Carnival Ecstasy Review

Great family adventure but not the best cruise experience

Review for the Bahamas Cruise on Carnival Ecstasy
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Fin4Fun
2-5 Cruises • Age 60s

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Sail Date: Dec 2016

We chose this cruise due to its price and timing for our family. We were also interested in visiting the Bahamas. We found leaving out of Charleston, SC was much more affordable at this time of year than Florida. We did not have too much time exploring Charleston as we were anxious to get on the ship. We did get to check out the market right next to the ship but found many of the items were the same in each booth. Seeing Charleston even for a short period of time was nice. I would say it is a 30 minute cab ride from the airport to the ship. We paid $56 to the ship and $45 on the way back to the airport. We did not get airport transfers and traveled on our own to the ship due to our timing.

We arrived to the ship a bit early but found it easy to drop our bags and head to the ship at 11:30am. We would HIGHLY RECOMMEND paying for the Faster To The Fun excursion. We read about this prior to our trip and found it really made a difference. DO NOT forget to print out your boarding passes, which I didn't do! This held us up as health forms and credit card information needed to be added manually before getting on the ship. Folks handling our baggage and data input were terrific and kept reminding me to relax because I was now on vacation!

It was very exciting to be on the ship initially. Champagne was offered and we drank a fair amount which added to our fun! The buffet was ready to go right when we arrived which made our kids happy. Our cabin wasn't quite ready but we were happy to hang out on the Lido Deck. Buffet food was good but not stellar. Our kids loved it as there were burgers, hot dogs, pizza, ice-cream, desserts, and main dishes. I enjoyed the salad bar several times.

Cabin Review

Cabin Interior

Our cabin was small but comfortable. We are a family of 4; parents and a 19 year old and 11 year old. My husband and I had twin beds put together to form a king sized bed. Two twin beds came down from the walls. Beds were comfortable as were the pillows. I would have prefered more blankets as our room was cold. I could have gotten one but didn't take the time to ask; my fault. One of the twin beds was directly over our king bed which made it difficult for the person against the wall to maneuver out of and we did bump our heads a few times. The room had loads of storage and the bathroom was small but manageable. The bathroom floor was made of rubber matting and was pliable. Towels were good but the bath pad for the floor was tiny and the floor was often wet. I used a regular towel for the pad in order to avoid slipping. Water pressure in the shower, sinl, and toilet was fine. Our cabin was chilly due to the air conditioner. We couldn't figure out how adjust it. Again, our steward would have been happy to help if we asked. Docking in ports was extremely loud. Announcements were difficult to hear as they did not come into the room only common areas.

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