The Carnival Ecstasy is the oldest and smallest ship in the Carnival Cruise Line fleet. Not by a large margin.
It doesn't have the splashy, family- fun attractions found on newer Carnival ships, such as a water park, ropes courses, high-in-the-sky pedal rides and a roller coaster. Most of its cabins don't have balconies, which makes them feel cramped.
It feels worn out at 31 years old. It has taken a long time.
Despite all of that, I am sad that Carnival Ecstasy is going out on a sour note.
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It reminds me that I'm getting old. When Carnival Ecstasy was new, it was one of the most advanced cruise ships in the world. I remember writing about Carnival Ecstasy when it was a bright young thing in the cruise world.
It's not the main reason that I feel a bit melancholy this week, it's the fact that I'm thinking about the retirement of a ship. The cruise ships are built to last a long time.
The retirement of Carnival Ecstasy is the latest nail in the coffin of what I like to call the era of intimate floating mega resorts.
One of the last remaining vessels at the big mainstream lines such as Carnival, Royal Caribbean and Norwegian Cruise Line is Carnival Ecstasy, which is from a time when megaships were not that big.
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Designed to carry around 2,000 vacationers as compared to the 6,000-plus that the biggest cruise ships carry today, they were vessels of a size that offered a lot of amenities but still felt comfortable.
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You were on these ships with a lot of other people, but not as many as you would find on a modern vessel.
There was a more human level of interaction on the smaller ships of Carnival. If you ran into the same people more often, you would experience more entertainment. You would get to know the crew.
There would be less of you going to the same tourist sites when you poured off the ship.
One of the Carnival vessels that elevated the line into the big leagues of the North American tourism business was Carnival Ecstasy.
Carnival had just a few ships that were significantly smaller and had less amenities. The arrival of the vessel and its seven sisters in quick succession in the 1990s catapulted the line into a major tourism company.
A lot of decktop pool and lounge areas, as well as huge interior public areas full of bars, showrooms, restaurants and shops, were on these ships.
The Carnival ships are divided into eight classes.
Along with the new ships at Royal Caribbean, they were the megaships of their day.
They were much smaller than today's megaships. The Carnival Ecstasy was one of the largest cruise ships in the world when it was built. It is less than half the size of the world's largest ships. The new Carnival flagship can carry over 5,300 passengers and can fit six pull down bunks and a pullout sofa.
Cruise ships are getting bigger and bigger. Bigger ships are more economical than smaller ones. economies of scale are better for business. Bigger ships are what a lot of the public wants.
"Give me more onboard options" has been the slogan of Carnival, Royal Caribbean or Norwegian for a long time. The companies had to increase the size of the ships. Bigger is better for megaship-lovers.
The newer, bigger vessels have more to offer. The Wonder of the Seas is the world's largest cruise ship and it's hard to beat it. There are multiple main pool areas, a kiddie splash zone, surfing simulator, miniature golf course, basketball court, and even a zip line on this ship. That is on the top deck. There are more lounges, bars, restaurants and shops inside the vessel than you can imagine.
I still enjoy the smaller megaships of old, such as Carnival Ecstasy, even though I miss the intimate atmosphere of the megaships of the 1990s.
Smaller megaships can sail out of smaller ports such as Mobile, Alabama, that might not be able to support a larger vessel. Smaller destinations such as Havana, Cuba, can be reached by smaller ships. Smaller ships such as Carnival Ecstasy would be able to pull into Havana's harbor if it ever reopened to North American cruise ships again.
We used to be able to have our cake and eat it as well when it came to megaships. Many of the smaller megaships that were built in the 1980's and 1990's still exist.
The past three years have seen a change in the way things are done.
Many of the biggest cruise lines, including Carnival, Royal Caribbean, Holland America and Princess, retired many of their oldest ships because of the industrywide shutdown.
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All but one of Carnival's small Fantasy class ships are still sailing. The Carnival fleet had eight vessels in early 2020. Carnival retired four of the eight vessels within months, and later this year it retired a fifth in the series.
The Carnival Ecstasy will be the sixth Fantasy-class ship to leave the Carnival fleet.
The 2,130-passenger Carnival Elation and the 2,124-passenger Carnival Paradise will be the last two small Carnival ships. They're a tad bigger than Carnival Ecstasy, but they're much younger.
Holland America reduced the size of its fleet by removing four of its oldest ships during the downturn. Five older, smaller ships have been removed from Princess Cruises' fleet in the last three years.
The two smallest ships in Royal Caribbean's fleet were retired due to the crisis.
Over the past few years, the landscape of small, intimate ships among the big mainstream lines has changed. Even if it's a natural part of the evolution of the cruise business, it's still something to be sad about.
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