Fascination Review with lots of pics 12/27/08-1/1/09

[jump4jai]

My post above this:

casual elegant = cruise elegant

typo

[babyher]

Enjoying your review and pics very much.

 

Thank you for sharing them. :)

 

 

Looking forward to more

[homeofthedogs]

Jump - ok, where is the rest of your review??????? I've checked back 3 times today and am trying to wait patiently, but I NEED more..... come on, P L E A S E!!!!!!!

[Lgarth]

Jump, your review and pictures are awesome....We are hoping to do this same cruise within a year or so, providing it stays in J'ville. I've lived in Florida for 29 years and never been to Key West, but by cruise ship is the only way I want to go:D Looking forward to more, keep it coming...

[zirka]

awesome review---still waiting for more!!!

[Georgiagolfer]

Hey jump4jai, where is the review. You know there are some anxious people waiting to read and see what happened. Don't let work get in the way. LOL

[jump4jai]

I'm back!!!!

 

Sorry people, I had to babysit last night to make money for my next cruise. Haha

[cruz.n.carebear]

Thank you so much for posting the pictures and your review so far! I really appreciate the menu photos! I keep hearing that the menu varies so it is great to actually see the choices that you guys had!

 

We sail in 2 weeks on her and I'm sooo excited!

[NCTribeFan]

The dress really seems to vary a lot. I saw a lot of men in tuxes on our 12/13 sailing. I did see some people waiting to enter the dining room wearing pretty casual clothes on a couple of nights, but I really didn't notice a huge number. We were in the Sensation Dining Room, which is the smaller of the two (the midship one), and we were seated near the back of the room, and I was facing the back, so maybe I just didn't notice. We "dress" for dinner every night, even if it's just a casual dress or dressiers pants & tops, and it looked to me like we weren't the only ones. I know everyone at all the tables around us were pretty nicely dressed every night.

 

Just showers in the cabins (maybe the Cat 12 suites have tubs). Check cruisedeckplans dot com.

 

Our muster drill: we gathered on the Promenade deck (we were next to the bar outside the casino). We were the smallest of the groups, so after the whole "how to put on your lifevest" instructions, they started calling letters to go up (1 level) to Lido deck. Some groups were already there and were sitting in the chairs. WE had to go out by our lifeboat (it was really cold the day we sailed) and we had started moving by then. But since we were the last group called up, we were only there a couple of minutes before they told us we were done.

 

If anyone is interested in the Nassau/HMC sailing, here's the link to my review from a couple of weeks ago.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=891443&highlight=

[jump4jai]

Day 3 - Key West

 

We woke up really early because today was our first port. We ordered continental breakfast the night before so we ate that and then packed our bags for the day with all the essentials we would need. We were supposed to be off the ship at 7am in Key West but when we went down to Deck 3 to get off there was yellow tape across the door when the elevator opened. The workers told us it would be about another half hour until we could get off. We were bummed out but we walked around the ship. We checked again at 7:20am and they had the tape down. We were second off the ship. I guess most people stayed on board and ate breakfast until around 9am when everything opened. We were fine with walking around with everything closed. Less of a temptation to go shopping and spend money.

 

Our beautiful ship

 

Our port was a navy base so we needed to be shuttled into town by trolley.

 

Before the cruise I booked a snorkeling excursion through Fury because it was cheap and convenient. Well we walk to the Fury office and get our tickets. I then asked the guy behind the desk if we had time to walk duval street to the other side of town and the southern most point. He said to me that was a stupid question and he's tired of stupid questions. I said excuse me, that is a valid question since i've never been here before and the maps have no mileage key on them. He then said well how fast do you walk. At that point I just left because I thought they were very rude. It gets worse on our snorkeling trip because we tried to lay out on the catamaran to tan and were constantly yelled at to sit up because we were taking up too much room for other people. Let me tell you that we had enough room and if someone wanted to sit next to me I would have gladly gotten up and moved. But no one ever did. I would NOT Fury because the staff is rude, the snorkeling places they take you to are not good, and it was just a horrible experience overall. More about that later.

 

We went back to the Trolley information stand to ask how far it is to the southern most point and the guy there was much nicer and answered that he could walk it in 20 minutes. Well he must have had longer legs than we did because it took 30 minutes to get halfway down Duval Street and we knew we wouldn't make snorkeling if we continued so we turned back.

 

We just leisurely strolled and took pictures and it was nice since hardly anyone was out there.

 

We didn't understand why there were so many statues in Key West.

 

 

 

We thought this was a real person on the ground until we got closer.

 

 

 

 

[jump4jai]

 

Fascination next to Freedom - You can see the size difference

 

 

 

There were roosters everywhere...And they were LOUD

 

 

 

[jump4jai]

Kitty Cats playing

 

Cute tile mural

 

 

 

 

[jump4jai]

Funny t-shirts

 

 

 

 

Hard Rock - Key West

 

[cruz.n.carebear]

I cannot imagine someone being so rude! To tell a paying customer that he is tired of stupid questions is ridiculous! I think I would have told him to give me my money back right then and there.

 

Sorry that the excursion wasn't too great, but I'm loving the photos!

[jump4jai]

Sponge Man!

 

 

We had to be at the snorkeling dock at 8:15am. We waited and waited and waited and finally boarded the catamaran around 8:45pm. There were about 60 people on board. We were given our snorkeling gear as soon as we got on. The snorkeling mask had mold around the rim and one of the fins had a tear so I exchanged them to get appropriate gear. So my sis and I are trying to lay out and are continually getting yelled at so we eventually gave up (see other post). There is a brief (like 2 minute) talk about snorkeling equipment and emergency hand signals. After an hour they stop the boat and it is time for snorkeling. My sis has only snorkeled once before at Disney World shark lagoon and that did not count since she was in the water all of 5 minutes. She was scared then and was scared now and had anxiety. I don't recommend the Fury if you are a first time snorkeler because they give no instruction and the staff is not very helpful. If you want to be put at ease then this is not the excursion for you. I've snorkeled a few times before so I was helping my sis. She was hesitant to get into the water and was on the stairs for a few minutes. One of the Fury staff people yelled at her to move and I told them she is a first timer and needed a few minutes to compose herself. She finally got into the water and was snorkeling and seeing fish and we were about 10 minutes into it when someone next to us yelled Shark. At this point my sister swam faster than a fish back to the boat and stayed on it. I snorkeled by myself for the next hour. There were some cool fish but nothing really interesting or colorful. We got back onto the catamaran and sailed back to town. We were back by 12:30pm.

 

Sis in snorkel gear

 

 

 

 

 

[jump4jai]

I wanted to mention that the ONLY good thing about the snorkeling trip is that on the way back they had soda and beer. I didn't drink the beer but it was being topped off constantly. I guess that is the only thing the staff is good at because I think they were drinking too!

[babyher]

Sorry you excursion wasn't so hot. No need for them to be so nasty.

 

When we did the Stingray City tour in Grand Caymon, one of the girls with us freaked out big time once the rays started circleing. The guide that was with us was very good with her. Got her to relax, joked around with her and made her feel a lot more at ease so she could enjoy the tour.

 

Loving your review and pics :)

[jump4jai]

We wanted to get some key lime pie so we went to Blond Giraffe. I got the frozen chocolate covered key lime pie on a stick and my sis got the regular slice of key lime pie. It was tangy, sweet, and yummy all at the same time.

 

 

 

 

I went back to Hard Rock Cafe to get a t-shirt and to Margaritaville to get some shot glasses and key chains.

 

Stained glass window in Hard Rock

 

Waiter with a mohawk

 

[jump4jai]

Scenery

 

 

 

 

We were back at the trolley station at 2pm because the last one back to the ship was at 2:15pm. Our day in Key West just flew by and there seemed like there was so much more to see. We will definitely be back.

 

[jump4jai]

We missed lunch on the ship so we ordered room service.

 

Chicken Fajitas - yucky

 

Peanut Butter and Jelly - not enough jelly on it

 

Fresh Fruit

[jump4jai]

We rested and took naps until dinner. Then we got dressed up and ready to go. Like I said we liked to dress up every day and there were quite a few girls in dresses but some people just went to the dining room shlumpy. (Is that a word???)

 

 

 

 

Fresh Fruit and Berries - of course yummy

 

Fresh Baby Greens Salad

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[jump4jai]

Grilled Chicken Breast - good

 

Grilled Breast of Corn Fed Chicken - good

 

Dessert!

 

Cappuccino Pie - very delicious, was like ice cream cake

[jump4jai]

This night was fun because we danced with our waiters between the tables.

 

 

 

Our crazy waiter, Nyoman

 

 

We went to the show after dinner. There was Motown singer Tia Thompson. She was alright. She talked more than she sang. And the comedian Allyn Ball. He was hilarious and I wish he was doing an adult only show because I would be on the floor laughing hysterically. You're lucky if you have the chance to see him. We went to sleep right after the show because tomorrow we were going to the Bahamas!

 

Towel Swan

[jump4jai]

I'm more than halfway done with my review. I may have left some things out here and there so if you have questions ask away and I will try to answer them.

 

Thank you to everyone that commented and said they enjoyed my review. I am taking the time by posting these pictures and showing you how much fun I had on the cruise and for future Fascination passengers showing you what you can expect. Just remember to enjoy your vacation and have fun fun fun!!!

[jump4jai]

I forgot to mention an hour before dinner they had a reception in the Palace for past Carnival guests. It was similar to day 2 with hors d'oeuvres and mixed drinks. The drinks were FREE so remember to grab 2 or 3 when the waiter comes around!