Esctasy 5 Day Review [ pics! ]

Hello All!

Hubby and I were celebrating our 9 year together [ 2 years married ] anniversary and booked a last minute 5 day cruise on the Esctasy June4-9th [ obviously...by the title, right? ]. We live in Orange City so we had a family member drop us off and pick us up from the port....yah for saving money!!!

Back story: Hubby and I weren't planning on a vacation alone however, a few months ago we lost a pregnancy in the 2nd trimester and were devestated. We decided we needed some alone [ and fun! ] time without the kids [ boo! We ended up talking about them 95% of the time ]. We booked our room in the end of April so we'd get the Summer Sale with a $100 OBC. After I booked online, I didn't see the credit in my online account so I called and was assured it was there. As some of you may have seen in my previous posts... we didn't end up getting this credit. They advised me on the phone that the credit WAS there but we wouldn't see it until we got on the ship but when we got on the ship, it wasn't there. We went to guest services and they said they would email corporate and get back to us. Two days later they called me and advised me that since I recieved the past guest rate, we didn't qualify. TOTAL bummer!

Pros:

• The ship was in great condition. I read a lot about it beforehand and was nervous about a rinky-dink ship but it was well taken care of. I actually thought it was more upto date then the Inspiration we were just on in Sept.
  
• The Food! Dinner every night was great. Service was fast [ for the most part ]. We had anytime dining and even if there was a long, winding line to get in- we never waited more then 5 minutes to get in.
  
• Service was great! They had plenty to do even though we didn't have the best weather.
  
• Activities: Not too many where you had too many to choose from [ yes, I've been on cruises where it seemed it was too much! ] and not too little...juuuuuuust right!!!
  
• Chocolate Melting Cake....do I need to write why?
  
• Getting on the ship: We got there and were on the ship- NO LIE-within 10 minutes [ and this was about 12:30pm ]
  
• Getting off the ship: We were off within 10 minutes too! Odd side note: they didn't even check our ID or Birth Certificates when we left....hhhmmm......
  
• Life Boat Drill- short and sweet!
  

Lets meet in the middle:

• Room Service: I read so much about the room service being awful on this ship...taking hours to get it or never getting it at all. My hubby LOVES this feature and I was nervous about it, especially after the first phone call and it rang off the hook. No biggie...he hung up and tried again and they answered and were dropping off the food within 1/2 hour. However, the food was AWFUL. We got a BLT and chips [ BLT seemed like it was hot- then cold- then warmed up in the microwave-blah and the chips were so stale we couldn't force ourselves to eat it ], a ceaser salad [ hot as well- blah ], and a chicken wrap with chips [ same status as the other sandwhich ]. Have to say meet in the middle because it wasn't AWFUL because we just decided to go get food elsewhere-no biggie! And can't compare it to their overall room service because we never used it again.
  

Cons:

• Obviously the $100 OBC thing but this wasn't the SHIPs fault but a disappointment.
  
• The room steward was VERY nice however when we arrived in the room- it smelled BADLY. I couldn't figure out where the foul smell was coming from until I went into the bathroom and noticed there was old pee in the toilet [ toilet paper and everything ] and it looked like it had been there a WHILE. The actual toilet was almost stained looking from it. The little thing by the mirror with the two glasses turned upside-down on was filthy with some kind of thick skum [ when I moved the cups there were thick rings on them and the glass they were sitting on ]. Didn't offend me just felt like maybe there wasn't anyone in this room for a while??? It was def annoying but a cruise is a cruise and I was just happy to be there with my hubby!
  
• {2nd point about the room steward} We didn't really like that he'd clean our rooms at 10-1030pm every night. Most cruises I've been on- it's done during dinner. I'm not a pain about it and could really care less if my bed is 'turned down' but I thought it was annoying. One night he knocked a little after 10:30 and my husband told him we'd be a few more minutes because we were about to leave for the comedy. The guy said," I won't be cleaning by then" so we had to leave then to have it done. :rolleyes: Again, not a deal breaker but just thought it was odd and didn't really like it.
   
  *** I was surprised of the shaking of the ship. I hear this often about some ships but never really thought much of it. I always assumed the person was a light sleeper or were just complainers [ sorry- it's true ] but WOW, we were actually woken up each time we arrived in port it was so bad. NOT a deal breaker for me though because I can go RIGHT back to sleep but I was surprised how much we did shake.
   
  

Onto the best part.... PICTURES!

Hubby with his red hair, red shirt, and my red bag- walking to the ship! How exciting!

I can barely take it!!

Key Players: US!

Port Canaveral

See the luggage?

There were plenty of manatees- can you see them here?

Submarine:

Atrium- first look [ before I realized it changed colors! ]

We went to the "secret" spot when we were leaving...um, yeah- NOT SO SECRET. It was PACKED!! But, I was able to get a small spot to take a few pics:

So, I'll admit- I'm a complete loser and I won't be posting much of any food porn pics :( The food all looked the same as my last cruises [ and we ordered much of the same things ] so if you REALLY want- I can copy and paste those pics in here but I wanted this to be a real as it gets :D. After we left port we went back to the room and put our stuff away and went to dinner [ this is where I FAIL at the food pics ] and came back to this:

Here are a few from our room:

I got a price drop from the Memorial Day sale (I'd booked a couple of months earlier and already had one drop via the casino VIP sale), but I didn't qualify for an OBC as PG. I book using a PVP and had already noticed before I contacted him that the OBC didn't appear to be available under my PG fare code.

I just switched Leg 1 of my booking (the solo portion) to ATD to give it a try. I'm compiling a list of servers that are getting good comments. Do you recall any names? Did you request the same server or just take whomever?

What cabin where you in? Did you report the issues to the steward right away? Even when the ship is sold out, I know they keep a cabin or two in reserve. Sounds like maybe you booked one of those that is normally not used. Still. Ewww!

I've never, ever not had my room done much earlier than that. But then, I've always had a set dining time. I wonder if having ATD messes up their schedule, since it seems that they usually do turn down while folks are at dinner. If they have no idea when that it, then I can see that it would be more difficult for them.

Keep those photos coming! Although I've sailed six times on three different Fantasy-class ships, I just can never get enough of reviews and photos when I have a cruise booked! :D

What room did you guys have? That looks like an interesting set up... The first time we cruised, we were deck six, mid and I rarely felt any shaking. The last cruise, however, we were deck 1, way aft and the shaking/shuddering was much more intense. I also found that I felt the shaking/shuddering on lido too. Odd, but I love the sound of the engines and even the shuddering will actually put me to sleep, so I don't mind it =) I am so ready for our next cruise, I wouldn't care where I was on the ship or what shaking I felt right now!

Quick question, was there a calypso band playing on deck??

Hey I remember seeing your husband on this voyage! I remember the red mohawk!

In the atrium picture, my mother in law and father in law are in the picture. My father in law is the guy who looked like Santa Claus if you saw him during the trip: big huge guy who is 6 foot 8 and white hair and beard.

Hey I remember seeing your husband on this voyage! I remember the red mohawk!

In the atrium picture, my mother in law and father in law are in the picture. My father in law is the guy who looked like Santa Claus if you saw him during the trip: big huge guy who is 6 foot 8 and white hair and beard.

that's too funny! Everyone seemed to talk to him while on board [ or say something to him about his hair -lol ] AND- I remember sitting my your FIL in the adult comedy show. I remember turning around thinking," MAN, that guy would make an awesome Santa!"

So, I have to ask- Is he Santa?! :)

Quick question, was there a calypso band playing on deck??

Not that I ever saw

What room did you guys have? That looks like an interesting set up... The first time we cruised, we were deck six, mid and I rarely felt any shaking. The last cruise, however, we were deck 1, way aft and the shaking/shuddering was much more intense. I also found that I felt the shaking/shuddering on lido too. Odd, but I love the sound of the engines and even the shuddering will actually put me to sleep, so I don't mind it =) I am so ready for our next cruise, I wouldn't care where I was on the ship or what shaking I felt right now!

We were in U171...which is a bunk room [ UGH! ] but like I said, last minute trip and we really weren't expecting to go but fun none the less!

OP sympathies on your loss, i've been there too a few times. It's hard for people to understand unless they've gone through it. Hope the cruise was just what you needed.

we have tossed around a combo disney/HMC itinerary on the Ecstasy. Have read so many dismal reviews though. Old is okay by us, main deal breaker would be if ship was dirty and food stunk but steward doing main cleaning so late at night just plain weird imo.

Would you sail the ship again?

It is an interesting looking cabin layout, what category was it?

I got a price drop from the Memorial Day sale (I'd booked a couple of months earlier and already had one drop via the casino VIP sale), but I didn't qualify for an OBC as PG. I book using a PVP and had already noticed before I contacted him that the OBC didn't appear to be available under my PG fare code.

 

I just switched Leg 1 of my booking (the solo portion) to ATD to give it a try. I'm compiling a list of servers that are getting good comments. Do you recall any names? Did you request the same server or just take whomever? I didn't request any certain server and don't remember any names. We didn't get to even get to know any of them. Each of the ATD tables had 3 "servers" that seemed to do just as much as the other [ even when it came to taking orders ] so I was never SURE who was who.

 

What cabin where you in? Did you report the issues to the steward right away? Even when the ship is sold out, I know they keep a cabin or two in reserve. Sounds like maybe you booked one of those that is normally not used. Still. Ewww! U171- it's a bunk room so I bet you're right.

 

I've never, ever not had my room done much earlier than that. But then, I've always had a set dining time. I wonder if having ATD messes up their schedule, since it seems that they usually do turn down while folks are at dinner. If they have no idea when that it, then I can see that it would be more difficult for them. I've always had my room done during dinner or shortly after [ latest maybe 8-830 ] but I was thinking the same thing with the ATD messing it up- especially if all of his people chose it.

 

Keep those photos coming! Although I've sailed six times on three different Fantasy-class ships, I just can never get enough of reviews and photos when I have a cruise booked! :D

See above :)

Glad that you had a great time...we are going in 21 days.

What deck is the "secret spot" on? We have not heard off it.

Glad to hear you enjoyed your cruise! Thanks for sharing your pictures!:)

that's too funny! Everyone seemed to talk to him while on board [ or say something to him about his hair -lol ] AND- I remember sitting my your FIL in the adult comedy show. I remember turning around thinking," MAN, that guy would make an awesome Santa!"

 

So, I have to ask- Is he Santa?! :)

LOL of course he is! My wife and sister in law got him a red t-shirt last Christmas that says "Yes I am Him" on the front. He wore it on the sea day.

He does have a lot of people stop and talk to him or make comments and ask for pictures and he does thoroughly enjoy it (he says it doesn't ever get old to him). Actually, there was a grandfather of two kids that asked if he would take a picture with them before the end of the cruise. I forgot to ask if he was able to catch up with the kids.

I'll keep up my review throughout the day! Busy at work now- blah!!! A week ago today I was LEAVING! :( :( :( :(

Great review and pictures. Would love to hear some more.

Next morning was Nassau. Now, I am NOT a fan of the bahamas at all. I'd rather just stay on the ship but hubby hadn't been at all so we decided to go get hassled... I mean....get off the ship for a bit. My husband falls for everything [ you should have seen him in Jamaica!!! ] and ended up giving $10 to the " retarded children fund" for a necklace that they snatched back from him as soon as the $ hit their hand. It was a cloudy day so we got off the ship for MAYBE 1/2 hour to walk around in the sprinkles. It's ok though because...we're on a cruise!

Breakfast at the buffet:

Our ship

Parked next to Disney Magic, Carnival Sensation, and some SUPER OLD looking RCCL [ like...old ]

thought this was cool- all the tops of the ships :)

Here are a few random Nassau pics:

pufferfish

Atlantis:

When we got back on the ship....

We went up and got some lunch....

And played in the bean bag compitition

and then the sun slowly started to come out....

We walked around to look for a perfect spot to relax:

One positive- no chair hogs!!

We found our spot! Got some drinks and relaxed :)

Glad that you had a great time...we are going in 21 days.

 

What deck is the "secret spot" on? We have not heard off it.

It's on the Verandah deck- all the way forward. I think there's a thred on here about it.

OP sympathies on your loss, i've been there too a few times. It's hard for people to understand unless they've gone through it. Hope the cruise was just what you needed.

 

we have tossed around a combo disney/HMC itinerary on the Ecstasy. Have read so many dismal reviews though. Old is okay by us, main deal breaker would be if ship was dirty and food stunk but steward doing main cleaning so late at night just plain weird imo.

 

Would you sail the ship again?

 

It is an interesting looking cabin layout, what category was it?

Thank you so much -it's definatly hard. I'm sorry for your loss as well.

The ship was not dirty [ in fact, cleaner then the Inspiration I went on in Sept ] just that room thing...ugh.

I would cruise the ship again but I wouldn't look TO book it, if that makes sense. Good deal on a cruise and I'd def do it- 110% or a good itenirary and I'm THERE buuuuuut it wouldn't be my first choice.

Once we laid out for all of 20 minutes- it started to rain so we decided to walk around [ inside this time! ] and take more pics!