| T.R | Title | User | Personal
Name | Date | Lines |
|---|
| 284.1 | Sounds NICE! | SWSEIS::WHALEN | | Fri May 10 1991 15:14 | 8 |
| Wow Janet, sounds like an unbelievable ship!!
What was it doing in Boston? Was it for travel agents only,
so you could tour the ship and recommend it to future customers?
Sounds like a beautiful ship...
Linda
|
| 284.2 | Twin Sister Ships | DNEAST::STEVENS_JIM | | Tue May 14 1991 15:31 | 7 |
| Janet, as i read your description, I thought about the Fantasy.
They really are sister ships.....I think my wife and I will cruise
this fall on the Ecstasy.......You've got my interest up again.
Jim
|
| 284.3 | Ecstasy 6-30-91 sailing | ROULET::ROBROSE | | Mon Jul 08 1991 15:31 | 69 |
|
Hi,
I have just returned from the 4th sailing of the Ecstasy. This
was my third cruise and my first Carnival cruise. The ship is nice
but has been damaged by much vandalism. The Atrium elevators were
not working for all but the last day of our voyage and then they had
one elevator working for part of the day. A crew member told me that
some kids started a fire in the elevator and that was why they were
shut down. The ship has a lot of mirrored public walls and doors
many of these have been broken and have not yet been replaced. I was
very sad to see a new ship in such poor condition. After being on
board a few days I realized why. The ship was crawling with kids of
all ages they seem to cause trouble everywhere. If you travel on
this ship and are interested in seeing a show in the Blue Sapphire
lounge get there early, I mean real early. This is probably the
worst design I have ever seen for a show lounge. Unless you are in
the first few rows forget it!!! You see nothing but heads. I talked
to one guy who told me he got to the lounge 1.5 hours before showtime
so that he could get a seat that his daughter could see from. Many
passengers complained about this place but since there are only two
shows and one mini-show per cruise this lounge is mostly used for
BINGO games. During the mini-show ofd the cruise, the cruise
director (David Fee) told us that they received many poor and good
ratings from the last group of passengers. He then went on to say
that he believes that Carnival puts on the best entertainment at sea
and pleaded for a higher rating. After seeing the shows and the
general lack of consistent entertainment I understood why they were
receiving low ratings, they deserved low ratings. By the second day
of the cruise my wife and I realized that the Carnival ships are
nothing more than party boats. We adjusted our expectations to this
and had a wonderful cruise. Never drank so much in my life. If you
are looking to have a seven day party and don't care much about food
quality/quantity or service in general then "You got the right one"
We had a dinner table (10 people) who all had taken cruises in the
past. We all pretty much took turns being amazed at the poor
quality of the food presented. By the third day we were having a
good time with it. Our cabin steward and Bus Boy gave us excellent
service. We never ordered room service but heard some nightmare
stories from some folks who tried (there is quite a language barrier
with the dinning room staff) and I guess most of the orders were
screwed up. Bar service everywhere was excellent. The Neon Bar
has a piano player who works well with the crowd. Stripes disco
starts to jump around 10:30 and is usually pretty active until 2-3
AM. The Chinatown bar which is nice inside sadly had a poor band so
it was never really crowded, there were always empty tables to be
had here anytime! The Society Bar has a piano player, she is very
good. They really had a hard time keeping towels available on deck
poolside. By 11:00 you were lucky to find one. They don't pay much
attention to keeping the ship clean during the day beer cans and
glasses are everywhere. The cabins are a good size we have an
outside M-deck cabin. Your viewing choices are incredibly limited
they show one movie a day and one channel runs a 24hour Carinval
commercial, sometimes you can get local stations but not very often.
The other channel run a gambling instructional video. The TV's do
no have remotes, the two radio staions play the same elevator music.
Eastern Carribean ports are Nassau, San Juan, and St Thomas. While
in St Thomas we took the ferry to St Johns to attend the 4th of July
Carnival, it was fantastic great fun for everybody. We did'nt get
off the ship in San Juan, we've seen it and don't wish to again we
enjoyed the uncrowded pools for the day. All in all we had a nice
trip but next time it will be Royal Carribean for us anything less
just seems like a waste of dinero.
If anyone has any specific questions just fire away.
-Rob
|
| 284.4 | It's RCCL for ME! | AUNTB::CLIFTON | Where_is_the_next_race!! | Mon Jul 08 1991 22:00 | 16 |
| Rob,
My wife and I have sailed three times in the past, Premier, NCL, and
Holiday American. All were great!! We had heard a lot about the
"PARTY CRUICE LINE, CARNIVAL"! I guess by your report, it is just
that, a party boat.
Of all the things that I hear from our travel agent and being on past
cruices, RCCL is our next cruise. Eveyone, I mean everyone talks about
how RCCL is by far the best on the high seas. The service is great,
the ship is clean, and the food is out of this world.
Thanks again for the report.
Ken c.
wko
|
| 284.5 | Age groups aboard? | GEMVAX::MARTINEZ | Cape Anner | Tue Jul 09 1991 15:24 | 12 |
| Rob,
Which age group is classified as "kids?" My boyfriend and I are in our
thirtysomethings and are considering a cruise on this ship. Sure, we
like to "party" and all that stuff, but I don't foresee a 7-day bender!
Needless to say, my interest is less than piqued after reading your
critique. Perhaps we should look into RCCL also?
Mary
|
| 284.6 | | LUDWIG::ROBROSE | | Tue Jul 09 1991 17:09 | 29 |
|
Mary,
I am 27 so I usually call anyone who is under the drinking age
a kid. I would say that there were a large number of kids between
the ages of 7- 17 on board this trip. I should point out that we
were given main seating for dinner while our request was for late.
Late seating is better in my opinion because you have more time on
your hands in the evenings. In fact everyone at our table had
requested the late seating. I'm sure if you cruise when school is
in session you will have less children onboard. We saw some actual
babies and some older folks as well but in general it was a younger
crowd. Lots of single women, single men as well but not as many
atleast from what I saw. Any vacation you take is what you make of
it. Once I realized that Carnival does not provide a lot of
activities (IMO) I adjusted my expectations and had a very good time.
I have copies of all of the daily schedules for the Eastern
Carribean cruise and would be happy to send them to you. This would
help you to decide if there are enough activities onboard for you.
If you are interested in quality food then (IMO) this is not the
cruise to take. We ended up spending about $200 on drinks, we don't
have wine with dinner so this works out to about 4-5 drinks per
person/per day not a "bender" either.
I hope this helps and if I can answer any other questions please
feel free to contact me.
-Rob
|
| 284.7 | what's being done | ICS::HOWE | | Mon Aug 26 1991 12:55 | 9 |
| We just got a discount coupon for the Ecstasy (we did the Fantasy
last year and enjoyed it). BTW I travelled last year on the Fantasy
with my 12 year old and the behavior that has been described here is
disgusting!!!
What is Carnival doing about this? And frankly, is the ship worth it
to go on. My son wants to go again.
Annf
|
| 284.8 | Ecstasy is still popular | SYSTMX::FRANKLIN | | Mon Aug 26 1991 17:07 | 6 |
| Carnival's New England Sales Rep is aware of problems encountered on
The Ecstasy and hopefully, so is Carnival's headquarters.
I'll say one thing - The Ecstasy is still getting booked up well in advance -
she is still a very popular ship for Carnival. Hopefully, any problems
encountered in the past are history.
|
| 284.9 | | STRATA::ROBROSE | | Tue Aug 27 1991 07:46 | 25 |
| RE: 7
I can't really speak as to what Carnival is doing about the
Ecstacy. I did send a letter to Carnivals offices in Miami upon my
return home but I never received a reply. It could be they just had
an off week but I doubt it. If you have travelled on Carnival before
then chances are the food quality will be the same and if it was
acceptable then it will probably still be. If you have a big discount
then you may want to give it a try. There is a difference however
between the amount you rely on the cruise line for organized activites
for 3/4 day cruises and 7 day cruises. You are spending a lot more
time on board during a 7 day sailing so keep that in mind.
Re:8
Not being in the travel business myself, is it uncommon for a brand
new ship to be booking well? I would think that the ship would be
booked for some months before the maiden voyage, possibly it is
showing that I have never worked in the travel industry!!!!
If you are allowed to possibly you could provide me with a mailing
address for Carnivals New England rep, I would be interested in
communicating with them.
Thanks,
-Rob
|
| 284.10 | | CECV01::FRANKLIN | | Tue Aug 27 1991 09:23 | 17 |
| Yes, I agree, brand new ships are booked well in advance before the
maiden voyage. However, if each sailing was "bad news" - word would
hit the streets real fast, which would hurt them for future bookings.
Carnival is Carnival. No doubt about it, there is a difference between
Carnival and the other major cruise lines, but there is also a price
difference - which makes cruising on Carnival affordable. It all depends
on what you are looking for in a cruise. Some people love Carnival.
It would be interesting to hear from a recent cruiser as to the
condition of the ship.
Rob, I'm sorry but I can't give the address out for the cruise rep
because it is not an office address. However, you should go back to
your travel agent and give them a letter to pass onto the cruise
rep - noting that you already sent one letter to Carnival. Your travel
agent shouldn't have any problem doing this for you.
|
| 284.11 | Discount Coupons��� | EBBCLU::ZANINI | | Tue Aug 27 1991 14:19 | 12 |
| re: 7
I was wondering where you got the discount coupon. I have cruised
with Carnival before, and never received a discount coupon from them. I am
booked on the Ecstasy (actually, 6 of us are) in March. If you can
direct me to where I may find the discount coupon, I would appreciate.
I too am hoping to hear about more experiences on this ship
thanks,
John
|