June 9th Ecstasy Review - Long

[steveholtam]

Returned yesterday on a five day trip to the Bahamas. I'm going to do a day by day review. I was on this trip with my eleven year old daughter. We have both cruised many times. Here is my super long review.

 

Day 1

This was the quickest we ever got on a ship. I would say the entire process was less then 30 minutes. Smooth and easy. The employees were friendly as well. We boarded the ship about 1:30. We went directly to our interior room, U92, and dropped off our carry-on bags.

 

The last three cruises we have been on where on the Splendor. So I am going to compare the Ecstasy to the Splendor quite a bit. Not a fair comparison really, based on the 15 year age difference. But it's what I'm going to do.

 

The first thing I noticed was that the room is quite a bit smaller. The beds were not side by side but against two separate walls. Like an "L" shape. This was fine, just smaller. The bathroom was a bit smaller as well. I'm not sure, but I think the Splendor may of had conditioner in the bathroom squirty thing along with the shampoo and body wash. The room was fine throughout the trip and I had zero complaints about the room. We even had a fake window with coverings.

 

At this point we toured the ship. Any many regards I like the decorations of this ship. They were not as over the top as prior ships I've been on. The Splendor to me is just gaudy as can be. Except for the carpets, the Ecstasy was very clean and modern looking. You can really tell what parts of the ship were remodeled in 2009. It's a night and day difference.

 

One thing I read about this ship before sailing was that the ship is old. This is true, but in most areas, the only true indicator of this is that areas are just smaller. I didn't find this to be a problem at all. The ships age had no effect on my vacation.

 

Lido pool deck. This was an odd design. The main pool is quite small. And it is the only pool on the ship. At points on the trip there really was zero room for swimming as there were so many bodies in the pool. Everyone was just sort of standing about. I don't use the pool, so this didnt bother me, and it did not seem to bother the people in the pool either. There were two spas on either end, and they were packed as well.

 

The pool deck is cut in half by a large stage. It looks neat, but was never really used much and this space could have been used for much better purposes. Such as a larger pool, another pool, more chair space, lots of things. A giant chess set and the bean bag tossing thing was really all it was used for.

 

One of my few complaints about this ship was on this deck, and it was smoking. HALF of the pool deck allowed smoking. This most be the difference between sailing out of a Southern port versus a California port. Ships out of CA have isolated smoking sections of the ship. And they are in lightly used sections. It was really odd to see so much smoking in the primary public areas. It does not bother me that much, but often as I would look for a place to sit, I was forced to sit on this half and get whiffs of smoke. Plus there were children about as well being exposed to the smoke. It was just odd. I expect it in the casino, but not pool side.

 

Our luggage arrived promptly and the rest of the day was uneventful for the most part. This was our first time doing the Anytime Dining option. The line was quite long on the first night when we wanted to eat. We waited for about half an hour. Made line friends which made the waiting easy enough. The remaining days we just went later and had zero wait.

 

Day Two

On this day we went to Freeport. I had pre-booked a day trip to Paradise Cove. The company was supposed to be waiting for us, but they were not. Another couple happened to have called them from port and they let us know they were on their way. So it took us a bit longer to get going then I was expecting.

 

After a 15 minute drive, we arrived at the beach place. It was really nice. I would advise you bring bug spray. At the check-in counter, there were these tiny little bugs that were biting everyone's ankles. But after that I never felt them again. For about $60, we got transportation, snorkel equipment, two chairs and an umbrella. The snorkeling was pretty good. Not a huge reef, but there were some corals. Quite a variety of fish, and even turtles. They do give you some basic instructions and set you free. The best areas are quite a bit out, and they have a few floats that you can climb on are just hang on. Oh, we even saw a lobster. After getting out to the good section, and then spending some time out there, and then swimming all the way back, we were both pretty tired.

 

We spent the rest of the day hanging out on the beach, playing in the sand, drinking Island beers, and having lunch. The food is nothing special, but the prices were better then I thought they would be. Like $8 for a burger, and beers were like $4. They gathered us up about 2:30 and returned us to the port.

 

This was formal night and I didn't see any poorly dressed cruisers. The food on all nights in the main dining room was good to great. They had a Comfort food selection each night that I had not seen on other cruises. Items like Fried Chicken, meat loaf, etc. I liked them all. Of course the melting chocolate cake was always great. Service was about average, nothing over the top. One night we waited longer then normal to get any service, but that happens.

 

Day Three

 

Nassau. This was my debate day. Day pass at Sheraton or Atlantis? I did not decide until the morning we arrived. Some of this had to do with the fact that we both got sunburned on the prior beach day. So thinking about another day on the beach had me nervous. So I opted for Atlantis. I know all the ups and downs about going to Atlantis. The crowds, the costs, the toll this place takes on the locals, etc. But when in Rome...

 

Instead of booking through the cruise, I figured I would save some money and time and just do the whole thing on our own. We got a VERY shared taxi for $4 per over to Atlantis. We got our day passes onsite and before even the pools were open at 9am. This allowed us to get a locker quickly. I noticed later on as the cruise excursions begin unloading very long lines at this location. Very. It is a slow process to get one for some reason.

 

I also read that the wait time to get an floating tube thing can be long. The rides and slides do not open till 10am. So we walked around a bit and saw some of the resort grounds. It really is a beautiful resort. There are many areas to check out, and we did not see all of them.

 

About 15 minutes till 10:00, we found amn area that had the floats and were the first in line to get ours. This is where I noticed that the employees at Atlantis are not really friendly or just don't care much. If you ask them questions they never know the answer or sort of ignore you. We were waiting for another 15 minutes after 10:00, and the worker would not let us into the water, but would not say why. At this point there was quite a mob forming. At some point some people started grabbing floats, and it took just about everything the one dude had to stop people from just jumping in. I'm not sure if this is what happened or not, but all of a sudden we were floating down the river!

 

I'm not the best swimmer, and was thinking this would be a lazy river sort of thing. Maybe with a few rapids. And this is how it started. Then we got to this section where this giant contraption drops 1000's of gallons all at one time which creates giant waves. There are two sections of the river that do this I think. These are like ocean style waves that can fall over on themselves, like surfing waves. If your on the down side of these, you can easily get tossed onto others, flipped, are both at the same time. The first pass through my daughter got smashed really hard and was flipped over a few times. These wave sections last for 4-5 minutes as the waves chase you down. My daughter did not mind at all and thought it was fun.

 

Myself on the other hand, I was a bit unsettled getting tossed around, under and on top of people when my turn came to take the full brunt of the first wave. I survived, and it was almost fun, but I'm just not that into water. Maybe because I wear contacts. Despite this, we went around a few times. I was just more of a baby about it.

 

Part of the rapid ride is that you can take certain rivers to get to different attractions. One is more rapids, and another takes you up a giant conveyor belt to two more options. One is a dark slide option, and another is a large drop option. They were both fun. But keep your butt high up. I'm a normal size guy and my ass hung low a few times and got bumped and maybe bruised a bit on these portions.

 

Oh, it did not take long for all the floats to get grabbed up. At every beach location, there were always people standing around waiting and asking if they could take your float. People were very protective of theirs. We relinquished ours after a few hours and decided to get lunch.

 

I read the prices were very high at Atlantis, but I have to disagree. A bit high, but a lunch burger or chicken combo was like $10 or $11. That is high, but not vacation high to me. I got a beer and that was expensive. Around $11 or so. I think it was a 16oz can. The food was good. I had a bacon cheese burger and it was well seasoned and not over cooked. A rare thing.

 

After lunch we decided to check out the Dig/Aquarium site. This was very nice as well. The large tanks were well stocked with a huge variety of species both very large and small. They had a couple of Rays that must have been 20 feet across! Plus a bunch of large sharks. I liked this portion of Atlantis. Even the "relics" from the digs.

 

We found another taxi around 3:00 and made our way back to the port. My daughter re-boarded the ship and I went over to Senor Frogs. This was my first time at one of these and it was fun. The staff was fun and the crowd was enjoying themselves.

 

So, Atlantis is expensive. Direct through them the cost to get in was $215. Not cheap. Was it worth it I have asked myself? And I would say yes. The place is beautiful. The rides were fun. And how often will I be back to Nassau? Maybe never. I like to visit new places and destinations on every trip. My daughter and I had a good time there, had great memories, and that is what it's all about.

 

Day Four

 

Half Moon Cay. Another beach day was the plan for the day. Of course, we did not realize that it would be a huge pain getting over there. We woke up late, around nine, thinking we would get up, eat breakfast and miss the big push for the tenders. While we were eating though they make an announcement that the tenders are late to show up. His voice sounded confused, which made me a bit nervous. After 10:00 we make our way to leave the ship.

 

The line was above deck 6 on both sets of stairs down to deck 3. And it was not moving at all. This was also the only location to depart the ship. After no moving for quite awhile, we slowly begin to make some progress. Towards the end, I asked a higher-up what was going on. They said this was the first time this had ever happened. They had never seen the lines this long. I asked if we could stay longer, seeing as they own the island and they said no. Oh well. I asked.

 

Oh, while waiting in line, they made an announcement that made many people sad and angry. Since it was taking so long to get off the ship, all excursions except horse back riding where cancelled. They mentioned the weather as well, but I think that was just a side excuse. The weather upon debarkation was sunny with scattered clouds.

 

After the crowded slow moving line full of grumpy people, it felt really good to get into the tender. The island looked beautiful from the sea, but was even nicer from the beach. Just amazing. There were no chairs from the playground section all the way down past the bar that looks like a ship. We walked over to the other side of the island and saw the Rays. There was nobody there, and we probably could have just jumped in with them. But we did not. :-)

 

We returned to the main beach and looked again for any chairs near the center bar where the activities would be. My daughter likes watching the games. I like the music. With no chairs in sight, I switched to porter mode, and hauled two chairs from the empty end to exactly where I wanted. No big deal. We made camp and went swimming. The water was really nice and there were some fish to look at. Down by the rocks was a bit better, but not worth going all the way over for the slight difference.

 

We had lunch, and as advertised, the jerk chicken was very tasty. My daughter had seconds, and thirds! Just as we finished lunch, it started sprinkling. Within moments, about a third of the people ran back to the ship. It was really funny. An older couple sitting next to us ran for it as well. After about 10-15 minutes, the rain went away and it was back to an awesome day. The people next to us returned because the line was long to get back to the ship.

 

A few hours later, another rain storm passed us. And this was a full on down-pour. This sent another third running. Including the people next to us. My daughter and I just ran into the ocean and had a great time swimming and laughing at the people trying to not get wet on the beach. This rain storm also passed after a few minutes. At this point, two-thirds of the people had retreated to the ship. This left the beach very much empty. Perfect. Oh, and the older couple next to us returned again because the line was again long. Lol. They were clueless.

 

We spent as much time on this beach as we could. We boarded the last tender back to the ship. It was really a great day. The trouble getting off the ship was forgotten as we looked back at the beautiful beach and wished we could have stayed another few hours. This was also a nice day as it didn't cost anything except for a few souvenir coconut drinks which we always get.

 

Day Five

 

Day at sea. We slept in! This was the first time we could and we did. Nice. We had no plans for the days at all. This was a very casual day. I spent many hours on the nice Serenity deck at the rear of the ship reading and looking at the ocean. Back here there is no music and two adult spas. It was quite relaxing. I even napped for a bit.

 

Debarkation Morning

 

We did the self debarkation option. And again, from the moment we left our room, we were off the ship in about 10 minutes. It went so smooth. This port knows how to get us on and off as fast as possible.

 

Final Thoughts

 

This ship is fine. It is missing some bells and whistles. This was not a surprise to me after reading the boards here. Would I sail on this ship again? Yes. Would I prefer a more modern ship? Also yes. The smaller, older ships do have the advantage of feeling less crowded though. I liked the fact that this ship still has live music. Both in the form of a rock band and a Calypso band. The food was good, the drinks were tasty. My daughter made friends and had a great time. I relaxed, played a bit in the casino, and enjoyed the shows I prefer, such as the game shows and comedy acts. I had a great time and look forward to my next cruise.

[bmwmom2002]

Thank you for your review! We will be on Ecstasy next Saturday! We have a stop in Key West though instead of the private island. I'm gonna miss that island this time. :D

[smellywax]

Thanks for the review and thanks for the info on the lazy river at Atlantis. I can't swim well and if there is any chance of being knocked over by waves on the river, I think I will opt out and let the kids have fun :D I hope they don't have problems with the tenders on our upcoming cruise...that's really weird considering they are in charge of the people/things on their private island I thought. Is smoking allowed in the Serenity area?

[gbphatcat]

thanks for the great review

[steveholtam]

Is smoking allowed in the Serenity area?

 

I didn't see anyone smoking. So I'm thinking it must have been a non-smoking section.

 

I did see someone smoking on the non-smoking half of the Lido Pool area and she was told to move to the other side. So at least they were enforcing that. And the smoke even on the other side was not very bad most of the time. The wind and breeze saw to that.

[RuthlessBoss]

Thank you for your review! We will be on Ecstasy next Saturday! We have a stop in Key West though instead of the private island. I'm gonna miss that island this time. :D

I love the Key West stop. Mallory Square comes alive at sunset.

[vivavegas]

Thanks for taking the time to write your review and share with us!:) Glad you had a good cruise!

[RuthlessBoss]

I didn't see anyone smoking. So I'm thinking it must have been a non-smoking section.

 

I did see someone smoking on the non-smoking half of the Lido Pool area and she was told to move to the other side. So at least they were enforcing that. And the smoke even on the other side was not very bad most of the time. The wind and breeze saw to that.

No smoking in Serenity. I believe it's age restricted to 21.

On Lido I had to speak to a non smoker complaining. Had to inform her to go on HER non smoking side:D

[missygirl]

Sounds good...we will be leaving on July 2.

 

Last year on Fantasy we had the same slow problem as you did at Half Moon Cay...people on stairs and sitting of the floor.

[boaterette]

Nice review. I was on the ecstasy back in 04. When it was in california. The smoking on the other ships that were here in cali before the splendor was the same as on the ecstasy. One side of the lido smoking. It is only the splendor that it changed here in cali.

[cruiseclues]

Thanks for your review :)

[erewhon]

Thank you for the review of your cruise.