Southern Caribbean Carnival Fascination
Carnival Fascination Cruise Review
Contributor Level:
Second Mate
Cruises: 4-6 cruises
Reviews: 4
Helpful Votes: 78
7 Night Southern Caribbean (San Juan Roundtrip)
Sail date: March 08, 2020
Ship: Carnival Fascination
Cabin type: Inside
Cabin number: U31
Traveled as: Family (older children)
Reviewed: 4 years ago
Review summary
Taking a cruise during a pandemic is definitely challenging but The Carnival Fascination crew did an excellent job of making the cruise best it could be! The ports are also amazing! I would recommend this cruise to everyone!Embarkation
Embarkation was quick and easy even with the extra screening for Covid-19. I really liked that Carnival now puts your sign and sail cards on your stateroom door.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
I thought the food was just okay on this ship. Several times our food came out not as we asked in the Imagination dining room. And the buffets were controlled due to Covid-19. Guys burgers were good as usually!
Onboard Activities
It was a smaller ship and very port heavy so there wasn’t a lot of time on board. As always the marriage show was really a good time, the game show was great and the comedy shows were by far my favorite! Because this ship sailed from San Juan, our ship had a lot of Puerto Rican’s onboard. I feel that carnival did a good job with having activities for everyone. There were several nights that I went and watched Latin dancing as an example.
Entertainment
This cruise had some really rough waters and with the Fascination being a small ship, it moved about quite a bit. With that being said, I didn’t think the shows were as high quality as I have seen them on other Carnival ships. I was disappointed as I usually love the shows! I will say though, as a competitive dance mom I have watched a lot of dance and can say I often see things that most people don’t see.
Service and Staff
As always, the Carnival staff were outstanding! Even with our cruise being extended by 2 days due to San Juan denying us entry and having to sail to Miami the crew was on top of their game the whole time. We had heard that several of the crew were suppose to disembark and head home but got the news of us having to sail on to Miami at the same time we did. They went back to their staterooms, changed and went back to work to make our extended stay wonderful to the very end. The only bad experience I had was with a young girl in the casino cage. She definitely was not pleasant!
Ship Quality
The cleanliness of the ship was far beyond my expectations but once again we were also sailing during a pandemic. The ship is definitely older and small but we still had a wonderful time aboard! The ports were wonderful. The only negative I will say is that the ship rocks quite a bit. I honestly haven’t been on a ship that I could feel so much motion aboard before.
Cabin / Stateroom
This is an inside cabin. I thought it was more spacious than previous ships I have been on. As always, the bedding was so comfortable! I always sleep so good on cruises!
Ship tip
Get a room in the middle of the ship and as low as you can if you get motion sickness.
Thumbs up
0
Ports of call
We were suppose to do a catamaran and sea turtle encounter excursion but it got cancelled due to Jelly Fish in the area. We did find someone who took us out to another spot for an hour and we seen some sea turtles and even a stingray! Several people in our group did get stung by baby jellies unfortunately. After that we found a local beach and just chilled out for the remainder of the day.
Our ship was in port till 9:00 pm so we went back into town for the street fest! I highly recommend going if you get the chance! It was a lot of fun!
Our ship actually went to Dominica instead of St. Lucia. We were very disappointed at first but then did an amazing Carnival tour that we got to swim between two mountains to see a waterfall and then sat in some natural hot mineral springs! Our tour guide told us about the history of the island and the culture they have. It was amazing! I highly recommend a visit to this island! It was breathtaking!
It rained all day in St. Thomas so we just shopped. They have a really nice shopping area close to the port!
St. Maarten is beautiful! They have a nice shopping area and beach close to the port. The only bad thing I will say is we had 3 locals literally fighting over selling us chairs for the day. Someone from our group had to step in and referee them. It was crazy!
We went to Cockleshell beach. It is a beautiful beach but a little missy and rocky. We got massages on the beach for 35.00/40 min. It was very peaceful and relaxing!
Disembarkation
Carnival did a wonderful job getting us off the ship. I’m sure this wasn’t easy to arrange in 2 days. They had buses that took us to either Fort Lauderdale or Miami airports. They even allowed some guests to stay on the ship another night to save on hotel costs for them.