Just off the Ecstasy sailing 9/22/2007 - Long review.

[majacloud57]

This was a Girlfriends' Getaway for 3 of us. My first cruise, the second for another and our 3rd companion has cruised several times.

 

We live in Austin,TX so we drove the 4 hours to Galveston on Friday 9/21 and stayed at the EconoLodge that night. They gave us free cruise parking for the week. I don't think I would stay there again. The staff was polite and the price was right, but the room had a very strong cigarette smell and one of my companions saw a cockroach in the bathroom during the night. (That was the only sighting.:eek: )

 

EMBARKATION: Saturday we were at the Cruise terminal by 11:00am. I have a disability - Osteoarthritis in both hips, so had signed up for wheelchair assistance at embarkation. (Boy did I need it.) The taxi driver left us off at the baggage drop-off so it was a very long walk up to the check-in area. My roommate went up to the Check-in entrance and asked them about the wheelchair assistance. They weren't really ready for the wheelchair assistance that early as they were still assisting passengers off the ship. They said we could wait where we were for about 15 minutes or make our way up to the check-in. We did decide to walk up to the check-in and before we got there a nice man came with a golf cart and gave me a ride to the entrance - not sure whether he was with Carnival or the porters. We took the elevator up and went through the line for our Sail & Sign. After a little while, someone came with a wheelchair and pushed me through the maze to the ramps leading to the ship. It is a lot of walking to get from the cruise terminal entrance to the ship with a series of ramps, so anyone who has trouble with mobility should ask for the wheelchair assistance. They are happy to help with it. The man that assisted me had a nametag that listed him as a waiter and I saw him later in the cruise working on the Lido deck. I tipped him very well as he had to push me a very long way. We ended up in the Lido dining area and had lunch at the buffet. This was around noon, so it didn't take us very long at all. The buffet was very good, only the beef was a little overcooked.

 

DAY ONE CONT'D: The Muster drill went very quickly and we were on our way. I had a scooter delivered to the ship from Care Vacations for the week. I was very glad to have it as the ship is big and it made getting around so much more comfortable for me. We had a modified handicapped room on the Empress deck near the elevators. We met our steward, Rafael from Colombia. He was very friendly and helped us out with extra pillows and towels. He did a very good job keeping our room up and his towel animals were very cute. The only complaint I had with the room was that the air must have not been working right because it was very warm each night - during the day it seemed cooler. We had plenty of room - with a rollaway bed and a scooter we were a little worried, but with some slight maneuvering of furniture, it was very comfortable. I didn't mind having the interior room at all. I spent the most time in the room out of the three of us making sure to put my legs up for some time during the day. It wouldn't be worth it to me to spend extra money just to have a window. I can always go out on deck to look out at the sea or port when I want to.

 

DINING ROOM: We had dinner in the Windstar dining room every night. The food was very good. Our head waiter was Hayward from Nicaragua. He was very funny and had a great personality. Our assistant waiter was Emilio from Peru. He was a little shy, but had a great sense of humor and both went out of their way to give us really excellent service. We looked forward to seeing them every evening. We were seated at a table of 6 with 3 other adult women, a mother and her 2 daughters and we got along very well throughout the cruise. The food was really good. There were only a couple items that I didn't like once I had them - I was disappointed with the onion soup, the broth was very thin, with not a lot of flavor. I was very surprised by the size of the portions, only because my roommate and I had been researching online and on Cruise Critic for the last 6 months to be prepared for the cruise and we had seen the pictures that some members had posted and the portions looked rather small in the pictures. We had also read where people had ordered more than one entree. I never finished all of my entree on any of the nights, so can't imagine ordering more than one. The portions were very generous. The night I ordered the Baby Back Ribs I received a whole slab of ribs, not just a small portion. The Warm Chocolate Melting Cake is definitely as wonderful as everyone has said. One night I did ask to take the Cheese plate back to the room with me and they were happy to put it on a plate with a cover for me.

 

FIRST SEA DAY: Our sea day was a little rough and there was some rain. A few people had trouble with motion sickness. We sat out on deck for a while and watched people in the pool and had lunch at the buffet. Every time I was in the Lido deck buffet one of the service people would come up to me immediately and insist on helping me with my tray/plate/drink since I was driving the scooter. Sometimes I didn't need help, but I really appreciated their thoughtfulness. We ate lunch at the buffet most days. Each day they have a different country theme, Italian, French, Caribbean, etc. My favorite was the Caribbean food. We did try the pizzas at the back of the Lido and those were very good. The Rueben there is also very good.

 

COZUMEL: Because of my mobility issues, I decided not to get off the ship on port days. One of my companions also stayed on the ship and we enjoyed relaxing. Our other friend did go on one of the snorkeling excursions and had a great time. It was a beautiful day and the sea was such a beautiful shade of blue that it seemed fake. There was plenty to do on the ship even though the shops and Casino are closed on port days. It was very quiet and peaceful and we enjoyed the opportunity to talk to some of the staff a little longer than they would normally have time to.

 

PROGRESO: Another beautiful day. When you hear that this pier is about 4 miles long, you can't really visualize how long that is. When we docked here, shuttle busses come and pick up the passengers and take them to the shore. From the ship, you can't even make out separate buildings very well, there is just a line of shore. While we were eating lunch, we could see this rain cell move across the land, but at that time it didn't rain on the ship. It was funny. The ship had a crew lifeboat drill while most of the passengers were off the ship. We happened to be sitting in one of the window seats on the offshore side of the ship when they began and really enjoyed watching as they started with the muster drill with a couple of the crew going to each station and then they continued with the drill and actually swung each of the lifeboats over and lowered them down to the water, unhooked them, drove them around, hooked them back up and raised them again. It was very interesting.

 

SECOND SEA DAY: They had a lot of things going on on the last sea day. There were really good sales in the Galleria shops and lots of trivia games. I really liked being able to see some of the contests on the TV later in the day that I didn't get a chance to go to. They showed the Hairy Chest contest, Newlywed/Not so Newlywed game and the Variety Show on the TV over and over again. They also show the Debarkation talk over and over on the last day, so you don't really need to take the time to go see it live if there is something else you want to do at that time. I really enjoyed the Tea Times. They have these on Sea Days around 3:30 and have very good desserts/appetizers. My favorites were the Salmon on toast and the Chocolate Meringue cookies. They also had cucumber sandwiches, a lemon meringue tart, and some other muffins and baked goods. I missed going to the Sushi bar although I really love Sushi. There is just so much food and we had the first seating for dinner, so there was no way that I could go and eat sushi around 5:30 and then have room for dinner at 6:15. I did have the Sushi appetizer in the dining room one night and enjoyed that.

 

DEBARKATION: We put our suitcases out the night before and were ready to go by 8:30am. We were told we would dock at Galveston and the ship would clear customs around 9:45. Everything went really swiftly at first and most of the self-assist people went through more quickly than usual. It seemed that just as we got in line and our number was called there was a snafu and everything slowed down. Not too badly though. I had another very helpful crew member named Zoltan from Hungary who helped me off the ship in the wheelchair, he was very patient through all the steps of the process and made sure I was in the best place to wait for our transporation. My companions and I got a porter - really the fastest way to go. The regular line for customs was very long. We had all our forms filled out and happily followed the porter to the shortest available customs line. The customs agents just asked us if we had a good time and looked over our paperwork, we each had purchased a few bottles of liquor beyond our allowance and were not charged any duty, which we had expected to pay. I was helped out to the front benches and waited there while my roommate took a taxi to the hotel we stayed at to get her van and she then came back to pick the two of us and all the luggage up.

 

We really had an excellent time and the service and friendliness of the crew members far surpassed what I expected. It was a great vacation for all 3 of us as each of us could be as relaxed or active as we wanted to be and meet up when we wanted to. As a first time cruiser, I really think it was the perfect vacation as you can do as much or as little as you want and especially with my mobility issues everything was right there in one package. I never experienced any rudeness from any of the other passengers. Nobody ever pushed their way onto the elevator in front of me and a couple times when I was going through entryways or had dropped something, people were always quick to help out.

 

I actually already miss our waiters and steward that we got used to seeing every day and can't wait to book my next cruise. I think I'm addicted. :p

[dcwms]

Great review, I'm glad you had a good time.

Thanks

Sharon

[TheDINGOateMyBaybay!]

Oh gosh! I wish I could catch someone sailing on her soon! I would love to relay a picture of us and our room stew Ana to her! I miss her! She is truely someone that I would be friends with in "real life".

[chitown cruisers]

Oh gosh! I wish I could catch someone sailing on her soon! I would love to relay a picture of us and our room stew Ana to her! I miss her! She is truely someone that I would be friends with in "real life".

ask around on the roll calls for the next few sailings.....shouldn't be hard to find someone to do you a favor.

[TheDINGOateMyBaybay!]

thx...will do, good idea!

 

ask around on the roll calls for the next few sailings.....shouldn't be hard to find someone to do you a favor.

[SATXLady]

I actually already miss our waiters and steward that we got used to seeing every day and can't wait to book my next cruise. I think I'm addicted. :p

 

Thanks for the great review. My mom and I went on the 4 day Ecstasy cruise over labor day weekend. It was the first cruise for both of us -- I think my Mom was somewhat unsure if she would like it or not before we went. Well, we both thoroughly enjoyed it! As a matter of fact, from the time we returned on 3 September, all I heard was non-stop about how much Mom enjoyed it and couldn't wait to go again. So, on the 16th, we booked again for the 5 day leaving on 1 Sept next year. Got the same cat 12 cabin we were in this year and definitely looking forward to it.

[pacerzfan]

Thanks for the review, majacloud57!

[Momma2ruby]

Thanks for the wonderful review..

 

Im leaving on the Estasy as a first time cruiser on 10/11/07....If you want to email the pic or mail it to me..Im near Galveston and will do my best to get it to her~

 

Im so looking forward to get my butt on the boat!!! I need this so bad!