My best friend & I are going on Ecstasy in November, and wonder if anyone else out there is?  It'll be my 3rd cruise, my 2nd on Ecstasy, but her first cruise.  We're pretty excited about it.  Anyone want to meet?

We are first time cruisers from Tulsa.  Nov. 10th is my 46th birthday.  I'm bringing my  hubby, 19yr old daughter, 14yr old son.  My sister-in-law is celebrating her 5th anniversary with her husband and is bringing my 20yr old niece.  I also have a business associate coming for girls trip and is bringing her mom, friends and sis.

I have traveled quite a bit but this is my first cruise.  We are soooo excited, but haven't a clue what to expect. 

Finally, fellow cruisers!  I was beginning to think we'd have the ship to ourselves! lol!  You will have a blast.  My best advise is to read these boards as much as you can, go to the FAQ section of your cruise on carnivals website, take virtual tours, and visit such sites as cruisecritics.com.  If you have any more questions, I'll be happy to help.  My bff & I are both from Texas, I'm from a small town called Snyder, and she's from Amarillo.  We're both in our mid-50's, and I'm afraid I'm addicted to cruising.  lol

Sounds like you're gonna have quite a group.  And what a way to celebrate your birthday!  congratulations

I look forward to meeting all of you!

Ramona

My hubby and I will be going with 3 other couples.  We are from Shawnee, Okla.  This will be my 5th cruise, my hubby's 4th cruise and the other 3 couples are from Arlington, TX and this will be their first cruise.  I'm so excited --- my last cruise was in 2005 and I'm having withdrawals.  Told hubby I can't wait this long in between cruises anymore --- too torturing.

We will be there on the 11/10/08 cruise!!!  My husband and I live in Harrah, OK and it's our first cruise.  We are so excited.  I have been glued to the webcam in Galveston, especially today, watching the Ecstasy arrive in port around 9:30am and just now leaving (!!!) at 6:30pm for the shortened 3-day cruise to nowhere, due to Gustav. 

I have absorbed so much information from these boards.  I am curious what Cheryl in Ft. Worth (the sea-u-onboard lady, that posts here frequently) will have to say about the cruise that just left a few minutes ago, as she was scheduled to be on this cruise.

Welcome, everyone!  Looks like we'll be a ship of Okies & Texans!  How Kool is that?!  I agree Lambersonk, these board are very informative.  i've been on 2 cruises, and I've learned a lot by reading these boards.  We're excited about meeting all of you & can't wait!  Only 66 more days!  Whoo Hooo!

hey!! First Time cruisers here. We are from north louisiana. Its going to be our honeymoon. Im really excited about the cruise. My soon to be husband thinks JAWS is going to eat the Ship. Any first-timer advice out there, anything would be appreciated. See yall in November.

Nicolee, I apologize that it's taken me so long to respond.  I've been so wrapped up in the Ike posts!

Welcome aboard! 

Tell your husband they don't make sharks that big! lol

If you haven't found it yet, go to seauonboard.com and click on cruise 101-the basics, and she has all kinds of information there that should help you.  Including ideas of what to pack, what to expect, how much extras will cost, etc.  Very helpful.

I wonder if we'll be cruising out of Houston?  I know they don't have that information yet, but I was just wondering.  It would suit me fine, cause it's actually easier to get to.

I'll look forward to meeting all of you.  Only 54 more days!

Ramona

doodlebug:

I wonder if we'll be cruising out of Houston?  I know they don't have that information yet, but I was just wondering.  It would suit me fine, cause it's actually easier to get to.

I'm wondering the same thing....We have reservations at Hotel Galvez on Sunday night (11/9).  I called Wyndham hotels yesterday and Hotel Galvez is closed....indefinitely.  The agent thought there was "minimal" damage, maybe some flooding and windows knocked out, but didn't think that the hotel was completely destroyed.  I also asked about the Harbor House (Wyndham owns this hotel too) that is right next to the cruise terminal.  He stated that they had not received any information about this property yet.  I'm thinking I am going to call my travel agent and go ahead and make reservations for somewhere in Houston.  The more I read about Ike's destruction, the more I am thinking that Galveston will not be ready residents/tourists for several months.  At least having a back up plan will save for some frustration/confusion when it's time to go.  54 days out and it could go either way (Galveston or Houston) at the last minute. 

I have read that they may use a cruise ship or two to house the clean-up crews in Galveston.  How do they determine what ship they are going to use???  I heard when Katrina hit, that the Ecstasy was one of the ships they used to house people in the same manner.  Did they cancel the affected cruises during this time or offer passengers a cruise on another ship??  Just curious.  I can understand the need for this type of housing, I just hope there is plenty of warning to passengers prior to sail time so that other arrangements can be made.

Nov. 10 will be here before we know it!!!

Lambersonk, I just went to the port of houston webpage, and they said that all Ecstasy & Conquest sailings for the next 45 to 60 days would be out of there.  So, guess that means we could, or could not, since we have 54 more days to go.  I guess it's a waiting game right now.

 As far as using the ships to house workers, I haven't heard anything yet, but I would hope they would give everyone some notice, or a free cruise later! 

Here is a link to houston's website.  It's pretty informative.

http://www.portofhouston.com/

See you in 54 days!!!  Can't wait!

Ramona

Third time cruiser sailing with ya'll.  First two were on Conquest: once with my grandma two years ago and the other last year for my honeymoon.  This is the first on Ecstasy and with our new baby girl, who will be 6 months old at sailing time.  (The cruise was my mom's idea and was booked before Munchkin was even born.)  Aside from myself, my husband, and my baby, we will be joined by several family members.  My mom and her husband, my inlaws, my aunti-in-law, my grandma and my mom's best friend.  Should make for an interesting cruise. lol.

I'm glad I finally found a roll call being participated in.  I am a cruisecritic member and didn't realize there was a group on here.  The roll call over there has been dead and is on the 3rd one, since we can't ever find the other ones - they get pushed back several pages.

 As for the port information, my husband found it somewhere on Carnival's page yesterday.  From the sounds of it, the Houston terminal may be nicer than the Galveston one, anyway.  We shall see.

So, howdy everyone and I look forward to chatting and getting to know the fellow cruisers for the 10th.

Here is the link.  Guess it was on cruisecritic.com.  Sorry.

http://www.cruisecritic.com/news/news.cfm?ID=2817

Good Morning Ramona!

My DH and I, along with our best friends will be on the Ecstacy 11-10-08.  This will be our 5th cruise and their 1st!  I've been on the Ecstasy before and had a great time; but I'm more excited about what the 1st time cruisers think.  I know that this might surprise you, but I know when Snyder is!  My daughter went to and graduated from Texas Tech (go red raiders!!!) in May of 2005 and roomed with a girl (Morgan) from Ira, Texas!  She married a guy in May of 2005 from Snyder and they are expecting their first child in Jan/Feb of 2009.  His name is Clay and hers is Morgan (Preston).  They are both the sweetest - we were very blessed for our Ashleigh and Morgan to be roommates!  We are all from Texarkana, Arkansas transplanted by the way of Texarkana, Texas.  You can move the girl to Arkansas but you can't take the Texas out of the girl!!!

Hope to meet you on the ship!

Elisha 

My hubby has family in Shawnee!  What a small world.  Do you know *** and Carolyn Dixson?

Elisha