2nd time to cruise with Carnival. First time was great so we will needed away from home time and were very excited. 1. “If you are flying in, you can get the ease of being met by Carnival staff at the airport, who will escort you to a shuttle bus”. Wrong…The girl was sitting down in a booth at the end of baggage even though we were the ONLY couple for pickup. We were not met. We had a panic search for bus. 2. 30 Minutes Late 3. 460 Air, 4 windows down at 60 miles a hour. Great for your first onboard picture, sweaty and blown hair. Ice 1. None in the Tiffany’s area several times 2. 3.5 hours to get it from room service, missed our 8pm dining time because we fell asleep white awaiting for ice that we knew we couldn’t get at Tiffany’s Dining 1. Meat was dry with no type of sauce or gravy 2. Felt ignored each night 3. Menu was exactly the same for both nights we ate, so we didn’t bother after hat. 4. Shrimp cocktails looked like defrosted cooked small shrimp slithers, you should be embarrassed 5. Side dishes 1 tablespoon of mashed potato. 6. Grilled shrimp (medium sized and laying in a pool of bad sauce.) I love shrimp and I didn’t even finish it. I left the dining room before dessert.. 7. I never looked at a plate and went WoW 8. The table next to us ordered entrée, ate it. Ordered another entrée and ate it before we received our first entrée. We all arrived within 2 minutes of each other. 9. Rude upper management no customer service, let you run from one end of the ship to other. Can say enough bad about people in charge. I don’t see how the lower stay can stay friendly at all. 10. Dining room hours 8-10am. Went at 9:50 to talk to maitre’d and they wouldn’t let us talk to him about dining plans 11. Late dining prevented you from any good entertainment. That would have been nice to know when I scheduled my dining time. 12. We didn’t know late dining meant opposite end of the ship Debarkation 1. Went to the meeting and was told things that did not happen 2. Front elevators would be manned and they were not. We were mostly on our own to figure it out. 3. Customer elite number was disengaged even before we got off other the boat. Read Less

This was mine and my husbands first cruise and we will never take another cruise again.the food was terrible my husband got food poisoning throwing up to the point were he was throwing up blood he is diabetic and he was very dehydrated. Anything i ate or drank gave me diaharrea.we never got to see the bahamas.the food that was suppost to be cold was warm and the food that was suppost to be hot was cold.there was under age drinking.kids running around in the casino.fights breaking out.this was a terrible trip.they closed the the pools and whirlpools down early.they were pulling food from the buffets before time when you were standing right there they don't even acknowledge your standing there.i was told you could eat what you wanted when,ever you wanted and it was included that was not the case,you had to pay extra.this was a very bad experience will never do again.all carnival did was apologized.it was a big waste of money.never again. Read Less

We sailed on the Carnival Ecstasy for our first cruise six years ago and decided to go on this ship again since the port is so close. While the ship is older and perhaps not as fancy as newer ships, it is very well maintained and clean. We really enjoyed the addition of new restaurants, such as Guy's Burgers. Pros: -By and large, service was excellent. There were a couple of issues (which I'll list below), but waitstaff in the restaurants was wonderful. We also always has fresh towels in our room, and anytime we needed anything, it was quickly handled. -The food was very good compared to other Carnival ships I've been on recently. -There were plenty of activities to do. We went on a different Carnival cruise in December, and there was hardly any trivia or other fun stuff to do during the day besides go to the casino. On the Ecstasy, there were fun activities to do around the clock. -Even though the cruise was sold out, we seldom had to wait for anything. They had plenty of staff available, so even lines that seemed long at first went by extremely quickly. The ship is very well organized and nothing was super congested. -The cleanness of this ship (well, all Carnival ships I've been on really) is so impressive! The bathrooms were always perfect, and with hundreds of people milling in and out of the public areas, it shows how hard they work to keep things clean. Cons: -What happened to the twice-a-day room service, including turn-down, towel animals, and chocolates? We only had towel animals twice on our trip. This isn't a big deal, of course, but was definitely part of the charm on our first cruise. -The excursions were disappointing. For the Princess Cays, we purchased a snorkel package that included 30 minutes on a water bike. When we tried to use the bike (an hour before we were told the activity would shut down), it was already closed. The people running it were napping on picnic tables. When we asked about a partial refund, Carnival refused to refund half of the package (and this was half of the price of the package), saying that the excursion was on sale when we bought it. We were only asking on a refund on part of the sale price, so that made no sense. We did the dolphin swim in Nassau, and while it was lots of fun, the photo package was so expensive that I didn't have enough cash on hand to get it. (It was $100 for a disc of 10 pictures, so be prepared...they won't let you bring a GoPro, camera, or phone to take a picture yourself.) While this wasn't Carnival's fault, of course, some warning on this would have been helpful. -I fell down and badly hurt my leg. This was witnessed by one of the workers in the WaterWorks area. He said he would call for help, but no one ever came and brought so much as ice. An X-ray when I went to the urgent care after getting back showed showed that my leg was actually fractured. Read Less

First, the embarkation on the ship went very quick. We had an embarkation appointment at 1:00 p.m, but we were with a group and your company called Jett Tours. We arrived early at around lunch time so 12:00 p.m. The embarkation was quick went straight in got through the metal detectors, went and added cash money in my Sail & Sign account. Then after about 15 minuets we were on the boat by 12:15 p.m. upon getting on the ship R41 me and my sisters room was ready by 1:30 p.m. Now, exactly at 4:00 p.m. we left Charleston, South Carolina for a fun sea day. The sea day was just going and basically eating, laying out, looking at Duty - Free Shops, and other miscellaneous things. It was the same for both sea days. I did an excursion on each of the islands we went to which we went to first Eleuthera, Princess Cays, Bahamas. On the first island me and my party went for a Adult Santuary Bungalow. The bungalow did come with food and everything and was really good. Even had soda. The bad part is with the rocks. Princess Cays is such a rocky place and I got cutband hurt many times and I was looking for rocks but they still scraped. The second island was New Providence, Nassau, Bahamas. It was so much better and we went to Atlantis. Other than being attacked by a seagull Atlantis was wonderful and the best and so fun. We had the water park and aquarium for Atlantis. To add they also did have mixers for LGBT guests to meet and mingle each day which was nice and felt very comfortable and inclusive of everyone. The debarktion process was good as well. Very quick and efficient. I was off the ship in like at 8:30 a.m. and by 9:00 was on the Charter Bus. They were no issues at all and all I needed was my License and my declaration sheet for the cigarettes for my mother. Then we were on our way. All in all it was a nice experience and I would definitely sail on the Ecstasy again. Even though it’s a older ship, a little dated, and a little more moving. It was still nice. It didn’t bother me and the staff is always nice. Gabriela at guest services even game me a free drink because I just looked like I needed one. They are nice and everything. I have no complaints really. Would 100% recommend it. Read Less

This was by far the most unorganized, unfriendly cruise I’ve been on. Blue iguana and red rum bar didn’t serve me not once the entire cruise. The staff looked at me and turned there head and started talking to another staff member. My husband and my mother didn’t get service there either. Even when it wasn’t busy, so we had to leave the lido deck and go down to the atrium bar where it was very busy, but received excellent service every time. Understanding there was weather issues, I’m taking that in consideration for the lack of entertainment on the lido deck. Felt like I was always being hassled to purchase something, The pizza service was rude, my husband asked for a margarita pizza and the guy threw cheese pizza on his plate and said it was the same thing, after he tried to get rid of cheese to other guests. Didn’t want to make it the margarita or should have taken it off the menu. By far best service was the gentleman who cleaned our room E27, very courteous, always smiling, took care of all of our needs very promptly. Just amazing person over all. Read Less

Embarkation - Poor signage leading up to the port. Average embarkation process; nothing too fancy or annoying. Had to wait in the chairs only about 30 minutes before our group # was called. Entertainment - The "big" shows in the main theater were good-to-very good. Saw 3 out of the 4 (skipped the "Soul" show). Best was the rock show followed by the welcome show and lastly the wildly disjointed Flick show. One of the two comedians - Rob Little - was terrific. Saw 4 of his shows (2 R-rated and 2 PG). The other lady was so bad we left halfway through her first set and never came back. It was like she was unprepared and just wanted to make the cliche "microphone looks like a male apparatus" joke. Ports - Only got off at Half Moon Cay so can only speak to that. Very, very crowed. Had to walk to the end of the beach just to finally get a chair. Food was hysterically bad and nearly inedible. Sand on the beach was great, but water was ice cold so didn't get in. Service - Usual average service; nothing memorable. Cruise Director - TJ was good but the poor guy just seemed to exhausted all the time. Probably needs a vacation of his own. Food - The food with Carnival has progressively taken a nosedive and somehow they find a way to get worse every year. I've always said Carnival is "well-presented school cafeteria food" and this was no different. Generic, bland, tasteless - only some of the words I'd describe it with. And I find the point is nailed home when the buffet is serving literally the exact same thing as the dining room every night. Other passengers - This was the worst part. Carnival's low pricepoint and "fun ship" marketing have dug up the lowest of the low at this point. This is the Wal-Mart of cruise lines. I'd equivocate it to a lively Baptist church 24/7 with the amount of screaming, yelling, and laughing to rival anything else in the world. There are no 40+ on this boat. There's a young, party atmosphere and if that's for you then more power to you. But if you're looking for things like romance, luxury, peacefulness, or relaxation - look elsewhere. Overall - EVERY time since I did the Fantasy in 2006 I've gotten off Carnival boats saying "never again". Then there was the Elation, then the Triumph, the Dream, and now the Conquest. Fool me once shame on Carnival. Fool me 5 times I'm just an moron who can't learn a lesson. This will be my last time on Carnival. While the party atmosphere may be just the spot for some folks, it's not for me. Read Less

This was our 1st cruise. We dd some research before the cruise and talked to friends who have taken many cruises.Sorry this is rather a long review. The balcony cabin was not as small as I had feared, except for (of course) the shower. What surprised me was the incredibly hot water form the tap and the shower-best to just turn on the shower to the point where you have an okay stream to avoid getting scalded. Best tip:The blow dryer in the room was either chosen by a vengeful bald person or designed by Mattel. Bring your own so that you don't spend ages frying your hair with barely any air flow. Our cabin steward Ketut was sweet and helpful, and somehow remembered our names each time we spoke. Sitting on the balcony and watching the waves was even more relaxing and beautiful than I had hoped. Other servers were kind and helpful, especially the Versailles pool waiter I Gde, who later served us at the Victoria Lounge comedy show. I am hooked in cruising now :) BUT_ (here is where I expect someone will flame me, sorry but I am just telling you what we felt, your mileage may vary) I won't ever take a 3 day cruise again. I was OK with being around a lot of fun seeking people and couldn't care less if there was a lot of boozing. Unfortunately, there were waaay too many people that were not so great to be around (i.e. the screaming guy being kicked out of the bar area with the prison tattoo under his eye, or the classy dude with a misspelled t-shirt with an eggplant spewing water emoji on it who was loudly telling us repeatedly that he was going to be giving it to his girlfriend. Umm, okay, good for you sir.) Even the comedian made fun of the crowd and kept saying this was the "Section 8 cruise" and made fun of the people who had 4 in a room & requested a cot for a 5th person. I will be OK with another cruise of a longer duration for those reasons. Food was good to even some that was great. I was (please don't hunt me down for this heresy) not overly impressed with Guy's Burgers that we tried on our 1st meal. The Golden Olympian waiters and food couldn't have been better. Sea day brunch was wonderful, I had really good blueberry pancakes and husband enjoyed his bacon & cheese omelet, then we had a nice chat with our server about his homeland and work. We booked the Nassau 360 & Balmoral Island excursion. 1st we were directed to the theater, when we arrived we had no indication of what to do, then I was told to go sit down when I tried to ask questions or get one of the wrist bands. We wound up following a young lady who didn't give us any idea of what was going on, and boarded a bus that holds 25 people. The tour guide Christian was super nice and amusing, but unlike the description of the tour, we barely saw anything historic. I wasn't happy with one planned stop at the (tourist trap)rum cake shop, which was a tiny storefront. I was even less happy when the second stop turned out to be a 15 minute "break" that just happened to be a stop near a few vendors selling t-shirts, tote bags and jewelry. Balmoral Island is lovely, but the timing of the tour meant that we were hungry & 2 hotdogs with fries & 2 sodas costed us $42.00!! Also, unless you pay extra for the dolphin or stingray encounter you may not take pictures of that area, according to the worker there. You can swim or just chill on one of the plentiful number of beach loungers, it was kept very clean and the water was an amazingly clear aqua. There is also a swimming pool but we were happy with the loungers/beach. The best entertainment onboard was the shows like the "Gender Wars" , which was a hilarious audience participation game type show. I wish that they had more shows for the young lady who was really great at playing the steel drum, and we really liked the trio of violin players. The shopping was geared for people who want to get perfume, tanzanite jewelry, big name watches, or other glitzy accessories. Finding our way around the ship was a pain & the Carnival Hub app doesn't do anything to help you navigate. They should enable the app to help you get from point A to point B with turn by turn directions. Many times the route was complicated by having to avoid a galley or crew only area, necessitating a trip up the stairs, all the way down a hallway then back down stairs-and could it kill them to have arrows on signs? We kept seeing other passengers going through navigation headaches. Question for longer duration cruises on Carnival or other lines: Are you always smelling smoke onboard? I was worried about encountering too much smoke, since i am a non-smoker & my husband quit smoking many years ago (before we met). I was told to avoid the smoking areas & casino & that the rest of the ship should be free of smoke and cigarette stink. NOPE- They seriously need to fix the ventilation system. There were several areas indoors that reeked of smoke or stale dirty ashtray smell, including an elevator. I spotted a few people lighting up in non-smoking areas, even a 20 something man using an E-cig in line at the pizza place. I think something could be done to help the smells in the cabins, too. I brought a small air freshener spray form Bath & Body Works, but our clothes & luggage came home with a nasty funk permeating them. Read Less

Extremely small pool and casino. Too many people on this small of a ship. Everywhere we went there were crowds and lines. Unlike other ships, this one allows people in the casual dining area with no shirts and no shoes. Seats were often wet from children fresh out of the pool. The Serenity deck was super small and overrun; one of the 2 whirlpools there was out of order. It was basically 3-4 rows of deck chairs facing the back of the ship. The cabin was small but ok for the 2 of us. On the last evening, a loud rattling started in the ceiling. We called guest services and maintenance came a few minutes later. He said he would check into it and be back.. he never returned. We called back a few hours later and were told maintenance would be called, but no one came. The rattling got much louder and we were unable to get any sleep before our 12 hour drive home the next morning. I was also surprised at the atmosphere overall. The majority of cruisers were couples with young children who seemed to be looking for a cheap vacation where they could continually eat and drink while letting their children run with little supervision. Children were running through our halls constantly with no adults present. This was my 7th cruise (5th with Carnival) and this was the first time I have been so disappointed.. Carnival needs to step up its game and return to the quality of vacation they used to offer. Read Less

This is my second cruise , first was Fascination so Chose this cruise since closest port to home. The major complaint is the sewage smell , while outside lounging on deck , I tried to move to several different locations but always smelled strong odors. The pool and hot tubs was always overcrowded, and not enough lounge chairs in shade. With the exception At Nassau, which we stayed on ship. I was disappointed with the fact I was supposed to get a two room upgrade and all I got was a tiny cabin again same size as before the bunk bed pulled out and there was no room you had to crawl to get into bed and everyone bumped there heads all week including me. Princess Cays was disappointing, it was very rocky and the sand was rough and sharp, water shoes a must. The buffet was food was bland and nothing special, flys we’re everywhere especially at dessert bar on the food so I skipped the desserts. I will try Royal or Disney cruises next time. The service from the stewards, Micheal was outstanding, the dining room food was good , and again the servers were excellent and loved the magician , they deserve every cent of the gratuities I paid 64$ per day :) Read Less

This was my 1st cruise experience. We purchased this cruise for my daughters college graduation gift. We had a great time! Gary, the cruise director, shows are a must see. We saw as much as we could everyday. So many activities planned. Nightly trivia games, comedian, and lots and lots of dancing. It was fantastic. Food was good. We ate on the Lido deck throughout the day and dining room at night. Really didn’t have any food I didn’t like. I thought the staff was very friendly. I enjoyed hearing their accents and where they were from. It was great to talk and meet other people on the cruise. Our cabin was always clean. Our Stewart, prata was amazing. She always called me by my name. The entire staff were friendly, approachable and helpful. My only negative was it’s an older ship but it didn’t lack in any other areas! Easy embarking and disembarking. Read Less