First a little about ourselves this was the 2nd cruise for me Sharon 45 and my husband David 48 and the 1st for our sons Matt 24 and Skott 16. David's sister Jonna and her husband John also went on the cruise. Our first cruise was on the Conquest Oct 06 on that one me, David, Jonna and John went. We all had such a good time we still talk about how much fun we had on our first cruise that we wanted our kids to see what we were talking about. I booked our cruise about 1 ½ years in advance, the price was good and I got in before the fuel surcharge so that was good. The price of this cruise was about ½ of what we paid for the Conquest, and as I said this cruise was for Matt & Skott to experience a cruise. I booked 2 inside guarantee rooms, and we were assigned M16 & M20. I checked the deck plan on the Carnival website and noticed M16 lays differently than the other rooms, so I thought it would be the better room. When I booked they put me & Skott together and David & Matt together, I believe to get the past guest rate on both rooms so I knew I would need to go to the information desk and get our rooms changed. And since I paid for the cruise I thought M16 would be a sweet room since it has a different layout so I made sure David and I were in M16, turns out M16 has a pole in the room about 8-10 inches in front of the dresser. When we first went into the room there was only about 6 inches to walk between the pole, bed & dresser. David and I moved the nightstands around and pushed the bed up against the wall so we had more room to walk around the pole. Lesson learned look at your rooms before going to the information desk to make changes and don't try to screw your kids over! Lol We left Springfield, MO at 5:30 am and met John & Jonna at a truck stop on I-44 so we could meet up and travel together. We ate breakfast and was back on the road around 6:30. We made several stops along the way and reached our hotel in La Porte TX at the La Quinta Inn at around 5:30 pm. It was a comfortable hotel, there were still lots of families living there due to hurricane Ike. Sunday morning we went to the Sylvan Beach, the pier was badly damaged but John, Matt & Skott were able to fish from the shore. John really wanted to try to catch a crab, which he did so he was happy. Then David, Matt Skott and I went to the Houston Space Center, that was really interesting, I didn't think I would enjoy it but it was good. Then we went to the Aquarium downtown that was really cool. Then we went to bed knowing tomorrow we would be starting the cruise, but the whole weekend had felt like vacation already! Before we left on Friday evening I had received a call from Carnival informing us the ship would be late arriving and not to go to the cruise terminal until 3pm. And I had planned on being there at 10:30 so I could have lunch on the Lido deck. We had to check out of our room at noon, so we drove to the cruise terminal and the Ecstasy wasn't there. We called John & Jonna to see where they were and they were in Kemah, so we met up with them in Kemah and went to The Burger House for lunch, they have great burgers. By this time it was around 2:00 so we went back to the cruise terminal the ship was there this time but they told us to come back at 4:00 so we went back to Kemah and looked around the super Target and went to the Dollar Tree. Then it was 4:00 so we went back to the cruise terminal and yeah they were letting us park. Previously on our 2nd trip to the cruise terminal they let us drop our luggage off. So now we were in line to go through security. I remember looking at my watch at one point and it was about 5:30pm I have no idea what time we actually got on board and what time the ship left, I think we started sailing around 7 or 7:15. We didn't have to do the muster drill until the next day Tuesday at 10:00. When we first got onboard I went to the information desk to put cash on our accounts and to get our rooms switched. It was getting dark when I made it out on deck to see us sailing away from the cruise terminal, which I totally missed on our first cruise and wanted to be on deck for sail away on this cruise. Which I kind of was. The weather was a little cooler than I would have liked so I didn't stay outside very long. I watched the cruise terminal get a little further away then went inside knowing we had finally began our cruise!! We walked around for a little while showing Matt & Skott where the food was, they were amazed you could get pizza and sandwich whenever you wanted. I think Skott tried about every sandwich, even the Rueben, which he didn't care for because he hates sauerkraut. We didn't eat in the dining room except for elegant night, we ate at the buffets and pizzeria and sandwich shop. Skott had originally planned on spending a lot of time in the pool but because it was so chilly he never made it in the pool. He went in the hot tub once or twice. One night David, me, Matt, John & Jonna all got in the hot tub, this was another thing I wanted to make sure to do on this cruise that I didn't do on our first. I thought the Ecstasy was very easy to find your way around. We didn't make it to any of the shows. We caught the late night comedian show and he was really funny. We went to the casino a few times and donated a little money. We watched a little karaoke that was fun there were some very good singers, and some not so much, but they had the guts to get up there so more power to them. Wednesday we went to Progreso, we got off the ship around 9:30 and we shopped, rode the double decker bus, went to the beach then walked around a little and shopped a little more then it was about time to head back to the ship. I wish the weather had been a little nicer we really couldn't enjoy the beach it was cloudy and windy. Thursday we went to Cozumel finally the sun was shining!! We got off the ship around 9 and took a taxi to the Tequila factory tour then went to Play Uvas Skott and I did the snorkeling that was awesome, it was like being in an aquarium there were so many fish, Skott didn't enjoy it as much he kept getting the saltwater in his mouth! Then we went to Margaritaville so we could have a cheeseburger in paradise for lunch and get some Margaritaville shirts, then we went shopping first we went to the Hard Rock Cafe so David could get a t-shirt and key ring, Skott and I wanted to shop so David & Matt drank a beer at the Hard Rock and Skott and I shopped we found what we were looking for in the first 3 shops we went to and was heading back to Hard Rock and David & Matt had just came out so we caught a taxi back to the port. Friday was a fun day at sea and it was sunny and the ship wasn't rocking as much as it had Monday night and Tuesday so we really enjoyed our time on the deck. This was Halloween and some people woke up and put their costumes on, we waited until around 7:30pm. Matt was a bottle of beer, Skott had bought a Mexican wrestling mask so he wore that and a black cape he brought from home, not really sure what he was but he was having fun, David & I was Fred & Wilma Flintstone. David & I were selected to compete in the costume contest so we got to go up on stage, we didn't win but we were excited about being selected. There were a lot of really good costumes. Sadly this was our last day of the cruise I think it was around midnight David & I went out and set on the Lido deck until about 12:30 then I was tired and wanted to go to bed. And I forgot we went on the Lido deck for the smoking cigars with the captain, we got our pictures taken with the captain, then there was the deck party and Mexican buffet, David and I were the only ones in our group who stayed awake for this. It was a fun time, I didn't make it too long, just long enough to get some food and took it to our room and I ate and went to bed! Disembarkation was pretty painless we put our luggage out the night before and waited for our number to be called we were #21, I think it was around 11 when we were told we could leave, I think it was around 11:45 when we were getting in our car for the lovely 12 hour drive home! All in all we had a wonderful vacation Skott and Matt really enjoyed themselves, when we got back home Skott was looking at the different ships on Carnivals website and he's already talking about our next cruise. When we first got home he thought it stunk you just couldn't walk to the back of the house and get pizza!! I'm still looking for my room steward my house needs straightened up and there is no buffet lines here at home, I have to cook everything myself