Ecstasy Review 4/30-5/7 LONG

[ebateman]

Well, we just got home from our latest Carnival cruise on the Ecstasy and honestly we're unhappy enough to post a review for the first time. Not sure how to do this exactly but I'll list some highlights and go from there.

 

We were in Upper Deck 241 (U241) which is an aft balcony room. Standard size room, double size balcony. Balcony is easily big enough to hold three chairs and a table with room to move around. It's probably also the last balcony room we'll ever book because we are smokers and didn't realize until this cruise that we mainly used the balcony to smoke on. No we didn't smoke anything, all week, on our balcony but at the same time we probably used it for a total of an hour. For us it was a wasted upgrade.

 

Arriving in Charleston was a huge hassle. We were the first one in line at the port but there were multiple issues that screwed up everything. The first was Carnival not getting people off the ship. The dock workers said they had never seen it take so long (people were still on the ship after 11am). Then there was a wedding party that received priority to go ahead of us. Not a problem until they opened up the lines the wedding party used to get to the parking area. So we got their first, sat in the car and waited over an hour and then got to watch around 60 cars go ahead of us before they opened up the line we were in. Irritating and not a great start.

 

Customs: Not a problem at all at the start of the cruise. More than likely the huge reason it took so long to get everyone off the cruise from the previous cruise. One guy in particular was a complete and total ass. My wife described his mood as someone who caught his wife cheating with his best friend and then had to come in to work. He actually told the poor kid standing behind us that he needed to use his words because the kid stuttered when he was asked a question. Petty ahole. We missed our carry off departure time because we stood in line at the piano bar for an hour to clear up duty fees.

 

Alcohol: Didn't deliver the alcohol to the room like prior cruises. I'm so glad we didn't buy any this time because everyone had to line up in the nightclub at 7am the last morning to pick it up. Last I heard the typical wait was around 15 mins to pick up ship bought alcohol and 1.5 hours for island bought alcohol. The line went from the nightclub in the middle of deck 9 all the way back into the aft lounge and snaked around inside the lounge. That ended any plans to purchase alcohol in the future unless they start delivering to the room like before.

 

Personal Problem One: The smoking areas are almost non-existent on this ship. The only areas to smoke are one half of the casino bar, half the casino, a few of the seating areas in the nightclub (on non-kid friendly nights only) and roughly 10% of Deck 11. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that roughly 95% of the ship is non-smoking. Even this wouldn't be that much of a problem except for problem two.

 

Personal Problem Two: Almost every part of the ship was loud to be point of being obnoxious. The casino bar had live music right next to it that could be heard almost anywhere else on deck 9. When they didn't play it played a set list of radio music at close to the same problem. The Lido deck was also jacked up to be heard from every part of deck 10 (and 11). I wouldn't swear to it but my general impression is everything on this ship, the loudspeakers, programs and music was louder than any other time we've cruised by a significant amount. This is related to the smoking part above because there wasn't a single quiet place on the ship that we could just relax and smoke. Not once the entire week. I know it's not a big deal to most but we paid a lot of money for this and it's not that much to ask for.

 

They mentioned multiple times that they only cruise full and we had a full complement of 2600 passengers. Unless half these people lived in their room I think they were blowing smoke. At no time was the Lido deck full, a deck chair was always available, many times the pool was empty, the halls and casino were not crowded and even the shows were lucky to be half full. It was clearly much emptier than when we last cruised on the sister ship Fantasy a couple years ago. This leads to the food problems that seem to highlight the mystery people.

 

Food problems: The food was standard Carnival and maybe slightly better than last time. But it was hard to get. The only day both buffet lines in the Lido dining area were open for dinner was the first day. We didn't expect lines out to the pool area from inside but we had those almost every night with only one line open. The Lido dining area was constantly running short...coffee machines out, drinks out, no half and half for the coffee, ice cream machine not staying cold.

 

We had your time dining and after the second night didn't go back. The average time for dinner for 2.5 hours. Brunch in the dining room averaged over 1.5 hours. Our friends on board who continued to go to the formal dinners said it never got better through the week. The servers were excellent and friendly as usual but you could tell they were being run ragged and it appeared most areas had 2 instead of the normal 3. This made a huge difference.

 

Other problems: Yes, the nickel and dime problem is here. Everything was more limited or cost extra. We saw our room steward a total of three times in a week. He didn't even clean or show up the first day. Room turn down is now once a day and you'll get a paper to check if you want service in the morning or evening. No more chocolates. No extra towels or bathroom welcome package. Never received ice (and only the suites on this ship have a mini fridge). The new room service menu is here with around half of it having a $5 surcharge. I wasn't impressed with the food we did order either...standard fare, missing condiments and not as good as even the sandwich or pizza shops.

 

Bar issues: We ordered quite a few drinks from all over the ship at various bars (didn't get the Cheers program). I started watching them make the drinks and almost every time the drinks didn't have even 1 shot in them. I would estimate most of the drinks got around 1/2 a shot. This was in the Lido bars, the casino bar, the dining area bars and based on taste most of the bars that served during shows. The other thing is not using all of what they make. My favorite drink this time was the Miami vice. Every time they had leftover in the blender (after adding the alcohol) that didn't make it to the glass. So the drinks are already short on alcohol and then you also lose more from waste.

 

Security: I don't know what has changed but I saw more security on this cruise than I've seen on the last five cruises combined. They roamed the main decks usually in groups of three and it wouldn't be unusual to see 6-7 an hour in high traffic areas. It was enough to start thinking they had received some type of threat and were actively watching for it. No idea.

 

The ship: It's an older ship. We actually liked this ship better than the Fantasy as it seems like it's received some newer upgrades. Typical older Carnival fare (which doesn't bother us at all). Some typical problems like elevators going out of service and machines having issues. We did have some problems though including raw sewage coming up from the shower drain on the third day. It was enough to coat most of the shower floor and curtain and it really, really smelled bad (definitely sewage and not just pipe gunk residue). On the sixth day it sounded like they were snaking more plumbing in our area of the ship as there was a persistent noise in the walls and ceiling for around an hour. No, we didn't even get an apology for the sewage incident.

 

Stops: Our main stop and the one we were looking forward to the most was Half Moon Cay and was cancelled as everyone lined up to get on the first tender. Grand Turk was horrible with cloudy water and pushy and aggressive beach workers. The Dominican Republic was great, the people were friendly and not aggressive and it was one of the best ports we've had.

 

Weather: According to the screen that showed the cruise stats the average wind the entire time was 30-40mph. We almost never had a smooth day at sea (small white cap waves most days) and the ship has a slight rocking almost the entire time. It didn't bother us but I doubt we'll take another cruise in late April - early May if that's standard weather for the area.

 

Some positives (because it's never all bad). The Chef's table was absolutely great and probably our best part of the entire cruise. The Chef was friendly, talkative and the food was beyond fantastic. The final main course with the Wagyu beef made it worth it but the other 10 dishes were all good to great. The best three hours we spend on the ship and unlike the dining room we were eating or entertained the entire time. Highlight of the cruise. Even at $172 for two we would have paid for another chef's table night just to have it again.

 

The cruise workers were hit or miss. The bad ones were "ok" but most of the people were friendly, helpful and seemed glad to be there. Our room steward was ok at best but was bad enough we didn't tip him any extra (a first).

 

The DR was our best port by far. It's new, clean and the people were super friendly and seemed glad to see you. No pushy or aggressive salesmen and very smooth getting to our excursion. We choose the RIU all inclusive resort and it was nice enough that we're considering going back to that resort for a week. It was also nice that it's basically next to the port (you could see the ship while in the pool at the resort) and total travel time there and back was probably 15 minutes. Would have gladly spent another day here and skipped Grand Turk.

 

Well, that's enough wall of text. There were no major problems but so many little issues that overall I doubt we'll go back to Carnival for a good while. It's bad when the two highlights of our cruise were the chef's table that served food not available anywhere else on the ship and the day we spent off the ship at a resort. Happy to answer any questions.

Edited May 8, 2016 by ebateman@gmail.com

[twentyknots]

Sorry to see you had so many negatives. We were on the cruise that preceded yours and debarkation was slow. We carried our luggage off and were at the forward elevators at 7:45 as instructed and the line was very long. It took us twice as long as usual to exit the ship. I think more passengers are carrying their luggage off. The customs line was more or less as it usually is I thought.

 

We had very good weather the entire time with smooth sailing and no wind. I had assumed and hoped that the next group of cruisers would enjoy the same. Sorry to hear that the weather turned bad. My wife likes a little rocking at night and we didn't even have that.

 

The food was mediocre and what we expect on that ship, but the service in the DR was not as slow as it apparently was for you. Breakfast in the DR was unusually slow but we stopped eating in there for breakfast after trying the omelettes twice. We never had to wait for a table, but usually went to dinner between 6:00 and 7:00. Maybe it's busier after 7:00. The service seemed about the same as we've become accustomed to on the Fantasy 7 times.

 

Our cabin, U148, was well attended to and our cabin steward, Geraldine, was very good about bring ice every day. We gave her a nice extra tip.

 

Sorry to hear too that you missed HMC. I guess the weather was not suitable for tenders. We had a beautiful day there but we've been 4 or 5 times and getting a little tired of it. We dont really do anything but spend a few hours on the beach and have lunch so maybe we need to try one of the excursions next time.

 

Thanks for the review.

[ruachsm]

Leaving Thursday on the Ecstasy headed to Bermuda. Who was the cruise director and what did you think of him? Also how was the temperature in the room? Thanks!

[erewhon]

Thank you for taking time to write your review.

 

Sorry to read that you experienced so many problems during your cruise.

[waywyrd]

Sorry to hear you didn't enjoy your cruise. I'll be on the Ecstasy this Thursday also, hope the weather is better.

 

I think that's the first time I've heard someone griping about Grand Turk!

[Clarea]

Thank-you for the report.

[ebateman]

Leaving Thursday on the Ecstasy headed to Bermuda. Who was the cruise director and what did you think of him? Also how was the temperature in the room? Thanks!

 

It was cruise director Benjamin. He was young, energetic and easy to understand. He seemed to be very active and led a lot of programs on Lido and a lot of the shows. No problems at all.

 

Temp in the room was great except in ports. It stayed cold the entire time when the ship was moving. In port it warmed up some but was still cool. No problem there.

[ebateman]

Sorry to hear you didn't enjoy your cruise. I'll be on the Ecstasy this Thursday also, hope the weather is better.

 

I think that's the first time I've heard someone griping about Grand Turk!

 

It was the first time we haven't liked Grand Turk. This time we found the people bored and acting like it was a bother to be there while being super aggressive on the beach (2 at a time sometimes). It doesn't help that we were the only ship there and just not that many people there. The water was cloudy (probably from the waves and wind) and we mainly snorkeled but there weren't many fish. Two years ago it was like swimming in an aquarium right off the beach. Wasn't a bad stop unless you compared it to the much, much better DR stop the day before.

[jc4me]

So sorry that you had a less than spectacular experience! We were on the same cruise and had a great time.

[mz-s]

Well, we just got home from our latest Carnival cruise on the Ecstasy and honestly we're unhappy enough to post a review for the first time. Not sure how to do this exactly but I'll list some highlights and go from there.

 

We were in Upper Deck 241 (U241) which is an aft balcony room. Standard size room, double size balcony. Balcony is easily big enough to hold three chairs and a table with room to move around. It's probably also the last balcony room we'll ever book because we are smokers and didn't realize until this cruise that we mainly used the balcony to smoke on. No we didn't smoke anything, all week, on our balcony but at the same time we probably used it for a total of an hour. For us it was a wasted upgrade.

 

Arriving in Charleston was a huge hassle. We were the first one in line at the port but there were multiple issues that screwed up everything. The first was Carnival not getting people off the ship. The dock workers said they had never seen it take so long (people were still on the ship after 11am). Then there was a wedding party that received priority to go ahead of us. Not a problem until they opened up the lines the wedding party used to get to the parking area. So we got their first, sat in the car and waited over an hour and then got to watch around 60 cars go ahead of us before they opened up the line we were in. Irritating and not a great start.

 

Customs: Not a problem at all at the start of the cruise. More than likely the huge reason it took so long to get everyone off the cruise from the previous cruise. One guy in particular was a complete and total ass. My wife described his mood as someone who caught his wife cheating with his best friend and then had to come in to work. He actually told the poor kid standing behind us that he needed to use his words because the kid stuttered when he was asked a question. Petty ahole. We missed our carry off departure time because we stood in line at the piano bar for an hour to clear up duty fees.

 

Alcohol: Didn't deliver the alcohol to the room like prior cruises. I'm so glad we didn't buy any this time because everyone had to line up in the nightclub at 7am the last morning to pick it up. Last I heard the typical wait was around 15 mins to pick up ship bought alcohol and 1.5 hours for island bought alcohol. The line went from the nightclub in the middle of deck 9 all the way back into the aft lounge and snaked around inside the lounge. That ended any plans to purchase alcohol in the future unless they start delivering to the room like before.

 

Personal Problem One: The smoking areas are almost non-existent on this ship. The only areas to smoke are one half of the casino bar, half the casino, a few of the seating areas in the nightclub (on non-kid friendly nights only) and roughly 10% of Deck 11. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that roughly 95% of the ship is non-smoking. Even this wouldn't be that much of a problem except for problem two.

 

Personal Problem Two: Almost every part of the ship was loud to be point of being obnoxious. The casino bar had live music right next to it that could be heard almost anywhere else on deck 9. When they didn't play it played a set list of radio music at close to the same problem. The Lido deck was also jacked up to be heard from every part of deck 10 (and 11). I wouldn't swear to it but my general impression is everything on this ship, the loudspeakers, programs and music was louder than any other time we've cruised by a significant amount. This is related to the smoking part above because there wasn't a single quiet place on the ship that we could just relax and smoke. Not once the entire week. I know it's not a big deal to most but we paid a lot of money for this and it's not that much to ask for.

 

They mentioned multiple times that they only cruise full and we had a full complement of 2600 passengers. Unless half these people lived in their room I think they were blowing smoke. At no time was the Lido deck full, a deck chair was always available, many times the pool was empty, the halls and casino were not crowded and even the shows were lucky to be half full. It was clearly much emptier than when we last cruised on the sister ship Fantasy a couple years ago. This leads to the food problems that seem to highlight the mystery people.

 

Food problems: The food was standard Carnival and maybe slightly better than last time. But it was hard to get. The only day both buffet lines in the Lido dining area were open for dinner was the first day. We didn't expect lines out to the pool area from inside but we had those almost every night with only one line open. The Lido dining area was constantly running short...coffee machines out, drinks out, no half and half for the coffee, ice cream machine not staying cold.

 

We had your time dining and after the second night didn't go back. The average time for dinner for 2.5 hours. Brunch in the dining room averaged over 1.5 hours. Our friends on board who continued to go to the formal dinners said it never got better through the week. The servers were excellent and friendly as usual but you could tell they were being run ragged and it appeared most areas had 2 instead of the normal 3. This made a huge difference.

 

Other problems: Yes, the nickel and dime problem is here. Everything was more limited or cost extra. We saw our room steward a total of three times in a week. He didn't even clean or show up the first day. Room turn down is now once a day and you'll get a paper to check if you want service in the morning or evening. No more chocolates. No extra towels or bathroom welcome package. Never received ice (and only the suites on this ship have a mini fridge). The new room service menu is here with around half of it having a $5 surcharge. I wasn't impressed with the food we did order either...standard fare, missing condiments and not as good as even the sandwich or pizza shops.

 

Bar issues: We ordered quite a few drinks from all over the ship at various bars (didn't get the Cheers program). I started watching them make the drinks and almost every time the drinks didn't have even 1 shot in them. I would estimate most of the drinks got around 1/2 a shot. This was in the Lido bars, the casino bar, the dining area bars and based on taste most of the bars that served during shows. The other thing is not using all of what they make. My favorite drink this time was the Miami vice. Every time they had leftover in the blender (after adding the alcohol) that didn't make it to the glass. So the drinks are already short on alcohol and then you also lose more from waste.

 

Security: I don't know what has changed but I saw more security on this cruise than I've seen on the last five cruises combined. They roamed the main decks usually in groups of three and it wouldn't be unusual to see 6-7 an hour in high traffic areas. It was enough to start thinking they had received some type of threat and were actively watching for it. No idea.

 

The ship: It's an older ship. We actually liked this ship better than the Fantasy as it seems like it's received some newer upgrades. Typical older Carnival fare (which doesn't bother us at all). Some typical problems like elevators going out of service and machines having issues. We did have some problems though including raw sewage coming up from the shower drain on the third day. It was enough to coat most of the shower floor and curtain and it really, really smelled bad (definitely sewage and not just pipe gunk residue). On the sixth day it sounded like they were snaking more plumbing in our area of the ship as there was a persistent noise in the walls and ceiling for around an hour. No, we didn't even get an apology for the sewage incident.

 

Stops: Our main stop and the one we were looking forward to the most was Half Moon Cay and was cancelled as everyone lined up to get on the first tender. Grand Turk was horrible with cloudy water and pushy and aggressive beach workers. The Dominican Republic was great, the people were friendly and not aggressive and it was one of the best ports we've had.

 

Weather: According to the screen that showed the cruise stats the average wind the entire time was 30-40mph. We almost never had a smooth day at sea (small white cap waves most days) and the ship has a slight rocking almost the entire time. It didn't bother us but I doubt we'll take another cruise in late April - early May if that's standard weather for the area.

 

Some positives (because it's never all bad). The Chef's table was absolutely great and probably our best part of the entire cruise. The Chef was friendly, talkative and the food was beyond fantastic. The final main course with the Wagyu beef made it worth it but the other 10 dishes were all good to great. The best three hours we spend on the ship and unlike the dining room we were eating or entertained the entire time. Highlight of the cruise. Even at $172 for two we would have paid for another chef's table night just to have it again.

 

The cruise workers were hit or miss. The bad ones were "ok" but most of the people were friendly, helpful and seemed glad to be there. Our room steward was ok at best but was bad enough we didn't tip him any extra (a first).

 

The DR was our best port by far. It's new, clean and the people were super friendly and seemed glad to see you. No pushy or aggressive salesmen and very smooth getting to our excursion. We choose the RIU all inclusive resort and it was nice enough that we're considering going back to that resort for a week. It was also nice that it's basically next to the port (you could see the ship while in the pool at the resort) and total travel time there and back was probably 15 minutes. Would have gladly spent another day here and skipped Grand Turk.

 

Well, that's enough wall of text. There were no major problems but so many little issues that overall I doubt we'll go back to Carnival for a good while. It's bad when the two highlights of our cruise were the chef's table that served food not available anywhere else on the ship and the day we spent off the ship at a resort. Happy to answer any questions.

 

We were on this cruise as well and had our share of problems that we'll follow up with Carnival on, but on the whole we had a good time.

 

Including this one, we've done 3 cruises out of Charleston and this one was by far the worst when it comes to embarkation. HURRY UP AND WAIT is the name of the game for embarkation, at least at Charleston it seems. The port employees are mean, I agree with you on that. They must be government employees with government benefits so they have no incentive to be nice.

 

We also did Chef's Table and absolutely loved it. We had early dining and it was excellent this cruise. On the Fantasy a year or so ago we did anytime and it was just as you described: SLOW and food was not warm, and we had to wait one night for over an hour to get seated. We have always booked reserved time dining since then and had a great time.

 

I also believe the ship was not full, although when we had an issue with our room they only offered one to switch us to. Maybe it's true that 7-day cruises are mostly older people who stay to themselves, aren't up on Lido at all, etc. Overall we really enjoyed the cruise.

 

I did the Fantasy twice and the shows on her were the same on this ship - Brits and Motor City, so there's 2 seats that were available for the shows. My wife and I did not attend any showings.

 

I use an e-cig and am miffed that Carnival makes us use them only in smoking areas, so I am 100% with you on the smoking restrictions. The smoking area at the Casino bar was always so crowded and smelly I hated to use the bar at all. I agree with them on restricting e-cigs, but I do think people should be allowed to smoke on their balconies. Of course, with an e-cig I smoke it in my stateroom and nobody knows. I've also been known to puff it in a show or something and nobody has any idea (if you hold it in for a bit, the vapor dissipates and is invisible when exhaled).

[ebateman]

I think as a whole it wasn't a bad cruise. We only considered it because of so many different tiny things that just added up over the week...there was nothing at all major that happened that just ruined the whole vacation. Honestly if we hasn't lost Half Moon Cay, had a better room steward and not had the cabin plumbing issues we would have upgraded this cruise from worst we've been on to "ok". I would say that new cruisers or people who didn't cruise Carnival 5-10 years ago wouldn't even list most of what I did as problems...after all you don't miss what you never had to begin with.

 

I think the best thing at this point is for us to take a step back, skip a year and look at how the industry is doing and if things have improved 2 years from now. We love Carnival, love going out of Charleston (it's the closest port we can drive to by a number of hours) and love cruising in general. But Carnival needs to step up and remember that cruising is a luxury and not a lowest cost possible destination...there's already plenty of competition for the bottom. We would much rather pay more and have the Carnival of 5 years ago.

[mz-s]

I think as a whole it wasn't a bad cruise. We only considered it because of so many different tiny things that just added up over the week...there was nothing at all major that happened that just ruined the whole vacation.

 

100% our experience as well. And this is what we will relay to Carnival when we call to give feedback. I'm hopeful you'll do the same. If enough people give feedback and the feedback is coupled with reduced bookings, Carnival will make changes.

[teknoge3k]

We love Carnival, love going out of Charleston (it's the closest port we can drive to by a number of hours)

 

Just curious, if you're in Virginia, how is Charleston the closest port for you when there is a port in Norfolk, and Baltimore?

[shonuf]

For those who did Chef's Table, who presented the meal, the Executive Chef (Chef de Cuisine) or the Sous Chef? Do you remember his name?

[mz-s]

Just curious, if you're in Virginia, how is Charleston the closest port for you when there is a port in Norfolk, and Baltimore?

 

I am not OP, but living in Central NC, Norfolk is much closer to us than Charleston - but the dates either don't work out, or it's cheaper to cruise out of Charleston, or Charleston has better itineraries (the 5 days out of Norfolk cut several hours off the visits to Nassau and Freeport).

 

For those who did Chef's Table, who presented the meal, the Executive Chef (Chef de Cuisine) or the Sous Chef? Do you remember his name?

 

The chef for our Chef's Table was Chef Cornelio (I hope I'm getting the spelling right) from Costa Rica - if he is the head chef, I don't recall him saying that.

[teknoge3k]

I am not OP, but living in Central NC, Norfolk is much closer to us than Charleston - but the dates either don't work out, or it's cheaper to cruise out of Charleston, or Charleston has better itineraries (the 5 days out of Norfolk cut several hours off the visits to Nassau and Freeport).

 

Sorry I meant to quote a portion of what he/she said, when they said Charleston was the closest port for them, yet they live in Virginia. I live in Virginia as well, 15 minutes from the North Carolina/ Virginia border and still, Baltimore is closer than Charleston. (As is Norfolk)

[mz-s]

Sorry I meant to quote a portion of what he/she said, when they said Charleston was the closest port for them, yet they live in Virginia. I live in Virginia as well, 15 minutes from the North Carolina/ Virginia border and still, Baltimore is closer than Charleston. (As is Norfolk)

 

If OP lives in western VA, as in Bristol, Charleston is upwards of an hour closer than Baltimore.

 

Low on the priority list to the rest of OP's points, granted.

 

We called Carnival to provide feedback on this cruise today, but the feedback/complaints department is not open on Sundays. We aren't looking for a free cruise or anything, but compensation for being moved from Empress to Riviera is expected.

[ebateman]

For those who did Chef's Table, who presented the meal, the Executive Chef (Chef de Cuisine) or the Sous Chef? Do you remember his name?

 

It was the Executive Chef. Couldn't begin to spell his name without looking at our sheet I have at home.

[ebateman]

Just curious, if you're in Virginia, how is Charleston the closest port for you when there is a port in Norfolk, and Baltimore?

 

We're in far southwest VA so Charleston is around an hour closer than Norfolk or Baltimore and doesn't lose the extra time on the excursions. What surprised me were the number of people from Maryland and VA Beach that used Charleston.

[BenjiRodney]

Sorry you seemed to have so many problems. I see that you only have 7 posts so you may not follow these boards. The balconies have been non-smoking since Oct 2014. (When Carnival chooses to enforce it.) All you have to do is ask for ice and it will be brought to you. Alcohol they have stopped delivering it for some time now, you go to one of two places to pick it up now depending upon where you purchased it. Room turn down and make up service is twice a day, you are allowed to select both. I do agree that service in MDR takes too long.

[ebateman]

Sorry you seemed to have so many problems. I see that you only have 7 posts so you may not follow these boards. The balconies have been non-smoking since Oct 2014. (When Carnival chooses to enforce it.) All you have to do is ask for ice and it will be brought to you. Alcohol they have stopped delivering it for some time now, you go to one of two places to pick it up now depending upon where you purchased it. Room turn down and make up service is twice a day, you are allowed to select both. I do agree that service in MDR takes too long.

 

Yes, not many posts but I've read the boards for many years. We were well aware of the smoking issues and in fact we were only a Carnival cruise when the ban went into effect in 2014. That's why I listed them as personal problems but regardless of your opinion on smoking it still would have been nice to have had a single quiet place to smoke. We don't smoke to have fun or party...we smoke to calm down and relax.

 

Shouldn't have to ask for the ice...then again we've never had a steward not even show up the first day for introductions or evening turn down. It would have been nice to know you could request morning and evening service...we were handed a single piece of paper with 2 options the end of the 2nd day and asked to pick one.

 

Had no idea about the alcohol but I'm glad we didn't buy any. I would guess the duty free sales would plummet if people knew they had an hour long line the morning of departure just to pick up their alcohol...assuming they didn't exceed how many they could buy and then go to another hour long line to pay the duty fees.

 

As I said we've sailed many times in the past (12+ combined) but the last time was Oct 2014. We were aware of the many changes and prepared for issues with a small older ship (which we prefer). That doesn't excuse the multitude of other issues or make it "ok". I'm sure some people, maybe most, had a fantastic week. But I know for a fact that others, including some diamond members, said they are going RCL next time.

[BenjiRodney]

Yes, not many posts but I've read the boards for many years. We were well aware of the smoking issues and in fact we were only a Carnival cruise when the ban went into effect in 2014. That's why I listed them as personal problems but regardless of your opinion on smoking it still would have been nice to have had a single quiet place to smoke. We don't smoke to have fun or party...we smoke to calm down and relax.

 

 

 

Shouldn't have to ask for the ice...then again we've never had a steward not even show up the first day for introductions or evening turn down. It would have been nice to know you could request morning and evening service...we were handed a single piece of paper with 2 options the end of the 2nd day and asked to pick one.

 

 

 

Had no idea about the alcohol but I'm glad we didn't buy any. I would guess the duty free sales would plummet if people knew they had an hour long line the morning of departure just to pick up their alcohol...assuming they didn't exceed how many they could buy and then go to another hour long line to pay the duty fees.

 

 

 

As I said we've sailed many times in the past (12+ combined) but the last time was Oct 2014. We were aware of the many changes and prepared for issues with a small older ship (which we prefer). That doesn't excuse the multitude of other issues or make it "ok". I'm sure some people, maybe most, had a fantastic week. But I know for a fact that others, including some diamond members, said they are going RCL next time.

 

 

 

I wish them well on Royal, I've given them three chances to wow me, so far 0 for 3.

[riclop]

Thanks for the review.

[mz-s]

Yes, not many posts but I've read the boards for many years. We were well aware of the smoking issues and in fact we were only a Carnival cruise when the ban went into effect in 2014. That's why I listed them as personal problems but regardless of your opinion on smoking it still would have been nice to have had a single quiet place to smoke. We don't smoke to have fun or party...we smoke to calm down and relax.

 

Shouldn't have to ask for the ice...then again we've never had a steward not even show up the first day for introductions or evening turn down. It would have been nice to know you could request morning and evening service...we were handed a single piece of paper with 2 options the end of the 2nd day and asked to pick one.

 

Had no idea about the alcohol but I'm glad we didn't buy any. I would guess the duty free sales would plummet if people knew they had an hour long line the morning of departure just to pick up their alcohol...assuming they didn't exceed how many they could buy and then go to another hour long line to pay the duty fees.

 

As I said we've sailed many times in the past (12+ combined) but the last time was Oct 2014. We were aware of the many changes and prepared for issues with a small older ship (which we prefer). That doesn't excuse the multitude of other issues or make it "ok". I'm sure some people, maybe most, had a fantastic week. But I know for a fact that others, including some diamond members, said they are going RCL next time.

 

We also didn't buy any alcohol. The savings aren't enormous anyway, to ignore the fact that the line to pick it up is insane. The fact that Carnival is so worried that people will drink their duty free alcohol on the last night that they subject their guests to this kind of junk boggles my mind.

 

If your steward was anything like mine, they said we had to pick one (either morning or evening service) and any extra requests for towels, ice, etc., were not honored even though we checked the stupid boxes.

 

In short, nothing about this cruise wowed me, but nothing was so abysmal that I'm swearing off Carnival. I'm just swearing off the Ecstasy until the staff from Miami churns off and we get people like who worked on the Fantasy before she left Charleston and the ship is repaired. She is not in good condition. Years of booze cruises out of Miami have done a number on her. The staff you could tell are tired from all the booze cruises (a few even remarked to me how much better things are that they're in Charleston, so maybe they just need a little more time).

[LMaxwell]

Well I am just shocked...SHOCKED, that the stewards are still gaming the guests...or was it JH gaming the guests? :rolleyes:

 

They can't get a memo to the ships in May when they have been playing these games with room cleaning since last September?