amandalmassa

I've been on 15 cruises with different lines, and can say that sailing on the Carnival Ecstacy was just an average experience. I planned this trip with my boyfriend to celebrate our anniversary, and we were both very "mehh" about our experience. This was his first cruise so I expected him to be really pleased, especially since I have had such great experiences with Carnival in the past. Sadly, I was let down and have noticed a huge decline in quality since my last time cruising with Carnival. First of all, some positive things: the boat is smaller than many ships out there, but it is very clean and there are some cool features like a karaoke joint, sushi bar, and a piano bar. The crowd on this ship included people of all ages, which I liked. This ship stopped at 3 locations in the Bahamas, and I really was pleased with them. Now for the cons... The service is a big one. The staff in general are nice, so no complaints there, but one of the things I enjoy most about cruising is how the cruise line goes above and beyond to make you feel comfortable and special. That was not so much the case on this trip. When I booked this cruise, I was asked if I was celebrating any special occasions, and I noted that it was my anniversary. I was told I would get champagne and chocolate strawberries in my room, but we never got anything in our room. The anniversary occasion was even noted on my final cruise documents with Carnival, so this was a big detail to miss on Carnival's part, especially since they seemed to go out of their way to add that little perk for our special occasion. Service in the dining room was a disaster. I'm not sure when this started, but Carnival now does these block times for dinner seating -- it used to be that late seating was at ONE time at a table with the same people and same servers, and all the food was pretty much ready to serve when you arrived. This was wonderful because it gave you a chance to really get to know your servers