REVIEW: Ecstasy 9/19/13--9/23/13 with toddler

[Mrs.C05]

Ethan’s first cruise!!! Embarkation Day

The day arrived that Tommy and I are to take Ethan on his first cruise. We chose to do the same cruise as a year prior, on board Carnival Ecstasy, going to Nassau and HMC. Only this time it’s September 19th through September 23, 2013. My Dad and his gf, Maria, soon to be wife, joined us as well, after we booked.

 

We all live outside of Orlando, so we only had an hour drive over to Port Canaveral. We jumped in my Forester, to save on parking cost, and it being the car that my son’s car seat was in, and we were on the road to the port by 10:30am. We made great timing since we were parked, checked in, and on the boat eating lunch by 11:45am!!!

 

I was driving so I couldn't get any pictures while driving, the cargo packed to the roof, my son being silly, or even the whale-tale as we came across the bridge. Oh well....here are some of the first few pictures. You can tell who I was most excited to get pictures of....our son Ethan.

This is first glimpse of the ship.

 

Walking to Dad's room (he's platinum) to put all of our stuff down:

 

Walking around the ship, he loved it!

 

 

THIS! Is where we spent a lot of time walking around:

 

The lights, the band at night, the elevators that were blue trimed lights, so much to do and so much to see!

 

DISCLAIMER: This cruise was VERY different, and in looking back was pretty mellow, go with the flow, and in a way, somewhat boring, lol. Having a toddler with you, there are a lot more factors than eat, sleep, drink and casino.

[Mrs.C05]

Tommy, Ethan and I were in U207 and Dad and Maria were in U191. This was totally convenient, especially being that they booked after us. Our room steward was Youdha, and his helper was Owdta. They were both terrific, very attentive to our needs with Ethan, cleaning up the room, filling up our cooler 2-3 times a day (in traveling the inside tore somehow, booo!!)

 

I knew that this cruise was going to be completely different than all our previous one’s since Ethan was with us. He enjoyed the cruise very much, mostly hung out on the Promenade deck (casino deck), walking back and forth between the Starlight Lounge, past the casino, and the Atrium area. He was always watching the “Blue Elevators” go up and down, and once he found the arcade, he walked around there too. We did not get in the pool, because it’s always packed, but also because he wasn’t allowed. It was quite a chore to get him to eat though. Ethan enjoys people watching, and with so much going on, on a cruise, we knew it’d be a task. Oh well, what can you do? He did drink plentifully though!

 

Ethan loved looking out these windows:

 

Anyways, once on board, we let Ethan roam around a bit after grabbing something to eat and then we were able to go to our room and drop our stuff off. Dad and Maria were platinum already, so we dropped what we could off in his room when we first got on board. I felt bad/weird going into our room when it wasn’t ready. We napped about an hour or so, before needing to go to the Starlight Lounge for our Muster drill. After the guy spoke, they demonstrated how to put life vest on, and the captain speaking, we all had to go outside to where our life boat station was, but was only out there about 5 minutes staring at it before we heard the “Let’s get this cruise started sound”…..HONK HONK, HOOOOONNNKKKK!!!!

 

Let's Sailaway!

 

 

Yaaayyyyyyy!!!!!! Our official family cruise vacation has begun!!! We walked upstairs to the water sport deck (deck 11?) for sailaway. Tommy and Dad stood near the railing, but I found a chair near the water slides that my son was eyeing and let him watch the kids playing. (I was not letting him by the railing, since he’s a climber!!) Tommy and Dad were waiting for a bartender, but none came, so Maria watched Ethan while I went to the bar in the back of the Lido for drinks. Surprisingly they did allow me to order 2 drinks, one for me and one for Tommy. I wasn’t sure if they’d let me or not but they did. Upon going back upstairs, Tommy, Dad, Ethan and Maria were all coming down for cover. There was a rain cloud we were going through, but we only got misted on. Once out of the port and headed out to sea, Tommy and I went to find the Camp Carnival to see if they had any times available for me to visit with Ethan. They had very small windows of opportunity, so I didn’t even both going. Ethan was purely occupied with walking around the Promenade deck, thus far.

 

Most of the evenings were taken up by the casino, with Ethan and I walking around outside of it and around it. The singers outside of the casino entertained Ethan tonight, with him dancing and shaking his arms.

 

 

Only sunset pictures we got:

[afergvip]

Looking forward to the rest of your review. We leave Oct. 3.

[cjknox]

Enjoying your review so far. I see you're staring your son young.:rolleyes:

[Captain Carnival]

Nice start - we are sailing XTC in 4:D-days!!!

[Mrs.C05]

I will be working on the next installment here shortly. If anyone has any questions, please just ask. Hopefully I can answer them for you.

[gradmabee]

Do you have a copy of the fun times? We are on the Ecstasy in 30 days. If you do would you copy it for me. MY email bnlmorgan1@longlines.com. Thanks so much/

[Mrs.C05]

Enjoying your review so far. I see you're staring your son young.:rolleyes:

 

Thank you. This cruise was a "test" cruise, per se, to see how he'd do, so we could take him on a long one in March which will be a 7 day Western. He did pretty good. And he'll be platinum probably before he's 10!

 

Looking forward to the rest of your review. We leave Oct. 3.

 

I didn't realize, nor do I remember a review taking this much time to do. Maybe because I have other responsibilities now? ;) I hope you enjoy your cruise. Wish I was going again!

[purplemusik]

You know, before I had my son, I remember thinking," I would never be worried about my kids going over the railing!" because my daughter stayed by me and listened so well on her cruises as a toddler. Yeeeaaahhhh, that changed....I have a FIRM FIRM grip on him and my stomach twists and turns if he even goes by the side while I'm holding him because he's SUCH a climber ( and SO QUICK! ) I can almost picture it! EEEKKK!

[Ciardasully]

I don't have kids (at lesat yet) but I am very interested to read the rest of your review.

[Gemynii]

I'm really enjoying your review... can't wait to see the rest of it! :)

[ch27088]

Loving the review and your son looks like he really enjoyed himself. Hurry, hurry, hurry and post more please!

[Mrs.C05]

Ok, continuing on. Sorry guys. Next portion will be up shortly.

[Mrs.C05]

Day 2 – Nassau, Bahamas We didn’t arrive to Nassau until 12pm, so Dad and Maria took Ethan for a few hours while Tommy and I did whatever we wanted. We decided to go the Fun Shop and get him his first Funship Freddy, lol!

 

The 4 of us decided to go to Atlantis, so they could go to the casino, and I could let DS see the sculptures, and walk around somewhere different. I didn’t particularly want to do another beach day since we have HMC the next day.

 

Tommy got up to take some sunrise pictures:

 

 

 

 

This morning we all ate breakfast together, which consisted of fresh omelets from the outside Lido Omelet station, potatoes and bacon. The bacon police were out, only the crew was allowed to serve you the bacon. Everything else (grits, sausage, pancakes/waffles/French toasts, etc.) were all free be served by the passengers. Also, at least on this Omelet station, they would not make just plain scrambled eggs for Ethan. The guy said there was scrambled eggs down there, pointing to where the boxed/fake eggs were. I was not about to eat them, nor give them to Ethan. I didn't argue, I just fed Ethan some of mine, and picked around the veggies in it (he's allergic to tomatoes).

Tommy and Ethan walking back to the room from breakfast:

 

 

Here is Ethan's bed that Youdha prepared for him. It was perfect for him since he takes naps on mats at home and daycare. He knew this was his!

 

Ethan gets around 6-6:30am, most mornings, so by the time 9-10 rolls around, he's ready for a morning nap. Especially being on the cruise, all the walking around and sometimes running around really tired him out.

[Mrs.C05]

I'm ready for Nassau!

 

 

 

 

We docked in Nassau right at 12pm, with the Carnival Victory, Disney Dream, and Carnival Sensation. We all ate lunch at 12 before getting off the boat, and then grabbed the stroller on the way down. After getting past the very pushy, but a simple no will do photographers, we walked the trek to and through the security building, and then over to find the coach store. This store is now in the John Bull building, but has a very small selection. I assume since the Straw Market took over the area where the Coach Store was, they have dwindled their selection? I don’t know, but I wasn’t impressed. We then hailed a taxi to go over to Atlantis. I asked them about the Coach store and his lady helper said the govt has really put a stop to the knock offs that come there. She said with Gucci and Coach having their own stores there, they were really tired of the business going elsewhere.

 

Walking down the long dock to get to the security building:

 

 

 

 

We get to Atlantis, walk around a bit, the go find the casino, and I continue walking. I inquired about the aquarium, but it was $45 for me, Ethan was free, but was only 45 minutes. $1 a minute? No thanks. I found a store that Maria possibly wanted to peak in before we leave, since she wanted to get Ethan something that said Atlantis on it. He was very excited to walk around the perimeter of Atlantis, looking out at the water and waterfalls.

 

 

 

I checked in with the gamblers periodically, and around 4pm we left to head back. Maria wanted to get conch salad at Daffney’s under the bridge, so we walked over the bridge instead of getting a taxi.

 

[Mrs.C05]

Here are more pics of Ethan outside Atlantis with me:

 

 

Inside, sitting on the couches where the Sports Book betting used to be. I don't know what they'll turn this area into, if anything.

 

Us walking near the marina, heading towards the bridge to get Maria's conch salad.

We made it! Ethan is having a great time seeing the different sights.

[Mrs.C05]

Ok these pictures aren't shrinking down when I resize them.....what am I doing wrong? Sorry they are so large!

[Mrs.C05]

After she ate her completely fresh conch salad, we grab a taxi back to the ship since Dad can’t remember if the walk back had all sidewalks or partial sidewalk. The ride back was nothing special.

 

 

We were back on the boat about 5:30pm, and stayed on the boat the rest of the time. We all had to be back on board by 7:30pm for sailaway at 8pm anyways. Ethan loved looking out the large windows on Promenade, so once we were back on board, we were watching the Sensation passengers line up to get back on board. Dad was on that cruise a few months ago, and said they changed the time for passengers to be back on board, although it was to stay much later. Due to the crime in Nassau, Carnival changed the time.

[Mrs.C05]

Nassau continuation........

 

Seemed like the time to be back on board was anywhere between 6-7pm. I don’t know if they were running behind schedule or not because of how long the line was. It was just about as long as the ship was, and of course only had one gangway open.

 

This was an early night for Ethan and I. He normally goes down at 9pm, so we start relaxing at 8pm, him playing a little and drinking his bottle before turning in. He was asleep by 8pm!!! I should’ve woken him as I knew he’d wake up much earlier, but figured he’d need the sleep with how much went on today. I was wrong. He woke up at 4:30am!!! Ahhhh! I was up already thanks to the loud people across the hall, who were party it up until 3am. I was just about to call security when they quieted down. I know it’s vacation and all, but please be considerate of other SLEEPING passengers, especially one’s with babies/children.

[Mrs.C05]

Day 3 – Half Moon Cay

Today was the port I was most excited for. Living in FL we hardly go to the beach, but when we do, Ethan loves it! HMC is why we booked this cruise as I love how beautiful this island is!!! We arrive right at 9am, but they don’t just let everyone get off at once anymore. They now have a number system. You have to go the Blue Sapphire Lounge and get a number, and then wait for that to be called. Since Dad is platinum, he was priority everything, and since we were with him (although we told Carnival we weren’t platinum yet) they said to go along with him. So off we went. We didn’t need to wait, and honestly there wasn’t much of a wait anymore anyways at around 10am.

The wait was however on the tender. We were the first one’s on this one, so we had to wait for it to fill up.

 

 

 

 

We were on the island and in a clam shell chair by 10:45. The clam shell chair was $19 for the whole day. I wanted some shade for Ethan, so we got one, as did Dad and Maria. I offered to pay for theirs, but he put it on his S&S.

 

We played in the sand and water. I really thought we were going to get rained on, but the clouds past us by, and we only were misted on briefly. Tommy and I enjoyed 2 strawberry daiquiri’s each, however some of the bars were very limited on the choice of liquor they had.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Mrs.C05]

Photo continuation of Half Moon Cay:

 

 

 

 

 

About 12:30pm we all grabbed some lunch at the pavilion. We let our food settle for about an hour or so before packing up to head back to the ship. One more time in the beautiful, crystal clear water!!! We grabbed a tender back about 1:30, as I knew Ethan wouldn’t last much longer, and the sun was brutally hot beaming off the white sand. Even being under the shade, it was hot! Once the tender started moving, Ethan was out! Lol!!

[Mrs.C05]

We were all sandy, so once back on board, we went to the room to shower off, and hopefully get Ethan to nap again. Nope! He was ready to go after being showered.

 

Tonight we went to dinner in the Wind Star with Dad and Maria, who had anytime dining. Tommy and I had early dining, but we spoke with Maitr’D Joseph, and he said it was no problem to switch. The hostess was a little confused, but they got us all seated together. Ethan had chicken nuggets (that tasted a lot like McD’s nuggets!), veggies and French fries, but he hardly ate. L I had a spring roll, and ate Ethan fresh fruit he didn’t touch, for an app, and dinner was the chicken breast on mushroom alfredo pasta. It was good, but very filling. After the main course, Maria took Ethan back to the room. Tommy and I had dessert by ourselves. He ordered the apple pie with ice cream, and I had the WCMC! MMMM!!!

 

Ethan thought the tablecloth was the napkin, lol. Granted the napkins were very close in color to the tablecloths. HA! I hoped they changed it, since I told the waiter about him doing that.

 

 

I turned in for the night with Ethan while everyone else went to the casino.

[Mrs.C05]

Day 4 – Day at Sea

We somewhat slept in, if you consider 7:30 sleeping in! Ha! Today was a nonchalant day. Just walking around, shopping, eating, etc. I bought “an inch of gold” necklace, and got a free bracelet with it.

Sunrise picture:

 

Walking with a crew member (didn't catch his name but he just loved Ethan!):

 

In walking around early this morning, Ethan and I found this:

 

Ethan was in heaven! He loved seeing the towel animals each night, so this was a real treat!

 

 

 

This one was my favorite baby towel animal:

 

[Mrs.C05]

And of course, my baby being a sweet little boy. He certainly has my heart.

 

This one was before walking around looking at all the towel animals:

 

I was standing above the Serenity area:

 

My favorite, and I love the colors!

 

Around the ship:

The dinner menu looked really good for tonight, so again, we ate at the Wind Star dining room. Tommy and I agreed that any future cruises we go on with Ethan, we’ll choose anytime dining. There was hardly a wait, even at 7pm, which I would think would be prime time dinner. If we did wait, it was not even 5 minutes. The staff was very quick to get us seated. I had the beefeater tomato & mozzarella for an appetizer, and only ate half due to how large it was! It sure was delicious though! For a main entrée, I had their mahi mahi, which was cooked perfectly, that came with a side of potatoes and grilled veggies. Tommy and Dad got the meatloaf, and Dad also got the chicken something. He wasn’t impressed with it. Ethan had chicken nuggets, fries, and olives that came from my tomato & mozzarella app. He ate pretty darn good tonight.

 

 

My Dad, Tommy and Ethan.

[Mrs.C05]

More photos of Ethan doing different things:

Let's race! (Given what his Daddy drives, (Subaru STi), he certainly gets it from him) This was the day before, after Half Moon Cay and his 2nd wind of energy!

 

 

 

My Dad aka Boompa making Ethan laugh at lunch instead of eat (we were pretty much done though:

 

 

Dancing to "Wobble, Wobble, Wobble" lol! Also the day before, after Half Moon Cay and his second wind of energy:

 

We slowly packed up late afternoon, and then finished after dinner before Ethan went to bed.