First Timers Review of the Ecstasy 10/25-10/30

[jburk]

Alrighty…here goes…my first review…

 

A little bit about us – we are first time cruisers…myself and DH – both 31 yrs old. This cruise was to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary. We have two boys, ages 9 and 5, who will NOT be cruising. My parents were so kind in offering to keep them for the week so DH and I could get away for the very first time!

 

Pre-Cruise:

We were to set sail on Monday. I packed up all of the kids belongings on Saturday. My oldest DS also has a lot of food allergies, so in addition to close I packed him plenty of food. I took all of the kids items over to mom’s on Saturday afternoon. At this point I had yet to pack a single item for DH and I.

 

Saturday night I began packing for us. I finished this up on Sunday. I read, re-read and re-re-read my packing list. I was so paranoid that I was going to forget something! The inlaws were keeping my fur daughter so they came and picked her up on Sunday night. I remember going to bed around 10 pm but I knew I was not going to get a good night’s sleep.

 

 

Day 1:

Monday I woke up super early…around 4:45 even though I set the alarm for 5:30. I got the kids up and ready for school. I took them to moms while DH loaded up the truck. The kids caught the school bus at moms house. I hugged mom and thanked her for watching the boys all week. I then headed back to get DH. DH was ready and we were off!!!

 

We are just south of Austin…per mapquest it was 4 hour trip to Galveston. DH went the speed limit and it took us only 3.5 hours. We arrived in Galveston around 11:30. Stood in line for maybe an hour and then we were on the ship. It was a little confusing as far as where to go once we parked…but I think this was an issue w/ Port of Galveston staff, not so much Carnival. But we managed and were able to board with no problems. They were not giving out zone cards when we boarded. They looked at our documents (also just a note – we had DL and BCs. I also brought my marriage certificate and they never even looked at it. In fact one Carnival rep handed it back to me and said she did not need to see it). Put the cash on our S & S cards and headed to the Lido for lunch. After we ate we mainly just walked around the ship and explored. Of course I took pictures!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Atrium

 

 

 

Atrium by jburkhart178640, on Flickr

 

 

 

 

starlight lounge

 

 

starlight lounge by jburkhart178640, on Flickr

 

waterslides and whale tale

 

Waterslides by jburkhart178640, on Flickr

 

 

giant globe in the library

 

Globe in the library by jburkhart178640, on Flickr

[jburk]

bar in the main lobby

 

Bar - main lobby by jburkhart178640, on Flickr

 

arcade

 

Arcade by jburkhart178640, on Flickr

 

Blue Sapphire lounge

 

 

Blue Sapphire lounge by jburkhart178640, on Flickr

 

 

Casino

 

Casino by jburkhart178640, on Flickr

 

Chinatown lounge

 

Chinatown lounge by jburkhart178640, on Flickr

 

entry to Chinatown lounge

 

 

Chinatown Enterance by jburkhart178640, on Flickr

[jburk]

Crystal award...I can't remember the name of it...but I know Host Mach will ;)

crystal award by jburkhart178640, on Flickr

 

Club O2

 

Club O2 by jburkhart178640, on Flickr

 

Stripes Dance Club

 

Stripes by jburkhart178640, on Flickr

 

Galleria

 

Galleria by jburkhart178640, on Flickr

[jburk]

That's all for tonight...I'm exhausted...but I will be posting more.

 

And YES I do have food pics. I am gonna try to scan my Funtimes as well.

 

Stay tuned....

 

~j

[navybaby1113]

Love the pictures. Can't wait to see more of your review.

[parentsof5]

Ahhh, tease! LOL Glad you had a good time, can't wait to hear the rest of the story.

[boaterette]

Looking forward to more. Thank you.

[gapearl]

Welcome to the addiction called cruising! I'm happy to see you had a good time. Keep the review coming and happy anniversary!

[Meyer2]

Great review & wonderful pictures so far!!! I look forward to more! My DH & I just got back from our 1st cruise, on the Conquest. We loved it!

[Grayce]

Can't wait to hear more. It's my turn in 2 weeks :)

[Payd]

Can't wait to hear about the rest of your cruise. Happy Anniversary.

[gambler]

Great pics, Thanks!! Waiting for more...

[swilliams07]

Thanks, just looking at your pics brought back great memories.:) Its only been 2 weeks but I sure do miss it.;)

[whaletaillover]

We were on the same cruise and I hope that you had as good a time as we did. I can't wait to read more of your review, thanks for posting.

[jburk]

 

More photos of the ship...

 

Neon lounge

Mini golf

 

metro bar

[jburk]

So around 1:30 pm we went to see if our room was ready and it was. We also dropped off our carry on. We had an inside stateroom on the Riviera Deck (cabin # R102). Wow...tiny. But it served it's purpose. It was just DH and I. Every night we turned the TV on to the channel that had the outside cam of the ship. This allowed us to see when it was morning. Of course, usually when it was morning we would turn the TV off and go back to sleep. :) One morning I think we slept in til nearly 10 am. We have not done that in years. So as I am sitting in the cabin I am wondering how in the world the 4 of us would ever be able to stay in this cabin. You will find throughout a lot of the cruise I am trying to figure out how things would be if the kids were with us (already planning my next cruise which will include the boys. lol.) If it were the four of us I'd probably throw the twin mattress on the floor and both boys would sleep on it right next to ours. I don't think there would be enough storage space. And we'd have to bring a cooler b/c we would have to bring some add'l food for DS #1 due to his allergies. I brought extra hangers for DH and myself. I am glad I did b/c we did end up needing them. Our room steward was Haku (I think that was his name) and he was wonderful! He came by and introduced himself on the first day. After I took the grand tour of our room we went back to explore the ship for about another hour. We returned to the room at 2:30 and found our luggage waiting for us. I unpacked and then we rested for a little bit. After we rested and showered we headed to the bar to have a few drinks before dinner.

 

 

[jburk]

our room - R102. The fake window was cute.

 

 

bathroom

 

bathroom organizer. I got this at the dollar store. The hook was also $1. I hung it on the towel bar. It worked well. Next time I will take 2.

[mygirlchandler]

Thanks for your post! I wish I could see the first sets of pictures :(

 

Did you enjoy it? Do you think your kids would have had a good time? We are thinking of cruising in February with our two girls (8 and 4).

 

Do you have to post-cruise blues?

[navybaby1113]

Your pictures are messed up...

[jburk]

Hmmmm...I'll have to play around w/ the pictures.

 

Holly - yes I think your children will enjoy it. We are planning again, hopefully spring break or summer of 2012. My boys will be 7 and 11 at that time. I did peek around Camp Carnival because I wanted to see what it was like. Also I saw a group of children (maybe 5-6 age range) doing an activity in one of the lounges. I counted 8 children to 2 adults which I feel is a good ratio. From what I saw I feel comfortable leaving my kids there.

 

Post cruise blues?? lol. That's an understatement. I would give anything to be back on that ship! :)

~j

[jburk]

Let me try again w/ the pics. Someone please let me know if these are working because I am able to see all of them from the prior posts.

 

 

 

[jburk]

Ok, forgot to mention that sail away started during muster. Luckily I was right near the railing. When muster was over everyone began to leave but we stayed out on the deck for about 30 minutes and enjoyed the view. After muster we went back to the room and relaxed and got ready for dinner.

 

We selected the anytime dining. We ate dinner in the MDR every night and never had a wait. We never requested the same server. The server the first night was ok, nothing spectacular, but ok. Maybe we caught him on a bad night b/c we ended up having him again and he was more pleasant. Night #2 we had a female waitress that had no personality, but whatever, that didn't cause any problems for me. We were seated at a table for 2 each night, but the tables are soooo close together you can not say a word w/out the table next to you being able to hear it. Basically, you are sitting w/ other people but with a 4 inch space between your tables. This is one of the reasons DH & I chose anytime dining (to not sit w/ others) but it ended up being ok. Everyone we were near was nice and pleasant. Night #1 I ordered the flat iron steak. However when the food arrived it was the grilled pork chop. Well, I was debating about ordering the pork chop anyways so I dug in and didn't mention a word to the server about it. Maybe it was just a sign that I was suppose to have the pork chop, right? Actually what ended up happening is the man next to me ordered the pork chop and he got my flat iron steak. He did the same as me and ate the steak and we agreed both were good...lol. I had the ceasar salad & shrimp cocktail for a starter. I ordered the ceasar salad a few other times during the cruise and never was it as good as it was on night #1. DH ordered the shrimp cocktail & fried shrimp for a started and lasagna for the entree. For dessert DH ordered cheesecake, which he said was good. Ok....here is the sad part....I ordered the chocolate melting cake and did NOT like it. AGGGHHH!!! I was so surprised. I LOVE LOVE LOVE chocolate. I tried to like it. I wanted to like it. But I didn't.:( It was too runny for me. I wanted it to be more cakey. But, luckily for me, there was no shortage of desserts on this ship;).

 

After dinner we decided to skip the All Aboard show. The Dallas Cowboys were on Monday night football. So we headed to the bar to watch it. We were not alone either. There was a couple from Louisiana on there honeymoon. He was a huge Cowboy fan. It was funny hearing him talk b/c DH's family is from New Orleans and I get a kick out of them. We came across soooo many couples either on the honeymoon or taking an anniversary cruise. There was a lot of lovin on this ship! ;)

[jburk]

Ok, so let me take a moment to talk about the drinks on the ship. Let me start off by saying we did not smuggle. Not because we are above doing it (flame me, I know) but because we just did not want to mess with it. DH is a beer drinker. I am a fruity drink kinda girl - no beer, no wine - get me a frozen drink w/ an umbrella and life is good! Also, I am a lightweight. DH always jokes that I am a cheap date because 2 drinks and I am feeling a bit tipsy...4 or 5 drinks and the night is nearly over for me. The frozen drinks onboard, while delicious, are weak. Several nights I had 3-4 drinks w/in a 3 hour time frame and I felt nothing. This was another reason why we chose not to smuggle - I like my frozen drinks. I can say that next time, I will probably smuggle some liquor in, order my frozen drink, drink some of it, and top it off w/ my smuggled liquor. Most of the time I could not even taste the liquor in it. At any rate, the drinks were very good and that did not stop us from running up a $330 sign and sail tab, most of which was from drinking.

 

Here are some pics of my umbrella collection:

 

my very first drink onboard

 

Hurricane Wave I believe...hard to tell b/c of the poor lighting

 

Kiss on the Lips

[jburk]

More pics of my umbrella collection:

 

This drink is called a Shade Ade. If you like lemonade you will love it!! It's not on the bar menu but ask for it. Delish!

 

Miami Vice

[jburk]

So we hung out at the bar for the rest of the night and watched the Cowboys game. I went to bed and left DH to watch the game. I was exhausted and quite frankly, the Cowboys are horrible this year. DH followed shortly behind me. He didn't even stay for the entire game.

 

Day 2 - at sea:

So we woke up around 9 am, got dressed and headed to breakfast in the MDR. WOAH!! Remember when I said we chose anytime dining b/c we did not like to sit w/ strangers....well, I learned what Open Seating was (DUH!). I just did not think to ask the hostess for a table for 2. We were seated w/ 2 other very nice couples. One from Houston and the other from Philly. The couple from Houston was on a honeymoom (again...lotsa lovin!) and I think the couple from Philly was just on vacation. At any rate they were very pleasant and nice. And let me just say - I can honestly say that I did not run across not one rude passenger. It truly amazed me. I have been on land vacations - especially at amusement parks - where people are just so dang rude. Not here. I was so nice to see people treat strangers with such kindness. Ok, back to breakfast. DH and I had the exact same thing - ham and cheese omlette, hashbrowns, chicken sausage and OJ. All were very good. No food porn yet - but it's coming, I PROMISE!

 

We hung out at the pool for most of the morning. We checked out the casino for a bit. I have never gambled so I fed the slot machine $10 just to say I did it. Yea, not that thrilling for me. I can say I've done it though.

 

more to come...