We just went on our first cruise on the Carnival Ecstacy on Mar 26/04. I did what I thought was a lot of research on this 3 day trip but I guess I didn't get all the info. I spoke with 2 carnival phone reps, who assured me that the party rep. this boat had was from the old days, even some reviews led us to believe this to be true, wrong...... This boat is very definitely a party boat and it would seem Carnival does little to discourage it.
I thought we may be in trouble when, upon embarkation, we saw 2 wedding groups, 3 stagettes, and countless high school/college singles. Don't get me wrong, we have no problem with parties, but when you feel like you are out of the loop at 40, they must be going hardcore.
How about the first night when we arrived for our dinner dressed nicely, not overdressed, to find 2 large groups of kids near our table, dressed in tanks, shorts, sandals, and ball caps. A Carnival no-no according to my info. The staff did nothing about this, or the yelling and swearing, with the token f-bombs thrown in for good measure. these kids were very drunk, one actually passing out at the table, and yet, in an effort to maintain that profit margin, they continued to serve them booze. I never even saw them ask for I.D. as I'm sure most were under 21. This went on for all 3 nights, but I will give them credit for at least wearing pants on formal night.