Fascination Review Western Carribean LONG!

[ccamp]

My husband 40, myself 44 and two of our daughters (18 and 26)went on this cruise to celebrate our daughters graduation from high school.

 

We stayed at the Holiday Inn Port of Miami the day before. It was nice and we had no problems. We took a cab to the port. The girls had never been on a cruise before and it was fun to see the awe in their eyes seeing the ship for the first time.

 

We were in line by 12 PM and on the ship by 1 PM. The process went quickly and we enjoyed lunch on the lido deck.

 

We were on the Empress Deck E 75 and E 79. We puchased the Bon Voyage decorations for the girls' cabin. Carnival did a great job and they were actually more than I expected. The girls loved them! They thought they got someone else's room by accident. It was worth the 30.00 that it cost. We did not have any problems with noise but our water pressure in the shower was a problem. I don't rememeber having that problem on any other ship. It definately took longer to shampoo and rinse your hair. We did have someone look at it but it really did not improve much.

 

Our room steward did an okay job. He refilled our ice, turned down the bed and left a towel animal three of the nights. We saw him once in the hall and that was about it. I guess I have been spoiled in the past. The room steward was someone I had spoken to numerous times in the past and was great about rinsing out carnival glasses and some general tidying but nothing to be unhappy about with this one just not as personable.

 

Our first stop was Key West. We went to Sloppy Joes and had Conch Fritters. They were very good. We spent the rest of our time sightseeing and some shopping. This stop is really too short and needs to be longer or omitted all together in my opinion. This evening was formal night and the dining room attire seemed a little more casual than I remembered. There is nothing wrong with that but I did enjoy seeing the beautiful gowns that many of the women used to wear on prior cruises. Dinner was good, my husband had two lobster tails no question asked. My daughter ordered a steak that was not on the menu and that was no problem either.

 

We did not have breakfast or lunch in the dining room so I can't remark on that.

 

Our next stop was Cozumel and we had beautiful weather. We took a taxi to Chankanaab Park and spent a few hours there. It costs 12 dollars per prson to get in. There is a lagoon and a small beach area. There is an area beyond the shallow lagoon for snorkeling. We saw some interesting fish and enjoyed the snorkeling but I will say there were alot more fish at Baby beach in Aruba and the Snorkle and Party boat we did in Cozumel a few years earlier. This could be due to the Hurricanes though that have really stirred things up in the area. We paid 8 dollars to rent snorkle gear. We took a cab back and had no trouble getting one. The taxi stand area has posted the prices for trips in Cozumel so you will not be surprised by the fare. We went back to the ship to shower and change for shopping and the girls wanted to go to Carlos and Charlies. It has moved to a new further away location and seems to have tamed down quite a bit since we were last there. They have good frozen drinks but they are pricey. The girls enjoyed the shopping area very much and got some good deals. The shopping area seems alot bigger than when I was there in 2001. I like Cozumel and we always enjoy this stop. Many people that had Swam with the Dolphins seemed to enjoy this tour. We did not but enjoyed hearing others talk about their experience.

 

There was a deck party with Mexican food and lots of dancing. They have everyone on the ship split into teams to compete throughout the week. All in good fun I assure you. My daughter loved this deck party and I have a travelog CD to prove it. LOL. I thought the team thing was kind of silly at first but it did make the deck party very festive and loud. We all had a great time.

 

The girls enjoyed the Disco in the evening, they seem to play a variety of music like hip hop and salsa. It was a bit much for me but they loved it and danced late into the evening every night. We saw a midnight show with a comedian and enjoyed the R rated humor.

 

General thoughts--I personally prefer a longer cruise. I will stick to 7 days or longer in the future. I missed tipping the waiter and assistant waiter and steward as I have in the past. I understand why they do it but I do think it affects the personal touch. The ship was in fine shape as far as I could see. A little wear here and there but looking good overall to me. The talent show was in the afternoon on this shorter cruise and I missed it. I like to see that show, sometimes they are better then the paid performers. We had two shows this trip and I thought they were okay with the first probably better then the last. There is something really wrong with a broadway type voice singing a Michael Jackson song imho. The bar service was great except in the palace lounge. We were in there three times and were never offered bar service other wise it was good. People seemed to enjoy the piano bar and the kareoke bar.

 

We had no problems with room service or Lido buffet. They are doing different countries on the buffet daily so some days are better than others. We enjoyed the pizza as usual. We had late seatind dining so we did not make it to the midnite buffet.

 

I saw more crew people (always wore their name tags) in the lounges than I ever have in the past. Our cruise director and the comedian both tried to pcik up my daughter which I thought was odd. They were pretty direct and she did not know what to make of it.

 

Disembarking is terrible like always. There really are not enough people directing things on that end.

 

We stayed at the Holiday Inn South Beach and I thought it was great for the price. Our rooms were clean and we had an ocean view. The pool area was nice.

 

We had a great time. If I left something out I apologize I know that this is too long.

[ccamp]

I did forget one thing that might be of interest to parents who take their kids to Chankanaab park. We were sitting in the shallow lagoon area and a couple of fish circled around us. We thought nothing of it an called to children near us to see them. One of the fish bit my husband and drew blood! He was sitting with his hands in front of him so he did not lean on the fish. It could be an odd occurence but I would be careful with children.

[cathyoo]

Thanks for the great review. Glad you had a good time. Awesome graduation gift.

 

Were you seated at a table for four or did you sit with others? What about activities such as Bingo, Trivia, Hairy Chest, did you particpate?

[phinfan63]

ccamp - thanks for the great review. We just booked this cruise for Oct 31. I have a couple questions:

 

Did you take your own luggage off the ship or leave by the door the night before?

 

What time did you get off of the ship?

 

We have a 12:00 flight and was wondering if it was going to be enough time.

 

Thanks

[ccamp]

Wow I wrote so much and still forgot some things. My daughter had straight A's for four years and her dad promised her a choice of a cruise or a land vacation and she chose a cruise. She will be going to Ohio State University in a few days and we are very proud.

 

Our waiter was named Calvert and his assistant was Ivana. He was very quiet and professional and she was very outgoing and very talkative. We enjoyed the dining room. They put us at a large table and the first two nights it was just us. Someone switched their dining preference and so we had two more table mates for the last two nights. My husband and I enjoy meeting other people at dinner and have often spent shore time with people we meet at dinner but the girls wanted just the four of us and that seems to be what Carnival had originally tried to do. This cruise was pretty tame compared to the last 4 day I had been on. The sign at the pursers office said that the ship was full and other than lunch time after Key West (horrible long lines)at the buffet you would never know that you were on a full ship. There were lounge chairs available on the deck even in mid afternoon.

 

The hairy chest contest was on the deck. We saw part of that but we are not sun worshippers so we missed some of the daytime pool activities. Our daughters spent some time in the hot tub the first day and had a child jumped on them, hung on to their neck from behind and refused to leave them alone. The parents were there, not in the hot tub, drinking and doing nothing. This child was about 4. Carnival needs to enforce their rules regarding children in the hot tub and shame on the parents who allow their children to behave in such a way. I have raised 8 children and I would never allow something like that to happen.

 

The bingo is expensive to play and goes pretty fast. I like bingo though. They also have scratch off tickets for a dollar each. I played alot in the casino. I played slots and won a pot for 2400.00 and a pot for 3600.00. I gave money to the casino folks that paid me and gave some to my husband and daughters to spend in the casino and came home with money that was very nice. I think the slots are too tight though and that was not my experience in the past. My daughters' money went like lightening, not even some small plays to keep you entertained until they take all your money. The casino was not as busy as I have seen in the past. My husband enjoyed the blackjack and roulette.

 

We left our luggage out the night before as we had too many pieces to do on our own. It was not a wonderful process but we were still off the ship and checked in at our SOBE hotel by 11 AM and on the beach!