Ecstasy so expensive!

I'm looking for a cruise that will take us to HMC. One thing I’ve noticed is that cruises out of Charleston on the Ecstasy are a couple hundred dollars more. Why is that? The Ecstasy isn’t a premium ship, unless I’m missing something.

I’d be baffled by that too. Ecstasy is one of their oldest ships! No thank you! Look for a better ship!

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Cruises out of Norfolk are even more. I saw a sailing out of Norfolk for a certain price, for 4 days to the Bahamas (yuck!). I could go to much better islands on the same ship out of New York, on a 7 day cruise with a balcony for the same price as an interior out of Norfolk. I don't get it.

Supply and Demand. Charleston is a popular vacation destination, it's an easy drive for people who live in NC/SC/GA/VA/TN. The cruises from there always fill up quickly. That's probably one of the reasons the Sunshine is heading there in 2019.

We just booked the Ecstacy due ONLY to location. And yes, I agree, the prices are not great. I wish another cruise line was there even, but all I could find was Carnival.

I think "supply and demand" is the exact reason. Lots of people on the east coast want to cruise but don't necessarily want to go all the way down to FL do so. Norfolk and Charleston are easy drives for a lot of those people and don't require the cost of hotel and/or flight or even extra vacation days. With Carnival being the only cruise line in those ports, Carnival gets to set the price. Should another cruise line put ships in either port (of similar price point) giving people a choice, I bet you will see prices adjust accordingly.

the port in Charleston is very small. I went out of there in July and the CD told people to ask their congress person to build a bigger port so that bigger better ships could come. Anyway ECSTACY was the best cruise i have had so far. Would do it again!

I'd drive down to Jacksonville and go on the Elation. It's an additional 2 hours driving (for me) but worth it. It goes to HMC.

I was on the Ecstasy in Dec 2017 and Elation in Dec 2016. This December I'm back on the Elation out of Jacksonville.

My opinion is that Elation is a little nicer. And now it even has upgrades, so it's even better.

Also, of course, Elation is less expensive most of the time.

Happy cruising.

the port in Charleston is very small. I went out of there in July and the CD told people to ask their congress person to build a bigger port so that bigger better ships could come. Anyway ECSTACY was the best cruise i have had so far. Would do it again!

Carnival Sunshine is moving to Charleston in 2019 :D. Ecstasy, I believe will be headed to Jacksonville.

I'm looking for a cruise that will take us to HMC. One thing I’ve noticed is that cruises out of Charleston on the Ecstasy are a couple hundred dollars more. Why is that? The Ecstasy isn’t a premium ship, unless I’m missing something.

We sailed on the Ecstasy 20 years ago when our kids were just little! I wouldn't pay any premium price for a ship that old.

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That's exactly why we fly from NC to Florida. We can sail on a bigger ship to better places for less.

That's exactly why we fly from NC to Florida. We can sail on a bigger ship to better places for less.

We fly out of RDU (cheaper than CLT/PTI) to Florida as well. Plus after the cruise we don't have to drive far to come home, versus driving from Charleston.

I'm looking for a cruise that will take us to HMC. One thing I’ve noticed is that cruises out of Charleston on the Ecstasy are a couple hundred dollars more. Why is that? The Ecstasy isn’t a premium ship, unless I’m missing something.

High $$$ and it's an OLD clunker !!!!

That's exactly why we fly from NC to Florida. We can sail on a bigger ship to better places for less.

Ditto

Jacksonville has only one ship-and needs the smaller ships because of the bridge on the river, and costs a lot less than Charleston. I thought the upcharge was to Charleston. Port fees and what nots. I would always choose Jacksonville over Charleston to get to HMC. That said, I celebrate a big birthday next year, I love smaller ships, and Charleston has an 8 day to the ports I have yet to go to. So I sucked it up, put down a down payment and will pay off the rest of the cruise over the next year. Eee gads, its way more than I paid for the Alaska cruise!

We sailed on the Ecstasy 20 years ago when our kids were just little! I wouldn't pay any premium price for a ship that old.

I think you would be pleasantly surprised if you sailed her again. She recently came out of dry dock w/ a refit & she's very pleasant and well put together for one of the smaller, older ships.

We are Charleston natives and have a lot of family still there. We live in upstate NC near the VA border. It's 6 1/2 hours travel to Charleston so we sail out of there often. We prefer the Ecstasy over the Sunshine - much more so since the Sunshine came out of dry dock. We've sailed the Ecstasy several times. Charleston port is easy. The crew is always wonderful. Not sure why it's a little more expensive, but we've often gotten rate adjustments or OBC either with early booking (I'm a planner and like to book way in advance) or when rates drop periodically (I check often).

While cruises out of Port Canaveral, JAX, and other Florida based ports are less, for those living within a reasonable driving distance to Charleston, you also don't have the added traveling expenses to get to and from those Florida ports either. The same holds true for the Ecstasy. It costs more and takes longer to get to the Bahamas, HMC, and other ports from Charleston than it does to get to those same ports of call from the Florida based ports.

I'm not saying supply and demand doesn't have anything to do with it, but the simple economics of additional fuel, food, etc comes into play as well. I've done a ton of cost comparisons between sailing out of Charleston and say Port Canaveral and in some cases, it does cost a few bucks more to cruise from Charlie Town. In some cases, it costs quite less. But, for the cruises that did cost a little more, along with some other perks valuable to me, I didn't have 18 hours of driving and wear and tear on my vehicle either. That's worth something.....at least in my book! Just my thoughts........

Not a premium ship, but definitely a premium port location. like 50 percent of the population is within an 8 hour drive of that port.

That's exactly why we fly from NC to Florida. We can sail on a bigger ship to better places for less.

We'll be leaving out of Greensboro NC early Sun morning for a Port Canaveral departure the same day. Its a very easy 9 hr drive. We feel it's less risky than dealing with potential flight delays. We always get travel insurance, just in case. Only time I have had to use it was when a cancelled connection from RDU to JFK delayed our trip to Portugal a could of years ago. We ended up being messed around and arriving 3 days late on a 2 week vacation. Wear and tear not as issue as i have a company vehicle (2015 Tahoe).

location....location.....location.

the port in Charleston is very small. I went out of there in July and the CD told people to ask their congress person to build a bigger port so that bigger better ships could come

The "old money" in Charleston has been fighting this for years (they are trying to keep the charm of the city in tact as well as overcrowding etc.), they have dredged some but not enough for the mega ships etc

The port fees are more in Charleston as well. We easily drive to PC, 8 hr trip us so we have many choices to cruise from with PC being our fav.

Carnival Sunshine is moving to Charleston in 2019 :D. Ecstasy, I believe will be headed to Jacksonville.

Ecstasy should be heading to the scrap yard, that darn old rust bucket. ;p:p

Supply and Demand. Charleston is a popular vacation destination, it's an easy drive for people who live in NC/SC/GA/VA/TN. The cruises from there always fill up quickly. That's probably one of the reasons the Sunshine is heading there in 2019.

This is why we booked it. Shortest drive for us. No other reason lol

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Jacksonville has only one ship-and needs the smaller ships because of the bridge on the river, and costs a lot less than Charleston. I thought the upcharge was to Charleston. Port fees and what nots. I would always choose Jacksonville over Charleston to get to HMC. That said, I celebrate a big birthday next year, I love smaller ships, and Charleston has an 8 day to the ports I have yet to go to. So I sucked it up, put down a down payment and will pay off the rest of the cruise over the next year. Eee gads, its way more than I paid for the Alaska cruise!

I have to ask what is hmc? Or where lol

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I have to ask what is hmc? Or where lol

 

 

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Half Moon Cay