Just got off Ecstasy- Feb 21- 26

Had a great time. This was my 6th Cruise, 5th Carnival, first time on Ecstasy, first time going out of Charleston (even though I live there).

We did FTTF which I love. I am notoriously cheap on my cruises, don’t get the soda package or Cheers, don’t gamble, don’t do expensive excursions but I like getting on the ship early, my room being ready right away, my luggage arriving early and one of the first to get off the ship. The Charleston port was super easy to get through. Since we live about 20 mins away from the port, my mom dropped us off at 10:30. We had to wait outside the gate for about 45 mins. but once we were inside the terminal, it was quick check in and boarding.

Yes, the ship is old, but I feel like they are doing a decent job of maintaining it especially after the dry dock a few years back. I saw a few spots where paint was peeling but the ship was clean and didn’t have a lot of noticeable maintenance issues.

My husband and I both agreed that the crew on this ship was top notch. Everyone was smiling and truly seemed happy to be working on this ship. The Lido was extremely well run. We saw the supervisor many, many times throughout the week. He is very hands-on and does a great job of leading his staff. The food was typical Carnival Lido food. I think the pizza at Pizza Pirate is great . Guys Burgers always good as well as Blue Iguana. But why don’t they serve tortilla chips to go with the awesome salsa bar. Next time I’ll remember to bring a bag on the ship. I’m not a fan of Carnival desserts but I really love the chocolate chip cookies and the other cookies they serve. Not sure what they are... they look like Chocolate Chip without the chips. They don’t always have the cookies out at the Lido but you can order them in room service anytime. I didn’t try the Deli but tbh it didn’t look very appetizing.

The wait staff in the MDR was outstanding. We did YTD and had a different waiter each night. They were all superb. One again super friendly and fun. We had to wait about 20 mins one night for a table (we showed up around 6:15 I think) but no wait on the other nights. The soups were all very good... French Onion, Navy Bean and Ham, Beef Lentil, all good. My husband loved the Beef Brisket. They used to have pie alamode on the menu each night but this time, only 2 nights of pie. One night cherry, one night Apple. Both very good.

We stayed in Room M9. Front of 5th deck. Our room attendant was good. His name was Rudita (Rudy for short). He asked us on the first day if we wanted morning and night service or just one or the other. We picked morning only and that ended up being fine.

We had good weather. The ship rocked a bit at times but I always take motion control meds the first few days as a preventative and I had no problems. The ship did not feel crowded at all. I had never been in Feb and it is definitely a quieter bunch of passengers. Not a lot of kids, no Spring Breakers... mostly couples and older people. But with that being said, still a great group of people. We met so many nice couples.. a couple from Myrtle Beach celebrating their 50th anniversary, a couple from Raleigh who were retired, doing a back to back and already on their 4th cruise this year (they did 27 in 2017!), two couples on their honeymoon, a couple from Charleston that loved baseball like we do. Most people were from the Carolinas, Virginia or Georgia and I don’t recall ever cruising with a more friendly, laid back group ( maybe because most left their kids at home lol).

We are big fans of Punchliner comedy but the two comedians this week were just so-so. That’s ok. We still had fun!

I love Carnival. I like the crew, like the Comedy, like being able to do my own laundry, like the food better than Royal, like the people who cruise with me. My favorite ship is the Magic but I liked the Ecstasy too. There’s a lot to be said for not having to get up at 7 am to get a deck chair, not having to wait a half hour in line for my burger, not feeling claustrophobic when I walk through throngs of people. Another great trip for us!

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Thanks for sharing...enjoyed reading your review

A few things I forgot to add. I did purchase the most expensive internet pkg. I’ve gotten the low end and the middle one on previous cruises but I always get frustrated by slow internet speeds, not being able to pull up Instagram, Snapchat, etc. it’s easier just to get the upgrade unless you just want to check email occasionally.

The laundry is coin operated. $3 per load. You can get change at the Guest Relations counter.

We like to play games so we brought a deck of cards, Scrabble and backgammon. My husband did card tricks for the Lido crew and was rewarded with chocolate chip cookies which were awesome!

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nice quick review! I like the little bit older ships too. Seems like the crews are happier, not as crowded, etc....Though i'd like to try one of the big ships one day.

Terrific review/report.

Thanks for taking the time to write this and to share it.

Keith

We did the Ecstasy cruise a month ago. Liked it so much we have booked it again for next January. Splurged on a suite on U deck. Lots of room, nice balcony. One of our favorite spots for "adult refreshment" was the Alchemy Bar. I agree that the staff and crew are very friendly and welcoming.

Enjoyed your review, and I'm glad you enjoyed your cruise.

Thanks for posting.

We leave Saturday!!! I have a couple of first time cruisers with us and was wondering how the motion was along the Atlantic coast? I plan to give them motion pills just in case! With the deck chairs... what time would I have to be on deck to get a couple? How were the lines in on the Lido for food? Other than early access to the room... where else did you see the FTTF as a benefit (we have it too)! I am so excited.. thanks for clarifying the laundry... I will bring change. Was the laundry always busy? and MOST IMPORTANT... where are the ice cream machines (please say they are open 24/7) LOL!

Great review, thank you for sharing! I prefer the smaller ships too, the crew usually really get to know you better! I've read so many negatives about The Ecstacy, I was beginning to wonder, nice to see the good stuff too! We don't sail till November, but looking forward to it!

I will bring change (for the laundry.)

Just a heads ups up from our experience when my wife brought a 'roll' of quarters. We were stopped by security to search her bag due to a 'suspicious' item showing up on the scanner. The round, solid cylinder of quarters were the suspicious item. You might want to bring your change loose in a zip-lock bag. :)

Also a Charleston resident... great review of the Ecstasy. We went back in October and had a wonderful time- and now we are going on the Magic in June. You really can't beat cruising out of the city you live in!

Like you, I thought the service was great. We had a wonderful room steward and great waitstaff. I could tell there were staffing cutbacks, or either our ship just sailed super full, as the staff seemed stressed out but they were still great. We left extra gratuity for everyone (but had to go to customer service to get those envelopes, wish they left them in the room).

I love chocolate chip cookies and will have to order some from room service on the Magic.

Great review! Thank you!

Nice reviews & comments we just booked a 6 day out of Charleston for 1/6/19

retiring moving our home base to Summerville.. See it will be our first retirement cruise..

We leave Saturday!!! I have a couple of first time cruisers with us and was wondering how the motion was along the Atlantic coast? I plan to give them motion pills just in case! With the deck chairs... what time would I have to be on deck to get a couple? How were the lines in on the Lido for food? Other than early access to the room... where else did you see the FTTF as a benefit (we have it too)! I am so excited.. thanks for clarifying the laundry... I will bring change. Was the laundry always busy? and MOST IMPORTANT... where are the ice cream machines (please say they are open 24/7) LOL!

I didn’t think the motion was too bad. I’ve definitely been on rougher seas. Like you said, just give them motion pills for the first few days. I take mine around 3 pm on embarkation day so it kicks in before we even start moving.

On non-port days I rushed to get outside and get our chairs by 9 but I was shocked to see hardly anyone was out there yet! In fact, one morning we had to wait for the crew to finish setting up the chairs so we could sit down. It was strange! I’m used to the chair hogs coming out of their cabins at the crack of dawn to claim their spots!

Lido lines were not bad at all. Guys Burgers was about 10 deep at its worst. But that was rare.

The other benefit to FTTF was priority boarding on the tender in Freeport. Honestly if I had to do it all over again I probably wouldn’t have sprung for it since the port of CHS is so easy to get through anyway. We didn’t get off the ship in Freeport so we didn’t use the tender benefit.

The laundry was always empty. Maybe one other machine being used. I don’t think most people like to do laundry on the cruise lol.

Ice cream machines open 24/7 in Lido. They have fro yo and ice cream. All the machines worked fine all week.

Have a great cruise!!

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Also a Charleston resident... great review of the Ecstasy. We went back in October and had a wonderful time- and now we are going on the Magic in June. You really can't beat cruising out of the city you live in!

 

 

 

Like you, I thought the service was great. We had a wonderful room steward and great waitstaff. I could tell there were staffing cutbacks, or either our ship just sailed super full, as the staff seemed stressed out but they were still great. We left extra gratuity for everyone (but had to go to customer service to get those envelopes, wish they left them in the room).

 

 

 

I love chocolate chip cookies and will have to order some from room service on the Magic.

That’s the weird thing. I didn’t feel the staffing was short handed at all this time. In fact, I remember thinking they had an abundance of people all the time. It was crazy!

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Thanks for taking the time to share/write the report.

Thanks! Now they are calling for rough seas as a Nor-Easter sets up off the coast! Ugh... this will be an adventure. Sailed through a hurricane years ago so not too concerned, but worried about the first time cruisers we are bringing.

We also leave on Saturday, we are leaving to drive down today. My son will be glad to hear that the ice cream machines are working :)

Thank you for the report!

I am SO glad you shared this. We are are sailing on her 4/4 on a 5 day with my youngest son who just turned 7 and my best friend and her 7 year old son. We live in N.C. But I am from South Carolina but have never sailed out of Charleston. My last 15 plus cruises have been on large ships out of Florida. I am platinum and we are in the same cabin so we will have priority check in but I have read awful reviews about embarkation and de-embarkation. To the point I tried to change to another ship. [emoji51]

We will drive down the day before and over night. Excited to be back in Charleston. Such an amazing city!!! I grew up about an hour an a half from Charleston. We will take the little guys around sight seeing the day before we embark.

Any further advice regarding parking etc. (even though you were dropped off) or from anyone else. I am confused about cars lining up at the port then driving to a parking garage and taking buses back to the port? Do I have that right?

I usually buy the Social wifi package. Pre-sailing it is $4.00 a day or $5.00 a day once on board. I will need to keep in touch with my husband and our older 2 sons. Do you think the poor internet was with the old ship or a technical issue? I sailed on the CCL Magic in November and the internet was great. We sailed on her again over Christmas and the internet was awful. So bad they were refunding $ without questions. They tried to blame it being a full Christmas sailing until I mentioned I had just sailed on her on a full Veterans Day week sailing the month prior then they quietly admitted it was a technical issue. Which I don’t understand why they didn’t admit in the first place. I sail a lot and knew there was an issue.

On our 4/4 sailing we call on Princess Cay and Nassau. Our friends haven’t sailed much so I am hoping the Ecstasy is ok. I read they did a dry dock last year adding Guys, Cherry on the Top etc. Was it rough crossing through the Atlantic?

Thank you for the review!

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I am SO glad you shared this. We are are sailing on her 4/4 on a 5 day with my youngest son who just turned 7 and my best friend and her 7 year old son. We live in N.C. But I am from South Carolina but have never sailed out of Charleston. My last 15 plus cruises have been on large ships out of Florida. I am platinum and we are in the same cabin so we will have priority check in but I have read awful reviews about embarkation and de-embarkation. To the point I tried to change to another ship. [emoji51]

 

We will drive down the day before and over night. Excited to be back in Charleston. Such an amazing city!!! I grew up about an hour an a half from Charleston. We will take the little guys around sight seeing the day before we embark.

Any further advice regarding parking etc. (even though you were dropped off) or from anyone else. I am confused about cars lining up at the port then driving to a parking garage and taking buses back to the port? Do I have that right?

 

I usually buy the Social wifi package. Pre-sailing it is $4.00 a day or $5.00 a day once on board. I will need to keep in touch with my husband and our older 2 sons. Do you think the poor internet was with the old ship or a technical issue? I sailed on the CCL Magic in November and the internet was great. We sailed on her again over Christmas and the internet was awful. So bad they were refunding $ without questions. They tried to blame it being a full Christmas sailing until I mentioned I had just sailed on her on a full Veterans Day week sailing the month prior then they quietly admitted it was a technical issue. Which I don’t understand why they didn’t admit in the first place. I sail a lot and knew there was an issue.

 

On our 4/4 sailing we call on Princess Cay and Nassau. Our friends haven’t sailed much so I am hoping the Ecstasy is ok. I read they did a dry dock last year adding Guys, Cherry on the Top etc. Was it rough crossing through the Atlantic?

 

 

Thank you for the review!

 

 

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I was on the Ecstasy in October and we had no issues with embarkation or debarkation. The parking situation depends on the cruise. There is a warehouse type building where cars are usually parked, indoors. I say usually because we didn't park there- instead, we parked in a lot off Washington Street downtown because Carnival Sunshine had a departure from Charleston earlier in the week and used that garage/warehouse.

Embarkation wasn't bad for us... had to wait in a line for awhile, but not a big deal. Definitely NOT something I'd purchase FTTF to avoid. I'd say we waited in line around 40 mins. We don't have any mobility concerns, but the port doesn't have a lot of chairs like Port Canaveral does.

Debarkation was so fast and easy for us. I hate to say getting off the ship was the highlight of the cruise, but we carried our bags off. We shut the down to our room at 8 AM, walked off the ship, got through customes, were shuttled to our car, and drove home... and walked through our front door at 8:55 AM.

We had some rocky seas the first night, after that it was fairly calm. I've taken two cruises from Charleston and will say it is a little rockier on the first night than cruising from Florida... but I've never gotten seasick. I just felt the boat a little more.

The ship is in pretty good shape. We saw a broken elevator... I hope it didn't break with anyone IN it. We always take the stairs but there were plenty of elevators. I'm in a Facebook group for the Ecstasy and no one's talked about the eleavtor issue since, so hopefully that was an isolated incident.

As far as your kids- I definitely recommend Patriot's Point for sightseeing. The Yorktown is there and the kids love it. There's also a playground nearby and a pier. Downtown has the aquarium and a children's musuem, and North Charleston has a fire museum. Besides that, you just can't beat walking around downtown Charleston if the weather's nice.

Thank you for reviewing your cruise.

Where is the laundry on the Ecstacy? We are doing an 8 day next year on her, and that's way too long to not do laundry.

We did our first cruise on the Ecstasy when it was brand new back in the early 90s. It is still one of our most memorable cruises.

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Where is the laundry on the Ecstacy? We are doing an 8 day next year on her, and that's way too long to not do laundry.

Deck 6 next to Cabin 154

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