back from the fascination

[cruiseocd]

hi all
we are back from our 4 day cruise on the fascination. we got back on friday but i have had no time to write a review. it is a little lenthy but i broke it up so it would not be too hard to read.

the ship: extremely clean! staterooms were immaculate and the bathrooms were the cleanest/newest i have seen on carnival. waters were calm so really no rocking to speak of at all.

service: not quite as good as the others i have been on. waiter was okay, assistant waiter was not very personable. dining room bar attendant was aweful! never saw him much at all and we had to request him to come to the table on the last night after 25 minutes of being seated.

food: excellent of course. i had the lobster, prime rib, cateaubriand, beef wellington and the short ribs. had warm chocolate melting cake every night and also had the tiramisu, black forrest cake and backed alaska and all were delicious.

matre d: never left his post at the front and never came to our table. i did tip him well though b/c the night we were in calica we did not make it back to the ship until 9pm. i asked to have two plates of short ribs (they are awesome-i know from the last cruise). he originally said no but eventually caved in to my request and i had two plates of short ribs delivered to my cabin KUDOS DRASKO!

table mates: we were seated at a table for 10. there were 5 coupkles all in the 30-35 age range. WE HAD A BLAST!!!! could not have requested better table mates. we all gelled and we wound up hanging out with eachother almost every night.

shows: comedy was just okay but the 80's show was out of this world! the bad asia was awesome!

cruise director: trevor block AGAIN. third cruise in a row with him as the cd. i did go up to him and joke about it and we ahd a good laugh together. he bought us a drink and gave us a robe! he is a great guy! turns out he is on a hopper contract and we seem to be hopping to the same ships he is on! he will be taking over the fascination for 7 -8 months starting in june.

ports: key west-was just there in january so jusy got off around 9:30 and took a stroll down duval street and was back on board by noon.
calica: we took an excursion to see tulum and it was terrific. our tour guide was the most informative guide we have ever had and the ruin are just magificient. we also took a cab to playa del carmen. there we did some shopping and looked at the sights (beach, carlos & charlies, senor frogs so on and so forth. taxi was $10 each way.

piano bar: larry was great. turns out we grew up in the same neighborhood in philadelphia. he recognized my accent and asked which part of philly i was from. from there we had a great time together.

activities: well i am the proud owner on my very own 24 karat SHIP ON A STICK! i won survivor. it only took me 4 cruise to get one of those stupid trophies but now it is proudly displayed on my mantle!

pool deck: the ship was full but never once did we struggle to find a chair! it was great! we sat by the main pool and stage everyday without a problem. the calypso band DETOUR was great!

casino: very small and i lost lots of money so i did not particularly care for it.

cabin steward: did a great job keeping the room clean but i never got a chance to meet him. on all of our other cruise the cabind stewards always introduced themselves but not this one.

embarkation was very smmoth: took about 10 minutes to get fron the parking lot to our room. (i snuck into the VIP line)

debarkation: we did self asssit but waited until about 9am to disemabark (very non stressfull this way if you have the time)

shuttle: took a bus from ft lauderdale to miami and vica versa on the way back. i would get a cab next time because we could have saved an hour or so both ways had we have taken a cab and the cost is the same.

all in all a great cruise. the service was a little sub par. thye fascination is a traing ship so one would think that the ship should be the example of how to do it right but this was not the case.

i can not wait to go on the next one.

[f-mattox]

cruiseocd, welcome back. Glad you had a good cruise. I don't think any are "perfect" but yours sounds like it came pretty close.

Thank you for the very informative, yet concise review. I love the way you had all your thoughts organized. I wish I could do that.

Once again, welcome back!

Rick

[penny3333]

Welcome back cruiseocd. Time to start planning your next cruise. Thank you for the great review. We were on the Fascination a few years ago in the Caribbean and I agree she was a very clean ship. Sounds like you had a wonderful time! Best wishes!

[avenger]

It was good to hear your review! I'm going on Fascination in September, I was a little disappointed to hear that the staff was not so attentative, but it can ONLY be better that our last cruise on Royal Carribean this past March in which the majority of the staff was not at all friendly or attentive. I'm looking forward to this one!