Carnival Ecstasy solo cruise review, 1/30 - 2/4

Decided to do a day-by-day review of the Ecstasy. I'm a mid-40s female traveler and I've always gone solo. This is my fifth cruise, and my fourth on Carnival in the Caribbean/Bahamas area. All these cruises have been in the past three years (when I realized it was a great way to distance myself from work, something I found hard on a traditional hotel stay vacation).

Day 1: Embarkation

I drove in from Atlanta the day before and overnighted at Town & Country Suites, which was a nice hotel for the price though I don't think they had cruise parking. In retrospect I should've gone with the cruise parking. But the hotel, though a bit long in the tooth, was a solid conference hotel. The room was large, and there was a separate shower & tub, and nice toiletries. The $15 voucher covered the decent enough hot buffet breakfast the next morning (though the extra wasn't allowed to cover tip).

I was a little nervous about finding the pier, given reviews I've read, but between Google Maps and signs once I got closer that wasn't a problem. We were supposed to leave at 4:00 and I got to the port around 1:30. Parking was okay, no real line and things were moving, and the staff were friendly. The parking is very odd, which I knew to expect. I'm in a big warehouse, and people are parking nose to tail, in big long rows. It looks like getting out will be an absolute nightmare as you'll need to wait until enough people in front of you have left for you to maneuver your way out.

There was a short shuttle to the port itself, and it was a packed shuttle. I'm not sure where rollaboards would go. I had my backpack, CPAP machine, purse, and a 12-pack of soda, and had to pile it all on my lap so we could wedge everyone in. Then, even though it was a short 2 minute drive to the port, we sat for ten minutes before they pulled up and let us out. After that was a winding line that took another 20-30 minutes to get through, a flight of stairs, criss-crossing back and forth and up to the embarkation, and finally I was aboard! It was about 3 o'clock by then, so 90 minutes to get onboard.

My room was ready, I'm in a 4th floor 'ocean view' cabin with a window. It's great for one person, should be fine for two, but would be tight with three adults and the pull-down wall bed. The wall bed overhangs the regular floor beds for space reasons. There's no room for a couch or anything. No fridge. No hair dryer. There are only four small drawers if you have three people expect contention for space, and only a single shelf in the bathroom. Lots of hangers, though. There's a small flat-screen TV with the standard cruise line and DirectTV channels. Something is wrong with the wiring as all the DirectTV channels are in black-and-white with raspy audio. The steward "fixed" it by playing with the cables, and the color lasted for a day, and he fixed it the next day and it lasted only a morning, so I gave up on it. I only turn it on a little now and then. I'll live with black and white.

Muster was as musters are, took about an hour all told. There were some oddities with the timing, though. The Fun Times listed muster as 3:15pm, but once I overheard staff saying it would be at 4pm. The ship was scheduled to depart at 4pm, at least when I booked it. But the Fun Times had the deck party as starting at 5, and that's when we pulled out. I skipped the deck party as it was pretty darn cold. I did hang out on deck some and had a pre-muster lunch at Guy's Burgers, which was awesome! Good burger and fries, lots of toppings. And I watched some dolphins at play while we were in port, but it was cold so I went inside to unpack in the cabin before too long.

I was at late dinner and it was a bit of a debacle in terms of seating. I got there at 8:15 and there was a huge line that wasn't moving. I ended up popping into the comedy lounge to watch the show for 5 minutes, then checked the line, then watched for 5 minutes, etc. Finally at 8:35 I made it in. I was traveling solo and at a big table with a pair of grandparents and their 18-year-old granddaughter, and another older gentleman who was apparently traveling with family but not at their table. I didn't quite follow that and didn't want to ask, he seemed happy with us. I thought the food was okay, not great but okay. The shrimp cocktail was a good size (unlike other cruise lines -- I'm looking at you, Norwegian!), but the shrimp and grits were a bit of a disappointment, not as good as I'm used to. I went with the melting chocolate cake for dinner. Mine was great, someone else at the table had one that was too undercooked.

That evening I went to the opening show, which was... well, like all Carnival boat shows are to me. I wandered about the cruise ship afterward, listening to some (very bad when I was there) karaoke and some average live music. And that was it for day one.

Oh! Except one last thing. I couldn't figure out how to close the air vent that serves as air conditioning in the room, and my cabin was absolutely freezing. I dug out another comforter and bundled up. When I was less sleepy the next morning I figured it out, the vent was just a little stuck and needed more force, but since that first night I've been able to adjust it to a temperature to my liking when I want.

Thanks for the review!

We will be getting on when you are heading home.

Cant wait to see the 2.0 upgrades! Did they switch this ship to American Tables dinning? ( no table cloths in the dinning room)

I posted some pictures of the new areas (except Cherry On Top) on another Ecstasy thread. Since I'm unobservant I can't say for sure if there are tablecloths! I am pretty sure there are still tablecloths at night, but I will double-check. I'm really not sure if it's American Dining menu or not. If it's a set menu per day and you can point me to it, I'll see if it looks familiar or not.

Day 2 - Sea Day

Okay, so the reason why I booked this cruise is that it'd been a hard month at work. I'd been working 60 hour weeks, and working every day of the week since Christmas, to make a big deadline. So this was a last minute trip that I booked to recover from the rough work schedule.

And that is my excuse for sleeping in until 1pm on the first full day of the cruise. :D

So once I eventually woke up I continued my slothful day by having breakfast-- er, lunch, in bed. I splurged five bucks for the Philly cheesesteaks and fries, which was good but I should've just stuck to a sandwich and chips, as those are still free. Then I lounged about in the room for a while, and the common areas for a while longer, mostly just reading and poking around online and people watching. I've taken to hanging out on deck 9, either the chairs around the Alchemy bar or the tables around Metropolis bar (which is near the casino). I hit the Tasting Bar and had a good meatball and bruschetta something-or-another. Eventually it was time to get ready for dinner, and I had accomplished absolutely nothing for the day, which I took as a good start to the vacation!

One brief anecdote here: it was cruise elegant night, and people were getting photos done near where I was sitting in the Metropolis bar area. Lots of suits and cocktail dresses (though in the dining room where was a mix of attire, and everyone at our table was pretty casual, with casual dresses or slacks with polo shirts, I was worried I'd be underdressed but I was fine for my table in my dress slacks and blouse with a light dress jacket, but I digress!). Anyway. Pictures. In between the cocktail dresses and suits and tuxes came a pair of men dressed up perfectly as the Skipper and Gilligan! They were perfectly attired, blue shirt and red shirt, the right hats, even the right body builds for each with a chubby Skipper and a skinny Gilligan. They took a few pictures together, then Gillian stayed to get one by himself. He hurried off afterward to catch up with his companion, and I heard him calling out, "Skipper, wait up for your little buddy!"

Now where was I? Dinner day two, I think. I had the chilled strawberry soup as an appetizer, because it kind of feels like I'm eating an extra dessert. I honestly forget what I had as the main course, and it was only two days ago so it apparently wasn't very memorable. The creme brulee for dessert was very good, however.

After dinner there was the Motor City show. I've seen that one before so I skipped it, and ended up in the casino playing blackjack for a couple of hours. I really do enjoy blackjack, and I enjoy the low minimum bet of six bucks. I started to make 'casino buddies' with some of the regulars, and managed to lose $70 over the course of the night, which is not as bad as it could have been. I thought about hitting the 11:15pm comedy show to wrap up the day, but decided against it when I was right at the door of the venue. I was a little worried because the rating said 'R - Explicit' as opposed to simply 'R'. I am not at all offended by explicit language or humor, but my fear is always that comedians who rely on super explicit language and humor are simply masking bad jokes and aren't all that funny. According to someone I talked to the next day who caught the show, that was what happened -- lots of vulgar language, but low on the comedic effort scale, mostly going for shock value. Glad I skipped it.

Felt the same way about one of the R-rated comics on the Miracle. I am far from a prude and some of my remarks on these boards have been met with disapproval, putting it mildly. But just dropping F bombs does not a comedian make. Save that for a phone call to Mom or a Latter Day Saints Picnic.

Day 3 - Nassau

I was very proud of myself by making it out the door by 8:30am this morning! So early, for me, on a vacation. Since I was actually awake in time for breakfast I went to the new Blue Iguana Cantina and had a breakfast burrito. They're made to order, and I had one with eggs, cheese, and sausage, and topped it up with salsa and sour cream. It was a nice change of pace for breakfast, and it wasn't crowded at all.

I was just in Nassau last fall and visited Atlantis and did lots of things on water and in water, so I had no excursions booked. Despite being in the Bahamas for five days I never made it downtown, and since the boat docks downtown I decided to simply wander the area near the waterfront. It was pretty much shop after shop, until you hit the straw market and then it's booth after booth. I kept having to assure them that "pretty lady" did not want to buy a carving, or a purse, or have her hair braided, or any of that. I passed on by some cruise port favorites like the endless tanzanite stores and the Senor Frog's and the requisite Starbucks. I did stop by the slavery museum (mostly placard/poster exhibits but a lot of history and only five bucks) and the Pirate Museum (I think it was something like $13-$15, I forget how much, and it was a bit cheesy and overpriced but I suppose moderately entertaining, lots of posed figures and dim lighting and placards about pirates). I wandered by some back alley bar that sold me a can of diet coke for a dollar, and then sat out by the water listening to the live music and people watching for a while. I was only out for about three or four hours before heading back to the ship.

Lunch was a PB&J sandwich and chips from room service as that is my favorite thing to get every cruise, I don't know why, it just amuses me that someone will prepare a PB&J sandwich and bring it to me. Then I snagged a banana upstairs to stave off scurvy. I planned to do the trivia-style games that afternoon, but the first game -- Rock, Paper, Scissors -- was a bust as only one other person showed up and they soon wandered off. I really only went to that one to see if they were literally just going to have people play Rock, Paper, Scissors; they were. I read for a while instead.

And this brings me to my proudest moment on a Carnival Cruise! The next event was the paper airplane contest, where the goal was distance. Competition was sparse with only four competitors total. I, however, have the advantage as I am employed by Lockheed Martin, the aeronautical company that makes the F-35 fighter jet! Never mind that my job is computer programming and has nothing to do with that. I still represented the company well and took first place, winning a coveted Ship on a Stick! Four cruises and I've been dying to win one of those puppies. My mother will be so proud.

I stuck around for the trivia game and joined a few other people on a team, and we beat about five other groups who had showed up. There were more people finally as we were almost at departure time and most everyone was back on board. It wasn't actually trivia, it was more like brain teasers -- things like "if a plane crashes on the US-Canada border where do they bury the survivors?" With the answer being that you don't bury survivors. Anyway, since I loved those types of brain teasers as a kid I knew almost all of them and we handily won. We let the guy who was a first-time cruiser take the Ship on a Stick. I stayed around just talking for a while, and had a fruity frozen drink with an umbrella in it. (I don't usually drink at all, not even the occasional glass of wine, because I have enough other potential vices and money sinks, but I do enjoy having a drink with an umbrella in it on a tropical cruise.) After the drink I decided it would be a good time to win back my blackjack losses! That went poorer than plan, but I managed to not lose any more money before dinner.

Dinner that night was really good, and it was the first night where seating was not delayed 15+ minutes, so I hope that means they worked out whatever the problem was. I had the 'port of call' selection which was conch fritters (moderately good) and a Caribbean style dish involving strips of beef and peppers and a sauce of some sort and rice, which was very good. I went with the melting cake for dessert but didn't have much of it, it's never quite as good the second time on a cruise. Oh, and the teenager at the table ordered the one dessert that sounded bizarre to everyone. I forget what it was called except that 'Buttered Popcorn' and 'Blueberry' were both in the name. What it ended up being was popcorn in some sort of sauce that may have been caramel-based, with some white stuff at the bottom of the mug it was served in that was a weird flan-like consistency and buttery, and then there was some blueberry sauce with berries on the side that I guess were supposed to be added? A few people tried a bite and we decided that someone was partaking of the ganja when they decided to create that dessert!

After dinner I wandered over to the Love & Marriage show, which is always good for a chuckle. As always, I ended up learning way too much about a few of my fellow cruise-goers! ("If stranded on a desert island, would your husband choose to be stranded with a nun or a hooker?" Husband's answer: "A hooker dressed as a nun!") I almost was sucked into the casino that night but managed to avoid it, and instead went back for a before-midnight bedtime.

OP, thanks for the review; I'm really enjoying it.

Did they switch this ship to American Tables dinning? ( no table cloths in the dinning room)

I had heard they were switching to the American Table and thought that usually occurred when or soon after a ship comes out of dry dock. In this case, they switched to the American Table a few months before dry dock.

BTW - the Shrimp and Grits OP mentioned on the first night was from the Port of Call section for Charleston.

awesome read... so whats your next stop? i go on a cruise june 10th on the ecstasy for the 2nd time and i cant wait! since she came out of her week dry dock... does it look different?

I had heard they were switching to the American Table and thought that usually occurred when or soon after a ship comes out of dry dock. In this case, they switched to the American Table a few months before dry dock.

 

BTW - the Shrimp and Grits OP mentioned on the first night was from the Port of Call section for Charleston.

Yeah, I was totally mistaken before, there are no tablecloths. And it is the American Table menu, says that on the menu itself.

Shrimp and Grits was Charleston, yes. And on the third night, the conch fritters and that beef strip steak and peppers dish whose name I forget was for Nassau.

Following along.

Day 3 - Nassau

 

And this brings me to my proudest moment on a Carnival Cruise! The next event was the paper airplane contest, where the goal was distance. Competition was sparse with only four competitors total. I, however, have the advantage as I am employed by Lockheed Martin, the aeronautical company that makes the F-35 fighter jet! Never mind that my job is computer programming and has nothing to do with that. I still represented the company well and took first place, winning a coveted Ship on a Stick! Four cruises and I've been dying to win one of those puppies. My mother will be so proud.

You would be envious of our Ship-On-A-Stick collection, and we only keep one from each ship! In fact, on one cruise we were giving them away to our fellow cruisers! :D

When was the menu changed to the American Table menu? We went last year and I don't think it was. We're sailing out Feb 28 so I hope it goes good.:)

Very witty/well written review!

We are leaving in a few weeks, so this is very timely!

Thanks for the review.

When was the menu changed to the American Table menu? We went last year and I don't think it was. We're sailing out Feb 28 so I hope it goes good.:)

We went just before dry dock. I was surprised the menu had changed. Our waiter said it happened a few months prior; I don't have an exact date.

Great review...keep it coming! We sail her on March 5!!

Following

Great review. Love your sense of humor!

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app