Thread: Oct 6, 2011 Fantasy to Bermuda

Well we are back. The cruise was nice but too short of time in Bermuda. The way Carnival had the ship sailing on a Thursday arriving late Sat does not allow much time to do much in port. The shops in hamilton close by 6pm on sat and very few are open on Sunday. And even some attractions are not open Sun or have shorter hours. I feel that so many people complained to Carnival about this and that that is the reason Carnival only has one cruise to Bermuda next year.

We had had a hotel that had parking and shuttle to and from the port to stay at the night prior to the cruise. The cost was just over $100 for the night including taxes. The desk clerk in the morning was the reason we got tothe port so early. She convinced me that we could get there prior to 11 so we had our shuttle at 9:30. Well of course port security would not let him drop us off so he took us to East Bay and Market St. which is just one block from check in. To be out of the way we went across the street nd waited in from of the US Custmon House, there was a bit of shade and the sidewalk is much larger. We then had to walk down to the ship. Fortunately not far at all.

The embarkation was not bad but was strange. You leave your luggage at a gate at the entrance and then get on a bus to the terminal. I would not like to have to do this on a rainy day as ther is only a small tent to stand under to wait your turn to get on a bus. It will be bery nice when the new terminal is built. We ended up getting there early (not by choice) and had no trouble checking in. We were about the first in the buffet and getting lunch prior to 11:30.

I was surprised at how sedate the interior of the Fantsay was after being on other Carnival ships. The new items on the menu in the MDR were a surprise for a lot of people and some at our table did order a few. The one thing that I did not see anyone order was the meatloaf. The last day there was a tour of the galley and both my husband and myself were dissapointed, mainly because this time there were no fruit/veggie carvings and fancy bread loafs. One night the assistant waiter for our table made it birthday/anniversary night , he had previously asked if anyone was celbrating something. So beside whatever dessert we had ordered he brought out another.

Our cabin was on Empress deck cabin E2, it has 2 portholes. And I am sure because of the year the ship was built having the beds together does not give much moving room. So we had the beds split which was much better. I would book this cabin again.

For disembark they use silent disembark. Everyone goes to the theater to wait. There is a large screen which they show what numbers can leave. It worked pretty good. The only problem was after going thru checkout on the ship the line stopped just over half way down the gangway. This is due to the fact that the terminal is not large and the one room is used for luggage and customs. Actually once we had our luggage the lines for customs was not bad.

After getting back to our car I checked to see what the cost would be to stay at the same place for a couple of nights and we got a room there again. We then proceded to see a few things in and around Charleston.

Over all a good vacation.

Thanks for reporting back!

Glad you mostly had a good time!