Looking to book on the Ecstasy

[sparkysj]

We are thinking of booking a cruise on the Ecstasy next fall and have never been on this ship before and just wanted to hear what others who have been on her lately think about the ship.

Thank you!

[Rena921]

Sailed the Ecstasy a few years ago and loved it. Smaller ship, but easy to navigate. See review below.

[RuthlessBoss]

She's my favorite ship to have a getaway. Look at itineraries for this ship, she has 3. I like the one with Key West, others like the one with HMC (beach day). THe ship does not have all the bells and whistles, but that to me is okay. In the search button at the top of this page, print in Shy Girl Goes To Sea for a great review and pics.

 

P.S. Heading out again on the 5th for my 3rd time on her. If you are going for sheer economy as I do, try a PT. It's an inside rate, but get natural light from the portholes. It's way in the front of the ship. Had a balcony once, that was fun.

[veryhotred]

Ive sailed the Ecstasy and didn't love it..didn't hate it but not a fav

[sparkysj]

For those who have been on the Fascination also-which did you like better? We have been on Fascination twice and like that ship and REALLY like how well the embark & disembark work at JAX. Thanks!

[veryhotred]

Fascination was my first cruise, loved her, prefer her over the Ecstasy

[jamona2311]

Just was on ecstasy in September and had a great time! I am a newbie tho lol. I have a review in my signature! :D

[cu19821]

Went on the Ecstasy last November on her first cruise out of PC. Had mixed feelings summed up in the copied post below, but we are actually going again on the same itinerary with the whole family as a college graduation present for my son. Lots of good on the ship, but a 5 star experience it is not. Many cruise sites rate it 3-3.5 stars and I think that is appropriate. Again, itinerary is great and a good value. My earlier post:

 

 

First some background – semi experienced cruisers (5 apiece), 2 with Carnival, also Princess and Celebrity, both young middle age, and middle/upper middle class.

 

We were on the inaugural Ecstasy cruise out of Port Canaveral on 11/7, and based upon this latest experience, we are probably done with the Fantasy Class, and now have some real concerns with Carnival in general. We decided to take this cruise because it best met our schedule and to be honest, the price was great. It was clear at the end that we got what we paid for. No derogatory implication intended, but the experience was very 2-3 star at best.

 

First, the good news and there is quite a bit of that. The ship was in excellent shape considering its age. Very clean throughout, and little evidence that the boat was over 20 years old. Kudos to the Carnival crew and the dry-dock crew for keeping the boat “shipshape”. Some positive impressions and likes: Serenity Area was very pleasant and great views from the back of the boat. We spent a lot of time in the area, met some very nice people, and enjoyed the hot tubs very much. Crowds – an advantage of a Fantasy class size ship is that we never really felt crowded. We could always find a great location to lay out on deck, lines at the buffet were very limited, and we just never felt as if the ship was overloaded, even though it sailed full as usual. Cabins – we had a porthole inside on the Main Deck and loved it. Carnival has excellent cabin size and just superb bedding. We slept wonderfully, which for me is a blessing since I am a long term insomniac. The bathroom was very clean, up to date, and fairly roomy and always had lots of hot water. Our cabin steward, Lauritson, was very good and very friendly and polite. As with all our cruises, the cabin staff really made the vacation. Nothing like coming back to a clean room, with a nice view, some fun towel animals, and as before, just excellent bedding. No complaints at all here, except a warning to those of you who are light sleepers that the bow thruster noise is very noticeable in these types of cabins. Oh, and the portholes weren’t completely clean so the view out was a bit compromised.

 

So what was the problem? In a word, food. A big part of the cruise experience for us is the food and the food service. Don’t get me wrong, it does not have to be Foie Gras and caviar, but we expect the Main Dining Room food and service to be of a higher level than a chain restaurant. This had been the case on our first Carnival cruise on the Liberty in 2009, and of course, was the case on the Princess and Celebrity cruises. I am hoping that our experience was not the norm, but the evidence and comments from others seem to confirm our concerns. The biggest problem seemed to be in execution, and the fact that the new menus and food quality are simply just much worse than before. Some examples: We never received a meal in the MDR that was hot. It was at best lukewarm and often flat out cold. Much worse was the fact that the quality of the ingredients was just sub-par. Meats were tough and gamey, from the “dry as the desert” pork loin, to the Chateaubriand that was so tough, that a steak knife could barely get through it. That piece of meat was very clearly not Filet, and was probably just eye round, which needs to be braised and not grilled. Don’t think I am being a snob, because I also watched my neighbor at the next table struggle with his meat before giving up just as we did. Side dishes were also cold and “grey” and just completely unappetizing.

This theme also continued on the buffet, which on the Liberty was beautifully presented with lots of choices. On the Ecstasy, the food choices were limited, often cold, and the salad bar was also limited and had some pretty sad looking produce at times. Similarly, the desserts were disappointing. They looked good, but just had no pizazz, often tasting very bland. Pastries, croissants and bread were also just so-so. I hate to sound like I am complaining so much, but the problems were just so consistent. DW and I (and she is a lot more forgiving of this than I am) agreed that the food was what we often found at buffets like Ponderosa and Golden Corral. Just mediocre, standard fare.

Another issue was MDR service for Your Time dining. Getting a table worked wonderfully and we only had to wait once. We also liked how they set up the tables like at a European restaurant, with tables for two in a row, so you could chat with your neighbors on either side. We had many nice conversations. That being said, the service was just perfunctory. No waiter introduced himself, service was often rushed, with a waiter taking a plate of food away from the DW as soon as she put her fork down, and was obviously not finished. No “may I take that”, or “are you done”, just plates quickly removed with no interaction. Again, this was the complete opposite of our experience on the Liberty, where our waiter got to know us, was polite and funny and no request was “too much”. On the Ecstasy, when we asked for an extra entrée to share, one response was, “let me see if I can do that”, and a scowl.

 

In the end, we still had a good time, since the ports were great, especially Half Moon Cay, and we even bought the on-board “discount certificate” for a future cruise, but I am reconsidering that decision. I am hoping that as some on the boards had pointed out, the Fantasy class shorter trips just cater more to the first time cruisers, and that the food and service on other ships would still be as I remembered.

[RuthlessBoss]

Went on the Ecstasy last November on her first cruise out of PC. Had mixed feelings summed up in the copied post below, but we are actually going again on the same itinerary with the whole family as a college graduation present for my son. Lots of good on the ship, but a 5 star experience it is not. Many cruise sites rate it 3-3.5 stars and I think that is appropriate. Again, itinerary is great and a good value. My earlier post:

 

 

First some background – semi experienced cruisers (5 apiece), 2 with Carnival, also Princess and Celebrity, both young middle age, and middle/upper middle class.

 

We were on the inaugural Ecstasy cruise out of Port Canaveral on 11/7, and based upon this latest experience, we are probably done with the Fantasy Class, and now have some real concerns with Carnival in general. We decided to take this cruise because it best met our schedule and to be honest, the price was great. It was clear at the end that we got what we paid for. No derogatory implication intended, but the experience was very 2-3 star at best.

 

First, the good news and there is quite a bit of that. The ship was in excellent shape considering its age. Very clean throughout, and little evidence that the boat was over 20 years old. Kudos to the Carnival crew and the dry-dock crew for keeping the boat “shipshape”. Some positive impressions and likes: Serenity Area was very pleasant and great views from the back of the boat. We spent a lot of time in the area, met some very nice people, and enjoyed the hot tubs very much. Crowds – an advantage of a Fantasy class size ship is that we never really felt crowded. We could always find a great location to lay out on deck, lines at the buffet were very limited, and we just never felt as if the ship was overloaded, even though it sailed full as usual. Cabins – we had a porthole inside on the Main Deck and loved it. Carnival has excellent cabin size and just superb bedding. We slept wonderfully, which for me is a blessing since I am a long term insomniac. The bathroom was very clean, up to date, and fairly roomy and always had lots of hot water. Our cabin steward, Lauritson, was very good and very friendly and polite. As with all our cruises, the cabin staff really made the vacation. Nothing like coming back to a clean room, with a nice view, some fun towel animals, and as before, just excellent bedding. No complaints at all here, except a warning to those of you who are light sleepers that the bow thruster noise is very noticeable in these types of cabins. Oh, and the portholes weren’t completely clean so the view out was a bit compromised.

 

So what was the problem? In a word, food. A big part of the cruise experience for us is the food and the food service. Don’t get me wrong, it does not have to be Foie Gras and caviar, but we expect the Main Dining Room food and service to be of a higher level than a chain restaurant. This had been the case on our first Carnival cruise on the Liberty in 2009, and of course, was the case on the Princess and Celebrity cruises. I am hoping that our experience was not the norm, but the evidence and comments from others seem to confirm our concerns. The biggest problem seemed to be in execution, and the fact that the new menus and food quality are simply just much worse than before. Some examples: We never received a meal in the MDR that was hot. It was at best lukewarm and often flat out cold. Much worse was the fact that the quality of the ingredients was just sub-par. Meats were tough and gamey, from the “dry as the desert” pork loin, to the Chateaubriand that was so tough, that a steak knife could barely get through it. That piece of meat was very clearly not Filet, and was probably just eye round, which needs to be braised and not grilled. Don’t think I am being a snob, because I also watched my neighbor at the next table struggle with his meat before giving up just as we did. Side dishes were also cold and “grey” and just completely unappetizing.

This theme also continued on the buffet, which on the Liberty was beautifully presented with lots of choices. On the Ecstasy, the food choices were limited, often cold, and the salad bar was also limited and had some pretty sad looking produce at times. Similarly, the desserts were disappointing. They looked good, but just had no pizazz, often tasting very bland. Pastries, croissants and bread were also just so-so. I hate to sound like I am complaining so much, but the problems were just so consistent. DW and I (and she is a lot more forgiving of this than I am) agreed that the food was what we often found at buffets like Ponderosa and Golden Corral. Just mediocre, standard fare.

Another issue was MDR service for Your Time dining. Getting a table worked wonderfully and we only had to wait once. We also liked how they set up the tables like at a European restaurant, with tables for two in a row, so you could chat with your neighbors on either side. We had many nice conversations. That being said, the service was just perfunctory. No waiter introduced himself, service was often rushed, with a waiter taking a plate of food away from the DW as soon as she put her fork down, and was obviously not finished. No “may I take that”, or “are you done”, just plates quickly removed with no interaction. Again, this was the complete opposite of our experience on the Liberty, where our waiter got to know us, was polite and funny and no request was “too much”. On the Ecstasy, when we asked for an extra entrée to share, one response was, “let me see if I can do that”, and a scowl.

 

In the end, we still had a good time, since the ports were great, especially Half Moon Cay, and we even bought the on-board “discount certificate” for a future cruise, but I am reconsidering that decision. I am hoping that as some on the boards had pointed out, the Fantasy class shorter trips just cater more to the first time cruisers, and that the food and service on other ships would still be as I remembered.

I think if you repeat Liberty, it won't be the same as you recall. It will fall into the catagory you put Ecstasy in. By the way, menues are the same no matter what ship. Servers had no time to talk there either. Sent one meal back it was so bad, and I usually eat everything without question.

[wrigley80]

We are cruising on the Ecstasy in 5 weeks....I will be doing a picture review when we return so be sure to keep an eye out for it. :)

[Ta8633]

I leave in 9 days! Sailing Nov 5 on the Ecstasy and can't wait. My first cruise so I will definately report back.

[sparkysj]

Thank you all! We decided to go back on the Fascination-mostly because of the fact it goes to HMC and the port is closer. We left it up to our son since this is "his" graduation cruise but I do appreciate all the responses and we may try a cruise on this one later on. I have never been on a bigger ship (or another line) so I can't compare but I like the smaller ships I have been on. The closest port from us is over 12 hours to drive to and unless airfare ever becomes reasonable again we will have to wait until our youngest can handle a super long drive.

 

But thanks again and happy crusing to all!!