Carnival Ecstasy 8/20/16-8/20/16

[BenjiRodney]

Going to share a little of our adventure on the Carnival Ecstasy from 08/20/16 to 08/25/2016.

 

This would be Carnival Cruise number 14 for me, and my first time back to Nassau since 2010. I tend to avoid Nassau at all costs. Booked this one for the price and the fact that we had never been to Half Moon Cay before.

 

We would be driving down to Charleston SC from Charleston WV, so no airfare to worry about on this trip.

 

Had to work 1/2 on the day we planned to leave so we planned to drive as far as Charlotte and then to Charleston the next night before getting on the cruise. Glad we did the normal drive from Charleston to Charlotte NC took over 6 hours with accidents and traffic. Should have been 4. Did not take that long in April when we drove to Charlotte to fly to Tampa for a cruise.

 

We originally booked Hampton Inn West Ashley Park and Cruise, total with tax was going to be 212 dollars. Parking at the port would be 85 dollars. So we cancelled Hampton, used points and stayed for free at a Holiday Inn Express the night before the cruise in Charleston.

 

Post Cruise we used points and spent two nights at the Renaissance downtown in Charleston.

 

On to the Cruise:

[BenjiRodney]

we decided to check out around 9 am and go over to Mt Pleasant to pick up a few last minute items, soda, baggies, sun screen for Half Moon Cay.

 

Driving back across the bridge, I think I see my home for the next five days?

 

[BenjiRodney]

We knew that Charleston switched to the Staggered Embarkation and we had the 1130-1200 window, or as a Platinum member I could show up at anytime. We decided to start making out way towards the port and parking, glad we did, we got in line to drop bags and park at 10:50 am, it would take 1 hour to move through the lines, pay for parking, park and walk to the ship. They are letting you walk now if you wish to, since we only had carry on bags and soda, we walked to the terminal.

[BenjiRodney]

The area with the white tent is where they will check your ID and Boarding Pass again in you choose to walk. Once through and close to the door, a Carnival agent will direct the FTTF and Diamond/Platinum members to a separate screening line and then to the front of the line to receive your S&S card and then you are on your way up the stairs and on to the gangway and the ship. So once we made it to security, soda was opened, checked and resealed, received card we walked right on. Longest was the wait to drop bags, pay and then park.

 

[BenjiRodney]

Once on board our rooms were ready, dropped things off in the room, Ocean View deck 6 U49. One of the things I did not like on this cruise was the service from the room steward. "Pancake" he came and introduced himself and asked if we wanted morning or evening service for the room. I am used to twice a day, but told him evening would be fine. And never had we not received a towel animal on the first night. I do not have any pictures of the sail away or do I know how long it took to get out to the open water. I took advantage of some specials and spent the 3 hours after sail away in the spa getting relaxed for the week.

 

 

[BenjiRodney]

Rest of the staff and crew we would encounter would be great. The dining room team we had were excellent, Nadiya, Errol and Gede were fast and efficient. We enjoyed the 4 nights we ate in the MDR for dinner. Never had a problem with the food on Lido either, always something to eat from pizza to the deli to a burger, I did not want for food or snacks on this cruise.

 

We were usually in and out in about 1 hour and 15 minutes to 1 hour 25 at the most. This is our waitress Nadiya:

 

[BenjiRodney]

Note, there were tons of kids on this sailing, many had not gone back to school yet. Where we live school started August 9th. And this year we have had missed days due to the heat and not snow, so cant wait to see what winter throws at us.

[BenjiRodney]

We arrived into Nassau and had breakfast with many visitors this morning:

 

 

 

[BenjiRodney]

We thought about a Dolphin Encounter at Altantis, but the costs were kind of high. We can do a Dolphin Encounter in December on the Magic in Amber Cove for half the cost. We decided on a City Tour and Ardastra Gardens.

 

[BenjiRodney]

The Gardens were home to trained flamingos, other birds and some animals. Nice landscaped grounds to walk around.

 

 

The trainer could tells the birds left face, right face, march, halt etc and they followed his commands.

 

[BenjiRodney]

More from the Gardens:

 

 

 

[lidoplease]

Beautiful pictures! Thanks for taking the time to do this.

[BenjiRodney]

 

Even got to hand feed Lorakeets.

 

[BenjiRodney]

We probably spent 1.5 hours at the Gardens, then had two brief stops on the way back towards the pier.

 

 

[BenjiRodney]

We still had about 3 hours before we had to be back on board, thought we would check out the Straw Market, mistake. Hot, muggy and unable to breath in there, not sure how those ladies do it. Bought one thing and stuck to the stores on the main street.

[BenjiRodney]

It was nice being the only ship in Nassau:

 

[BenjiRodney]

Beautiful pictures! Thanks for taking the time to do this.

 

 

Thank You, I feel like I slacked off in the pictures department on this one. Took around 300 pics compared to 1300 in Alaska last year.

[BenjiRodney]

I always liked the lighthouse at the entrance to the harbor in Nassau. Stayed at the front of the ship to get pictures of it as we sailed out and on to Half Moon Cay.

 

 

 

[BenjiRodney]

I know some people are not a fan of the decor of the early ships, I love all of the lights and neon especially at night. I liked the changes in the colors:

 

 

[BenjiRodney]

Views of the Atrium changing colors:

 

 

[BenjiRodney]

Words cannot describe how amazing Half Moon Cay is/was.

 

Here links to a couple of videos I did and posted over on YouTube.

 

[BenjiRodney]

This one is the tender ride back to the Ecstasy.

 

[BenjiRodney]

The tender process was painless here, no one was in a hurry or seemed rush. The Tenders were large and held something like 400 people. And you will go through xray screening prior to boarding your return tender. Makes the process flow smoothly.

 

This was the prettiest beach/sand/water I have seen.

 

 

[BenjiRodney]

We took a 45 minute behind the scenes tram tour on Half Moon Cay. You get to see where all of the activities take place and also get to see the area where the staff members that stay on the island for it's upkeep live. They make their water and generate their electricity on the island. Wish I would have booked the string ray excursion.

 

[BenjiRodney]

Lunch was a real nice set up. Served from 1130-130. Just like you would find on Lido, Burgers Dogs Chicken etc and desserts.

 

Full bar service was available back closer to the main entrance where you first came in.

 

A few small huts selling things and a store run by the cruise line was all the shopping to be had. This is not a place to buy things if you wait.