Joan Howard

Age: 40
Occupation: Business Owner
Number of Cruises: 4
Cruise Line: Carnival
Ship: Fantasy
Sailing Date: October 30th, 2003
Itinerary: Nassau

We wanted to take our boys (ages 10 & 12) on their first cruise over fall break. We chose the Fantasy because if fit our schedule and a 3 night cruise was a good starter trip for our kids.

I was a bit disappointed from the beginning. I suppose I should have realized that a Carnival cruise can't compare to a Princess cruise.

The embarkation took way too long. They blamed the problem on the computers on land.

I was not impressed with the buffets all day buffets at all. The dining room food was good. The presentation of the food was definitely not wonderful. Just good food.

We scheduled ourselves to swim with the Sting Rays at Nassau, but the seas were too high and the tour was cancelled. Not Carnivals fault, but it was not handled well. We were told to meet on the dock as soon as we were allowed to disembark at Nassau. It took at least 45 minutes for the gang way to open. Once we were on the docks, we were told (after looking for our tour for quite some time) that the tour was cancelled. We felt they knew the tour was cancelled before we left the ship and we should have been told. We were also told that the our ship account would automatically be credited with the tour. It wasn't. WHAT A SURPRISE!

It took two trips to the pursers desk. To get the problem straightened out. I tried to call the pursers desk and was treated very rudely by one of the attendants.

We were on the ship for Halloween. Our youngest son still likes to participate. We were disappointed that the Halloween party on the 31st did not begin until 11:30 p.m. It was really intended for adults. The kids' party was on November 1st. Kind of dumb if you ask me.

Disembarkation didn't go any better than the beginning of the trip.

Although there were problems, we did still have a good time. It was an adventure for our boys. Next time, we will chose another cruise line.

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