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Four Nights of Open Bar Ecstasy! A Pictorial Review.

DarthGrady

By DarthGrady,
in Carnival Cruise Lines

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DarthGrady

DarthGrady

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I'm kinda drawing a blank on where you are describing. Is this that area just outside the mini golf courses??.

 

We were at the one in front of the mini golf course later on. That's where the pics are from. The deck above the bridge was too dark for pictures.

 

 

 

Grady:

Definitely sounds like you are describing the production show titled 'Country'. Carnival apparently agrees with you, as the show you were in (briefly) was the very last time that show will ever appear on the Carnival Ecstasy stage. Also, all those performers left the ship the same day you did, and a new troupe arrived on the scene.

I had lunch in Nassau with several of the performers who were onboard with you, and they were in their final days of contract. The production shows on Ecstasy have been completely replaced, and from what they described you might have seen quite a bit of construction going on in the main theatre. The Country production had zero sets and just a few props, since everything had been removed for almost two weeks. It was compared to being like a very high quality high school production. Yikes.

 

.

 

I remember the stage being pretty spartan. I agree with the high school play analogy. Probably for the best that the cast is moving on, they had some very talented singers and dancers, the material was all that was lacking.

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DarthGrady

DarthGrady

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lmao, that is hilarious... when i said in the beginning i was wondering what sort of trouble you got into this time... no exaggeration i see!!! i like how your crew rolls :cool:

 

 

 

oh no doubt, i would have texas two stepped (i don't actually know how to do that, btw) about face and right outta there. lol

 

 

 

bravo! well done as always... i've missed your carnival reviews, and must admit i spent hours reading your freedom and allure reviews the weekend after my last cruise... (pcd) looks pretty amazing, and well done with those too, as always... ;)

 

and... i need to figure out how to get on one of these booze cruises :D

 

Thanks Mark!

 

Next year's hasn't been set up yet, so I don't have any info. If you see a CCL cruise pop up in my signature for 2013 that's probably it. If you shoot me an email I'll be able to tell you more then. It's my CC screen name @cox.net.

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MrFunInTheSun

MrFunInTheSun

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Thanks Mark!

 

Next year's hasn't been set up yet, so I don't have any info. If you see a CCL cruise pop up in my signature for 2013 that's probably it. If you shoot me an email I'll be able to tell you more then. It's my CC screen name @cox.net.

 

It'll be interesting to see your thoughts and review of your trip on the Bahama's Celebration next month. This will be your first time cruising with them, correct? Please be sure to share your review here, don't think the boards over there get much use. :)

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DarthGrady

DarthGrady

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It'll be interesting to see your thoughts and review of your trip on the Bahama's Celebration next month. This will be your first time cruising with them, correct? Please be sure to share your review here, don't think the boards over there get much use. :)

 

Yep, first time. I'll definitely post a review up. It's a good idea to link it over here, you're absolutely right that the Celebration board is pretty dead.

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falkcor

falkcor

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Thanks Mark!

 

Next year's hasn't been set up yet, so I don't have any info. If you see a CCL cruise pop up in my signature for 2013 that's probably it.

 

you're very welcome, as warranted. and while i'll miss the grady carnival reviews in the meanwhile apparently, if that'll be the only one... you've got mail... :cool:

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wrigley80

wrigley80

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Excellent pictures! I have not sailed on Carnival since they added the Serenity area. Is this an additional charge, or is it open to all adults?

 

Thanks!

 

there is no additional charge for the Serenity area. It is for adults only (21 and over). Best spot on the ship.....in my opinion. I love it back there :D

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rferr

rferr

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I guess this review and Carnival's all you can drink program remove any plausible deniability that they ever had for saying that bringing your own booze onboard is a security problem. The ship looks pretty dated in those pictures too.

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DarthGrady

DarthGrady

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I guess this review and Carnival's all you can drink program remove any plausible deniability that they ever had for saying that bringing your own booze onboard is a security problem. The ship looks pretty dated in those pictures too.

I don't think many ever bought that excuse anyway, most everyone knows that booze is a huge chunk of their profits since fares are kept so low.

 

As far as the ship goes, yes she is very dated in some areas. A few places have stood the test of time, the library and the Society Bar being the two that spring to mind.

 

Carnival seems to be the exact opposite of Royal Caribbean in that the only areas that get major renovations are the cabins. Royal is constantly renovating and refreshing their public spaces, yet the cabins on their older ships (Monarch in particular) haven't seen much love since being installed. I think Carnival has now redone all the Fantasy Class cabins and will soon be starting in on Destiny.

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DarthGrady

DarthGrady

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My wife (a part time TA) and I went on a ship tour of Ecstasy yesterday. I was able to get pics of some areas that I missed or didn't cover very well in the review. I also got some shots of the various cabin categories. So here we go again, in no particular order. Enjoy:

 

Mentioned in the review but not photographed, the Carnival Waterworks occupies the aft section of Veranda deck. The area was once home to the aft pool and its hot tubs which was the unofficial adult area. Now that the aft pool is gone the kids have a splash park, so the lone main pool can be enjoyed by the adults. Sounds great right?

 

Unfortunately it doesn't really work like that. The kids ride the slides, then want to go swimming. So they swarm the main pool and its hot tubs. The whole thing would have worked better if they would have left the original main pool and water slide in place for families and made the old aft pool area Serenity. Then they could have made the aft area on Promenade Deck the splash park since it was already the kiddie pool. It makes not a bit of sense to me that they went from having 3 pools and 6 hot tubs (2 were in the spa, which I loved) down to 1 pool and 4 hot tubs with the same number of pax.

 

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Some better shots of the main pool area

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