Carnival Fascination

Was a fun trip with lots to do expect for the fact that there wasn’t enough food and food selection. That was a bit disappointing.

All great but they screwed up our dining reservations for our large party and didn’t try to fix it. But the head maître d’ in the open seating dining room did, saving us our table every night and making sure we where taken care of !! He went above and beyond when it wasn’t his problem. Kudos to him .. and his staff they where all great.

From a previous review TO Carnival: Q. What is the primary reason for the score you just gave us? I've gone on four (4) cruises in my life - mostly Princess. This is by far the most unsatisfactory cruise - pleasure trip - I have taken. The age of the ship only slightly impacted my trip. The (mid-ship) elevators would, at times, "announce" and display that you were on a level one floor above where you actually were. Buttons wouldn't work. Most of my experience lies in how customer service appears to be organized, or, more correctly, not organized. Coming onboard, I felt like a rat in a maze. There were entire corridors without personnel or signage as to which direction to go, and we had to weave our way through stairs and winding hallway, down escalators, guessing which direction to go. Ultimately there was a single person by a stairwell instructing us to go down and "follow the lines" - through a giant warehouse-type structure - to get to the ship. Announcements were horrible, if they existed. Announcements in English were almost imperceptible. The speed at which the person spoke and the echoing of the loudspeakers made it almost impossible to understand. Also, ship-wide announcements should be used for instruction, not sales. I don't want to hear about credit card opportunities and your latest sales reverberating ship-wide. This creates a scenario akin to "the boy that cried wolf". At some point, I'm going to immediately tune out anything coming across ship's comms, including emergency information that could save the life of my family. Having served in the military, and aboard sea vessels, I find that particularly disgusting. The announcements don't appear to be piped into the staterooms, which, is probably a good thing considering most of them were commerce-related. So, now, not only are they almost imperceptible if you're out in the open, I really can't understand them. The first night onboard, my family and I had dinner in open-dining area. "Sensations" I believe. I ordered steak, medium. I received something that looked like gravy-infused dog chow. I didn't make it to the center to see if it was medium. Room-temperature; tasted awful. I stopped there. My dinner was a glass of water. The second night I ate there, probably four (4) days into the trip, I tried the steak again; medium. Got room-temp again, well done. That was the last time I ate in any type of formal dinning. One of the reasons was that my wife and I went to eat dinner, and was told that the the restaurant was full and that they were waiting on people. Taking a quick glimpse around, the place was at about 40% capacity. The hostess held up to sticky notes with a few names on it (the people they were waiting on) and gave us a pager. having being told previously - since we tried - that they didn't take reservations, I was a bit perplexed as to why and almost empty restaurant, that doesn't take reservations, is now waiting on people above the ones that are standing in line, prepared to eat. My wife and I ended up going to the buffet. I had a salad, she had a sandwich. As we were going back to Sensations to return the pager, it goes off. That's 40 minutes later. And, BTW, two ladies were sitting next to (my family) at a separate table on the second night in Sensations. At some point, they just sat there, plates full. So I asked them why they hadn't eaten. One was served chicken so salty, that she couldn't eat it. The other, having asked for a well-done steak, was served a raw one. Coming onboard in Barbados, there were vacationers transitioning on, and off, the ship. Great. The problem was that there was one line dedicated to the 6 (six) people coming onboard, whilst the 50 existing vacationers coming onboard was being herded into a separate single line. Once we got through that, there is an attendant holding open the door of an elevator exclusively for those "new vacationers" - who, BTW, hadn't even made it through the security checkpoint yet - and preventing anyone else from getting in them. How do I have time to observe all of this? Because since the attendant is holding the doors open of one elevator, it appears that none of the other three (3) will come down to that level. Everyone in that line is waiting for her to release that elevator. So, after a full day of excursions, now we're met with a new challenge; wait on that level as the space fills with more people on-boarding, or take the stairs; which we elected to do. At this point, since I'm not distracted with eating your food, I start observing and listening to other vacationers - on and off the ship: "I've been on forty-nine cruises on many different ships, and this is the worst one I've even been on" "I've been on many Carnival cruises before, and this is the worst experience I've ever had" "I'm pissed!" says a random lady getting off an elevator shaking her head. "This cruise sucks!" as I am talking to another vacationer in St. Martin. "We're extremely unhappy with the vacation". And these are my personal interactions. There is SO much more, from myself, my family, from fellow vacationers. It's not the individual staff, or the age of the ship, it's simply boils down to how horribly Carnival executed this cruise. Really, the only highlights of this vacation was that I met some wonderful vacationers, seen some amazing places, and that the Fascination didn't sink. Q. What could we do to make this experience better for you? Sometimes ... just sometimes ... you only have one opportunity to make a favorable impression. This was my first cruise with Carnival. You missed that opportunity. I've already taken steps to "make this experience better" for myself and my family. We simply have no future plans to sail Carnival. Q. Could you please let us know why Carnival would not be your first choice for your next cruise? Poor execution of what should be an exciting and positive experience for all. You concentrate too much on commerce, to the point where it's intrusive (i.e., you posted the photo purchase booth directly outside one of the main elevators in the center of the ship. You literally had to move around it, and the people buying photos, in single file, if you could move at all. Under any circumstances, that's a hazard.). Also, I don't want my photo taken as I'm getting on the ship, whilst I'm having dinner, and while I'm trying to depart the ship. Your staff is no better than the street vendors we meet on excursions. At least I understand their motivations. I'd rather you charge a premium and guarantee a more positive experience than "$199" for a cruise and almost strong-arm guests on buying liquor, photos, jewelry, and anything else you can peddle. Amazon, Ebay ... I understand. I go direct to them to make purchases. You're in the business of providing a memorable experience, not assaulting your clients. If Carnival were a person - and, I, reasonably understanding the history, purpose and the essence of a cruise line - I would have to say to you that the fruit has fallen far, far from the tree.

We were on this ship two years ago, the food was just about the worst I had ever experienced. This time the food was the best I have ever eaten on ANY ship.

The ports were wonderful. So many of these cruises go to the same old ports over and over, so this was a most welcome change. Cabin service was poor. The cabin steward asked us to write down a time for the afternoon/evening service. We told him we had no "schedule" and to just come. Well he totally ignored the afternoon/evening...fresh towels would have been nice. He made a big deal giving us his "card" but when we called he didn't answer. The waiters weren't the best either, very inconsistent.