another Ecstasy review - 7/30/05

[camreesmom]

We were on the same cruise as TXSailor (Fausto) whom we had met on a Rhapsody cruise last year. My review will be from a more family oriented point of view simply because we cruised with our 8 kids (ages 2, 6, 9, 10, 13, 13, 17, and 23), my mom, and 6 other families.

 

PARKING: We used EZ Cruise parking for the 3rd time. The website said that there was no Ecstasy parking available until after Labor Day but we emailed the manager and they were nice enough to let us have 4 spaces. We dropped off our luggage at the terminal before going to the EZ Cruise parking lot simply because there were 17 of us that had arrived together and our group of 11 alone had 20 bags. When we got to the parking lot, we got on the first shuttle bus and we were back at the terminal within 20 minutes.

 

EMBARKATION: This was interesting because we had such a large group. The Carnival employees saw us with 2 strollers and came and asked us how many we had in our party. When we said 11, they pulled us out of the line and took us over to the handicapped line since no one else was waiting there. It took us about 30 minutes to get checked in and then we moved to the side so I could punch holes in everyone's Sign and Sail cards and attach them to the coiled wristbands that I had bought for everyone. We got in line for our boarding photo and we were on the ship by 1:15.

 

SHIP CONDITION: Our family had 5 inside cabins on the Upper deck. U85, U139, U151, U183, and U187. DH and I ended up with the 2 year old in the bed with us and the 6 year old in the trundle. The room never felt crowded with the 4 of us in the cabin and we had plenty of storage space. Our beds all had the new white duvet covers and everyone commented on how comfortable the beds were. Our room steward for all of our cabins except for U85 was Robert from the Phillipines and he was like a little elf keeping everything tidy. He was very friendly without being intrusive. There were a few of the abstract wall art hangings that had some damage but other than that, you really had to look for things wrong with the ship. The blue neon in the Blue Grille on the Lido deck does seem very bright in the evenings when it is dark outside but you don't notice it as much during the day. The ship's decor could use some updating. Even though the ship was built in the 90's, the color scheme seems more like something from the 70's.

 

DINING ROOM: We ate dinner in the dining room all nights except for our night in Cozumel and the very last night (it took a long time to get all of our bags packed and into the hall the last night!). We had tables 207, 209, and 211 for late seating dinner. Our head waiter was Clifford and he moved in slow motion. The staff were all extremely attentive to our children. My 9 year old daughter and 10 year old stepson really enjoyed eating in the dining room. So did our 13 year old twin boys which really surprised me. The sweet and sour shrimp were very good. Other dishes which were outstanding were the filet mignon and the prime rib and Chateaubriand. The head waiter was very nice to my 9 year old daughter but acted like the rest of us were bothering him. We had to ask for refills on our water and tea every night. There were several times when our food arrived at the table cold. If the kids ordered off the children's menu, they were always served very quickly, sometimes even before the adults got their salads.

 

LIDO DECK BUFFET/BLUE GRILLE: We ate breakfast and lunch in the Blue Grille every day. The omelets were great and so was the french toast. I can't stand scrambled eggs that are runny but the kids didn't seem to mind them. We ate pizza quite often and also had the hamburgers from the Lido grille several times. They were always good and the pizza was always hot and fresh. The employees in this area were so nice to all of our children. One waitress even made a "towel animal" out of a napkin for our 2 year old daughter.

 

LIDO DECK POOL AREA: Even with the sold out ship and the large number of children, we always managed to find a table on the lido deck to sit and enjoy the music out there. There were A LOT of kids on this ship but they were well behaved for the most part. The staff that were selling the airbrushed tattoos should have found a different place to park their cart other than right by the water slide because it got very crowded in that one spot but other than that, it was easy to move around on the Lido deck.

 

PROMENADE: We always enjoyed walking through the Promenade and listening to the live music. This is one area where we would have to give the nod to Carnival over Royal Caribbean. There is a guy that sings outside of the Metropolis bar and a live band in the Chinatown lounge. It is nice to walk through there and listen to all of the music or to find a seat in one of the windows and look out over the water.

 

ENTERTAINMENT: If you are bored on this ship, it is really your own fault. There is so much to do that we never got to do it all. DH and I sailed on the 4 day Ecstasy cruise back in February and we still haven't done everything there is to do on this ship. In the evenings, you can attend a show in the Blue Sapphire Lounge, sit in the Neon bar piano bar, go to karoake in the Starlight Lounge, dance in Stripes, listen to the band in the Chinatown Lounge or lose some money in the Casino. The Dream Voyage show in the Blue Sapphire started out slow and we thought we were going to fall asleep during the "Wizard of Oz on crack" portion of the show but then they brought on this dance couple from Russia (I think) and they were amazing. They woke us up quick. This couple is extremely talented. We also enjoyed the Extreme Country show and the sword swallower Dai.

 

CAMP CARNIVAL: These people are great. Our two year old took a little while to warm up to them but by the second day, she was asking to go see "her friends." It was nice to go watch a show with the adults and not have to worry about the kids. We were given a pager so they could page us if the kids needed us for anything. We ended up giving the staff a tip at the end of the cruise because they were so nice. The 12-14 year olds were mostly unsupervised. Our 13 year old twin boys met a lot of kids and had a good time but they said that they saw people having sex up on deck at night. They said they even tripped over one couple.

 

MEDICAL STAFF: Unfortunately, we did get to meet the ship's nurse. The last sea day, the 12-14 year old group was watching the children's talent show in the Blue Sapphire Lounge in the afternoon. One of our twins walked right into one of the glass doors coming out of the lounge on the upper level. He had a HUGE goose egg on his forehead and was taken in a wheelchair to the infimary. My other son came to our cabin to get me. The nurse was very nice but the security officer that came to take the incident report acted like we had committed a federal offense. I guess he thought we may want to file a complaint later but that was the last thing on our mind. He kept questioning my son about what happened to the point where it seemed more like an interrogation. My son was very shook up since his head was bleeding and he had a major headache. I'm not sure that he didn't have a concussion but we were told just to take him back to the cabin and keep ice on his head and keep giving him tylenol. We weren't charged for the visit to the infirmary.

 

DEBARKATION: This was horrible. The debarkation procedures have changed since we cruised in February. Now the customs and immigration people are off of the ship. If you are not doing the self assist, then you just wait on the ship until your color is called. We had purple tags and we were not called until 10:45. Then we just walked off the ship and into the warehouse where all the luggage is. We had to wait about 10-15 minutes for a porter and then we got into one of the LONG lines for customs. In the past, we have been off the ship and in our car by 10:30. This time we were not in our car until 12:15. The people at the port said that the procedures have changed in preparation for when everyone will be required to have passports. If you have a passport, they just scan the bar code in the back of your passport and you get to go through. BUT right now, there are more people that don't have passports than do.

 

MISC: The cruise director Rebecca was not seen very often. We sailed this same ship in February and the cruise director then was Larry Garlutzo and he was wonderful as was his staff. The cruise director staff did not seem very enthusiastic on this cruise. Funship Freddy was very friendly and our kids loved him/her.

 

Would we cruise Carnival again? Definitely, although maybe not this particular ship. I haven't found a cruise that I didn't like yet but twice on the Ecstasy may have been enough (but maybe not!). The ship was very easy to navigate and the staff was always cleaning.

 

Things I would do differently: I would definitely book early seating dinner if we had the kids with us again. The Camp Carnival activities are geared for early dinner. The cabins were roomy enough for 4 kids (teens) to fit easily with plenty of storage. All of the kids enjoyed themselves but I think we should have waited a little longer before we took our 2 1/2 year old daughter. Another 6 months would have made a world of difference. She never minded not going in the pools but another kid might have. I love my kids but I'm not sure they will be cruising with us again. They had a great time but it was not very relaxing for us.

 

Sorry this is so long but I was trying to be detailed! :rolleyes: :D

 

Overall, we had a good time.

 

Julie

[corina27]

Camreesmom thank you for writing a review for us i am glad to hear that you had a great time on the Ecstasy.:)

[parkglensteph]

Great idea for the S&S cards! Was trying to decide what would be the easiest way of carrying them. Thanks for the informative review. I can't wait to leave!

[dlbaqua]

Thanks for the review. We were on the Ecstacy in December with the kids and are going again (w/out the kids) labor day weekend. I wonder if self-assist got through any faster. We don't have passports yet and no time to get them before we sail.

[lilmsonry]

Glad to have your review from a "family perspective". Glad you enjoyed your cruise. Hope the staff gets a little perkier for future cruise.

 

 

DL: Are you cruising Ecstasy 9/5/05? There is a roll call for this, have you been there yet?

[robtx100]

We had Larry as a cruise director earlier this year on the Ecstasy on his last cruise with Carnival. He and one of the singers were going to Vegas to start their own show. He was also our cruise director once on the Holiday. I hate that there have been so many negative comments on his replacement on CC. We are going again on Sept. 10 to celebrate a Birthday. Hopefully, with the few extra weeks of experience before then she will be better. Thanks to both you and TXsailor for great reviews. How is your son? All better I hope.