Carnival Ecstasy 3 Night Baja Mexico Cruise May 21 - 24, 2004
by Tim Larison, CLIA Master Cruise Counsellor (MCC)
My wife and I were looking for a short weekend getaway to celebrate
my birthday and our 15 year anniversary. Anne missed out on
a 7 night cruise I took with our sons in March, and we both
enjoy cruising very much, so we decided "why not celebrate
with another cruise?" This was to be our first Carnival
Cruise. We wondered if a short
three night cruise on an older ship would give us a similar
experience to our past sailings with other cruise lines. Below
I will answer this question, and review different parts of
our cruise.
We liked the "at sea" day on this cruise - we had taken two
three night cruises with Disney and those cruises did not have an
"at sea" day. "At Sea" days are one feature we have enjoyed
on our previous seven night cruises.
The one port we did visit on this cruise, Ensenada, promised to
be interesting as we had never been there before. Ensenada did not
disappoint. We did an unusual shore excursion there - the "Baja
Bandidos" Horseback trail in the hills with magnificent views
of the Pacific Ocean and the surrounding countryside. I had heard
this was a popular excursion before our cruise, so shortly after
we boarded the Ecstasy I submitted our request for this excursion.
TIP: This is a good excursion to book within an hour or two of boarding.
Don't wait until the 4 pm shore excursion talk - at that talk the
shore excursion manager will tell the crowd how popular this excursion
is and it will sell out shortly thereafter. For our shore excursion
adventure, we signed up for the early ride (8:30 am). This excursion
also was offered at 11:30 am and 1:30 pm. We liked this early time
as we took the ride in the cool of the mid morning, rather than
the heat of the afternoon sun.
The Ecstasy docked at Ensenada at 6 am on Saturday. It was nice
to be able to walk off the ship rather than take a tender boat like
we have had to at some ports on past cruises. We met the van to
transport us to the horse riding stables right at 8:30 am. Everything
was very well organized. We took a 30 minute van ride to the horse
riding stables in the foothills surrounding Ensenada. We were met
by the owner of the Baja Bandidos stable. We were asked if we had
any horse riding experience before. We had not ridden horses for
over 15 years so we both raised our hand and said "none!" We
were given more tame horses for our hour and a half ride. We left
the stables in a group of 10 horses, with the owner of the ranch
and another ranch hand on their horses escorting us.
The ride was very scenic. We had beautiful views of the hills
of San Miguel and the Pacific Ocean. My horse, Lorando, had a tendency
to fall behind - when he ran to catch up (at the urging of the ranch
hands) the ride got to be a little rough, but not too bad. A soak
in the hot tub back on the ship was a welcome relief after this
shore excursion! Overall we thought the horseback riding was a good
experience and we would recommend it. This excursion was different
than any other I had done on previous cruises. We thought the staff
at the ranch were good at helping people who had never ridden a
horse before and we quickly learned what we needed to for the 1
½ hour ride.After our ride we were treated to home made tacos -
not enough for lunch but a good snack to hold us over until we ate
at the buffet back at that ship.
The other shore excursions offered included a scenic "Gold Coast"
tour, a visit to the "blowhole" (where the ocean sprays through
a rock opening), a golf outing on the Bajamar golf resort, a La
Bufadora adventure tour, City and Shopping tour, and a Wine Country
tour. We liked the variety of shore excursions offered - there was
something for everyone. The golf outing seemed particularly popular
as we saw many golfers with their golf clubs waiting outside the
ship as we departed for our horseback riding outing. The golf course
was described as "like Pebble Beach for the views, but lots less
expensive". We were told a round at Pebble Beach will cost
$395. This excursion cost $125 for transfers and 18 holes of golf.
We did not shop in Ensenada like many of our fellow passengers.
We had been to Mexican markets on our Mexican Riviera cruise last
February and didn't feel the need to repeat this experience. Instead
we relaxed back at the ship in the afternoon.
The Ship
The Carnival Ecstasy was built in 1991 and she is the 5th oldest
ship in the 20 ship Carnival fleet. Since we had only cruised on
newer ships previously we wondered how the cruise experience would
be on an older ship. Though the ship lacked some of the features
we experienced on other ships, overall we thought she provided a
similar cruise experience to our other cruises. The ship had an
unusual "neon" theme throughout - it looked more like a downtown
Las Vegas hotel and casino rather than the "classic" look we
have seen on other ships. The bright colors and neon lights took
a little getting used to and fit in well with the "party" theme
that Carnival advertises for the cruise.
Our stateroom was actually larger than what we have had on newer
ships. Our inside stateroom was 186 square feet - this compares
to the 133 square feet stateroom that I had on Royal Caribbean's
Mariner Of The Seas in February. I found the bathroom area to be
roomy. This was the largest inside stateroom we have had on our
cruises next to the Disney category 10 staterooms (214 square feet
for Disney). We had heard that the staterooms on the Ecstasy were
noisy. We did not experience that. We could hear noise from the
hallway in our room but we could not hear noise from the staterooms
next door. Our stateroom was on the lowest passenger deck (the Riviera
deck) and we did not hear any noise from above (there were two decks
of passenger staterooms directly above us). If you are used to sailing
in a balcony stateroom then you may be disappointed with the Ecstasy,
as only 26 of the staterooms have balconies. But if an outside or
inside stateroom will do you will find these staterooms have as
much room or more room than what you will find on other lines. TIP:
Be sure to bring a hairdryer as there is not one provided in the
stateroom.
As for other parts of the ship, we liked the Blue Sapphire Lounge
for the nighttime shows. This was an older style theatre with lots
of leg room and a small table by each chair to place your drinks.
We liked sitting on the first row of the balcony where we had a
great view of the stage.
Dining
The Ecstasy had two formal dining rooms, the Windsong and Windstar,
and a large buffet. We thought the quality of the food overall was
very good.
Panorama Buffet
We ate our opening lunch here, we had breakfast here one morning,
and we frequently visited the buffet for snacks. The selections
for the opening buffet were limited. There was a turkey carving
station, a salad bar, and a choice of 7 or 8 side items. The turkey
was excellent and the salads were fresh. For breakfast I liked the
"made to order" omelet station. The scrambled eggs in the breakfast
buffet were only average (I've never had good scrambled eggs in
a buffet) so the omelet station was a good alternative.
The best feature of the buffet was the soft serve ice cream and
yogurt station that was available most hours (from 6 am to 3 am
the next morning). The ice cream was creamy and excellent - much
better than the ice milk I have had at other buffets. With some
cruise lines starting to charge extra for ice cream it was nice
to see Carnival have free ice cream available anytime you wanted
it. The buffet also had a 24 hour pizza station. I didn't think
the pizza was very good - save your calories for better options
in the buffet or at the main dining rooms.
Outside the buffet near the pool area was a grill where hamburgers
or hot dogs could be ordered most hours of the day. The cheeseburgers
we had here were very good.
Windsong Dining Room
The Ecstasy had two formal dining rooms - the Windsong and Windstar
- we were assigned the early dining time (5:45 pm) in the Windsong.
The Windsong had a nice atmosphere, more elegant than the loud neon
color scheme elsewhere on the ship. We found the food here to be
very good - as good as or better than the main dining room food
I have had on other cruise lines. The first night I thought the
lobster tail entrée I had was excellent. Anne liked the prime rib
entrée she ordered. On other nights I had a chicken dish and a beef
tenderloin dish that were also very good. Anne also gave high marks
to the beef tenderloin and a whitefish entrée she ordered.The salads
were fresh. The dessert selections were limited but good.
We also ate at the Windsong for breakfast on two mornings and
for lunch one day. The breakfasts here were very good - I had an
omelet each morning. The only food we had here that was below par
was the baby back ribs for lunch on our "at sea" day. Our waiter,
Saul from Colombia, was attentive to our needs. He offered to bring
more than one entrée or appetizer if we were not happy with our
main selection.
On two nights the Ecstasy offered a "midnight buffet". We
didn't stay up that late but we heard this buffet was very good
from a few of the other passengers.
Entertainment
The Ecstasy offered many different entertainment options. There
were two different Las Vegas Revue type shows offered on Saturday
and Sunday night. If you enjoy Las Vegas type shows you will like
this entertainment. The lead singers for the shows were excellent
(Freddy Martin and Cassandra Swales). The shows featured live band
music, not a canned soundtrack like I have heard on some other lines.
The shows featured dancers with many different costumes and set
changes - they were fast paced, entertaining one hour shows. Two
comedians were onboard - Stanley Ullman and Lance Montalto. The
first night the comedians gave a "PG" rated show, then on the
second and third nights they offered an "adults only" show
at midnight. We didn't make it to the adult shows but we thought
PG show was good. There were a number of smaller lounges onboard
with their own bands. A small casino was packed with people when
the ship was at sea.
Recreation
The Ecstasy had one main pool with a waterslide. The pool area
was very crowded on the "at sea" days. We preferred the hot
tubs and smaller pool in the aft area of the ship. We particularly
liked soaking in the hot tub after our morning of horse back riding!
The ship had a good ping pong setup - with 3 tables in a covered
area overlooking the pool. We enjoyed playing ping pong here the
first night, but later in the cruise we found the tables were almost
always taken. The Ecstasy also had a running track and a volleyball
area.
Internet Café
The Ecstasy had a small internet café outside the Blue Sapphire
theatre. I checked my email at various times during the cruise and
never had a problem finding an open terminal. The price for online
access was 75 cents a minute. I bought one hour of time before the
cruise for $25, which gave a substantial savings over the regular
rate. TIP: If you think you will be using the internet during the
cruise, buy the 1 hour time block on the first day. You are rewarded
with a bonus 10 minutes if you buy the package the first day. I
found the 70 minutes just right for checking my email 2 or 3 times
of day. The Ecstasy also offered "WiFi" access in the internet
café where you could use your own WiFi card or rent one to have
internet access from your lap top. The package prices were more
expensive for WiFi access. Though I brought my laptop I was happy
to pay less and just check my email from the ship's computers. The
WiFi access only worked in the Internet Café area and not in other
areas of the ship.
Arrival and Embarkation
We bought the Carnival airport transfers with our cruise and we
found this worked out well. Upon arrival from Denver, we were met
in the baggage claim area by a Carnival employee (Susi). Susi was
very pleasant and waited with us for until our bus arrived, answering
any questions we had. A couple of other Carnival employees also
introduced themselves to us while we waited. The airport bus took
awhile, our flight arrived at 10:20 am but by the time the bus made
its rounds we left for the airport at around noon. We had filled
out our registration info online which gave us a "fun pass"
- this was supposedly to make our checkin quicker. Our checkin was
quicker with the fun pass - problem was that Carnival didn't check
if you had a fun pass to get into the fun pass line. As a result
there were people without the fun pass in line that slowed things
down. Our checkin took 1/4th the time of some others without the
fun pass. Still there were lots of checkin lines and we were on
the ship within 30 to 40 minutes of getting online. Upon our return
to LA on Monday morning we had to wait for our "color tag"
to be called to exit the ship. This took awhile (1 ½ to 2 hours)
but once we were off the ship going through customs, claiming our
bags, and boarding the bus to the airport was a breeze.
Summary
We had a good experience on the Ecstasy. We thought the cruise
was fine for a weekend getaway. While the ship didn't have some
of the amenities of the newer cruise ships we have been on (like
specialty restaurants, climbing walls, ice skating rinks, etc) we
still thought the basic cruise experience on this older ship was
very similar to our past cruises. The age of the ship did not detract
from our enjoyment of the cruise. I would recommend this ship for
a 1st time cruiser who wants to try a short cruise to see what the
cruise experience is like, or for someone (like us) looking for
a short weekend getaway. If you are planning a 7 night cruise I
would recommend the newer ships for the extra features they provide.
Six Things that could have been better on this cruise: 6.
At checkin Carnival should not allow people who have not pre-registered
for the cruise in the same line as those who have pre-registered.
The paper work for the people not registered slowed down the line
for those of us who had filled out the "fun pass" registration.
5. You could not reserve shore tours before the cruise - instead
you had to book these onboard and hope there was an opening. 4.
Our California Coastal Highlights Tour on Monday was cancelled for
lack of interest - no wonder because it seemed almost all the passengers
were from California! As a result we had a four hour wait at LAX
airport. 3. There was no space on the Promenade deck for deck chairs
where we could lay outdoors in the shade like on other ships we
have been on. Instead we used the deck chairs on the top deck in
the sun. 2. Excessive noise in the hallway one night in the early
morning hours. 1. While the ship's photographers were excellent,
the area where the photos were displayed was small and often congested.
We had difficulty finding a good time where the photo shop was uncrowded.
Top Six Things we liked best about this cruise: 6. Formal
night. On our previous 3 night Disney cruises a formal night was
not offered so it was nice to have one on this short cruise. I have
never seen as many photography options on formal night as I did
on this cruise. There were photographers located at different areas
of the ship with different backgrounds. We took three different
formal pictures in different backgrounds and we could have done
three or four more. 5. The layout of the main theatre. Lots of leg
room at the seats and we had a good view of the stage from the second
level. 4. Excellent soft serve ice cream available at almost all
hours in the buffet. 3. Roomy stateroom - plenty big enough for
two adults. 2. Nice variety of shore excursions offered at Ensenada
- we really enjoyed our horseback riding tour there. 1. Dining room
food was much better than we expected - at least as good or better
than we have had on other cruise lines.
Tim Larison
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