Fascination Review 9/12/08

[Odoyal Rulez]

Ok so I've never been on a cruise before, so we decided since we wanted to hit Miami for a few days on our vacation that it would be fun to try a short cruise to the Bahamas.

 

The drive to Miami from Indianapolis was pretty brutal. It feels a lot farther than what it seems on paper. Although it was mostly highway and the hours ticked by.

 

We checked into a nice Marriott hotel in Doral. Then left our car their and took a taxi to the port the next day. The traffic in Miami is horrible. No one, and I mean NO ONE uses turn signals, its ridiculous.

 

Embarkation was a snap. I mean we just walked into the terminal showed our forms and got right on board. It might have taken 30 minutes tops from the time we stepped out of the taxi until the time we got onboard.

 

Our first meal was a buffet style thing. I was hyped up about it because of all the talk on here about food, but it was pretty much just buffet food. The chicken was fairly dry, no matter where I got it from, and no matter how it was prepared. The pizza wasn't the greatest either, although the sandwhiches were very tasty.

 

Our dining room experience felt like a nicer upscale restaurant. Our server was nice enough, and the food was once again un remarkable. I found the steak was ill prepared and over cooked, although i asked for it to be rare. The mushroom appetizer and duck was delicious. The second night, formal night, the steak was superb. It was prime rib and extremely tender. Probably the highlight of all the food on that cruise.

 

I tried the chocolate melting cake, but it was too rich for my blood, and I stuck with fresh fruit for most of the trip.

 

The boat itself had plenty to do. The bars were nice, although the service left a lot to be desired. It was extremely difficult to get drinks after they were ordered as the bars seemed extremely short staffed.

 

The casino was fun, I've never been in one, and it was hard for me to figure out the slot machines, since they had all these lines you bet on. We messed around about an hour on them then went to find other things to do.

 

We never really had to worry about the dreaded "chair hogs" since most of the time there were still chairs that were locked down and not being used. We most;y stuck to the upper decks and just enjoyed the cruise, we never got around to the pool or water slide, they were so small and there were so many people it looked like a germ soup.

 

Our room was clean, but it was absolutely saturated in smoke. It smelled like the previous occupant was marinating in Camel cigarettes. We didnt complain though. I mean we paid 140 bucks pp, what did we expect really? Plus we were only there to sleep really.

 

The gym was more than I expected. The dumbells went up to 100lbs which kept me pretty happy, although the treadmills were all being used everytime I went. I stuck to walking around the top of the sun deck. The gym shower facility was the one I primarily used since the bathroom in our cabin made me claustraphobic ha ha.

 

The excursion was pretty much a crock. We paid like 300 bucks to swim with dolphins then hit the water park at teh atlantis. But the way they staggered the time made it a total waste. By the time everyone had lined up and we got to the atlantis. It was 12. The tour they gave it was 12:45. The time we had to get to dolphins was 2:20..so we had like an hour to go the the water park...then do the dolphins..which ended at 4:30. The last taxi left at 6...so by the time we got our stuff and made our way back to the hotel lobby it was 5:30. Had they written out how the time thing worked I wouldnt have paid for the water park at all since we didnt get a chance to use it.

 

The only real thing that bothered me tho, was the general smell of the lido deck. It reeked of greases and general foulness, it smelled like the back of a dumpster pretty much the whole trip. I dont know if it was because of the way the smoke stack blew or what, but it defitely made being on the lido deck less enjoyable.

 

All in all you couldnt beat the trip for what we paid. Free food and getting to do nothing but enjoy the ocean for 3 days for basically 40 dollars a day? Ill do that anytime. However I think the next time I might spring and get a better class of ship and go somewhere a little more fun.

[mullet]

What deck/cabin were you in that had the smokey smell?

[Odoyal Rulez]

M191

[blasta]

Ok so I've never been on a cruise before, so we decided since we wanted to hit Miami for a few days on our vacation that it would be fun to try a short cruise to the Bahamas.

 

The drive to Miami from Indianapolis was pretty brutal. It feels a lot farther than what it seems on paper. Although it was mostly highway and the hours ticked by.

 

We checked into a nice Marriott hotel in Doral. Then left our car their and took a taxi to the port the next day. The traffic in Miami is horrible. No one, and I mean NO ONE uses turn signals, its ridiculous.

 

Embarkation was a snap. I mean we just walked into the terminal showed our forms and got right on board. It might have taken 30 minutes tops from the time we stepped out of the taxi until the time we got onboard.

 

Our first meal was a buffet style thing. I was hyped up about it because of all the talk on here about food, but it was pretty much just buffet food. The chicken was fairly dry, no matter where I got it from, and no matter how it was prepared. The pizza wasn't the greatest either, although the sandwhiches were very tasty.

 

Our dining room experience felt like a nicer upscale restaurant. Our server was nice enough, and the food was once again un remarkable. I found the steak was ill prepared and over cooked, although i asked for it to be rare. The mushroom appetizer and duck was delicious. The second night, formal night, the steak was superb. It was prime rib and extremely tender. Probably the highlight of all the food on that cruise.

 

I tried the chocolate melting cake, but it was too rich for my blood, and I stuck with fresh fruit for most of the trip.

 

The boat itself had plenty to do. The bars were nice, although the service left a lot to be desired. It was extremely difficult to get drinks after they were ordered as the bars seemed extremely short staffed.

 

The casino was fun, I've never been in one, and it was hard for me to figure out the slot machines, since they had all these lines you bet on. We messed around about an hour on them then went to find other things to do.

 

We never really had to worry about the dreaded "chair hogs" since most of the time there were still chairs that were locked down and not being used. We most;y stuck to the upper decks and just enjoyed the cruise, we never got around to the pool or water slide, they were so small and there were so many people it looked like a germ soup.

 

Our room was clean, but it was absolutely saturated in smoke. It smelled like the previous occupant was marinating in Camel cigarettes. We didnt complain though. I mean we paid 140 bucks pp, what did we expect really? Plus we were only there to sleep really.

 

The gym was more than I expected. The dumbells went up to 100lbs which kept me pretty happy, although the treadmills were all being used everytime I went. I stuck to walking around the top of the sun deck. The gym shower facility was the one I primarily used since the bathroom in our cabin made me claustraphobic ha ha.

 

The excursion was pretty much a crock. We paid like 300 bucks to swim with dolphins then hit the water park at teh atlantis. But the way they staggered the time made it a total waste. By the time everyone had lined up and we got to the atlantis. It was 12. The tour they gave it was 12:45. The time we had to get to dolphins was 2:20..so we had like an hour to go the the water park...then do the dolphins..which ended at 4:30. The last taxi left at 6...so by the time we got our stuff and made our way back to the hotel lobby it was 5:30. Had they written out how the time thing worked I wouldnt have paid for the water park at all since we didnt get a chance to use it.

 

The only real thing that bothered me tho, was the general smell of the lido deck. It reeked of greases and general foulness, it smelled like the back of a dumpster pretty much the whole trip. I dont know if it was because of the way the smoke stack blew or what, but it defitely made being on the lido deck less enjoyable.

 

All in all you couldnt beat the trip for what we paid. Free food and getting to do nothing but enjoy the ocean for 3 days for basically 40 dollars a day? Ill do that anytime. However I think the next time I might spring and get a better class of ship and go somewhere a little more fun.

 

Thanks for the review. I also was on the same cruise! That's too bad you encountered a lot of bad smells onboard. I found my cabin to be fine, and detected no odor whatsoever on the Lido deck. The service I thought to pretty good at the bars, although in the formal restaurants, it was a little slow. The Fascination is a great ship! But there are other ships that are a bit nicer. I hope you had a great cruise and I'm sure Carnival would love to see you back onboard in the future.

[Odoyal Rulez]

Thanks for the review. I also was on the same cruise! That's too bad you encountered a lot of bad smells onboard. I found my cabin to be fine, and detected no odor whatsoever on the Lido deck. The service I thought to pretty good at the bars, although in the formal restaurants, it was a little slow. The Fascination is a great ship! But there are other ships that are a bit nicer. I hope you had a great cruise and I'm sure Carnival would love to see you back onboard in the future.

 

 

Weird, i heard a few others comment on the funny smell...I was the guy that wore the cowboy hat everywhere heh....figures the 4 hours i didnt have it on i got sunburned on my head..!!!

[LHP]

Man...I thought we were nuts from driving from Tennessee to Miami.

 

You did have a monster of a drive!!!

 

Sorry about the smoke smell in your cabin. Although it is rare, sadly it does happen. Usually if someone has been smoking a cigar in the cabin...which is not allowed.

 

For future reference, should that happen again...do inform the Cabin Steward. They can do everything from something simple like hitting it with their magic spray again to deeper cleaning like lightly shampooing the carpets (they dry quickly) and replacing everything down to (and including) the mattresses.

 

Glad you still enjoyed the deal you got on your cruise.

[blasta]

Weird, i heard a few others comment on the funny smell...I was the guy that wore the cowboy hat everywhere heh....figures the 4 hours i didnt have it on i got sunburned on my head..!!!

 

Heh, I think I remember seeing you somewhere around the Sushi bar.

 

The Fascination will be re-positioning to Jacksonville by the way and being replaced by the Imagination, which I like better than the Fascination, so I'm excited. Don't be hesitant to book another 3 day, since you will like the new renovations I'm sure. Although like I said, there are other classes which a bit nicer if you don't mind taking a longer cruise, like the Destiny or Valor for example.