Carnival Fascination Review March 16-21

[dctm06]

We arrived back home last night and wanted to just give a quick review of our Carnival Fascination Cruise. We had not cruised in over 10 years and this time with kids.

 

It took us around 7 1/2 hours to drive to Jacksonville, Fl. I had booked at room via Last Minute Travel at the Courtyard by Marriott near the airport for the night of 3/15 for $58 total and I will have to say it was a very, very nice room with plenty of room and there were lots of shops and places to eat very close.

 

We arrived at the cruise port the morning of 3/16 around 10:30am and parked in the $8 day lot right outside the port (Jacksonville Cruise Parking). It was a paved lot and also had a fence up around the lot. We pd, took our car keys with us and were taken to the terminal via a van. I would not hesitate to park here again. When we departed the boat yesterday, there were at least 3 vans there waiting on passengers to be taken back to the lot. Everything went very quick.

 

The cruise:

We were in room M139 and I would say it had adequate space for the 4 of us. Our 5 yr old spelt w/ us and our older daughter spelt on the pull down bed. To me our bed was large and definetely comfy. We had the best cabin steward(ess)..my son loved her to death and she knew each of by name even if we saw her in the hallway just in passing. She was definetely my favorite person on the ship that we met.

 

The food; well, I know everyone has differences of opinions on food, but I will be honest and tell you that we really did not care for the food in the main dining room nor the breakfast. Lunch my kids always ate hamburgers or chicken nuggets and fries. To me the best lunch was the Mongolian Wok - fresh ingreadients cooked right in front of you and it was very, very good. A couple of days the sushi bar was open and it was also very good.

 

My son and daughter loved the waterworks / slides. This was a very nice set up.

 

Key West - I had a walking map of the area so we walked to the Southernmost Point and took some other pictures - Mile Marker 0, etc. We did go to Kermits and ate a slice of key lime pie and it was very good. We really just toured the area.

 

Nassau - best part of our entire trip. I had signed up for the Bahamas People to People Program and had been assigned an ambassador who met at the Ministry of Tourism in Rawson square. We spent around 2 1/2 hours with him touring Nassau (for free) and it was an experience we will never forget. We learned so much from him and he is someone we will never forget. He even gave my kids coins (money) when we finished. Definetly a great experience. We then walked to Junakoo beach and then just went to the different shops near the cruise port. We went in and out of the straw market - way too much stuff to look at.

 

If anyone has questions re: the Fascination let me know!

[bshow]

Our 5 yr old spelt w/ us and our older daughter spelt on the pull down bed.

 

A lot of spelling going on there. :)

 

Seriously, nice review.

[dctm06]

A lot of spelling going on there. :)

 

Seriously, nice review.

 

Excuse the spelling, was trying to type while a 5 yr was in my lap. Was just trying to give a brief review of my trip.

[Cruise Envy]

Could you answer a couple of questions?

 

• Do the in-room safes use a combination or a credit card to operate?
  
• Any advice on particularly scenic things to watch for during sailaway?
  
• Did you see any of the production shows? thoughts?
  
• Did you use Camp Carnival? If so, did you notice alot of traffic/noise there? (We just upgraded to the verandah deck, and I notice Camp Carnival is up there)
  
• What time did you board (I see you arrived at 10:30)?
  

Thanks in advance!

[SteelerCruiser]

Could you answer a couple of questions?

 

• Do the in-room safes use a combination or a credit card to operate?
  
• Any advice on particularly scenic things to watch for during sailaway?
  
• Did you see any of the production shows? thoughts?
  
• Did you use Camp Carnival? If so, did you notice alot of traffic/noise there? (We just upgraded to the verandah deck, and I notice Camp Carnival is up there)
  
• What time did you board (I see you arrived at 10:30)?
  

Thanks in advance!

 

 

I can answer most of your questions. We have sailed Fascination out of Jax 3 times...

 

1 The safes will use a magnetic strip (Credit Card style) to lock and unlock the safe. I recommend picking up a blank gift card from a store to use as this will do the trick without risking the CC being deactivated.

 

2 You will be cruising down the St Johns River and there are a # of beautiful homes and scenery to look at. There is a naval station at the end near the ocean and it is neat as well.

 

3 Can't remember the shows that were going on the Fascination when we sailed but they are usually about the same if you havn't seen them and have no other things you want to do then go check them out.

 

4 The Camp is located kind of mid ship with the entrance on the outside deck. Can be a little traffic but don't think you'll notice too much

 

5 we have arrived around 10:30-11:00 each time and usually wait btwn 20-30 minutes to board. It really depends on how fast they turn the people off from the previous cruise.

[dctm06]

Could you answer a couple of questions?

 

• Do the in-room safes use a combination or a credit card to operate?
  
• Any advice on particularly scenic things to watch for during sailaway?
  
• Did you see any of the production shows? thoughts?
  
• Did you use Camp Carnival? If so, did you notice alot of traffic/noise there? (We just upgraded to the verandah deck, and I notice Camp Carnival is up there)
  
• What time did you board (I see you arrived at 10:30)?
  

Thanks in advance!

 

I used my drivers license to open/close the safe.

 

We loved going under the bridge in Jacksonville when we sailed away. My son was already on the slides by that point so to be honest we really did not see much leaving port.

 

Shows - loved Motor City, the other one Divas not so much.

 

We did not use Camp Carnival- our son just stayed w/ us the entire time.

 

We arrived at the parking lot at 10:30am and then they shuttled us to the port/terminal around 11am. The process from there was pretty quick.

[KroozFoolz]

Thanks for posting your report! Especially appreciated the info on the people to people experience in Nassau.

[Cruisegirl6]

I certainly understand that you didn't care for the food but could you be more specific as to what you found not good, what you didn't like, any postives?

 

Thank you for the review truely appreciate it.

[JP4GA]

Is there any specific reason that you did not use Camp Carnival? On our last cruise on NCL we used the kids camp for a few hours a day. My daughter is 5 and is begging to go back on the big boat to the kids camp. Just wondering if you did not use it due to problems, or if you just wanted to spend more time with your kids.

 

Do you have any photos of the kids pool/slide area you could post.

 

Thanks for the review.

[Cruisincowgrl8]

[

Nassau - best part of our entire trip. I had signed up for the Bahamas People to People Program and had been assigned an ambassador who met at the Ministry of Tourism in Rawson square. We spent around 2 1/2 hours with him touring Nassau (for free) and it was an experience we will never forget.

 

If anyone has questions re: the Fascination let me know!

 

Can you please give me some more information on this program? How do you sign up for it? How did you get it free? Thanks so much, Debbie

[iloverags2]

Nassau - best part of our entire trip. I had signed up for the Bahamas People to People Program and had been assigned an ambassador who met at the Ministry of Tourism in Rawson square. We spent around 2 1/2 hours with him touring Nassau (for free) and it was an experience we will never forget. We learned so much from him and he is someone we will never forget. He even gave my kids coins (money) when we finished. Definetly a great experience.

 

This is something we are looking into doing. Do you remember by any chance the name of the ambassador you were assigned to tour with?

 

Thanks!

[dctm06]

Our ambassadors name was 0ris

[dctm06]

Is there any specific reason that you did not use Camp Carnival? On our last cruise on NCL we used the kids camp for a few hours a day. My daughter is 5 and is begging to go back on the big boat to the kids camp. Just wondering if you did not use it due to problems, or if you just wanted to spend more time with your kids.

 

Do you have any photos of the kids pool/slide area you could post.

 

Thanks for the review.

 

It was really nothing to do with the program. My husband just didn't want our5yr old seaperated from us.

[Mizzouaholic]

Thanks for the review

[iloverags2]

Our ambassadors name was 0ris

 

Thank you so much! We will request him and see what happens!

[mld1950]

We arrived back home last night and wanted to just give a quick review of our Carnival Fascination Cruise. We had not cruised in over 10 years and this time with kids.

 

It took us around 7 1/2 hours to drive to Jacksonville, Fl. I had booked at room via Last Minute Travel at the Courtyard by Marriott near the airport for the night of 3/15 for $58 total and I will have to say it was a very, very nice room with plenty of room and there were lots of shops and places to eat very close.

 

We arrived at the cruise port the morning of 3/16 around 10:30am and parked in the $8 day lot right outside the port (Jacksonville Cruise Parking). It was a paved lot and also had a fence up around the lot. We pd, took our car keys with us and were taken to the terminal via a van. I would not hesitate to park here again. When we departed the boat yesterday, there were at least 3 vans there waiting on passengers to be taken back to the lot. Everything went very quick.

 

The cruise:

We were in room M139 and I would say it had adequate space for the 4 of us. Our 5 yr old spelt w/ us and our older daughter spelt on the pull down bed. To me our bed was large and definetely comfy. We had the best cabin steward(ess)..my son loved her to death and she knew each of by name even if we saw her in the hallway just in passing. She was definetely my favorite person on the ship that we met.

 

The food; well, I know everyone has differences of opinions on food, but I will be honest and tell you that we really did not care for the food in the main dining room nor the breakfast. Lunch my kids always ate hamburgers or chicken nuggets and fries. To me the best lunch was the Mongolian Wok - fresh ingreadients cooked right in front of you and it was very, very good. A couple of days the sushi bar was open and it was also very good.

 

My son and daughter loved the waterworks / slides. This was a very nice set up.

 

Key West - I had a walking map of the area so we walked to the Southernmost Point and took some other pictures - Mile Marker 0, etc. We did go to Kermits and ate a slice of key lime pie and it was very good. We really just toured the area.

 

Nassau - best part of our entire trip. I had signed up for the Bahamas People to People Program and had been assigned an ambassador who met at the Ministry of Tourism in Rawson square. We spent around 2 1/2 hours with him touring Nassau (for free) and it was an experience we will never forget. We learned so much from him and he is someone we will never forget. He even gave my kids coins (money) when we finished. Definetly a great experience. We then walked to Junakoo beach and then just went to the different shops near the cruise port. We went in and out of the straw market - way too much stuff to look at.

 

If anyone has questions re: the Fascination let me know!

 

 

How did you sign up for the," Bahamas People to People Program that sounds like something we would like to do when we go in May.

[Macklovin38]

Yay!! Love a Fascination review- thanks!! :)

 

 

Follow me on Twitter: @SarahELewis38

[kml2000]

Two weeks and we will be on the Fascination. Can't wait. Thanks for the review.

[Plumbers wife]

Do they still have Calzones on the Fascination :confused:

I was told they done away with them :mad:

[dctm06]

Do they still have Calzones on the Fascination :confused:

I was told they done away with them :mad:

 

I am pretty certain they had them at the same place that pizza was served although I did not eat there. We liked the place right next to it that served paninis

[dctm06]

How did you sign up for the," Bahamas People to People Program that sounds like something we would like to do when we go in May.

 

We signed up online http://www.geographia.com/bahamas/people2people.htm however it looks like now there are phone #'s listed and you call? When we did this, we registered online and someone from the ministry of tourism emailed us back and was our contact for questions, so looks like it may have a changed a little since then.

[Plumbers wife]

I am pretty certain they had them at the same place that pizza was served although I did not eat there. We liked the place right next to it that served paninis

 

 

That is great news, I have had a calzone on every cruise everyday. Thought I was going to have to find a new tradition :)

[marshhawk]

Thanks for the review, we love the Fascination, and the ambassador program sounds interesting-what did it include? History? A city tour? We have freinds who are cruising with us (unless their grandtwins are born that we(we did book months ago) and I think they would be interested in this progarm.

As far as things you can see when you leave port? Try the huge ships that deliver merchandise from China and Japan-cars and cars and cars nad cars..... WOW!