This was our first cruise on Carnival, and very likely our last. Over the past 40 years, we have averaged a cruise per year, so we have a good basis of comparison. Carnival's definition of "Fun" seems be be "Noise, and lots of it." You can't eat a quiet dinner without commercials, marching and singing waiters, and a lot of racket. Every venue in the ship seemed to be playing its music at the highest possible level.

Ecstasy was built in 1991, and shows its age. I don't know if they had stabilizers on the ship, but the ship's motion and passenger sea sickness I saw made me think that there were none. Ship design left much to be desired. I could find only two, one-person, restrooms adjacent to the Panorama Grill on the Lido deck. One was marked, "Women"; the other, "Men/Women". Restrooms on the aft end of the Promenade deck were well hidden. Trying to walk from one end of the ship to the other on the Atlantic deck was impossible. Because of the dining room locations, one had to go up or down a deck to get through.

The food may have been tasty - what there was of it. Breakfast waffles in the Wind Star restaurant were about 3"x3" or about 9 square inches. (In contrast, the 7 - 8 inch diameter waffle one can make at any Comfort Inn is about 30 square inches.) My omelet appeared to be made from one egg. A cream cheese serving for a bagel was enough to cover one half the bagel. Presentation was also poor. I was appalled when my second cup of tea at dinner was only a new container of hot water. It seems I was expected to reuse my old teabag. (It took a separate request to get a fresh bag.) Read more