Carnival Ecstasy Review Nassau HMC Freeport

[littlered87]

Okay so this is quite late, but my laptop that had all the pics had been acting up!... I loved reading other peoples reviews before our first cruise esp. ones with pictures! And im so ready to go on our upcoming cruise i want to relive those memories Sooo..

Day 1 we drove to Port Canaveral... 10 hour drive and stayed at the Radisson Resort at the Port , we used their stay, park & cruise package. This place was awesome!! They gave us a room right outside the jacuzzi & pool. If anyones interested in staying here we paid $160.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[littlered87]

We decided to go to cocoa beach for the day and eat dinner at fish lips we ate out on the patio overlooking the ocean food was delishhh! i had tilapia on sweet potatoes with a vanilla bean sauce..

 

[littlered87]

Day 2 Embarkation

We got up early & got on our shuttle to the port, which by the way if you do the stay park & cruise package was included round trip for 2. We got to the port, after clearing security and leaving our luggage there we went to the window to get our s&s cards, this is where we had a problem. We got everything done & went to sit & wait to board...being this was our first cruise we had no idea what to expect.. We hear a dingg and then the woman starts talking about boarding..then goes weddings vip diamond etc... well then she starts calling zone numbers..we were wondering how people figured out their zone number.... even though we were some of the first people at the port...we werent given a zone card!! so we were LAST out of every person in that terminal to board the ship :eek:.. Finally about 1ish we were on board and found our way to the lido deck to get some lunch ...we stood in line for about 20 mins with all our carry ons etc..after eating and having a few DODs we explored a little of the ship and then made our way to our cabin to drop off the carry ons. We had balcony cabin U202.. Not to small, balcony had 2 chairs & a small table ..the bathroom however is tiny!

 

 

 

 

 

 

[wrigley80]

Nice start....we did that same itinerary last December. How did you like Half moon cay

[RuthlessBoss]

Nice start....we did that same itinerary last December. How did you like Half moon cay

Let them get there, they just boarded:D

[wrigley80]

Let them get there, they just boarded:D

 

Haha....well get on with it. I wanna see that beautiful blue water

[littlered87]

we LOVED half moon cay!!! it was our absolute FAV...

Edited November 21, 2013 by littlered87

[littlered87]

We started watching sail away from the lido and then we went & spent some time on our balcony

 

then we got ready & went to dinner... i thought the hallways looked neat..

[littlered87]

after dinner we headed to the comedy show but neither of us felt great so we went back to our room to sit out on the balcony when we got to our room this is what we found

the ship was super rocky at this time so we just laid in bed for the rest of night and watched tv & we were so worried wed be seasick the rest of the trip :( however it was only that night and thankfully one of the couples we sat with at dinner gave us some dramamine, neither of us has ever gotten motion sickness so we didnt even think to pack it, they were our lifesavers:D

I do have the fun times & menus from each night & i will post them at the end

by the way our cabin was almost at the very back of the ship & we were inbetween cabin levels (above & below) so we didnt hear alot of noise except when the ship docked/anchored

We woke up the next morning when we were docking in freeport , we decided to do our own thing here & get a taxi ..so we took a taxi to Port Lucaya marketplace and beach ...it was $10 per person round trip & they give you a ticket for your return taxi ...

 

this is what one of their bus stops looks like

[littlered87]

some more of port lucaya ...alot of stuff was closed because it was a sunday

these big lizard things are EVERYWHERE

heres a map of the shopping centers there

 

we did some shopping and then you walk a few blocks and youll see a blue police building and you walk around the other side of it to the beach

[littlered87]

youll keep walking past a little elementary school i think it is , and then the beach is through the gate! At this point it was the bluest water we had ever seen!! (of course until we got to HMC)....

There was a little place called Billy Joes to the right as soon as you come towards the water & a guy selling coconuts & hair braiding to the right.. and yes they WILL nag you to braid your hair , esp if your hair is long & my hair was down to my butt -_- There are also water sport rentals right in front of the water heres the pricing & menu from Billy Joes

I had a pina coloda .....this is what it looked like and was yummy!

we felt a little adventurous and tried the fried conch ...probably wont ever eat it again, didnt have a bad taste it was just extremely chewy & im weird about texures

this is the view from where you eat at billy joes

[littlered87]

since this was a 5 day tonight was the "elegant night"

i tried the pumpkin soup he tried the "didja ever" alligator fritters (tastes like a fishier chicken)

and of course

and the dead given........

and when we got back to change....

[littlered87]

of course we played at all the photo backdrops..i think this was one of my faves.... if youve never cruised there are several backdrops set up on the promenade deck around dinner times..

 

and some are down by the stairs this night as well

 

several more & there are different backdrops each night (we spent $300 on photos :eek: but i wont bore you with those)

then we checked out the casino..ive never been in one before this..but there were ALOT of slot machines...several rows..

 

[littlered87]

[littlered87]

city lights bar on promenade right outside the casino

 

I think this was the society bar

 

Next up Nassau

The festival place building, you have to enter through here to get anywhere in nassau, also once you exit it and youre looking at the park ahead on the other side there is a fence to your right, you can go through it to the building across the street and get your passport stamped if you want that done. I had researched the walking tour that included queens staircase, fort fincastle and some other stops and we printed off 4 different mappings from people on here...but once we started walking we didnt feel safe & decided to go back and get a taxi... there were several guys with taxi vans offering a tour of the island for $50 per person and we didnt want to pay that... so passed them by...there were also swarms of the hair braiders that would NOT leave me alone..almost intimidating and im a pretty stern person.. we ended up with a guy named Ronaldo that said he would do it for $25 a piece as long as he got one other couple to go ... we waited about 10 minutes and then we were all on our way.. it was SOO worth it he was AMAZING we ended up tipping him another $25 he took us ALL over the island, the poor, the middle class, the upper class, all the sights we wanted to see & then lots more and to a beach and some shopping... told us the history and everything we could ever want to know!! I wish i had gotten his picture.. We ended up driving around for about 3 hours and he would stop whenever we wanted to ..

[littlered87]

the back of our docked ship. you can see our balcony in this pic middle row about 3 balconies down ...

 

totally cliche but.....

 

several gift shops inside the festival place building

 

 

their government buildings are PINK!!

 

Junkanoo Beach

 

[littlered87]

The Queens Staircase...it no longer has the waterfall the left its now just limestone walls...

 

we went back and ate lunch on ship today was "caribbean day" at the lido... i decided to be adventurous again.. and tried a few things..most were not good

 

there is a dessert table there every day with tons of different desserts & my fat kid self was like yessss

 

atrium staircase

 

for dinner i had some kind of pasta with chicken , it was pretty yummy!

hubby tried 2 different entrees...yes you can do this...you can order as many apps, entrees and desserts as you want!

[littlered87]

there was dancing and music at dinner tonight lol

and then of course warm chocolate melting cake!

 

and then we found him

[littlered87]

For half moon cay we didnt have any excursions planned so we slept late then got a tender

pulling in

 

 

and the most beautiful water weve ever seen!!!!

 

our boat anchored

 

[littlered87]

and the pirate ship bar

 

 

and thennnnn when we got back on the ship there was a shark swimming outside our balcony...not a great picture but

 

the atrium

 

 

the pool at night all lit up

[littlered87]

 

 

serenity (at night) its aft and super relaxing at night!

 

dinner dancing ..notice the guy on the pole... lol

the blonde woman was our server Michaela

 

and then this...

[littlered87]

Next was sea day,

i started my day with this pretty thing!

we ate lunch at the mongolian wok

 

and way later the sandwich grill

 

a sunset sitting out on our balcony

 

at dinner

caprese

shrimp cocktail

[littlered87]

i cant remember what this was i think it was some kind of fish hubby ordered

 

baked alaska and wmcm

 

 

i will post the funtimes tomorrow

[g-cindy]

Nice review, thank you very much! :)

[SnowshoeCat]

Thanks for whetting my appetite! I'm going in three weeks :D Your pictures and last night's snowfall are adding to my anticipation!