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Ecstasy Review, 9/3/11-9/8/11


Meyer2

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I am going to write a review of my experience on the Ecstasy. :) I'm not the best at writing, but hopefully, there won't be any major mistakes. ;) I will be including pictures in this review. At this time, I don't have a printer/scanner, so I can't scan the Fun Times, but I kept all of them, so if you have any questions, just ask.

 

It was my mom & I for this cruise. It was my 2nd cruise (1st was with hubby on the Conquest back in October) & my mom's 1st cruise. We booked this cruise about 9 mths out from the sail date, our 1st trip together. I have the BEST husband, who took off work so I could go & he took care of getting the kids to school, etc. We live just a little North of Houston, so we are a little over an hour from the port, so we just drove there the morning of Saturday the 3rd.

 

Tropical Storm Lee was in the Gulf, so the night before, we found out that the Ecstasy would be in a little late, about 9 o'clock, so we waited a little bit before heading out that morning. We left the house about 8:30 & got a little something to eat on the way there. Traffic was very light since it was early on a Saturday. Once we got over the bridge & saw the whale tail, I think I screamed. LOL! Never gets old, not to me anyways. ;) We met my parents at the Starbucks by the port (They had been at their beach house the couple of nights before) & they got in our van. Hubby drove us over to the port & dropped us off. Quick hugs & kisses, as I was starting to get teary eyed. We gave our check-in bags to a Porter & tipped him. At this point, it was about 9:40 a.m.

 

Okay, sorry to stop here right now, but everyone is hungry, so I guess I need to cook dinner. LOL. More tonight.

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**First I need to make a correction from the 1st post, I noticed after it was too late to edit.

 

We actually arrived at the port terminal about 10:30. We then went through the security scanners through the new entrance location. We took 2 bottles of wine & we had them in 1 carry-on, so we had to take that over to the table so it could be verified. My water bottles were not even checked, but they were a 6pk, still in the cellophane wrap. We then went up the escalators & went to sit down. Jena, from our roll call, spotted us right away & came over to meet us. We talked for just a few minutes & then it was announced we could go over to check-in for our S&S cards. Woo Hoo!!!

 

We all got in line & received zone 1 boarding passes. Check-in went smoothly, a little slow as we had a trainee, but she was very good. So exciting, I got my S&S card, gold! :D Then off we went to sit in the 1st row of seats, next to Jena & her family. All of this was done & we were in our seats by 11:00.

 

Since the Ecstasy had come in late, they were still unloading passengers, so we didn't get to start the boarding process until about 12:15 with the wedding parties, those needing assistance & VIP. Then, it was our turn for our Embarkation photo & on we went! We were one of the first few onboard, so cool. We headed for the elevator & up to lido for some lunch.

 

We went straight to the Mongolian Wok as I knew it would get busy after that point. And it did, within 5 minutes of us sitting down, the wait was like 20-30 min. It was so yummy though!

 

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Once we finished lunch, we stepped out the door there by the Mongolian Wok, port side, to take a look. The Ecstasy was being fueled up.

 

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We also saw some dolphins:

 

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We had pre-purchased our Bottomless Bubbles soda stickers through Bon Voyage before the cruise. We had forgotten to ask at check-in, so since we were onboard, we asked at the table on the lido deck where they have it for signing up for the sticker. We were told, he couldn't help us & we'd have to go to guest services. Okay, we needed to go there anyways to put cash down on our S&S cards, so down to deck 7 we went. Snapped a few pictures on our way there.

 

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Still on our way to the Empress deck to Guest Services & Funship Freddy was on his way to the Empress deck also.

 

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We make it to Guest Services & after waiting a few minutes, it's our turn. We put the cash down on our card. As far as the Bottomless Bubbles sticker, she says we have to go to the table up on Lido. I explained we purchased them ahead & time & that the gentleman at the table is referring those who already purchased through the Bon Voyage dept. to go to Guest Services. She called someone to find out the correct answer. Turns out, you need to go to the Rolls Royce Cafe on deck 9, Promenade to pick it up. I think being able to purchase them ahead of time is still such a new thing that not everyone realizes what to do in that case. Not a big deal & everyone was nice, it will come with time. So, with that, off we head towards the Rolls Royce Cafe.

 

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I am so excited to read your review. I had wanted to sail Ecstasy's last cruise out of Galveston, but couldn't work it out. SO....I will live through you and your review :D. Thanks!!

 

Thanks! I am so glad I was able to cruise on the Ecstasy before She left Galveston. I LOVED this ship! And the staff too!! Might have to go to Florida sometime to be able to sail on Her again. ;)

 

Okay, need to run DD for an extra dance practice, will be back later with more.

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I forgot to mention that when we came down to Deck 7, Funship Freddy was there near the glass elevators, so we stopped & had a picture taken with him so we could purchase it & take home for the kids to see.

 

Here's more pictures we took on our way to the Rolls Royce Cafe.

 

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Once we got to the Rolls Royce Cafe, it was super easy! The lady there had a slip that we had to sign & she put the sticker on our S&S card & we were back on our way, up to Lido. We had been told that cabins would not be ready until 2:30. When we got to Lido, I did stop & explain to the gentleman that was working the Bottomless Bubbles table so he would know for others & he was grateful we passed the info along. He hadn't even realized you guy buy them ahead of time.

 

So now, we know that we have got to have a DOD as we still hadn't had one,LOL! Yummy! And they were strong too for sure.

 

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As promised, right at 2:30, the cabins were ready. So we had finished our DOD & headed back to Deck 7. Our cabin was E83, Starboard, Balcony, right around from the Atrium area. We really liked the location.

 

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We weren't in our room very long when our luggage arrived, so we got all unpacked right away. Then within a few minutes our Cabin Steward knocked on the door, introduced himself & then put a small fridge in our room. My mom is diabetic & this had been noted on the reservation, mainly so we could have a sharps container in the room. We were told that if a fridge was available, they would put one in the room, but no promises. No biggie, we just needed ice for sure to keep the medicine on. Well, guess there were enough & we got one, brand new & it worked for sure!! Gave us a place to keep our wine too which was nice.

 

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It was close to time for the Safety Briefing/Muster drill to start, so we just watched out our balcony some.

 

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We weren't in our room very long when our luggage arrived, so we got all unpacked right away. Then within a few minutes our Cabin Steward knocked on the door, introduced himself & then put a small fridge in our room. My mom is diabetic & this had been noted on the reservation, mainly so we could have a sharps container in the room. We were told that if a fridge was available, they would put one in the room, but no promises. No biggie, we just needed ice for sure to keep the medicine on. Well, guess there were enough & we got one, brand new & it worked for sure!! Gave us a place to keep our wine too which was nice.

 

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I had assumed there would be a refrigerator in every room. I'd like to have one, but it isn't anything but to keep drinks cold. Oh well - thanks for the info.

 

P.S. I tried to do the quote thing, but never have gotten the hang of it.

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Great start, I am looking forward to reading more :)

 

can't wait to hear more.. we sail her in 34 days!!

 

Thank-you both! I will get some more up today, last night was busy with kids activities & today my youngest is home sick from school.

 

We weren't in our room very long when our luggage arrived, so we got all unpacked right away. Then within a few minutes our Cabin Steward knocked on the door, introduced himself & then put a small fridge in our room. My mom is diabetic & this had been noted on the reservation, mainly so we could have a sharps container in the room. We were told that if a fridge was available, they would put one in the room, but no promises. No biggie, we just needed ice for sure to keep the medicine on. Well, guess there were enough & we got one, brand new & it worked for sure!! Gave us a place to keep our wine too which was nice.

 

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I had assumed there would be a refrigerator in every room. I'd like to have one, but it isn't anything but to keep drinks cold. Oh well - thanks for the info.

 

P.S. I tried to do the quote thing, but never have gotten the hang of it.

 

No, on the Ecstasy, no refrigerators in the rooms excepts suites. I think it's that way on most of the older ships, but I'm not 100% positive. Your room steward can keep ice in your bucket for you though.

 

Cecile- Thanks! We just bought the shirts at Kohl's and then had a lady locally embroider & 'bling' them for us. Was like $15-16 for everything I think.

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About 3:40 we were called to go to our muster stations. Sorry, I didn't take the camera with me for this part. We were in B, which was on Promenade in the sitting area across from the Casino. It went just fine.

 

Here's my only complaint really for the entire cruise. The Ecstasy had arrived late that morning because of TS Lee. No big deal, we figured we would leave a little late, but had not been told that for sure & the Safety Briefing/Muster Drill was done at the normal time. At the end of the briefing with the announcements, we were then told we would be sailing an hour to an hour & half late. Still not really a big deal, but my hubby & kids along with my dad had come to the 'patio' area there by the Harbor House to watch us for leave for sail away & they were all there & ready by 4. More specifics about sail away shortly in the review, but we didn't end up sailing until 6, but they did hang around. Kids were hungry & ready to leave by then for sure. LOL!

 

After that was completed, we headed back to the cabin so we could let the guys know what was going on & we watched for a little while as the ship was being loaded. Then we took off & went to the Casino to get our S&S cards punched so we could put them on our lanyards. Still only about 5:00 at this point, so we went by the photo gallery & found our embarkation photo & our Funship Freddy picture. We purchased 2 of the Funship Freddy stuffed toys for my younger 2 kids & got the Freddy pictures (we had a 2nd print made). The toys/dolls ended up being free & we also purchased our embarkation photo. Back to the cabin to wait for sail away.

 

About 5:50, they all the sudden quickly stopped loading & the crew pulled in the crew gangway & let the ropes go, all within a few quick minutes. So, here we go.....

 

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Look at all the trash.

 

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And we haven't seen the tug boat help out before, but it did help for today's sail away. I believe it helped the Ecstasy come in that morning too.

 

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My family is in this group over at the 'patio' area, LOL, can't see them though for this sail away. So we wave some, my DD was jumping up & down so we could kind of tell. Quick call to hubby to say Bye & that I Loved them & then mom & I made a quick dash to the dining room. We had early seating, so we were about 5 min late, but there was another 2 ladies getting there just a little ahead of us. We were in the aft dining room, Wind Song.

 

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We sat down & all the ladies were nice & friendly right away. Table for 10, all women & as we started introducing ourselves, it turned out we were all mother/daughter pairs. Awesome! Great bunch of ladies!! Our head waiter was Montre' (sp?) & assistant waiter was Anjit. I didn't get the ladies name that helped out most of the nights.

 

My starter was the spinach & artichoke dip with chips:

 

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My mom's starter was the marinated fruit with mango salsa:

 

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My main dish was the grilled tilapia with mac & cheese. I ordered extra of the mac & cheese. Yummmy!

 

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Mom's main dish was chicken a la greque (sp?):

 

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Keep up the good work! I'm going to be on the Ecstasy in November out of Port Canaveral. I am gonna be aaaallll over that mongolian wok. We used to have a restaurant here that did the mongo grill but it shut down and I have been dying for some ever since!

 

I'm so jealous! I *LOVED* the Ecstasy & hope to sail Her again someday, taking DH with me. We told our waiter that we would have to come to Port Canaveral so we could see him again. LOL. You will have a great time.

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Awww... love your review so far. Can't wait to see more pix! That was cool that you gals got a fridge. I was surprised the rooms didn't have them like the Conquest, but I guess it made sense since the rooms are smaller/older ship.

 

Thanks Jena. It was nice having it, but also kind of a pain since the room is smaller, we had to move the stool/chair & cram them along the wall, but it was okay, we didn't need tons of room.

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