HORRIBLE EXPERIENCE-DON'T GO WITH CARNIVAL CRUISLINE

Carnival Ecstasy Cruise Review to Caribbean - Western

Cruises: 4-6 cruises
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 33

Overall rating:

1 out of 5
Verified Review
Carnival Ecstasy

4 Night Western Caribbean (Miami Roundtrip)

Sail date: October 19, 2015

Ship: Carnival Ecstasy

Cabin type: Balcony

Cabin number: U228

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 9 years ago

Review summary

I had been on 5 cruises, with this being my 5th and LAST ONE due to this cruise. I've cruised with Carnival 3 other times and once with Royal Caribbean. The 4 other cruises I had been on were amazing. My new girlfriend had never been on a cruise, so I booked us on the Carnival Ecstasy for a 4 night trip. Let me just say... This was the worst vacation I/we ever had. Let's start with the staff. EVERYONE, aside from "Su", (who cleaned our room), were the most unprofessional and rudest staff members I had ever encountered. On my previous 4 cruises, the staff would stop while you walked by, everyone greeted you with a smile, you seen and usually met every Upper Management (Captain, Cruise Director, Ect...) and had a pleasant encounter with them and it almost seemed like you were royalty. On the Carnival Ecstasy, staff members would cut us off while walking, they were constantly using their cell phones, they would dine in the buffet with their feet up on chairs, legs spread open and chewing with their mouth's open. Any possible rude or unbecoming behavior, was constant.

 

It was so horrible, that my girlfriend and I were becoming entertained by our expectations of what was coming next and MUCH more came. The ship was dirty, outdated and seemed maintained poorly. Everyone just seemed to be going through the motions of their jobs to get through the trip. Anytime we asked a crewmember a question, it almost seemed like we were bothering them. With us being trapped on the ship, we couldn't wait for it to be over.

 

Furthermore... The ONLY staff members who were being nice were the one's trying to sell us something. Once we declined the, what seemed to be 100 sales pitch's, those "Salespeople" or "Crewmembers" became like the rest of the staff, rude and unprofessional. 

 

If your reading this, STAY AWAY FROM CRUISES, especially Carnival. Once you are on the ship, there is no escape. Go book a nice All Inclusive vacation. At least if it is as horrible as our cruise was, you can cut your trip short and go back home and do home maintenance. It would be much more fun and at least you would have something to show for it accept a large credit card bill and horrible memories.  

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

3 out of 5

Onboard Activities

1 out of 5

Entertainment

1 out of 5

Children's Programs

1 out of 5

Service and Staff

1 out of 5

Ship Quality

1 out of 5

Cabin / Stateroom

1 out of 5
The room smelled like a sewer and the boat was rocking the entire trip.

Ship tip

STAY AWAY.... Read Comments above.

Ports of call

Miami, Florida

5 out of 5

Key West, Florida

1 out of 5
They cancelled our trip to Key West, due to poor weather.

Cozumel, Mexico

5 out of 5
Was this review helpful? 33

35 Comments

GlendaMil    9 years ago

I did a four day on the Ecstasy. Was great More fun than the law should allow!!!!

nccruiselady    9 years ago

my Husband and went on a 4 day cruises 10/12-10/16. This was our first and we did have good staff but like you a lot of them seemed to not care and had a few rude people. Every night going back to our room one of the staff was sitting in our hallway on the phone, he was not loud or anything but I found it odd and unprofessional. The ship it's self did seem old did not have much for a young couple that did not drink :( . we are going to try one more and hope it's better.

ghiagal    9 years ago

M3 that was my point, I'm not justifying Carnival in any way. Just saying that if your previous experiences cruising were awesome, then why disregard cruising altogether based on one bad experience. If it's price that is driving you to Carnival, you can honestly get just as good a deal on Royal. Our upcoming Oasis cruise is running us around $780 pp including a $175 pp obc, in a balcony room. Our group cruise on Carnival (25 people) for an inside cabin is running $695 pp with a $25 obc. only reason we are in it is the dates and port of departure worked for the group.

mrstarr0415    9 years ago

I will never stop cruising I just started this year And I'm booked on my 4th in jan

m3    9 years ago

We had a similar experience In September on that boat HOWEVER,we will not stop cruising We are booked on sensation (4th time ) on December 10, n it's all what you make it. If you keep a positive attitude even In a negative situation you'll still make the best of any situation. CRUISERS FOR LIFE!

mrstarr0415    9 years ago

Well I just got off the ecstasy and it was a bad cruise for god sake the rail on the pull down bed they taped up with scotch tape to keep it from falling down and no need for a turn down they left my son bed down the whole trip and I was on the same cruise as this person so I'm sticking with the best royal or Disney because I spent my hard earned money also and I want good service

krissy122012    9 years ago

when they do upgrades or repair anything necessary

ahinson88    9 years ago

Whats drydock? a break?

TeresaC1963    9 years ago

I am looking forward to it. I've heard so many rave reviews. Glad you had a great anniversary.

JudyBerman824    9 years ago

the breeze is a beautiful ship and their steakhouse dinning is top notch. loved that ship spent my 30th anniversary aboard we had a blast

TeresaC1963    9 years ago

The Breeze is in dry dock for 8 days prior to my sailing. Hopefully the crew is fresh and ready to go. 😎

krissy122012    9 years ago

True true

TeresaC1963    9 years ago

Hey your crew may be in a great mood. They know they are off after it is over. Lol

kristi62870    9 years ago

lol...no problem!

krissy122012    9 years ago

Oh shoot...I'm sorry it's not ecsatcy..it's the Fantasy. lol wrong ship

TeresaC1963    9 years ago

I was going to ask the same thing. I don't see any dry dock. It has cruises booked continuously through 2017.

kristi62870    9 years ago

@krissy122012 Ecstasy is going into dry dock?

krissy122012    9 years ago

We are going on this ship Feb 1 and after our cruise is over the ship will go into dry dock. Wonder if this will affect the quality of foods spirits and service. Our 1st cruise and want it to be relaxing...I'm not nit picky so I'm sure we will make the best of it.

caybby    9 years ago

I'm going sept 12!! Can't wait

kristi62870    9 years ago

@caybby....we are sailing Oct. 15. we are going with some good friends and are so excited about it and will have a good time no matter what! Thanks everyone for the positive words!

TeresaC1963    9 years ago

@comstock. I'm with cay by, don't worry about one negative review. In customer service there is statistical evidence that you are 10 times more likely to hear from the dissatisfied than the satisfied. Yet on here you see an overwhelmingly higher percentage of positive reviews. Which means the percentage of satisfied vs dissatisfied is even greater. That's reassuring for me.

caybby    9 years ago

caybby    9 years ago

Don"t worry about their review they as you can complained about everything some people are very nit picky. I have heard so many good and positive things about the ecstasy and don't care about what others say. We took off work and paid are hard earned money we will have a good time. It's what you make of it. When is your cruise next year? @comstock

kristi62870    9 years ago

Very sad reading this ...as we are taking our first cruise ever on her next year :(

excop    9 years ago

We tip our room Stewart an Dining room waiters over the auto gratuity

ahinson88    9 years ago

did you still tip

deboftheseas    9 years ago

that's what happens on the Walmart of cruising

caybby    9 years ago

Hmm that's funny I have never had a problem with carnival

CrusinTim    9 years ago

So you had one bad experience on one cruise out of five and you want EVERYONE not to cruise. You stated the three previous with Carnival were...and I quote..."AMAZING"! Granted, what you experienced on this cruise was unacceptable and should be addressed directly with Carnival. I have stated in posts in the past that if past passengers do not inform the cruise line of a bad cruise, the issue will not be corrected for future cruises. And this may have happened to you because not one passenger that had a bad cruise on this ship prior to yours contacted Carnival about it. We've been on 12 cruises, 5 on Carnival. We sailed the Ecstasy some years ago after it had a fire in the Aft part of the ship two weeks before our sail date. We have also been to all-inclusive resorts. We continue to cruise because we feel it is the best bang-for-your-buck vacation when planned right. Sorry you had a bad cruise but for us, we'll continue cruising.......

rhonda1402    9 years ago

Carnival in the Hotel Rating Standards is a 4 Star - they offer a basic Cruise experience. It sounds like the Staff may be coming up to their time to return home, I empathise that it is not easy for them to be at Sea for 8 - 9 months & they don't get to go home until the end of their Contract. Whilst rudeness is not appropriate at any time, I also appreciate that they are people with things going on in the background of their life that may be impacting on their demeanour & behaviour. May I recommend one of the 5 Star Cruise Lines - Celebrity, Royal Caribbean, Holland America, the APT European River Cruises & the Cunard Queen Mary Ships. They are each beautiful ships and offer 5 Star service where nothing is a problem. All the best.

JudyBerman824    9 years ago

we have cruised with carnival 6 times and are booked on 3 more we stay in touch with our favorite crew members and are cruising with people we have meet on previous cruises. We have only been on one ship in which we thought was ready for an overhaul which was the victory but the staff made up for the disrepair that we noted. Sorry you has such a bad experience.

excop    9 years ago

Have never cruised with Carnival, sorry you had a bad experience. Unfortunately you may have another bad experience at a all inclusive, does this mean you will never do that again. Don't let one incident control you, you will have a sad life if you do

ghiagal    9 years ago

so one bad experience vs 4 good = don't ever cruise again? That's like a bad dinner out saying you'll never dine out again. If you're looking to be treated like royalty then Carnival might not be your ideal line. We've been on Carnival and Royal and they are very different. Not that we've ever experienced anything like that on any cruise, but if we had I can safely say I would have taken photos and taken them to management, I also would say I might not cruise that brand again but wouldn't deter me from great experiences on other lines.

Cruise4two    9 years ago

Sorry for your bad experience, but I have been on 7 day and going on a 5 day cruise in a few weeks. This will be our 5th cruise and have never experienced anything you wrote about!!. Wow!

barbiesueken    9 years ago

short cruise itineraries tend to be much more about drinking or sunbathing, not about service or quality experiences. sorry you got left wanting.

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