This was my 6th cruise overall, but my first on Carnival. The prior cruises were on RCCL, Celebrity, and Princess. I was eager to try Carnival and the Ecstasy after reading many good reviews. Overall, the cruise was pretty good, but not great. I would go on Carnival again, but would prefer one of the other lines.

Ship: I thought the ship was nice and clean, although my husband thought some of the bathrooms weren't so great. There was actually very few public bathrooms and they were hard to find, but that's fine. The layout of the ship was just OK. I prefer more outside space and especially walking the perimeter of the ship and lounging on the decks. I was disappointed that there was few outdoor places to sit that weren't next to a pool. My biggest complaint about the entire cruise was the overall volume of the music and announcements on the ship. Pool music was always too loud and I would have preferred a more caribbean theme. Announcements in the dining room were deafening and the volume of the shows were also a bit loud.

Food: Dining room food was generally good. Faves were the chocolate melting cake, escargot, cold soups, ribs, pasta dishes,scallops, shrimp. I really disliked both the filet mignon and the chateaubriand. The beef was not tender nor flavorful. Food was as expected in the buffet. Breakfast items always seemed a little cold, but the made to order omelets were always delicious, although I wish they would have varied the ingredients. Dining room breakfast was fine. 24hr pizza and garlic bread as wonderful as was the sandwiches and ice cream. The burgers by the pool were very tasty. The indian food at the lunch buffet was outstanding. Read more