11/15/08 5 day cruise on the Carnival Ecstasy departing from Galveston, Texas.

My husband, our friends and I drove down from North Texas to the Port of Galveston on the early morning of embarkation. We all decided to carpool as we had packed lightly and wanted to conserve some fuel and parking fees. We had already pre-booked a parking spot at the EZ Parking lot via their on line web service which saved 5$ and the lot is only a few blocks from the terminal. They offer shuttles for you and your luggage, both too and from the terminal. The drive down was uneventful and we arrived at the parking lot at 12:30. We were shuttled over to the terminal, unloaded, up the escalator, through security and in line for embarkation. By 1:15 pm we were on the ship.

We had booked an interior cabin, forward on the Upper deck. It was clean and ready to go when we arrived. We unloaded our carry on stuff and then set off to check out the ship. The weather in Galveston was cool and cloudy so we kept to the interior rooms of the ship that day. The Ecstasy was clean, and the crew was very friendly. Also, the passengers were happy and ready for a fun, five days. Our dining experiences were pleasant. We typically had breakfast at the Lido deck buffet. The standard fair was offered, with made to order omelets and fried eggs. There was also fresh fruit, yogurt, ready-made pancakes and breakfast meats along with cold and hot cereals and a few other selections of breakfast foods. This was also indoor at the Panorama Grill. When we had lunch, we eat at both the Lido deck buffet and in the Panorama Grill. Grilled Hamburgers & hot dogs with crispy, tasty onion rings can be picked up out door. All the fix'ins were offered there too. The Panorama Grill offered great grilled and cold sandwiches. I enjoyed the grilled Rubin and my DH loved the grilled Ham and Cheese. You could partake in wraps and other sandwich selections too. To go along with your sandwiches was a number of different salads and sides. Other hot foods were offered in the buffet line too, as well as having the pizza counter. In the evenings we looked forward to the dinning room meals and enjoyed them each night of the cruise. When we first boarded the ship, we stopped by the Wind Star dinning room to check our table location and if we were seated with other table mates. Our Maitre'd informed us we were not in a group and that we had one of the best dinning room teams. Our assigned dinning time was late seating. Our HW, Maria and her assistant, the "Croatian Sensation" Mr. Sargent, were great and took care of everything we needed. They were very professional and persuasive in getting us to join them for the various short performances the dinning room staff offered. Our table assistant noticed that we enjoyed wine at most of the meals and hand wrote a Croation wine list which we though was very nice to have taken the time to write two copies of them. The four of us did not have one bad meal and we enjoyed lobster, prime rib, grilled Salmon, and some wonderful short ribs. They also offered calorie conscious entrees and sides as well as a vegetarian option. Deserts we very good and we all loved the Chocolate Melting cake and souffle. As a dinning alternative, we also had some fresh made Sushi and enjoyed it. We did not use room service this trip, but our friends did and they were prompt. During this trip, I did noticed that almost all the diners in the main dining room were very respectful of the dress code and many were appropriately dress for the single formal evening during this sailing. Read more