Writer Robin Fowler based this independent review on her 5-night Western Caribbean cruise departing from Galveston, Texas.

Inaugurated in 1991, Ecstasy has kept her good looks over the years. Her New York theme boasts miles of neon, mirrors, glass, and chrome, plus a few darkish Gotham-type spaces exuding mystery. Cabins are larger than found on many newer ships, but her age shows with few private balconies, and the Internet café seems an afterthought. While some passengers view Ecstasy as a long-weekend getaway worthy of repeat bookings, others call her the trip of a lifetime.

Why Ecstasy?

• Short and sweet: Shorter 4- and 5-night itineraries are perfect for friends on long-weekend getaways, or time-deprived couples who need a vacation but can’t be out of the office for long.
• You decide: Is it a short cruise or a long party? Many passengers choose the latter. Either way, Ecstasy makes every minute count.
• Testing the waters: Very reasonable fares lure vacationing families and first-time passengers who don’t want to spend a lot to find out if they like to cruise.

Who should go
It’s a younger party crowd on Ecstasy, which homeports in Galveston and is especially appealing to regional travelers from Texas and the central states. Many passengers are in their 20s to 40s, with older passengers traveling in groups with friends and younger relatives.

Who shouldn’t go
It’s a happy but busy and noisy ship, with loud music spilling out of somewhat gaudy bars and lounges. Passengers looking for laid-back relaxation and sophistication should choose another cruise.

Heard on the deck: “What am I doing on the cruise? Everything. And that starts at noon.”

Hits and misses

• Don’t miss: Karaoke in the Starlight Lounge is more popular than the professional entertainers in the bars. If you don’t clap for each participant, no matter how bad, you’re next on stage.
• Best part of the ship: City Lights Boulevard is a ship-long promenade of bars and lounges. This is where you look for the action.
• Best experience: Year-round Mexico itineraries offer Mayan ruins for cultural explorers and horseback rides and jungle ATV drives for adventures. Of course, there’s always bars, beaches, and bargain shopping.
• Best shipboard activity: Don’t wait until the last minute to sign up for the popular wine workshop; it fills up quickly. The cost is $10 per person to learn how five wines taste with various foods, but $5 can be applied to the purchase of a bottle of wine for dinner.
• Needs improvement: On sea days, messy room service trays of half-eaten snacks can sit in the hallways for hours.
• Activities to skip: The sangria sail-away party as the ship leaves Playa del Carmen is just an excuse to sell a few more drinks. Do hit the deck party on Cozumel day, but skip the sangria sail-away on Playa del Carmen day.

How to meet the captain
Free drinks flow at the welcome-aboard party on the first full day of the cruise, where an eight-piece band performs while passengers slow dance on stage, and the captain joins senior officers for introductions. He also makes an appearance later in the cruise at a party for repeat passengers.

Decisions are easy on Ecstasy: You’ll choose the main dining rooms if you’re in a gregarious mood and want to dress for dinner, or the buffet if you would rather stay in shorts and keep to yourselves. Carnival has a trendy specialty supper club on some of its ships, but it has not yet found a home on Ecstasy. Food was quite good, but we did have one complaint: Many passengers expected Mexican or Tex Mex selections, given the region in which we sailed, but those options were almost nonexistent. (Pork chops in Mexican mole sauce were offered in the dining rooms one evening, but the generally strong and distinctive mole flavor was quite absent.)

Wind Song and Wind Star (main dining rooms)
The two main dining rooms, separated by the galley, have identical menus and similar décor, although a different ceiling treatment makes Wind Song seem a bit more light and airy, and is the best bet for families with small kids as the children’s playroom is just a few steps away. Both restaurants have four assigned dining times: 5:45, 6:15, 8:00, and 8:30 PM. Wind Song is also open for breakfast daily and lunch on sea days (open-seating). Many passengers seemed appreciative of the standard entrée options, which often included lobster, duckling, chateaubriand, and prime rib. Menus also include vegetarian and healthy spa selections lower in fat, sodium, cholesterol, and calories.

Panorama Bar and Grill
Breakfast at this Lido Deck buffet includes a special station where eggs are made to order in mega-diner ambience. The buffet gets all the lunch business on port days when Wind Song is closed, and is popular on sea days as well as passengers head to deck chairs by the pool. There’s a “Taste of Nations” steam table daily featuring cuisine of different regions: French, Italian, Indian, Caribbean, and American (alas, not Mexican). Dinners feature carved meats like stuffed pork loin with apple, and a large array of fancy desserts (tiramisu among the best). Free ice cream is available around the clock. For those who can eschew the air-conditioning, there are some pleasant nooks with fine sea views for al fresco dining.

Other dining options

• Pizzeria and New York Deli: Carnival’s pizza is the best at sea and is available 24 hours a day. The adjacent deli serves tasty sandwiches, including toasted Reubens, from noon to 11 PM.
• Lido Grill: The poolside Lido Grill serves hamburgers, hot dogs, chicken sandwiches, and veggie burgers from noon to 6 PM.
• Rolls Royce Café: The Rolls Royce Café, with a real Rolls parked out front, serves specialty coffee, cakes, cookies, pies, and milkshakes.
• Sushi bar: A small sushi bar is open during the pre-dinner cocktail period, usually 5-8:30 PM.
• Midnight buffet: Buffet offerings are available from 11:30 PM to 1:30 AM nightly. On formal night, a special midnight Grand Gala Buffet shows off the staff’s ability to carve delicate flowers from various vegetables. Held in the Wind Star dining room, it opens at 11:30 PM for photos, and 12:30 AM for dining.
• Room service: Options stress sandwiches, salads, and desserts, including an open-face shrimp salad sandwich on a French roll and a focaccia sandwich with grilled zucchini, mozzarella, and mushrooms. Delivery of our orders was mixed, taking just seven minutes for one order but 40 minutes for the next.

Best dining

• Dish: It’s a toss up -- the filet mignon with peppercorn sauce, or the chicken à la Greco with olives and artichoke hearts, both served in the main dining rooms.
• Dessert: Our waiter made a point of bringing the Grand Marnier soufflé to everyone at the table so that no one would regret not ordering one.
• Restaurant: We preferred the Wind Song because of its more airy feel, but the two restaurants are so similar that most passengers will be happy in either restaurant.
• Food seminar: Cooking demonstrations in the Blue Sapphire Theater focus on recipes found in Carnival’s cookbooks: The Carnival Experience and The Buffets of Carnival, both of which can be purchased onboard. A large overhead screen projects close-up shots, and kudos to the roving waiters for providing a taste to everyone, despite a crowd of more than 60.

How to…

• Get a table for two: If tables for two are not available, ask the maître d’ for the smallest table that the two of you can occupy alone. Your request will be honored if the restaurants are not fully booked. Otherwise, head to the buffet where you can choose your own seating.
• Celebrate a birthday/anniversary: See the head waiter or visit the Formalities shop to order a cake or plan a private party. Bon Voyage packages, including bar and photo coupons, flowers, canapé trays, wine, and champagne, can be purchased in advance. Guests and friends of guests can arrange for cabins to be decorated for special occasions.
• Change seating: See the maître d’ if you want to switch tables, seatings, or even restaurants.
• Dress for formal night: With only one formal night, you’re not likely to see many (if any) ball gowns and tuxedos. Suits for men and cocktail dresses for women are as fancy as it gets.
• Dress for casual night: Shorts and T-shirts are not allowed in the dining rooms at night, but the maître d’ may look the other way. Shorts are appropriate at the dinner buffet, however, and capri pants and sundresses for women and slacks and collared shirts for men are ideal in the dining room.

Tips:

• The best hamburgers on the ship are made to order in the dining rooms.
• Unlike many ships that sell soda fountain cards for a flat fee at the beginning of a cruise, the cards here can be purchased any time, prorated for the number of days left in the cruise. The price is $5.50 per day for adults, $4 per day for children.

Heard on the deck (from two college girls stalking crew members): “You take the fitness manager. I think that assistant waiter is really hot.”

Carnival is upgrading its bedding, and passengers will find the plump new mattresses and cozy duvet covers all too comfortable. Bathroom towels are thick and fluffy. Inside and oceanview cabins are large by cruise standards (186 square feet), and are designed identically, plus or minus a window. (Inside cabins are designed to give the illusion that window curtains have been drawn.) Scandinavian-style cabinetry in light woods provides plenty of storage, and all cabins contain TVs, phones, small safes, and individual climate controls. Oceanview cabins have terry cloth bathrobes. Suites, with 220-320 square feet, have more traditional décor with dark woods, leather sofas, private balconies, and mini refrigerators.

Cabins for guests with disabilities
Twenty cabins are available for physically challenged guests. Disabled persons and their traveling companions also get deferential consideration at embarkation and disembarkation, and shore excursions are recommended for persons with wheelchairs or walking difficulties.

Tip: Budget travelers should consider upgrading from an inside cabin to an oceanview. Sometimes it’s only a matter of an extra $40 per person.

While large at 70,367 tons and 2,052 passengers, Ecstasy rarely feels crowded. You’ll always find a chair on deck or a seat in the theater, although you may have to arrive early to get the one you want. Favorite places include the neon-inspired Metropolis Bar outside the casino, the upscale Society Wine Bar outside the Starlight Lounge, and the Atrium Bar in the center of things in the Grand Atrium.

Bars, lounges, and casino While Ecstasy attracts a party crowd, we seldom found a full house in the bars. On our cruise, the bar entertainers were loud but off-key, and some passengers complained of weak drinks. A calypso band by the pool was much appreciated, and a classical trio at the Atrium Bar had loyal devotees. But the melodic burbling of slot machines in the lively Crystal Palace Casino had the most listeners by far. Watch for free gaming lessons.

Swimming pools
The main pool on Lido Deck has its own snack bar, corkscrew slide, and stage for live entertainment. A quieter pool on Veranda Deck is popular for sunning. There’s also a children’s pool on Promenade Deck. Pool and water slide hours vary, though whirlpools on Lido Deck are generally open until midnight.

Heard on the deck: “I brought serious sun block. I figure I would rather look pale now and young later.”

Shows The glitzy, Las Vegas-style Blue Sapphire Theater hosts production shows by Ecstasy’s song and dance troupe, plus shows by guest performers (singers, comedians, etc…). Arrive early to avoid a seat behind one of the many pillars, and do stay out of the balcony if you want a decent view. The two production shows are excellent, featuring two singers, two acrobats, several dancers, and a show band. Sets, costumes, and special effects are superb, but don’t try to make sense of the theme of the first show, Dream Voyage; you’ll think you missed a transition from the Yellow Brick Road to World War II, but there isn’t one. A second show, X-Treme Country, focuses on country music, a good bet for a largely Texan crowd. Like most everything on Ecstasy, the shows ramp up the volume. Late-night comedians are popular with passengers, and their jokes are repeated endlessly the next day.

Shore excursions
An excellent array of excursions includes the latest trend: Food demonstrations ashore. In an excursion in Cozumel, participants have their own work station with ingredients and utensils used to prepare a Mexican meal, then spend some free time on a beach. Sports options include a helmet dive where you stroll on the sea floor without getting your hair wet, plus dolphin encounters, James Bond-style power snorkeling, and horseback rides through Mayan ruins. Many of the excursions center on the Xcaret Eco-Archaeological Park in Calica and the beautiful Chankanaab National Park in Cozumel. After disembarkation, tours in Galveston and Houston include airport transfers for late flights. Shore excursions are listed on Carnival’s Web site, but some excursions are not available on all sailings. Once onboard, tours can be booked through the Shore Excursions desk, or by depositing your order form in a designated drop box.

Weddings and vow renewals
Weddings can be conducted onboard ship or in a port of call. Packages include tuxedo rentals, receptions, photography, videography, catering, wedding cakes, flowers, live music, and the services of an officiant. For your part, all you need to do is show up. Prices start at $750.

Heard on the deck: “For us, this is the trip of a lifetime. At least, so far.”

Looking for…

• Quietest spot: Sorry, there isn’t one. The closest to quiet can be found in the Explorers Club Library, a beautiful room that opens to the busy Grand Atrium and its mélange of sounds spilling out from the ship’s bars; and the Veranda Deck pool, where bodies quietly tan but the sun can be intense. If you want to read and relax, book a cabin with a view or a suite with a private balcony.
• Liveliest spot: The busy Crystal Palace Casino is packed with patrons playing slots, blackjack, roulette, and poker.
• Most popular activity: Many passengers bypass professional entertainment in the ship’s bars to hear fellow passengers take the microphone during well-attended karaoke sessions in the Starlight Lounge.
• Best view: Lifeboats hang high on the ship, sometimes impeding efforts at observation. Head to the jogging track on Sun Deck for the best views.
• Best show: Dream Voyage is esoteric in theme but delightful in execution.
• Best drink: The Yellow Bird is made with white rum, Galliano, orange juice, and a dash of Grenadine. It’s just fruity enough to fool you into thinking it might be good for you.

Tips:

• Escorted golf excursions are available for $115-210. Private lessons are scheduled on sea days, and include a swing analysis.
• Beach towels are left in cabins for use on deck and shore, but if you lose one (or want to buy one as a souvenir), the cost is $22.
• Young people must be at least 21 to be served alcohol and should carry identification that includes a birth date.
• The Internet café is open 24 hours, but its location along the busy City Lights Promenade means you won’t get much privacy when you check your e-mail. Look for Internet café happy hours when minutes are half-price. You can also upload your vacation pictures to a free online photo album to share with friends back home.
• Take your vacation clothes home clean thanks to a laundry special of $15 for two bags of laundry that can be washed, dried, and folded for you on the last sea day. You can do it yourself, though, at one of two launderettes available to passengers.
• Phone calls home are $6.99 a minute.
• Gratuities are added to your onboard charge account at a rate of $10 per person, per day. Passengers can adjust the gratuities up or down.

Heard on the deck: “What happens on the ship stays on the ship… Am I right?”

Camp Carnival caters to kids ages 2-15, with activities broken out into four age groups. Staff gets a good workout during summer months and school holidays when more children are onboard. Expect older teens during spring break and in late May when high school kids take their senior trips. A smoke-free video arcade with high-tech games for adults and kids alike is located near the casino, and the adjacent Spirals is the place for teens to meet and dance. Babysitting in the form of a pajama party in the children’s playroom is available from 10 PM to 3 AM for kids ages 2-11. Rentals of Game Boys and baby strollers are available from Camp Carnival.

Heard on the deck: “My 2-year-old said she was tired of playing with me and demanded to go to Camp Carnival to see her new friends.”

Spa and salon
There are specials daily, and the best deals are on port days, including a hair wash and blow dry for $25, and for $60, a choice of three treatments (choose among facials, foot massages, hand treatments, hair conditioning, and scalp massages). There’s a new barber menu that includes an express shave for $39, and a shave, facial, and massage (scalp, hand, and arm) for $85. Staff can be aggressive in pushing products for sale, and if you don’t want to pay for expensive spa treatments just to hear how you need to spend even more money for creams and lotions, head to the ship’s fragrance shop and ask for a makeover or consultation -- free, as it should be.

Fitness areas
The gym houses standard treadmills, stationary bikes, free weights, and the like. Sessions with fitness instructors include a metabolism test for $30, 90 minutes of personal training for $75, a diet consultation for $75, and back-care sessions for $60. The Alpha Relaxation Capsule, a 21st century version of the vibrating Magic Fingers bed of yesteryear, is $45 for 25 minutes of relaxation and aromatherapy. Some scheduled fitness classes are free (aerobics, body conditioning) and others are $10 (Pilates, yoga, and the combo yogalates ). An open-air jogging track is located at the top of the ship.

The Galleria Shopping Mall is a charming warren of spaces cleverly located just steps outside the Blue Sapphire Theater, guaranteeing constant traffic. Because of the shopping opportunities onshore in Mexico, though, many passengers wait until the last sea day to make purchases on the ship, and the shop can get quite crowded. Ecstasy also offers the usual champagne art auctions of works by Peter Max, Norman Rockwell, and others, and there’s a new twist one evening in the form of a silent auction. Onshore shops recommended by Ecstasy have paid the line a promotional fee but guarantee purchases for 30 days.

Ecstasy offers five-night cruises from Galveston to Cozumel and Playa del Carmen, departing Mondays and Saturdays. Her four-night cruises to Cozumel depart every other week on Thursdays.

• If you’re flying into Houston and booking your own air, plan to arrive at Houston Hobby Airport rather than George Bush Intercontinental. Hobby is closer to the Galveston cruise ship pier, and taxis are cheaper ($80 from Hobby vs. $125 from Intercontinental). Carnival offers roundtrip bus transportation from both airports for $33 each way, but local services such as Galveston Limousine are slightly cheaper (from Hobby, $50 roundtrip per person), and their vans fill up faster than the ship’s bigger buses, requiring less waiting at the airport. You can find Galveston Limousine in the airport baggage claim areas.
• While disembarkation is speedy, embarkation can be agonizingly slow. Bring a book or magazine.
• Guests who want to disembark early can do so if they are willing and able to carry all of their luggage off the ship.
• Five-night cruises are often the same price, and sometimes even less, than the four-night, long-weekend versions.

• Cruise line - Carnival
• Ship name - Ecstasy
• Type of cruise - Fun/Casual
• Total cabins - 1026
• Private balcony cabins - 54
• Decks - 10
• Passenger capacity - 2052
• Total crew - 920
• Officers nationality - Italian
• Ship size - Large
• Year entered service - 1991
• Tonnage - 70367
• Ship length - 855
• Registry - The Bahamas

Copyright 2005, The Independent Traveler, Inc. All rights reserved.