Dr. Natalia D.
They say you get what you pay for
They say you get what you pay for. But the problem is that we purchased 2 most expensive rooms on the Carnival Fascination. At first glance, the price for VIP rooms (“state rooms”) seemed very reasonable. But the price covers the room only and nothing else. Besides basic food you need to pay for everything, even bottled water. We were told that the best way to optimize with drinks was to buy a drinking package. But even if one of two people in a room doesn’t drink you need to pay for both people to have packages, and each package for 7 days is almost $1000. Before the departure, representatives of Carnival told us by phone that a person with a drinks package could share – and get drinks for another person; but once on ship, we actually had to purchase separate packages for two daughters. Also, even if you have a package – you must wait at least 5 minutes to order a second drink (even non-alcoholic). So you can’t order coffee and a bottle of water, without having to pay extra. 18% gratitude of the stateroom price per each person is a mandatory and shows on your final bill. So we had to pay for 4 people. The size of the VIP rooms is the size of a regular room on the other ships. The balcony is big enough to place two regular chairs but it’s actually not wide enough to sit comfortably and stretch the legs. The ship is very outdated and, regardless of the cleaning crew doing the best job they can, looks filthy. Pillows and blankets were stinky and after our complaint were replaced without a problem. But multiple complaints about nightly bites on legs by fleas didn’t have any results. Although they checked on the beds nothing was done to eliminate the problem. Also, no Anti-itching medication was offered and medical treatments are not free. Even though we were told that you could bring one bottle of a favorite drink per person onboard, a bottle of very nice French champagne was confiscated from our suitcase and, according the management, liquidated. They said that it had to be put into a carry-on, not regular luggage – but the bottles in the other family members’ suitcases were left untouched. In general, the majority of the crew are pleasant and doing their jobs well, working around the clock. The only exception was a bartender at the bar next to the guest service who several times made us feel unwelcome. The food was OK considering the size of the ship. Overall, it appears that Carnival, the company, is the problem – they have a number of inconsistent policies and they aren’t interested in treating their guests well. Several issues we tried to address with the representatives both on the phone (before the sailing) and onboard were met with “I’m sorry, I can’t do anything”. We were very lucky meeting some great people on the cruise. Otherwise it would be a very expensive yet unpleasant experience. Buyer beware – there are lots of hidden charges on Carnival, so what you think your vacation will cost and what your vacation will cost are two very different prices.