Carnival Fascination
5 Night Cruise to the Bahamas, visiting Half Moon Cay and Nassau
The D’Andrea family is back cruising!
We last saw my in-laws in October 2008 while cruising the Mediterranean. Since prices have been so low this year, we decided to take another cruise. After some research, I found a great deal on the Carnival Fascination out of Jacksonville, Florida. This worked especially well for said in-laws, who live in Georgia. As for us, we had a little trip ahead of us, but we figured it would be fine. Compared to airfare, the train, long-term parking or limo service for either, we would do our best to keep things economical.
The road to Jacksonville is paved with … well … asphalt, mostly.
We left New Jersey on October 30th around 11:15am … and arrived in South Carolina at the Comfort Inn and Suites around 2:30am, the next day. See, we planned to arrive around midnight, but you know what they say about best laid plans. In a nutshell, Virginia continues to baffle me regarding their HOV setup. Seriously, why have one entrance just south of D.C. when cars are piling onto I-95 South for twenty-plus miles? We saw plenty of HOV-eligible cars, unable to cross over, while there were only a handful of cars zipping past in the HOV section. I would love for someone to rationalize this design. Please, I’m all ears.
Moving on! One and a half sleep cycles later we were back on the road – around 9:00am – en route to Jacksonville. While it is a long drive, time approaches more of a standstill in the southern part of the US when the speed limit is upwards of 70 mph or more. I find it amusing that, in a construction zone, signs are posted advising to “Slow Down: 60 mph”. 60!
By 12:15pm we had arrived at the port and quickly located Grandma and Grandpa D’Andrea. They were thrilled to see us and my son was beyond thrilled to see them. Instant playmates!
The Carnival Fascination, docked in Jacksonville, Florida. (Joe's parents are at lower-left.)
After passing three security check points, at last, we were onboard. Our cabins were still being prepared so we headed up to the Lido deck for some lunch. It was a normal debarkation lunch with lots of salads, drinks, and luggage.
Yup. Luggage.
Because we weren’t the only ones waiting for our cabins, just about everyone had their carry-on luggage around their tables. I can honestly say that having lunch on debarkation day is not the best time. I would rather have the main dining room open for a more “civilized” lunch, but I know Carnival does not offer that. Perhaps because of all the luggage …
A few hours later, the cabins were ready, and everyone started to unpack. We took an inside cabin this time around and, with Carnival, that’s perfectly fine. Carnival’s inside cabins are still at least 185 square feet – a really nice size. Add in a flat screen TV, brand new mattresses, a much larger bathroom and one of the biggest showers for an inside cabin I have ever seen, and you’ve got some decent living quarters for a five-day cruise. The Fascination underwent a major overhaul a little while ago, and it shows. (There is even a really nice water slide atop the main pool now.)
Joe (my husband) took Lex (my son) for the requisite trip to Camp Carnival, registered for the week, and learned about all the Halloween activities.
Lex (as Young Obi-Wan) uses The Force to keep the photographer at bay.
After that, it was time for our muster station drill. Carnival has revamped the way they do this drill, and it was GREAT! Instead of everyone piling on deck, life jackets on, standing in 90-degree Fahrenheit heat, listening to someone explain over a distorted speaker what to do during an emergency for fifteen minutes, they have now moved everything inside. It worked perfectly. We sat in the main show lounge, life jackets in hand, and listened to our esteemed cruise director, Felipe, instruct us. It was the quietest muster station drill I have ever been to – and I have been to twenty of them. People really, really listened! No loud talking, nobody drinking, no unruly passengers. Everyone was very respectful of the crew members and – honestly – it was very impressive. I have never seen such an attentive crowd in all my cruises. Kudos to the passengers and to Carnival!
After the drill, we set about trying various things around the ship: spa raffles, internet access (a bit of a challenge, since the internet admin missed the ship and they had to set everything up remotely from MTN in New Jersey), meet fellow passengers, and so on. All the while, Lex played and played and played with his grandparents – an all-around win-win-win!
While trick-or-treating on the ship, Lex, dressed as Young Obi-Wan Kenobi, pauses for a brief photo op with every camp counselor he can find.
Our 6pm dinner was a bit rushed as we wanted to attend some special Halloween activities for the kids around 7:15pm. M&M Mars and Carnival put together a sweet little promotion. Kids could go trick or treating all over the ship, using a treasure map as our guide. (Mars supplied the sweets. Carnival supplied camp counselors in costume.) The map, when followed in order, had you walking up and down the stairs for about 25 minutes while looking for counselors with bits of candy to hand out. Lots of fun!
The hunt finished in the Passage to India lounge, where all the kids competed in a costume contest. Lex placed third in his division, with the “Scream” kid placing first. Seriously? Why does this kid, who is under age 11, know who the “Scream” character is?! (It must have been the fake blood running down the face. Seriously. It was pretty creepy!) Lex was young Obi-Wan Kenobi (from Star Wars – The Clone Wars), and even he thought that the winner as a bit past PG-13 for him.
Because of Halloween, we attended “The Longest Welcome Aboard Show Ever” clocking in at about 90 minutes! First, the Carnival dancers and singers entertained us. Next, the cruise director and staff said their hellos. That was fine, but what took up the most time was the adult costume contest. About thirty people made finals. I was impressed that they not only dressed up, but did so along with packing for a cruise and getting to the ship. Some of the costumes were very elaborate and clearly took a lot of work and thought. The winners were unbeatable: An entire family dressed as the Beverly Hillbillies and acted out each part to perfection. They stayed in character at all times, had full make-up, wigs, clothing, the works. Needless to say, they won tons of candy, champagne, tote bags, robes, towels, etc.. In short, we had lots of fun at the show – even though it didn’t end until around midnight.
Luckily, Daylight Saving Time was ending soon, so we got to turn our clocks back one hour. Yeah!
Sunday is a day at sea so I am looking forward to sleeping in and having some nice family fun on this Carnival ship. Get it? “Fun” ship? I know, “insert groan here”. Stay tuned for more …
Towel Animals-R-Us!
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