Also debating doing it through a third-party company rather than the boat.

 

Question: In Key West, you stated that: "The last trolley leaves from town at 1:15pm." Are you talking about the tour trolley, or is there a trolley that you need to take from the dock to downtown?

[Flamingo19040]

Jayne - we were on the same cruise as you and found the same to be true at Cozumel. It was also our first cruise. We had planned on going to the national park - Chanaanakb(sp.), spending the day on the beach by taking a taxi. We didn't get off the tender on shore until 3:15 and the park closed at 5 p.m. so it wasn't worth going out there. It was disappointing. I agree that there should of been MORE communication as to what was going on prior to taking the tender. It was like herding cattle into a pen. We had #1 for the tendering and then they called people with the #'s 1 - 21 all at the same time. What was with that? We were one of the last ones on. Besides that - it was quite a dangerous process with the walkway that went from our ship to the tender. Small children were crying and people who had gotten on the tender wanted off after having to wait so long. That was my only complaint about the entire trip. We had a great time.

 

Did the 9 a.m. trolley ride in Key West. We didn't get off at any of the stops, but I would like to go back some day and just walk all of the side streets. There is a lot of history there. I think you have a great idea of switching the two ports.

 

Hubby says on our next cruise that we will choose an itinerary where we get into the port in the morning, as to avoid tendering.

 

Glad you had a good time. Oh by the way - did anyone make your bed the morning you got back home? I sure do miss that. :-)

[jayne733]

Opie: the ship docked at a military base so they wouldn't let you walk on the pier. A shuttle trolley took you into town and back, the last trolley left from town at 1:15. I think if you go to the beach, there is a different drop off/ pick up location.

 

Flamingo, I'm glad you had a good time as well! I do miss my beds being made everytime I walked into the room!

[Flip2cruise]

Thanks for the review!

[cruznow]

Hi, my husband and I are cruising out of New Orleans on the Conquest in July and were considering the Cozumel Shore Snorkeling /beach break at Uvas. Can you tell me anything about the place, and was the snorkeling good- any info would be much appreciated - thanks

[K.T.B.]

We were lucky when we were on Fascination in that we did not have to tender. :) It's a shame you had some weather difficulties in getting there and that your time was shortened. I admit I would have been a bit peeved as well, since I love Cozumel.

 

As for your review, my experience on the ship was a little less glowing than yours, mainly because the majority of the crew had only been aboard about 2 weeks when we sailed her, and boy did it show. Also, my wife was none to pleased with her lobster (we had the exact same time and dining room as you), but the rest of the meals were essentially average for us. BUT the buffets and other dining options were fabulous.

 

One thing I would recommend to anyone doing Key West, definitely go to the Butterfly & Nature Conservatory, but do it on your own and not via the ship. We booked the excursion through the ship, but not before realizing we could have done it on our own and for cheaper, too. Ah well, live and learn. ;)