New Years Cruise on the Ecstasy - Random Thoughts

Happy New Years to my fellow cruise addicts. We, my wife and two boys 7 and 2, just returned from the Ecstasy out of Charleston for a New Years Cruise. While I won't upload any pictures or give a super detailed review I will post my general thoughts about certain topics.

Debarkation: If you have ever sailed out of Charleston, then you know it can be difficult. They have made a couple changes since I last cruised from there in May, which I belive has helped. I'm originally from Charleston so when we cruise my family drops us off. Now they let you get dropped off and walk up to the terminal instead of having to ride the shuttle. In May we waited 2 hours in our car before they let us get out, but now we were dropped off in less then 5 minutes. They do have staggered check in and did not let anybody in before 11:30, so if you have staggered check in from Charleston, don't arrive before 11:30 unless you want to wait outside. Once they opened the gates we were onboard in less then 20-25 minutes.

New Years Celebration: Probably one of the most fun things I've ever done on a cruise. They have complimentary Champagne when you arrive onboard and then start serving again around 11:30. They gave everybody hats, noisemakers, glow sticks, 2017 glasses that light up, and other items. They had a band playing and at midnight after the countdown they blew the ships horn. There was also a balloon drop in the atrium around 11 pm.

Bar Service: Was very hit and miss. Several bars (atrium and the back bar) would often just have one bartender. One night I counted about 25 people around the atrium bar with only one bartender. It just took a lot of patience at times. I'm on Vacation so I was happy to wait, but some others got a little frustrated.

Ports: Nassau...is well Nassau. We walked to Junkanoo Beach. The water was cold but felt fine after a few. Freeport we stayed on the boat. One thing that I've never noticed before is there were Bee's everywhere in Freeport. They were all around the bars attracted to the syrups and alcohol. One of the bartenders said that it's gotten really bad there lately and this is his least favorite port because he is allergic to them. If you went to order a drink there would be bee's all around the bar, not ideal but I don't know what they can do about that. So if you are going to Freeport soon and you are allergic to bee's take notice!

Camp Carnival/Club Ocean: Wonderful as always. My boys loved their time there. Our 7 year old has been on 4 cruises and he is one of those kids that asks us when he can go and wants to spend as much time there as possible. This was our 2 year olds first time going and he did great. The staff was wondeful and he was always happy when we dropped him off.

Debarkation: Seemed unorganized, which is what it I feel like it always is. Around 4 on the last day I still had not received my debark paperwork so I asked guest services about the Platinum Debarkation. I was told "meet at the library at 6:45. I needed to make arrangments for our ride to pick us up so that's why I asked. Later that night with the turn down service I received instructions to meet in the main theater at 6:45. I didn't think that sounded right as I've never done Platinum debark that way. The next morning we made our way towards the atrium and saw that the Library had the "platinum/diamond" sign out front so we made our way there. There were quite a few people waiting in the atrium to debark even though the staff were trying to get those people to move to the theater. Finally we looked down and they started letting all those people off the ship and nobody came to get the Platinum/Diamond people. So much for Priority Debark. We all just picked up our bags and started making our way down one level to the door. As we were walking a Carnival Employee started walking by us and somebody said to him " Did you forget about Diamond/Platinum?" His reponse was just something like "we were just on our way to get you" Mind you there were hundreds of people already fighting to get off the ship. If you aren't platinum/diamond then I know this doesn't matter but if you have the perk you at least want them to at least pretend to try to enforce it for you.

We chose anytime dining and had a 30 minute wait every night for a table for two. It was probably due to the fact we ate at 7 every night, which I guess is the most popular time to eat. We fed our kids on Lido everynight, dropped them off at Camp around 7 and then we ate in the dining room. Dining room service was just OK. By the time we got a pager at 7, got a table around 7:30, we were out the door after 9:30 every night.

One last thought. The Ecstasy does do the new service with the Morning or Evening Room Service. Our room steward never asked us but gave us morning and evening every day. On the first day I heard another stateroom steward down the hall going over the options with some guests but ours just gave us two. I don't know why he didn't ask but I'm very happy with the service he gave.

Overall the cruise was hit and miss. Some of the levels of service we are used to just weren't there. It always seemed like they needed just one or two more staff.

If you have any questions or if I didn't touch on anything just let me know!

Thanks for the review. I'm curious how the embarkation will go for us. Definitely will pack extra patiences.

How was the serenity area? Where you able to find loungers?

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Thanks for the review. I'm curious how the embarkation will go for us. Definitely will pack extra patiences.

 

How was the serenity area? Where you able to find loungers?

 

 

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We went to Serenity a couple of times and were able to find chairs when we went. There were a few times we walked by and could see the hot tubs and loungers all packed. It really just depends on when you go.

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Thank you for your objective review.

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Thanks for your thoughts.

Thanks for your review. We cruised on the Ecstasy twice when she used to do round trip cruises from Galveston, TX. We enjoyed both cruises. She is a great ship.

Happy future cruising wherever you go.

That's awesome to hear. I'm taking three newbie cruisers and I'm hoping to hook them :)

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We were also on your cruise. Our sons probably spent some time together at camp ocean as ours is 8! The staff there were fantastic and he was always happy to go. He went to the kids dinner on Lido a few nights at 6, which allowed us to go to dinner a bit earlier and not have to wait. We only had to wait for a beeper on the final night of the cruise. I fully agree with you about the level of service not being quite there in some areas. The bar in the atrium was horrific but bar service in the theatre was better that usual for us. We never had any issues finding lounge chairs by the pool. Our steward asked us if we would prefer morning or evening service, but also usually came twice. Were you woken up by the alarms at 3:45 on the final night? I'm wondering if it was ship wide, or just our floor? We lost power in our room and the hallways all went dark for a bit.

Thanks for your review. We cruised on the Ecstasy twice when she used to do round trip cruises from Galveston, TX. We enjoyed both cruises. She is a great ship.

 

Happy future cruising wherever you go.

Thanks, she is a great ship, looking forward to more on her as Charleston is our closest port.

That's awesome to hear. I'm taking three newbie cruisers and I'm hoping to hook them :)

 

 

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I'm sure we will have three new addicts soon!

Thank you for your objective review.

 

 

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Thanks for your thoughts.

You are very welcome, happy cruising.

Thanks for the review. Makes me want to do a NYE cruise!!! We sailed on Ecstasy in September and really enjoyed it.

Regarding the bees, we were in Freeport in December, and one of the bartenders at Taino beach told my husband that the bee's hives got destroyed in the hurricane, and that's why they were swarming all over the beach - they were displaced. I have NO idea if that's accurate or not, but that's what we heard.

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We were also on your cruise. Our sons probably spent some time together at camp ocean as ours is 8! The staff there were fantastic and he was always happy to go. He went to the kids dinner on Lido a few nights at 6, which allowed us to go to dinner a bit earlier and not have to wait. We only had to wait for a beeper on the final night of the cruise. I fully agree with you about the level of service not being quite there in some areas. The bar in the atrium was horrific but bar service in the theatre was better that usual for us. We never had any issues finding lounge chairs by the pool. Our steward asked us if we would prefer morning or evening service, but also usually came twice. Were you woken up by the alarms at 3:45 on the final night? I'm wondering if it was ship wide, or just our floor? We lost power in our room and the hallways all went dark for a bit.

I'm sure they did! My son spent the majority of his time in there and we could barely get him away. He ate with the camp on Lido most nights, but our 2 year old can be difficult sometimes when eating so we didn't want to put that on the staff and usually waited until 7 to drop him off. We did wake up when the power went off but we didn't hear any alarms or anything. My wife was having trouble sleeping and I woke up a few minutes prior to the power going out by coincidence. We had a USB night light charger and noticed that light and the air conditioner turn off. Never heard anybody outside our cabin or any other noise. We were on Empress deck aft, almost the last cabin to the end so maybe our location had something to do with that.

Thanks for the review! Looking forward to sailing on the Ecstasy in Feb.

Question, was there still a steel drum player on board? Last time we sailed on the Ecstasy there was, and it really made my wife's cruise!

Thanks in advance.

Thanks for the review. Makes me want to do a NYE cruise!!! We sailed on Ecstasy in September and really enjoyed it.

 

Regarding the bees, we were in Freeport in December, and one of the bartenders at Taino beach told my husband that the bee's hives got destroyed in the hurricane, and that's why they were swarming all over the beach - they were displaced. I have NO idea if that's accurate or not, but that's what we heard.

 

 

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You should do a New Years Cruise! We are already looking to see if we can do one next year it was that much fun. I don't know if that's true or not either but that makes sense about the bee's.

Thanks for the review! Looking forward to sailing on the Ecstasy in Feb.

 

 

 

Question, was there still a steel drum player on board? Last time we sailed on the Ecstasy there was, and it really made my wife's cruise!

 

 

 

Thanks in advance.

I didn't notice a steel drum player onboard, only a DJ.

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You should do a New Years Cruise! We are already looking to see if we can do one next year it was that much fun. I don't know if that's true or not either but that makes sense about the bee's.

 

 

 

 

I didn't notice a steel drum player onboard, only a DJ.

 

 

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We did a tour to Paradise Cove in Freeport and the bees were also an issue there. As soon as sodas or other drinks were served, the bees were all over it.

There was a steel drum player on board. He was playing on the Lido stage during embarkation and on our first day at sea. He might have disembarked in Nassau to switch ships because I don't recall seeing him after that.

Thanks for the review. Was interested in the embarkation process and letting pax get dropped off, as we are on the 2/9 cruise and plan an Uber to the port.

Thanks for the NYE review. Going this NYE on the 7 day cruise, cannot wait! We are all very excited. I live in Charleston, so will just get dropped off. I am in a suite so I am hoping to get on and get settled fairly quickly. I love to unpack as soon as I get somewhere then not worry the rest of the trip. We have been on the Breeze, but love the convenience of not having to drive 8 hours to start our vacay! Looking forward to not being on a ship with 5000 other people.