One of the Best Vacations I've Been On (So Far)
Written: Oct 25 '03 (Updated Oct 25 '03)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Great vacation package, good food, made some new friends
Cons: Some of the wait staff was rude, waiting for the hair dryer
The Bottom Line: Prepare for a long review because this is filled with our adventure.
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| Dionne25's Full Review: Carnival Ecstasy |
It's great to have friends. Especially a best friend.
Last week, I had the opportunity to go on the Carnival Ecstasy with Candice923 for a 4 day, 4 night cruise to Catalina and Ensenada, Mexico.
I guess I should give a little background as to how it came to pass that I accompanied Candice on this cruise. Originally, my plans were to go home to New York for three weeks from Prince Edward Island, attend my high school reunion, make the proper arrangements to get my visa and return to PEI at the end of October.
What ended up happening was this. I called Candice a week before my trip, found out she was going through a divorce and because the cruise was 10 days away, she couldn't cancel or postpone the trip. All her family was unable to take time off on such short notice, and since I was already going home, I called her back and told her I would go with her on the cruise and stay an extra week since I hadn't seen her since last summer.
So, after I attended my reunion, I hopped on a plane two days later to California and literally went from the plane to the boat in a matter of ninety minutes.
I have never been on a cruise before. OK, let me rephrase that, I have never been on a vacation cruise before. The closest I've come was The Spirit Cruises for my high school prom and that was nothing compared to this.
Day One October 13, 2003 - Long Beach
I flew in on AmericaWest Airlines Flight # 11 from NYC to Phoenix, AZ and Flight #29 from Phoenix to LA. I got off the plane a little after 3 pm, and the whole time, Candice is circling the airport. We didn't realize that we booked my flight so close to the cruise departing, so she literally drove up to the curb, and then we threw my luggage in the trunk and back seat and high tailed out of the airport to the dock. Candice had luggage tags for me to put on my bags and I noticed they were orange. I was kind of curious as to why they were this particular color and as you read the review, you, too will become aware of this particular color-coding setup.
We had until 5:00 to check in and it was nearing 4:00 already. Traffic was bumper-to-bumper on the freeway, and as usual, Candice and Dionne are cutting it close. At first we can't find the port where the ship is, and then we find the port, but can't get there. Finally, we are able to pull into the parking lot, where one of the attendants takes our luggage and has it brought not only to the ship, but straight to our cabin (talk about great service.) We parked the car, got our purses and made our way to the ship.
As we are walking to the ship, we can't help but notice how massive this vessel was. We also couldn't help but to sing the theme from The Love Boat as we are approaching (don't tell me no one else wasn't thinking the same thing.) Right before we went to the information desk, I took a picture of the boat (as I always take pictures), and made our way to the check-in/information area.
From the outside, looks like a replica of the golf ball at Epcot Center. We check in, make the changes so that my name appears on the tickets and we get our room keys and Sail and Sign Cards which is pretty much our identification to depart and board the ship. Candice and I are elated and can hardly contain our excitement as we make our way from the lobby to the second floor. There we go through another check-in process and they take our photo for our Sail and Sign Card.
The card works like this - the crew member inserts our card into a slot that looks like the slots from an ATM machine, and our picture appears on a screen. If the card matches the person, you're fine. Also, the card has our name, cabin number, time and place we eat dinner, table number and a few other cool things. These cards were also ours to keep.
Candice and I make our way across the gangway and to our left, our neighbor is none other than The Queen Mary. We thought, cool, we'll check it out when we get back on Friday. There is a crew member at the end of the gangway right before we board the ship that checks our ID and lets us on.
My very first impression of the ship was "Wow - huge!" I believe we were on Empress Deck 7 (E Deck) (and I'll go through all the decks in a minute) and we made our way to the elevators to get to our room. The elevators themselves were amazing. The walls were all glass so you could see the entire splendor on every floor. Our room was on the Verandah Deck 11 (V Deck) and at this point the anticipation is killing me. I can't wait to see what our room looks like. We were staying in Cabin V-18 and as we make our way to the room, the stomachs doing all kinds of acrobatics.
We get to the room, I try my key and maybe it was because of the excitement because I couldn’t get the door to open!!! Candice tries her key, opens the door, and, "Holy Sh-t!!!" Immediately to our left are two closets, one without a door, and the other with two side-by-side doors. On the right is the bathroom, which was a decent size with a shower, but no tub for baths. Adjacent to the closet was a counter top with three mirrors angled in such a way that made it look like twelve mirrors. We had a mini-bar with all different types of glasses, a television on top and refrigerator on the bottom. There was a Queen-size bed and a pull-out couch on the right and our balcony directly in front of us.
Now, here's the best part. On the counter-top are tons of goodies. We're talking chilled champagne; fruit basket; canapé tray with lots of different finger foods including Deviled Eggs, Caviar, and other entrees I'd never seen; another plate with Chocolate covered strawberries, Chocolate covered peanuts and Rice Krispies treats and 4 Bar Vouchers. Each item came with a long slip of paper that read the following:
Front:
"Dear Guest,
A gift has been sent to you through Carnival Cruise Lines' Bon Voyage Gifts and Services Department - Enjoy your cruise."
Back:
"Ecstasy 10-/13/2003 - 4 days cruise - cabin V18 - TO BE DELIVERED AT EMBARKATION - Mrs. Candice Cook, Ms. Dionne Myers - To enhance your cruise, arrangements have been made for you to receive one Chocolate Delight (e.g.) - This gift is compliments of YOUR FRIENDS ON DEADWOOD - Have a Wonderful Cruise!"
The champagne alone was worth $100, so the entire spread had to have been worth between $200-$300 (no exaggeration). Talk about the royal treatment! Like I said, each item that I described had a card similar to the one above. Candice and I were in heaven. I almost cried at that point. We both called our families to let them know we were safe and to brag about all our goodies in our room. I can't even begin to tell you how excited we were at this point.
We were still docked and over the loudspeaker, we were told that in a few minutes, we would be going through a fire drill. When we heard the seven horns, we were to proceed to our designated Muster Station (ours was Station F), and wait for further instructions. I was glad such precautions were being taken in the likely event something was to happen. The drill lasted I'd say for about 10-15 minutes, we made our way back to our rooms and Candice and I got ready for dinner.
Candice signed us up for the Early Dinner at 6:15pm because she knew I liked to eat early. We decided to dress casual, but not wear jeans or sneakers to dinner, just because and made our way to The Wind Star Dining Room. The line was pretty crowded, so we went downstairs to the Information Desk to sign up for our Shore Excursions in Catalina and Ensenada. After waiting in line for a few minutes, the dinner line started to file in and so I went upstairs to our table while Candice took care of the excursion tickets.
Our table was relatively small - it only seated six people and to be quite honest, the other tables around us were huge. I wondered if we were in the right place at first. When I got there, there were two girls already seated. They were from Utah, and for the life of me, I can't remember their names. All I remember is that they were sisters on vacation and going to Disneyland after we docked on Friday. The dining room that night was particularly chilly as they had the air conditioning on full blast and my dress was a tank top. Candice finally arrived, we got acquainted with our table mates and our waiter showed up.
His name was Ulysses and he was from the Philippines. He was our waiter for the duration of the trip and that night, I ordered the Cajun-style Chicken in a Sweet Black Bean Sauce. I thought it was very good. I'd say around 6:30, the ship left port at Long Beach and our journey began. Candice and I got to know our table mates and made conversation and about an hour later, we were done with dinner.
After we left dinner, there was a photographer waiting at the door with a pirate who took our pictures. We went upstairs to the Nautical Spa to book appointments for massages. We figured as long as we were on a cruise, we may as well get pampered. It seemed like pulling teeth making the reservations. The two behind the counter just didn't seem to connect. One would say that we were booked for 1pm, the other would say 1:15 and vice-versa. After about 20 minutes of this ping-pong match, our reservations were set for 1pm on October 14.
We get back to our cabin and at this point, I am tired. I am jet-lagged, I haven't had a decent night's sleep since I left Canada and all I want to do is curl up into my bed. The plan was that Candice was going to check out the Casino for about an hour and come get me so we could play Bingo.
What ended up happening was that while Candice was at the Casino, Dionne was snuggled in her bed in a much needed sleep and did not wake up until the next morning. The first night was a blast and we were excited about Catalina the next morning.
Day Two Tuesday, October 14, 2003 - Catalina
I found that there is a link to Catalina so, you can read more about the Eco-Rafting Tour by clicking here.
After our Shore Excursion, Candice and I had to high-tail it back to the ship for our massage. It was about 12:30, so we went for a quick bite at The Wind Song Dining Room. This was a little smaller than The Wind Star, but still quite enjoyable. We had to eat quickly, because we were running late for our appointments.
The Nautical Spa is located on the Sports Deck. We signed up for a 25-minute massage, Foot massage and Manicure for $99. We were both given a form to fill out with our history and what areas to target during the session. We were given robes and brought to the locker room area where we could put away our things. My masseuse was Ria who was from England and she had a very pleasant way about her. Maybe it was just her melodic voice and English accent, but I liked her instantly.
My session was just heavenly. It was just what the doctor ordered. Ria targeted all the spots that needed to be massaged and by the time my session was over, all I could do was breathe a sigh of relief.
Following the massage was the manicure session. My manicurist was Louise, who was also from England and we had a nice little conversation. I got to know her a little bit (she told me this was her first cruise job) and I told her about my engagement. She did an okay job on my nails, but it could have been better. Overall, I really needed the pampering.
We were pretty tired from our Catalina tour, so we hung around the cabin until it was dinner time. It was a semi-formal event, so we dressed for the occasion. There were a few photo stations set up near The Wind Song and we decided to get a professional photo taken of the two of us. In the 12 years we've known each other, we've never had a professional photo taken. Richardt, (that's how he spelled his name) another crew member from South Africa was the photographer and he was absolutely amazing. In the short session we had with him, we felt comfortable. Dinner was pretty interesting that night because the wait staff provided entertainment by singing the Italian number, "O Solo Mio". That was really interesting seeing that not one single wait staff was Italian, but they pulled it off - they sounded very good. If I had closed my eyes, I would have thought I was in a room full of Italians.
Day Three Wednesday, October 15, 2003 - Ensenada, Mexico
You can read more about our excursion in Ensenada by clicking here.
Candice and I were pretty tired after the tour, so we walked around for a bit, bought some souvenirs and made our way back to the ship. I was getting cranky because I seemed to have lost my Land Legs since I boarded the ship. Anyhow, we got back to the cabin, had a quick lunch, changed into our suits and made our way to the Jacuzzi area because we were in a world of hurt after the horseback riding. We joined our Catalina buddies, Karen and Courtney and we made our way to the Jacuzzi’s that were toward the back of the boat.
It's funny how things work out though. The reason why we were at the Jacuzzis in the back was because the ones on the main deck were just full and we really wanted to relax. Well, of the two we saw, there was one with an older couple, so the four of us made our way there. We made small talk with the couple, started talking about baseball and travels. Well, it turns out that the gentleman in the Jacuzzi is the uncle of a good friend of Candice's from college. Talk about small world. I truly believe in six degrees of separation and that moment proved it.
I'd been meaning to check out the workout facilities since I boarded and we had a couple of hours before dinner, so I made my way to the gym. I missed the Power Walk session, but I made full use of the equipment. I walked on the treadmill for 30 minutes, biked for 20 minutes, lifted free weights for 10 and was able to participate in the Power Stretch class for half an hour. I felt like a hundred bucks.
Dinner was like the other nights and went fairly well. On this night, the wait staff put on a dance routine that we thought was going to be the Hand-Jive from Grease. It turned out to be a Latin number and after thinking about it, it made sense since we were in Mexico. Candice and I were the daring fools and got up and joined the wait staff in the dance number. It was quite the sight.
After dinner, we decided to check out some of the other attractions on the boat, including Bingo, the Newlywed Game and had a couple of sessions in the Casino. I was pretty beat and wanted to get to the gym early, so I turned in fairly early.
Day Four Thursday, October 16, 2003 - Fun Day at Sea
I woke up around 5:30 in the morning to get to the gym when it opened at 6am. I changed as quietly as I could and made my way to the gym. I was one of the few early risers and I first started out on the bike for about 20 minutes. I was more comfortable with the treadmill, so I went back to that one for 30 minutes, worked with the free weights and took advantage of some of the great workout equipment in the gym.
There was a Step Aerobics class happening around 8am, so I utilized my time in the gym until the class was ready. There were only a few of us in the class and it was one of the most high-impact aerobic workout I had in a long time and it felt great!!!
I got back to the room around 9 and Candice was still not well, so we made a quick trip to the Infirmary and off to breakfast. The other days during breakfast I left food on my plate, but on this particular morning, I was famished and I practically inhaled my food. I really worked up an appetite and at that point, it tasted real good.
Since Thursday was Fun Day at Sea, we were planning to try and do some activities on the boat. What ended up happening was we stayed in our room for most of the day. We were tired and took a nap for an hour, then opened our curtains to the bluest water we had ever seen. I went out there and snapped a few shots and it was breathtaking. It's hard to describe unless you see it because it's almost unreal. Two of our table mates were walking along the boat and happened to walk by us, so we invited them up to hang with us and we talked for a few hours.
Dinner was a few hours away, so we decided to just go and hang out on the deck for a bit. We met a few more people, mingled some more and all we could think was how much we both needed this trip. The sun was casting its rays on us and dancing on the water, you couldn't help but appreciate the tranquility and feeling of total seclusion.
Our last night at dinner was a little bittersweet because we knew our trip was coming to an end and we would have to face reality once more. This last night, our table was full. Each night, the only two people who were always at dinner were Candice and me, so it was like the perfect ending. The wait staff entertained us one last time with their rendition of "Hot Hot Hot" dressed for the occasion. They formed a conga line and I joined in. After dessert, Ulysses thanked us for being such gracious guests, allowing him to serve us and gave us a photo of the Ecstasy as a keepsake. It was just a lot of fun.
That night, we had to pack because the crew would be stopping by each cabin between 10pm and midnight to gather our luggage. I was really liking the service. We were pretty tired and we headed to bed no later than 10:30 that night.
Day Five Friday, October 17, 2003 - Long Beach
Our last hours on the ship and I couldn't sleep. I woke up at 4:30 in the morning and decided to walk around for one last time. I was hoping the walk would help me sleep, but I was already awake and there was no turning back. I guess this was just my time to be by myself and take in the entire trip. I realized that in the short amount of time I was on this cruise, I was able to do some of the things I always wanted to do and I was proud of myself for being open to the different opportunities that were out there.
I was about to make my way back to the cabin when I noticed lights. I then realized we were coming in to port at Long Beach and I just had to see it. It was quite chilly t hat morning and I wasn't wearing a jacket. In fact, I had on a pair of jeans and my nightshirt, but to be honest, I didn't care. I met a fellow passenger who had quite the story to tell and we talked and watched as the boat made its way home.
It was truly amazing. The boat actually had to turn around and to see something of that size turn was unbelievable. The entire task lasted for about 45 minutes. By this time, I needed to get back to my room, change, have breakfast and get ready to depart the ship.
When Candice and I made it to the gangway, we took our final pictures to cap off our adventure. We were back on land no later than 8:30 that morning.
Overall Thoughts
As if I haven't given you more information than you need, but there are a few things I'd like to touch on in this section.
Food
The food was okay. It wasn't bad, but it also wasn't much to write home about. There was a lot of food, more food than I'd seen in my lifetime, but it wasn't anything spectacular. You had so much to choose from, you really couldn't have the same dish twice unless you wanted to.
Carnival Crew Members
Overall, I thought they were pretty good. Ulysses, our waiter was a real nice guy and very friendly. Our beds were made at least twice a day with chocolates on our beds and towel art. Each night, we had a different towel animal that greeted us when we got back from dinner. We had a Swan, an Elephant and a Pig. It was so cute and very creative of the staff.
There were, however, a few incidents that made me wonder what planet most of these crew members were from. Most of the crew didn't seem to know how to give directions, as the only direction they could give was "That way." We had another incident with trying to get a hair dryer sent to our room and that took about 90 minutes to 2 hours. Needless to say, we were quite upset. But overall, the crew was fine.
Cruise Activities
There is so much to do on this cruise, there is no way you are going to get to all of them. Activities ranged from Lip Sync, Newlywed Game, Bingo, Casino, Austin Powers Dance Lessons, Karaoke, Cruise Ship Entertainment..., so many things to choose from, you could never get bored. Or you could choose to stay in your cabin; the possibilities were endless. I was glad for the variety since there are so many different personalities on the cruise.
Decks
Earlier, I stated that our tags were orange and I didn't understand why. Each deck has their own color coding and this helps determine where a passenger's luggage goes. These were the following colors for the different deck levels:
Yellow - Sun Deck (14)
Gold - Sports Deck (12)
Orange - Verandah Deck (11)
Light Pink - Lido Deck (10)
Pink - Promenade Deck (9)
Purple - Atlantic Deck (8)
Light Blue - Empress Deck (7)
Blue - Upper Deck (6)
Teal - Main Deck (5)
Green - Riviera Deck (4)
The lower levels weren't color-coded.
Since we had orange tags, we were one of the first people who were able to depart the boat. Sometimes it's great being on the top.
Final Thought
I had the best time on this cruise and I was so happy that I was able to go. It was the getaway that we both needed and a chance to not deal with the hassles of everyday life. We got our photos back and we've been able to relive each moment through the photos.
If you ever get a chance to go on a cruise, take it. You will have the time of your life.
Recommended:
Yes
Best Suited For: Couples
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Epinions.com ID:
Dionne25
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 - Top 1000 |
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Location: PEI, Canada
Reviews written: 333
Trusted by: 71 members
About Me:
I'm a proud mamma of 2 boys!!!
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