Carnival Ecstasy Review

3.5 / 5.0
1,057 reviews

Relaxing Ecstasy cruise

Review for the Bahamas Cruise on Carnival Ecstasy
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1stime74
10+ Cruises • Age 60s

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Sail Date: Dec 2011
Cabin: Interior

First, a little background information. My wife of almost 20 years and I have been on 17 cruises. We have been on 10 Carnival, 5 Disney and 2 of the old Premier Cruise line from the early 90's. We live in northern New England so we always go where it is warm. This trip was a last minute birthday surprise for my wife. I chose the 5 day Ecstasy because it fit my time off schedule and, of course, the price. This was our first trip on the Fantasy Class ship so I wasn't sure quite what to expect. I can say that we were pleasantly surprised by the decor and how clean and well maintained the ship was. We really liked the "New York City Lights" theme and thought that all of the pubic spaces where as nice as any ship we had been on. Of course, the ship is smaller and the floor plan is very different from the new Carnival ships.

The day before the cruise we stayed at Disney's Saratoga Springs Resort and rented a car from Thrifty to get around. The cheapest way to get from Orlando to Port Canaveral is to rent a car. I have used both Thrifty and Budget before. This trip the rental from Orlando to Cape Canaveral was $19.00 one-way for an intermediate car. The trip back was a bit more, because they charge a drop-off fee of an additional $27.00. Still far cheaper than a bus, taxi or shuttle service and you are in charge.

We arrived at Port Canaveral around 11:30 and took the shuttle from Thrifty to the port. They are currently using an older terminal while their new one is being built. Not very fancy, but it gets the job done. Since we are VIP, we walked right into the terminal area with no delay at security. Just as we were about to get our picture taken for the Sail and Sign card, the computer system crashed. No big deal, they had it up and running within 30 minutes and Carnival made sure that everyone had a seat and provided water and snacks if you wanted them. We also met a group of really nice "first timers" while waiting.

Cabin Review

Interior

Cabin 4E
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