Just off the Fascination

[dvond]

Thought I would post a quick review since there are not many out there;

 

ou don't have big expectations when you spend what you spend to go on Fascination. It is a small ship, not really updated but does the job.

 

Embarkation- Very easy, we got to port at 11:20 and were eating lunch at noon, we got in 10 minutes later than faster to the fun people.

 

Ship- It is small, oddly placed room but since it is so small its way to find your way. Only 1 pool and 2 hot tubs that are filled all day. Huge smoking bar right by the pool and the best bar in the ship , the Star bar was also filled with smoke. Very easy to get a chair where ever you want, cool quite places to sit at the back of the ship outside the water slides. Had an inside room, cannot imagine 4 in the room but with 2 it was manageable. The water solid was pretty good for an older ship but how many times can a kid go down.

 

Kids Camp- Not many kids on the ship but those who were there were not given anything fun to do so for 1st time in 20 cruises my son did not want to go.

 

Entertainment- The cruise director Robins was all over the ship and excellent and personable. His staff did a solid job as well with good energy. The cover band who played in star bar Anchor Management were excellent, the lead female singer was great. There were 2 comedians who were pretty solid but the 4th night had zero shows and they only had 4 family friendly ones at dinner time of 7 and 7:45, hugely disappointing. The bingo woman was fun as well. The shows were pretty awful, the male singers were maybe the worst I have heard in 25 cruises. The females were better. It was so silly they had the males singing in a Divas show, just terrible.

 

Food-Bleh, it is same old menu, only had a few things that I thought were above chain level;onion soup, crab cakes and Chateaubriand. Other than that is was pretty bland. The buffet was below average as well, same ole same ole. We did have an awesome waitress Suri for our last 3 nights in any time dining. Sometimes dinner was 90 minutes and some time 1 hour. Breakfast in dining room was at least an hour or more.

 

Ports-Freeport we bought day passes at Lucaya Hotel, worth the $15 for me and 8 for my son, a nice day and empty. Nassau- Went to Atlantis, been there 6 other times and know what to expect but they did raise prices to 145 for adults and 90 for kids, pretty steep

 

Debark- We had a 11am flight and were off the ship by 8am, it took 5 mins

 

For my son and I we had a pretty good cheap getaway because we had lowered our expectations, it is fine for the price but dont expect a medium end vacation. Sort of a party cruise atmosphere. I would not take a family with kids as there is not enough to do on a ship this size for a longer length of time.

Edited November 8, 2015 by dvond

[tch912]

I am glad you had a good time for the short cruise.

[dvond]

Its all about expectations, you get what you pay for, it is a fine quick getaway

[Cruisegirl6]

Hello and thank you for the review!

 

We also have been on a the Fascination a number of times, going back on December 5th, she is our getaway cruise as we live just 35 minutes from the port. We were not able to get FTTF because we booked up last minute just last week, but we are also not in a hurry since the pet resort that we board our Bentley in is open thursday late, usually if we get off the ship on a saturday we like to have FTTF so we can get off early and pick him up before they close at noon, so not having FTTF this time isn't an issue for us. Your correct, if you arrive early you can be the next set of people that get on the ship after FTTF and platinum members.

 

I agree with what you say about the food... its our only cruise ship that we always loose some weight, which won't be a bad thing since Christmas is around the corner after our cruise and its right after Thanksgiving. I hope you tried the brunch because thats the best food you get on the ship. We also don't do shows especially on Carnival, but she is our casino getaway cruise. Being a small and quaint ship she is she is comfortable and less people sometimes is a nice thing for a change. We also find the staff amazingly friendly which is very nice.

 

Honestly, we never had a bad cruise, we know what to expect and have a great time.

 

Questions:

 

Did you happen to notice whether there are newer and more updated slot machines in the casino? Any lucky ones you found?

 

We never tried anytime/your time dining this will be the first time, since we were unable to get early seating and late is too late for my father in law who also joins us on cruises, I curious what the wait time would be like for seating in the dining room around 7pm, any ideas? Do you happen to have copies of the menu, I like to see whether they remain the same which honestly after so many cruises I can't recall what was on the menu lol

Edited November 10, 2015 by lyndamr

[dvond]

We did go to brunch for breakfast twice and it was better than buffet

 

Did not go to casino since it was just my son and I and hardly any kids his age so he was with me the whole time

 

I never lose weight as no matter what its more than double than what I eat at home and many more calories

 

We went to dinner around 6:30ish every night and never waited more than 5 mins on line

 

I dont have the menu's but they were very similar other than formal night than what is posted online for 5 night cruises on that zdocruiser site

 

Hello and thank you for the review!

 

We also have been on a the Fascination a number of times, going back on December 5th, she is our getaway cruise as we live just 35 minutes from the port. We were not able to get FTTF because we booked up last minute just last week, but we are also not in a hurry since the pet resort that we board our Bentley in is open thursday late, usually if we get off the ship on a saturday we like to have FTTF so we can get off early and pick him up before they close at noon, so not having FTTF this time isn't an issue for us. Your correct, if you arrive early you can be the next set of people that get on the ship after FTTF and platinum members.

 

I agree with what you say about the food... its our only cruise ship that we always loose some weight, which won't be a bad thing since Christmas is around the corner after our cruise and its right after Thanksgiving. I hope you tried the brunch because thats the best food you get on the ship. We also don't do shows especially on Carnival, but she is our casino getaway cruise. Being a small and quaint ship she is she is comfortable and less people sometimes is a nice thing for a change. We also find the staff amazingly friendly which is very nice.

 

Honestly, we never had a bad cruise, we know what to expect and have a great time.

 

Questions:

 

Did you happen to notice whether there are newer and more updated slot machines in the casino? Any lucky ones you found?

 

We never tried anytime/your time dining this will be the first time, since we were unable to get early seating and late is too late for my father in law who also joins us on cruises, I curious what the wait time would be like for seating in the dining room around 7pm, any ideas? Do you happen to have copies of the menu, I like to see whether they remain the same which honestly after so many cruises I can't recall what was on the menu lol

[Cruisegirl6]

Thank you, forgot you were with your son obviously not going to be in the casino, so glad you had a nice time together.