Pictorial Review: Carnival Ecstasy 12/12/13 PLUS a B2B with Brilliance of the Seas!!!

[DarthGrady]

Carnival Ecstasy and Brilliance of the Seas: Nine nights back to back with a sprint across Florida

 

Our last back to back cruises were several years ago on Carnival Inspiration. I have fond memories of that trip, and the serenity of the changeover day. This back to back was decidedly different. My wife and I originally booked a cruise for her thirtieth birthday on the 12/16/13 Brilliance of the Seas voyage.

 

Then a few months ago she entered a cruise giveaway that Carnival was offering travel agents. She ended up winning a free cruise on the Carnival Ecstasy for the 12/12/13 sailing. So a back to back it became. The only problem? Ecstasy and Brilliance sail from opposite sides of the state. Ecstasy from Port Canaveral, and Brilliance from Tampa. Could it be done? Only time would tell.

[DarthGrady]

Day 1, The Ecstasy, Port Canaveral, 12/12/13:

 

There was no rush getting down to the ship on Thursday. We stopped in Maitland and visited their Holocaust memorial. After the exhibit we continued on to the port. We got lunch on the way to avoid the chaotic mess that is the buffet during embarkation. The parking lot at the Radisson was busy, but we eventually got on the shuttle and headed to the ship.

 

Approaching the ship after parking at the Radisson

 

 

 

The Ecstasy was pulled up to Terminal 5, the very same terminal that I took my first cruise from back in the early 90s. Check-in went quickly, I like that Carnival still has a VIP security line and departure lounge. We were on the ship within a half hour, around 2 in the afternoon. The cabins were already open so we were able to drop our stuff off and get some rest before the muster drill.

 

In the terminal

 

[DarthGrady]

Our cabin was U157, an ocean view room on Upper Deck. It was in good shape, and had the big shower (for a cruise ship) that I've come to appreciate on the Fantasy Class ships. It was also close to the self service laundry ruin, which was convenient. I wish all cruise lines had guest accessible laundry facilities.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[DarthGrady]

I last cruised on the Ecstasy in September of 2012. Not much has changed on board, but I did notice that they had decorated the atrium and some other areas for Christmas. Everything was still very clean and well maintained. The only other notable change was the addition of the Taste Bar, which replaced the old sushi bar on the promenade. The ship's decor is still definitely old school Carnival, certain areas looking as if they were festooned by a lunatic with a kaleidoscope fetish.

Still, I feel immediately at home and at ease on a Fantasy Class ship. It was after all, a cruise on the Sensation that got me started with Carnival back in 1999. Since then, fifteen of my twenty Carnival cruises have been on ships of the class. No other breed of cruise ship has garnered so much of my time and attention. I'm fairly certain that I could be set about to wander blindfolded aboard one of them and make my way around fairly easily. The only negative is that the newest one is now nearly fifteen years old. Carnival will undoubtedly begin retiring and transferring the old workhorses within the next few years. It will be a sad day when the Carnival fleet loses the last Fantasy clone.

We reluctantly attended the muster drill which dragged on for a small eternity. There was a time when Carnival discontinued the march from the mustering stations on Promenade Deck up to the life boat stations on Lido Deck. Apparently the practice has been revived, and it adds about 30 minutes to what was once a fifteen minute affair.

When we finally escaped the Lido Deck we changed into our gym clothes and stopped by the new Taste Bar. My first experience with the Taste Bar was on Fascination earlier this year. While I missed the sushi, it was nice to try different samples each night. This offering was a pork dish and some type of tomato soup. It wasn't great, nor was it bad.

We then got our exercise out of the way in the gym. There is nothing much to report about the gym. The facility is adequate and clean. They do need to ratchet up on their maintenance efforts, my elliptical felt a little clunky and worn out.

For dinner we were assigned "my time dining" and had no trouble getting a table for two when we arrived at the Wind Star dining room. The table was exactly six inches from the tables on either side of it, but a table for two nonetheless. We all tried to avoid awkward glances. Our serving team did a good job, but the food quality wasn't up to the same standard that I've had on my last few Carnival cruises. Now one could argue that I haven't done a Carnival cruise sober since 2011, all of my CCL cruises since then have been open bar. And food always tastes better when blasted. But I still feel pretty comfortable saying that the quality could have been better.

Later in the evening I stopped into the adult comedy show in the aft show lounge. The comic was okay, but not really my style. I opted out, and instead spent some time on the observation deck above the wheelhouse. The night was beautiful, and the seas were just rough enough to make it interesting.

[DarthGrady]

Lets take a tour of the ship:

 

The atium and lobby area

 

 

 

 

An elevator lobby and stairwell

 

[DarthGrady]

On Atlantic Deck:

 

The Neon Piano Bar

 

 

 

Few that visit the bar likley know that there is an easter egg hidden in plain sight. Its a little signature from the ship yard. Before anyone asks, no it isn't broken. It just flashes the segments in a sequence.

 

 

[DarthGrady]

More Atlantic Deck:

 

The Circle C tween club

 

 

The ship's library

 

 

The liquor store

 

Odd sighting in the gift shop, Coco Cay/Royal Caribbean postcards

[DarthGrady]

The forward dining room on Atlantic Deck

 

 

The main theater

 

 

 

[JohnSpo]

I was on Ecstasy a month ago. I love HMC. It is great to see the Ecstasy photos. It is a great ship. Not too big but cozy and it has most of the amenities of a larger ship. Not having to deal with the lines and crowds is a nice change.

 

Thanks for posting your review. I look forward to it.:cool:

Edited December 22, 2013 by JohnSpo

[DarthGrady]

Moving up to the Promenade Deck:

 

The Pixels photo gallery and photo rewards program

 

 

Video arcade

 

Club O2, teen club

 

 

The new Taste Bar

[DarthGrady]

The casino

 

 

The Promenade

 

Promenade Bar

 

 

[DarthGrady]

The Chinatown Lounge, mostly used for live music and karaoke in the evenings

 

 

 

 

 

The Rolls Royce coffee bar, complete with a real Rolls Royce

 

[DarthGrady]

The nightclub has been renovated and is one of the more modern looking areas on board. The only odd thing is that it used to be twice the size. Carnival put up a dividing wall and made a conference room out of the other half of the club. This causes the clubs on the Fantasy class ships to be very crowded at times.

 

 

 

 

 

And the conference room created by shorting the guests the aft half of the original dance club

[DarthGrady]

The Society Bar

 

 

 

 

Formalities (tuxedo rentals, candy, cakes, etc.)

[DarthGrady]

Apparently Joe Farcus was in a big vehicles phase when he designed Ecstasy. There is a Harley Sportster mounted on the Promenade along with the Rolly Royce at the coffee bar. There is also half of a delivery truck in the Chinatown Lounge

 

 

 

The Starlight Lounge at the aft end of the Promenade, the location of the comedy shows

 

 

 

The adults only Serenity area, Promenade Deck, aft

[DarthGrady]

Up to the Lido Deck:

 

The main (and only) pool area. One pool for 2500 people. Obviously the picture was taken during a slow time. On busy sea days it gets PACKED with people

 

The outdoor grill area

 

The Lido Deck buffet area

 

 

 

[DarthGrady]

More buffet

 

 

One of my favorite features of the Fantasy Class ships is the exterior dining areas that wrap around the outside of the buffet

 

The WaterWorks

 

At the top of the ship is the mini golf course

 

The gymnasium

[DarthGrady]

The ropes are in the water, the cruise has begun!

 

 

The Sensation (my first CCL ship) at the new terminal next to us

 

The treat of the night at the Taste Bar

 

Edited December 22, 2013 by DarthGrady

[MrFunInTheSun]

Another great Grady review! :-)

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk - Please excuse any errors.

[DarthGrady]

Another great Grady review! :-)

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk - Please excuse any errors.

 

Thanks! I need to finish up reading yours on the Brilliance, it was an awesome thread!

[JohnSpo]

The Taste Bar is a nice add to the Carnival Ships but I do miss the sushi.

[DarthGrady]

Some sunset and night shots

 

 

[DarthGrady]

Day 2, The Ecstasy, At Sea:

I rarely make any effort to rise early on a sea day. This one was no different. My wife returning to the room from her spa treatment was my alarm clock, and it went off around eleven o'clock.

For those interested in spa offerings, she booked the Spatophia treatment. It was 75 minutes long and cost $139 (plus gratuity). The package included a full body hot stone massage (or bamboo, the guests choice), foot, ankle and scalp massage, and a mini facial. She reported that it was thoroughly enjoyable, and worth the cost. The only downside being the spa product sales pitch at the end.

My first stop of the day was at the Wind Star dining room for the new Sea Day Brunch. I was skeptical about this concept when I first read about it on cruise critic. I've always enjoyed the breakfasts and lunches in the dining room's versus going to ever crowded buffet. However, after experiencing the brunch concept I'm now a supporter. It's nice to have the option to sleep in late on a sea day, and still be able to get breakfast good in the dining room until 1pm. I'll always take eggs benedict over lunch food, and they were excellent! For some reason Royal Caribbean rarely gets the eggs benedict just right. On Royal, the eggs are usually poached solid, and the hollandaise sauce always tastes like lemon.

We spent the early afternoon lounging around the ship. I got some pictures and worked on this review while my significant other read a book. We had to be selective with our choice of haunt since the entire starboard side of the ship had been filed with a smell of sewage. We first noticed it leaving the cabin and saw a crewman doing plumbing work in the hall. Unfortunately the odor wasn't limited to Upper Deck. It permeated all the way up to the Promenade. Whatever went wrong went VERY wrong.

We stopped into the Neon Bar mid afternoon for tea time. Afternoon tea is one of the little traditions that Carnival hasn't cut (yet), and I'm positively thrilled about that. It's a little touch of class for a brand that has gone to extreme lengths over the last few years to only draw those with blue collars. The tea time on this cruise was the busiest I've ever seen. There were about thirty people lined up outside the bar before they opened, and probably another twenty that showed up later. The crew prepared a nice spread of cakes and pastries and had a good selection of various teas.

After our daily workout we stopped by the Taste Bar for a snack. It was an Italian selection, a meatball with ricotta bruschetta. I'd like to tell you that we each only had one. I'd like to tell you that, but those were some good meatballs.

The formal dinner in the main dining room was better than the first night. We met some nice table mates and had an overall great experience. After dinner we went to the comedy club, but ran into the same issue as the previous night. The comic just wasn't doing it for me, so we left for the piano bar.

Luckily Milby is still playing the piano on the Ecstasy. He was the player during our guys cruise last year and we liked him a lot. So much better than the player we just experienced on Fascination. Milby is fun, plays great songs and encourages audience participation, just as a good piano man should.

Carnival's excellent eggs benedict at the Sea Day Brunch

and my wife's eggs ranchero

The menu

Afternoon tea

Edited December 22, 2013 by DarthGrady

[SnowshoeCat]

. The ship's decor is still definitely old school Carnival, certain areas looking as if they were festooned by a lunatic with a kaleidoscope fetish.

 

Thank you for the pictures! I was on the same sailing as you (we must have passed in the gym). I was trying to explain the decor to some friends, how the carpet and walls in the stairways clashed horribly. Kaleidoscope is a good description (although kaleidoscopes have more complementary colors). As the decorators would say, "there's no place for the eye to 'rest'". Now I can show them your photos.

 

I look forward to the rest of your review. It's always fun to read someone else's experiences of the same trip!

 

ETA: AAACK! I'm in your Serenity deck photo :D

Edited December 22, 2013 by SnowshoeCat

[DarthGrady]

More from tea time, sorry they all came out pink. We were sitting next to a pink neon sign in the aptly named Neon Bar. I tried playing with the white balance, but it was too much to correct for.