We are Carnival VIFP Platinum members (yeah, I know. . .whoop-tee-doo)and have sailed on Carnival 21 times. Needless to say, we LOVE Carnival. We've now sailed on 4 Fantasy class ships: Paradise, Fantasy, Sensation and Ecstasy so we do have something to compare. We love these Fantasy class ships and feel these ships are the greatest bang for the buck. Our most recent cruise was 9/1/2012 on the Ecstasy, and our first time on this ship, and our 5th time sailing out of Port Canaveral. This poor ship is in such need of so many repairs its really sad. Our shower ceiling was completely molded, a light was out in the bathroom, and the bathroom flooded everytime we showered, even when we tried extra hard to make sure the shower curtain was fully inside the shower. Friends of ours also staying in an oceanview cabin had a broken light fixture hanging from the ceiling and another light over the bed that buzzed and flickered when it was on. It looked like a fire hazard and something badly in need of attention. Our cabin steward was wonderful.

The staff is friendly on this ship, and the service is very good (not great, as on the Fantasy, but there is nothing to complain about). The windows on this ships are filthy, and we watched as crew tried in vane to clean them, they are just too old. The wait staff on the Lido Deck was greatly in need of training. They stood around as if they did not know what to do, while tables were not cleaned off and people were looking for a place to sit. They would only put chocolate milk out on the buffet line and we had to ask twice for white milk. They weren't sure what we were asking for and kept pointing to the chocolate milk as if we couldn't see it. We finally had to ask the manager if there was any white milk for our cereal. He went to the back and returned with two cartons for us. But still did not realize the buffet line had no white milk. We also noticed little (obvious to us) things such as the salad bar was not regularly wiped off and there was spilled dressing, and the salad dressing containers were all messy with drips. The food was ok on this ship, but we have had better on Carnival. They now have a standard menu, and although it would seem all the food would be the same from ship to ship, there is definitely a difference depending on which ship you sail on.

The casino was the worst of all the ships we've sailed on anywhere. Carnival has some of the best casinos on the sea, but the Ecstasy casino was so bad it was nearly empty every night, except for the table games. People who had sailed with Carnival many times were all saying the same thing. The slots were just futile. . .you know you have tight slot machines when you spin 5 - 10 times and don't even hit on a minimum win. Read more