Our "Rum Raiders" group just got back from our 5-day cruise via the Fascination to Key West and Nassau. The cruise was wonderful, and thanks to all who came by our stateroom & signed the door. Embarkation went smoothly overall, but word to the wise: I was told that Carnival would let you bring a "reasonable" amount of beer -- WRONG! They will not let you bring any beer. In fact, they will let you bring a reasonable amount of water and soda pop, but ANY alcoholic beverages are off limits, unless you bring the "1 bottle of wine" per person - that is okay. And, they will take it from you or have you take it back to your vehicle. My friends had to do this, so let this be your warning. Anywho, once we were aboard, our cabins were ready, but the luggage didn't arrive for a little while so we acclimated ourselves with the ship. Not too hard considering we'd been on other ships with the same layout. We signed our daughter up for Camp Carnival as well. Muster drill was a breeze then everyone went to the top deck to watch the ship go under the bridge. Once we cleared it, everyone cheered then went about their respective events. Dinners, of course, were awesome! Kudos to our table stewards Shetty and Sydney. They rock! Our room steward, Sunny, was awesome as well. He kept us quite satisfied during the cruise, and was very good with our daughter as well. The day was beautiful at Key West. Most of our group toured on their own, and a few of us did the snuba excursion. I couldn't hang with the regulator, so I just snorkled. We were supposed to go to the main reef, but they were sinking an old ship so we had to go to an alternate location. It was fine, but I'm sure we missed out on some really good sites at the reef. Our Nassau excursion was to Blackbeard's Cay for the Beach Break. The snorkel excursion and the stingray encounter all go to the same area as well. Once we got to the island, I was disappointed we couldn't go to the Atlantic side - the Sandels resort is over there, and they have the best beach. However, our beach was fine until a thunderstorm rolled over, running us off the beach. We were only able to play in the water for about 1 hour. Oh well, you can't control Mother Nature. Something to note: I had read that Blackbeard's Cay had a sand flea problem - this is true. We didn't notice them, however, until we were boarding the boat to leave the island. They were biting us like crazy! I broke out the bug spray and they stopped, so take your bug spray. After we returned to Nassau, we shopped a bit, then took a land cab to Atlantis. We looked around the grounds and found an entrance to "The Dig" buried in the back. It did not say to keep out, so we entered, and man, oh, man, what a display! The species of ocean life was unlimited! I strongly recommend a tour of Atlantis! Magnificient! It was certainly worth the $8 cab ride per person. . . . I got to meet Nuttfly and Nana on our cruise, which made it very special. Turns out, they live close to one of our group members! Small world . . . . The days at sea were full of activities, as well as the nights. So much fun was had by all in our group. We can't wait until our next cruise in 2012. We'll book as soon as it's available! Until then, we'll be going to Cancun next year, and Disney World the year after. I'm sure we'll get some beach time in between.

I wish I could have remembered your room number! Two of my tablemates were on V. I had a great time as well. It was our first cruise and it exceeded our expectations. We got there early and was done with embarkation by 12:30. We had lunch and walked the ship until muster. We got our luggage around 5:30, which worked for us because we had late dinner at 8:15. We hit the casino and Diamonds lounge after dinner and thus found our 2 favorite places to hang out. The food was great, the ship was clean, the buffet areas were always nice when we hit it. We literally have no complaints, we couldn't have asked for a better first cruise.

Yes we  did have a  wonderful time. Ready to go back..It was a pleasure meeting  you and what a  surprize  to know  that  Mel lives  right around the  corner  from  me. Maybe  we can get  together. For a first time  cruiser  I really  did  enjoy my self. The mohawk boys are still talking  about it.The mohawk boys we're the talk of the  ship. If I had a dollar for everytime someone wanted to touch there hair  or take a pic with them  I would be on another  cruise  with  the money (LOL) so  again  i had a wonderful  time.