First Cruise Review--Ecstasy--Aug 8-13

[jasjess7881]

Hello all!! I just got back from our 5 day cruise from Galveston. We went to Cozumel and Progresso and it was awesome!! I wanted to write a review because all of the reviews kept me excited and informed and answered my million questions before my cruise!!

 

Let me start off by letting you know who all went with us. It was me, my dh, dd(8), dd(5), ds(2), mil, fil, sis in law, niece, bro in law and husband's uncle. Also a coworker and her family of 5 went also..so there were about 16 of us total.

 

So away we go...

 

Our group of 11 left the Friday before our cruise to hang out in Galveston. We absolutely love Galveston and we were happy to see that it is recovering from the Hurricane. We packed all of our luggage into my bil's truck and we were on the road by 10:30 a.m.

 

packing luggage for 11 people:

 

 

 

The girls ready to go!!

 

 

DS riding with the guys!!

 

 

Galveston here we come!!

[jasjess7881]

So we get to Galveston at about 2:30 or so and we stop at Walmart to get some snacks before we check in our motel. Now we are going for cheap and we decided to stay at Motel 6 on Harborside Dr. It was about $89 on Orbitz which was not cheaper than booking it online on Motel6 dot com. Anyways, it was clean and the rooms were okay. I was just glad we were staying 1 night.

 

The beds:

 

little table with leftovers

 

roomy bathroom

 

nice tv

 

It was worth the money!!

 

Now I am a little diappointed because by the time we got settled into our motel room, my family needed to get ready to go meet my dad for dinner. He lives in Houston..so we met halfway in League city at Chili's. So we didn't get to see much of Galveston, but what I did see it was nice.

 

Oh I forgot to mention that my father in law accidently left is collapsible ice chest outside his room for a little while and when he went out to get it..it was gone...oops..guess someone needed it more than us!!

 

We woke up early the next day and could not decide what to eat for breakfast..so we decided on Whataburger and then decided to drive by the ship on the way back to the motel to check out.

 

My first glimpse of the whale tail!! I was really excited!!

[jasjess7881]

so were my girls

 

Now we are ready to get on, so we went to the motel and loaded all of our luggage back on and headed back to the ship!!

 

Here is another glimpse:

 

We had previousely booked Lighthouse parking for the duration of the trip, so my FIL and bro in law dropped us off at the terminal with all of the luggage and they drove the cars to the parking lot and then grabbed a shuttle back..this whole process took about 15-20 minutes which was great!!

 

family pic of us waiting for FIL and BIL to get back

 

They get back and we are on the way board the ship....it was a pretty fast process and we were on the ship by 1:00!!

 

 

[Vacation Boy]

Okay you have my attention.........

 

Ready for the rest of your review. I am going on this ship at the end of October for my first Carnival cruise, and am anxiously awaiting some fun.........especially since it will be two weeks after the dry dock!

[jasjess7881]

Some pics of the ship

 

Kids in front of whale tail

 

 

coworkers family

 

bro in law, hubby and hubby's uncle starting their vacation

[jasjess7881]

We waited until about 1:45 or so and went down to our room..we had M66 which is an oceanview room on the Main deck and right by the stairs. We never heard any noise and we slept great all nights!! We had 5 in our room and I was kind of worried about the sleeping arrangements, but it was all good!!

 

Queen bed where my hubby and my ds and I slept and we all had plenty of room!!

 

bunk on top of bed...we had to watch our heads...owwwwwww!!

 

other bunk on opposite side of wall

 

We decided to go grab something to eat at the lido deck:

the hamburgers were awesome and I think I ate at least one a day!!

[browneyes7]

I'm really enjoying your review. You have a great looking family! Please continue with your review. (We go on the Ecstasy Aug. 31.):)

[jasjess7881]

So we hung out on the lido deck for a while and then walked the ship and waited for the muster drill..now I have to admit I was not looking forward to this with a 2 year old. But it was great!!..We were told to go to the Blue Saphire Lounge and we got to sit inside in the cool AC....and we did the life jackets and I threatened my kids not to touch the whistes...ewwww!!

 

hubby and oldest dd

 

dd

 

ds

 

ds ready to go..he had enough

 

We then had to walk to out muster station and then in 5 mins..we were down...we walked to our room to see if our luggage made it.

[jasjess7881]

When we got back to the room, our luggage had arrived!! Now here comes the test...YES we were bad and snuck alcohol on...I am sorry..but a girl has to do what a girl has to do!! Our rumrunners made it and so did a surprise for hubby!!

 

A case of beer for him:

 

We unpacked a little and then realized we were moving..AAGHHHHH we were missing sailaway!! HELLO...what the heck am I doing in my room??

 

So we ran upstairs to find the rest of the family

 

Bye Bye Galveston....

 

the kids were ready to go swimming....so we found a little pool that my 2 year old could swim in without an adult b/c it was 1 ft deep!!

[jasjess7881]

Tired..going to bed..will finish tomorrow hopefully!!!

[WAcruisers]

Cant wait for the rest! Keep it coming!

[cjkumbaya]

Really great start - looks like you guys had a blast - loving the photos! Looking forward to more - thanks for sharing!

[jasjess7881]

It is 8:30 in the morning and I can not find the Lido deck!!! Where is the buffet?? When is my steward coming to make our bed?? AAAAGHHH I miss cruising already!!! Anyways back to the review...

 

The kids were swimming and the adults were relaxing in the back of the ship watching as we left Galveston!!! It was great to be on vacation!!

 

 

Oldest dd wanted a DOD....of course it is a virgin one....lol

 

 

After swimming for a while..we decided to go back to our rooms and get ready for our first dining room night. We found this little creature..A seal I believe:

 

This is our room with both bunks pulled down..you can see that we have to manuever very carefully:

 

dd sitting on window ledge

 

ds looking out the window...wow it is kinda far down..

 

 

 

 

we had late seating..and I was kinda worried about eating so late with the kiddos...but it was not bad at all. We ate so much during the day that we weren't even hungry until 8:15. When we got to the dining room, we realized that my family of 5 and my bro in law were sitting at a table for 6 and the rest of our group were sitting at a table caddy corner to us. They were sitting a table with my co workers family. We were a little bummed but it actually ended up working out because my co worker and her family never ate in the dining room..so every night after that we ate at the big table with the rest of the family.

[MacysMimi]

So excited to see your review! We are going on the Ecstasy on Oct. 31st after she comes out of dry dock....I so cannot wait....It looks like you had a great time and it's a great review so far! Please keep it coming!

 

Sharon

 

Boomer Sooner:D

[jasjess7881]

Family at other table in dining room!!

 

 

My 2 year old would go back and forth between tables..I know I know...he is suppose to sit quietly at the table and eat and not move, but ummmm have you met a 2 year old that will be still for more than 5 minutes. Anyways he did really well considering!! Our waiter was okay..not great but okay. But we only had him just that one time because the other nights we sat at the other table and had a great waiter. For appetizer I had ceasar salad and black tiger shrimp cocktail..yumm it was good!!

 

 

 

Ok well that is all the food pics...I forgot to take pictures of the rest of the dinner, b/c I was tooo busy eating..sorry. But I will say it was good. I ordered the flat iron steak and let me say this. I am really picky about my steak and I ordered it well done and it came out bloody....ewwwwww!! I was going to send it back but then my hubby said he would switch dinners with me. He had the pork chops. It was sooooo good..sorry hubby!! For dessert, I had the famous warm chocolate melting cake and 2 ice creams, I also ordered cheesecake b/c I absolutely love cheesecake. I glad I did, because it was the only night that they offered the cheesecake. Both desserts were very good...Ok so now I am absolutely stuffed. My 2 year old did not even make it to the entrees

 

 

The kids menus had plenty of options to choose from but they ended up choosing chicken nuggets....go figure!!

 

 

My oldest dd thinking she is grown. She had sprite...

 

I ended up taking my kids up to bed because they were all tired. My son was still asleep, so we laid him down in the bed and the girls got comfy and turned on the kids movie channel and Alvin and the Chipmunks was playing..which they love. So we were done for the night. My hubby went to hang out with his family for a little while, He found the casino and walked the ship for a while. Then it was bedtime for him also.

 

Next up is Fun day at sea!!

[jasjess7881]

We woke up about 9ish and got up and dressed and headed out for breakfast. The omelet station was great!! The pancakes were good also. No complaints about breakfast!!

 

oldest dd sitting on windowsill:

 

 

You can kind of see in the above pic, the windows were a little dirty..but no big deal..we could still see out!!

 

Hubby's uncle and hubby looking out over the water over breakfast

[jasjess7881]

I forgot to mention that my oldest daughter wanted to go to Camp Carnival. Well I missed the orientation the first night because it was at 8:30..smack dab in the middle of our dinner. I called down to the camp carnival and they said bring her by. So after breakfast I took her and signed her up and dropped her off until 12 when they closed for lunch. She really liked it and had a great time.

 

The kids wanted to try out the slide...so we went and changed and headed out to the pool. We found a table by the pool and set up for the day!!

 

DD trying out the slide for the first time..she loved it!!

 

 

Niece coming down the slide

 

 

We sat around most of the day and watched the kids swim. It was a great day.

[jasjess7881]

Tonight was the the Elegant night, so we decided to get ready for dinner. My MIL and FIL were not going, so they were watching my 2 youngest and we dropped the oldest off at Camp Carnival at dinner time, so she oculd eat dinner and hang out with the new friends she made. I forgot my camera, so I do not have any pics of elegant night, but I had the infamous lobster and it was great. Everything was great!! Now I do have to mention the dress code for dinner. Everybody looked really nice for dinner, but I did not see any tuxes or formal gowns. My hubby wore a nice shirt and dress pants, and I wore a nice dress. It was nice to dress up, but I was ready to go change.

 

After dinner, my hubby and I decided to drop the other 2 kids off at Camp Carnival for the babysitting. It was $6 an hour and $4 for each additional child per hour. So basically for me it was $14 an hour for all 3 kids. My hubby and I hit the casino and lost a little and just walked around a little. We enjoyed the quiet time without our kids. We picked up the kids about 11:30 because I did not want to leave my son for too long. It was $21 total for the hour and a half they were ther. It was so worth it, for the adult time!

 

Next up is Progresso!! Going to get breakfast and run some errands..will try and finish later!!

[Guest bahamamama1]

Great review !! :) We were on the Ecstasy in March and the next day after our cruise we were like "what will we do now ? who is going to feed us ?" :confused: LOL !! I missed the Lido deck too !!

[sun'n'water]

Just curious if you have a copy of the Capers that you might could email or post...

We leave August 31st on the Ecstasy and I am getting more excited reading your review. I love the first glimpse you get of the "fin" when you are driving up to the pier in Galveston!!!:D

[MacysMimi]

Next up is Progresso!! Going to get breakfast and run some errands..will try and finish later!!

 

Breakfast and errands????? I'm on the edge of my seat here! LOL:D

 

You've still got 3 days to review! LOL

[kristyintx]

Enjoying your review! We are sailing on Ecstasy 11/19/2009 and can't wait!

[Texaspepper]

Just curious if you have a copy of the Capers that you might could email or post...

We leave August 31st on the Ecstasy and I am getting more excited reading your review. I love the first glimpse you get of the "fin" when you are driving up to the pier in Galveston!!!:D

 

We are going on the Ecstasy 08/31/09 for 5 days. Don't have a Ecstasy Caper, but do have a Carnival Fantasy from our 07/06/09 five day Fantasy cruise to the same ports.

 

Here is the link http://www.texaspepper.net/Cruise.htm

 

You'll see the Capers link.

[parrotthead]

Oh! Looks like so much fun!

We will be back on her in 17 days!

Cant wait, thanks for the 'preview'

~Ecstasy is one of our Favorite Ships!~ :D

[dommer573]

Enjoying your great review, Thanks;)