We chose this cruise primarily because Charleston is an easy drive from our home in east Tennessee. We actually took our first cruise from this port about 6 years ago, and upon our arrival found that little had changed except that there was no indoor parking available anymore. Embarkation was easy, as our luggage was off-loaded and on its way to the ship before we parked. We did have to wait in the parking lot for a shuttle to the cruise terminal.

We had purchased Faster to the Fun, and our check-in was smooth and quick. We were on board by 11:30AM, and expected our cabin to be ready as advertised with the Faster to the Fun purchase. This was not the case however, as we were not permitted to access our cabin until after 1:30PM.

We had an aft cabin with balcony on deck 6, the first time we have been on the end of a ship, and really enjoyed this location. The Ecstasy is an older ship and shows its age, but the crew did a good job keeping it clean. The stench of cigarette smoke is horrible on the Ecstasy in the casino area, and many of the activities (trivia, live music, crafts) were held in the smoking area around the casino. Whoever made this decision needs a different job. While complaining about the smoke, I'll also point out that there were the usual gang of rude individuals that would smoke in non-smoking areas, and try to hide their cigarettes when folks came by, as if cupping them in their hand eliminates the stink that is obvious 30 feet away. This has been my biggest issue with Carnival, that they do not enforce their smoking rules. Read more