Ecstasy Review May 20-25, 2006

[BubbleGum14EB]

Howdy all!!! I just returned from my 5 day cruise aboard the Ecstasy! This cruise was a girls only cruise; we had 8 people in all in our group! Just to give you a little backround, this was my 4th cruise. My first cruise was in 2000 onboard the Ecstasy! My second, on the Inspiration in 2002 for my 15th birthday, and the Holiday in 2003 for my Sweet 16!! (And I have paid for all of my cruises with my own money, besides the first one!) In our group, we had a family friend and her two daughters, my mother and me and my sister, and my older sister and her 72-year-old neighbor in another room.

 

EMBARKATION:

We live about 5 hours away from Galveston so we just decided to drive down the day of the cruise. We left our house at around 6:30 and got to Galveston around 11. We had booked our EZ Cruise Parking online to save $5 per car and to have assurance that we would have parking. It was easy to find the parking, thanks to mapquest. But before we went to the EZ cruise parking lot, we went and dropped our stuff off at the terminal. The porters there were very helpful and in less than ten minutes, we were parked and on the EZ cruise bus ready to be driven to the terminal. To our surprise, we started boarding at 12:30-1:00'ish. The embarkation was a breeze and we were onboard in no time waiting for us to leave. Also, our luggage was delivered sooner than I expected. Very good way to start the cruise.

 

ROOM:

Well, everyone in our group got the Riviera Inside Staterooms. We had a total of 3 rooms and thanks to Carnival, we were all right in a row! I love the new look of the rooms. So much more sophisticated than the orange, hotel look I remember from our previous cruises! Our room steward, Luis, was VERY good. He introduced himself briefly to me and I saw him a lot around the halls and he was very friendly. BUT I never saw him in our room and our room was always spotless and clean.

 

COZUMEL:

An interesting thing happened to us! We went to the excursion talk in the Blue Sapphire and we decided to sit up close incase she decided to throw free stuff out! Even better, though, the cruise director, Rebecca, told us that the first person to show her their sail and sign card would receive a free gift. SO, my sister flew up their and got 2 tickets to the Mayan Ruins of Tulum (normally $79 each). SO, go to this talk, sit in the front, and have your sail and sign card ready!!!! Well, she decided to take me and we had a fabulous time. We were the first one's off the ship because we had to tender to Playa del Carmen, instead of going to Cozumel. The day was kind of overcast but it was so hot and humid, that it was a good thing. When we got to Playa del Carmen, we got our picture taken and proceeded to our charter bus. We had an excellent tour guide named Rueben! He wanted to take us to a store on the way to the ruins where we could get free shots of Tequila and shop. However, on the way, one of our tires went flat and we had to pull over and wait for another bus. Luckily, a local bus picked us up and took us to the store. We waited there for about 30 minutes for another charter bus. It was okay because I had two shots of tequila and shopped a bit. When we got the the ruins, we all decided that we would pay the $2 to take the trolley down to the entrance because it is probably a 1/2-1 mile walk. Well worth it I say! Our tour guide gave us a very long history of the Mayans, but didn't really show us around! I was getting quite annoyed because we already wasted a lot of time because of the tire and I wanted to go on my own and read the signs and do my own thing. I was interested in what he was talking about but he just dragged it on!!! lol...In the end we had like 45 minutes to tour the ruins on our own and go shop! Kind of a squeeze!!! Anyway, my sister and I still enjoyed the ruins. We did do some good shopping before we left. By the way, this excursion includes a sack lunch for the way back! It was just a ham and cheese sandwich, a bag of chips, and a soda, nothing exciting, but it was sufficient. When we finally got back to Playa del Carmen and were waiting to board the tender boat (and by the way, these boats are nice, not a typical tender boat), we bought the picture that was taken earlier for $13 dollars. It it was a cute picture, they have like 5 people dressed in traditional Mayan clothing get around you and pose. Well worth the money! By the way, when you get on the boat, go to the inside part of the ship, it's nicer, they have a bar down there and there's a tv plus there is AIR CONDITIONING!!! It's so muggy there! Anyway, we had a really good time, but our other 6 people just went to Cozumel to shop and then went to Carlos n' Charlies. They had a very good time, scandalous stuff happens there. HA...

 

PROGRESO:

Our group did not plan an excurion for this port. I want to do Chichen Itza, but because I did the Tulum excursion, I didn't want to do another ruins tour and was unprepared! As many horrible things as I have heard about this tour, I was frustrated! However, our whole group was pleasantly surprised with the port. When you first get off the ship, they have a nice shopping area with clean restrooms! Getting on the charter buses that take you to the market area of Progreso were nice and air conditioned. We (my mother, me, and one of the other lady's daughters) got off the ship together, got on the bus and were down at the market in no time. At first, I was a little scared of the surroundings, the area is very poor. We almost did a tour to this all-inclusive resort for $30. However, there was a free public beach right around the corner and we didn't trust them about getting us back to the pier on time. I am SO glad we didn't leave. Okay, first we decided to take a tour of the city. There was a place that gave a 20 minute tour for only $2. It was on a double-decker bus and was very interesting to see the city- the REAL mexico, not the touristy ports we're used to seeing. I quite enjoyed it! Then we decided to go to the beach because the water was NOT THAT BAD!!! I am shocked at how negative everyone was about this fact, it wasn't sparkling blue but it wasn't brown like Galveston water. Interesting fact, the Corona beach break that Carnival offers is right there next to the pier! So, right next to that area is the FREE beach!!! CRAZY for those that pay for that excursion!! We found a nice patch of sand under a palm tree and just enjoyed the nice weather we were having that day!!! Goregous weather- a little cloudy at times, but other than that, beautiful. Another interesting fact, right across from where we were is a restaurant/bar that has beachside service. We were laying across from the tables and chairs that were on the beach-they also had lounge chairs but by the time we go there, they were already taken. Anyway, if you go inside the restaurant, you can use their restroom! It's a cute place with that thatched roofing. So, we ordered a couple of pina coladas ($5 each). And then when the rest of our group joined us, we all had the BEST guacamole on the beach. yummy....After laying on the beach for a couple ours, the clouds overtooked the sun and we left back for the market to do some shopping. Got some good deals and then we had to wait in line to get a bus to go back to the pier. Once there, we did some more shopping and were back on the ship by 4:30. Everyone in our group said that they loved the port!

 

DAYS AT SEA:

We had two days at sea for this cruise! The first day was quite windy and no one wanted to swim because it was too windy! But, we found other things to do- tea time, the Austin Powers dance class (a MUST), and this was the day of the excursion talk. Our last day at sea was very hot a good day to lay out and get the last bit of sunshine before our cruise was over. Also, on the last day, they had a Line Dancing Class, it was fun. Go to at least one dance class....TOO much fun!!

 

SHOWS:

The shows overall were good! I really didn't care for the "Dream Voyage". It was odd, I had not a clue what was going on. They jumped from the Wizard of Oz to random acts! The Welcome Aboard show was okay, I liked the comedian. BUT my favorite show was the Extreme Country!!! Wow, they did an excellent job. The lead girl singer in all the shows did a GREAT job. In this show, you could tell she loved to do it because she showed passion, but in other shows, you could tell it was just routine for her! She still did good though. I LOVED Barry Van Wie!!! On the last night, he played the Cotton-Eyed Joe (?) and one of the girls in my group and I went down to dance on stage when he asked for people to come up. FUN!!!!

 

FOOD:

The food overall was good. As on any cruise, there were some things on the main dining menu I didn't care for but most of it was yummy. We loved our waitress, Bianca from Romania, every night she told us what was good and what was NOT good. One night, there was a Jasmin cake or something on the menu, and she thought it tasted like soap, SO she brought out a plate for us to try to see if we agreed with her. She was right! lol...She made our dining experience GREAT!!! The food on the Lido deck is always the same, but it's good!!! I loved the pizza as usual and I liked how they added the deli, i went once to get a reuben...loved it!

[petro772]

Sounds Great! Glad you had such a memorable time on your cruise! We're going in July on the same itinerary. Just wondered why you all used Playa del Carmen instead of Cozumel.

[BubbleGum14EB]

howdy, the reason why we went to Playa del Carmen is because to get to Tulum, we had to go to the mainland. Everyone else on the ship who did not have an excursion on the mainland was tendered to Cozumel!!!

[BubbleGum14EB]

Oops, I forgot to tell you about debarkation. This was quite interesting, all 8 in our group got down to get our luggage after waiting in the line about 20 minutes. My mother decided to go get a porter to help us because we could not carry all of our luggage through the long line. However, the other lady and her two daughters were being impatient and left us there to get in the long line because they did not want to wait for the porter. SO, my mother came back with a porter, the 5 of us loaded our luggage and cut to the front of the line. See, in the terminal, there is a long line of people waiting to get in line for customs. If you get a porter, you go straight to the line for the customs official instead of waiting in line to get to the line for the customs official...lol...I bet they were peeved when they saw us get WAY in front of them...we breezed right through customs...it was funny because I go to Texas A&M and i was wearing an A&M t-shirt, and my official told me that he wouldn't be able to process me until I said "Hook'em Horns"...lol..I refused and he let me go..ha...anyway, the porter took us to the EZ cruise pick-up station and my older sister and I got our luggage loaded, went to the parking lot, packed everything in the van and swung back around to pick up the other 3 in our group. We were ready to go and it was quite simple and fast! However, right as we were picking up the rest in our car to leave, the other 3 who wanted to leave our group to get out of the terminal faster were just leaving the exit of the terminal...too bad they didn't stay with us. We offered to wait for them but they told us to go, I think they were ticked that they were foolish in leaving us and having to wait a lot longer!! The moral of the story is to get a porter!! Yes, you must tip them but you leave faster plus it's more convenient!!! Anyway, other than that, we had a GREAT cruise...one of the best i have been on!!! Hope my long review helps!!! Gig'em!!!!

 

~Elizabeth

[GinnyJ]

WHOOP!!

Thanks for the review!

[cathyoo]

Nice review.. Glad you had a great time. Porters are well worth the tip.

[centralcalicruzer]

Thanks for the great review. I especially liked the info about Progreso. We plan to book a tour to Dzibilchaltun from the pier, and were hoping to have a little time to just sit on the beach afterwards and have a few beers before reboarding the ship, so the info you gave will be valuable. I have read both great reviews and terrible reviews of that port, so it's nice to hear your perspective. I think if you don't go expecting a pristine, upscale resort area and are just prepared to enjoy whatever the port has to offer you will have a good time. Did you take any photos that you could post? I know we'd all love to see them.

Great info about the ship, the dance classes sound fun. BTW, my stepdaughter is the lead singer you were talking about, so thanks on her behalf for the great compliments! I spoke to her yesterday while she was in Galveston, and interestingly she told me she has been fighting an infection in one of her wisdom teeth that has been affecting her performance. She's on antibiotics and is having the tooth pulled tomorrow in Cozumel! Hopefully she'll be able to perform in her shows. We are going to be onboard in August and can't wait to see the shows. We've heard great things about Extreme County. We got to hear her rehearsing all the shows when she stayed with us for a few weeks before she flew to Mobile, and I have to agree with you that the Dream Voyage show seems a little disjointed, but I am sure everyone is doing their best. I know it's probably difficult for Carnival to come up with original ideas for shows that are just basically Broadway reviews and try to not have them all seem the same. But since the shows are all free (included in our cruise price) I say it's all good!

It sounds like you had a great group of women for the cruise. That is cool that you have paid for almost all of your cruises yourself. We are taking my two daughters, 12 and 16, on their first cruise. They are really excited, I hope they meet up with some others their age onboard.

[BubbleGum14EB]

If anyone has any questions, feel free to ask!!!

[BBcruzer]

Hey thanks for the review, I am going on Ecstacy in two days!! This is the first cruise for me and hubby!!!

I cannot tell you how many times I have looked at this message board!!!

I love the info you gave !!!

 

Thanks Thanks... We live an hour from Galveston and cannot wait to get there!!

 

:D :D :D