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Thoughts on if and when replace Fascination/Southern Caribbean?

Seacreature101

By Seacreature101,
in Carnival Cruise Lines

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BoDidly

BoDidly

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Well I can't say I dislike Fascination she is great for a short cruise. Best for newbies but always good for a quick getaway. . No news yet but soon , but who really knows ;)

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Seacreature101

Seacreature101

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One thing I really don't like is the narrow balconies they added side aft. At least there is a balcony though...

 

I am aware other lines offer this similar itinerary, but loved my aft wrap and platinum perks with Carnival.

 

Yes. Will wait and see and hope it may happen one day.

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pghsteelerfan

pghsteelerfan

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I initially thought the same thing (utter disappointment) about Carnival putting an older and smaller ship on the itinerary out of San Juan. I have seen a few recent reviews of Fascination out of San Juan and some of those reviews mention that while she is a smaller, older ship, she's kept clean, staff have been great, and the ship has a "less crowded" feel. I have actually started bugging my DH to do another cruise out of San Juan (we did it on Valor in 2013 and again on Liberty in 2015), and I think I'd actually like Fascination. She is getting the upgrades next year, so hubby will be happy as long as there are Guy's Burgers. This is our favorite itinerary and we do prefer port days over sea days.

 

What I'd love to see is another ship (total of two Carnival ships) out of San Juan. One doing the current itinerary (St. Thomas, Barbados, St. Lucia, St. Kitts, St. Maarten) and another ship doing a different itinerary to some of the other, less visited by Carnival, islands such as: St. Croix, Tortola, Antigua, Dominica, Guadelopue (other cruise lines sail there), Martinique, Grendada. Probably wishful thinking but I think it would be great.

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Crusin5252

Crusin5252

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We have ported out of San Juan twice and loved the itenary. One time was the second leg of a repo on the Splendor and went to less visited islands including Dominica, Grenada, and Martinique. The other trip was on a Conquest class ship. I love porting from there, but we will not go on a Fantasy class ship. AIrfare from Chicago to San Juan is cheaper than Chicago to FL.

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Buffettfan 225 "Live from...." Rare

Buffettfan 225

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Agree, having sailed Carnival from San Juan five times wishing for another ship based there also. Like other CC members ideas of some alternate less frequented ports- perhaps use the Fascination for ports needing smaller berth, and larger ship for longer haul. Tried RCL Adventure and while nice, not as much for teens to do back when we sailed.

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ragethjj23

ragethjj23

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Oops,I meant the fun 2.0. Haha. With guys burgers and alchemy bar.

 

Ha that's what I thought you meant just making sure I didn't miss something. Was just on the sensation and they had those things so I assume that's what the upgrades will be. They even had a model of the fascination by the dining room and not the sensation!

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A&Jfamily

A&Jfamily

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Not having a steakhouse and other bells and whistles is disappointing but by no means a deal breaker for us. I have sailed the Fascination in those aft added balconies and they work for us. We are on her in March after the 2.0 upgrades and that is going to make a huge difference to have Alchemy, Guys and Blue Iguana (assume those are going on - nothing official yet that I have seen). But if not, it is a port intensive cruise so we will only be on board in the evenings and we don't sail so much that I am tired of the MDR. And we have yet to have a "bad" cruise....

 

I agree with the other poster who said put 2 ships there with 2 different itineraries!

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hrmkr

hrmkr

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We sailed on the Fascination out of San Juan earlier this year. It is a great ship. Sure it may be older but it was very clean , great crew and never seemed crowded.

 

With the cruise being so port intensive, you really are not on the ship very much. Anyone can deal with not having all of the bells and whistles for the 1 sea day.

 

This was the best cruise we were on because of all of the incredible ports. It has a great itinerary.

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Freckle53

Freckle53

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This is the next cruise that has my attention, but we just can't on that ship. The issue isn't the age or the amenities, but the type of quad rooms available. Unless there's something I haven't found, OV are lowers, an upper and a trundle. Regular balconies are two lowers and two uppers with only some of the lowers being able to be a king bed. The cruise is so port intensive that we can easily deal with one room for us and the kids (thus saving money for the ports/excursions), but I just can't do the sardine thing with either a trundle taking up the floor space or 2 pullmans over the top of my face while I'm sleeping.

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hishorselover

hishorselover

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On a bit of a comical note, our tour guide in St. Martin told us the islanders have nicknamed Fascination "The Dinghy" :) I had only sailed on Valor (same itinerary) and it was my husband and son's first cruise so I wasn't overly concerned about the ship. We chose it for the itinerary. I agree that more dining options would have been nice. Another great thing about this itinerary for us (we sailed on April 30th) was that we were only the ship in every port. No crowds!

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ABCGreys

ABCGreys

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We just got off the Fascination on Sunday, July 16. I found her to be a great ship, especially for the first time cruisers that were in our group. It was funny to hear them comment how big she was when they first saw her. I never felt crowded, there were lots of chairs around the pool, she was clean, and the crew was great. Other people have mentioned the lack of 2.0 amenities but I found I didn't miss Guy's or Alchemy even after having experienced them earlier this year on the Conquest.

 

So, long story short, I took this cruise for the ports. The ship, while older and missing some bells and whistles, was perfectly fine and gave us one of our best cruises yet.

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