Ecstasy Review - Oct 31-Nov 5

Let me start of by saying my wife and I are first time crusiers, and we cruised with my parents, who are non-drinkers and have cruised many times. But they can still be fun as described below!

We booked the last sailing out of New Orleans because we wanted to make sure we got on the Ecstasy before she left NOLA and the Elation took her place. We will book on the Elation with some other friends sometime early next year, and hopefully the Conquest as well.

My Mom insisted on being there early, so we meet them and arrived at the port at 9:30am, parking in the garage ($80). Our porter helped unload the luggage (6 checked bags), then directed us to saved parking spot about 20 feet from the elevators.($20) We headed to the security area and were meet by a very nice lady who asked to see our documents and directed us to the security area. There was one other couple behind us at this point.

At the security check point, we placed our bags on the xray machine, and I told the guy there was 2 bottles of wine in the bag. he said "cool" and ran it through as we walked through. I went to grab the carryon and placed it on the ground. There was never any indication they wanted to open it, and they waved us on telling us to have a good time. Of course, maybe this had a lot to do with the fact we were laughing and joking with them the whole time... Upon entering the "check in area", we were directed to VIP check-in, were there was no one waiting. (The general check-in area was occupied by several new-hires (40+) learning the new system Carnival is implementing for the Elation in NOLA) We were checked in and sent on our way with Zone 1 cards. This is when we learned that since my Dad and I have the same name, our TA put my birthday/name with my mom and my dad's birthday/name with my wife. That gave each of us one blue card and one gold card per cabin, which worked nicely later on the boat. Though we had requested rooms to be close, they gave us an OV on the Riveria and Mom and Dad an OV on the Upper. That worked out good though as well since my wife got a tad od seasickness early on, which helped being so close to the water (Don't feel movement as much).

We baorded at 11:30, right behind the Wedding parties and the VIP boarders. First stop was Guest Services to see if they could put us in close cabins. No can do... Ship was SOLD OUT! Oh well, on to the Lido...

Picked a table, and hit the food. Overall, not too bad. While it certainly was not gourmet, it was on par with many buffet's we go to like Ryan's or Golden Corral. After joking around, DW and DM picked out a few loubge chairs while Dad and I walked around the ship, taking photos and deciding where we wanted to do Sail-a-way from. They had a big barge on the port side filling us with fuel oil, with signs warning about not smoking on that side of the ship. went back to the Lido to watch the stuff while DW and DM walked around. About 1:15, we walked down and into our cabins. My parents luggage was there, but not ours. This worried me a bit because I had chosen to try the Rum runner route and figured maybe we were busted. However, the devious part of my mind, figuring "people with computers" watch this stuff, I had on Friday ordered some alcohol from Bon Voyage to be delivered. That bottle was there, wrapped up in a nice welcome bow, with a welcome aboard note.

DW and I decided to walk around a bit to kill time and went and got a DOD, I think it was a Rum Runner. I am always amazed at how they build things this big, and tried to take it all in. The ship was clean, but you could tell it was a 20 year old ship. But who cares!! As far as I was concerned, IT WAS BRAND NEW... TO ME ANYWAY! So, we drank our DOD down, looked around, then went back to the cabin about 3:15. one bag was there, but not "THE" bag. As we left for the muster drill, another came... still not "THE" one... I was getting a little worried now. Anyway, up to muster point "C", in the Chinatown Lounge, then the briefing, and walk out to the port side to the Lifeboat. After a while, the whistle blew, and we began to disburse, us walking straight to the area right above the Bridge where Mom and Dad were saving us a spot! (Damn lookout place Hogs!)

From there, I felt movement, and after making sure it was the ship and not something else ;-), watched as we pushed away from the pier, out to the middle of the Mighty Mississippi, and used the thrusters to make a 180 degree turn to face down river. We were under way and the Wife and I were officially on our first cruise!!

Got to go do a few things... will write more in about an hour...

Great start! I'll be on the Ecstasy in Jan, so I'm very interested in your review!

Great start! I'll be on the Ecstasy in Jan, so I'm very interested in your review!

Ditto:)

Continuing... (and sorry for the mispelling... typing quick...)

As we sailed down river, it was quite the expierance looking at sights along the river that I have never had the chance to see from this viewpoint. I knew we had almost two hours before dinner (Early Dining), and the trip to the mouth of the river would be about 6 to 7 hours, so I wanted to take in as much as I could. I pointed out a few landmarks to fellow cruisers, and felt the wind blow in my face, even though we were only making about 14 knots. Over the next hour, most everybody left to go do other things, including my wife who was getting chilly. I think it was about 58 degrees or such as we made our way around the first few bends in the river.

Since it was getting close to dinner time, and the crowd had dwindled to nothing, I went down to the cabin to prepare for dinner. And guess what? "THE" suitcase was there! I opened it up to unpack and found everything to be in order... and I mean everything. (I guess those things work... or my conspiracy theory did... haha) After we had unpacked and got things in order, we headed up to the Atlantic Deck to the Windstar dining room, which is midship. (The Windsong is aft). We got in the right line about 5:50 and within minutes a young lady came by to look at our S&S card. She said we were in the wrong line and moved us to the left side of the atrium. They started seating those in the right line (Anytime dining) and right at 6pm, welcomed us into the room. We told them our names and our Team Waiter Gilbert showed us to the table. They had assigned us a 4 top with our parents. It was great for talking amongst us, but it would have been nice to enjoy some dinner conversation with other guests. But thats OK. we made no requests and were happy with the table.

Our Head Waiter was Ryan, assisted by Gilbert and Arasana, and they were great! They introduced themselves and someone came by to verify any request for dietary limitations (none). They asked what we liked to drink and immediately made them available. I don't remember what everyone ate, but I asked for the Beef Brisket. It was good, but the portions were a little small. Gilbert came by and asked how the food was, and I kinda jokingly said I should have tried the Pork Steak. He laughed and walked away... and within 30 seconds I had a plate of the Pork Steak! Between the two, the Pork Steak wins, and was worhty of many resturants in the area! Since it was halloween, they had two desserts to choose from, and between the four of us tried both. They were pretty good as well!

After dinner, we made our way to the Blue Sapphire Lounge just across the Atrium and found they were having the liquor sale!! They had some pretty amazing prices and we made our purchases! (they hold on to your liquor until the night before you get off, then deliver it to your room). Then on into the Lounge for the welcome aboard show. It was a nice warmup for the shows later in the week and had a sampling of everything, from the Ecstasy dancers, to the Show band, to the Entertainment staff, and the two comedians onboard. It was a decent show to get to "know" everyone. Since we came in a few minutes late, we decided to stay and watch the beginning of the next show. We stayed through most of the second show, and it was identical to the first, including the jokes from the comedians. So rest assured, if you see one, you've seen them both.

From there, Mom and Dad retired for the night, and the Wife and I walked up the Lido for another drink and walkabout. We ended up on the same deck area above the bridge and watched the small towns along the river go by in the darkness. After a while, my Wife was getting cold again, and wanted to go take some motion sickness medicine to get it in her system before we hit the open ocean. I told her I would be along in a few, but I wanted to watch our progress a little longer. My phones GPS said we were about 2 miles from the split to take the Southwest Pass into the Gulf of Mexico. It was fairly dark on the deck at the time. Then, from the east side of the river just in front of the ship, a smaller boat left a dock and headed up stream, At about this time, the lights on the right side of the ship came on and we slowed to a crawl. I realized the River Pilot was about to get off the boat and walked over to that side to watch the smaller Pilot boat pull behind and then alongside the side of the ship and hold position. The River Pilot then JUMPED from the Ecstasy onto the Pilot boat, and the smaller boat peeled away to the right and passed behind us and returned to the pier it departed from. That was quite the site to see, and I would bet less than 20 other people on the ship saw it. The time was right about 11:30. It was right then that a smaller cargo ship passed us on our left going the opposite direction and slowed, and I watched the same pilot boat pull away from the pier and approach the side of that ship. At least it had a metal ladder on the side for the pilot to get on!!

As we made the turn into Southwest pass, I figured it was time for bed and headed down to the cabin. Got ready for bed, looked out the window for a second, then crawled between the sheets. They smelled fresh, were soft and the matress was fairly confortable. Was it a Grand Hyatt equivalent? No, but it was just as good as any Hilton Garden Inn I have ever stayed in! The ONLY complaint I had to this point, and it was minor, was that with the first few flushes of the toilet there was a strong smell of sulphur, which I understand is something that is used in the sewage system of these ships. Everything else meet or exceeded my expectations for my first cruise.

Next... First Sea Day!

Thank you for taking the time to update your review this evening. I was holding off going to bed hoping for a little more since your first post was so good. I hope the rest of your trip went well and that the ship was in good working order as I will be taking 3 friends on her in December for their first cruises and the other reviews so far have been... worrisome.

I'll "see" you tomorrow :D

We had decided that on this vacation, we would wake up fairly early to enjoy the morning and not sleep away our cruise. So, we set the alarms for 7am and got up when they went off. This morning would be my first expierance at the shower, and as a guy that ain't real small, it was large enough to not be too crowded in. My only problem at this point was there was no instructions on it's use, and so far we had not meet our cabin Steward. We experimented a little and found out the left side is to turn it on and off, and the temp is controlled by the right. Turn it on 100% and it WILL SCALD you! We set it at 35% and had a very warm shower that filled the bathroom with steam! The water pressure was very high and the temp never fluctuated. No complaints with the shower except lack of instructions. The floor of the bathroom is elevated about 2 to 3 inches above the stateroom, so be careful entering and exiting. Also, it had a rubber floor which felt a little strange until you got used to it, but overall not bad... for a bathroom. One word od caution, the plug over the sink goes off with the light switch, so don't plug anything to charge in there!!

Speaking of that, I would say the only real complaint I had with the room was the lack of plugs. There was only one (1) 110v plug, so either bring a little power strip if you need to charge a lot of stuff like camera, HD DVD, cell phone, or shaver, etc... (Pic below)

We went to the Lido deck for breakfast and had a little coffee and Irish Cream, and watched the ship come alive. Met up with Mom and Dad to enjoy some breakfast, and watch the crystal blue sea flow by. The Wife and I wanted to hit the Serenity deck, so we found our way there and choose chairs against the railing. It was still a little chilly since we had not made it to the warmer areas yet, and the wind was a little brisk. Still, it was great to watch the sea go by and relax to read for a bit.

There was several events going on but we wanted to relax for a bit and skipped several of them. We did attend the Shopping talk given that discussed the shops Carnival wants you to visit, and they gave us tips of shopping in Cozumel. It wasn't bad, but it was certainly directed to get you to shop at the Carnival approved stores. These stores are guaranteed by CCL, but there are other options as well. Anyway, the discussion did not include Progresso, our first stop, because there are no approved stores there. There was also an art auction and a few other things going on, but we went back to the pool area and relaxed for a while.

Since this was formal night, we went to the room early to get cleaned up and changed into our good clothes. We meet up with Mom and Dad about 5 in the Atrium and had pictures taken on the stairs. They came out real nice and we did purchase a few different ones. The photographers were good and I was mostly pleased with the reults. As with any photo sitting, there will be poses that you like, and some you don't. Same thing here. As a matter of fact, almost all the pictures we saw were very nice.

Anyway, on to the MDR to enjoy the dinner selection for this evening... LOBSTER! Prepared well, not overcooked, but again small portions. Gilbert took care of that and made sure I was pleased by the time the dessert orders were taken. Of course, I had to try the Warm Chocolate Melting Cake!! It was just as good as you read on here!

After dinner, it was back to the Blue Sapphire Lounge for the first of two full production shows they put on. this one was all country music, and included our Cruise Director, Steve Cassel, playing the fiddle!! And let me tell you... he is GOOD!! After that, it was to the back of the boat to the Starlight Lounge for the commedians! We got there just in time to miss the family show and found seats for the R-rated shows to come. Mutzy, from New Orleans , was phenomanal!!! The other guy, David Miller I think, was decent, but no where near as good as Mutzy!! If you ever get the chance to see him, DO NOT miss it! He is all about audience participation and will have you rolling on the floor!! And even though it is R-Rated, he doesn't cuss!

We had a pretty late night that night and stayed until after Mutzy's last show ended before retiring for the night. And since just prior to dinner we had all decided to go on an excursion to a Mayan ruin and signed up for it, we knew we had a fairly early day the next day. It sure felt good to crawl between the pulled-down sheets after moving our Towel Lobster out of the way. (BTW, the night before we had a ghost towel animal!)

Please PLEASE don't stop now: great review so far. We will be on her the end of Jan. out of Port Canerval for a B2B, am getting so excited.

Did the room service menu still come in the big book & was it a full one?

On the Sensation last year it was very limited.

I must remember how the shower works.;)

Char

After dinner, it was back to the Blue Sapphire Lounge for the first of two full production shows they put on. this one was all country music, and included our Cruise Director, Steve Cassel, playing the fiddle!! And let me tell you... he is GOOD!! After that, it was to the back of the boat to the Starlight Lounge for the commedians! We got there just in time to miss the family show and found seats for the R-rated shows to come. Mutzy, from New Orleans , was phenomanal!!! The other guy, David Miller I think, was decent, but no where near as good as Mutzy!! If you ever get the chance to see him, DO NOT miss it! He is all about audience participation and will have you rolling on the floor!! And even though it is R-Rated, he doesn't cuss!

I LOVED MUTZY!!! I sell icogenics. I work for the state of Alabama. I am a detective. I am a teacher and I teach grades 1-5th. He was hilarious!! I can't remember all of it but I loved him!!

Great review btw!! I am writing on also. I love to hear about the same cruise from a different person!! I won't post it till probably tomorrow. I try to write it all first then post with pictures to tell the story!! Don't stop the review!!

Great start, looking forward to the rest.

Thanks for the review. Looking forward to reading the rest. We are sailing on the Ecstasy out of Port Canaveral in 13 days. Taking our two 6 yr old grandkids on their first cruise. Can't wait.

Really enjoying your review. Please keep it coming.

I try to write it all first then post with pictures to tell the story!! Don't stop the review!!

Tell me how to post the pics with the rest and I will finish with the pictures I have. I included one as an attachment but would rather have them folded into the story!

Thanks for the review, looking forward to the rest :)

Enjoying your review so far! Thanks

Great review keep it coming

I will try to finish the review tonight... Been pretty busy at work today and haven't had time to post much. Besides, I would like to include the pics I have in the story. Look for more around 8 or 9 CST!

Back to work! The planes just won't stop coming!!:D

Tell me how to post the pics with the rest and I will finish with the pictures I have. I included one as an attachment but would rather have them folded into the story!

I upload my photos to photobucket first. I then click the little picture of the mountain icon in the place where we write now It's on the second row of icons to the far right of the B (bold) I, and U!! You have to copy the image code url from the photo in photobucket and hit the mountain icon and click paste. You may have to practice till you get it right. I know you have to remove some of the code for example:

This is what it will look like when you copy and paste

You will have to delete both in the beginning and the end. It's very easy once you get used to it. It took me a few times to remember how to do it correctly!! Can't wait to see your pics!!!

I upload my photos to photobucket first. I then click the little picture of the mountain icon in the place where we write now It's on the second row of icons to the far right of the B (bold) I, and U!! You have to copy the image code url from the photo in photobucket and hit the mountain icon and click paste. You may have to practice till you get it right. I know you have to remove some of the code for example:

This is what it will look like when you copy and paste

 

You will have to delete both in the beginning and the end. It's very easy once you get used to it. It took me a few times to remember how to do it correctly!! Can't wait to see your pics!!!

Well I guess you don't have to hit the mountain box. I didn't do it this time and it just posted it on here. So I guess you just have to remove the it will be like http:xxxxxxxxxxxx.jpg just make sure to remove them and it will work like that!!

Great review! Looking forward to more. Love the Ecstasy. So sad she had to leave... Steve Cassell is fabulous!

I am going to repost the first few here, with pictures, then continue...

Let me start of by saying my wife and I are first time crusiers, and we cruised with my parents, who are non-drinkers and have cruised many times. But they can still be fun as described below!

We booked the last sailing out of New Orleans because we wanted to make sure we got on the Ecstasy before she left NOLA and the Elation took her place. We will book on the Elation with some other friends sometime early next year, and hopefully the Conquest as well.

My Mom insisted on being there early, so we meet them and arrived at the port at 9:30am, parking in the garage ($80). Our porter helped unload the luggage (6 checked bags), then directed us to saved parking spot about 20 feet from the elevators.($20) We headed to the security area and were meet by a very nice lady who asked to see our documents and directed us to the security area. There was one other couple behind us at this point.

At the security check point, we placed our bags on the xray machine, and I told the guy there was 2 bottles of wine in the bag. he said "cool" and ran it through as we walked through. I went to grab the carryon and placed it on the ground. There was never any indication they wanted to open it, and they waved us on telling us to have a good time. Of course, maybe this had a lot to do with the fact we were laughing and joking with them the whole time... Upon entering the "check in area", we were directed to VIP check-in, were there was no one waiting. (The general check-in area was occupied by several new-hires (40+) learning the new system Carnival is implementing for the Elation in NOLA) We were checked in and sent on our way with Zone 1 cards. This is when we learned that since my Dad and I have the same name, our TA put my birthday/name with my mom and my dad's birthday/name with my wife. That gave each of us one blue card and one gold card per cabin, which worked nicely later on the boat. Though we had requested rooms to be close, they gave us an OV on the Riveria and Mom and Dad an OV on the Upper. That worked out good though as well since my wife got a tad of seasickness early on, which helped being so close to the water (Don't feel movement as much).

We boarded at 11:30, right behind the Wedding parties and the VIP boarders. First stop was Guest Services to see if they could put us in close cabins. No can do... Ship was SOLD OUT! Oh well, on to the Lido...

Picked a table, and hit the food. Overall, not too bad. While it certainly was not gourmet, it was on par with many buffet's we go to like Ryan's or Golden Corral. After joking around, DW and DM picked out a few loubge chairs while Dad and I walked around the ship, taking photos and deciding where we wanted to do Sail-a-way from. They had a big barge on the port side filling us with fuel oil, with signs warning about not smoking on that side of the ship.

Went back to the Lido to watch the stuff while DW and DM walked around. About 1:15, we walked down and into our cabins. My parents luggage was there, but not ours. This worried me a bit because I had chosen to try the Rum runner route and figured maybe we were busted. However, the devious part of my mind, figuring "people with computers" watch this stuff, I had on Friday ordered some alcohol from Bon Voyage to be delivered. That bottle was there, wrapped up in a nice welcome bow, with a welcome aboard note.

DW and I decided to walk around a bit to kill time and went and got a DOD, I think it was a Rum Runner. I am always amazed at how they build things this big, and tried to take it all in. The ship was clean, but you could tell it was a 20 year old ship. But who cares!! As far as I was concerned, IT WAS BRAND NEW... TO ME ANYWAY!

So, we drank our DOD down, looked around, then went back to the cabin about 3:15. one bag was there, but not "THE" bag. As we left for the muster drill, another came... still not "THE" one... I was getting a little worried now. Anyway, up to muster point "C", in the Chinatown Lounge, then the briefing, and walk out to the port side to the Lifeboat. After a while, the whistle blew, and we began to disburse, us walking straight to the area right above the Bridge where Mom and Dad were saving us a spot! (Damn lookout place Hogs!)

From there, we had to wait for a tugboat pushing 21 barges to clear...

Then I felt movement, and after making sure it was the ship and not something else ;-), watched as we pushed away from the pier, out to the middle of the Mighty Mississippi, and used the thrusters to make a 180 degree turn to face down river. We were under way and the Wife and I were officially on our first cruise!!

As we sailed down river, it was quite the expeirance looking at sights along the river that I have never had the chance to see from this viewpoint. I knew we had almost two hours before dinner (Early Dining), and the trip to the mouth of the river would be about 6 to 7 hours, so I wanted to take in as much as I could. I pointed out a few landmarks to fellow cruisers, and felt the wind blow in my face, even though we were only making about 14 knots.

Over the next hour, most everybody left to go do other things, including my wife who was getting chilly. I think it was about 58 degrees or such as we made our way around the first few bends in the river.

Since it was getting close to dinner time, and the crowd had dwindled to nothing, I went down to the cabin to prepare for dinner. And guess what? "THE" suitcase was there! I opened it up to unpack and found everything to be in order... and I mean everything. (I guess those things work... or my conspiracy theory did... haha) After we had unpacked and got things in order, we headed up to the Atlantic Deck to the Windstar dining room, which is midship. (The Windsong is aft). We got in the right line about 5:50 and within minutes a young lady came by to look at our S&S card. She said we were in the wrong line and moved us to the left side of the atrium. They started seating those in the right line (Anytime dining) and right at 6pm, welcomed us into the room. We told them our names and our Team Waiter Gilbert showed us to the table. They had assigned us a 4 top with our parents. It was great for talking amongst us, but it would have been nice to enjoy some dinner conversation with other guests. But thats OK. we made no requests and were happy with the table.

Our Head Waiter was Ryan, assisted by Gilbert and Arasana, and they were great! They introduced themselves and someone came by to verify any request for dietary limitations (none). They asked what we liked to drink and immediately made them available. I don't remember what everyone ate, but I asked for the Beef Brisket. It was good, but the portions were a little small. Gilbert came by and asked how the food was, and I kinda jokingly said I should have tried the Pork Steak. He laughed and walked away... and within 30 seconds I had a plate of the Pork Steak! Between the two, the Pork Steak wins, and was worhty of many resturants in the area! Since it was halloween, they had two desserts to choose from, and between the four of us tried both. They were pretty good as well!

After dinner, we made our way to the Blue Sapphire Lounge just across the Atrium and found they were having the liquor sale!! They had some pretty amazing prices and we made our purchases! (they hold on to your liquor until the night before you get off, then deliver it to your room). Then on into the Lounge for the welcome aboard show. It was a nice warmup for the shows later in the week and had a sampling of everything, from the Ecstasy dancers, to the Show band, to the Entertainment staff, and the two comedians onboard. It was a decent show to get to "know" everyone. Since we came in a few minutes late, we decided to stay and watch the beginning of the next show. We stayed through most of the second show, and it was identical to the first, including the jokes from the comedians. So rest assured, if you see one, you've seen them both.

From there, Mom and Dad retired for the night, and the Wife and I walked up the Lido for another drink and walkabout. We ended up on the same deck area above the bridge and watched the small towns along the river go by in the darkness. After a while, my Wife was getting cold again, and wanted to go take some motion sickness medicine to get it in her system before we hit the open ocean. I told her I would be along in a few, but I wanted to watch our progress a little longer. My phones GPS said we were about 2 miles from the split to take the Southwest Pass into the Gulf of Mexico. It was fairly dark on the deck at the time. Then, from the east side of the river just in front of the ship, a smaller boat left a dock and headed up stream, At about this time, the lights on the right side of the ship came on and we slowed to a crawl. I realized the River Pilot was about to get off the boat and walked over to that side to watch the smaller Pilot boat pull behind and then alongside the side of the ship and hold position.

The River Pilot then JUMPED from the Ecstasy onto the Pilot boat, and the smaller boat peeled away to the right and passed behind us and returned to the pier it departed from. That was quite the site to see, and I would bet less than 20 other people on the ship saw it. The time was right about 11:30. It was right then that a smaller cargo ship passed us on our left going the opposite direction and slowed, and I watched the same pilot boat pull away from the pier and approach the side of that ship. At least it had a metal ladder on the side for the pilot to get on!!

As we made the turn into Southwest pass, I figured it was time for bed and headed down to the cabin. Got ready for bed, looked out the window for a second, then crawled between the sheets. They smelled fresh, were soft and the matress was fairly confortable. Was it a Grand Hyatt equivalent? No, but it was just as good as any Hilton Garden Inn I have ever stayed in!

The ONLY complaint I had to this point, and it was minor, was that with the first few flushes of the toilet there was a strong smell of sulphur, which I understand is something that is used in the sewage system of these ships. Everything else meet or exceeded my expectations for my first cruise.

We had decided that on this vacation, we would wake up fairly early to enjoy the morning and not sleep away our cruise. So, we set the alarms for 7am and got up when they went off. This morning would be my first expierance at the shower, and as a guy that ain't real small, it was large enough to not be too crowded in. My only problem at this point was there was no instructions on it's use, and so far we had not meet our cabin Steward. We experimented a little and found out the left side is to turn it on and off, and the temp is controlled by the right. Turn it on 100% and it WILL SCALD you! We set it at 35% and had a very warm shower that filled the bathroom with steam! The water pressure was very high and the temp never fluctuated. No complaints with the shower except lack of instructions. The floor of the bathroom is elevated about 2 to 3 inches above the stateroom, so be careful entering and exiting. Also, it had a rubber floor which felt a little strange until you got used to it, but overall not bad... for a bathroom. One word of caution, the plug over the sink goes off with the light switch, so don't plug anything to charge in there!!

Speaking of that, I would say the only real complaint I had with the room was the lack of plugs. There was only one (1) 110v plug, so either bring a little power strip if you need to charge a lot of stuff like camera, HD DVD, cell phone, or shaver, etc...

We went to the Lido deck for breakfast and had a little coffee and Irish Cream, and watched the ship come alive. Met up with Mom and Dad to enjoy some breakfast, and watch the crystal blue sea flow by. The Wife and I wanted to hit the Serenity deck, so we found our way there and choose chairs against the railing. It was still a little chilly since we had not made it to the warmer areas yet, and the wind was a little brisk. Still, it was great to watch the sea go by and relax to read for a bit.

There was several events going on but we wanted to relax for a bit and skipped several of them. We did attend the Shopping talk given that discussed the shops Carnival wants you to visit, and they gave us tips of shopping in Cozumel. It wasn't bad, but it was certainly directed to get you to shop at the Carnival approved stores. These stores are guaranteed by CCL, but there are other options as well. Anyway, the discussion did not include Progresso, our first stop, because there are no approved stores there. There was also an art auction and a few other things going on, but we went back to the pool area and relaxed for a while.

Since this was formal night, we went to the room early to get cleaned up and changed into our good clothes. We meet up with Mom and Dad about 5 in the Atrium and had pictures taken on the stairs. They came out real nice and we did purchase a few different ones. The photographers were good and I was mostly pleased with the reults. As with any photo sitting, there will be poses that you like, and some you don't. Same thing here. As a matter of fact, almost all the pictures we saw were very nice.

Anyway, on to the MDR to enjoy the dinner selection for this evening... LOBSTER! Prepared well, not overcooked, but again small portions. Gilbert took care of that and made sure I was pleased by the time the dessert orders were taken. Of course, I had to try the Warm Chocolate Melting Cake!! It was just as good as you read on here!

After dinner, it was back to the Blue Sapphire Lounge for the first of two full production shows they put on. this one was all country music, and included our Cruise Director, Steve Cassel, playing the fiddle!! And let me tell you... he is GOOD!! After that, it was to the back of the boat to the Starlight Lounge for the commedians! We got there just in time to miss the family show and found seats for the R-rated shows to come. Mutzy, from New Orleans , was phenomanal!!! The other guy, David Miller I think, was decent, but no where near as good as Mutzy!! If you ever get the chance to see him, DO NOT miss it! He is all about audience participation and will have you rolling on the floor!! And even though it is R-Rated, he doesn't cuss!

We had a pretty late night that night and stayed until after Mutzy's last show ended before retiring for the night. And since just prior to dinner we had all decided to go on an excursion to a Mayan ruin and signed up for it, we knew we had a fairly early day the next day. It sure felt good to crawl between the pulled-down sheets after moving our Towel Lobster out of the way. (BTW, the night before we had a ghost towel animal!)

Wednesday morning, we pulled into Progresso which is not much of a tourist town. With the addition of the cruise lines about 5 years ago, it is expanding somewhat, but the biggest town in the area is Merida, about 45 minutes away. There are also several Mayan ruins within a three hour drive that they have excursions to. We had chosen to go to Dzibilchaltun, which is the closest ruin as we did not want to sit on a bus for two and a half hours to see the big ruin, Chichen Itza. Also, the pier at Progresso is 4 MILES offshore to get into water deep enough for the cruise ships to get into... and they still have to dredge every few years.

Anyway, this is the ship at the pier...

At the end of the pier is a small Duty and Tax free shop you have to walk through, then a small flea market area selling local items. There is also a bar and little swimming pool area there for those that don't want to stray far from the pier. But we followed our shore excursions rep to the parking lot where we boarded a bus and headed to the ruins.

Took us about 45 minutes to get there, and it would have been better had the tour guide spoken more about the history of the Mayan's, and didn't act so much as a travel promoter for the Mexican Tourist Bureau. But we did make it the ruins...

and we crawled all over them!! there was a cenote there as well for people to take a quick dive into if they had brought swimsuits, but we hadn't. We spent several hours there and had a pretty good time, except, again, for the tour guide who spoke some of the Mayan's, but mostly of other things, including the local area. Overall, it wasn't that bad becasue I had always wanted to see some ruins, so...

The bus brought us back to Progresso, and a few people got off to explore the city. Talking with others later, there are several bars right along the beach that people hang out at to drink and spend the day, then jump on the free shuttle to return to the ship.

We chose to return to the boat and shop a little at the flea market. This picture was taken as we got on the four mile bridge/peninsula to return to the ship. You can see the Ecstasy in the distance...

After boarding, we dropped our stuff in the room, changed, and went to the Lido for a late lunch. Then it was back to the Serenity deck to relax, have a DoD, read, and watch the people return from thier day. We were supposed to be one the boat for 3:30 to set sail at 4... but thier are always a few late comers.

Too bad I left my camera in the room, becasue there were several people that were late. The last two to get on the boat were a couple we had seen at the ruins we were at earlier in the day, and by the time they got there, an Officer had gone to the end of the pier and let the taxi they were in drive right up to the boat so they could get on! I hollered down to tip that guy well!! As they got on, the gangplank was pulled, the door sealed, and the ropes tossed and we pulled away, headed for Cozumel! We stayed there a while until time to go get ready for dinner.

Dinner in the MDR was again great, but the portions... Thats ok though... Gilbert and Ryan had me hooked up and I never left hungry!!

The rest of the evening was spent walking around to the different bars and popping in here and there. Our favorite, BY FAR, was the Neon Bar, with Frank playing the piano!! We was wonderful, and had us rolling and holding our sides! IT was a bar we would frequent the rest of the cruise!!

A monkey greeted us as we returned to our cabin that night, and we collapsed on the bed. I asked my wife for a foot massage since my feet were tired from all the walking that day... I got a look, a grunt, then a back as she pulled the covers over her head and was asleep within moments!

Ah, she loves me!!!:D

This morning, we had decided to try breakfast in the MDR, and would continue that for the rest of the cruise. We asked for, and were sat with Ryan and Gilbert!! Again, they took great care of us and the food was good. While enjoying breakfast, we arrived in Cozumel, and saw a VERY large ship on the pier next to us. I could tell it was RCI, but not the ship at first. But, wow, it dwarfed us!!

We went and got our shopping guides from the room, and went down to disembark on Deck 3. As we walked down the pier, I walked by one of the ropes tying us up and took this picture...

We also saw that the ship next to us was the Oasis of the Seas. I tell you, that thing is HUGE!! As we walk down the pier, off in the distance rounding the southern tip of the island, we saw another cruise ship, but wouldn't find out who it was unitl later...

We had decided not to do a shore excursion here becasue we wanted to shop a bit, and just go looking around. We spent time in the shopping area at Puerta Maya, and gathered all the charms for an inexpensive bracelet the guides had told us about. After about an hour and a half, we took a taxi to the main shopping area downtown, for a cost of $7.50 (We gave the guy a $10 spot) We looked at several shops, and had lunch, bought some rum cakes, and just looked around.

I was actually disappointed in the shopping on Cozumel. For jewelry, it was good, and the prices seemed down right reasonable. But we were looking for more local mexican items, and were used to paying the prices found in Tijuana and Matamoras. While none of the products seemed cheap, they just seemed a little overpriced for what I expected. Still, we had a great time!

Mom's legs were hurting, so we decided to head back to Puerta Maya. When we approached the cab, he wanted $40 to take us back to the ship!! I told him no way and started walking to the next cab. He asked what we paid coming down, and I told him $7.50. He said, OK... $7.50 each. I said no, $7.50 TOTAl!! He grunted and pointed to the van. I verified the price and he said yes, so we got on. He drove all crazy like he was pissed off, but it didn't bother me. Heck, I used to live in Dallas... They drive MUCH worse then him!

Anyway, upon arriving, I gave him a $10 spot as well, and said thats for the ride. We finished up our shopping, and Mom and Dad went on to the ship. We stayed at Fat Tuesday's and had a few drinks and watched the people. The other ship had docked next to the Oasis of the Seas, and it was the Celebrity Millenium. Here they are side by side...

After a few drinks, we headed throught the tax and Duty Free shop, picked up a few items, and headed back.. The Ecstasy looked so sleek and clean sitting there I had to take this pic...

Back on the ship, I laid down for a little nap, and the wife headed up to the serenity deck for some sun and relaxation. We meet up a little later at the MDR with Mom and Dad, then decided to hit the casino for the first time.

Overall, not too bad. Between the two of us (her playing slots and me playing Texas hold 'em) we won $3 over three hours! We then spent the rest of the night in the Neon Bar with Frank.

Thanks for the review, looking forward to reading the rest! Do you have any pics inside the ship at the public areas or in the dining room. If so, would love to see them.

Sailing on her in less than 2 weeks.