Ecstasy 10/23 Review

[superdave69]

My DW and I were part of a group of nine that cruised the 10/23 Ecstasy cruise from Galveston. We all had an excellent cruise and very little to complain about. This was my 5th cruise and my DW 6th. Our third time to do the same itinerary each on a different ship. This was also the second cruise on the Ecstasy but first out of Galveston of course. The first was out of Miami in 1998. We both like the Ecstasy over the Celebration and the Jubilee.

 

Embarkation:

 

We and another couple used the Skipper Club for embarkation. The check in was very smooth for the other couple but for us our sign and sail cards were not there. We were still allowed to board right away but had to wait in line at the purser’s desk to get our cards. A small problem but nothing major. The rest of our group boarded soon after we arrived at our rooms. So all in all Embarkation was smooth for the entire group.

 

The Ship and cabins:

 

The Ship’s theme is still “City Lights” as it has always been. The carpeting in most areas is new. I did notice that area around the casino that some carpeting was slightly worn and stained. A bar was added to the Grand Atrium.

 

Our stateroom was U75, which is a Category 12. The cabin was very nice and spacious. The carpeting and the awesome, comfy, down-filled duvet were new. The wall fabric had some small nicks and scratches if you looked very closely. Usually I would never notice such things but I looked this time because I knew this was the first cruise since being refurbished.

 

This was our first time to have a balcony cabin and the balcony was larger than I expected. But since we were with a group of close friends we spent most of the time on the Lido deck.

 

This is all I have time for now. Still unpacking and getting settled back in the normal routine. Also recovering from the over indulgences, as we named ourselves "The Ship of Fools" and each of us had a turn of living up to the name.

[karenh1127]

Thanks for the review! Tell us more when you get the chance. We are going on her March 7 and we have cabin #U70! Did your whirlpool tub work and was there any changes to the bathroom? Also did you hear any comments about the childrens activities? Glad you had a good time!

[p2lockhart]

Thanks, SuperDave. Out of curiosity, do you know why Ecstacy was an hour and 45 minutes late leaving on your cruise?

 

How was the food in the dining room and the buffet?

 

Do you know of any quiet hidden places on the ship to get away to?

 

Patti

[Stircrzy]

Thanks so much, Dave!!

 

I leave on her on March 3, 2005.

[superdave69]

Karenh-

 

I didn’t use the whirlpool myself since I am a big guy. My DW did and it worked pretty well.

 

It did not look like the bathroom had been changed any. The tub was fairly scratched up.

 

My wife talk to a couple w/ twin boy about 2 yr olds and they were very happy the children programs.

 

 

Patti-

 

We were told that they were late loading luggage and supplies. I did see from our balcony that they were still loading stuff well past sailing time. There was some bad storms that day so I figured was the cause of the delay. But we did not realize that we were that late in leaving!

 

The food everywhere was excellent. More details later.

 

We had a balcony for our quiet away place so; sorry I don’t know of any others.

[ginag]

Thanks Superdave really appreciate the information!

[p2lockhart]

Superdave, which pier did you use in Coz? I want to know where to rent a car.

 

Also, someone recently posted that on short cruises breakfast and lunch are no longer served in the dining room. Was that the case on your cruise, Superdave?

 

Thanks for the info.

 

Patti

[colette5479]

I was on the Ecstasy last year when it was still sailing in Long Beach. She was a great ship then so I can imagine she looks even better after the refirb!

 

I am thinking about booking another cruise next year on the Ecstasy, perhaps in April or maybe October. Has anyone seen any fabulous prices for these times?

Thanks:p

[p2lockhart]

Another question- do you have a copy of the Carnival Capers for the Ecstacy, Superdave? Can you post a link to it? Thanks.

 

Patti

[MRIrene]

Thanks superdave69,

 

We also have a cat.12 cabin. Am really looking forward to this cruise! Did you guys do any of the excursions? This will be our first time to Cozumel and Playa del Carmen. Heard there wasn't much to do in PDC.

 

Thanks again, :D

 

Irene

[superdave69]

Sorry I haven’t had time to even sit down since returning, I will try to post more this evening.

 

Patti-

 

I don’t know the names of the piers, but it was the one w/ a Fat Tuesday’s by it.

Although we never went to breakfast or lunch in the dinning room it was offered.

 

Irene

 

We didn’t do any excursions. In Cozumel we went to Paradise Beach and had a excellent time. Shannon the bartender there is quite generous w/ the alcohol in the mixed drinks.

 

At PDC we went to the beach in town and went to a beach bar (do you see a pattern here). I didn’t get the name or can’t remember the name of the bar. The waiter was wearing a U of Minn cap and since my DW is from Minn she wanted to stay there. The $10 buckets of Dos XX convinced me.

 

Sorry, we didn't keep the Capers. I guess w/ this being the first cruise from Galveston the Capers were wrong most of the time.

[p2lockhart]

Superdave, thank you very much for adding to your Ecstacy review. As you can tell, we are hanging on your every word.

With much appreciation,

Patti

[mercedes355]

Thanks for the great Ecstasy review. My only question is did you see a deli, and if so where is it on the ship? I'm still dying to try one of these Reuben sandwiches everyone talks about.

 

Only 10 days until Ecstasy!

[superdave69]

Yes, there is a deli at the very back of the Lido Deck dinning room next to the pizza station. And everyone must try the Ruben they are excellent. My DW loved the smoked turkey sandwich.

[Peg-a-leg]

 

We are leaving on the Ectasy on November 15th. A friend of mine from work just got back from her trip. Below is her email she sent me about the trip, followed by my questions and her answers. Lots of good stuff here.

 

 

Water, tea, punch, juice and lemonade on the ship were free but the tea was very strong and the juice, lemondade and hot chocolate were very watered down. We bought a few sodas but for the most part drank the water which was fine...we did take some bottled water with us so take some if you have room in your luggage. Even though they say no shorts are allowed in the dining room we saw several people in shorts a couple of times. You do have to have a "Sail and Sign" card issued to you, they don't accept cash on the ship for anything except the casino. So have a credit card ready that you can hand over and charge your on-board items to (drinks, shopping purchases, photos, etc)..you'll get a listing of your expenses the day before the cruise ends and then again on the last day. Our bunk-bed cabin wasn't as small as we were thinking it would be, we had plenty of closet and shelf. And we didn't have a blowdryer in the room so pack one if you use it.

In Cozumel we took a taxi to Paradise Beach ($12 each way) and paid $5 to use the beach floats (which is how we tanned on the beach cuz it's cooler than being on the sand), snorkle gear, kayaks, water trampoline (which was a lot of fun but not easy to climb up or get down from) and the floating rock climb thing. They have clean bathrooms and a bar/restaraunt area and will bring stuff to you in the beach chairs. It was a nice relaxing day there and cheap... we did pay to have our hair braided and both got massages too ($1 per minute). And at Calica we did the Tulum/Xel-Ha excursion which was $89 each. We didn't get enough time in Xel-Ha thru the excursion though, that was my only issue with that.

 

The ice cream in the promenade food area was really good...we ate it every day!

 

BELOW ARE THE QUESTIONS I SENT BACK TO MY FRIEND....

Did you buy drinks/beer on the boat? How much? Were they any good? Had the Goombay Smash (really good) was about $6 something but I had been given drink coupons so we used those. Also tried the Miami Vice drink of the day (half Strawberry Daquari half Pina Colada) - verrrrry good...only drink that gave me buzz right away, it was about $6 too but they add gratuity to each drink every time you order. Soda in the can is $1.50 and 20 oz bottle is $2.50. I didn't drink beer on the trip so I don't know how much it was, would imagine it's cheaper than the mixed drinks.

 

2. How was the boarding? The deboarding in port? Boarding took a while because we had a full ship. Deboarding took long too, you have to put your luggage out the night before by midnight, and the next morning you go thru customs in color coded groups (remember the color of your luggage tags). Customs went fast, but you have to wait until everyone goes thru customs before they start calling you to leave the ship (again by color groups).

3. How far would you estimate XELHA is from Calica? What did you think of XELHA? Was it just absolutely fabulous or just so so? Did you snorkel there? If so, how was it? I would estimate Xel-Ha was a good 30-40 minutes from the pier at Calica. We stopped at one place before we got to Tulum so I lost track of the timing. But Xel-Ha was gorgeous! We had overcast weather by the time we got there and some drizzle (remember we got drenched in Tulum) but the snorkeling was still good. Couldn't see as clearly because of the overcast but it's a huge snorkeling area and we saw a couple of big ass fish and a sting ray. You can also tube, Sea Trek and swim w/dolphins (both for extra $$) but it really was beautiful and I wish we had more time to just hang out there.

 

6. At Paradise Beach they only charged you $5 to use all that stuff? How was the snorkeling? Did you eat anything? Drinks $? How far was it from the ship? $12 taxi sounds high. Yep..just $5 and because it was a weekday (Monday) it didn't get that packed. We didn't snorkel there, we wanted to but were too busy just floating and tanning and getting our hair braided! The food was good...a bit pricey but nothing was cheap in Mexico. If you order the bowl of guacamole and chips be warned...it's a huge bowl so share with a group..it was too much for 2 people. But it was good. The drinks were comparable with the ship. $2 for bottled water, we had a daquari in a pineapple so it was more expensive @ $10 but a girls gotta have a drink in a pineapple at least once in her life! :-) It was probably about a 15 min. taxi ride but you can put up to 4 people in the cab (they had van cabs too.) We didn't think $12 was too expensive.

 

8. When you were in Calica, does the boat leave promptly at 4:00? I’m thinking about renting a car. Did you notice if there was a lot of traffic on the highway? It leaves as promptly at 4pm as possible.

9. How was the ship since they supposedly just refurbished it? I can't compare cuz I don't know what it was like before. It's a big ship and it was clean. If you need extra blankets in your cabin tell your steward on the first night. And make sure you get a new beach towel before you leave for excursions. We didn't get ours before we left for Calica (we even called housekeeping the night before to remind them and they never brought one) so when we got drenched in Tulum we had to buy one there at $20. We were not happy (you can rent towels at Xel-Ha) so we complained and tried to get free Carnival beach towels. They said they would note the complaint but couldn't reimburse us so instead we docked our tip to our cabin steward since he was the one who didn't bring our towel.

 

10. Which night was the formal night? Only 1 right? Are capris o.k. for other nights? Yeah, just one night and it was the 2 night. Yeah, capri's are fine for the other nights. It is chilly in the dining room so take a little sweater or something.

 

11. Did you gamble any? Win anything? I only do slots...lost $30 rather quickly but I heard the slots on the ships don't pay much. It was fun and I'm a gambler but I needed my money for jewelry. :-)

 

12. Was it easy to get a chair at the pool? Get there early. We didn't wanna lay by the pool, we went to the 2nd to the top deck and there were plenty of chairs. But the pool area was packed by 10am.

 

13. What did you do during the day on the boat? Personally, I think I’d like to just hang by the pool? Lots of people hang at the pool and eat at the outdoor grill. They have music out there and everything. But they have stuff to do and every night you get the next day's newsletter. They also run movies on the cabin TV's. The motion of the water (we never got sick but you will feel the boat moving - I wore 3.5 inch heelst the first night while dancing and never had a problem with stumbling around) makes you a little sleepy so if you wanna take a nap, do it. Rest is part of vacation! :-)

 

14. See any single men hanging about? That question is for my girlfriend Rhonda. Actually, I was surprised to see that the majority of the people were older. It's not the "party boat" I think it used to be. Lots of couples and lots of families. We were assigned a dinner table with 2 single men. They were buddies from high school (one from Vegas, one from California) and were a lot of fun.

 

15. Just curious…was there a topless deck? Yeah...but it didn't look like many people were up there. It's the very top sun deck and we never went up there.

17. Is there a fridge of any kind in the room? Ice? No fridge (not in our room anyway) but we got a bucket of ice every night that lasted till lunch time the next day.

 

19. Did you go to Carlos and Charlies? Senor Frogs? What did you think? We went to Senor Frogs...it was much more "happening" and fun than Carolos and Charlies, but C&C is right below Senor Frogs so you can try both. . Women were crazy, showing their boobs, butts and thong underwear.

 

 

[sgsing]

My extended family is cruising on Ectasy 12/27/04 (8 adults, 9 kids). Most of us are first-time cruisers.

 

I would love to have some more words from anyone who has been on Ectasy since it arrived in Galveston. My husband is pretty picky about accommodations....after reading some of the reviews on other sites I am a little worried. Does anyone know if the "renovations" done while the ship was drydocked were noticeable?

 

Any opinions or recommendations on the food?

 

How is the spa/exercise facility?

 

We have two special events to celebrate - a birthday and an anniversary. Do we arrange in advance for a cake or something?

 

Has anyone sailed this itinerary during late December? How is the weather?

 

Any response would be appreciated!!

[jima53]

We were at Cozumel the same time you were. I went down on the pier to look at the ship and get some pictures. Nice looking ship. How does it compare to some of the smaller Carnival ships if you have sailed them before.

 

Jim

[superdave69]

Sgsing-

 

As best I could tell most of the renovation was replacing of carpets and bedding except in the Spa and exercise rooms, which were completely redone. The spa and exercise facilities are very nice.

 

My DW and I loved all of the food. The Dinning Room food was excellent. Our entrees were always hot and of good quality. I like fish so; I recommend the Tilapia and the Grouper. The Salmon was not fresh and tasted very fishy. The prime rib was very good also. One person stated in a review that the Filet Mignon was not a Filet, and I agree. They said that theirs was tough but mine was tender and had a nice flavor whatever cut it was.

 

We ate all of our breakfast and lunches in the lido deck dinning room. The omelets and eggs from the omelet station were very good. The lunch buffet were OK nothing great. The hamburger and fries were the best lunch I had there. I highly recommend the Ruben and smoke turkey sandwiches from the Deli.

 

I have sailed this itinerary three times once in mid Dec. and the weather was excellent.

 

Jim-

 

I like this ship a lot more than the Jubilee and Celebration. The Ecstasy is a nice ship but it is getting a little old and does have some blemishes even after drydock. But we still had a wonderful time and would go again anytime. I am sure it does not compare to the Zaandam, which is a very beautiful ship.

[SevenVII]

Great review peg-a-leg, it answered a lot of my questions about Xel-Ha and the other ports. Thanks again for your posts too Dave!

[sgsing]

Thanks for your reply, Dave. I'm very encouraged and getting excited about the trip. Did you do any day trips which were not arranged by Carnival? Any good, not too crowded beaches?

[superdave69]

Sgsing-

 

Our group went to Paradise Beach at Cozumel. I highly recommend it. The beach is beautiful and the facilities are very clean. There are several Paradise Beach reviews in the Cozumel section of the Ports of Call message board. We were there on a Monday and there were very few people besides our group.

 

The beach at Playa del Carmen is one of the most beautiful I have seen. Beautiful fine white sand. We just went to a beach bar so we could have chairs and a table. The prices for drinks and food get cheaper the further you walk from the Ferry pier. My DW and I have been there three times and always have a great time.

 

We went by taxi each time. The fare was $12.00 to Paradise Beach and I think $10.00 to PDC.

[LACruiserwTot]

Hi Patty,

According to Dave's comment that the cruise was docked at the pier near Fat Tuesday's, my best guess is that we will be at the Puerta Maya pier (the farthest south). See link below for my source. My understanding is that it could change, though.

 

http://www.travelnotes.cc/travelers/cruise.html

[jnnifer01]

Thanks for the review! My family and I will be sailing together on 12/13/04. DH and I have booked a cat. 12- any extra info I should know about that cabin?

Do you think there's time to rent your own vehicle to take to Tulum and Xelha all in one day while at Calica?

Also, I've heard that the ship moves a little more than usual. Did you notice more movement than usual? I always like to be prepared :)

Thanks!

[LACruiserwTot]

Hi Superdave,

I will be right down the hall from your room during Thanksgiving. Was there a DVD Player or VCR in that room category? Also, I read something about movies available in this room category (besides the 3 or so on TV). Could you please clarify the movie options and let me know if any movies are kids movies, if you noticed. Thanks for all the info.

[superdave69]

Jnnifer-

 

The Cat. 12 cabin is very nice, just be sure to use the Skipper Club during embarkation. It will speed things up considerably.

 

I have never been to Tulum or Xelha so I don’t know if possible or not.

 

I didn’t notice any more movement than the usual. She seemed very steady.

 

LAcruiser-

 

There is a VCR in the cabin, no DVD player. And the only movies were the same as the rest of the ship. I didn’t watch the movies so I don’t remember any except “Just Married”. I will ask my DW later if she remebers any.