Ecstasy's social host sam here to answer questions

[Stircrzy]

I bet Sam is all busy being a social host.

Piggie... do you know which port in cozumel we are sailing into?

 

Mama calls me "Ms. Piggy" sometimes, so I will answer...

 

Mike just got off of the Ecstasy and he says they docked at the International Pier. That's about a $5 taxi ride from Punta Langosta pier area.

[Piggie]

I bet Sam is all busy being a social host.

 

Piggie... do you know which port in cozumel we are sailing into?

 

I am clueless, sorry.

 

Time is passing by waaaaay... toooooo... SLOOOWWWW...

tick tock tick tock:rolleyes:

[Piggie]

Mama calls me "Ms. Piggy" sometimes, so I will answer...

 

Mike just got off of the Ecstasy and he says they docked at the International Pier. That's about a $5 taxi ride from Punta Langosta pier area.

 

I'm Miss Piggie to my mom everyday.LOL:D I'm going to miss her, but she refuses to travel.:o

[luvingcruising]

:D Hey Sam,

 

My husband and i will be on the ecstasy;) on 5/20 do you know what shows are showing on TV.I know its kinda of silly asking about TV but its are third cruise and second on ecstasy and is nothing like a day at sea just relaxing in your room and watching some TV.

 

Thanks hope to see ya soon:)

[Airfish]

Sam! Sorry I missed meeting you on our cruise on 5/1. That was our first cruise and we really enjoyed it. We are so excited to go again next year and do some activities we missed this time.

I have a challenge/favor to ask of you - you are my last hope!

 

The day we couldnt dock in Progresso because of the winds, they hosted an art auction in the Starlight Lounge. When walking through to get to the kids pool I was immediately entranced with the music playing. I asked a sharp-looking Romanain guy what the music was, and behold! - he was the owner of the CD and happily wrote the name down for me. My wife got rid of the paper not knowing I had written something on the back. I do do know if he was with the Lounge or with Park West. I am hoping there is some way to find him and get the name of the CD again.

I cant imagine too many people have stopped him and asked him to reveal CD names, so I'm hoping he remembers...and I'm hoping you can and are willing to find him.

 

It's so good I'll even buy you one for your trouble! :)

 

I'll stare at the webcam until I see the ship dock again. Until then, I'll be surfing the web trying to find something that jumps out at me and reminds me of the name.

 

Thanks!

[jckvpa0]

Well he does find time to post.

 

And what are you busy doing while your posting here :cool: !

[SK8DAD]

Hi Sam,

 

It's great to have someone on board to keep us informed as we await our next trip. We'll be with you July 10th and can't wait! Last year there was a band named Xcentrique playing on deck during the second day at sea. Great sound, doing all your favorite songs with a hint of Carribean flair. Are you familiar with them? If so, are they still aboard, or will they be during our cruise? If not, do you know what type of entertainers will be aboard...on deck and in the lounges?

 

Thanks!

 

Rick

[SpoonLady]

Hello, we will be sailing in Aug. I was wondering if you can tell me if there is 1 or 2 formal nights? Do you have any suggestions as to where to go in Cozumel and Progreso? This will be my 4th cruise, however the first cruise for my youngest son, mother, aunt and cousin.

[serene56]

Hello, we will be sailing in Aug. I was wondering if you can tell me if there is 1 or 2 formal nights? Do you have any suggestions as to where to go in Cozumel and Progreso? This will be my 4th cruise, however the first cruise for my youngest son, mother, aunt and cousin.

 

7 night or more will have 2 formal nights..all other cruises will have only one.

 

To check to see whats to do in your ports here is the link to the port of calls board.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=5

[SMJUGS]

Just how long can we expect it to take to disembark from the Ecstacy? Have heard horror stories of waiting for hours and people can't understand why this situation hasn't been remedied.... RCCL seems to have a streamlined procedure. Like I said, I've heard..... haven't actually witnessed this, but I would appreciate an HONEST response. Much rather be "prepared to wait" than expect things to move right along and be disappointed. Would be a kinda' of crummy ending.....

JUGS

[MrPete]

1-day cruise: no formal nights

2-day cruise: one formal night

3-day cruise: one formal night

4-day cruise: one formal night

5-day cruise: one formal night

6-day cruise: two formal nights

7-day cruise: two formal nights

8-day cruise: two formal nights

9-day cruise: two formal nights

10-day cruise: two formal nights

11-day cruise: two formal nights

12-day cruise: two formal nights

13-day cruise: two formal nights

14-day cruise: two formal nights

16-day cruise: two formal nights

17-day cruise: two formal nights

 

http://www.carnival.com/CMS/FAQs/Formal_nights_in_the_Dining_Room.aspx

[Stircrzy]

Just how long can we expect it to take to disembark from the Ecstacy? Have heard horror stories of waiting for hours and people can't understand why this situation hasn't been remedied.... RCCL seems to have a streamlined procedure. Like I said, I've heard..... haven't actually witnessed this, but I would appreciate an HONEST response. Much rather be "prepared to wait" than expect things to move right along and be disappointed. Would be a kinda' of crummy ending.....

JUGS

 

I just got off on Monday, May 29.

 

The self-assist were off of the ship by 8:15 AM. Then priority were taken off...Platinum VIPs, suite passengers, and those with early flights. I was in this group and through Customs and in my vehicle by 8:45 AM. Colors were called as we were walking off, starting with the top and going down.

 

As for "crummy ending"...aren't all debarkations "crummy endings"?:)

[cpayne]

Sam,

 

Nov we'll be our 11th cruise and CCL is our favorite. Met my husband onboard a CCL cruise matter of fact so they are near and dear to my heart for obvious reasons! :)

 

I do have one suggestion, though, or perhaps a question: Why doesn't Carnival do anything to recognize cruisecritic.com members?

 

When cruising other lines we've recd a variety of "perks" simply because we were cruisecritic.com members including:

 

1. Priority embarkation and debarkation

2. champagne in our room

3. Welcome aboard party

4. Social gathering during the wk including the cruise director attending to answer questions

5. VIP status

 

Each time we have sailed with CCL and asked them even about helping us put together a cruise critic get together they have refused. They wouldn't even reserve a room for us all to get together in without charging us. We weren't asking for drinks and snacks. Simply just wanted a room.

 

As I'm sure you've seen by now cc.com is a very powerful voice for cruisers! It would be nice if CCL recognized and rewarded this as the other cruise lines do!

 

Thanks for listening to my suggestion!

[srsh1]

Hello Sam and others!

 

We are looking forward to our sailing the end of July - any others scheduled for that time? Would appreciate hearing more about what activities are planned for the "at sea" days - are there Trivia Contests?

 

Sally

 

:) :) :) :)

[serene56]

I do have one suggestion, though, or perhaps a question: Why doesn't Carnival do anything to recognize cruisecritic.com members?

 

When cruising other lines we've recd a variety of "perks" simply because we were cruisecritic.com members including:

 

1. Priority embarkation and debarkation

2. champagne in our room

3. Welcome aboard party

4. Social gathering during the wk including the cruise director attending to answer questions

5. VIP status

!

 

I'd like to know what cruiselines do that just for being a CC member. I know when booking a cruisecritic group cruise a lot of that stuff above is included...including on carnival.. But did not encounter any except a welcome aboard party on Royal for a meet and mingle party--- not just being a cc member.

[serene56]

We are looking forward to our sailing the end of July - any others scheduled for that time? Would appreciate hearing more about what activities are planned for the "at sea" days - are there Trivia Contests?

 

Sally-- check out www.cruiseclues.com and scroll down and click on your ship. WHen you are in there-- look for Capers and see activitiy sheets.

There are trivia contests all the time== different ones. sports/music, tv, etc etc.

You will be given a "capers" every evening in your cabin while you are at dinner for the activities for the next day. We take a highliter and mark everything we want to do so not to miss something

[cpayne]

NCL provided the best benefits to us as a cc.com. I simply called NCL prior to the cruise on behalf of our roll call from these boards. They arranged for us to have priority embarkation/debarkation, VIP status, and a cc.com get together during the cruise. At the get together the cruise director and 2 other staff members attended. They each spoke for about 10 min each and then answered questiosn. NCL also provided lemonade, coffee and cookies. This was not an official cc.com cruise. It was merely those of us from a roll call that called and asked.

 

On RCL we've received similar benefits, but it has been hit or miss. We typically have not gotten all of the above. The 3 times we've sailed CCL and asked anyone about any of these perks they either said "no" or "we've never heard of cc.com".

[serene56]

On my past Liberty cruise the Group hostess was the best I have ever encountered. She set us up for the dayof sailing- had a few tables reserved for us on the aft pool deck for a sail away get together- the casino boss set us up with 6 slot machines for our private slot torunement= gave us lanyards. the geoup hostess set us up at a bar where we had open bar for one hour.

---

On the Miracle we had a free open bar plus free hot horedorves in the Mad Hatter Lounge one night. We also had a free get together in the show lounge on the same ship.

--

Royal cariibean hosts the meet and mingle but advertises on Cruise Critc.

 

to be fair-- cruise critic members represent less then 1% of the cruising public. On the liberty there was less then 30 of us that particular week.

[rtstites]

We will be on the Estasy in August & was wondering about the pier in Cozumel....We've heard since the hurricane, you have to be tendered to the island. Any info would be helpful. Thanks!!

[Airfish]

rt-

 

This is the one operating pier 4 weeks ago. One ship per time was able to dock. It seemed Carnival was alternating with RCCL who got to dock. One of the crew said Coz can now only handle 2 ships per time. It was our turn to dock when we went. I noticed they were using ferries that normally take folks to Playa del Carmen, so they were able to move a lot of people pretty quickly on the other ship.

 

Note the repairs on the rght side of the picture. They have repaired the dock up to the ship's entrance. (cc forums can only support a 20k file, so the quality is greatly reduced-sorry for the lack of clear detail)

[SK8DAD]

:confused: Sam, are you still with us? No posts since May 7th!

[KellyBelly]

Sam! I wasn't too impressed with the Ecstasy two weeks ago, but the crew was amazing! I was with two of my girl friends and we always went out of our way to find Sam and say "go Blue!!" hehe ;) We definitely loved Sam :)

[LHP]

rt-

 

This is the one operating pier 4 weeks ago. One ship per time was able to dock. It seemed Carnival was alternating with RCCL who got to dock. One of the crew said Coz can now only handle 2 ships per time. It was our turn to dock when we went. I noticed they were using ferries that normally take folks to Playa del Carmen, so they were able to move a lot of people pretty quickly on the other ship.

 

Note the repairs on the rght side of the picture. They have repaired the dock up to the ship's entrance. (cc forums can only support a 20k file, so the quality is greatly reduced-sorry for the lack of clear detail)

 

Thanks for the picture and the update. We won't be there until October. After many trips there pre-Wilma, I can't imagine how it will look a year after the fact. Cozumel is by far my favorite port. My heart just breaks for them when I think of all they have gone through. But I know the stock they are made of, and they will be back better than ever.

[L2J]

And what are you busy doing while your posting here :cool: !

 

Helping spend your hard earned tax dollars :p

[Rena921]

Sam are you still there? Just checking 'cause you havn't posted in a while.....:confused: