Teresa Ramella

Age: 38
Occupation: Supervisor
Number of Cruises: 6
Cruise Line: Carnival
Ship: Ecstasy
Sailing Date: February 21st, 2005
Itinerary: Western Caribbean

My family (sister & 27 year old niece) and I took the 5 day cruise to Cozumel and Playa del Carmen aboard the Carnival Ecstasy. I was very disappointed in a few major things. First of all, I feel that the port of Galveston is a very poor choice to leave from. We made the big mistake of flying down a day early and staying over at the Harbor House @ Pier 21. Very simple accommodations, but not a very friendly staff. Attempting to leave the ship with three other cruise ships in port was horrific! We got through customs and was faced with a total nightmare! There is absolutely no organization in trying to get transportation out of Galveston to Houston! It was just people pushing and shoving. There were no porters to load the luggage onto the bus. It was basically a free for all. When attempting to speak to a carnival employee stationed out by the buses, they say they can do nothing about it. We had purchased a $33 ticket from Carnival while onboard for transportation to the airport. Once we finally got on a bus after waiting 2 hours, we were supposed to be taken to terminal A, but were literally dumped at terminal C and told the procedure is "STOP, DROP AND ROLL" from Carnival. So basically, once you are off the ship in Galveston, you really need to fend for yourself! It was a highly stressful and horrible experience which very much dampened by cruise experience and feelings about the Carnival company.

When we first boarded Ecstasy I found it to be very Las Vegas style and cheesy. We were seated in the Wind Star dinning room and were unhappy with our seats, we requested a table change with the assistant Maitre'd (who was extremely unfriendly) and he placed us in a back corner next to the kitchen! Rather then complaining about that.. we just dealt with it. The waiter that was at our table was horrible, he was an older gentleman and ended up dropping one of our dinners and then spilling two glasses of wine on two different evenings during dinner. I was also very disappointed in the food in the Wind Star dinning room. I have been on Sensation and Jubilee and the food was wonderful. On this cruise I found the food up in the cafeteria to be better. The state room was not that great either. The bed was very tiny and the mattress was very hard. My toilet leaked and the room steward did not do too much to keep my room clean. Left food in my cabin from breakfast all day. Did not throw away empty water bottles or beer bottles. Needless to say at the end of the cruise, he did not receive a big tip. Also one night we were in the Chinatown Bar and there were a group of three individuals in the bar drinking out of champagne bottles and were obviously extremely drunk and being disorderly. It would have been nice if someone on the staff in that bar would have approached those individuals and asked them to leave. I know that many of the individuals that were in that bar where uncomfortable and did not pay good money to watch drunks fall on the floor. I also found other members of the staff such as the photo area, and the sandwich bar in the cafeteria to be a little slow in the customer service area. Getting a sandwich made was like pulling teeth.. very slow service and the staff in the photo area where not all that bright when it came to being able to answer simple questions.

The two best parts of the cruise were the two excursions that we did.. One was to playa mia beach break deluxe in Cozumel.. very relaxing and the other was to Calica Beach Break. I would highly recommend just hopping in a cab and heading the the Playa del Carmen beach in the shopping area. The beaches were great and loaded with restaurants, bars and shops right on the beach. I may not take another carnival cruise anytime in the near future, especially on Ecstasy, but I would go back and visit Cozumel and Playa del Carmen! Overall on a scale of 1 to 10, I would give Ecstasy a 4, which is not very good!

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