Let me tell you about the Carnival Fantasy. I’m not going to go in to all of the technical jargon about the class of it, how many passengers, crew member count, etc. I’m here to tell you about this ship and the crazy things that I wanted to know about and my experience. Trust me… It was a good time. There’s other sections on this site about the food, what to do, Cozumel, etc. This one just has to do about the ship and what I thought about the boarding and first few hours.

We (a few friends and I) went in February 2020 for a four day trip to Cozumel. Well, come to find out, in January and February, along Gulf Coast, there seems to be an issue with fog. This is the type of fog that is THICK and if you have to drive a car with your fog lights, imagine being a huge ship trying to dock. The port authority takes this very serious so there are times that the ship is delayed coming in and going out. We were scheduled to board at 12:30 and due to the delay in the ship coming in that morning, we didn’t get on until around 3. But, that’s ok! If you get to Mobile early, or if you stayed the night there, check out the town! We had lunch at Spot of Tea and it is the most darling place! www.SpotofTea.com Then we headed over to a mall and wandered around to kill some more time.

I heard that with Mobile, you really don’t need to spend the extra money with the Faster to Fun pass (around $50). Since it is not as big of a ship as some that would port in for instance, Miami, things move rather smooth. Plus, I heard that if you do show up early, they’re not going to force you to wait an hour until your boarding time. One thing I will suggest, pay for parking ahead of time. We didn’t. As we were in line to find a spot, a worker there handed us a paper with instructions, so we could do it online, on our phones. That was a bit of a pain as we were trying to type in a lot of information on these small screens while pulling the registration out of the glove box to get the license plate number.

Make sure that you have your luggage tags ALREADY on your luggage.

When you pull in, there will be someone there to get your luggage and put it on a carrier. We saw so many people that did not have theirs ready, even though Carnival and every other website stresses this. I was able to jump out, grab our bags and hand them off within about 30 seconds. Make sure to tip the porter since they do not work directly for Carnival. Some sites say a dollar or two per bag… We had three bags and I was in vacation mode and so excited to finally be there, so we tipped him $10.

The lines were busy that day but not as crazy as I thought it would be due to the delay. Then again, I try to be very patient when things happen that are completely out of someone else’s control. Plus, all of the Carnival and Port Authority employees were so nice that it was hard to be frustrated, plus I really like to people watch. Things just moved along at a steady pace and we went where we were told.

Two of my friends had passports so they went to one line. (The picture on your passport, that is what Carnival will use to identify you) Since I don’t have a passport, I had my license and birth certificate out. I did have a copy of my marriage certificate as proof of my name change but they never asked for that. Personally, I think it’s a good idea to have that because it would really suck to not be able to board.

Once on board, there is a bar directly straight ahead of you. That is where we met our favorite bartender, Deni. More on him and the rest of the crew later. Anyways, people that have been on multiple cruises all have different traditions when they board. Some grab a specific drink like the Miami Vice, Kiss on The Lips, a shot… Some go straight to Guy’s Burger Joint. More on the food in another post. You do you! This is your vacation, so create a tradition or try something new.

This is your trip to make of it what you want. I can honestly say that on this ship, you don’t have a care in the world. You don’t have to cook, you don’t have to make your bed, you cannot possibly say that you are bored because there is plenty to do, you can sleep in, you can wake up early, you can walk around by yourself… It is your vacation! There is even a gym! I started my trip with a goal to go to it, but…. I didn’t.

There is just the one pool on the ship and it gets CROWDED! You won’t be able to swim laps in it. In fact, I don’t think you’ll even get to swim. Most people are just standing in there keeping cool. There is a hot tub next to it, and that stays packed, too. Finding a lounger near the pool can be difficult but if you head to an upper deck, it’s really quite nice because you can watch everything going on but generally not have all the kids running around.

There is an Adults Only section call the Serenity. Usually, this is a quiet relaxing place but on this particular trip, it was CRAZY! They were there to PARTY and most of the people had pineapples on their doors… But, if you head back there and it’s your type of scene, whether relaxing or pineapple oriented, you do you. It’s your vacation!

I know that you are super excited about seeing your room, right? Well, you won’t be able to get to them until around 1 and your luggage can take a few hours to get there (imagine all of the suitcases they have to get to the right places). Around that time, you will see envelopes on the door with your individual Sail & Sign card. This is the most important thing you will need on the ship. It is your identity! They will scan it for each drink and it also is your room key. When you go to your room and you meet your Steward, be nice to them. They are there to help you make the most out of your vacation so let them know if there is anything that you need. We had one girl that liked to sleep in late, so once we let our room steward know, he knew scheduled our room cleaning until just before lunchtime. We also left a note for him that day asking for a bucket of ice for our pre-dinner champagne. Well, he saw how many bottles were on the counter (one for each night) and made sure that every evening, there was a new bucket with cold ice. We tipped him well after our trip!

One final thing you need to know about boarding, there is a mandatory safety meeting and you are REQUIRED to go. On your Sail & Sign card will be the location you will gather for the drill and in the event of an emergency. Years ago, we had to grab our life jackets from the room (located in the closet) and then go to the muster station. Now, you just go when you hear the page over the ships intercom. This is not the time to act stupid and think you are funny by being a loud mouth. Nope. This is serious business and you really do need to pay attention.

Well, now that you know some of the basics of your first few hours on the ship, go enjoy your vacation. Remember, go with the flow, relax and most importantly, HAVE FUN!