Background: I went on this cruise with my mother and grandma. I have been on several Carnival Cruises and an NCL. My mom has just been on Carnival, and this was my grandmothers first cruise. We booked the cruise in September for about 330$ per person. We had an inside cabin, U96.
We were a little nervous about going on the Ecstasy because of the dry dock and previous reviews. When we got to the port in Galveston(around 11:30) we were told we would board around 12:00. Well we didnt board until 1:30. This was not a big deal, except I would have liked them to not tell me a time at all if they were not sure. No big deal though we made a mad dash to the buffet line and had a good lunch. Explored the ship, very clean. When we started walking to our room we noticed a strong sewage smell in the hallways. Turns out it was in our room too. We ignored it and continued exploring. We do not spend a lot of time in our rooms, so the inside cabin for three people worked for us. I would not recommend for people who like a lot of room.
At dinner we met our waiter Jaime, what a great guy. Overall the food in the main dining room was good. One day we even had special Halloween desserts. I forgot how much I liked having the same waiter every night. Jaime always made our dining experience the best. As for the buffet it was good, buffets stress me out though. The food was good and it was busy most of the time. But thats expected! The staff around this area work so hard to keep up. They really do a great job while still being friendly to everyone. Dont know how they do it!