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Carnival Fascination Cruise Review to Caribbean - Southern
Contributor Level:
Third Mate
Cruises: 4-6 cruises
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 46
7 Night Southern Caribbean (San Juan Roundtrip)
Sail date: February 25, 2018
Ship: Carnival Fascination
Cabin type: Oceanview
Cabin number: E194
Traveled as: Couple
Reviewed: 6 years ago
Review summary
Great cruise. This is our 4th time on this cruise with this itinerary. Next year they are adding a stop (Dominica) so there will be NO days at sea. This is good or bad, depending on who you talk to. I will use the day we are in St. Lucia to stay on the ship. It’s a good day to unwind mid-cruise. We took a tour of the entire island two years ago and unless we book an excursion to do snorkeling between the Pitons, I think I’ve seen everything on this island I need to see. We have done an occasional excursion, we swam with the turtles one tear in Barbados, went to the mud baths and botanical gardens in St. Lucia, but put me on a beautiful beach and let me relax and I’m one happy traveler. Anguilla seems painful and expensive, but this beach takes my breath away. There are so many blues going on that compliment each other along the white powder sand, that it’s hard to believe a place like this exists on the planet.Embarkation
Embarkation was great, considering I left our boarding passes on the plane. Carnival made it easy to go to the ship and explain what happened. I called them the day of and they walked me through everything. They told me to go to the ship and tell them what happened and someone would be there to help us. She was right. Smooth sailing.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
Food quality was great. Probably the most food I have eaten on a cruise. The ship had recent upgrades to include Guys Burger Joint and a taco station. I was never hungry. The food in the dining room was exceptional. We also ate in the dining room for breakfast on a couple days. Service was fun and they never missed a beat. I took off one star because we did Chefs Table exclusively to try the new menu that they were supposed to release this year, only to be disappointed that it was the same menu we have done for the last 2 years. If I’d have known that, I wouldn’t have booked the excursion. The chef explained that the new menu is out, but because of the ships logistics, and the fact that some of the new dishes required coming right from the stove to the table to be served, it just didn’t work with the location they had to have the Chefs Table dinner in.
Onboard Activities
We didn’t do too many things on the ship, we went to bed pretty early every night, but the one night we went to the comedian, he was hilarious!! We were disappointed that there was no send off party, and frankly, if there would have been better shows, or something that sounded worth staying up for, we would have done that. I felt like the entertainment was lacking a bit this year.
Entertainment
The one comedian we went to was hilarious!!
Service and Staff
Service was good on this cruise. I took one star off because it seemed like our room steward didn’t pay the same amount of attention as in years past. I remember last year, our steward was in our room to clean in the a.m., and then a turndown service before bed. This year there was only the one cleaning during the day.
Ship Quality
The staff was busy repairing, cleaning, painting, and other duties as assigned throughout the ship. They were very noticeable. This ship was dry docked and upgraded so it was in good shape. I took off one star because we found 2 coats and some soiled towels in the closet of our stateroom upon boarding. My spouse had to return them to guest services.
Cabin / Stateroom
Cabin was okay. It had 2 possible fold down beds, that took up extra space in the room. I wasn’t particularly fond of them. Kind of an eyesore in the room. The bathroom was fine and the bed was comfortable.
Ship tip
The ship is small. If you’re not used to sailing on a ship of this size, it will be shocking at first, but there are hardly any lines, the bathrooms are well maintained and it seems to me like the food is better.
Thumbs up
0
Ports of call
This port is fine. Lots of activity. We stayed at the Casablanca hotel before the cruise. The hotel is quaint, but the room was very small. I would not be able to stay here for more than one night. After the cruise we stayed at the Intercontinental on Isle Verde. Here, we noticed more destruction from the hurricane. Not too many hotels along the beach were open. Lots of boarded up windows and rebuilding going on.
Took the ferry from this island to St. John’s to visit Trunk Bay. Cab ride to the ferry was $8.00 per person one way. Ferry ride to St John’s was $8.10 one way. Cab ride from ferry terminal to Trunk Bay was $8.00 per person. Paid the same for the return trip to get back to the boat. The ferry runs every hour on the hour. The entire trip, from getting off the cruise ship in St. Thomas, to stepping on the beach at Trunk Bay was one hour. We left the beach at 2:30 to catch the 3:00 ferry. This is a public beach that typically charges to get in, but it looked like they haven’t been charging people. They have chairs for rent and snorkel gear when you first walk in. This beach and island were bit pretty hard, but as you can see, it did not impact the beauty of this beach. If anything, it added more real estate for laying out.
We are all about the beaches on this cruise and I researched the heck out of the beaches on this island. I was looking for something not too busy, white, powder sand, calm, turquoise waters, and not too far away from the ship....... I HIT THE JACKPOT! We went to Brandon’s Beach. This is a beach so close to the ship that we actually WALKED back to the ship because there were no cabs waiting to take people back to the ship. This seemed to be a beach mostly used by the locals. The cab ride there was $4.00 per person and the cab drivers didn’t look too thrilled to take us to a beach that was so close. There was no one selling beach chairs, or no vendors on this beach. (I liked that) We purchased snacks from the shops in the cruise terminal, so we were covered.
We didn’t do much of anything in this port. We got off the boat to see about some souvenirs and quickly got back on the boat because it was all the same junk. The vendors here are overwhelming, to the point I didn’t even want to make eye contact with anyone. I heard some people who went on excursions enjoyed theirs. Spencer’s tours seemed to be the hit of this island with snorkeling between the Pitons. I don’t recommend getting off the boat and not having an excursion already lined up on this island. One group told us that they paid their cab driver for round trip to wherever they went and when they returned to the ship, he tried to charge them again. They ended up just walking away, but I would plan ahead on this island.
I LOVE this island. However, saying that, I haven’t seen much of it. We go to Friars Bay, a place called Carambola Beach Club. It is the closest beach to the port. The cab fare is $6.00 per person one way. When you get to the club, you can purchase a chair for $10.00 and an umbrella if you want one for another $10.00. We opted for no umbrella, but purchased two chairs. (Totally worth it) If you get there early enough, you will get to pick your location before the place fills up, because it will fill up!! I got a 45 minute massage on the beach for $35.00... (It was awesome) and of course, Edward the Monkey made his appearance so I could get in some of my beloved monkey photos. This day was hot, hot, hot, and I got the most sunburned on this beach. There is a separate area for snorkeling if you want, my friend video taped two sea turtles. There were a lot of fish just swimming in the water close to the shore, which seemed to freak some people out, but they were small.
This island by far had the most damage. We do not stay on this island, we take the ferry from Marigot to the island of Anguilla. It has the most breathtaking beaches of any island I’ve ever been to. Here’s the catch.... IT’S EXPENSIVE! And, you can only enjoy the beach for about 3 hours. 3 hours of paradise for approximately $100.00 a person. I’ll try to break this down..... $8.00 per person to get to the ferry across St. Marteen - the 9:30 a.m. ferry. $20.00 per person one way for the ferry. $10.00 per person to leave the island of St. Marteen....some kind of tax. (They do stamp your passport) $10.00 per person from the ferry port on Anguilla to Shoal Bay. $10.00 again to pay when you leave the island if Anguilla.....some kind of tax, again.... then all of the cab fare and ferry ride charges back again. (So, it might be just a tad over $100.00 per person) The ferry on the island leaves every hour, starting at 8:30 a.m., so in order for us to make our way back to the ship in time, 4:30 p.m., we needed to leave the beach we were on by 2:00 p.m. to catch the 2:30 ferry, and then the cab back across the island with traffic. I don’t care, it’s worth it to me. We are looking into the cost of staying at a resort on the island. It is breathtaking.
Other excursions I would do on this island.... the Facebook group I was in on this cruise shared pictures of zip lining on this island, and that looked pretty fantastic. While we were in the cab, we saw a group of about 15 people on 4 wheelers, some people were doubled up, riding with smaller children on back, and I though that looked like something I would like to do. Again, I have no information for either of these, just something I noticed.
Disembarkation
Carnival makes this easy. We ate breakfast in th3 dining room this day, they open at 7:00 a.m. I don’t think many people even realize that the dining room is open every day for breakfast, but we try to eat in there a couple days on the cruise. The eggs Benedict are great, and you can get a made to order omelette, or pancakes without waiting in line. Just make sure you have all of the customs paperwork filled out correctly and completely and disembarkation is a breeze.
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