2nd cruise out of Charleston(Awesome city!!). Cruise port is only a few hours from our home so that is the primary reason for choosing Carnival and Charleston. My wife and I really wanted to enjoy this cruise but there were aspects that were quite disappointing. Keeping in mind the age of this ship, this review is not trying to persuade a potential cruiser for or against taking a cruise on Ecstasy, but making an informed choice. Check-in was long(we should have paid for the FTTF which would have moved us to the front of the line).

1st disappointment was boarding the ship. When we told EVERY person no for buying a drink AND a lanyard, we were bombarded with 3 more, then 3 more(no exaggeration). I actually had to yell for ALL of them to get out of our way so we could board the ship. Next disappointment was ALL the trivia was scheduled right next to the smoking bar and casino. The stench of 2nd hand smoke was incredibly strong and to make matters worse, the Carnival person running the trivia failed to enunciate his words making trivia miserable and not worth it. For the record, you have to walk past the smoking bar AND casino(with smokers) on your way to ANY show or ANY of the ship stores.

Our ocean view stateroom was average at best and the room stewards were courteous and mostly called us by our names. Our room TV was black and white unless I did something special on channel 38 which didn't work and nothing was done about it(I get you don't go on a cruise to watch tv but black and white and poor picture quality was very disappointing). Read more