Carnival Ecstasy Review – 4 Day Western (02/23/15 – 02/27/15)

[kleibo]

Carnival Ecstasy Review – 4 Day Western (02/23/15 – 02/27/15)

Stayed at the Sleep Inn in Miami Springs the night before (perfectly adequate) – ate at Tom’s Sports Bar that evening – convenient walking distance from Hotel.

Grabbed the 10am shuttle to the port ($10 each) and was on the ship by 11:45. Starting letting Priority on at 11:30 (which I was). I actually have a text to one of my friends at 12:30 pm that stated my husband was already on his third plate of food. LOL….

We were cruising with 10 of us. Two of us had the Grand Suite with Extended Balcony that we were able to open up – U102 and U98. Made the outside Balcony area absolutely huge – there was no problem with 10 of us hanging out there.

The first day was hanging in the sun, a few drinks and walking around the ship. The reason we chose the Ecstasy was because of the size – my father who is 83 was travelling with us and I didn’t want to overwhelm him with an enormous ship. He did wonderfully.

We had the 6pm dinner and unfortunately they had not “tied” all our reservations together and we were scattered about the dining room. We got there early and the MatreD within 5 minutes had a table of ten for us. Outstanding!!

Food was good to excellent throughout the cruise. I really had no complaints. On the Surf and Turf night, my husband said the Lobster Tails were larger than we had on the Breeze in August. He also opted for the Prime Steak for $20 on Thursday and said it was excellent.

Key West was great – we actually met friends there that were staying down there for the week. The younger crowd - we were also traveling with (6) 25-35 year olds headed to the Pub Crawl.

That night was gambling and the Adult Comedy Shows – both comedians were excellent – really crude but excellent. We were in the Casino till almost 4. They closed the cashier down at 3AM. My Nieces boyfriend ended up winning over $600 at the Hold ‘Em Table.

Up early the next morning with my Dad – off to breakfast and back to the Casino with him as he was in bed by 9pm each night. LOL.

In Cozumel on Wednesday, we just got off the boat for a little shopping and drinks. My dad does not have the patience for excursions anymore. I brought him back to the boat at 5 for a quick dinner and then he decided to call it a night at about 6:30. I met everyone off the boat again at Fat Tuesdays. My Husband did the Carnival Golf Excursion and loved it.

That night was an early night – about 1:00 am and then up early again for our Sea Day.

Absolutely beautiful on the boat. Just FYI – they had an Acoustic Guitar Player by the Pool area who was excellent. He and the DJ switched it up throughout the cruise.

We did the Self Assist off the boat the next morning and walked off at 8:30 – caught the 9:00 shuttle to FLL and had plenty of time for our 11:30 flight.

All in all for a very old boat – the staff, the food and the fun were all excellent and I would not hesitate to sail her again.

Cruise Pix.pdf

[MrsPhoenix91]

kleibo, thank you for that review and sharing your cruise pix. Grand Suite #U102 is what I booked for my family's May 29th cruise to Nassau. It will be the 3 of us (me, hubby and our 18 year old DD). DD will be sleeping on the pull-out sofa bed...is that a curtain divider I saw in one of your pictures?

[funcruiser1234]

Great review, thank you for sharing!

[JimAOk1945]

We have cruised on the Ecstasy twice when she used to sail round trip from Galveston, TX. She is a great ship.

 

It's good to know you had a good cruise. Thanks for your review!

[kleibo]

kleibo, thank you for that review and sharing your cruise pix. Grand Suite #U102 is what I booked for my family's May 29th cruise to Nassau. It will be the 3 of us (me, hubby and our 18 year old DD). DD will be sleeping on the pull-out sofa bed...is that a curtain divider I saw in one of your pictures?

 

 

Yes - there is a curtain divider between the bed and pull-out area.

 

Enjoy your cruise!!!!

[lynnee7926]

Great review but makes me sad at the same time because we boarded they day you disembarked for a short Nassau cruise (2/27 to 3/2). This was a birthday cruise for my fiancé's son, he just turned on 13, so we took him on his 1st cruise. I have to agree the food was excellent (my fiancé had 3 plates too as soon as we boarded). The DJs (DL OJ & Allen D) and acoustic guitarist were excellent, they kept me entertained for our day at sea on the Lido deck. We had a bit of rain in Nassau but it was late at night. The day at sea had a rough start bc I think the captain was racing away from the rain but about noon we were just drifting in the open sea user perfect skies. The CD, James was a bit bitchy on our embarkation day but everyone has a bad day, LOL. The rest of our time on the ship both James and his Asst. CD were very entertaining.

 

Unfortunately that is where my positives have to vary from your review. My fiancé and I had sailed on the Ecstasy about a year ago from Port Canaveral and it was probably the best staff experience I've had in my 5 cruises. So we were so excited to take his son on this ship to get the total experience and hoped to get him hooked on cruising too. But when you disembarked on the 27th, you took half the crew with you LOL, ok more like 150 or so. We found out that 1st night that it was a new Maitre'D, we were really hoping Joseph "The Supercharged Maitre'D" had stayed for another contract, he was the best but Dario was very good too. This was out 1st experience with the Camp Carnival people but the director for the Circle C wasn't very friendly, luckily Josh made quick friends with some boys and didn't really attend much with the camp. Our room staff was average at best, as was our dining staff, just not very helpful. We had an issue with our door not opening properly that never got fixed and even though there were 3 of us in the cabin, I had to ask each day to have another set of bath towels and had to call guest services at 1am the 1st night to have the bunk unlocked for Josh. We had issues with the Pixel people too. It was just a lot of minor issues I'm blaming on a rookie crew but disappointing to say the least for the adults. As for Josh, at breakfast the morning we disembarked he said the most wonderful words I could hear as his future stepmom, "I had SO MUCH FUN" and "I'm ready for a 20 day cruise!" Successful cruise addict conversion of a 13 yr that not a week before was still not sure and was a little scared of going on a ship and sleeping on a ship. I told him let's start with a 7 day sailing next and work our way up :)