Quick Carnival Ecstasy Review, Charleston

[fre1fred2]

This will be short and my review of our cruise on the Ecstasy out of Charleston we just got off of yesterday. Cruise dates: July 28 - Aug 1. We are in our late 30's and had 4 kids with us. Two 17 year old girls and two boys 11 and 9. We travel quite a bit and decided to take a last minute cruise before school started and decided on Charleston since we could drive there in about 6 hours.

 

The GOOD:

 

The Price...very cheap...$500 per person.

 

Embarkation: Got to port around 10:30, unloaded luggage, paid for parking, sat in line for about 30 minutes waiting for release into parking garage. Once we were in parking garage, we walked to the ship, checked in and was in our room by 11:30. We did pay for the FTTF, so our room was ready, however, our luggage did not arrive until 4 ish or so. Beings that we were one of the first on the ship and paid for the FTTF, check in was quick with no problems.

 

Food: We actually thought all of the food was good. Of course it was not 5 star dining, but all in all...we were very satisfied with almost all of our meals. We dine out a lot and try different restaurants and I must say we were pleasantly surprised. Lets see...we had the Indian dishes 3 nights and we never eat Indian but someone in our group tried the first night ....we all tested and continue to get the rest of the cruise. The other meals we liked were the Braised Ribs, Fried Chicken, Duck, basically every dish except one... The Sea Bass... definitely not on par with other restaurants where we order Sea Bass.

 

Ship: I was surprised that it wasn't as outdated and in need of refurbishment as I had read on here. Yes it's old...but it was tidy and for the most part in good condition. There were a few areas, specifically around the pool (tile coming up) that needs attention....but other than that...it was fine.

 

Entertainment and Cruise Director: Both were good. We really enjoyed the female director...she's funny and lots of charisma. We went to several shows and the comedy show...we enjoyed them both. Now..the comedy show is rough around the edges so be prepared.

 

Debarkation: We were in line to get off at 6:45...delayed until about 7:10. Was in our vehicle by 7:30. We just walked from ship back to garage. Simple and painless.

 

The Bad:

The Price...yes I said it was good and cheap...but with that comes some sacrifice.

 

Service: Very very friendly staff...but...

Asked for ICE as soon as we got to our room...was told to contact room service. Called room service for about 20 minutes...no answer. Ask our cabin steward for ICE again and explained no one answering room service and he said he would get for us. Left room and came back 4 hours later...still no ice. Went through EXACT same process again...by 6:00 p.m. still no ICE. Called room service at 8:00 and they said they would bring..... needless to say... woke up Friday morning and still NO ICE. Finally...around noon that day....I told room steward our issues just getting ice and he said he would go get. Came back to room at 2:00...still no flipping ICE. Explained my problem about getting ICE and that I needed for diary product which would go bad. Eventually at 4:00 pm. ice finally showed up.

Another incident which was lack of customer service. Our son got sick one night (around 2:00 in the morning) and I called guest service for a request (he threw up in the floor and we needed some cleaning supplies)....sat on hold for 20 minutes and no one picked up line. Hung up and tried again..sat on hold for 10 minutes and no one picked up. So...went down to customer service and someone was there...but was not answering the phone..i saw it ring while I was there and he didn't pick up that time either...ARRGGHH... I asked why aren't you asking the phone and his reply was he was busy at the moment...***??? to busy to answer the phone for guest....

At dinner on all 4 nights I had to wait almost 20 minutes from the time I placed my beer order to actually get my beer...on two occasions I had to ask again or I doubt I would have ever gotten it. We had appetizers served every night before my beer actually made it to the table.

Room steward only came once a day even though we checked 2x a day for cleanup.

 

Other than what I would consider poor service, I thought the cruise was good. Would I do it again...for the price...yes. But just know going in that you are getting what you pay for and don't have high expectations. But we had fun...kids enjoyed it..and it was a nice, quick, cheap getaway.

[sbridgeman]

Thanks for the review. We are cruising on the Ecstasy in Sept. of this year with a group of friends. This being our first Carnival Cruise, I started reading reviews of the Ecstasy and have been a little nervous about the ship. Thanks for easing some of my fears and setting some expectations around service (or lack of service.)

[CharlesKru]

Afternoon,

 

Thanks for the review. I am wondering, I read somewhere that this ship as a steel drum player back, did you happen to see/hear them?

 

We are going in about 30 days and my wife really misses hearing them on cruises.

 

Thanks!

[Clarea]

Thanks for the report.

[fre1fred2]

Yes, the steel drum player played about everyday out by the pool and a couple of evenings in the atrium. There is also a guy that plays guitar most of the evening in the Atrium. I thought the music entertainment was really good.

[CharlesKru]

Yes, the steel drum player played about everyday out by the pool and a couple of evenings in the atrium. There is also a guy that plays guitar most of the evening in the Atrium. I thought the music entertainment was really good.

Awesome, thank you for letting me know!

 

Sent from my SM-G930P using Tapatalk

[lilchief27]

Thanks for the review.

We are cruising in October with 2 teens (17 &14) - did your teens go to the clubs? If so, how was the staff & activities?

Thanks!

[riclop]

Thanks for the review.

[fre1fred2]

Our boys didn't go this time. But our daughter and her friend did. They are pretty shy girls and it took them about 4 hours to get up the nerve to go, but after the first night, they went back every night (I think it was Club O2). They met several teens their age and were really glad they ended up going.

[RedBeard78]

Accurate review. We cruised her on spring break with two 13 yr olds. They loved the teen group. Ship was in decent shape, food was what you expect, debark was quick. Good cruise for the money.

[TrinaLC]

We also had a lot of trouble getting ice. Steward said it was room service, room service refused saying it was Steward's job.

 

We finally ended up taking the bucket up to a bar and getting service there. They were reasonably accomodating but still ...

[fre1fred2]

TrinaLC...funny you said that about ICE..i didn't want to get into all the details in my review, but I had to do the same thing. But I took my small cooler to the Lido Buffet to get ice and one of the Host wasn't very pleased :mad:....and I explained my dilemma so he took cooler and filled it up for me :D

[CruzinScotty]

Thanks for the review.

 

We were on the Ecstasy in June and parked, using the van to get us to the ship and back.

 

This is the first time I've heard of people walking from the parking garage. I didn't know they allowed that. I didn't notice, are there sidewalks the entire way? It's truly not that far when you think of the walking you do in other ports. Of course give the heat this time of year...LOL

 

I'm wondering how difficult it was during debarkation since you would have your luggage with you.

[lilchief27]

Our boys didn't go this time. But our daughter and her friend did. They are pretty shy girls and it took them about 4 hours to get up the nerve to go, but after the first night, they went back every night (I think it was Club O2). They met several teens their age and were really glad they ended up going.

 

Thank you for the info.

[ourcruiseyears]

Thanks so much for the review! :)

[fre1fred2]

Thanks for the review.

 

We were on the Ecstasy in June and parked, using the van to get us to the ship and back.

 

This is the first time I've heard of people walking from the parking garage. I didn't know they allowed that. I didn't notice, are there sidewalks the entire way? It's truly not that far when you think of the walking you do in other ports. Of course give the heat this time of year...LOL

 

I'm wondering how difficult it was during debarkation since you would have your luggage with you.

 

Yes, there are sidewalks the entire way. Once we left the debarkation area, it was about a 10 minute walk...maybe 1/2 mile. Not bad at all...I was pulling the large suitcase...I had the kids doing everything else :D. I just hate waiting and didn't want to wait on the van to get us back to the garage.

[BenjiRodney]

Thanks for sharing, doing a 5 night cruise on the Ecstasy on the 20th of August, we are driving down but doing a park and cruise hotel.

[2xsin12mths]

Your review is right on......I am going in September and it will be my 4th time on Ecstasy. She is my fav Fantasy Class, and will be even more after dry dock in January when she gets Alchemy Bar! Each time I've been with different groups of people and each time had a great time! My husband and I pick Ecstasy since we LOVE 1/2 moon cay!. Missed once due to bad weather...hope we make it in September.

The ship is so easy to navigate. The food is good, the service is good, and yes she is getting alittle tired but still love it. I honestly like the fact that the ship is small enough that I don't need to ever take the elevator.

Just got off Breakaway in May and 16 flights was too much for me! Especially after a few drinks:D

Can't wait to leave out of Charleston since flying to Miami gets old. Looking forward to another GREAT cruise....this time with my 2 daughters:)

[fre1fred2]

we really like half moon cay as well...unfortunately...this cruise we only ported in Nassau. It was raining.....and we have been to Nassau 3x times...so we just stayed on and enjoyed the empty ship ;)