All Things Fascination.....

[luvmygirlz]

Okay. I have not been able to find an All Things Fascination. We are scheduled to sail her in Oct. Somehow reading about the ship, looking at pictures, etc. helps pass the ever so slow wait and adds the anticipation of your sail date. So with that said.....let's get this thread started. Please tell us all you know about the Fascination, the good, the bad, anything!

 

Michell

[Lyncoya]

My husband and I had our first cruise on the Fascination in August '07. We had a wonderful time!

[EarthGirl517]

We sailed her a few years ago and loved her. My mom sailed on her in November and also had a good time. She says it was nicely refurbished and has the flat panel TVs now.

[bmwmom2002]

We will be on her first voyage from JAX in Sept, and are so excited. I really hope this thread takes off!

[Fluff]

We are planning to sail on her in November. Looking forward to Half Moon Cay. Wish they would complete the "Evolutions of Fun" refurb before then but it doesn't look like it's going to happen.

[golf43]

We are sailing on her in July. :) Been trying to get information about a few things on board, but have not had any luck lately. Anyone have any information on the casino.......are coins still accepted? The dining room menu for the day in Cozumel? Do they still have Lever soap?

[lds26]

We leave on the Fascination in 1 week. I cannot wait. Our last and only cruise was aboard the Liberty in 2006. I will try to come home with lots of information about the Fascination. I am taking my sister and we are cruising to celebrate my recent convocation from school. Wow 4 years in school sure deserves a treat aboard a wonderful ship!

[terrielynn]

Hello!! My sister and I sailed her last September and had a great time! This was her 4th or 5th cruise with Carnival, so she had something to compare it to. The food was great, the people we met were all nice. The casino was fun and the warm melting chocolate cake was awesome. We were in Nassau for a full day and had a great time. We did a horse and buggy tour, followed by some shopping. Went back to the ship for lunch and then headed out on the Yellowbird party boat. (A good time if you are a drinker!) :) We are doing the same cruise in July for a little sister get-away and we cannot wait! Hope this helped a bit!!

 

[caesar68]

I just got back from the Fascination to Cozumel and Key West...I will try to answer any questions you may have.

1. The casino did take coins

2. I don't know the brand of the soap, I doubt it was Lever because the container was not labeled as it had been on other ships

3. I didn't make it back to the ship for dinner in Cozumel so I do not know what the menu was. We didn't have to be back until 9:30. When we spoke to our dinner-mates, no one had made it back to dinner that night.

Let me know what else you may have for questions and I will do my best

[luvmygirlz]

We leave on the Fascination in 1 week. I cannot wait. Our last and only cruise was aboard the Liberty in 2006. I will try to come home with lots of information about the Fascination. I am taking my sister and we are cruising to celebrate my recent convocation from school. Wow 4 years in school sure deserves a treat aboard a wonderful ship!

 

Congratulations! Have a wonderful time. I am very jeolous that you get to go in one week. I have 180+ :(

[luvmygirlz]

Does anyone live close to JAX? We are close to Gainesville. The only thing I do not like about cruising is that we always had to go to Ft Lauderdale or Port Canaveral. The drive there is not bad, but the drive home seems to take forever! Now we are a very short drive to the port. Cannot wait!!

 

Is this ship very family friendly? We have kids in our group, ages 7 - 14.

[NCTribeFan]

I drive from NC, so don't complain about being a Floridian and having to drive to the ports! :p

 

I have to concentrate on my upcoming Glory cruise but I'm so looking foward to Fascination in December.

[caesar68]

I am not sure exactly what "family friendly" means, however, I did go during school vacation week. Well the kids appeared to be very well behaved and having a blast in the pool area. The "adults" on the ship were as well behaved as the kids. No one real loud just having good clean fun in the sun. I don't think that you will have many problems bringing your kids. The kids that I did meet seem to all have met new friends and hang out together in small groups. There is a club for minors that seemed to be a meeting place and there were kids welcomed in the karaoke lounge earlier in the evening. I am sure that there are more events for kids, but I did not bring any so I skipped over them in the daily list of events.

[grandmato4]

A couple questions for recent Fascination sailors: Are there hairdryers in the rooms? Read somewhere a while ago that there were not. Safes require magnetic strip cards ? Tell me about the different bars. Which was your favorite? Anything about the ship you weren't thrilled with? Thanks :)

[ellen9974]

I drive from NC, so don't complain about being a Floridian and having to drive to the ports! :p

 

I have to concentrate on my upcoming Glory cruise but I'm so looking foward to Fascination in December.

 

I will be getting off the ship when you are getting on..........;)

[martek]

We sailed on her Feb. of 2007 and sail again in 3 weeks! We loved this ship and this time we do Key West and Cozumel instead of Calica. We did do the excursion to Cancun, but not really anything to boast about. I am looking forward to Cozumel and always love Key West. The rooms are nice and big and the beds are so comfy it was hard to wake up from a nap! We never even made it to the dining room as the buffet on Lido deck and the burgers were wonderful. We especially enjoyed the casino, however, not lucky for us. this year my niece and sister are traveling with us and I look forward to them loving this ship as much as I do! Ship is not so big as to get lost, but lots of stuff to do. The only real small complaint I have is that I enjoy Bingo and they only play one or two games and thats it. I like to play for a while and won when we sailed the Century back in 2004. But overall, wonderful time!

[MuffyKismet]

We have been on the Facination a couple of times already and loved it! We go again with 12 of us May 5th, my daughter's college graduation present :) I am looking forward to all the new rooms, the pics look great!!

 

To answer someone previously regarding hair blow dryers.......yes they have them but you might want to bring your own because you have to hold down the button the whole time you are using it and not very powerful, bring a power strip too so you can plug in a few things and leave them plugged in so you don't have to keep changing the plug all the time. Very convenient for recharging camera, flat iron, blow dryer, cell phone etc.

 

The staff is GREAT on the facination kinda bummed the pool area is not redone yet :( oh well something to look foward to in the future.

 

We have gone on the Key West / Calica trek and the Key West Cozumel trek and we love them both!! This time it is Key West/ Cozumel!! We always book private excursions, we get alot more for our $$$ and get to see the "real" Calica or Cozumel. Key West is no real mystery small enough to discover on your own :) But people that have never been should take the trolly ride......you get to see parts of the key you wouldn't normally see and alot of history on the Conch Republic is given! It is worth it for new comers for sure!

 

Hope that helps a little :) enjoy!! We can't wait!!:D

[caesar68]

Ok Grandma--this is what I have for you. We had a category 6a room-outside. Sort a middle of the road room. There was no blow dryer in the room, but the steward brought us one on request. We actually brought one but where the plug was located, we couldn't fit it because the blowdryer had a bulky plug. They might be in the higher rooms

As for the bar there is the Passage to India bar which had live music which was ok, then there was a dance club full of 20-somethings after 10:00. Both were pretty lively on the first night but were slower after the day in Cozmel. The main complaint that I had is that in both clubs they played the same music each night. The band in Passage to India had the same sets, so it was somewhat repetitive. There is also a very busy karaoke lounge and the stars lounge which is in the "hallway/lobby" as you walk to the others. The also use this for some games of trivia etc. As always there were big shows and comedy in the larger areas

You did need a magnetic strip for the safe that is true.

We both thought the food was ok, except for in the dining room, we found the staff very friendly. We both thoroughly enjoyed our trip as well as Key West and Cozumel.

[Jsme]

Great thread. I hope to be cruisin this ship a lot. Six hour drive for us is a very decent drive.

[Travel Angel]

We will be on her first voyage from JAX in Sept, and are so excited. I really hope this thread takes off!

 

Excited too here in Savannah.... sailed the Celebration and loved her, but sad to see her go. But with the Fascination coming to take her place and a short 2 hour drive.... WoooooooooooHooooooooo to us for our Sept. 29th sailing !

[luvmygirlz]

I drive from NC, so don't complain about being a Floridian and having to drive to the ports! :p

 

I have to concentrate on my upcoming Glory cruise but I'm so looking foward to Fascination in December.

 

I know, it is hard living so close to the port, but someone has to do it! I guess I can make a sacrifice.

 

Does anyone know when the new water works pool area will be done?

[Jsme]

I know, it is hard living so close to the port, but someone has to do it! I guess I can make a sacrifice.

 

Does anyone know when the new water works pool area will be done?

 

 

OH I wish I was making that kind of sacrifice. :D

 

I am curious too.

[MuffyKismet]

All work should be complete by 2009, I haven't seen any other specific information.

[golf43]

I too wish I was making that kind of sacrifice. It would be so nice to leave close to the ports in Florida. We live in North Carolina and drive down.

[NCTribeFan]

I know people think I'm just being a smartass when I post this link all the time...

 

http://www.carnival.com/CMS/FAQs/FAQLanding.aspx

 

but Carnival's FAQ really does answer a lot of general questions. Note that the 2nd item is about hairdryers.

 

There have been NO hairdryers on the Fantasy-class ships I've sailed.

 

As for the Evolutions of Fun, I was told when I booked, by my PVP, that all the upgrades would be completed by the time we sailed. However, looking at her schedule, there is NO gap that would allow for those major changes to be made. I emailed him - twice - about it and received no response.

 

I was really looking foward to the Serenity area. :(

 

I'll enjoy myself in my "usual" spot on sea days - up a deck from the Lido, in a chair along the rail - close enough to just run down to the buffet for a snack or something to drink. I don't hang by the Lido pool and have found the pool bands to be really awful, so I don't mind being away from the "action." I really prefer it.