Unexpected bonuses on Fascination...

[rongo31]

My wife and I just arrived home from a wonderful cruise aboard the Fascination Jan. 28-Feb. 2. We originally planned to do the Jan. 19th cruise (Fascination’s first cruise after dry-dock that sailed at 4 a.m.!!!) but a conflict caused us to change our plans. It turned out that we not only avoided the frustrations of the extreme delay on the earlier sailing but were treated to some totally unexpected bonuses on our later cruise. As soon as we got into our cabin we excitedly scanned the Fun Times for the first day’s activities. Of course we found the usual array of Funship options, but then noticed an activity “not sponsored by Carnival” – a 9:30 a.m. Bible Study in the Passage to India lounge. Well, I knew immediately where I was going after breakfast on Tuesday morning! I found a sizable group of friendly faces, mostly seniors (I’m 68), who were all from Fruit Cove Baptist Church in Jacksonville. They welcomed me into their fold and introduced me to Pastor Tim Maynard who would be leading the Bible Study all week. Before Pastor Tim began his teaching he introduced a pair of musicians called “Freshly Anointed” whom he had just met on the ship. They treated us to a couple of songs and then invited us to join their group for more music at 9:00 on Wednesday morning. Since that conflicted with the Fruit Cove Bible Study time, quick agreement was made to merge the two groups and meet together for the rest of the week. It gets even better… “Freshly Anointed” was on board with a larger group of Christian artists and their families as part of the privately-hosted Paradigm Music Group cruise. The Paradigm group had scheduled performances (not listed in the Fun Times) in the Putting On The Ritz lounge for each day of the cruise with a full concert from 2:00-4:30 on Friday afternoon and all of us were invited to join them. What a wonderful and unexpected treat! My wife came along each time and we both thoroughly enjoyed these bonus activities that we knew nothing about prior to boarding the ship. Kudos to Carnival for allowing these “not sponsored by Carnival” activities, to Pastor Tim and his Fruit Cove Baptist flock for including us, and also to Calvin Gann and the Paradigm Music Group for expanding their events to make room for many more to enjoy. There was never any doubt that my wife and I would enjoy the whole Funship atmosphere on the Fascination, the amazing Carnival service from the entire crew, the 24/5 culinary offerings from Lido and the MDR, and the brand-new shows “Motor City” and “Divas” (Wow, wow, wow!!!). What I’ve shared herein, however, was so completely unanticipated that it made for an exceptionally memorable Carnival cruise.

[Mizzouaholic]

My wife and I just arrived home from a wonderful cruise aboard the Fascination Jan. 28-Feb. 2. We originally planned to do the Jan. 19th cruise (Fascination’s first cruise after dry-dock that sailed at 4 a.m.!!!) but a conflict caused us to change our plans. It turned out that we not only avoided the frustrations of the extreme delay on the earlier sailing but were treated to some totally unexpected bonuses on our later cruise. As soon as we got into our cabin we excitedly scanned the Fun Times for the first day’s activities. Of course we found the usual array of Funship options, but then noticed an activity “not sponsored by Carnival” – a 9:30 a.m. Bible Study in the Passage to India lounge. Well, I knew immediately where I was going after breakfast on Tuesday morning! I found a sizable group of friendly faces, mostly seniors (I’m 68), who were all from Fruit Cove Baptist Church in Jacksonville. They welcomed me into their fold and introduced me to Pastor Tim Maynard who would be leading the Bible Study all week. Before Pastor Tim began his teaching he introduced a pair of musicians called “Freshly Anointed” whom he had just met on the ship. They treated us to a couple of songs and then invited us to join their group for more music at 9:00 on Wednesday morning. Since that conflicted with the Fruit Cove Bible Study time, quick agreement was made to merge the two groups and meet together for the rest of the week. It gets even better… “Freshly Anointed” was on board with a larger group of Christian artists and their families as part of the privately-hosted Paradigm Music Group cruise. The Paradigm group had scheduled performances (not listed in the Fun Times) in the Putting On The Ritz lounge for each day of the cruise with a full concert from 2:00-4:30 on Friday afternoon and all of us were invited to join them. What a wonderful and unexpected treat! My wife came along each time and we both thoroughly enjoyed these bonus activities that we knew nothing about prior to boarding the ship. Kudos to Carnival for allowing these “not sponsored by Carnival” activities, to Pastor Tim and his Fruit Cove Baptist flock for including us, and also to Calvin Gann and the Paradigm Music Group for expanding their events to make room for many more to enjoy. There was never any doubt that my wife and I would enjoy the whole Funship atmosphere on the Fascination, the amazing Carnival service from the entire crew, the 24/5 culinary offerings from Lido and the MDR, and the brand-new shows “Motor City” and “Divas” (Wow, wow, wow!!!). What I’ve shared herein, however, was so completely unanticipated that it made for an exceptionally memorable Carnival cruise.

 

Thats awesome! Glad you had a great time!

[Purplehaze21]

Awesome! I am glad you and your wife had a wonderful time and cruise! :D

[Cruise Envy]

Thank you for posting! A couple of questions if you have time:

 

1. Did the Lido pool area get the two new bars?

2. Did your cruise include the Punchliner Comedy Brunch?

3. Any recommendations specific to the Fascination?

[cuppettmd]

Praise The Lord! That's so great! We went on a Gospel Music Cruise on the Fascination four years ago. They opened it up to everybody and even had one of the concerts on the Lido. I've heard Calvin as he's from North Florida. Having a daily event sounds like such a Blessing and I hope that any groups that are planning something like that would promote it on CC. The Roll Call boards would be a good place. Be Blessed! Mikey<><:)

[relic937]

Thank you for posting! A couple of questions if you have time:

 

1. Did the Lido pool area get the two new bars?

2. Did your cruise include the Punchliner Comedy Brunch?

3. Any recommendations specific to the Fascination?

 

We were also on the cruise and cannot say enough about the ships personnel

And the ship. It did not get the 2.0 upgrades . But the service , food , and cleanliness was all first class. We were so impressed that we just booked an April 27 2013 on the Fascination . We were very pleasantly surprised after sailing on the Dream n October , the dream has a lot of problems that need addressing .

[gelo7]

Glad that you had a great cruise.

[Express Man]

Great news..Glad you had a good time...I'm waiting our turn to board...:D

[rongo31]

But the service , food , and cleanliness was all first class.

 

Yes... everything was exceptional :D

[marshhawk]

Glad you had a great cruise-this is one ship where I am glad that the 2.0 didn't happen, nice to know s ship got cleaned up without just adding another bar.

I have to admit that I would much rather board and find a church group worshipping God, than a nudist colony:o. Not that nudists dont worship God, but you know what I mean.

[Cruise Envy]

We were also on the cruise and cannot say enough about the ships personnel

And the ship. It did not get the 2.0 upgrades . But the service , food , and cleanliness was all first class. We were so impressed that we just booked an April 27 2013 on the Fascination . We were very pleasantly surprised after sailing on the Dream n October , the dream has a lot of problems that need addressing .

 

Thank you! I am not sorry it didn't get the 2.0 upgrades, I've heard mixed reviews about the Punchliner Comedy Brunch, and I really like my traditional MDR breakfast. We really enjoyed our sails on the Fantasy, so I am looking forward to new decor and the things I like about the Fantasy class!

[gusandgidgetsmom]

What a blessing. Since Carnival does not have routine Christian services on board my husband and I download a few podcasts of messages on my ipod and listen to them. We do our own Bible study each morning. What a great blessing to worship while the water rushes by.

[rongo31]

What a blessing. Since Carnival does not have routine Christian services on board my husband and I download a few podcasts of messages on my ipod and listen to them. We do our own Bible study each morning. What a great blessing to worship while the water rushes by.

 

I posted our experience on John Heald's blog and this was his reply:

John Heald reading this makes me think we need to revisit our religious program which is at the moment is pretty much non-existent. I am so glad this group invited you to their events and I can see how much it enhanced your vacation. Thank you so very much for writing this wonderful review which I will share with the ship. Something to think about. Cheers