First some background info. DW and I are both in our 50's. This was her 5th cruise and my 4th, if you don't count my year in the Merchant Marine. This was our 4th cruise with Carnival and our 3rd time on the Ecstasy. We live just north of Houston so Galveston is very convenient for us.

We arrived at the pier sometime around 11:30. Dropped off our checked luggage with a porter and my DW with the carryons and I proceeded to EZ Cruise which we had booked ahead of time on line. Lot 1 was full of Conquest and Voyager patrons so I had to wait with several others to be caravanned over to Lot 2. This took about 30 minutes, after our leader took a wrong turn. I think I returned to the pier a little after Noon and we began the check in. All told we were onboard around 1:30. The cabins were almost ready so we hung around the atrium on Empress Deck for about 15 minutes when they opened up the cabins. We proceeded to our OV cabin to drop off our bags. This is when things went south a little. I detected a strange odor but couldn't identify it. When we opened the top drawer of the dresser/desk we found some old fruit. That was the odor. Another drawer provided more surprises. Dirty undergarments and other assorted trash. This was not the way to start a vacation. I found a crew member in the passageway and explained the situation. He suggested that we call the Purser's desk and advise them. We did this, after a short time on hold, and soon two cabin stewards and a supervisor arrived to clean out the drawers and sanitize them.

After this we went up to Lido for some lunch and our traditional Funship Special. Then it was Muster Drill and sail-a-way. We had the early dinner seating in the Windsong dining room so headed back to the cabin where we found our luggage waiting. Unpacked and headed off to dinner. We were seated at one of the six person tables with bench style seating, three to a side. The person in the middle was somewhat cramped. Note to self, remember to check the table assignment ahead of time and request a change if this happens again. Our table mates were very friendly and made for enjoyable dinner conversation each night. Soe, from Myanmar, was our head waiter and was ably assisted by Istvan (call me Steve) from Hungary. After the first night they knew our preferences and were ready and waiting. One person at our table had food allergies. They had emailed ahead and the dining room hostess made contact the first night and every night thereafter to go over the menu and choose the appropriate selection for the following evening. Special orders were no problem. Overall the food was very tasty and I managed to keep my streak alive. Four Carnival cruises and still haven't tried the warm chocolate melting cake. We usually ate breakfast in the Windstar dining room. One morning we ordered the Continental breakfast from room service. It was delivered right on time. And one other morning we braved the Lido buffet line. Read more