Ecstasy Doesn't Have To Be A Pill – Review: May 26, 2014

[JinxyB]

Writerfl, I love your reviews! I read your Glory review and happened to stumble across this one-I enjoyed reading it and am glad you had a better trip! I like your writing style-please keep doing reviews!

[spazilla1]

Let's Talk About Me, Me, Me, Me Me!

 

Okay, cheap, short cruise. Older ship. Carnival. Mr. Sulu, set Expectations to “low”. Engage. Monday morning I threw my bags (one duffel, one folding garment bag, you nosy Nancy) into the car and drove through the Holiday traffic to PortMiami, parking at my favorite off-site lot for $9 a day, compared to the $20 they charge at the Port itself. I use Safe Cruise Parking every time. Good, secure lot, only a five minute shuttle ride to the ship and the shuttle's always either there or just around the corner when I get back.

 

I arrived at the terminal around 1:30 PM to find a humongous line to check in. There were only 16 people at the desk to check in all 2,000 of us, probably due to Carnival not wanting to pay overtime because of the holiday. Oh well, we all leave at the same time. Still, you're cutting into my vacation, buddy. After around forty five minutes of wait, shuffle, repeat I reached the desk and was handed my Gold Sail 'n Sign card. Up the escalator, dodge the photographers, and onto the ship I went.

 

Ecstasy has a lot of elevators. There are three banks of them, each with four elevators. You know they're arriving at your floor because instead of a bell or gong they make a sound like a dying seabird. The elevator announces which floor you're arriving at in a pleasant voice that's almost understandable. Lift number 11 always gets it wrong, though, announcing one floor above where you actually are. I took a 'vator down to 5 (Main Deck) and proceeded to my cabin, dragging the duffel (blue) and garment case (black) along behind me.

 

In less than five minutes I was unpacked and on my way to find the closest smoking zone, which turned out to be mid-deck on Lido near the outdoor bar. There are lots of tables and very few ashtrays, which is actually an excuse to meet your fellow travelers. Us smokers have an edge over you healthy types there as we are bound by a common interest/addiction, and a great conversation starter is “hey, can I share your ashtray?” In this manner I met a lovely blond lady from Atlanta who shall figure prominently later in my tale.

 

After re-infusing nicotine and roofing tar into my body I headed over to the buffet for a quick bite. The buffet has an outdoor and an indoor portion. Outdoors, there's a grill area for cheezboogers, hottie dogs and chicken lickin' fingers on one side and a Mongolian Grill on the other. The indoor portion has two identical lines with steam table fare, which is themed from day to day. Arrival day is Italian, so you can have cold pasta, hot pasta or pasta pasta. I was in the mood for some antipasta, but no such luck. Cold cuts and the like didn't make an appearance till the last day of the cruise for some reason.

 

Okay, enough about me for now. Let's talk about YOU, Ecstasy!

So glad you mentioned the Safe Park you use. If I may discourse, since you seem to like this company, have you ever had any difficulties finding the parking lot? what I mean by that is does the company move the lots from street to street? we had a really bad issue with our last cruise because the parking lot moved from it's original location and we did not know and had to play hide and seek with the parking lot. Did find it eventually, but were not happy with this and when we returned had to stand for over 40 minutes for the shuttle to come and get us, and eventually had somebody borrow somebody else's van to make the run. Very bad - enough to make us not want to sail out of Miami again.

[Writerfl]

Spazilla1 -

 

Safe Cruise leases their lot directly from the city of Miami. As I understand it, they were leasing a lot underneath the I-95 previously and the city forced them to move in order for the state to make some repairs. They were "temporarily" given the lot at NW 1st Ct, which was closer to the port, larger and better secured.

 

About a month after the "temporary" move they were able to successfully negotiate a lease to stay in the new lot. This happened about 8 months ago. While they were in a 'temporary' status there was a lot of confusion. To add insult to injury another company, Premier, put up a confusing and misleading website insinuating that *they* were Safe Cruise.

 

This was all straightened out, eventually. The new lot is larger than the old one and about three months ago they started using two continuously running shuttles rather than just one.

 

Let me tell you a little story which should explain why I like them so much. The second time I parked with them I went on a 7 day cruise. When I got back to the car there was a black plastic garbage bag covering the driver's side window. Fatalist that I am, I immediately thought, "Crap! Someone broke in and busted out the window."

 

I pulled off the bag and noticed that there was no broken glass in the window, on the ground or in the car and that the contents of the car seemed undisturbed. Growing ever more confused, I started the car and pressed the 'up' button on the power window control, whereupon the window smoothly (and perhaps a little smugly) slid up and into place. When exiting the car, I had left the window down.

 

I went and found the parking lot attendant to say 'thank you' and he explained that the manager checks every vehicle every evening. If a window if found down, they bag it and relock the car to keep the elements out. He also gave me the history that I described above.

 

Because they're the only reputable lot in the area (Google 'Premier Miami Lost Car Keys) the business has been growing and there have been times when I've had to wait for the second shuttle around. Are they perfect? Heck no. But they've taken great care of me six times this year.

 

Regards,

 

Jeff

[seannyice81]

Great review and excellent writing style.

 

I'm looking forward to your review of Valor after your trip.

[cheewiee]

Thanks for the great review. I booked the Ecstasy last week, and was a little apprehensive, This review puts me at ease.

[BettyPC]

Sounds like a great time was had!! Thanks for sharing w/us