I was also on the Ecstasy. Curejunkie pretty much told it like it was. I must make a few additional comments....
Carnival was not up front with us and made it sound very unlikely that we would not reach port. Also, we were notified of the boat not being fixed at 11:30pm as we boarded the cruise. At this point we waited 12 hours in Galveston, traveling home late at night was not a good option, especially since Carnival was "optimistic" that the repairs would be made.
After 5 days trapped on board, I think they knew they needed the part. How fast can they get a part and technician to Mexico from Finland??? If they found out it was not repairable on Tuesday (when they told us), could they have made the arrangements to get someone to Progresso and through customs by Thursday? There is some dishonesty here. I think they knew before we boarded that they needed a spare part. Being optimistic and giving everyone a 50% discount is cheaper than canceling. Also, extra days on the ship mean extra money for Carnival.
Finally, as far as entertainment and morale.... The staff on the Ecstasy was great. They were worn down, but mostly professional and very kind. The shows were pretty good too. Here is where I had issues. The Ecstasy has one real pool that is about a 10 x 20 foot pool. There are 3 ping-pong tables and one shuffleboard for over 2000 passengers. The daily entertainment on the deck is very bad (hairy chest contest, water balloon toss, and that is about IT!!) No basketball or volley ball (the could not find the needle to inflate the balls). What else....oh, 2 exercise classes in the morning 7 and 8am are free, the rest cost $10 each. Bingo is $10-20 per 3-5 games (rip off), and internet access starts at $28 for those with lap tops. Many activities cost extra money and that also bothered many people.
For 2 or 3 days in transit, you can deal with some of these issues, but 5 DAYS was way too much. I personally will never go on Carnival again. Corporate handled this very badly. When the mini-mutiny began, they took over 2 hours to address the crowd. This was scary for many small children and some of us adults.
