We sailed the Carnival Ecstasy on a 3 night cruise over Super Bowl weekend in January/February 2015. Since then, the Ecstasy has received some (very welcomed) updates of which we recently experienced on her sister ship the Sensation this past April (review coming soon).
Ship Highlights
The Ecstasy is 855 feet in length and part of Carnival's Fantasy-class of cruise ships. She was put into service in 1991 and holds a total of 2,056 guests along with a crew of 920.
The interior decor is VERY colorful as you can see from these pictures. The Atrium features neon lighting that change colors.
There's a small water park on Verandah (Deck 11) featuring one tube water slide and four smaller water slides along with a few small water features for the kids to splash in and plenty of lounge chairs!
Lido (Deck 10) features a resort-style pool (and hot tubs) with fake palm trees:
At the Aft of Lido Deck is the buffet area (Panorama Bar & Grill) with indoor seating and limited outdoor covered seating which overlook the Serenity Adult's Only Retreat on the deck below.
Our Stateroom U74 - Grand Suite
We were fortunate to get a call from the "upgrade fairy" and for a nominal fee (I think it was $250?), upgraded from a Porthole Interior stateroom to a Grand Suite. Stateroom U74 is located on Deck 6 (Upper) mid-ship on the port side of the ship.
Grand Suites are the largest staterooms on the Carnival Ecstasy and let me tell you, this room was massive!!! There's a curtain that you can close between the bed area and couch, which makes it seem like two bedrooms if you convert the couch into a bed.
The walk-in closet features a full length mirror with plenty of storage space with hanging racks, drawers and shelves. Additional drawers are found below the lengthy "desk".
The bathroom features granite accents and has a Jacuzzi tub! Definitely bigger than your standard cabin bathrooms.
The only negative I found with this stateroom was that the balcony railing was steel and therefore completely obstructed your sea view from the first ~3 feet from the ground-up (something you don't get with glass railings).
Super Bowl Cruise
This was our first time cruising during the Super Bowl, let me tell you, it was definitely a FUN experience! They put the game live in the Theater on a HUGE projection screen and served "tailgate" type food and drinks to enjoy. Of course, as usual, waiters walked around and took drink orders so you didn't have to miss a second of the game if you didn't want to.
My Opinion of the Ecstasy
I personally was not a huge fan of the Ecstasy. I found the ship to be too small, however it's important to note that I had previously been on bigger ships (including the Breeze which at the time was Carnival's biggest ship). I think the Ecstasy would be great for a first-time cruiser who isn't sure if cruising is for them. There isn't much to do onboard therefore it won't overwhelm a first-timer.
I found the pool extremely crowded (only pool onboard) and the buffet lines way too long (only one buffet area onboard). Also, I wasn't a huge fan of the location of the shops. They seemed as if they were hidden and you'd accidentally stumble into them if you were trying to get to the theater and were on the wrong deck.
Since we sailed in 2015, the Ecstasy received the 2.0 updates in 2017 including BlueIguana Tequila bar and RedFrog rum bar by the pool, Guy's Burger's and BlueIguana Cantina, Alchemy Bar and Cherry on Top. We recently sailed on the Sensation (sister ship) and were pleasantly surprised by the updates.
If you're not a first-time cruiser, I would only recommend the Ecstacy on a short 3, 4 or 5 day cruise. If on a 5 day cruise, make sure you visit several ports and only have 1 full sea day; unless you're perfectly fine with not doing much other than sunbathe, gamble and eat/drink.
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