My condensed review w/pics: The Fascination (Grand Suite) to HMC (Cabana) & Nassau

[ohitssunshine]

Hi everyone - I wanted to share a quick review of our recent cruise on the Fascination, visiting Half Moon Cay and Nassau.

 

A little background...

We do our best to take 2 vacations each year, with one just for my husband and I and the other with the kids as a family. We have 3 kids: 15, 17 and 20 - and while they did not cruise with us this time, if you have questions on cruising with kids, we might be able to help.

 

Here we are - one of the $110 worth of elegant night photos I talked my husband into buying ;)

 

 

The very first cruise that we ever took was on the Fascination on this same itinerary. We fell in love with cruising and started to plan family vacations around cruising as well. 3 or 4 cruises later - we were bored of the Bahamas and Mexico, and so were our kids. We also weren't ready to jump to a 7 or 8 day booking and just decided to take some land vacations for a while.

 

After a couple years away from cruising - we got the bug again. And what better way to jump back in than by revisiting the ship and itinerary that made us fall in love in the first place?

 

Booking

We originally booked an Ocean View cabin, E135 at $971.90 with a $50 OBC.

 

CRUISE CHARGES

Cruise Rate $808.00

Taxes, Fees & Port Expenses $163.90

Total Cruise Charges $971.90

 

TOTAL CHARGES $971.90

 

But then, the Upsell Fairy called!

 

We were offered the option to upgrade to either:

Junior Suite for $375

Grand Suite for $500

 

We opted to upgrade to the Grand Suite. We were booked in cabin U111.

 

I should also point out, we had purchased FTTF prior to our upsell, but opted to keep it. I will share where this came in handy and where we could have skipped it.

 

We also booked a cabana for HMC, and now I don't think I can ever go without!

 

My Warnings...

I am a photography addict, but on this cruise - I took just one photo with my DSLR. I was just down to totally relax on this trip and that meant not lugging around any camera equipment. I don't know how you guys do it - some of the reviews that are on here with so many photos - props to you. It is appreciated.

 

What you are going to get here are cell phone pics, because that is all I carried. I even passed my ID and Sail and Sign off to my husband.

 

In addition to that - I didn't take any notes. So I am going to share with you the best that I can. If you have any questions - let me know and I will answer the best that I can also!

 

Edited March 8, 2016 by ohitssunshine

[ohitssunshine]

Day Before

 

We live in Central Florida, and the Jax port is just over 2 hours away. At first we figured we would drive in the morning of the cruise as we had before. Sometime around booking FTTF and then the HMC cabana, we decided it would be better to get to the port earlier and just stay the night before.

 

I was able to book the Hilton in Downtown Jacksonville using my HHonors points so the room was free. Bonus! I am such a Hilton fan - I appreciate that almost every room I have had has been clean and as expected. I am a neat freak, and things like finding hair or something just make me crazy.

 

In addition to that - I got stuck in an elevator a couple years ago and ever since, I can NOT use an elevator. I haven't gotten over my fear! So I love that being an HHonors member allows me to check into my room the day before and gives me peace of mind that I can find a room on a lower floor. (Crazy, I know)

 

 

This Hilton was no different, and I checked in the day prior - grabbed a room on the 2nd floor.

 

Check in was smooth, and there is a parking garage right next to the hotel with parking being $10 for the night. There was a crosswalk to get to the parking garage and you could access the door there with your hotel room key. This was nice because there are some locations where it is a bit more work to get back and forth to your car as needed.

 

I totally failed to take photos of the room, but we booked the normal room with one king:

 

 

[ohitssunshine]

In Jacksonville

 

I had just 2 plans for Jacksonville, and one was dinner at Taco Lu's. I had recently came across an article on Facebook - 15 Restaurants You Have To Visit In Florida Before You Die and #2 was Blue Heaven in Key West.

 

If you haven't been to Blue Heaven, you are missing out. The place is an amazing eclectic/hippy/new age eatery that has both inside and outside dining.

They serve key lime pie with meringue about 5-6 inches high, and you can have breakfast among the wild roosters. It's just cool.

 

So - Taco Lu's in Jacksonville made the list, and I thought heck - if these people know what's good about Blue Heaven, then we must go to Taco Lu's while we are in Jax.

Plus, my husband is a vegetarian and I am mostly vegan and they had seitan tacos on the menu - so I was down.

 

They were right! They were also right when they said to get their early, which we did. When we left - the parking lot was full and people were walking from the plaza next door.

 

 

On this night, it was cold in Jax so we ate inside - but there is a nice patio with heaters out back too. The inside decor was what I would have expected with tequila barrels and eclectic art, and there is a gigantic fireplace in the middle of one of the eating areas. I liked the vibe, and the service was great too.

 

I had the seitan tacos (pictured below) and my husband had a build your own dilla (quesadilla). Both were delish!

 

 

 

Edited March 8, 2016 by ohitssunshine

[cruiseonthebrain]

Great so far! I can't wait to keep reading (I am a fan of anyone who is a fan of Blue Heaven :-)

[PurdueChefAmber]

Great start! Thank you for taking the time to review!

[ohitssunshine]

 

My husband's manager told us that we needed to check out The Jacksonville Landing while we were this way. Since we didn't really have any other plans, we looked it up. We had no idea what to expect, other than he said it was near the stadium and the river, and that during football season it was packed with people who bring their boat right over.

 

 

A quick google search and we found that it is a retail/dining district so we figured why not. There are a couple of different restaurants and such, but really probably due to the cold, it was dead. There were some portions of it too that were under construction, and it wasn't the cleanest, most welcoming place. We walked around by the water and decided to get back to the hotel before we froze to death. I think it was in the 40s. :eek:

 

 

The river was very pretty at least!

 

Panorama Shot from in front of The Landing

 

[ohitssunshine]

Great so far! I can't wait to keep reading (I am a fan of anyone who is a fan of Blue Heaven :-)

 

Yes! I tried to go back every day that we were there on vacation!

[ohitssunshine]

Great start! Thank you for taking the time to review!

 

Thank you :)

[ohitssunshine]

It's Embarkation Day!

 

Booking a cabana is so much more stressful than it should be. Why can they not just let you choose your cabana before boarding? For weeks and days leading up to the cruise I would have nightmares that we were stuck with cabana #1, and that we would have just hundreds of people all around it, helping themselves to our mats and taking our towels...hahaha. I could not help it, it was making me crazy!

 

So obviously, the morning of the cruise - I have so much anxiety about just getting on board and getting the cabana out of the way so I can FINALLY start my vacation. Many of us in our roll call had decided that 10:30 would be the best arrival time, and I was down for that.

 

Remember I said I had 2 things I HAD to do in Jax? Well, the second one was going to Sweet Theory, which is a vegan bakery that gets rave reviews. We planned our departure from the hotel around making that stop along the way. Unfortunately, somewhere in my over obsessive planning...I missed that they did not even open until 10am on Sunday's, and with them being about 20 minutes from port - I decided the risk just wasn't worth it. Ugh. I was heart broken.

 

So off to the ship we go...

 

[Sweetness22]

Following! So curious what a Cabana is?? And where are they!? On the ship?

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

[Jamman54]

GREAT start to your review!! We're back on the Fascination in 18 days!

[ohitssunshine]

The first time we sailed out of Jax, we had arrived around 10 am and I remember the gentleman in the parking lot booth telling us we would be sitting in our cars until noon. This was also 6 years ago - but it was in the back of my mind as we pulled in to the port a full 30 minutes earlier than anticipated at 10am on the dot.

 

There she is!

 

To our surprise, not only were we let right into the lot - but there were quite a few others already there! (Don't forget, you pay for parking upon your arrival and will need to show your documents at that time as well)

 

I didn't take any photos during this time just because there is a lot going on. But I will share my experience of the embarkation process the best that I can.

 

As a reminder, we had priority boarding because of the Grand Suite, and we also had FTTF.

 

We parked and decided to just bring our bags with us, but we also did not see any porters collecting bags in the parking lot. They were still unloading from the previous sailing as well. We made our way to the area where you drop off your luggage, but there was nobody there to take it. They said they would be right with us. In the meantime - I was watching all of these people with carry ons, make their way into the building. I was so anxious to get in there and get in line!

 

I had prepared ahead, and after looking over the maps of HMC cabanas, I had made a list of my top choice down to my last choice. I wanted to prepare my husband to be able to tell them which cabana I wanted in the case that he made it to the desk before I did...yes...I was thinking of this like a Black Friday Doorbuster.

 

 

(Notice I had 10/9 listed towards the end...I really didn't want to take the cabana that one of our roll call members had really wanted when she had booked her cabana long before us!)

 

Finally a porter comes over and starts to tag our bags with the FTTF, and we are off into the terminal. As soon as they see that we are priority, they direct us to that security line, which is longer than the other line. :rolleyes:

 

After reading so many comments from people who had their power strip confiscated, my husband had ours in his carry on bag. This went through security without issue, and we then headed over to the priority check in area.

 

The priority check in area is a smaller room with 3 check in desks, a couple of sofas for waiting and I believe some refreshments like water and maybe coffee. We didn't have a wait in front of us and were checked in pretty quickly, and then directed to the seating/waiting area for boarding. At this point I am doing a mental check of how many people are in front of us, and how many cabanas they all have and so on and so on. We wait about 30 minutes and the woman who was organizing all of the priority check ins lets us know that there are 2 weddings boarding before us, with over 100 passengers with their party. :eek: And they also had a site inspection boarding as well. I am not familiar with this at all, but it looked like about 50 people who boarded and who we later saw touring the ship.

 

They started the boarding process with the weddings and site inspection, and then over to our group - finally! :D As we are walking towards the photo set up, my husband says..."why don't we skip this, so you can get to the excursion desk faster?" And I completely agree...

 

[ohitssunshine]

Following! So curious what a Cabana is?? And where are they!? On the ship?

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

 

They have both cabanas and villas on the island of Half Moon Cay. Essentially the cabanas are 3 sided/roofed enclosures with AC and amenities like a table and chairs, and loungers and refrigerator, etc. I'll share some more details soon too!

[ohitssunshine]

GREAT start to your review!! We're back on the Fascination in 18 days!

 

Thank you :) I have enjoyed reading so many of your reviews!

[ohitssunshine]

So we completely bypassed the embarkation photo, and headed to the ship. We board the ship I believe, on the 3rd deck? There were a lot of people creating a traffic jam right when you get on, but we just turned and saw the stairs and started heading up them.

 

We made it to the excursion desk, and not one person was in line! Success!

But then one of the employees let us know it would not be open until 12, and it was just around 11:15, maybe 11:20 at this point. But after all of my stressing, I was pretty much like...OK. I will be right here.

 

Just a couple minutes behind me was Terab85 and then gcdanno - both from our roll call and in line to get their cabana. Luckily, the employee updated us and said they would be actually opening at 11:30. I think we all relaxed a little bit more, knowing our vacation was almost ready to start...just have to get out of this line now! But then the minutes ticked by....I think they said they forgot to open the desk, that she was on her way, and that she had to bring some supplies with her and was running late. Regardless, she didn't open the desk until closer to noon as first communicated. :rolleyes:

 

At this point, I am like whatever - give me my cabana so I can officially enjoy vacation! I was the first one in line, and had first choice of cabana and went with #14. Would it be the best decision? We will find out...

 

Now, let's check out the Grand Suite!

 

[smurfm69]

Very nice review so far! We went to HMC for the first time last year and thought it was the best beach ever! We got cabana #10 and it was perfect. I would definitely spend the money to get a cabana every time at HMC.

[teknoge3k]

I am loving the review so far! Can't wait for more. ;)

 

For the person asking about the cabana, you can rent a cabana in HMC which is your own little private place. It has a misting fan, an A/C, 2 lounge chairs, table and chairs, storage, plus they provide your towels, floats, snorkel gear, and they give you a fruit tray, veggie tray, chips and salsa/dip, plus water and sodas. (All included)

 

They go FAST though, Luckily I got ours for our trip in May.

[ohitssunshine]

One of the reasons that I had kept FTTF even with the priority boarding, was so that our room would be ready and we would have our luggage sooner. It just feels like your truly on vacation once you are no longer lugging around carry on's, and then once you are finally unpacked.

 

Knowing that we had the Grand Suite, we were also just really excited to get into our room!

 

Grand Suite U111

 

Here's a collage of photos that capture the room as a whole - because I failed to take one solid picture.

 

Again, 2 photos put together to show the size and layout of the walk in closet

 

Essentially, when you enter the room - the walk in closet is to your left, the bathroom to your right and then the rest of the room in front of you. The door to the balcony is is straight ahead.

 

Here is a view with my back to the balcony door, and looking towards the left.

 

The restroom - this is advertised as having a jacuzzi/whirlpool tub. The tub is very deep - so much so, that it can be difficult to get in and out of. Don't be thinking you are going to have a romantic bath with anyone - because it is just not that large. The jets did work - so that was a plus.

 

The restroom itself was very small in that just one person could really ever be in there. If my husband was coming in as I was leaving - one of us would have to wait.

 

 

And the balcony - it is hard to show what a great balcony this was, but it was perfect. The view here is in port - but once you set sail, there are no obstructions. To the left, the divider was quite substantial, like it is the last balcony in the row - but it is not. To the right, the divider was almost floor to ceiling, but was different than the other.

 

We spent quite a bit of time on our balcony, and we never heard a peep from our neighbors. It was almost as if the rooms on either side were empty! We brought along a bluetooth speaker and played music and just hung out a lot out there and it really just made the trip that much better. And when our wedding song popped up in the playlist - we even had a nice little dance together out there!

 

[ohitssunshine]

Very nice review so far! We went to HMC for the first time last year and thought it was the best beach ever! We got cabana #10 and it was perfect. I would definitely spend the money to get a cabana every time at HMC.

 

Yes, it is an amazing place for sure!

[reerun25]

Really enjoying your review so far!! Thanks for sharing..

[ohitssunshine]

I am loving the review so far! Can't wait for more. ;)

 

For the person asking about the cabana, you can rent a cabana in HMC which is your own little private place. It has a misting fan, an A/C, 2 lounge chairs, table and chairs, storage, plus they provide your towels, floats, snorkel gear, and they give you a fruit tray, veggie tray, chips and salsa/dip, plus water and sodas. (All included)

 

They go FAST though, Luckily I got ours for our trip in May.

 

I was surprised - we booked ours just in maybe December? I don't think they sold out until mid January if I remember correctly!

[teknoge3k]

I was surprised - we booked ours just in maybe December? I don't think they sold out until mid January if I remember correctly!

 

We are sailing out Memorial Day weekend. We booked the cruise in February, and started looking at excursions. That's when I found the cabanas and FTTF. They were already sold out by that point. However I bookmarked them and checked literally every 4-5 hours on the computer. Late last week I checked, and BOTH were available (apparently only 1 of the FTTF and 1 cabana though)... I snagged both right up! :) With FTTF I hope to be one of the first people on the ship to go to the excursion desk to get the cabana I want. You mentioned it's like Black Friday, I am a HUGE HUGE Black Friday shopper. It's my favorite day of the year. I drop my kids off with the wifes grandmother and they do their Thanksgiving thing while I go shopping. I should win at this too! haha

[ohitssunshine]

Really enjoying your review so far!! Thanks for sharing..

 

Thanks for reading!

[ohitssunshine]

We are sailing out Memorial Day weekend. We booked the cruise in February, and started looking at excursions. That's when I found the cabanas and FTTF. They were already sold out by that point. However I bookmarked them and checked literally every 4-5 hours on the computer. Late last week I checked, and BOTH were available (apparently only 1 of the FTTF and 1 cabana though)... I snagged both right up! :) With FTTF I hope to be one of the first people on the ship to go to the excursion desk to get the cabana I want. You mentioned it's like Black Friday, I am a HUGE HUGE Black Friday shopper. It's my favorite day of the year. I drop my kids off with the wifes grandmother and they do their Thanksgiving thing while I go shopping. I should win at this too! haha

 

That is wonderful that you got both! I am not going to lie, I would have done the same exact thing, checking nonstop. It is so worth it though - and honestly, the cabanas are close enough together, that your choice isn't going to make our break your experience beyond cabanas 7/8. I think it IS extremely busy in front of 1-6ish but it kind of dwindles down from there - at least in my opinion and based on the day we were there. You will love it!

 

And YES - huge Black Friday shopper here! There's something about the adrenaline rush haha!

 

Thanks for reading!

[ohitssunshine]

A couple of things I can share here are that I had ordered 2 - 12 packs of water bottles from Bon Voyage, and both of these were in the room upon our arrival. I was told at the time of upgrading that our room did not have a mini fridge but did have a mini bar that could be emptied out for fridge space. At the time that we arrived, the fridge was empty and we were able to fit all 24 bottles of water inside.

 

I also had ordered a dozen cookies as a surprise for my husband, and requested that they be delivered upon arrival also. When you order, it asks you for the type of occasion and what message you would like to include. I assumed that this would result in a preprinted card that would be included with the delivery.

 

After seeing that the waters were in the room when we arrived, I was scanning the area to see if the cookies were there also, but they were not yet. They ended up being delivered a couple hours later, and instead of a card, they had kind of a receipt paper with it that had my message printed on it. I think a card would have looked nicer - but I wasn't sure what to expect - and was satisfied with the outcome. And he thought all 4 varieties were great!

 

 

Edited March 9, 2016 by ohitssunshine