My family and I just returned from our first cruise. Included in the family are myself, my wife and two daughters ages 7 and 9. We sailed out of Galveston on the Ecstasy. We live in the Dallas area and decided to drive down the night before; this didn't exactly work out like we planned so we wound up leaving early on Saturday morning and arrived at the EZ Cruise parking about 11:00 in the morning. We had not made reservations for parking and when we arrived at the lot they asked us about them and when I told them that we did not have reservations, they gave us the Internet rate anyway. Guess who we will be using in the future? After a quick shuttle ride to the port we started the process of getting on board. There was a little bit of a line but still it only took us about 20 minutes to get through the line and the gentleman that checked us in made sure that we understood everything and answered any questions that we had plus he made it a point to engage our daughters in a little chat and kid them about not spending too much in the shops on board. I just thought that this was very nice considering the number of people that they deal with each cruise.

Once we got onboard we headed straight to the Pursers desk and this wait was longer that the embarkation line. Got the Sail and Sign cards handled and then went to the Lido deck and purchased the Fountain Cards (this was the way to go for us as they more than paid for themselves). Since they had signs up saying to wait until 1:30 before trying to get in your cabins (I'm not one of those that think that the rules don't apply to me), we ventured over to the Hamburger / Hot Dog line and had the first of many delicious burgers of the trip.

The ship was very clean and the crew more than courteous. I can't recall a single time on the cruise that we passed a crew member that they didn't speak and smile. We had room R114 on the Riviera Deck which put us a little forward of dead center on the ship. We found that it was easy to get around and depending on where we were headed next from the room it was a short walk to the correct elevator to take us there. The room was always clean and spotless and we never wanted for a thing while there. I am sorry that I can't spell the room stewards name but she went by Suzana. I do believe that she has some kind of mystical power since on the first day when we met her I let her know that we were not really planning on eating in the dining room that night and that she could do the turndown service at her leisure. From that day on she seemed to know if we were eating early (not in the dining room) or if we were going to the late seating in the dining room and had the room prepared for night. It was almost spooky the way she seemed to know. Read more