Carnival Ecstasy Review

3.5 / 5.0
1,057 reviews

Carnival Ecstasy; More Like Carnival Purgatory

Review for the Bahamas Cruise on Carnival Ecstasy
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Shortcake16
10+ Cruises • Age 40s

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Additional details

Sail Date: Feb 2016
Cabin: Interior
Traveled with children

This was my husband's 15th cruise on Carnival, and my 4th. We have also cruised other cruise lines and have never had an experience like this.

We went out of Charleston, SC, which is very convenient since we live in Columbia. The boarding process was fine. We had to wait about 30 minutes for a tram to take us from the parking lot to the pier (they don't allow walking), but it was fine. Lines were long, but they allow military (active, retired or disabled) to use priority boarding, so any military people be sure to ask when you're in line. This is common on other cruise lines, as well, not just Carnival. Nice benefit.

When we boarded, there were already suitcases in our cabin; unfortunately, one was NOT ours and one of ours was missing. I personally took the luggage to the correct cabin, and our missing bag eventually arrived. (We also got a letter that someone's garment bag was lost, not a good sign.)

Cabin Review

Interior

Cabin 4C

Our cabin constantly smelled of cigarette smoke, and when we asked to have this addressed (find out who was smoking in their room and get rid of the smell) we were ignored and left to suffer through it. I have a respiratory problem, so I ended up with a terrible headache and feeling badly the entire cruise when we were in our room. Our clothes smelled of cigarette smoke also.

Port Reviews

Charleston

Charleston is convenient for us as we live a couple hours away. I like that they take your luggage from your car, so you don't have to lug it around while boarding. Trams were slow taking us from the parking lot to the pier. Pier lines were horrendous, but we are military so we got priority boarding and skipped the lines. It was quick and painless for us.

Nassau

The horses on the carriages are so malnourished it's pitiful, the peddlers are aggressive and there are so many of them it's hard to get through the crowd. The streets are filthy and stinky. The only reason we got off the ship was to buy a painting from local street artist Jeff Lewis. My daughter collects them, and she buys one each year during our cruise. She wanted to stay on board, so we got one for her. Other than that, we wouldn't have went ashore. Not pleasant.

Freeport

When we docked at Freeport, my husband and I thought we were back in the Navy. This looked more like an industrial port than a cruise port. We haven't been to this port before so we decided to give it a chance and go ashore. Bad decision. Senor Frogs was disgusting and servers were rude. The street was filthy and bees were everywhere because of all the trash. Mostly, it was the ship's crew eating, drinking and smoking. We stayed for about 30 minutes (I had a delicious pina colada). the security guard at the port didn't even look at our cards and ID's. Terrible port.

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