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Carnival Ecstasy 2/4/17-2/9/17 Brief thoughts

mz-s

By mz-s,
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mz-s

mz-s

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Not really interested in writing a full multi-post review with photos (I didn't really take any of the ship anyway), but instead I'll just write my thoughts as someone who has cruised out of Charleston, and on the Ecstasy, several times.

 

Embarkation: Probably worse than it was last year. One employee said to go here, the other said no you need to turn around and go here, it's disorganized chaos until you get into the terminal where things are better. The left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing because there's a new staff at the port for basically every cruise. This is one of those things you just have to grin and bear as a Charleston cruiser. It likely won't improve until the port authority has a reason to improve it. Staggered checkin doesn't appear to have made any difference. The terminal employees, being Carnival/permanent port authority employees, are better and have a good system in place. It's the parking and traffic teams that need serious work, and the same holds true now as it did when we first cruised out of Charleston almost 3 years ago.

 

Ship cleanliness: I was on the Ecstasy in May of last year, when she was relatively new to Charleston after years of weekend booze cruises out of Miami. Toilets routinely broke, at least 25% of the elevators were always out of service, A/C in the cabin was busted, rust and weird smells/stains everywhere. None of this is true now. The ship is now as beautiful as ever. Clean, clear, in good repair. Of course this makes sense as she was just released from dry dock a few weeks ago. We'll have to see how the cleanliness is maintained as she gets farther from dry dock.

 

Cabin service: Never met the steward, but they did do a very good job of keeping the cabin clean. Both services were done every day with no issue. I think the steward stopped by once in an attempt to meet us on the third day, but we were still in bed so we just asked them to come by later.

 

Food: I said last year after we left the Ecstasy that other than entertainment, the food was the best part of the cruise. The food continues to be a high mark on the Ecstasy. The dining room was consistently hot, fresh, and perfectly cooked. This is my first experience with American Table and I was left impressed. The food was excellent and the dining room looked awesome. Service was slow one night but we brought it to their attention and it was quickly corrected. Lido food was also excellent - including the new additions of Guy's Burgers and Blue Iguana. If I tried I couldn't think of an improvement to be made in this area. My only complaint is hamburgers, chili, and fries are no longer served during the late night snack buffet - replaced with grilled ham and cheese, potato chips, and grilled onions. Not a big deal, but I do love Carnival's chili.

 

Entertainment: My Ecstasy cruise last year left a high bar here. I found the shows (albeit the same shows: Brits and Motor City) to be better than last time with better talent, but the promenade band wasn't quite as good as last year. The piano bar player was okay, and the solo guitarist was somewhat bad. The Fun Squad was good. The cruise director, Benjamin, was just as he was last year which is to say he made the ship rock. Full of energy, gets people excited and loose, and all in all makes everything fun.

 

Bar Service: I have heard complaints of some people having trouble finding a bar waiter in the lounge on other ships. Not so on the Ecstasy. The bar waiters were constantly making their rounds, and kept you full on drinks if you needed them. The bar waiters in the bars were also excellent. The new Alchemy bar is a great addition to the ship.

 

Overall, I had a fantastic time and everyone we sailed with also had a great time. I have very few complaints and none of them would cause me to not book another cruise out of Charleston on the Ecstasy.

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mz-s

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Awesome review! We are sailing out on Feb 28th, we went last year in Feb so it will be exciting to see ship after dry dock with new restaurants. Did some parts of ship look different? Also how was American Table menu? Thanks

 

Biggest things I noticed other than the additions of Guy's Burgers, Blue Iguana, and Alchemy is a lot of the colorful mosaic tile work on the ship (most notably on Lido around the pool) has been replaced with solid colors. The pool is now nonslip blue vinyl rather than ceramic tile. I suppose it is not only easier to keep clean, it's also easier to repair if a leak develops. I think the lido restaurant also had a bit of work done. Pour your own beer stations were added, some of the tile at the salad bar and buffets were replaced with solid color, just basic stuff. The other big changes I noticed was there are a lot more TVs around the ship. Some of them are just billboards (like the ones in the atrium), but others are being used to show the ship location channel, a sports event, or the morning show on loop. I also noticed new teak decking and freshly lacquered handrails/brightwork.

 

I had hoped the ship would have received a jumbotron on Lido, but it didn't happen. RCCL was able to put a jumbotron on their ships of similar size, but Carnival isn't doing it for some reason.

 

The American Table menu was great. I was getting tired of the same old menu on every cruise, so a different concept was appreciated. The food was always hot (sometimes the baked potato would burn my hands cutting it open) and the new items I tried were always good. I didn't try the $20 upcharge items so I can't comment on them. The dining room also looks much nicer now without the tablecloths (that may be sacrilege to some, but I think it looks nice with the lacquered wood tabletops that are there now).

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mz-s

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We loved Ben. He came to our M&M and spent a bit of time with us and answered a ton of Q&A. I think it helps he's on that ship and is a Charleston native.

 

He is a little dorky but yes he is a great cruise director. I hope he'll either be with the Ecstasy for a long time to come, or they find someone just as good as him to replace him if he leaves.

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nala24

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Thank you for your brief review of the Ecstasy. We are looking forward to our cruise in three weeks and are hoping for warm weather and calm seas. I love reading everyone's reviews especially on a SNOW DAY! :)

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mz-s

mz-s

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Thank you for your brief review of the Ecstasy. We are looking forward to our cruise in three weeks and are hoping for warm weather and calm seas. I love reading everyone's reviews especially on a SNOW DAY! :)

 

There is nothing like freezing your butt off the day before a cruise and by the first morning on the ship you're in 80 degree weather! Everyone should cruise to the Caribbean in the winter!

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Dave0311

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Thanks for your review! I recently booked Ecstasy for August. This will be my first time on her in 22 years and my first cruise ever out of Charleston, so that should be interesting! I'll be taking a hotel shuttle to the ship though; not sure how that changes things at the port.

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mz-s

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Thanks for your review! I recently booked Ecstasy for August. This will be my first time on her in 22 years and my first cruise ever out of Charleston, so that should be interesting! I'll be taking a hotel shuttle to the ship though; not sure how that changes things at the port.

 

You're skipping all the unorganized mess if you get dropped off. It's parking and traffic control that makes the Charleston port so maddening in my opinion. Since you're not parking you don't need to worry about that. The terminal is much more efficient.

 

When I say port I mean the parking, luggage drop off, and traffic control areas of the port complex. When I say terminal I mean the actual terminal building - where you go through security, check in, get your sail and sign card, and walk onto the ship.

 

If we lived farther away and needed to come in the day before we would also do a park and ride with an area hotel. We live less than 4 hours away though so we just save the hotel money and spend it elsewhere on the trip.

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Orlandorandall

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Hello fellow cruiser! We also just returned from the same cruise as you! We had a great time barring some issues that arose throughout the vacation and I thought I would share.

 

1. We booked adjoining rooms. It took them until after dinner the first night to open the connection. We were traveling with or three kids (one of which was extremely anxious about being on a ship) so we were a bit upset it took multiple attempts at lettting our steward know we needed it opened.

 

2. The first sea day we spent arguing with guest services and our room steward because our shower was backing up and flooding the rest of the restroom, so bad we had to create a dam with towels so it wouldn't come out of the bathroom. It took them all day to fix this with us having to spend our day going to guest services to get them to do it.

 

3. Guest services never answered the phone for us. We had to go to to the desk if we needed anything.

 

4. This was the same with room service. We tried two nights to order and had to sit on the phone for 10+ min and they still never answered so we gave up.

 

5. We spent one of our sea days at brunch which the service was horrible. It took 20min to get water and take our order. 30min in they offered us break and 1hr in we got our food. Food was great.

 

6. Coming back from half moon Cay we returned to no hot water on the entire ship and our halls on our deck flooded. Carpet was soaking wet. Apparently there was some sort of issue and they had to turn the hot water off so we all had to take cold showers when we returned from port. Not to mention the smell from the wet carpet.

 

All in all though we had a great time and the kids enjoyed it so much.

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Jamericannn

Jamericannn

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Hello fellow cruiser! We also just returned from the same cruise as you! We had a great time barring some issues that arose throughout the vacation and I thought I would share.

 

1. We booked adjoining rooms. It took them until after dinner the first night to open the connection. We were traveling with or three kids (one of which was extremely anxious about being on a ship) so we were a bit upset it took multiple attempts at lettting our steward know we needed it opened.

 

2. The first sea day we spent arguing with guest services and our room steward because our shower was backing up and flooding the rest of the restroom, so bad we had to create a dam with towels so it wouldn't come out of the bathroom. It took them all day to fix this with us having to spend our day going to guest services to get them to do it.

 

3. Guest services never answered the phone for us. We had to go to to the desk if we needed anything.

 

4. This was the same with room service. We tried two nights to order and had to sit on the phone for 10+ min and they still never answered so we gave up.

 

5. We spent one of our sea days at brunch which the service was horrible. It took 20min to get water and take our order. 30min in they offered us break and 1hr in we got our food. Food was great.

 

6. Coming back from half moon Cay we returned to no hot water on the entire ship and our halls on our deck flooded. Carpet was soaking wet. Apparently there was some sort of issue and they had to turn the hot water off so we all had to take cold showers when we returned from port. Not to mention the smell from the wet carpet.

 

All in all though we had a great time and the kids enjoyed it so much.

 

 

Sorry to hear you had a few bad experience on your cruise I am glad to hear that you guys had a great overall experience. Was this your first time on the ecstasy?

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mz-s

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Thank you for this awesome review and follow-up answer to the questions that are being asked. Do you prefer the solid color tiles or does it look too bland now?

 

The Lido pool area does look bland compared to how it was before, but I don't think it's a bad change. They've made it look more like a modern resort pool. The most stark difference is Alchemy bar. The alchemy bar looks like a high class bar on a Cunard liner - wood coffered ceilings, incredibly comfortable upholstered chairs, leather couches, etc., but when you walk 5 feet down the promenade you're back to the Fantasy class design we're all used to. It's almost like Carnival is planning to totally redesign the Fantasy class vessels in a few years and are starting with a few areas to see how it holds up. We'll see.

 

I really thought Carnival was going to dump the Fantasy class ships, but with the new dry docks I really don't think they are - we'll likely be able to cruise on the Ecstasy for at least 5 more years.

 

Hello fellow cruiser! We also just returned from the same cruise as you! We had a great time barring some issues that arose throughout the vacation and I thought I would share.

 

1. We booked adjoining rooms. It took them until after dinner the first night to open the connection. We were traveling with or three kids (one of which was extremely anxious about being on a ship) so we were a bit upset it took multiple attempts at lettting our steward know we needed it opened.

 

2. The first sea day we spent arguing with guest services and our room steward because our shower was backing up and flooding the rest of the restroom, so bad we had to create a dam with towels so it wouldn't come out of the bathroom. It took them all day to fix this with us having to spend our day going to guest services to get them to do it.

 

3. Guest services never answered the phone for us. We had to go to to the desk if we needed anything.

 

4. This was the same with room service. We tried two nights to order and had to sit on the phone for 10+ min and they still never answered so we gave up.

 

5. We spent one of our sea days at brunch which the service was horrible. It took 20min to get water and take our order. 30min in they offered us break and 1hr in we got our food. Food was great.

 

6. Coming back from half moon Cay we returned to no hot water on the entire ship and our halls on our deck flooded. Carpet was soaking wet. Apparently there was some sort of issue and they had to turn the hot water off so we all had to take cold showers when we returned from port. Not to mention the smell from the wet carpet.

 

All in all though we had a great time and the kids enjoyed it so much.

 

I did experience poor service one evening in the dining room, but we brought it to the attention of the maitre d and it was corrected immediately and for the remainder of the cruise. I didn't experience any of the plumbing issues you mentioned. Either our floor wasn't affected (Empress), or we just didn't need to take showers during the outage if it was ship-wide. It makes me wonder that perhaps someone attempted to flush a sanitary napkin or condom or something and overflowed the pipes. I'd hate to be the crew member assigned to retrieve something like that from a clog!

 

We sadly didn't order room service during this cruise. We are usually always good for at least 2 BLTs, but this cruise we just didn't have time. I do know that at certain times it is difficult to get through to room service. Maybe one day we'll be able to order room service from the Hub app.

 

Something I didn't mention in my "review" was the water pressure and temperature in our stateroom. Previously on the Ecstasy the water pressure wasn't that great. Now you could almost use the water pressure to power wash a car if you turned the flow up all the way.

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mz-s

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If we have a check in time of 12:00 -12:30 what time should we arrive to park? We are driving in that morning.

 

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Forums mobile app

 

Your mileage may vary, but nobody said anything to us about check-in times so I'm not sure how stringently they're enforced. You likely won't be able to start parking until around 11:30 or 12, so if you arrive any earlier than that you'll be waiting in your car in line to the parking garages.

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