Carnival Ecstasy April 30 - May 7, 2016

[jc4me]

Here's a quick recap of our experience on Ecstasy.

 

The embarkation was ridiculous as were were told to not arrive before 11:30 and got there around 11:45. The parking line was very long, but we had purchased FTTF and were able to bypass quite a lot of the line and get to the parking garage (once the line started moving) pretty quickly. As is typical in Charleston, the screening line was pretty backed up, but moved fairly smoothly. Once we had gotten through security, we were first in line to check in (because FTTF bypassed the long check in line). We were told that there were some issues in getting the previous group off of the ship. I am glad that we listened to the email that we received and didn't arrive early!

 

It was probably 1:15 'ish before we were on the ship and in our room. We met our room steward, Su right off and asked her to keep our cooler filled up and she showed us the paper asking if we wanted morning or evening room service and we asked her if we could get both. She happily obliged. The service in our room was probably one the best we have experienced - far better than our Paradise cruise last October. Our friends cruising with us also said that their service was very good. We were off to lunch in no time and the Lido dining room was not very crowded when we got there. Food was typical. I'm not much of a buffet eater and so I generally opted for either a salad or a sandwich from the deli. The Mongolian Wok was pretty good too! Each morning I had an omelet and was never disappointed.

 

We had anytime dining and never had to wait for a seat and we were generally out within an hour to an hour and 15 minutes. The dining room service was good the four nights we ate there. We liked everything we had in the dining room as did our friends.

 

On sea days we spent most of our time on the deck chairs behind the Waterworks. We expected it to be loud and crazy, but it wasn't bad at all.

 

Amber Cove was gorgeous at the port area! We went to Ocean World with the day pass and it was fun. We enjoyed the dolphin show and sea lion show. The drive to and from there showed us some of the reality of the Dominican Republic. (We had previously been to La Romana and knew what to expect as far as trash and poverty.)

 

We had been to Grand Turk several times before and it has been one of my very favorite ports. Unfortunately this time was different. There were aggressive vendors walking around and I had the misfortune of being around one that was yelling, cursing at and threatening another vendor for stealing his customer. The hair braiding ladies were pretty territorial as well. I would say that our next trip to GT we will book an excursion at a private beach to escape that. It made me think of Jamaica, but not quite that aggressive. The snorkeling from shore was not as good as it has been in the past, but we were still able to see some pretty fish.

 

We were disappointed to miss Half Moon Cay, but as we were waiting to arrive I told my husband that I wanted to hold off on tendering over if we even stopped. The storm clouds looked pretty ominous! The clouds let loose and the announcement was made that we would miss that stop. I did hear several people talking about how the captain should have waited it out because a couple of hours later it was clear. Apparently they were not checking the channel on the TV with the radar that showed that area socked in with storms most of the day and didn't take into account that we were travelling north and traveled out of the storm. I think that is the third cruise that we have been on that missed that port, so it wasn't a huge surprise. I do believe that the captain made the right choice, but that's just my opinion.

 

We found debarkation to be reasonable, again with FTTF it was pretty smooth. We did have one piece of luggage that was in the wrong area which took us a little time to find, but it was all good.

 

There was one hiccup in our stay. We heard a metallic banging in our room from the first night on (room M190). We called the first night and they sent someone from maintenance to listen. He called back after investigating and said that they were running a machine on deck 3 and that it should stop in about an hour. It didn't stop, but we slept OK. Customer service and our room steward were constantly checking to see if the noise was still there. In all we had 3 different people come into our room to listen to the noise and several calls as well as a letter. We were able to sleep at night, but if we woke up the noise was still there. After a couple of days we received a letter saying that we were getting a refund of a portion of our cruise and a discount on a future cruise. We felt that was very generous as we were not expecting anything.

 

Benjamin Lambert was our CD. We thought he was very good - one of the best we have had. He is very high energy and very friendly. Not sure if he has a clone on board or if he really was everywhere!

 

We loved the new smoking area layout on this ship. Being non-smokers it was so nice to be able to walk on either side of the Lido deck and breathe! We didn't spend any time in the casino and tried to hold our breath as we walked through. We also didn't walk down the Promenade deck when they bar was full because the smoke was so thick. Hopefully the ship will one day be fitted with smoke eaters to allow everyone to enjoy the Promenade deck.

 

We did go to the two Playlist Production shows and they were OK. Our friends liked them because they had never seen them before. The comedians were good, some were really good.

 

All-in-all we had a fun week and enjoyed our trip. We have been on most of the Fantasy class ships and I think that perhaps we will opt for a larger ship next trip just for a change of pace.

[teknoge3k]

Thanks for the review. I'll be on her in 21 days.

 

It's funny because there was someone else blasting this same cruise and was complaining about virtually everything. It's good to see a happy review. :)

[jc4me]

Thanks for the review. I'll be on her in 21 days.

 

It's funny because there was someone else blasting this same cruise and was complaining about virtually everything. It's good to see a happy review. :)

 

Yeah, opinions can certainly vary! Hope that it helped. From reading CC, we probably knew what to expect more than most and were not disappointed by things like no chocolate on the pillows....plus we had just cruised six months prior.

[BenjiRodney]

Thanks looking toward to sailing on her in August

 

 

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[Clarea]

Thanks for the feedback.

[waywyrd]

Thanks for the review, I'm looking forward to boarding the Ecstasy this Thursday!

 

Not happy to hear about aggravating vendors at Grand Turk, though. That's always been one of our favorite places to go, in part because there was none of that nonsense. I hate to be pestered while relaxing on the beach.

 

And I agree about embarkation in Charleston - it's a hot mess. But, it's a short drive from home, so we can certainly suffer through a crappy port to go cruising. :D

[jc4me]

Thanks looking toward to sailing on her in August

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Hope you enjoy it as much as we did!

[jc4me]

Thanks for the feedback.

 

You're welcome!

[jc4me]

Thanks for the review, I'm looking forward to boarding the Ecstasy this Thursday!

 

Not happy to hear about aggravating vendors at Grand Turk, though. That's always been one of our favorite places to go, in part because there was none of that nonsense. I hate to be pestered while relaxing on the beach.

 

And I agree about embarkation in Charleston - it's a hot mess. But, it's a short drive from home, so we can certainly suffer through a crappy port to go cruising. :D

 

Totally agree on all points!

[LUVMYGSDOG]

Thanks for the review! We sail on her in June. Have cruised out of Charleston twice so know what to expect! Plus its an easy port for us - we have a place in Myrtle Beach so drive there the day before and drive the 2 hours to Charleston the morning of the cruise!

 

 

Kim

[jc4me]

Thanks for the review! We sail on her in June. Have cruised out of Charleston twice so know what to expect! Plus its an easy port for us - we have a place in Myrtle Beach so drive there the day before and drive the 2 hours to Charleston the morning of the cruise!

 

 

Kim

 

Hope that you have a great time! I see you are from Apex - we live east of Raleigh. It is not a bad trip down to Charleston at all - even better for you from MB. Hope that your embarkation goes more smoothly than ours.

[MtnBikerFallDown]

Thanks so much for this review! We've sailed out of Charleston once, so we kind of know the drill. And, Ecstasy was my very first cruise in 1995! So, we're thinking of going on her again this coming December.

 

I'm curious, having not sailed Carnival in a few years, what are some good places on board to settle in and watch the water go by? I love finding some out of the way places inside the ship that have good windows to watch the view (but AC is my friend, LOL).

 

Also, what about food? I'm a foodie and (let's be honest), freakin' love to eat on a cruise. What was your favorite? I'm curious about The Taste Bar. Is it anything special?

 

Again, thanks for the upbeat review. I loved it!

[SMSACE6]

Nice review! Thanks for sharing.

[jc4me]

Thanks so much for this review! We've sailed out of Charleston once, so we kind of know the drill. And, Ecstasy was my very first cruise in 1995! So, we're thinking of going on her again this coming December.

 

I'm curious, having not sailed Carnival in a few years, what are some good places on board to settle in and watch the water go by? I love finding some out of the way places inside the ship that have good windows to watch the view (but AC is my friend, LOL).

 

Also, what about food? I'm a foodie and (let's be honest), freakin' love to eat on a cruise. What was your favorite? I'm curious about The Taste Bar. Is it anything special?

 

Again, thanks for the upbeat review. I loved it!

 

Isn't sailing on your first ship again so much fun?? Our first cruise was Fantasy in 1994, when it was one of the larger ships around. My how times have changed. On prior cruises on that class of ship we have enjoyed sitting on the Promenade deck (in the AC) looking out the window and reading or listening to a band. This time it seemed extra smokey so we didn't spend any time there. We mostly stayed on the back deck behind Waterworks....but no AC.

 

I would say that the food was on par with our previous cruises. I don't care for buffet food, so I never ate there. I would recommend the omelet for breakfast. I'm no foodie and don't really like anything too exotic, so I am not the best person to ask about that.

 

Hope you have a great trip!!

[MtnBikerFallDown]

Isn't sailing on your first ship again so much fun?? Our first cruise was Fantasy in 1994, when it was one of the larger ships around. My how times have changed.

 

Times have indeed changed! That cruise was with my Dad, a last Daddy-daughter trip before I got married later that year. He went all out and got us a suite. We were at our table (only dining room, assigned seating back then) and mentioned that we had a balcony. Nothing would to until the other couples came to see it. I think we may have inadvertently invented the cabin crawl. LOL! One of the couples took a picture standing in our bathtub! We had so much fun. That room now is pretty much what a typical balcony cabin is. We thought we were SO fancy, though!

[jc4me]

Times have indeed changed! That cruise was with my Dad, a last Daddy-daughter trip before I got married later that year. He went all out and got us a suite. We were at our table (only dining room, assigned seating back then) and mentioned that we had a balcony. Nothing would to until the other couples came to see it. I think we may have inadvertently invented the cabin crawl. LOL! One of the couples took a picture standing in our bathtub! We had so much fun. That room now is pretty much what a typical balcony cabin is. We thought we were SO fancy, though!

 

How fun! Thanks for sharing....

[CruzinScotty]

Thanks for your review.

 

I did not know that there was a separate FTTF line for cars to drop off luggage. I assume that is for Diamond/Platinum as well?

 

I REALLY appreciate this info. I wasn't sure if FTTF was as helpful in Charleston; I know a lot of people think it's a waste of money to begin with.

 

Did you find any other parts of the boarding process in the terminal faster with FTTF? It seems I had heard the buses were spaced out enough that there never were very long lines.

 

But, parking will help. As will getting into our cabin immediately.

[jc4me]

Thanks for your review.

 

I did not know that there was a separate FTTF line for cars to drop off luggage. I assume that is for Diamond/Platinum as well?

 

I REALLY appreciate this info. I wasn't sure if FTTF was as helpful in Charleston; I know a lot of people think it's a waste of money to begin with.

 

Did you find any other parts of the boarding process in the terminal faster with FTTF? It seems I had heard the buses were spaced out enough that there never were very long lines.

 

But, parking will help. As will getting into our cabin immediately.

 

I think our arrival day was worse than most, so FTTF was really worth it to us. We had to wait in the security line with everyone else, but we did get to the front of the line for check-in (right after security).

 

It helped with debarkation as well and would have helped with tendering if we had stopped at HMC.

 

For me, until we are platinum, if it is available, I will buy FTTF.