Fantastic time! I'm a firm believer that how much you're going to enjoy a cruise is determined before you get on the boat. We ALWAYS have a great time, I think because we always get on the ship believing that we're going to have a great time.
Embarkation
5 out of 5
Embarkation was extremely smooth. We had really short waits at every station.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
4 out of 5
All of the dining areas were clean and orderly. The food was good. Guy's and Blue Iguana were a favorite, as always. Our biggest complaint was the wait for the dining room on the first night. This was our first experience with anytime dining. We showed up about 6:30 the first night and waited over an hour to be seated. I don't know if this is typical for that time or not. We went to the MDR two other nights. We got there around 6:00 both of the other nights and went right in.
Onboard Activities
4 out of 5
I give this a good even though we didn't do much of the activities. It was just too cold on both of our sea days, so we stayed inside mostly on those days. We hit a few of the trivias, which are always fun.
Entertainment
5 out of 5
Really, really enjoyed the shows. I thought they did a great job with them. The musicians that performed were also really talented.
Children's Programs
No kids with us
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
Our room steward was amazing! Great sense of humor and always willing to do anything we asked. We even wanted our bed arranged differently he had it done within the hour.
Ship Quality
5 out of 5
It's the oldest ship in the Carnival fleet, but I give it a 5 just because they try so hard. Yes, if you want to find blemishes, they are certainly there, but we knew it was an older ship before we got on and what we saw was far better than what we expected.
Cabin / Stateroom
5 out of 5
Typical Carnival room. Just like we expected. Bed was super comfy. There was only one plug and no USB ports, but we were expecting this and brought our extra plugs. Bathroom didn't smell at all. The hot water is hot! The room temperature was very comfortable. We actually had to turn down the vent a little, which is unusual for us!
Ship tip
I saw some complaints on a Facebook group about the condition of the ship. These folks must have been expecting a new ship. Be realistic about your expectations, as the ship is almost 30 years old. Bring a power strip or something if the females like a blow drier and curling iron/straightener plugged in at the same time. Most importantly, enjoy your cruise!
We really enjoyed Progreso. It is definitely not a tourist town, but the people are so authentically nice! As soon as we got off the shuttle bus, we walked out toward the beach and took a tour of Progreso on an open top, double-decker bus. $5 per person. There were only 4 of us on it up top, so we had our own personal guide. Just talking with him was so interesting. They let us stop at the colorful "Progreso" sign and he took photos with everyone's cameras. After the bus, we walked to the public beach. We were bombarded with people trying to get us to buy things, but a polite "no thank you" was all it took. We finally settled for a spot where we were offered a shaded canopy and 4 chairs with beach loungers for free as long as we ordered drinks. The ladies had $5 Pina Coladas and us guys got a bucket of beer. Six beers for $18. Yeah, we ended up with 2 buckets. Beach vendors were walking up and down trying to sell stuff. They took "no" really well. But we did talk with a few of them. Very interesting people who shared stories and took time with us. If you go, I really encourage you to get in some conversations. Fabulous people.
This was our first time here and we had reservations at Mr. Sancho's, so we didn't do much on the island. Mr. Sancho's was great, though. $50 all you can eat and drink. As soon as we sat down, they brought us drinks with nachos and dip. That was some of the best guacamole I've ever had. I had shrimp tacos, which were fabulous. Also, the grilled shrimp are out of this world! The water was pretty cool, but this South Carolina boy finally did used to it and we ended up swimming a good bit. Overall, we had a blast, but next time, I will probably try to see more of the island.
We were some of the last people off the ship, which was our choice to be. We didn't want it to end! Debarkation went pretty smoothly. They have a special line for passports, which made things a little quicker for us.
We have been on the sister ship Ecstasy twice and each time We enjoyed it. As with the fantasy, the same type of negative reviews. If you want luxury, go with luxury. We have never been disappointed with carnival and look forward to our cruise in May. Thanks for the review.
Totally agree. Attitude is half of it. I had read some bad reviews as well and was pleasantly surprised at the ship once onboard. Yes its old and if want to find something wrong you will. But we just focused on being fortunate enough to be there and enjoying ourselves. Had a great time and would sail Fantasy again. And I hear they have remodeled since we sailed so even better.
*Cruiseline.com is not a booking agent or travel agency,
and does not charge any service fees to users of our site. Our partners
(travel agencies and cruise lines) provide prices, which we list for our
users' convenience. Cruiseline.com does not guarantee any specific rates or
prices. While prices are updated daily, please check with the booking site
for the exact amount. Cruiseline.com is not responsible for content on
external web sites.
Contact us
Submitting...
Need help from a personal vacation planner?
Loading...
Find the perfect cruise with weekly tips and cruise deals for as little as $30/night!
Sign up for weekly cruise deals
Join other subscribers and get the best
cruise deals of the week in your inbox every Thursday.
