Carnival Ecstasy review

As promised, here is my first report card on the two cruises we’ve taken this year (so far :-)). I’ll rank both cruises (and hopefully future cruises) on the same scale: 20 categories, scored 1-5 (5 being the highest); then total the points for the overall cruise score (out of 100 possible points).

In February 2009 we took the Carnival Ecstasy (see the Wikipedia entry) from Galveston, Texas to Progresso, Mexico and Cozumel, Mexico. The cruise was priced around $300 per person and Laurie and I traveled with two friends.

Overall ship decor – 3.5
While some areas of this ship were recently updated and refurbished, overall the ship felt a lot like a Vegas Casino (from what I’ve seen of Vegas casinos) or a 50’s diner as in Panorama Bar And Grill. I was a huge fan of some of the areas they recently remodeled however, and would love to see the finished project after the ship completes it’s dry dock later this year.

Food in Main Dining Room – 4
We only ate dinner in the Main Dining Room. The selection and options were great. The food presentation was always great but at times the food itself felt/tasted like it was mass-produced. I imagine it would be hard to overcome that with the several thousand meals they prepare each and every day.

Food elsewhere on ship – 4
Two words – FREE SUSHI! While the hours were limited – I did enjoy my share of free sushi on the ship, often before heading to our late seating in the dining room. The Panorama Bar and Grill had a decent selection but it tended to side more with an upscale buffet or cafeteria fare. It served it’s purpose but it wasn’t anything spectacular. The pizza and deli bars were a great addition and were open anytime we had a hankering for more food – but again, the food itself wasn’t anything spectacular.

Overall Room/Cabin – 3.5
I wasn’t overly impressed with our cabin but it served it’s purpose and had the amenities you’d expect. We were on Main Deck (Deck 5) with an oceanview (starboard) room. It was on the lower price end of the oceanview rooms. We had a decent sized window but it was cloudy/foggy or dirty (on the outside) the entire trip. It didn’t hinder our view too much but it would have been nice if it had been cleaned.

Bed – 4
Being 6’5″ I wasn’t expecting much from a bed that was basically two twin beds pushed together. After getting used to the rocking motion of the ship on the first night I don’t remember any problems with the bed.

Cabin bathroom – 3.5
We weren’t sure what to expect in a cruise liner bathroom. This one was small – but we found out later – it could have been smaller. It was hard for more than one person to do much in the bathroom at a time. I also would have preferred a vent of some sort. The mirrors constantly fogged up after showers and any smells lingered for quite a while. After the first day we did find a work around however (see below).

Spa – 5
This was one of the areas that was recently updated on board. While I didn’t personally use any of the spa services, Laurie did and seemed to enjoy her massage. The spa was very restful, roomy and relaxing. After the first day, realizing how small the in room showers and bathroom were, we quickly started taking advantage of the spa. With a late dinner, we would go work out, enjoy some time in the sauna (a wet and dry sauna were available), and then shower and clean up with plenty of room in the spa locker rooms. Then we just headed back to our rooms to change for dinner.

Weight room/gym – 4
This was no Laundry Center or top notch gym, but it had plenty of equipment for the folks on board.

Pool deck – 3.5
We didn’t use the pool, water slide or hot tub on this cruise — it was too cool. But they looked nice. There was also a couple additional hot tubs on one of the other decks as well. The pool deck was nice for reading and sunning as well.

Overall entertainment – 4
There were a number of options on board for entertainment which helped this ranking. Probably my personal favorites were the newlywed game and talent show hosted by the cruise director. There was also a comedian onboard who performed several late night shows but we didn’t stick around to hear much of him.

Ship’s singers and dancers – 3
Wasn’t overly impressed with the singers and dancers – other than the fact that they could dance with the ship rocking back and forth. It was decent entertainment but probably nothing I’d pay to see elsewhere.

On board activities – 4
There were loads of onboard activities till the wee hours of the morning. We did take advantage of the shore excursions as well so we missed some of the events that took place during the day. But there was always something going on onboard – if not several things.

Kids/teen areas – 5
I don’t have kids or teens but as the cruise director mentioned – I also didn’t see many either. And from what I understand there were over 150 kids on board. So they must have done their job.

Bars/clubs on board – 4
There was a broad variety of bars and clubs on board with various themes and decors – which was nice. We didn’t stay very long in more than just one or two, simply because most of them were quite smoke filled so we were turned off (no offense to the smokers themselves).

Overall staff – 5
We didn’t meet a single member of the staff that didn’t seem thrilled we were on board. Many were willing to go out of their way to ensure we were happy and taken care of. They were also friendly and more than willing to chat and share their story and experiences and take interest in ours as well.

Main dining room staff – 5
We had a great staff in the main dining room. Just like the rest of the staff, our wait staff was more than accommodating and went above and beyond the call of duty to give us an enjoyable dining time.

Cruise director – 4
While at times the cruise director could come across as a bit cheesy — he was funny and a talented fiddle and violinist to boot. Plus his humor and over the top personality more than made up for the captain’s.

Motion sickness – 3
While I didn’t get any motion sickness, one of our friends felt pretty bad the first day or so on board. You definitely knew you were out at sea with the continual rocking/motion of the ship. I’m not sure if it was because of the cold front that was following us to Mexico and the accompanying wind, the speed of the ship or the size. Either way the movement was definitely noticeable.

Boarding process – 4
While there was a long line we had to wait in to board the ship (probably related primarily to the time we arrived), it went smoothly enough and even for first time cruisers the process was easy to navigate.

Disembarkation process – 2
We carried most of our luggage off and were able to grab an early spot getting off the boat. Getting off the ship and getting our luggage was a super breeze. Getting off the ship was super quick and our checked luggage was all waiting for us when we got off. But waiting to get through customs took far too long. We also saw a number of groups who for whatever reason were able to get help with their luggage and skip past the line that we were waiting in. It may not be fair to dock the cruise line for US Customs related issues but it was a bummer and memorable ending to an otherwise great cruise.