We had a great family cruise on the Ecstasy. The ship is old but well maintained. The ports of call were great. We have had better service from staff on other ships but nothing that I would categorize as negative just an 'oh, I remember it being better.'
Embarkation
5 out of 5
The Port of Charleston was the smoothest embarkation experience I have had.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
4 out of 5
Many times the same food being served in the main dining room could be found at the dinner buffet. Service in the main dinning room was good but slow at times.
Onboard Activities
4 out of 5
The Ecstacy is a smaller ship with fewer onboard activities than the mega ships but I found that we were always able to find chairs by the pool, though the Serenity deck did fill up fast. The kids loved the water works (it has 3 different water slides).
Entertainment
3 out of 5
The live bands were fantastic. The shows were ok. The choreography was good but I just felt like the music in them were catered to an older crowd.
Children's Programs
4 out of 5
We used the children's programs during the day and evening hours (we didn't do the night owls program) and while the staff was polite they weren't overly friendly. The kids enjoyed their time at Camp Carnival and I didn't experience any issues with the staff/program. I wasn't super impressed with it, but I also don't have anything negative to say.
Service and Staff
4 out of 5
Everyone was friendly, but I felt that the room steward was overworked. He always cleaned our room but on occasion he would forget to give us clean beach towels.
Ship Quality
4 out of 5
The ship is well maintained considering it was built in 1991 but the design and layout reflect that it's an old ship. I liked being on the smaller ship, having less crowds and it being easier to get from one end of the ship to another. You just have to be ok with sometimes sitting and staring at the ocean because sometimes that's all there is to do.
Cabin / Stateroom
3 out of 5
Not a good layout for a family of 4 with 2 small children. There is definitely no room for a pack'n'play in the room so our 2 year old had to sleep in the king sized bed with us. The room is not designed to have the king sized bed with the 2 upper pullmens down. You can really only have one pullmen down and with the king bed that means you have to slide over the king bed to get to the balcony.
Ship tip
Love it for what it is. It's an old ship but as long as you're willing to make your own fun it'll be a blast.
We did not do an excursion because we did not find any kid friendly ones. The port has a resort area that has been built up by carnival and it was perfect for us. They had adult water slides and a kids splash area. Our family had a great time at this port.
We did the self assist debarkation and it went smoothly. Some confusion on where to go since the cruise director was unable to make announcements over the loud speakers due to noise restriction in Charleston.
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