Carnival Ecstasy Review
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This was a Girlfriends' Getaway for 3 of us. My first cruise, the second for another and our 3rd companion has cruised several times.
We live in Austin,TX so we drove the 4 hours to Galveston on Friday 9/21 and stayed at the EconoLodge that night. They gave us free cruise parking for the week. I don't think I would stay there again. The staff was polite and the price was right, but the room had a very strong cigarette smell and one of my companions saw a cockroach in the bathroom during the night. (That was the only sighting.)
EMBARKATION: Saturday we were at the Cruise terminal by 11:00am. I have a disability - Osteoarthritis in both hips, so had signed up for wheelchair assistance at embarkation. (Boy did I need it.) The taxi driver left us off at the baggage drop-off so it was a very long walk up to the check-in area. My roommate went up to the Check-in entrance and asked them about the wheelchair assistance. They weren't really ready for the wheelchair assistance that early as they were still assisting passengers off the ship. They said we could wait where we were for about 15 minutes or make our way up to the check-in. We did decide to walk up to the check-in and before we got there a nice man came with a golf cart and gave me a ride to the entrance - not sure whether he was with Carnival or the porters. We took the elevator up and went through the line for our Sail & Sign. After a little while, someone came with a wheelchair and pushed me through the maze to the ramps leading to the ship. It is a lot of walking to get from the cruise terminal entrance to the ship with a series of ramps, so anyone who has trouble with mobility should ask for the wheelchair assistance. They are happy to help with it. The man that assisted me had a nametag that listed him as a waiter and I saw him later in the cruise working on the Lido deck. I tipped him very well as he had to push me a very long way. We ended up in the Lido dining area and had lunch at the buffet. This was around noon, so it didn't take us very long at all. The buffet was very good, only the beef was a little overcooked.