Baddabing

I was looking for reviews before I booked this excursion. I recieved 1 reply from a person who said their relative went on it and only caught a couple of small fish. Well fishing and catch6a few is better than not fishing at all. I booked this excursion through my cruise line Carnival. Lucky for my wife and I.  There were only 4 other guests on this 22 man charter. The 6 of us went out on the boat "hooked up" which we found out was part of Reef Tours Ltd. The captain did an excellent job putting us on the fish. My wife an I caught over 15 each and just before the captain was ready to return back we were done. This was a great excursion only some of the keepers in the cooler.

iShip -  Ecstasy 

Deck - 5

Stateroom # - M250

Stateroom Category – 8A

Starboard or Port Side - port side

Quiet Stateroom? (With comments on problems) –

 

stateroom was not a connecting stateroom

 

Balcony View -  Great balcony views.  No obstructed view. Close to the ocean very enjoyable. Two chairs and one small table. One of the chairs reclines.

 

Balcony Size? Normal size

Was wind a problem? - not on our cruise.

If an aft cabin, was soot a problem? No - we were about 3 cabins at the end of the hallway which kept traffic to a minimum. 

Any specific problems with this cabin? - cons: long walk to the front of the ship. The main dining room and the blue sapphire theater. Pros: near the side of lido deck, buffets, coffee, starlight lounge. It is deck 5 so your noise level is non existent. 

 

Any other comments? - great cabin yes there is a hairdryer no fridge.

Just got off Ecstasy Monday. There is a sewer odor that does hit the air from time to time in the hallways, around elevators and in some rooms. The cruise Director informed many of us that a sewer drainage pipe has been broken below in the crews dining area. All maintenance attempts to fix it have been in vain. Hopefully they will repair it in drydock. 

1 hour ago, coevan said:

all ships have occasional odors

From the posts I am reading especially off the last two months it's more than occasional. If it's as bad as prior passengers are complaining I'll have the local Jacksonville news look into it.

I am set to cruise out of Jacksonville Fl on the Ecstasy. I have logged on to numerous Facebook Carnival Ecstasy groups. The only complaint that is consistent on many prior Ecstasy cruises is a terrible poop smell near the elevators, on certain decks and unfortunately many rooms. Since Carnival is aware of this problem you would think they would fix it. Why wait to comp individuals that complain they should fix this problem before they get a class action suit. Anyway had I known before I booked I would have gone out of port Canaveral. I will update when I come back from our cruise. 

Ok, I let her know last night and she is thrilled. Leaving on a cruise in 5 days. She is ecstatic. Made her hair appointment for tomorrow. She is actually glad I didn't tell her months ago. I know my wife of 38 years.

2 minutes ago, clo said:

A week's notice for a four day trip?  If no work or child care issues?  A four day trip requires almost nothing of me.  What would you be doing? 🙂  

Your exactly correct. If I tell her to soon she will start going bonkers for no big reason. I feel this is just like a weekend getaway. Don't need that much notice. Last time we did a big cruise and trip was a month and to west coast (San Francisco,  Seattle and then Alaska). For that we both took moths to prepare. 

53 minutes ago, cb at sea said:

Yes...she will want advance notice, I'm sure.  If hubby were to spring a cruise on me, and HE packed for ME.....good intentions can have bad outcomes.

 

Tell her several days ahead of time, so she can prepare!

I would never do her packing. And yes, I will tell her a few days before. 

On 7/13/2019 at 2:40 PM, Baddabing said:

Just booked a real quick 4 night Bahamas cruise. I was curious if it is worth it to have the bottle water ordered ahead of time to the room. And is it worth the additional expense to pay for the bubbles package so my wife can drink her soda while on board. I will be bringing 2 bottles of wine 12 cans of soda and 12 cans of club soda. Just looking for info from past cruisers. 

What I decided to do is purchase the Bubbles unlimited soda package for my wife. I will bring some cans on for me. Also I now will bring a 68oz growler container for water and 2 36 oz insulated cups. We will also bring the 2 bottles of wine. That should be enough. Thanks for all the advice.

1 hour ago, PhillyFan33579 said:

Every relationship is different, but if I did that to my wife of 31 years not sure I would make it to 32 years 😊. 

Well 8 years ago I surprised her for our 30th and said we were going to NY. I took her to Vegas the New York New York casino hotel. Then from there 2  weeks in the Islands of Hawaii. She was in tears (of joy). She needs another good surprise. 

1 hour ago, ZoeyVictoria said:

I would be very happy to be surprised with a cruise, but I would absolutely want enough time to get my nails done (and possibly my hair) and pack in a leisurely manner.  I suggest a week’s notice.

She just did her nails yesterday so that should not be a problem. I'm thinking 6 days notice should be enough. It's only a 4 night cruise. 

28 minutes ago, lensonlife said:

Yes! I had previously read that the fridges did not stay very cold due to poor ventilation- they are enclosed in a cabinet. I propped the cabinet door open (obviously not the fridge door), and our fridge kept our water and my wine very cold. 

I just got off the phone with Carnival and Unfortunately we will not have a fridge in our room. I guess I'll bring some soft coolers.

49 minutes ago, Shaded Lady said:

You know your wife best of all... if she's the type of person who needs to prepare for a cruise, surprising her at the dock is not a good idea... maybe you could take her out to a nice dinner a few days before your cruise and surprise her then?

I wouldn't wait until we are at the dock. It's 11 days away just trying to get an idea as to when it would be to short notice.

Just wondering, I very recently book a short quick 4 day cruise. It's less than 2 weeks away and I have not told my wife yet. I know my wife and she will be thrilled.  Just not sure when I should let her know that we are not going on a casino boat but a short cruise ship. I figured she just needs a couple of days notice. Am I wrong? Caveat: we are not newly weds, we have been marry many years.

9 hours ago, RWolver672 said:

 

Yes you are.  You can also bring your sodas from your cabin or a mixed drink.  To the OP, if you run out of the sodas you bring onboard, you can also buy more at the ports you stop at and bring them onboard.  

Can we bring

N a can of soda or do we have to put it in a cup?

7 hours ago, lensonlife said:

You can order the water once onboard if you decide you still want it- the price doesn’t change. We just got off a Southern Caribbean on the Horizon last Sunday and did not order water, or purchase Cheers or Bubbles for our family of 6 (2 in a separate stateroom). We also did not bring any water or soda onboard. I brought 3 bottles of wine onboard (someone from another stateroom who doesn’t drink wine brought a bottle onboard for me), but I brought two of those bottles home. My husband and I spent about $400 on alcohol. My one son would have drank soda all week, but he was content to drink water and lemonade and honestly- I was worried about dehydration. My daughter doesn’t drink soda. We purchased and brought onboard these 32 ounce Hydro Cell insulated bottles from Amazon- excellent purchase! Next time I’ll purchase the 64 ounce one to fill and keep cold in the fridge. The 32 ouncer came with the lid as pictured that has a very functional straw, and also a screw top stainless lid. The strap cost extra, but was very handy and made even a full water bottle seem lightweight when carried on the arm- freeing the hand. I would fill 3/4 with ice at Lido and then water. Kept it cold for hours- the water would be gone before it ever went warm. We took them to all the ports too. I actually didn’t think the water in Lido tasted bad at all. That said, everyone has a different preference for water. 

I have a balcony room on the 5th floor. Is there a fridge in there rooms? 

Are you allowed to bring a stainless steel container to the dinners?

Just booked a real quick 4 night Bahamas cruise. I was curious if it is worth it to have the bottle water ordered ahead of time to the room. And is it worth the additional expense to pay for the bubbles package so my wife can drink her soda while on board. I will be bringing 2 bottles of wine 12 cans of soda and 12 cans of club soda. Just looking for info from past cruisers. 

Just booked a last minute cruise,  I was hopeful that food would be better than ok. Going out in 2 weeks. 

What is a aarp gift card?

Thank you for your post. I am on the same sailing as you on Eurodam and I didn't know what the situation was with the hydra pool.

I didn't know it was only accessible if you purchased a spa package, so thank you for that information.

 

Hopefully somebody who has been on board recently can shed some light about it.

Styles, how did the thermal spa look on your cruise. Was it clean?

When we get to the pier the morning of our cruise, we will be able to give our main luggage to porters from our cruise ship. Before we actually go to board the ship? Not sure how all this works. But we are now here in Seattle.

To the OP we offer the following simple message. When you post on the HAL blog, where most of the posters are big fans of HAL, you are going to hear mostly positive things. It would be the same on the RCI, Celebrity, Disney, Oceania, etc. It can be difficult to get really objective comparisons here on CC (or anywhere else). You might want to read the CC ship reviews...and look back over the past few months at all the posts. Careful reading of these detailed reviews will often show you trends (positive and negative). If several folks are saying something negative (and they are specific) about the A/C there is likely a problem. And likewise, if many are praising the food in the MDR there is real meaning.

 

We have nearly 500 days on HAL (plus many more days on 14 other lines) and could write lots of positive things about HAL...but could also write quite a few negative things. And it's the same with every other cruise line.

 

Hank

I agree with Hank, a number of posters on the HAL section are dihard HAL cruisers and no matter what will make lemonade out of lemons. This will be our first cruise in 18 years. I did not book my cruise on a Disney Cruise for the ovious reason Lil kids running around. We booked based on itinerary, price and dates we needed. We hope this cruise in two day going to Alaska will not be like the twilight zone episode "The passage on the Lady Anne".

I will post my review when we get back next week. The good and the bad. Hopefully all good.

Absolutely. All the ships do.

Thanks one less thing to bring on board

Just a quick question, we are already in Seattle and my wife had to buy a hair dryer for our temp. stay. Does the Eurodam have hair dryers in all their cabins?