Just got off ecstasy today!

[CaptEZ2Like]

My cabin is on deck 4 (the bottom deck for cabins). Center of ship. Is this too low do you think? Will have a picture window and king sized bed. I asked for low and center to minimize the pitching and tossing of the ship.

[BananaAnna]

My cabin is on deck 4 (the bottom deck for cabins). Center of ship. Is this too low do you think? Will have a picture window and king sized bed. I asked for low and center to minimize the pitching and tossing of the ship.

 

Center of ship and usually deck 4 or 5 are my favorite on this class of ship.

[EmJakeBubbie]

ECSTASY cruisers: new to Carnival & to Charleston. Any parking tips? good signage of where we should drive? drop off bags, then park? No interest on our Roll Call and can't figure out why? What's with the ship not having heat in the cabins? was this a one time thing, or do we need to bring hoodies? Thanks for any suggestions. Figures crossed we don't have plumbing problems or A/C - heat issues. :rolleyes:

[Joecruiser62]

I would like to hear more about your experience with your bungalow at Princess Cay. We have one scheduled in 2 weeks while on the Conquest. What was included and what were your pros and cons. Thank you.

 

We just got off the Conquest yesterday! We loved it! I'm going to write a review soon.

[CaptEZ2Like]

ECSTASY cruisers: new to Carnival & to Charleston. Any parking tips? good signage of where we should drive? drop off bags, then park? No interest on our Roll Call and can't figure out why? What's with the ship not having heat in the cabins? was this a one time thing, or do we need to bring hoodies? Thanks for any suggestions. Figures crossed we don't have plumbing problems or A/C - heat issues. :rolleyes:

 

I'm paying for the covered parking on 8 day Sept 8th cruise on Ecstasy out of Charleston which is $20/day!!! There are directions from I-26 to Gate 2 or if you have iPhone maps with navigation tell Siri to take you to 10 Laurens Street

Charleston SC. One individual said from I-26 exit it takes about 15 minutes to Gate 2. You drop off your bag(s) and follow signs to parking, take a shuttle back to the ship. Your bag (assuming 2 hours before sailing else you do it yourself) will be outside your cabin. Too long to add here but I'll submit another reply with copied directions.

[CaptEZ2Like]

I'm paying for the covered parking on 8 day Sept 8th cruise on Ecstasy out of Charleston which is $20/day!!! There are directions from I-26 to Gate 2 or if you have iPhone maps with navigation tell Siri to take you to 10 Laurens Street

Charleston SC. One individual said from I-26 exit it takes about 15 minutes to Gate 2. You drop off your bag(s) and follow signs to parking, take a shuttle back to the ship. Your bag (assuming 2 hours before sailing else you do it yourself) will be outside your cabin. Too long to add here but I'll submit another reply with copied directions.

I-26 East into Charleston.

Take Exit 219 – B (Morrison Drive & East Bay Street) and turn left at the foot of the exit ramp.

Cross over King Street, then cross over Meeting Street.

Once you cross Meeting Street, you are on Morrison Drive.

Stay on Morrison Drive. The street name will change from Morrison Drive to East Bay Street.

Follow the green highway signs to Union Pier Terminal.

You will pass a U.S. Post Office on the right. Smaller signs in brown and white with a cruise ship logo are also along the travel route to direct you to the entry gate.

From East Bay Street, turn left on to Chapel Street at the traffic light.

Continue to follow the green highway signs to Cruise Ship Terminal/Union Pier Terminal.

Chapel Street will change name to Washington Street along the route.

Turn left onto Charlotte Street and right onto Concord Street.

 

Passengers enter Union Pier Terminal through Gate 2 at the intersection of Concord and Laurens Streets.

[CaptEZ2Like]

ECSTASY cruisers: new to Carnival & to Charleston. Any parking tips? good signage of where we should drive? drop off bags, then park? No interest on our Roll Call and can't figure out why? What's with the ship not having heat in the cabins? was this a one time thing, or do we need to bring hoodies? Thanks for any suggestions. Figures crossed we don't have plumbing problems or A/C - heat issues. :rolleyes:

 

Regarding heat in cabins - I was told each has its own thermostat so apparently it can go between cold and hot.

If the parking tips didn't meet your need, ask the question in some other way - what type parking for example.

[CaptEZ2Like]

Center of ship and usually deck 4 or 5 are my favorite on this class of ship.

 

Thanks Banana. Makes me feel better about it. I heard the lower cabins were the cheaper ones but I didn't pay for the cheaper type. I suppose on deck 4, in order to get almost anywhere, the elevator would be recommended. Hope there are no crew noises below deck 4.

[gotscrapz]

She was my 1st cruise like 20 years ago lol! Very um Vegas barfed up decor back then, wonder how she is these days?

[CaptEZ2Like]

Hope it is ok. The people I hope to meet will be more important than the decor

[CaptEZ2Like]

She was my 1st cruise like 20 years ago lol! Very um Vegas barfed up decor back then, wonder how she is these days?

 

 

Come find out, Tara! Be glad to have some grown ladies aboard!

[StefPaints]

Hey! We are going February 15-20. Taking our son and two granddaughters (8 & 4). They are excited over the moon!

When are you booked to go?

 

Did you feel a lot of motion? People keep saying how rocky the ship is. We are going in February on Ecstasy. We usually do larger ships, so I’m nervous about motion sickness. I’ll take my Bonine [emoji1360]

 

 

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[CaptEZ2Like]

Cabins on low decks and in the center of the ship have less motion than in the bow, stern, or up high. Think of a see saw. The Ecstasy is cose to the size in tonnage and length as Essex Class Aircraft Carriers that had about 100 planes and about 3400 officers and men. I served in this class roughly 16 months at sea and can't recall anyone getting seasick. And, we were in two typhoons and you don't get any rougher than that. However, I have come close to getting sick on deep sea fishing boats. I don't think you'll have any problem. You should get used to the pitching and tossing fairly quickly, like you get accoustomed to walking on a train.

[Dance momma]

ECSTASY cruisers: new to Carnival & to Charleston. Any parking tips? good signage of where we should drive? drop off bags, then park? No interest on our Roll Call and can't figure out why? What's with the ship not having heat in the cabins? was this a one time thing, or do we need to bring hoodies? Thanks for any suggestions. Figures crossed we don't have plumbing problems or A/C - heat issues. :rolleyes:

 

 

 

We went on a girls cruise in April drove from North Carolina! Decided to park off the terminal area because of congestion, used Park and Go and then we used Uber to the ship! It was soooo easy, we also had Faster to the Fun and walk right on the ship! We had plenty of AC in our cabin we were an inside cabin at the back of the ship and had noooo issues! have a great time!

[EmJakeBubbie]

thanks, Dance momma. We are planning to park at ship. Maybe someone will comment on that? good to know you didn't have any problems. Also, hoping some recent cruisers might make some comments. Not used to so little Roll Call activity on any ship.

[StefPaints]

I’m going with my husband, son and two granddaughters February 15. Is this the week you are sailing?

 

Did you feel a lot of motion? People keep saying how rocky the ship is. We are going in February on Ecstasy. We usually do larger ships, so I’m nervous about motion sickness. I’ll take my Bonine [emoji1360]

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[CaptEZ2Like]

Hey! We are going February 15-20. Taking our son and two granddaughters (8 & 4). They are excited over the moon!

When are you booked to go?

I returned 9/16 from the Eastern Caribbean. A review I made twice was not reported but I will repeat it because it includes an answer to your question:

In summary - depends on if you run into a hurricane which the ship will do all it can to avoid. My review:

I had an 86th birthday during this cruise I took solo. Although I met many other people, older folks have more difficulty enjoying the entertainment currently offered and finding companionship. For my birthday, Guest Services recognized it with Champagne, box of candy, a note, spa gift, and waiters singing at my dinner table.

I took the 8 day cruise to the Caribbean on 9/8 so there would not be so many ankle biters aboard as they should have been in school.

Each port had other ships and the streets were full of people. I took no excursions, didn't drink, enjoyed the Serenity Deck at aft of the ship and took a nap each afternoon after a good lunch and got to bed by 9:30 each night.

The highlight of each day was dinner, 6:00 PM with table of 10 who were a delightful group.

The Carnival Survey that I received upon return took almost an hour to fill out. Among the negatives which was the only part I saved, I wrote:

 

'My car was parked on the tarmac. I had paid parking at $20/day. On a previous cruise it

was parked inside a building and I thought it would be this trip. Due to the heat initially with windows left partially down, the hurricane and anticipated storm surge, I worried about the car a lot.

I purchased the Value Plan for WiFi, internet, and mail. It would not work. Guest Services worked with my computer and iPhone twice and even raised my plan to Premium but it still would not work so I did get a refund of the $80 charge. The Carnival Hub app worked well.

My Sign and Sail card would not open my stateroom door and I had to get a replacement card which involved a very long line still carrying my lighter suitcase.

The display case for the plaques awarded the ship were sitting on top of the American Flag using it as a mat. I did get one of their officers to correct that and show more respect for our flag.

In filling the lavatory in my bathroom with water, the water was quite dark. They need to find the source of the discoloration and correct it. The hot water was more muddy than the cool.

I initially sprayed my entire cabin with Lysol and took great care to use the germ killer drops outside the restaurants. However, by the evening of the 15th my throat started burning and turned white. The "bug" later caused excessive nose running and is still in my chest although I went to my doctor upon return and am taking two strong medicines.

The wind from my cabin's air input vent was far too strong and blowing in my face the first night. I then got my Steward to turn it down but it was shut off completely so the next day I had to get it corrected again. We finally got it adjusted.

My muster station was on deck 9 and my cabin on deck 4. In case of an emergency we were not to use the elevators. At age 86 I don't think I could run up five flights of stairs to my muster station.

The initial Veteran's meeting to encourage discourse between Vets, upon entering we were asked how many in our party. I said one and was seated at a table by myself. I saw several other tables of one. I complained about it, that it did not encourage discussion and it was corrected the second day. Another Vet and I stood up the second day, introduced ourselves to the group of about 50-75 Vets, and talked a little about our experiences. I mentioned the 16 members of our Fighter Squadrons off Korea that we lost 66 years ago. Others talked of their losses.

While waiting to debark and planning to roll my own bags to my car, the instructions said to wait in my cabin until my deck was displayed on TV and deck 4 would have been last. The anticipated time for my use of the elevator was later than the time we were required to get out of our cabins so what were we supposed to do? Stand in line for up to 30 minutes? Go to a higher deck and try to get on one of the forward elevators? I did the latter and did get off the ship prior to my scheduled time of about 8:30 or when the forward elevators became available.

I sailed with Carnival many years ago but they lost the records of when I sailed and I could not remember the details so I didn't receive credit for previous sailings.

There was something loose outside Cabin R-119 that periodically banged somewhere around the windows disturbing sleep. Also, the windows need to be taken apart and cleaned as the inside of the double panes are dirty.

When you first embark, they need more attendants at Guest Services as passengers have many problems at that time and the line becomes excessive.

At one port, the ship and crew had muster drills with the ship's emergency whistles blowing. I did not see or hear any announcement about this and was wondering if it was a real emergency - however, due to being hard of hearing I may have missed it.

I have never seen a crew that worked as hard as on this ship. At every station, none just sat. They were polishing, cleaning, or working everywhere all the time and were always friendly.

The Captain did a fine job preventing pitching and tossing and rolling of the ship. However, when he spoke, he could not speak English well but the Cruise Director always repeated his statements over the speakers.

I hope this helps. The ship has an outstanding crew and they are doing their best to make the ship and cruise enjoyable.

I would sail again on the Ecstasy but never solo again. Too difficult to find companionship.

Thanks for letting me make these critiques.

[Starshineeliz]

I was also on that trip that returned Sept 16. I loved the Ecstacy. We had no issues. Our room was cool, our steward and waiters were amazing Hang out at the Alchemy Bar with Jason. We went every day. Our favorite new thing to do on Carnival.

 

The ONLY negative I had about the whole trip was their parking situation. They park you a couple of blocks away and it was initially confusing as to where we were directed. Then you stood in line in that terrible heat to board a bus to be taken to the terminal. The bus of course was crowded and it was difficult to wrangle even your carryons into place

 

The parking situation was painful enough to make me resolve not to do it again. If we sail out of Charleston again we’ll do it differently, perhaps one of the hotels where we can leave the cars and Uber to the port

 

Happy Sailing

[Starshineeliz]

ALSO!! I forgot to say that there was a lot of motion on the ship. I suspected it was because of the hurricane but don’t really know. I had never had trouble with seasickness when sailing in my younger days, but I was nauseous by the first evening. I had taken several remedies but decided to use the sea bands ( the wrist bands with the pressure points) first and was totally shocked how well they worked!! My kids would tease me and say “How are your placebos doing mom?” Lol. But I’m telling you, they saved my life. I got mine on amazon. What was crazy was that I had taken them along thinking my daughter, who does have motion sickness, might need them , but it turned out to be me. I will always have them while sailing from now on

[mredandchis]

Ask me anything!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

 

 

How late did you leave Charleston? I was on her when we got back late. We had some heavy winds coming back from Bermuda. Isnt she well kept? And the crew were great. We had a lot of motion but I didnt see anyone really sick. Just some people feeling a little queezy.

[EmJakeBubbie]

I returned 9/16 from the Eastern Caribbean. A review I made twice was not reported but I will repeat it because it includes an answer to your question:

In summary - depends on if you run into a hurricane which the ship will do all it can to avoid. My review:

I had an 86th birthday during this cruise I took solo. Although I met many other people, older folks have more difficulty enjoying the entertainment currently offered and finding companionship. For my birthday, Guest Services recognized it with Champagne, box of candy, a note, spa gift, and waiters singing at my dinner table.

I took the 8 day cruise to the Caribbean on 9/8 so there would not be so many ankle biters aboard as they should have been in school.

Each port had other ships and the streets were full of people. I took no excursions, didn't drink, enjoyed the Serenity Deck at aft of the ship and took a nap each afternoon after a good lunch and got to bed by 9:30 each night.

The highlight of each day was dinner, 6:00 PM with table of 10 who were a delightful group.

The Carnival Survey that I received upon return took almost an hour to fill out. Among the negatives which was the only part I saved, I wrote:

 

'My car was parked on the tarmac. I had paid parking at $20/day. On a previous cruise it

was parked inside a building and I thought it would be this trip. Due to the heat initially with windows left partially down, the hurricane and anticipated storm surge, I worried about the car a lot.

I purchased the Value Plan for WiFi, internet, and mail. It would not work. Guest Services worked with my computer and iPhone twice and even raised my plan to Premium but it still would not work so I did get a refund of the $80 charge. The Carnival Hub app worked well.

My Sign and Sail card would not open my stateroom door and I had to get a replacement card which involved a very long line still carrying my lighter suitcase.

The display case for the plaques awarded the ship were sitting on top of the American Flag using it as a mat. I did get one of their officers to correct that and show more respect for our flag.

In filling the lavatory in my bathroom with water, the water was quite dark. They need to find the source of the discoloration and correct it. The hot water was more muddy than the cool.

I initially sprayed my entire cabin with Lysol and took great care to use the germ killer drops outside the restaurants. However, by the evening of the 15th my throat started burning and turned white. The "bug" later caused excessive nose running and is still in my chest although I went to my doctor upon return and am taking two strong medicines.

The wind from my cabin's air input vent was far too strong and blowing in my face the first night. I then got my Steward to turn it down but it was shut off completely so the next day I had to get it corrected again. We finally got it adjusted.

My muster station was on deck 9 and my cabin on deck 4. In case of an emergency we were not to use the elevators. At age 86 I don't think I could run up five flights of stairs to my muster station.

The initial Veteran's meeting to encourage discourse between Vets, upon entering we were asked how many in our party. I said one and was seated at a table by myself. I saw several other tables of one. I complained about it, that it did not encourage discussion and it was corrected the second day. Another Vet and I stood up the second day, introduced ourselves to the group of about 50-75 Vets, and talked a little about our experiences. I mentioned the 16 members of our Fighter Squadrons off Korea that we lost 66 years ago. Others talked of their losses.

While waiting to debark and planning to roll my own bags to my car, the instructions said to wait in my cabin until my deck was displayed on TV and deck 4 would have been last. The anticipated time for my use of the elevator was later than the time we were required to get out of our cabins so what were we supposed to do? Stand in line for up to 30 minutes? Go to a higher deck and try to get on one of the forward elevators? I did the latter and did get off the ship prior to my scheduled time of about 8:30 or when the forward elevators became available.

I sailed with Carnival many years ago but they lost the records of when I sailed and I could not remember the details so I didn't receive credit for previous sailings.

There was something loose outside Cabin R-119 that periodically banged somewhere around the windows disturbing sleep. Also, the windows need to be taken apart and cleaned as the inside of the double panes are dirty.

When you first embark, they need more attendants at Guest Services as passengers have many problems at that time and the line becomes excessive.

At one port, the ship and crew had muster drills with the ship's emergency whistles blowing. I did not see or hear any announcement about this and was wondering if it was a real emergency - however, due to being hard of hearing I may have missed it.

I have never seen a crew that worked as hard as on this ship. At every station, none just sat. They were polishing, cleaning, or working everywhere all the time and were always friendly.

The Captain did a fine job preventing pitching and tossing and rolling of the ship. However, when he spoke, he could not speak English well but the Cruise Director always repeated his statements over the speakers.

I hope this helps. The ship has an outstanding crew and they are doing their best to make the ship and cruise enjoyable.

I would sail again on the Ecstasy but never solo again. Too difficult to find companionship.

Thanks for letting me make these critiques.

Very good Review. Thank you for sharing. I am not encouraged ECSTASY will be all I hope for and more, but anxious to give it a try. Older ships can have plumbing, A/C issues. Taking an Inside cabin, hoping not to be disappointed. Charleston on sails ECSTASY, so no choice here. Not sure Why that is?

[angeleyez915]

Did you feel a lot of motion? People keep saying how rocky the ship is. We are going in February on Ecstasy. We usually do larger ships, so I’m nervous about motion sickness. I’ll take my Bonine [emoji1360]

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

 

My first cruise was on the Ecstasy back in 2013, since then I have been on the Dream, Breeze, and the Triumph. I did feel the motion a lot more on the Ecstasy than i have on the other ships so far but personally for me I enjoyed it, it was a gentle sway, nothing that was overwhelming. There were two days on the Breeze where we were in some rough waters where the motion was bad enough to throw me off balance and while I typically don't get motion sick, after two days of that I did get a little nauseous. Did not get sick at all on the Ecstasy.

[EmJakeBubbie]

angeleyez915 - thanks for the feedback. 5 yrs is alot of time on ships that turn over hundreds + pax, wkly. I don't understand why Cruise Critics don't post about this ship? Maybe it's an older crowd that aren't on Cruise Critic? Or maybe Carnival doesn't do a good enough job? Maybe it's Charleston port? Wish Savannah would develop leisure cruise ship sailings. Thank you.

[Nicki61]

Anybody. Pay. For the faster to the fun??? Wondering if it is worth it?

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

We always pay for FTTF, and think it's worth it always.

[EmJakeBubbie]

Isn't that an $85pp option? I'll wait my turn for FREE. Everybody gets on before lines cast off. We priority on/off with RCI & Celebrity. Much to do about nothing. Get there early to avoid rush? We are looking forward to this sailing, hoping it exceeds expectations. Service is alleged to be Excellent.