Carnvial Fascination - Was SHOCKED at how much I liked this ship!

Carnival Fascination Review

This makes my 10th cruise.  My second on Carnival.  I have cruised on Carnival, Celebrity, Azamara, Norwegian and Royal Caribbean.  I wasn't expecting much from this Carnival cruise, just a quick getaway.  I was SHOCKED at how great the ship looked, how good the food was and how amazing the staff was.  I am 43 and my traveling companion is 56.

We lucked out and got an amazing deal on a Grande Suite (U76). It was beyond out of this world and worth every single penny.  Our stateroom attendant, Joanna from the Philippines (I think) was the very BEST stateroom attendant I have ever had on any cruise line, hands down. So much so, that I bragged to the Hotel Manager about her.

Room service was HORRIBLE though.  Very little selection and the food was really, really bad. Service time was good, and the girl that brought the room service was nice.  The food was not really even edible.  Sorely disappointed in room service.

Dining room food was really good.  Buffet did not have a whole lot of selections, but was pretty good.

We had My Time Dining, which I love. The only thing is you get a different waiter every night and they seem to not be as friendly as if you had the same waiter every night.  One server in particular though was AWESOME.  His name was Kelbert from St. Vincent.

The pool deck and slides were fun with AWESOME dance music.  I loved the karaoke and hanging out on our balcony.

Excursions: 

1) Freeport, Bahamas.  We took the Carnival Beach Excursion with Open Bar.  The place we went was on Taino Beach.  BEAUTIFUL!!!!

TIP: You can get anything you want from the bar.  We kept getting the mixed drinks that had very, very little alcohol in them.  Near the end of the day everyone we met there was telling us we should have asked for doubles, shots or beer for the alcohol.  Next time we will know.  Definitely recommend this place.  Walk down the beach and you will see a hidden resort. Walk down the path and you can use the most incredible pool I have ever seen.  Underwater grotto swim up bar, slides, lazy river, hammocks.  Not technically supposed to be there but it is never checked.

2) Nassau, Bahamas.  We went on our own and took a WATER Taxi ($6 per person each way) to the PUBLIC beach (which is free) on Paradise Island. HATED the water taxi.  Extremely crowded, miserable and they drop you off with no directions and you must walk a very, very long way.  Regular car taxis drop you off immediately in front of the beach, same price. Can catch them at the pier and there are tons of them waiting at the beach.

DO NOT GO to the public beach at Paradise Island!  Even though it's free it is the worst beach ever.  The waves are EXTREMELY rough.  I nearly drowned from the undercurrent, as did many others.  We paid $20 and got unlimited mixed drinks in a coconut.  They were all mixed somewhere offsite and stored in gallon milk jugs. Little to no alcohol, but tasted good.  HATED the ocean and the sand on this beach.  I can't stress enough not to waste your time here.  It's sort of pretty but that's about it.

Luggage:  I had someone take my suitcase at the end of the cruise.  She took mine by mistake in the terminal and left hers.  She left no contact info etc.  I had info on mine.  A couple days later she called me, accusing me. I let her know that she took MY luggage and that hers was still at the terminal.  Carnival was helpful in they had her mail my luggage back to me.  Once she had a tracking # and gave it to Carnival, they would make sure my luggage was delivered to me, then they would mail her luggage to her.  I received it back pretty quickly.

Embarkation/Debarkation was okay.  Long Lines but we got to check in at the VIP boarding room since we had a suite.  Much more chaotic than Royal Caribbean's terminals.

All in all I would DEFINITELY go on the Fascination again!