Maryann and Tony Buonaspina

Age: 43
Occupation: Computers, Music Teacher
Number of Cruises: First Cruise
Cruise Line: Carnival Cruise Lines
Ship: Fantasy
Sailing Date: July 21st, 2002
Itinerary: 4 days, Freeport and Nassau, Bahamas

Our trip began with a four night stay at the wonderful Disney Yacht Club. We had a room on the concierge floor with continuous food and a room with never used furniture, bedspreads, and carpeting. Can’t get accommodations better than this! Had lots of fun in very hot (100 degrees) Disney. We then took a limo to Port Canaveral to begin our first cruise.

We learned one thing from this cruise: despite the fact that we like great accommodations, you don't need them to have a good time!!

We are pretty positive people and read many reviews before we left home. We were prepared for all the negatives but had a great time. We have four children ages 5-15, and each one of them enjoyed the cruise so much. Even though there were times with no activities planned or the activities planned were not appealing to our kids, our kids had so much fun walking the boat!

Our oldest child (teenager/hard to please) hooked up with a bunch of kids his age and hung out with them the whole trip. Two of them were at our dinner table. Nice to see kids from all across the U.S. have fun together. Our twelve year had fun with her soda card and the freedom we gave her to walk the ship. The younger two did many activities at Camp Carnival. Mom received a beeper when I left the five year old incase I was needed. I checked on him five times in one night, thinking he might want to leave Camp Carnival, and he gave me such a hard time since he wanted to stay. The counselors were fun and full of energy. The activities were real cute: games, t-shirt decorating, stories, etc. The final night had a farewell party at the disco.

As for Mom and Dad, we enjoyed the very friendly staff at the casino, and all our family loved the very outstanding shows: Broadway medleys, comedians, magicians. Mom is a musician who was most impressed with the great singing voices, musical arrangements, dynamite choreography, and big jazz band on stage, outstanding dancers, and overall exciting shows.

Despite bad reviews about sodas and dinnertime, once we ordered our favorite drinks on night one, we found those same drinks at our seats at all the other dinners remaining. We had the cutest waiter from the Philippines: Romel. Great personality and wonderful service. We ordered everything!! We tried anything that sounded interesting on the menu. He brought it right out with a most friendly smile. Loved the Jubilee Dining Room. Only place we ate. In the morning we didn't want a heavy meal before departing on the islands, so we ordered room service: toasted bagels, fruit salads, etc. The kids loved that 24 pizza bar at the Windows on the Sea deck and especially the soda cards. We love sushi, and all of us tasted everything the sushi bar chef was making each night. Very tasty. The sushi bar was right near the casino.

The casino staff was fun. Dad won the blackjack tournament on the last night.

Our room was not small at all. We had two rooms next to one another, three people in each room. The boys had their bachelor pad (mess) and the girls had the neat room. The stewards were SO great and efficient. We came back from a beach at Nassau full of sandy bathing suits. After we left our room, the room was immediately cleaned. Each room fit three twin beds easily with an 8x6 area in the middle of empty space. Bedspreads ok, blankets very worn, beds comfortable, bathrooms old but clean. We booked our cruise only a week before we took it. Our rooms were on the Riviera Deck, and we heard a lot of rumbling whenever the boat went in or out. Like an alarm clock. That's because our rooms were at the front of the ship over a thruster. By the second morning, we slept through it!

We rarely felt the boat moving, but had great sailing weather the whole time we went.

Our family had a great time. It was so neat and beautiful to see all people from countries around the world work and travel together and get along. Most guests were not from New York like we were but rather from out west. Almost all employees were from foreign countries.

The islands were beautiful. We did not do any of the recommended excursions. We got off the boat on both days and asked our cab driver ($4 per person) to take us to some place beautiful that would have snorkeling, parasailing, jet skiing, beautiful beaches. This worked out just fine: no crowds, lines, and our cab driver returned earlier than when we asked.

Some of the activities we did on the islands included renting jet-skis, parasailing, snorkeling, glass bottom boat rides, shopping at the straw markets, and enjoying the very pretty beaches and lovely white sand.

As for the hairbraiding, we were pre-warned about the bargaining. We set the price, and only paid a little more for a tip. It took our hair braider two full hours on the beach doing one of our daughter's hair. This woman is the mother of five children. We paid her $90 with tip. She said she made about $700 a week doing this but paid her babysitter and supported her own children. As she was doing our daughter's hair she pointed to the men on the beach who fathered her children.

The straw market was colorful and fun. The Bahamian people were warm, friendly, and great salespeople. We bought all kinds of inexpensive items and got a "great deal" on everything. My husband paid a little boy to sing a song for him. We had no problem with any of these people. They were all kind to us, and this made the trip fun. The cab drivers were very helpful, and we were happy to tip them. Still a lot of good people in this world. This trip was a pure indication of that. We got such a kick out of the continuous flow of people asking our second daughter if she "wanted to have her hair braided!"

The ship had all kinds of sales/promotions going on. Before the third night, we all got very pretty watches we didn't really need, gold necklaces and bracelets, etc.

As I said before, you don't need a perfect room to have a good time. The staff on this boat was very, very friendly and accommodating to us. We never had to ask for anything more than once. Thank you to all the Carnival staff for making this a fun cruise and trip for us!!

We most likely would take another Carnival Cruise since the Disney Cruise has no casino. Both Carnival and Disney allow smoking in special spots on the boat. We are not smokers and were somewhat repulsed by the smoking in certain spots. When we first got on board, we were a little hesitant about a lot of things: smoking, old bathroom, etc. The entire cruise experience grew on all of us, and by the third day, we got used to where everything was and were most happy with the friendly staff and services.

The formal dining room was a real treat. Delicious appetizers, salads, main courses, and especially desserts. Wish we could have eaten more. Very full but happy. The Windows on the Sea was a less formal eating area with help yourself type food, not fancy, but very welcome when we first got on the ship or when we wanted a pizza or ice cream.

We probably spent an additional $1500 besides the price of the cruise on limo transportation, drinks on the cruise, gift items, excursions, but we are six people. The cruise ran about $3200 for six people for four days plus the extra spending money of about $1500. . We had the porthole cabins. There were very few cabins with balconies. While walking around the ship, we went to the area where the balcony cabins were and got to see one. Little disappointing that the balcony faces the side of the big orange life saving boats attached to the side of the ship. Hard to see the pretty view of the water. Why have a balcony cabin if you are a facing a boat and can't see the water? I am sure not all balcony cabins were like this.

If you are the kind of person who is positive and finds something good in any situation, then you will enjoy this cruise. Probably the only three things that weren't perfect were the old bathrooms, frayed blankets, and cigarette smoke in the casino area. But our bathrooms looked real good when we returned from the beach and were covered with sand and desperately needed a shower. Suddenly, we weren't so fussy!

Our next cruise will be on a newer ship and will most likely be Carnival. The Camp Carnival kept our younger children very happy and busy. They have strict rules about not grouping kids together because they are siblings. Kids are grouped according to ages only. At the beginning, I was worried how the five year old would do until I watched him laughing and playing games geared for only his age. He had the best time with the counselors and was always laughing since they were funny and exciting to him. Our nine year old made friends with other girls at Camp Carnival and joined in activities.

I am writing this review only a day after getting off the ship. Still fresh in my memory. We had fun. Hope you will too. Bring expandable clothing. You’ll be eating a lot.

Very funny comedian on night one. Told the story of how he performed on a cruise that had all nude people on it. He wondered where they kept their Sail and Sign cards!!! Really funny.

Warn your small children about the toilet flushing noise that sounds like a bomb/machine gun!!

Think we wrote enough. Hope your trip is as much fun as ours!!

As I write this my husband is going through the paperwork/brochures. We are laughing that the cruise-given tour order form asked each person to pay $27 per person for the glass bottom boat. We didn’t order the tour from the ship but walked directly to the boat right near the cruise ship in Nassau. Problem: we forgot to bring money. Had only $90 on us for six people. They had no problem letting us go on. So we only paid $15 per person. Guess everything down there is something to bargain!

If you made it to the end of this really long review, thank you and hope you enjoy your cruise. When you get back, you’ll be like me: wishing you were sitting at that very pretty formal dining room with three delicious appetizers in front of you.

Time to go. Still doing that laundry from six people being away for eight days. Bye!

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