Carnival - best vacation of my life. Far superior to other cruises I've taken in the eastern Caribbean. Cozumel was a delightful surprise. Very friendly people, laid-back town, not too touristy. Mobile - don't bother. Inconvenient location and terrible service staff. Go through Port of New Orleans instead.
Embarkation
5 out of 5
Friendly, fast, fun. Waited just a few minutes for our number to be called and boarded in no time. The Carnival crew were so delightful at every step.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
5 out of 5
5 star food, each dish plated with care and perfection. Unbelievable. Casual food was consistently good, a bit of a wait at times but worth it.
Onboard Activities
5 out of 5
There were a lot of family activities, but I spent most of my time in quiet relaxation on deck.
Entertainment
5 out of 5
The Motown Show was awesome! Performers really went out of their way to give a phenomenal show with costumes, stunning choreography, and beautiful voices.
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
Genuinely happy staff who are experts in American-style customer service. Always smiling, friendly, address us by name, laugh and joke with you, very helpful, and never ask for or expect a tip but genuinely grateful if given.
Ship Quality
5 out of 5
Fantasy did show it's age in places - could use a fresh painting and new deck chairs on Serenity Deck and update the late-80s neon/chrome atrium, but was spotlessly maintained and easy to navigate.
Cabin / Stateroom
4 out of 5
A little tight when the bunk bed is folded down (you have to duck to get to the second twin bed). Unfortunately only the steward can let the bed up or down because it requires a special key. Immaculately cleaned each day and very well maintained interior.
Ship tip
Book on the Empress deck because it is right below the main dining deck and closest to all the action decks. The elevators are very slow - they're not run by a modern system to optimize efficiency, so if you stay on Empress you can just take the stairs anywhere you need to go.
The Port of Mobile is despicable. Was practically mugged for a tip by the luggage porters. Physically stood in front of us demanding we "show some love" before he would take our bags or let us leave. The sad part was all he did was put our bags on a cart and pushed them 20 yards to the boat, and Carnival crew did the actual work of loading them on the boat and delivering them to our room before we boarded, so the Carnival guys do all the work but the port porters demand the tip. Will never go through Mobile again.
More detail: You can't really arrive before your scheduled check in time because allegedly you won't be allowed in the terminal. I can't confirm whether they enforce this or not. It is Carnival, after all, we know how they are about enforcement in other areas. Too early in the morning and you won't get a parking space because the returning cruisers will not have left yet. And yes, you enter the garage on the ground floor to drop off bags. Once that process is done, finding a space was not a problem for us, and the process in the terminal moved along at a decent clip. It's just the chaos getting into the garage. This congestion may have cleared up a bit later, I don't know and can't say.
Medfly, also see my comment under Mobile. The problem is, there is a choke point entering the garage, as they have "lanes" inside where people drop off their checked bags with the porters, then proceed beyond and upstairs to the parking area. However, they don't let anyone in a lane move until the entire lane is finished and ready to go. There is always one in any lane that slows this process to a crawl. In the meantime, traffic is backing up outside and not moving into the garage, as the police give priority to everyone except those waiting the longest in the position they are supposed to be in. So yes, the last 200 yards took us almost 2 hours.
Bobtuba - thanks for the parking details in Mobile. 1st cruise next week (6 days). I've pre-paid parking but don't really understand the "last 200" yd reference? I'm concerned on how I drop off luggage to porters before parking? Is that what you are referring to? Is the garage first come from a space perspective? Any additional detail you can provide would be extremely helpful to me - I'm (like you) only an hour away (Pensacola) so I'm wondering now if I should make alternate plans (leave house)? What's the earliest you can park? Thanks in advance
NaeNae, it depends on what value of bad. My experience is that it takes forever to get into the garage. Once parked, the process moved at a reasonable clip. If you're arriving a day early, Mobile is not the tourist destination that NOLA is, but you can still amuse yourself. Personally, I recommend the Battleship Park, but there are other things, depending on your interests.
So we chose to cruise from Mobile because it is only about an hour's drive from our house, and we wanted to reward Carnival with our custom for choosing to put a ship back into that port after quitting it a few years ago. Well, it works like this: We can drive 3 hours to NOLA and pull into the garage, or we can drive one hour to Mobile and wait two hours to move the last 200 yards to get into the garage. So I guess it's a wash.
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