I really wanted to take my mom on her first cruise, and I chose this 4-night out of Port Canaveral because I thought it would be a good place to start for her.
Date: October 3rd - 7th
Home Port: Port Canaveral
Parking: Park Port Canaveral (at the Radisson) $7.95/day + tax (free shuttle)
Price: $520 total incl taxes - Porthole cabin R23
Ports of Call: Nassau, Half Moon Cay (private island)
Embarkation Day
Recommend making a parking reservation at Park Port Canaveral. Easy, cheap, convenient, and quick. They have shuttles running pretty much non-stop and nice staff.
Check-in and boarding was smooth and the fastest yet!
Food
Your typical Carnival fare. The Lido deck buffett area is small, but there are still enough choices to find something to eat.
I was surprised to find out that Elegant night was the evening as Nassau (port from 12-8). Needless to say, dinner wasn't all that crowded. Dessert suggestion on Elegant night - order Cherries Jubilee and eat it along with Chocolate Melting Cake. It was an amazing pairing!!
I'd always been curious about the cheese plate appearing on the dessert menu, and I was always too full to try it AND get my CMC:) This time, I remembered to ask our server to bring it as part of our Starter course. Definitely glad that I finally had a chance to try the cheeses - they are delish!
The first two nights, Your Time Dining (Wind Star dining room) had no lines of people waiting for tables. The last two nights, though, had a fairly long line, although I wouldn't say it was more than a 15 wait at the longest.
The chocolate buffet on Lido was on Sunday (sea day).
Room (R23)
This is a double porthole room on Riviera deck (bottom room floor, 4th floor). The room is conveniently located near a main stairwell and has easy access to the main show lounge and Wind Star. It's also easy-access for debarking at ports. The only bad thing is that a main loading area is under the room, so there was some noise from staff moving things one evening. Lot of banging around, but nothing intolerable. The room does NOT have a hair dryer.
Entertainment
Boring cruise director. The entertainers for the main show lounge shows were awesome! Definitely the best troupe we have seen in a several cruises. They could all sing well and dance. The piano guy was terrible.
Overall
Relaxing time on Ecstasy! Small, older ship - wonderful staff.
Ports
Nassau
I have said it in other posts, but I will say it again - I dislike Nassau - a lot. I had originally planned to just go to Arawak Cay for the the Fish Fry restaurants and then to Junkanoo Beach, but a few weeks before leaving I decided to look into snorkeling excursions. I will never do a ship-sponsored snorkel trip through the cruiseline again since we had a horrible time on the Sensation in 2009 when we stopped at Nassau for our first cruise. As usual, I hopped on Cruise Critic's Bahamas board and then Trip Advisor. I came across Blue Hole Watersports, and the latest reviews on TA were all fantastic. I decided to give this one a shot so that Mom could experience snorkeling in a tropical environment.
Blue Hole Watersports' 2-hour excursion leaves from the British Colonial Hilton, which is walking distance from port. Price is $55 per person with no deposit required.
Mark was our captain, and there were 9 of us that day. What a wonderful experience from start to finish! The water was clear and calm, and the reef was beautiful. I had about given up hope for colorful reefs in the Bahamas, but this proved me wrong. We were dropped at two different locations - a reef and a sunken ship used for the James Bond film "Thunderball." I was so excited to see my first Lion Fish just hanging out at the bottom of the wreck. On the ride back to the pier, we had our choice of soda or water from the cooler Mark stocked. Would definitely recommend BHW for a snorkeling excursion!
Half Moon Cay (private island)
We really enjoyed Coco Cay last December, and I kept hearing how great HMC is. It did not disappoint! The tender process from the ship is pretty quick and painless, and we were able to grab a couple loungers in a fairly shaded area. Lunch was very good - hot food, plenty of covered picnic areas. HMC's "snorkel" area is to the far left of the beach, by a jetty that creates the waterway for the tender boats. There is very little to see in terms of coral, but the fish do like to hang out there. Don't expect much, but do know that the water and beach are simply amazing,
Date: October 3rd - 7th
Home Port: Port Canaveral
Parking: Park Port Canaveral (at the Radisson) $7.95/day + tax (free shuttle)
Price: $520 total incl taxes - Porthole cabin R23
Ports of Call: Nassau, Half Moon Cay (private island)
Embarkation Day
Recommend making a parking reservation at Park Port Canaveral. Easy, cheap, convenient, and quick. They have shuttles running pretty much non-stop and nice staff.
Check-in and boarding was smooth and the fastest yet!
Food
Your typical Carnival fare. The Lido deck buffett area is small, but there are still enough choices to find something to eat.
I was surprised to find out that Elegant night was the evening as Nassau (port from 12-8). Needless to say, dinner wasn't all that crowded. Dessert suggestion on Elegant night - order Cherries Jubilee and eat it along with Chocolate Melting Cake. It was an amazing pairing!!
I'd always been curious about the cheese plate appearing on the dessert menu, and I was always too full to try it AND get my CMC:) This time, I remembered to ask our server to bring it as part of our Starter course. Definitely glad that I finally had a chance to try the cheeses - they are delish!
The first two nights, Your Time Dining (Wind Star dining room) had no lines of people waiting for tables. The last two nights, though, had a fairly long line, although I wouldn't say it was more than a 15 wait at the longest.
The chocolate buffet on Lido was on Sunday (sea day).
Room (R23)
This is a double porthole room on Riviera deck (bottom room floor, 4th floor). The room is conveniently located near a main stairwell and has easy access to the main show lounge and Wind Star. It's also easy-access for debarking at ports. The only bad thing is that a main loading area is under the room, so there was some noise from staff moving things one evening. Lot of banging around, but nothing intolerable. The room does NOT have a hair dryer.
Entertainment
Boring cruise director. The entertainers for the main show lounge shows were awesome! Definitely the best troupe we have seen in a several cruises. They could all sing well and dance. The piano guy was terrible.
Overall
Relaxing time on Ecstasy! Small, older ship - wonderful staff.
Ports
Nassau
I have said it in other posts, but I will say it again - I dislike Nassau - a lot. I had originally planned to just go to Arawak Cay for the the Fish Fry restaurants and then to Junkanoo Beach, but a few weeks before leaving I decided to look into snorkeling excursions. I will never do a ship-sponsored snorkel trip through the cruiseline again since we had a horrible time on the Sensation in 2009 when we stopped at Nassau for our first cruise. As usual, I hopped on Cruise Critic's Bahamas board and then Trip Advisor. I came across Blue Hole Watersports, and the latest reviews on TA were all fantastic. I decided to give this one a shot so that Mom could experience snorkeling in a tropical environment.
Blue Hole Watersports' 2-hour excursion leaves from the British Colonial Hilton, which is walking distance from port. Price is $55 per person with no deposit required.
Mark was our captain, and there were 9 of us that day. What a wonderful experience from start to finish! The water was clear and calm, and the reef was beautiful. I had about given up hope for colorful reefs in the Bahamas, but this proved me wrong. We were dropped at two different locations - a reef and a sunken ship used for the James Bond film "Thunderball." I was so excited to see my first Lion Fish just hanging out at the bottom of the wreck. On the ride back to the pier, we had our choice of soda or water from the cooler Mark stocked. Would definitely recommend BHW for a snorkeling excursion!
Half Moon Cay (private island)
We really enjoyed Coco Cay last December, and I kept hearing how great HMC is. It did not disappoint! The tender process from the ship is pretty quick and painless, and we were able to grab a couple loungers in a fairly shaded area. Lunch was very good - hot food, plenty of covered picnic areas. HMC's "snorkel" area is to the far left of the beach, by a jetty that creates the waterway for the tender boats. There is very little to see in terms of coral, but the fish do like to hang out there. Don't expect much, but do know that the water and beach are simply amazing,
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