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Carnival Ecstasy Cruise Review
Da Brickhouse
Itinerary: Western Caribbean, Progresso and Cozumel
Sailing Date: July 21, 2008
Age: 36
Occupation: Educator
Number of Cruises: First Cruise
Embarkation Day
Arrived in Galveston at 11:45, party of 8 went checked
in, took welcome aboard picture, security picture and
was on the ship by 12:30. Each group went to staterooms
on the Rivera Deck Outside room with window, Upper Deck
Penthouse Suite with balcony, and Verandah Suite with
balcony to drop off bags and all agreed to meet on the
Lido deck at 1:00 to eat lunch.
We found two tables between the stage and outdoor grill,
dropped our belongings and headed for the lines. The
kids ages 9, 12, & 15 opted for burgers, dogs, and fries
while the adults experimented with the fare inside the
Panorama Grill. As everyone had mentioned, the food on
the buffet is ok, but I didn’t let the meager fare spoil
what fun I was having already.
After lunch I went to the purser’s desk to leave our
cash deposit and limit my 9 year olds spending limit on
her S & S card; only two people in line before me so
process took less than five minutes. After leaving the
purser’s desk went up to the Wind Star to meet with the
Gabriel the maitre D in order to get the entire group at
the same table in the same restaurant. Gabriel was quite
accommodating; he was able to get our entire party
together at the same time in the Wind Song, which we
preferred over the Wind Star because it’s a smaller more
intimate setting. I then grabbed a couple of the mini
ship plans and went exploring The group went to each
level of the ship to familiarize ourselves with where
things were located, additionally my mother, niece and
nephew were on the Verandah decks and only certain
elevators went that far up so that took some time to
figure out.
After exploring the ship we were led by an announcement
from our friendly cruise director Goose that it was time
for the muster drill and that we should return to our
cabins to pick up our life vests and report to our
Muster Station. Fortunately me, my husband, and
daughter’s muster station was on the inside of the ship
right outside the Rolls Royce lounge, once everyone
arrived the process went pretty fast, we were the last
group to go outside to our life boat stations overall I
think it took 20 minutes, the only disappointment is
that the ship left dock while we were doing the drill.
After the drill my hubby took the life vests back to the
room while daughter and I watched the ship leave
Galveston. The entertainment crew lead by Byron, David,
and Suzanne started the sail away party with some line
dances and got the crowd involved.
Although I rarely saw Langston our room steward, he was
very efficient, knew our daily habits and anticipated
when we would return to our rooms, and made the best
towel animals for my daughter and had a decorated
chocolate chip cookie waiting on her bed every night.
After the sail away party we went back to our
staterooms, our room steward had placed our luggage
inside of the room and had it waiting on the bed for us
to unpack. We unpacked all of the luggage, hung items in
our spacious walk in closet and took advantage of all of
the storage. Placed our water and Gatorade in the
refrigerator, reviewed the Caper for the day and planned
our evening.
My niece took off to club O2 for the teen meet and greet
and sign up, and my daughter, nephew and I went to the
family registration and orientation for the 9-11 and
12-14 year olds. My 9 year old was very excited; however
my 12 year old went grudgingly. We listened to the youth
director, completed the applications, met the staff and
then were giving the Capers for each age group. After
receiving his caper for the Circle C group my nephew
became a little more excited about the activities.
Once we left the orientation in the starlight lounge, we
walked down one flight of stairs and met our group for
dinner at the Wind Song, where fortunately the dress
code for the first night was waived.
After dinner the kids went to their respective youth
activities, my mother went back to the cabin to review
the next day Caper and plan out the next day, my husband
and brother went to the casino, and me and my soon to be
sister-in-law went Fun Hopping with the entertainment
crew. We started off in the Neon Bar playing name that
tune, moved on to the China Bistro and participated in
“The Twist” competition, next stop was the starlight
lounge with “Men vs. Women” karaoke, and finally ended
in Stripes disco with some funky dancing.
The first day of the cruise was great and we were
looking forward to four more.
1st Sea Day
At about 4:00 a.m. I was awakened by the motion in the
ocean. Tropical Storm Dolly made her presence known.
Although the Captain and his crew were able to navigate
around the storm we were not spared the 10 foot waves
and 20 – 30 miles per hour winds from the storm. After
spending several hours half awake and a little queasy, I
decided to be brave and chance breakfast with husband
and little one. We went to the Wind Star and I decided
on a vegetable omelet, chicken sausage, and plain wheat
toast. I seemed to be ok, and went down to the Port
shopping talk in the Blue Sapphire. After about 15
minutes in there it was all down hill. I became very
ill, but luckily my mother had brought along several
barf bags and a package of hand wipes. After this fiasco
I took to my bed for the rest of the day and did not
emerge again until 8:00 p.m. for dinner. So I missed
this entire day but my daughter did bring her Carnival
bear that she and her dad made to the room to keep me
company.
I felt better after spending the day in bed and was able
to participate in the Captain’s Cocktail Reception and
Formal Dinner. The family took several formal photos,
enjoyed the free drinks and hor derves and then headed
to the Wind Song for dinner. Of course lobster and
shrimp combo was on the menu tonight and it was great.
One portion was enough for me but several at the table
had two or three servings.
After dinner I went back to the room, hubby went to the
casino with my brother, mother and niece went to
Starlight for karaoke, and baby girl and nephew went to
camp carnival.
Progresso
It was great to be off the ship after such a rocky day
on yesterday. We arrived early into port at Progresso
and was able to leave the ship by 8:00 a.m. The group
took one of several Buses from port down the 6 mile
pier. Arranged reef club resort and Mayan ruin tour with
Auto Progresso for $45 per person.
Was very disappointed with the amenities available at
the reef club. There were not enough chairs, umbrellas,
or accommodations for the resort guests and additional
guests booked by Auto Progresso. There were no
activities other than access to the swimming pool
available for hundreds of guests. The staff was not
accommodating and the food was horrible. I definitely
don’t feel as if we got our money’s worth for this
event.
Not quite sure why this is a port of call for Carnival,
they should really consider a port that has more
activities that can accommodate a wide variety of
guests.
Back on the ship we dropped our belongings in our rooms
and headed to the Lido deck for food.
The pool and slide were open, I was able to get a Miami
Vice and my “monkeyhead” the kids all played the water
wars game and my sister-n-law and I participate in the
country line dance contest and then partied on the lido
deck stage for about an hour.
Family went to the dining room for dinner and then to
show and Stripes disco.
Cozumel
Docked at Punta Lagunsta,
only ship at this dock the Fantasy docked further down
at the other peer. We took a van cab for total of $30 to
Paradise Beach which is absolutely beautiful. The beach
club has rows of lounge chairs with umbrellas waiting
for guests. We were escorted to the very first row of
chairs, given our arm bands for $10 each which entitles
the bearer to use of water trampolines, floating rock
climbing wall, coconut climb, bungee jump, body floats,
and snorkeling equipment. The beach is home to several
live parrots that mingle among the guests. The wait
staff was very accommodating and kept our cups full at
all times.
The girls enjoyed a half hour on jet skis, while the
guys rented a jeep and took a tour of the town. We
spent four hours on the beach before going back to Punta
Lagunsta for shopping. Several people advised against
collecting the freebies while in port however the 9 year
old and 15 year old we traveled with had a great time
collecting the bracelet and four free charms at the
designated shops and because of their excitement we were
given two bracelets which contained the charms for the
entire collection.
Great deals on premium liquors at port liquor store and
great souvenirs.
My daughter and I were exhausted when we got back on the
ship; we ordered room service, took our showers and took
a nap to rejuvenate ourselves.
I took my daughter to meet up with her camp carnival
group at 6:00 p.m. for dinner, a show, and some bonding
time before their big pajama party from 10:00 p.m. until
3:30 a.m. She was very excited about staying out to 3:30
a.m. and having the camp counselors walk her back to the
room instead of her parents picking her up. She came
home with a good bag full of items, a medal, trophy, and
candy and wanted to tell me all about her fun, however
at 3:30 in the morning I told her to go to bed and tell
me all about later in the day.
Entertainment team show of Dreamers was great, and disco
night at Strips disco was fun.
Last Sea Day
The women went to the morning jewelry Sale and then to
the art auction, men slept in late with the kids and
ordered room service for breakfast.
Later in the day we all did the Family activities with
camp carnival – that included a scavenger hunt, cookie
decorating, and ice cream eating contest. My daughter
won for the kids, I was second for the mothers, and my
husband didn’t even finish his bowl.
Last formal dinner in Wind Song Dining room – Juan and
Johnnie were great as usual.
Anthony Acosta – comedian was hilarious, I laughed so
hard I cried and my side still hurts, also the
entertainment teams rendition of what I would do if I
was not on a ship was quite entertaining.
I came onboard informed by the information from the
boards and promised myself that I would only by one
family photo, however because we are such a photogenic
bunch all of the pictures were beautiful, I was moved to
by them all.
The entire family had a blast and we can’t wait to book
our next cruise.
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