Carnival Ecstasy Review

Carnival Ecstasy Disappoints for First Time Cruiser

Review for the Western Caribbean Cruise on Carnival Ecstasy
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michaelark
First Time Cruiser • Age 40s

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Sail Date: Apr 2009
Cabin: Ocean View

I traveled with extended family on this cruise.  It was a first cruise for the majority of the group.  Altogether, we had 13 people in 7 rooms.  We all requested late seating.  Prior to the cruise, I called my cruise agent with the booking numbers for all rooms and asked to have us all linked together for dinner.  This was done, but because of the table arrangements, we were only able to sit a max of 10 at a table...leaving the other 3 at another.  This was not a problem and the 3 sitting at the other table reported that they were matched up well with table partners.  Our dining room was the Wind Star.  Embarkation in Galveston went very smoothly.  The porters at the cruise terminal were very kind and helpful.  If you have anyone who cannot walk long distances uphill in your group, then request wheelchairs for those individuals.  It is a long walk through check-in and up ramps to the boat.  Check-in went smoothly.  The groups with wheelchairs got VIP check-in and assistance, which was greatly appreciated.I should preface this review by saying that, at the age of 32, the reason for never cruising before is not related to money - I've traveled to Europe, Hawaii, and other costly destinations.  This vacation was actually more affordable than most vacations I've taken.  The reason for not cruising previously is because I have always believed that I would be bored on the ship, but I've had so many people report back that you'll never get bored and that the ship is so huge, it's like a city, that I decided I'd give it a try - especially since I wanted to spend this time with the family.  My sister that I was to share a room with also started to get worried before the trip about being bored and I convinced her that we'd have a great time - that these cruise ships are so big that we'd get lost and find something new to explore or do every day.I'd been forewarned that I should expect the cabin to be small, but it was actually quite a bit larger than I expected.  I have stayed in very small rooms in Europe and that was what I was expecting, so I was pleasantly surprised that the cabin was actually pretty spacious.  My only complaint was that there was only one power outlet - it wasn't a horrible thing, but it did make it difficult when trying to charge up a camera batter, blow dry two heads of hair, and let my sister use her hair straightener prior to dinner.  The beds were comfortable enough.  The bathroom was small, but large enough for our use.Our cabin steward was very nice.  We aren't the type to really request much, so we never had any special requests.  The couple of times that he tried to communicate with us, we really had a hard time understanding his English, but we didn't mind.  We love cultural differences and appreciated his efforts with the language.After embarkation, we dropped our carry-on bags in our room and four of us headed for the Lido deck because we were very hungry.  We had deliberately chosen not to stop and eat lunch on the drive down to Galveston from Dallas because we knew lunch would be available on deck at no extra charge.  Drink servers with trays of yummy looking alcoholic treats asked us at least three times on the way to the buffet line whether we wanted a mixed drink.  On every tray, the card displaying the price was turned around backwards toward the server.  I'd read before that the drinks were not free.  We did not accept the offers and got in line.  I was very disappointed to find that there were really no healthy options readily available.  I wound up with a cheeseburger and fries after hoping that I'd be able to get chicken breast and vegetables.  I did ask about chicken breast and was told that I'd have to wait fifteen minutes.  There's really nowhere to wait except to hover over the buffet line, over someone else's table, or block people's access to the drinks, so I settled on the cheeseburger and a few fries (since I was already splurging with the burger).  After picking up drinks, we started looking for somewhere to eat.  We wound up hovering around other people's tables anyway because there were no tables available.  At this time, we didn't realize that there were more tables further back in an air conditioned room...Would have been nice to know...  Once a party did leave their table, we waited around even longer waiting for someone to clear the table.  One of us went to go beg for empty chairs from other tables.  Nobody ever came to clear the table and it didn't appear that such a service even existed on the boat (we realized that there was nobody looking to clear any tables).  We resorted to clearing the table ourselves and just abandoned the trash on top of a life jacket box because we couldn't find anywhere else to put it.  There was certainly no shortage of drink servers though....All this time, they kept coming by and offering drinks.  When we asked one of them for a little help or to point us in the right direction, he didn't understand what we were saying.While eating, we listened to the worst blaring music with all kinds of technical difficulties.  We were on a cruise headed to Cozumel (MEXICO), but we were listening to Jamaican music...bad Jamaican music....and the same song over and over again.  We also realized that there was no water in the pool and it was roped off with a sign indicating that it was out of use.  We wondered whether that would be for the entire cruise or just until we got out of port.  Also, the pool is MUCH smaller than I expected.  From commercials and ads, I expected a very large pool.  This was disappointing.  It turns out that the pool only had water for one day.  The one time that I observed the pool with water, it was filled with loud kids and I wouldn't have gotten in anyway.  The slide was never open.After eating, we wondered around the ship a little and went back to our rooms.  My sister and I fell asleep.  I was woken up by the alert to go to the muster drill, but I had a hard time waking up my sister.  By the time I got her out of bed, the cabin steward was there asking if she was alright and telling us that we need to get up on deck.  We took off and decided that we were not going to carry our life jackets up there and then have to bring them back to the room, so we left them.  Turns out that it really didn't matter.  Nobody really paid any attention to whether we went to muster or not...and certainly nobody cared that we didn't have life jackets with us.  About 50% of the people there didn't have theirs either.  We came in at the end of the drill and didn't really have any idea what the instructions had been, but we were filled in by family members.  Afterwards, we just hung out by a rail and watched as we were escorted out of the Galveston area.I don't really remember what all we did next...We probably wondered around the ship a little bit and realized that it's actually much much smaller than we anticipated.  I was expecting the grand boulevard with tons of shops and things to do, but was really disappointed by the few places with overly priced merchandise that I wasn't even interested in if it had been free.The rest of the time on the ship was spent trying to find things to do that appealed to my age group.  We were disappointed with every activity that we went to.  Either they were super cheesy, low quality, or exorbitantly priced ($20 Bingo card for a chance to win $100!! - Ridiculous.  Yes, the prizes do get better each day of the cruise, but the cost for a "chance" to win the prize was never reasonable.  We played once out of pure boredom.  You get just half the boat to do that because they are bored with everything else you are offering them, then you've made an extra $20,000 less the small amount that you are paying out in prize money and staff salaries - and the staff are getting paid anyway - might as well make them work).  Even my parents (in their 50s), who are big on joining in on activites, were disappointed.Entertainment - The staff certainly tried and looked like they were having a good time doing so, but the programs were very cheesy and low quality.  The adult comedy was filled with profane language and nasty insults rather than comedy.  The game shows were equally as cheesy.  I would have walked out of every entertainment thing I went to if I'd had something else I could think of to do.  Out of boredom, my sister and I spent some time on slot machines in the casino.  She was alt least evening out on one machine for a little while, but I did horrible.  The machines are so tight that you get sick and tired of pushing a button to throw away money...They are not even fun to play if the machines just suck away your money and don't give you even the slightest idea that you could possibly win.  Thankfully I brought a deck of cards and my sister and I went into some little room for card and board games and played cards for several hours once.  We also took a lot of naps...not because we were tired, but because we were bored.Fitness/Sports deck - Nice little jogging path that I spent some time on, but it was really too windy.  I never saw anyone playing on the little putt putt course...Don't know where you'd even find the putters and balls...But it seemed futile to try anyway because of the wind.  The weight machines were acceptable for the most part - a couple of pieces of broken equipment and I spent time winding through all the equipment trying to find the right machines for muscle groups that I was trying to target...only to find that they were usually already occupied.  I felt like I spent too much time wondering around and waiting.  I never took any of the fitness classes - I think you had to pay for them and I wasn't interested in supporting the idea of paying for something that should be free.  Besides, it wasn't like they brought in some fitness champion to teach the classes.  Maybe if I'd thought I'd have gotten something out of it that I wouldn't get out of a fitness class in my gym at home, I would have tried one.As for the boat itself, the decor is very outdated and dizzying.  It looks like an early 1990s casino - bright but dirty colors in all kinds of dizzying patterns.  Even the artwork by the elevators was dizzying - some type of dimensional art that hurt your eyes if you tried to really look at it.  My grandmother actually fell down and wound up with a huge bruise on her face that took weeks to go away.  That certainly put a damper on her trip.  In areas where decorations were used to acheive some type of ambiance, it felt like the decorations were purchased at a dollar store.  You had that type of decor mixed with expensive (overpriced) jewelry and watches.  Really, it just cheapened the merchandise.  The only thing I wound up purchasing on the boat (other than spending money on things to try to entertain myself and some drinks) was a bottle of Sheridan's.  I tasted it during the free taste testing and fell in love.  I ordered a bottle, but didn't realize that it wouldn't come to my room until the last night during dinner.  I was hoping that I'd be able to enjoy it during the cruise - no such luck.  Apparently, the only way you can have liquor on board is to pay for it by the glass or bottle at (again) exorbitant prices (I think about $7 for a mixed drink).  The price of the drinks probably wouldn't have bothered me quite so much had the drinks actually had any alcohol in them or tasted good.  I tried three different mixed drinks on the trip hoping to find something I'd like, but they were all awful.  My aunt purchased some wine at the wine tasting, but we were only able to have it at dinner.  She had about 1/3 of a bottle left after dinner and wanted to take it to her room, but she wasn't allowed.Also, I question whether this boat actually has stabilizers.  Having no other cruise experience to compare with myself, but having heard reports from other cruisers that the stabilizers on the boat drastically reduce the rocking, I am left to believe that either this ship does not have stabilizers or they were not working.  The boat rocked A LOT all the time.  I don't know if it was particularly windy, but the weather was perfect.  The waves didn't seem any higher than expected.  I think that the drunk people on board had an easier time walking than the sober.  We arrived back in Galveston on a Monday and it was not until sometime on Friday that my body finally quit feeling like I was still on the boat.  I didn't get seasick on the boat, but my mom did at dinner the first night.  She took something for it and was okay after that.  Other issues - Once while walking from the elevator to our room, my sister and I came across a used syringe laying on the ground.  We looked around for someone to come take it, but couldn't find anyone, so we got some tissue and picked it up carefully and disposed of it in our room (couldn't find a sharps container anywhere).  That night, after dinner, we came back to the room and found that a sharps container had been left for us.  I don't know how long the syringe had been laying there...and for the most part...the ship seemed to be kept clean.  But it really bothered me that first of all this would be left laying in a common area near the elevators where anyone could have stepped on it...and second that we couldn't find a proper way to dispose of it or anyone to help us.Meals - For a ship that touts itself to be a party ship, I would expect that breakfast would be available a little later than it is.  We slept in some and knew that we had late dinners, so at late breakfasts, my sister and I always had to pick over what was left on the Lido deck since breakfast foods were already picked up elsewhere.  That also messed up lunch - we were never hungry when any of the healthier lunch choices were available, so our late lunches were a disappointing walk around trying to convince ourselves that we actually wanted to eat something available.  Dinners in the Wind Star dining room were great.  I never had something that I didn't like.  The waiters were great as well and always did a fine job of getting our food to us quickly (we were often done with our meals by the time other tables were just getting theirs).  The wait staff was required to do some cheesy entertainment though.  While it had the potential to be fun and cute, it was really more annoying and I felt really bad for our waiters because they were required to participate in an embarrassing form of "entertainment."I'll review Cozumel below....But to sum up the experience on the ship, I'd say that it was certainly worth skipping.  I don't know if it is just the ship that I didn't like, Carnival that I didn't like, or the entire cruising experience that I didn't like.  I am leary of ever taking another cruise and probably never will unless it's another family event like this one was.  Had I thought about it at the time, I probably would have considered taking enough off of the ship with me in Cozumel to just stay off of the ship and purposefully miss embarkation.  I don't know what they do with luggage and belongings for people who end up missing embarkation in port, but certainly there is some way for those people to get their belongings back.  I would have preferred to spend the rest of the day in Cozumel as well as the next day and just catch a plane back to Texas and meet up with the rest of my belongings there.  Overall, the cruise experience felt to me like slow expensive transportation (with a few "babysitters" to keep you busy with games and such) to and from a destination where you spend only enough time to do one thing and then walk around in a tourist shopping area reminiscent of the Mexico area at Six Flags Over Texas minus the rides.  Heck...why not build a few rollercoasters at the port, charge fees and make more money.  They'd fit right in.Disembarking in Galveston was fairly smooth.  I'd read complaints about the process, but didn't really have any myself except for the long lines to go through customs.  We had left our bags out the night before, so we didn't worry about carrying luggage off.  We waited in one of the entertainment show rooms for our group to be called.  It really didn't take too long.  We followed everyone out, grabbed our luggage, and got in line for customs.  I think it took about 45 minutes to get through customs, so I wondered why they were calling groups so quickly.  It would have been preferable to sit around a little longer to standing in a long customs line with my heavy backpack (because that's where all the liquor was).  Speaking of the liquor in my backpack, it was not until sometime on the last day that someone mentioned to people on the cruise that they'd have to pay taxes on the liquor if they had over a certain quantity.  This seemed to be news to everyone.  One woman had purchased a case of liquor and was very upset that she had not been warned when she purchased it.  I knew that with the small amount of liquor that I had, that even though it was over the limit, I'd probably end up paying taxes, but it wouldn't really amount to much.  When going through customs, I was honest about the amount of liquor I had, but the agent told me that they were pretty busy "back there" and he was just going to let me through!!  I am left wondering "where is the 'fun' in this 'fun ship'"?  The fun was targeted at either the very young, the much older, or the drunks.  I don't fit into any of those categories.  When it's all said and paid for, I think I gave Carnival about $900 for this vacation (my portion of the room, the few things I bought, drinks, casino, cell phone charges, bingo, etc.).  That got me meals, a bed, and transportation.  I checked airfare from Dallas to Cozumel for the same time frame - about $250.  Three nights in a small non-resort room on Cozumel would probably cost me $300-$400 (less if shared with others).  Add in meals and I'd have spent less on this trip, had a greater time, more flexibility, cheaper drinks, and a better report.

Cabin Review

Ocean View

Cabin 6C

The room was in a great location and was fairly quiet.  It is smaller than an American hotel room and the bathroom is minimal, but it was completely adequate for our needs.  We were surprised that there was no hair dryer in the room as we'd read previous reviews stating that they are there.  We wound up sharing one hair dryer between two rooms, having to walk it down the hall for a trade-off a couple of times each day.

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