Mike Martin

Age: 48
Occupation: K-mart (garden shop)
Number of Cruises: 1
Cruise Line: Carnival
Name of Ship: Fascination
Sailing Date: November 11th, 2002
Itinerary: Western Caribbean

10:00 am We arrive at Ft.Lauderdale and are very glad to see the Carnival reps. in the luggage area ,do to A booking glitch we didn’t receive our vouchers for the bus to take us from the airport to the port of the ship in Miami , after getting this corrected we are on our way to our ship.

12:30 pm our bus driver unloaded all the luggage and we started the ritual of tipping ,which be prepared for lots of this ! Then we get off the bus to I.D our luggage for the porter which will load it on the ship, to which he informs us , this is the time to tip him, we do so , and go into the Carnival terminal to check in ,not bad about 20 min. we are on our way to the ship with our room keys and sail and sign cards.

Up the gangway and into the first of lots of photos, we bought this one ,but left many sitting in the discarded photo box ,we then enter the ship my what A grand atrium with A sculpture that spans many floors of the ship , glass elevators , lights everywhere .

It was quite nice and for first time cruisers such as my wife and I something we will not soon forget. We decide to take our coats (since we left Mi. it was 30 degrees And now in Miami it’s a toasty 85,) to our cabin along with our carry on luggage we had. Before going to the buffet on the lido deck.

After lunch the good old muster drill ,and our “fascination” set sail for key west. On our way back to the cabin to put our life vests away the bar was open, we bought the best investment on the ship the fountain fun cards , $18.75 ea. But well worth it ,when we drank nothing but sodas , and they are good any where on the ship, (except room service) and un-limited sodas is quite A good value. at the price of soda without the card, I’m sure we spent ½ of what it would have been.

Since we had A late dinner 8:30 pm we rested in our cabin , showered and changed before dinner , now we meet our table mates , David and Allison from N.C. ,also first time cruisers, and Juan and Miriam from Miami, an older couple that has been on lots of carnival cruises ,by the end of dinner we enjoy both couples and are looking forward to the rest of our meals with them.

The food fantastic ,my wife decided to try some foods she’s never had and orders the escargot , none for me thank I like steaks J,but the soup is good especially the pumpkin soup ,try it you will be surprised .the wait staff in the dinning room is very attentive , our head waiter is great ,at our second meal he knew that my wife liked seafood and I don’t and he made suggestions as to what we may like.

After dinner we explored the ship made A few purchases in the duty free store, and turned in to our cabin for an early night .

Woke at 7:30 am to find we had docked in Key West ,since my wife was still sleeping I ordered room service ,coffee and Danish, real quick service less then 10 minutes it was here

We didn’t leave the ship in key west , instead we went to the lido deck ,the breakfast buffet was good, lots of choices had A nice late brunch watching all the other guests getting off the ship in key west , as we enjoyed our coffee .As we leave key west its time to go to visit some of the bars ,so much entertainment everything from classical piano in some places to rock & roll guitar in others ,we couldn’t stay long almost time to get ready for dinner.

The captain’s party was nice ,with free cocktails , and dancing ,and then the formal dinner ,its nice to dress once in awhile .

After dinner A Las Vegas type show in the palace lounge, called “Broadway” A good show ,then quickly to the other end of the ship to catch the “adult “comedy act , not bad ,but not overly well timed “his timing got thrown off by hecklers in the front row” and it took away from his act. We had A couple more sodas at the bars and retired for the night.

After breakfast we are waiting to dock in Cozumel ,we go to the meeting with the cruise director ,Matt to learn what sites there are in Cozumel we decide just to go shopping downtown ,off the ship into the duty free shop ,I see and quickly buy A Pepsi , my drink of choice and not available on the ship, they only have coke.

My wife is stopping at every venders cart on the way to the taxi stand boy these guys are real hard salesman ,trying to sell their wares now we get to the taxi stand $6.00 to town, (not bad for the thrill of riding at top speed thru- narrow streets) oh by the way if anyone ever wants an old 60’s era VW bug this is the place to buy one we’ve seen them in the hundreds .we pick up A few souvenirs ,and my wife gets her hair braided at one of the booths in what looked A mall ,lots of jewelry shops here if your looking for any. just be sure of the dealer, the street vender’s are not selling you real silver for $1.00 A bracelet .and oh by the way “never pay what any street vender asks the first time for any thing every one we dealt with started off double from what we paid, so plan on about half of what they first ask for!

After lots of walking and shopping another hair raising taxi ride back to our ship. It’s past lunch time so we have to settle for either burgers at the grill or pizza .”they both have 24 hour service” the pizza was good but the crust is too much like bread instead of pizza. then just sat on the deck watching the sunset into the ocean .what A sight .
Time to get ready for dinner , I am looking forward to seeing our table mates again. we have seen them thru-out the ship Dave at a lot of the shows we were at and Juan and Miriam at the casino ,and at the breakfast buffet. but it will be fun to chat ,and to try some kind of new food at dinner.

After dinner we go to another great show called “Hollywood” it was good too then rush to the other end of the ship to catch the new comedian that came onboard at Cozumel, this is a R-rated act ,but it gets to be 12:00 and the show still don’t start , suddenly someone comes in to tell us the show has been changed to the palace (the same room as the last show, clear at the other end of the ship) so here we go for another long walk but the show was good pretty funny. then we went to or favorite bar for A coke before turning in for the night .and A shower and our bed felt really good this night.

The next day is our day at sea, the captain tells us over the speakers to look to the port side of the ship and in the distance we could see Cuba, I have a rather somber feeling knowing this is our last day on board . We walk the ship taking lots of pictures to have for memories of the best vacation we’ve ever had. The water is rather rough today and sometimes makes walking fun, sort of like A drunken stagger. Our debarkation meeting is later today to tell everyone about packing ,having our bags in the hall for pick-up ,and where to wait for our color luggage tag to be called, the next morning. too bad more people didn’t come out of 2,000 passengers maybe 150 people were there . The pools are not being used today because of the ride being so rough ,but I decided when I got here I wouldn’t go swimming ,the whirlpool looked good ,but the kids always seemed to be in it (even though its posted for adults only) maybe next time I’ll try the sauna in the spa.

Well our cruise is soon coming to an end, its time for our last dinner ,we take our camera , this is the only meal I have not dressed for (just wore A T-Shirt today my other clothes are packed and ready to leave the ship) and I feel weird ,but our luggage had to be in the halls by 10:00 and we don’t eat until 8:30 so you wear what you will be wearing on your trip home .

We get pictures of our table mates ,our waiters ,and make plans to meet for breakfast ,at our tables for our last meal together,

After dinner we go to do the last check of the photos to see if there’s any more that we missed, and take one last long walk of our ship ,stopping at all the places we haven’t been yet like the disco ,which is rather slow tonight because of A deck party on the lido deck. As we walk my wife and I are thinking of coming back home to our 6 yr old son ,which we left with my sister, we have both missed him more then expected. (this is the first time either of us have ever been apart from him.) and we plan on calling him as soon as our cell phones get A signal as we dock in Florida in the morning .

5:30 am the anticipation is too much I cant sleep any more and go up to the lido deck for coffee, leaving my wife to sleep. and just sit on A silent deck sipping coffee as we start to dock in Miami . I pour another cup for myself and then fix one for my wife to take back to our cabin, wake her up and we go to the lido deck to call home on our cell phone its 7:00 and our son should be just getting up for school ,its good to talk to him. time to go to the dinning room ,have breakfast and say goodbye to our new friends ,exchange E-mail addresses ,and go to our waiting stations.

Debarkation what A word ,could be called cattle call, the worst part was the people that aren’t American citizens must go thru customs first and we had 3 people that weren’t where they were supposed to be, and it made everyone else on the ship wait, about 30 min. until they cleared customs. then they started calling us by our luggage tag colors our group was about the 5th.color called, you get off the ship find your luggage and head for the bus to the airport .

All and all ,we loved our cruise and will do it again ,carnival is A good line and the fascination is A great ship, it may have been our first cruise but will not be our last, and anyone who is considering A cruise ,do it you will not be disappointed ,

Thanks Mike and Candy Martin

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