First Carnival Cruise Review - Ecstasy 12/26 sailing

[GSRDPM]

Sorry - but it's a LONG one.......

 

Some background on us: Both my wife and I are in our mid 40s and we have a 14 year old son and an 11 year old daughter. My mom is in her mid 70s. For my wife and I, this was our fourth cruise. It was our kids’ third and my mom’s third as well. It was the first cruise on a Carnival ship for all in our group. We chose the 5 day Ecstasy cruise because it was an easy 1 hour drive to Galveston from where we live. My wife and I wanted to be home for Christmas and New Years and the price was reasonable. My wife’s birthday was during the trip so I preordered some cabin decorations and a cake on the Carnival website prior to the cruise.

 

Embarkation: We drove the hours drive to Galveston and used Galveston Park N Cruise for our parking paying $40 online for an indoor parking space. They were great. A gentleman directed us to our parking space, we loaded our bags onto a large golf cart and he drove us to the corner of New Strand and 25th where we took a 5 minute walk to the terminal. We were a little early at about 11 AM and once we dropped off some of our bags we went into the terminal and quickly moved through security and received our Sail and Sign cards. This was quick and effortless as the online registration apparently worked as intended. (There were some glitches when we did the online check in for our RCL cruise last March and we had to repeat the process at the port.) We directed to wait in an area set up for embarkation for about 20 minutes until 12 noon when we were permitted to board. As we did not have access to the cabins until 1:30, we headed up to the Lido Deck where we had lunch. Galveston was cool with intermittent drizzle so we were glad to have a nice, warm spot to sit and relax.

 

Cabins: When 1:30 came about we headed to the cabins. My Mom and daughter were in a Class 1A Cabin on Riviera. It was small, but an easy walk to the elevator. With the top bunk down, the beds were placed in a “T” relationship with the lower bed extending out from the wall under the top bunk. The problem with this was that there was no way for an adult to sit up from the bed without having to duck under the upper bunk. We partially solved this by sliding the bed forward, but grandma still managed to take a dizzying hit to the head while packing her bags the last night of the cruise. The rest of us had a 6B OV cabin just around the corner. The room was spacious compared to the standard cabins we had on our RCL cruises and we were impressed with the size of the bathrooms – particularly the shower. Closet space was well organized. My wife was surprised by the nice birthday decorations set in the room. There was much more to the decorations than is shown in the ordering pictures. Again, when navigating around the upper bunk, we had to be constantly careful about watching our heads. On the RCL ships, the upper bunks were lowered from the ceiling. On the Ecstasy, there was a wooden frame against the wall that the upper bunk lifted up and out from. The edges of the platform that the mattress sat on also had sharp corners to it. The safety rails to the upper bunks in both our room do not lock upright and easily fold down towards the mattress. This was a problem when the kids would use the rail to pivot onto or off of the mattress as they maneuvered to and from the ladder. Both experienced minor accidents due to this design. (My daughter fell off the bed as she was trying to get off the bed and onto the ladder and my son got bumped when I stepped up to the side of the bed and as I leaned into the rail it folded down onto his forearm and wrist. I instantly lifted the rail and thankfully, neither had any injuries. We also had a problem with the temperature being WAY TOO COLD in our cabin. When we bought that to the attention to our cabin steward, he said it would be better was we reached warmer weather. He showed us that we could regulate the vent that was over our bed to limit the cold air coming in, but it would not close completely so we weren’t thrilled with our prospects until he brought us 2 extra blankets. After the first cold night huddled under the blankets it DID get warmer and the temperature was never a problem again.

[GSRDPM]

Dining Room: We had the Main 6PM seating in the Windsong Dining Room and the five of us were paired with another wonderful family of five from San Antonio. We had much in common and enjoyed their company. Our waiter and assistant waiter introduced themselves to us the first night but were not very engaging on the following nights. They were efficient and with only a few exceptions (having to ask for water refills) were very prompt with service. So no real problem, but this was a little bit of a let down compared to past experiences. In fairness to them, the table next to us were their biggest and loudest cheerleaders and were obviously very pleased. Oh well… Food was very good and my family felt that the dinner food was equal to what we had on RCL. My Mom thought it was equal if not better than what she had on Holland America and on another ship (Emerald Seas) many years ago. My favorite desserts were the Chocolate Melting Cake paired with Butter Pecan ice cream, Cappuccino Pie, and another dessert that reminded me of Flan. Additionally, we usually had breakfast in the Windstar Dining room and found our service during these meals to be much more engaging. Perhaps this was due to the more laid back and less frantic atmosphere and schedule. Breakfast was always excellent.

 

Lido Alternatives: The selections at the Panorama Grill on Lido Deck were varied and usually quite good. The Mongolian Grill was tried once but the sauce selections were a little too spicy for me (though I usually like spicy foods). I did take note that many of the ships officers and cruise director staff chose this venue for their lunches. Just adjacent to the Mongolian Grill the Burgers, Hot Dogs and Chicken fingers were excellent with plenty of side selections such as various veggies and fixins, chips and salsa etc. The biggest hit with my son was the 24 Pizza stand at the aft end of the Lido deck. Pizzas and the calzone were excellent and the service was always fast. We also enjoyed having plenty of seating options on that deck to enjoy your food – inside the Panorama Grill, outside near the pool, along the aft decks behind the Grill, etc...

 

Ship Layout: I was very pleasantly surprised how much I was able to appreciate the layout of the Ecstasy. I was absolutely WOWED by the RCL IOS last March and was prepared for less on this cruise. The Ecstasy was very easy to navigate and you could move throughout the ship with great ease. Several times, I had to make trips back to our cabin for items forgotten or run about while on a Scavenger Hunt (more on that later) and it was so much easier to get anywhere compared to the IOS. I now can appreciate why some don’t care for the larger ships. I’d still like to try the Oasis someday. (ducking…) In spite of her age, she is still well cared for.

 

Entertainment and Activities: We saw the main show each night and enjoyed all of them. Steve, the cruise director was amazing with his violin and fiddle playing then blew us away with his juggling skills. Karaoke with Jay was a hoot but should really be described in just two words – “Absolutely brilliant!” We enjoyed dancing to 70s and 80s tunes in the disco and I was generally impressed with the varied and abundant musical talent that was ever present throughout the ship. While my 14 YO son was not engaged in the youth program, he had a ball with the shoes, playing mini-golf, ping pong, trivia games and scavenger hunts. (The kids and I managed to win a regular and a digital scavenger hunt and my son won the mini-golf competition.) I managed to win my round during game show night and in the end, my family left the cruise with two medals and three solid gold plastic ship on a stick trophies! The Cruise director’s staff were everywhere and working hard to see that everyone was having a great time.

 

Camp Carnival: With over 800 kids on board, this group did a phenomenal job. My daughter participated heavily in RCL’s Club Ocean and she says she enjoyed Camp Carnival more. She won a competition and brought home an impressive Camp Carnival Backpack. My son was more engaged on the IOS probably due to that ships, extensive teen facilities and it’s greater diversity of activities for kids in his age group. He still had a great time, and I am grateful that he chose to spend his time with me (At age 14 I know my days of him wanting to hang with Dad are numbered…)

 

Ports of Call: For Cozumel see my review of the Pasion Island by Twister Excursion thread here:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1088981

 

At Progresso, we left the ship to take the $3PP double decker bus ride and enjoyed getting an overview of the city. We were pretty tired from the day and night before, so we spent the rest of the day aboard the ship enjoying the new Carnival Waterworks upgrade most of the afternoon.

 

Debarkation: Alas, all good things must come to an end. We awoke that final morning surrounded by fog circling the gulf waters south of Galveston with about 2 dozen freighters and tankers for company. We had breakfast in the Windstar dining room and planning on doing Self Assist Debarkation, camped out in the Library. (An excellent area to do this BTW…) The Cruise director and eventually, the captain kept us updated on the weather conditions. When it became apparent, that the fog was not lifting anytime soon, the ship opened phone communications for use by passengers free of charge. Several bars were opened and the service on Lido Deck went into overdrive. Instead of reaching the port at 8AM, we eventually docked at about 3:30 PM. Kudos to the crew and passengers for making a potentially tough situation run smoothly. Many passengers missed their flights – some at great expense. I heard of one family of 12 that was going to have to pay an addition $600PP for flight changes!!! We offered to take a couple we met while waiting in the Library to IAH and when it was clear they were going to miss their flight we helped them reserve a hotel and took them from the port to it. In spite of the long wait, debarkation went without a hitch and I was relieved to find the staff at Galveston Park N Cruise still there!

[GSRDPM]

In short, we all enjoyed are first cruise with Carnival. The age of the Ecstasy is not an issue and she is a very easy ship to navigate. The Cruise director’s Staff works hard to keep everyone entertained and Camp Carnival has loads of activities to keep the little ones entertained and out the adults’ way. BTW, The Serenity deck did enforce the 21 and over policy. Food was comparable to our experiences with RCL but service seemed a tad below. In addition to the dining room service mentioned above, we had trouble reaching guest services and housekeeping via telephone more often than not. Cabins were spacious but the upper bunk design is poor and potentially dangerous. When traveling on the Ecstasy out of Galveston, be prepared to be surrounded by a lot of Texans. This is a good thing as this native New Yorker – now living in TX for over 16 years will attest.

 

Below are my kids’ reviews – in their own words.

 

The first from my 11 year old daughter:

 

I think the cruise was very fun. The Kid’s program was great and I enjoyed all of the games they did on the ship. (scavenger hunts and trivia) The food in the dining room was delicious. I loved the chocolate melting cake the best. Their slides, miniature gold and shuffle board were nice. Steve, the cruise director, was awesome! He could play the fiddle, violin and juggle. He is so funny! The staff was very nice and helped me enjoy my cruise.

 

The second from my 14 year old son:

 

My cruise experience on the Carnival Ecstasy deserves two thumbs up! Even though I did not participate in any of the kids’ activities, I participated in many of the activities not relating to the kids’ program including trivia, scavenger hunts, gold, ping pong, etc. I went to almost all of the shoes. I was amazed at some of the tricks and moves that the Ecstasy dancers and Cruise Director, Steve performed. All of the staff made sure to make us happy. Even our stateroom steward addressed me by my name! Everything about the cruise was exciting and I recommend it to anyone and everyone!

[bankerlkd]

Thanks for the great review !! We're heading down to the ecstasy in March.

 

Any pictures of the new slide area? love to show them to my 9 yr old dd.

 

Cheers,

[PenguinLife]

I just wanted to also say thanks, we are going out on a last minute cruise on Jan 18th.

[ricko19]

Thanks for sharing your review!

 

We will be sailing on Ecstasy on the 23rd of this month w/ DW, DS (6) and DD (12).

 

Thank you for the info!

[leanna may]

Thank you for the info..we will be on the Ecstasy for my birthday ,leaving out on Feb.6..There is 13 in our group with 6 kids ages 7-16. When was the orientation for the kids clubs??

[GSRDPM]

Thank you for the info..we will be on the Ecstasy for my birthday ,leaving out on Feb.6..There is 13 in our group with 6 kids ages 7-16. When was the orientation for the kids clubs??

 

You were able to tour the Camp Carnival facilities just after lunch.

 

There was an official orientation I believe around 5PM the day of sailing and it was a little bit of a madhouse with long lines to receive and hand in forms. Do yourself a favor and fill out the forms and print them out online. One thing to consider is whether or not you will permit your child/children to sign themselves in or out of the camp. In the past, we always signed our daughter in and out. Camp Carnival has several scavenger hunts which the kids go out in small groups without direct supervision (to get specific items or to get a signature from someone at the guest services desk, etc) and if she did not have signing out privileges, she would not be able to participate. We decided to give her these privileges but instructed her that we would still come to get her and with few exceptions she was not to sign herself out. THis came in handy as she wanted to attend a line dance class with us and was able to sign herself out to join us instead of us having to miss something we were attending just prior to the class so as to pick her up. She had a great time with them.

 

Circle K - 12-14 year olds has a small place of their own and they did have a mixer that first evening, but my son declined to attend. Their activities are less structured, but he did attend a ping pong competition with them. Club O2 - 15 to 17 year olds has a nice lounge area adjacent to the arcade.

[GSRDPM]

Thanks for the great review !! We're heading down to the ecstasy in March.

 

Any pictures of the new slide area? love to show them to my 9 yr old dd.

 

Cheers,

 

Here are some. He'll have a great time and so will you!

[Fighterone]

Thanks for the great review.

 

We are planning on having a meet and mingle before departure and someone suggested we all meet at the verandah deck forward. I dont' think there is a bar area there or any sheltered space where we could sit comfortably, if I remember correctly. From your pictures, I think the Lido deck bar under the canopy, in front of the palm trees might be more suitable. Do you agree?

[GSRDPM]

Thanks for the great review.

 

We are planning on having a meet and mingle before departure and someone suggested we all meet at the verandah deck forward. I dont' think there is a bar area there or any sheltered space where we could sit comfortably, if I remember correctly. From your pictures, I think the Lido deck bar under the canopy, in front of the palm trees might be more suitable. Do you agree?

 

The Bar forward of the pool on lido deck, starboard (right) side would be perfect for your needs.

[txmomto1]

Thanks for posting this. We leave for my third time on the Ecstasy on the 1st of February.

[Fighterone]

The Bar forward of the pool on lido deck, starboard (right) side would be perfect for your needs.

Thank you.

I wonder if I can post your quote on our roll call.

[GSRDPM]

Thank you.

I wonder if I can post your quote on our roll call.

 

Sure. No problem. Have a great time!

[kak8jr]

Wow, great review Tom!! Really enjoyed it. GF and I will be boarding this Saturday! Cant wait!!!!!

Keith

[GSRDPM]

Thanks Keith - I know you and your GF will have a great time. Just remember to post your own review when you return so we can enjoy it as well!

[Carguylee]

Thanks for the review, we will be going at the end of Jan! Can't wait!

[ChristieDawn]

Thank you for the great review! We leave on Jan 14th! This will be my second time on the Ecstasy and my 7 yr olds first! We are really looking firward to our cruise and I am even more excited after reading your post!!! I'm goingto go start packing now!!!!:p

[GSRDPM]

I forgot to mention one additional tidbit that caught us by surprise. As we all know, the relatively low fares for cruising these days are partially offset by income derived from other optional services/items. Obviously, shore excursions, casino gambling, drinks and spa services add up to significant additional income that the lines actually consider in the budgets/projections. We are not generally optimal passengers as we don't gamble, usually handle our own excursions and are fine with the water and lemonade for drinks. One thing that we usually purchase is at least one photograph by the ship's photographers. This cruise was a little more "special" in that grandma was with us, so we took a lot of opportunities to have different portraits with her - especially with the grand kids. Carnival has a price structure that uses colors such as bronze, silver, gold and platinum to identify the cost of photos. The most inexpensive would be a bronze - usually a picture where a fellow dressed like a pirate walks up behind you while your eating dinner and puts a sword or knife across your neck/chest. I forget how much these were but the might be something like $8.99. Any of the pictures taken with a set/backdrop will be a platinum and come in an 8x10 size. Of course, this is what we took in almost every case and why not as where else can you have so many different family portaits done at your leisure and and with no cost or sitting fee. Fortunately - the pictures all turned out beautiful. Unfortunately, the platinum prints cost $21.99 each. We ended up purchasing five. We thought we could scan and print additional copies until I noticed a flier the last night of the cruise that indicated that if we scanned the prints, they would come out with the word "Carnival" repeated all over the photo. The flier also promoted how you could make multiple copies of the photo by purchasing the digital file for any of the prints at $9.99 for each photo. The terms required that for the digital file to be purchased, you had to have already purchased the print for that specific photo (21.99 + 9.99 per photo). When I finally decided to do this, they said I had to return the prints as they had to scan a number on each print in order to identify which photo files needed to be placed on the CD. The problem was that this occurred on the last night of the cruise and had I already packed the photos (Safely) in the checked bags and left them outside the stateroom, I might not have been able to retrieve them to get the digital file. Thankfully we did the self assist debarkation and it was not an issue, only an inconvenience. In the end we paid about $160 for five photos. I guess that's not too bad, but I would have been upset if I found out at home that the prints could not be scanned. Also, remember, you have to add tax to the price if the ship is in port, so buy the photos while still at sea. No "2 for 1" specials were ever offerred during our sailing.

[GSRDPM]

An update on my prior post.

 

I decided to see what happened if I scanned one of our portaits from the cruise. The scan came out perfect. I subsequently did a search in the Carnival Forum under scanning pictures and a thread came up where people shared that their scans turne out fine and they had no trouble having the pictures duplicated. If only I had read that post before our cruise...

 

I really bothers me that they promote the $9.99 digital file as a special indicating, in writing and with a photo example, that attempts to scan your prints will result in it being reproduced with the Carnival "watermark" all over it.

 

Very misleading..... :mad:

[da brickhouse]

Below are my kids’ reviews – in their own words.

 

The first from my 11 year old daughter:

 

I think the cruise was very fun. The Kid’s program was great and I enjoyed all of the games they did on the ship. (scavenger hunts and trivia) The food in the dining room was delicious. I loved the chocolate melting cake the best. Their slides, miniature gold and shuffle board were nice. Steve, the cruise director, was awesome! He could play the fiddle, violin and juggle. He is so funny! The staff was very nice and helped me enjoy my cruise.

 

The second from my 14 year old son:

 

My cruise experience on the Carnival Ecstasy deserves two thumbs up! Even though I did not participate in any of the kids’ activities, I participated in many of the activities not relating to the kids’ program including trivia, scavenger hunts, gold, ping pong, etc. I went to almost all of the shoes. I was amazed at some of the tricks and moves that the Ecstasy dancers and Cruise Director, Steve performed. All of the staff made sure to make us happy. Even our stateroom steward addressed me by my name! Everything about the cruise was exciting and I recommend it to anyone and everyone!

 

Carnival Ecstasy was the first experience of cruising for me and my family. Camp Carnival and then CD Goose won over my then 9 year old daughter and are now official cruise addicts.

 

Thanks for a wonderful review and for including your children's perspective.

[TXHillbillyGirl]

Great review! I wish it wouldn't end.

I'm so glad to hear that your 14 y.o. son had a great time without camp. My son, also 14 is not really a joiner and has no interest in camp. I've been worried he wouldn't have much to do. But it sounds like he will stay busy. My 12 y.o. girl is the joiner, so I don't worry about her being entertained.

One question... The ping-pong, trivia and scavenger hunts, are they not camp activities? Do you sign up for them ahead of time?

Thanks

[douglinc@msn.com]

At some time I guess we will try the Ecstasy, I'm just not fond of cruises that are less than 7 days. If we lived closer to the port it wouldn't be much of a problem.

 

Doug

[GSRDPM]

Great review! I wish it wouldn't end.

I'm so glad to hear that your 14 y.o. son had a great time without camp. My son, also 14 is not really a joiner and has no interest in camp. I've been worried he wouldn't have much to do. But it sounds like he will stay busy. My 12 y.o. girl is the joiner, so I don't worry about her being entertained.

One question... The ping-pong, trivia and scavenger hunts, are they not camp activities? Do you sign up for them ahead of time?

Thanks

 

Ping Pong tables are on the Verandah deck and they are free for anyone to use except when there is a contest (such as with the youth program - usually a single elimination tournament)) going on. Triva and scavenger hunts are open for all ages and the times are listed in the Carnival Capers each day. We did the conventional hunts (Go and get a list of items and be the first to come back with them) and the digital scavenger hunt (Go and take a bunch of pictures of things from around the ship). The kids in the youth progams will have their own scavenger hunts as well.

[summergal]

We so love our Ecstacy!! Really great review, thanks.