Carnival Ecstasy Review

3.5 / 5.0
1,057 reviews

Surprisingly nice ship

Review for the Western Caribbean Cruise on Carnival Ecstasy
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joeredhat1
6-10 Cruises • Age 50s

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Sail Date: Apr 2014
Traveled with children

We were surprised to find the Carnival Ecstasy in such good condition given its age. We sailed in January on the Carnival Pride, and it was getting run down despite having been recently remodeled. It was apparent that the Ecstasy crew takes much more pride in their ship than does the crew of the Pride. Food was FAR better on Ecstasy as well. We speculated that the food may taste better on Ecstasy because the water on the ship was so much better. The tap water on the Pride is nearly undrinkable -- it tastes so bad you'll rush to brush your teeth. Ecstasy tap water tastes pretty good, actually.

I have children who attended Circle C and Club o2. They had a great time, but we were disappointed that activities were so often scheduled during the "family" type events (like the magician, Hasbro game show, family stand up comedy, etc), which caused our kids to have to choose between spending time with us or their new friends. Guess who won :( If you're looking for a place to dump off your kids, the activities on board will suit that purpose, but if you're planning on taking a "family vacation", Ecstasy may not be the ship for you. Activities for the kids included daily scavenger hunts (guess they ran out of ideas), games, attendance at Motor City for the older kids, and t shirt decorating.

There is only one pool on Ecstasy, but that didn't seem to be a problem. The Serenity deck was a bit of a joke -- too small and no fun hammocks or sun chairs like on Pride. It was plain Ecstasy's Serenity deck was added as an afterthought after the fire years ago, so we just ignored it. There is a good bit of outdoor eating available in the buffet area on Ecstasy, so this is a big improvement over Pride which has none.

Cabin Review

We booked an interior guarantee stateroom and were given porthole rooms. We really enjoyed these. My family was in R16, R12, and R10. R12 is the largest of these three by far, with R16 being the smallest. The window well is large enough that my daughter curled up and slept there for most of the night. As others have mentioned, these rooms are VERY noisy when docking. If you book these rooms, check your itinerary to be sure you dock at a time when you are not likely to be sleeping, or you WILL be disturbed. The noise wasn't a particular issue for us, though we were all awakened when the ship left Cozumel at 1AM.Bathrooms are among the largest we've had on cruise ships. The shower was not full size, but close.If you are choosing a room, know that R16 smelled musty the entire trip for no apparent reason. No problem in the other rooms. Beds were hard, but acceptable. The steward here keeps the rooms very clean, but he does not go out of his way to tidy up when you leave. It did annoy me to find my daughter's dirty clothing in the sink after he had cleaned. Yuck. He is fast and though friendly, he's not in-your-face, which we prefer.There are no hairdryers on this ship and no refrigerators, unlike most rooms we've had.

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