Carnival Fascination-Different port everyday

Item: Carnival Fascination
Rating: 4.6
Author: Bif13x

Carnival Fascination Cruise Review

Bif13x

Contributor Level: Third Mate

Cruises: 4-6 cruises

Reviews: 2

Helpful Votes: 30

Overall rating:

4.6 out of 5

7 Night Southern Caribbean (San Juan Roundtrip)

Sail date: January 19, 2020

Ship: Carnival Fascination

Cabin type: Oceanview

Cabin number: E72

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 4 years ago

Review summary

Before going on this cruise I read many reviews, it was probably close to 50-50 saying good or bad. My experience was a good experience I did not let the negativity bring me down and although there were certain things about the ship that weren’t perfect/they were definitely adequate for our use👍🏼👍🏼

Embarkation

5 out of 5

Took the carnival shuttle from the airport to the port. As soon as we got off the shuttle it downpoured at a 90° angle. Got totally soaked! Then the sun came out and started to dry us off. Other than that it was very fast-the line moved swiftly we never waited behind anybody.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

5 out of 5

Ate at the sensation dining room, Guys burger joint, Blue iguana, and other buffets. All the food we had was great-nothing disappointing...I don’t know why people were complaining on previous cruises but again good food.(some people are always miserable)

Sensation Dining Room

5 out of 5

Ate here every night and on three of the mornings. I always asked for the same waiter and his waitstaff. They were great and very entertaining and of course greeted us by our names and also had coffee brought to us with dessert as we had ordered it the first night. Nelson, Wilson and Jahongir were the best!

Onboard Activities

4 out of 5

Small ship-not complaining about the activities because I was fine with what we ended up doing but don’t go on this cruise for activities. We went on for ports of call and ended up having a great time

Entertainment

4 out of 5

The shows that we attended in the Paradise lounge were mediocre. The singers were OK. The variety show was great! He was funny, he did magic, he made dozens of ballon animals and flowers and I thought he was pretty amazing.The only reason I gave 4stars is because of him I think his name was John Cassidy and 2 out of 4 of the comedians were hilarious.

Service and Staff

5 out of 5

Everyone on board was friendly. Our waitstaff were probably the best out of all the staff that we met. Our steward was adequate to our needs

Ship Quality

5 out of 5

The ship is very small but that is not a complaint it is old but again not a complaint just facts. Very clean.

Cabin / Stateroom

3 out of 5

We were told before the cruise that we had a refrigerator but that was not the case. We did not know that in order to have a hairdryer you had to ask for it which we did find out on our third day and as far as bathrobes you can request them as we did on our third day also. Room was adequate for our needs (napping, showering and sleeping)

Ship tip

Ask for hairdryer and bathrobes on first night if you need them or would like to use them

Thumbs up

Ports of call

San Juan, Puerto Rico

5 out of 5

Probably my favorite of all the islands… I would definitely come back here for a vacation again. We ended up flying in Saturday morning and took a taxi over to Bacardi and had a tour and tasting. We also ate at Bacardi. Came back to the hotel to freshen up and then went to old San Juan where there was a festival which was fun and exciting. We Uber to both places… Very safe and inexpensive way to get around.

Thumbs Up 0

Bridgetown, Barbados

5 out of 5

We had privately bought tour tickets to Mount Gay rum. We had met a couple on the ship during dinner that expressed that they would like to join us which they did so we shared a taxi to Mount Gay. The taxi driver that brought us asked us if we would like a private tour through him after the rum tasting which we all decided that we would because it was a good deal($150) and a four hour tour of the island. So after the tour of Mount Gay we hopped in his van and he brought us on the north side of the island showing us many places of interest and even brought us to a nice local restaurant to have lunch

Thumbs Up 0

Philipsburg, St. Maarten

5 out of 5

Took a taxi to Maho beach which was fun and entertaining and then went to Toppers Rhum for a rum tasting. During the tour you try six different rums and then after the tour you could try up to 12 more of the rums that they make there. Pretty tasty!

Thumbs Up 0

Castries, St. Lucia

5 out of 5

We decided last minute to do the wonders of Saint Lucia tour offered through the carnival excursions. It was not a bad tour but there were people on the bus that were coughing and as I write this post myself and my fiancé are coming down with the cough that we believe we caught from some of the people on the bus. Other than that it was an hour tour of the island and two hours on pigeon Island Beach. Very nice beach, Locals kept asking us to braid our hair or to massage us which we declined.

Thumbs Up 0

Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas

5 out of 5

Did a private tour which was nice but the island seemed very poor.

Thumbs Up 0

Basseterre, St. Kitts

5 out of 5

We did the excursion called 10 best of Saint Kitts. It wasn’t a bad tour just wasn’t a great tour at the same time. I did see a lot of Saint Kitts. They seem like they are a poor island also

Thumbs Up 0

Disembarkation

5 out of 5

We did purchase faster to the fun so after we ate breakfast, we went into the Paradise lounge and five minutes after we sat down they called us to disembark(8:30am) We got off the ship, got our luggage, went to the end of the port and hopped on our shuttle back to the airport

Traveler Photos

2 Comments

CruzeFan 4 years ago

Glad you enjoyed it and didn’t let some of the negative reviews discourage you. Nothing is ever perfect, but I wonder how so many seem to find a way to be miserable on a cruise. They must look for every possible issue they can find. I definitely don’t understand the many complaints about the food. We have always found good variety and quality in the dining room and buffet on every cruise we have been on. If someone can’t find something to eat on a cruise, they either have serious food allergies or are the pickiest eaters on earth.

Thumbs Up 2

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Summerholiday 4 years ago

We take any negativity with a grain of salt all different so just go and enjoy make ur own memories happy cruising

Thumbs Up 1

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