Carnival
Ecstasy
Western Caribbean

JamieH

Age: 40
Occupation: Controller
Number of Cruises: 1

This was my first cruise - I went with a college friend - we were celebrating our 40th birthday this year.

Embarking - this was relatively painless. We drove to the cruise terminal, dropped off our luggage and then followed a line of cars to the assigned parking lot. The only problem here is that I would have preferred covered parking, but the attendant said covered parking is only available when leaving on Sundays. This was not explained in any of the cruise literature I read. After taking the shuttle back to the cruise terminal, we waited in the long line to board, but it wasn't too bad. The whole process from dropping off the luggage to stepping foot on the ship took about an hour.

Once onboard, we went straight to the Lido deck by the main pool to purchase our fountain drink card. It was approx $31.00 for the adult card - this is a good deal if you drink a lot of soft drinks because otherwise soft drinks are almost $3.00 each.

We went to our cabin which was in the very back of the boat and looked out over the trail the ship was leaving in the water. I think it might have been a little bit bumpier at times than if we had stayed in the middle of the boat, but it was never a problem. The room was a little small, but there was enough room for both of us to unpack our suitcases and spread out a bit. Make sure you find your cabin steward right away so that you can get the key to the safe in the closet – he or she should be monitoring the hallways close by. The safe was very small, but gave us enough room to store our passports and wallets. We had read that there was only one electrical plug in the room, so we brought an extender and were able to plug in a travel sized blow dryer, a curling iron and a camera charger all at the same time with no problem. The dispenser with the bath gel was a great feature in the bathroom.

Definitely make sure that you fully complete the information on the luggage tags that Carnival sends you so that your luggage will be delivered to your room on a timely basis. I neglected to fill in my cabin number. I was told when I checked in that this would not be a problem as the porters could look me up on the ship’s manifest. However, when I didn’t have my luggage by 8:00 p.m. that evening, I had to find Mashkun, our cabin steward, who immediately took me to the lost luggage area where we made a successful retrieval.

The ship is a bit tricky to navigate – the reference card we received when we boarded was very useful.

Dining rooms – we ate in the main dining room three nights out of five. Portions are small, but you eat several courses (appetizer, salad, entrée and dessert), so I always felt full. Some of the meals were better than others – the lobster tail was very good. Our head waiter was Devon and our secondary waiter was Gabrielle. Gabrielle provided very good service.

We took most of our other meals in the Panorama Grill on the Lido deck. This was extremely convenient as most food is served buffet style. This area contains many different options – a hamburger/hot dog buffet located under a covered area at the end of the main pool, a 24-hour pizzeria, a deli for sandwiches, a salad/fresh fruit area, a dessert table, and then two buffet areas at the front of the room which served different themed food every day (Indian, Caribbean, etc). And don’t forget the self-serve soft ice cream and yogurt.

Ports of Call – We were forced to skip Playa del Carmen because of the hurricane last week, so we went to Progresso, Yucatan instead. There’s really not much here – we signed up for a bus tour just to get out of the miserable heat and humidity. Cozumel was a much better stop with plenty of shopping and excursions to choose from.

Night-time shows – we attended the talent show and the variety show. We went to karaoke one night and to one of the comedy shows. These events were okay, but it was better than just sitting in your cabin and watching a movie (although we did catch four movies while we were onboard). Bingo was fun, but expensive - $10 for one card or $20 for three cards.

Pools – there is a large main pool on the Lido deck and then a smaller pool on the Verandah deck at the back of the ship. We choose the smaller pool because it was quieter – most of the kids (and there were 750 on board) hung out around the larger pool. The only negative point to the Verandah deck pool is that it was behind the large smoke stack, so it frequently smelled funny.

Dress code – we had our formal night the second night of the cruise. It was nice to see everyone dressed up. But the cruise literature said that there would be a second night that required dressy casual attire, and that never happened. Beside the formal night, we were always allowed to dress casual in the dining room.

Alcoholic drinks – don’t even bother with this expense. The bartenders probably use about one quarter of the liquor that would normally be used in a drink. I got a frozen margarita once and couldn’t even taste the tequila.

Disembarking – this process went fairly smoothly. We choose to have our luggage taken off the boat for us, so we had to have it ready for pick-up by midnight of our last night. Then we got up early the next morning, had breakfast and waited for our color to be called (color is determined by the luggage tag assigned by Carnival). We left the ship and were directed into the warehouse where we retrieved our luggage and went though customs. At this point one option was to stand in line for a shuttle and handle your own luggage on and off the shuttle. We choose the express service instead – my friend waited with the luggage and I took a different shuttle (that didn’t allow luggage) back to the parking lot. Then I drove back to the terminal and picked up my friend with the luggage. This process probably took about 20 minutes, so it was much more convenient than waiting on the other shuttle and having to haul your luggage on and off.

The cruise was very nice, but the heat and humidity were a bit much in Progresso and Cozumel. I would consider taking another cruise, but to a different destination that wasn’t so hot. We thought the cruise ship personnel did a great job of taking care of us – in particular our cabin steward Mashkun did a great job of straightening our cabin and giving us fresh towels twice a day. And we loved the towel animals at night, of course.

Ask a Question About Carnival Cruise Lines

Ever thought about becoming a home based travel agent? Check out my web site for home based travel and cruise agents located at;

Home Based Travel Agent