And Then There Were Two (Fantasy Class Ships Left). Share your POSITIVE memories of the departed FANTASY CLASS VESSELS

[KmomChicago]

I only sailed on one, Carnival Sensation (Bless her Heart, review in signature) back in 2018. John Heald is providing a loving sendoff for Ecstasy, and this will leave only Elation and Paradise left of the once-revolutionary but sadly, (mostly) unbalconied early mega ships. 

 

Let's play a happy memory game, please share your stories, photos, weddings, honeymoons, divorces, holiday breaks, drunken escapades, ash scatterings, or whatever else you have to bring about either the early glory days or the latter, notorious booze-cruise short routes these stunning (in ways both glorious and shocking) vessels sailed, carrying millions of revelers (including YOU) along the way!

[FiredogCruiser]

We did Elation out of NOLA years ago, and it was one of our more memorable cruises. Great itinerary, and the Captain's party was the most enjoyable we ever attended. Having said that though, our favorite class is the Spirit class.

[hard_eight]

Did a bunch on the Fascination out of Jax and Ecstacy out of Canaveral. Got an upsell fairy to the Owners suite once. Best cruise ever!

Edited October 14, 2022 by hard_eight

[jerseygirlinAZ]

My husband and I sailed the Paradise.  Great time!  A fond memory was when the center or lobby bar (I think that's what it was) had some great music going and three or four floors of people were singing and dancing.  Everyone had a fun time on that cruise!

[Joebucks]

The Fascination Southern Caribbean was one of my favorites. It's also nice to be able to walk in when a comedy show starts and get a seat, vs having to wait in line 30 minutes.

[ninjacat123]

My DH and DDs sailed out of JAX on Fascination Jan 2014 for the chilliest cruise we had ever been on!  We upsold to a Grand Suite (very exciting, included a tub that my youngest DD used everyday!) and we had a great time!  Even stopped at Coco Cay which was the first port we had ever cruised to.

Flash forward to May 2022 and I took myself and my DDs on a cruise out of Mobile on Ecstasy.  Loved our secret stairwell right by our aft balcony cabin up to Serenity!  We had a wonderful cruise to Costa Maya and Cozumel, and my 20 year old DD got to order a margarita legally for the first time while on land!

Good times, great memories!!🥰

[spleenstomper]

Definitely my favorite class of ship. We sailed Fantasy as our first try on carnival and out of NOLA to see if the kids liked if and then elation later. 

[KmomChicago]

5 hours ago, Joebucks said:

The Fascination Southern Caribbean was one of my favorites. It's also nice to be able to walk in when a comedy show starts and get a seat, vs having to wait in line 30 minutes.

 

That would have been the one departing from San Juan, PR, correct?  I have not been paying a lot of attention but I have not seen much about a restart from that port for Carnival.  

 

To that point, wouldn't it be nice, just sayin', if they could let you do a B2B2B sorta thing, in which you start on a ship heading to PR as a stop, debark, then take a 7 day southern on a different ship from there, then pick up at PR to get back to Florida on the other end? Hmmm. Complicated perhaps, but seems feasible or worthy of a test. 

 

Because I know how a cruise line should run their business, right? Another idea for KMCL, Kmom Cruise Lines.

[KmomChicago]

2 hours ago, ninjacat123 said:

My DH and DDs sailed out of JAX on Fascination Jan 2014 for the chilliest cruise we had ever been on!  We upsold to a Grand Suite (very exciting, included a tub that my youngest DD used everyday!) and we had a great time!  Even stopped at Coco Cay which was the first port we had ever cruised to.

Flash forward to May 2022 and I took myself and my DDs on a cruise out of Mobile on Ecstasy.  Loved our secret stairwell right by our aft balcony cabin up to Serenity!  We had a wonderful cruise to Costa Maya and Cozumel, and my 20 year old DD got to order a margarita legally for the first time while on land!

Good times, great memories!!🥰

 

Yes Ninjacat of course I remember the recent cruise on Ecstasy.  One question on the Jan 2014 cruise - Coco Cay? Not perhaps Half Moon Cay?

[KmomChicago]

51 minutes ago, spleenstomper said:

Definitely my favorite class of ship. We sailed Fantasy as our first try on carnival and out of NOLA to see if the kids liked if and then elation later. 

 

Hope you will get to sail on Paradise and/or Elation while the gettin' is still good! I would certainly consider it myself. 

[Funsince1983]

Let me set the scene for you.. April 1997. Family cruise, was supposed to be on The Big Red Boat but they went under (only metaphorically) and our travel agent moved us to the Fantasy. I have a big family. There were many of us including myself (13 at the time) and my newly 16 year old male cousin. Somehow we ended up in a room together, they just sort of split us off by age. It’s the final night of the cruise and we all need to get our luggage out by 11pm. Me being the responsible one, done. My cousin….? Nowhere to be found. Entire family searching for him. Probably staff searching for him. He’s finally found.. where you may ask? With a bunch of chicks on the topless deck. 🤣😆

[ninjacat123]

1 hour ago, KmomChicago said:

 

Yes Ninjacat of course I remember the recent cruise on Ecstasy.  One question on the Jan 2014 cruise - Coco Cay? Not perhaps Half Moon Cay?

I know, I was mystified as well.  Went to my library of photobooks I make for my cruises (especially when the DDs were little🥰) and there it was.  Who knows why Carnival stopped at a RC island, but they did.  Nice loungers!

[KmomChicago]

2 hours ago, Funsince1983 said:

Let me set the scene for you.. April 1997. Family cruise, was supposed to be on The Big Red Boat but they went under (only metaphorically) and our travel agent moved us to the Fantasy. I have a big family. There were many of us including myself (13 at the time) and my newly 16 year old male cousin. Somehow we ended up in a room together, they just sort of split us off by age. It’s the final night of the cruise and we all need to get our luggage out by 11pm. Me being the responsible one, done. My cousin….? Nowhere to be found. Entire family searching for him. Probably staff searching for him. He’s finally found.. where you may ask? With a bunch of chicks on the topless deck. 🤣😆

 

Love it, that is indeed a happy memory. 🙂  I sailed twice on Big Red Boat; at the time, Fantasy would definitely have been an upgrade.

[KmomChicago]

18 hours ago, FiredogCruiser said:

We did Elation out of NOLA years ago, and it was one of our more memorable cruises. Great itinerary, and the Captain's party was the most enjoyable we ever attended. Having said that though, our favorite class is the Spirit class.

Fair enough; glad you had a great experience. 🙂

[KmomChicago]

17 hours ago, hard_eight said:

Did a bunch on the Fascination out of Jax and Ecstacy out of Canaveral. Got an upsell fairy to the Owners suite once. Best cruise ever!

 

Photos of the owners suite perchance?????

[KmomChicago]

15 hours ago, jerseygirlinAZ said:

My husband and I sailed the Paradise.  Great time!  A fond memory was when the center or lobby bar (I think that's what it was) had some great music going and three or four floors of people were singing and dancing.  Everyone had a fun time on that cruise!

 

They have to take their Fun Ship reputation seriously! Or maybe, not seriously as the case may be. . . you know what I mean. 🙂

[h_blond2]

My very first cruise was on the Fantasy in 2009 and I've been hooked ever since! 

[Theosprey247]

I cut my cruising teeth with the Imagination and Inspiration out of Long Beach.  Good Times! 

[toad455]

My second cruise was on the Elation. I thought she was huge then and really enjoyed the ship. Then came the big ships for Carnival with the Destiny-class. Didn't care for those or the latter Dream-class.  Still prefer the older, smaller ships like the Fantasy-class or Spirit-class. A shame there's (about) to be only 2 left.

[KmomChicago]

26 minutes ago, toad455 said:

My second cruise was on the Elation. I thought she was huge then and really enjoyed the ship. Then came the big ships for Carnival with the Destiny-class. Didn't care for those or the latter Dream-class.  Still prefer the older, smaller ships like the Fantasy-class or Spirit-class. A shame there's (about) to be only 2 left.

 

Interesting point - yet you have been on Anthem 5x and Quantum of the Seas, both on the LARGE side of the spectrum!!! I have not tried Quantum class but I am sure we would like it as we loved Oasis class and Carnival Excel class (Mardi Gras).  I would say we generally lean to the larger side but have no problem with the smaller ships whatsoever. 

[lennythenose]

In August 2009 we took our sons (10 and 6) on their first cruise. DH and I had been on cruises before but never on Carnival. I found a GREAT deal on the Fantasy 5 day out of NOLA and decided to give it a try for a family vacation. Everyone was hooked!!!  Now it’s hard to get them on any other trip if a cruise isn’t in the plans. 

[KmomChicago]

32 minutes ago, lennythenose said:

In August 2009 we took our sons (10 and 6) on their first cruise. DH and I had been on cruises before but never on Carnival. I found a GREAT deal on the Fantasy 5 day out of NOLA and decided to give it a try for a family vacation. Everyone was hooked!!!  Now it’s hard to get them on any other trip if a cruise isn’t in the plans. 

 

That's the way to make perfect family memories. Beautiful! And the ship's not bad, either!

[hard_eight]

2 hours ago, KmomChicago said:

 

Photos of the owners suite perchance?????

I think the Wife may have better ones somewhere :)

[KmomChicago]

3 hours ago, ninjacat123 said:

I know, I was mystified as well.  Went to my library of photobooks I make for my cruises (especially when the DDs were little🥰) and there it was.  Who knows why Carnival stopped at a RC island, but they did.  Nice loungers!

[KmomChicago]

16 minutes ago, hard_eight said:

I think the Wife may have better ones somewhere 🙂

 

 

Wowza!  Of course, I always sail in the owner's suites, only in those. Even on all the other Carnival ships. No one knows they have them on some of the other ships because they are a secret, but they open them up for me. 🙂