Carnival Fascination September 1-8, 2019
Carnival Fascination Cruise Review
7 Night Southern Caribbean (San Juan Roundtrip)
Sail date: September 01, 2019
Ship: Carnival Fascination
Traveled as: Couple
Reviewed: 4 years ago
Review summary
Had a great time. This was my second sailing on the Fascination. My first sailing was in 2016, ship was good but obviously lacked many features already available in the fleet. Fast forward to 2019 (ship was in dry-dock early 2018), and the ship is a lot more modern. Room was clean, there enough space in the bathroom (there are practically no shelves in the bathroom compared to other bigger ships so bring the essentials or an add on). Food was really good, Guy’s Burger Joint is a must! Blue Iguana Cantina was also really good (surprisingly almost no lines for breakfast, yet the breakfast burritos were delicious), the food in the MDR was also delicious, the lunch buffet was good, not exceptional; pizzas were good, the deli was hit and miss. Sometimes they would use too much bread and not enough filling, sometimes it was just right. Bonsai Sushi Express is for a minimal fee, but totally worth it. I had cruised this itinerary 8 times since 2013. So I’m very familiar with the ports of call. Out of all the stops, St. Lucia is the weakest. While St. Maarten and St. Kitts ports have expanded very quickly, St. Lucia has remained largely unchanged. So it does feel old. A drawback from this itinerary is the Sun. All the stops are of warm weather, but there is very little to no shade (I live in the Caribbean so I’m quite familiar with warm tropical weather). Shows were good, Love & Marriage was the highlight. On the downside, this was the first time we tried the “creativity at sea” and it was a letdown. You are given materials for arts and crafts, but the lady running the event clearly showed a lack of interest in doing the seminar, there was no guidance. She just told us what we had to do and gave us the materials to do so. There is potential for this activity, but the woman running the seminar shouldn’t be leading the event. Another low point was the sea-day brunch. Food was good, but we were mostly neglected for whatever reason. Dinning room was mostly empty but they assigned our seating all the way back of the MDR, not a soul on sight... it took a while to make our orders, and even longer to finally get the food. A tip for those that don’t know, on the breakfast buffet, Guy’s Burger Joint is turned into the Omelette Station, however, most don’t know that the Pizza Pirate station also makes Omelettes and the line was always shorter.Embarkation
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
Onboard Activities
Entertainment
Service and Staff
Ship Quality
Cabin / Stateroom
Ship tip
There isn’t a lot of shelve room in the bathrooms, plan accordingly on what to bring and/or where to store toiletries