Elation Trip Report - Sept 21- Sept 26 - Day 1

[geoffinjersey]

I drove out from Las Vegas on Friday night after work – I had Pricelined a hotel in San Diego – and I was able to get the Sheraton Harbor Island for $70 a night (not bad considering that it was going for $140 on the Sheraton website). The Sheraton Harbor is what one normally gets when you use Priceline for Downtown San Diego – I’m not sure if they recently renovated and moved up to the 4* downtown – or Priceline rearranged what they consider downtown – but in the older days the least expensive hotel downtown was the Hilton. But I have to say that the Sheraton was a really nice hotel – free wireless in the lobby, a nice sized pool, unbelievable views of the marina on one side and city on the other, but most important a great staff that actually knew my name before checkout on Monday (example – I called valet on Sunday because I was going to Point Loma for dinner – they picked up and said “Hello Geoff, we will have your car up front in 5 minutes” – that’s what I call service. I will stress – you will have to drive if you stay here (or do what I did – walk into town and then take the Trolley to the Little Italy stop – you only have about a mile and a half walk back to the hotel from there) After all San Diego a walking town.

I doubt anyone on Cruise Critic cares about what I did in San Diego – so I’ll leave that for a Trip Advisor review. Let’s jump ahead to Monday morning and the drive to the port.

At this point I’ve already done the – get up – run to the other side of the hotel – and checked out the ship in the distance – it isn’t one of the biggest ships I’ve been on – but hey – it still looks really big – even at 3 miles away.

I check out –and plug in the address for the parking lot on Magellan (my only complaint about my Magellan GPS is that I paid extra for the voice activation – I was expecting something out of Star Trek – what I get is something that keeps changing locations while I’m listening to Stern (I don’t remember Stern EVER saying “Magellan – find a coffee shop”). Sorry – back to the parking –so I plug in the address and head out. It has me turn left on Grape – “that’s funny – I thought the lot was three miles straight ahead – but who am I to judge”. After a couple of more turns; and two exits on the I-5 – I have arrived – problem is – I’m NOWHERE near the port or any water – I’m in the middle of Downtown San Diego. OK – I can see the funnel – I’m just going to drive towards that (Shut Up Magellan – I am NOT going to make a legal U-Turn when possible!!”) There – I have arrived with no help from you – Oh wait – the address is 800 WEST Broadway – NOT 800 Broadway – user error – I can’t yell anymore.

The lot is empty – but then again – its only 11:00 – YES – I’m one of those people who have to be one of the first on the ship – I’m making the most out of this week.

I’ve heard many complaints on this board about how disorganized embarkation is – I didn’t see anything that looks disorganized – you walk to the security checkpoint – show your fun pass and photo ID – they let you through security – you go left to the baggage drop off (its easy – follow the signs that say “Baggage Drop Off”), you walk up to the sign that has your deck name on it (its easy – look for the sign that has your deck name); you drop off your luggage (its easy – someone will take your luggage); you tip this person (its not so easy – all he did was move my luggage 10 feet and I have to tip – then again – I want my luggage ON the ship – not accidently left in the hanger – so I’ll tip); you walk back across the street (I’ve been walking for 45 years now – so I can handle that one); you walk inside; show your fun pass and photo ID one or 2 more times; go through another security checkpoint (the dreaded x-ray screening) – this time I remembered that I have an Altoid tin in a lower pocket – pick up your stuff – put your belt back on – almost there – a nice woman hands you the medical form – read the form – it talks about the EXTENSIVE screening for the H1N1 and noro-virus – it went something like this– Question #1 – Have you had diarrhea in the last 24-48 hours – NO (there I don’t have noro-virus); QUESTION #2 – have you sneezed in the last 24 hours NO (I guess I don’t have swine flu) – wow – it was like going to my HMO - I got a check-up and didn’t have to pay a $20 co-pay – I’m already ahead $20 – GO CARNIVAL!!

You know the rest – you wait on another line, they check all your paperwork – hand you your keys – give you a boarding zone (#3 this time) and have you sit for a ½ hour – I will say – there are NOT enough chairs in this place – its only about 11:30 and most of the chairs are gone and I don’t think the turnaround is fast enough so if you are in a higher boarding # you might have to stand – but since the Elation is leaving next year – I guess that they aren’t going to change anything.

Blah, blah, blah – Zone 3 is called – I walk up – someone cuts in front – other people start complaining – People Relax – its not like boarding a plane on Southwest – just because someone cut in front doesn’t mean they are going to get a better cabin. I take that horrible Welcome Aboard Photo – insert my card (DING) – Look at the camera – get my card back – walk up a gangway – insert card (DING) now I’m on the ship. Fire doors are closed – so I can’t drop off the laptop or backpack –the restaurants aren’t open for lunch - so let’s just get up to the Lido Deck – plant my butt in a seat by the pool and get something to eat and more importantly drink.

Coming from a hotel background – I can say that the buffet lines aren’t well designed – there are going to be bottlenecks when the ship starts to fill up – I take a walk around both buffet lines – wish I could remember what they had – but nothing thrilled me – so I passed. The Deli was open – and a sandwich sounds good right now – I didn’t like the sounds of the sandwiches they had listed – so I just made up one of my own – No problem (well one problem – the people behind me now realize that you can order off the menu – so everyone starts adding and deleting stuff to their sandwiches – Sorry Guys). Hey look – the Mongolian line has no one on it – next stop Mongolian Bar-B-Que – I’m standing there loading up my dish – and I notice that the tray doesn’t fit on the counter - about 2/3rds hangs off – I’m guessing it wasn’t designed for a tray on the side – must make note of that. – so I load up on veggies – Have a conversation with nice woman behind me that goes something like– “No this isn’t the salad bar – it’s a Mongolian Bar-B-Que – yes Mongolian – what you do is fill up your dish with veggies hand it to the nice man – he will put in a protein of your choice – protein – no protein – MEAT – he will put in a meat of your choice – along with a sauce – yes its good – yes I’ve had it before – no I’ve never had it on this ship – in Las Vegas – yes I’m from Las Vegas – no I don’t live on the strip – yes its hot there – oh Ha Ha Ha – whatever happens in Vegas Stays in Vegas – that’s funny – no one has ever said that to me before – that’s good – you made my day – yes – those are just mushrooms; baby corn – no I don’t know how they get them that small – the orange things are carrots - those are glass noodles, I guess because you can see through them; the little chili peppers on the sign tells you how hot the sauce is, no they are all the same temp – I’m talking about how spicy they are)

I get my food (without killing her by the way) – head back to my table – flag down a drink person and order a bucket of Bass Ale and a bucket of Guinness (I can get a bunch of black and tans out of that) – Next problem, they don’t serve Bass at the pool. Since it is in a bottle – they would have to put them all in plastic glasses – I’m been on many a ship and this is the first time I’ve encountered this (even on other Carnival ships) – I’m guessing that somewhere along the line – some drunk dude hit someone else over the head with a bottle of beer – the mistakes of the one outweigh the happiness of the many. I’ll let it go – there are other things on the drink menu that make me happy.

So now its time to just sit back and people watch – OH GOD – the Mongolian Grill woman is walking my way – don’t make eye contact – don’t make eye contact – oh hey – yes I can see that you have your dish – oh you’re going to make all gone – give that woman a Nobel Prize.

I finish food – finish drink – time to walk around – check out the rest of the ship – and check out the dining situation. I work with the public all day – so I really don’t want to make small talk at dinner –and I don’t want to hear the story about how a friend of a friend of yours was in a hotel in Las Vegas – checked in – smelled something bad in their hotel room and it turned out to be a dead hooker stuffed under the bed and they now get a free presidential suite every year for life – that NEVER happened EVER – there is no record of it ever happening – and I really don’t want to call you out on it – so I really, really want a table for me and my traveling partners (even though they want a large table (sometimes the wants of the one outweigh the wants of the many). I visit the maitre D' (why does it always feel like I’m having a visit with the Pope?) You wait on line, someone tells you to proceed to his Highness – do I bow, curtsey, kiss his ring? I get my smaller table – I’m happy – I check out the location – good spot –not near a busser station or the door – I approve (not much I could have done if I didn’t approve –but it’s the little things that make me happy).

Its 1:20 – time to see if the room is ready – I go down to my deck and find the doors still closed and a bunch of people waiting for them to open – I don’t feel like waiting – and I have to use the facilities – so reach for the knob – hold my breath and yes it turns – the door opens – I prop open the double doors and walk through – I can hear the chatter from the onlookers (did he just do that? why didn’t we do that? should we follow?) Yes I did! I don’t know why you didn’t and yes follow me – for 10 seconds I’m a hero!!!

OK – I’m on the top of page 4 and I haven’t even gotten to my room yet – let’s speed this up a little.

Look at that my luggage has arrived – time to unpack and meet my cabin steward (Note – I’m writing this on Thursday – and I still haven’t met my cabin steward – but the room gets cleaned and the towel animals show up – so I’m guessing that he or she is working)

The room is bigger than I thought it would be – I have this photo of me on the Monarch of the Seas touching both walls at the same time – I have about 3 ½ feet to the other wall – so I’m happy.

Luggage is here – so I unpack – and head back out to take pictures of everything possible.

Yes the ship has a little too much pink – and what is with all those faces inlaid in the walls? Mr. Farcas went a little overboard – but that’s what I love about him. Look a wedding – let’s check it out – bored now – keep walking – here’s Dukes Bar – time for a photo of me with the Statue of Liberty – poor Gustave Eiffel- he designs a beautiful statue, gets it shipped to New York – and here I am – having my photo taken while picking her nose – time for the rest of the typical pics – shot of me in front of the Chrysler Building, at the Piano Bar, in front of some really strange looking statues with TV cameras in their stomachs – wait I’m passing the pursers desk – let me put my credits on my account.

Once I book a cruise – my goal is to purchase at least $25 in credits a week – sure I can just put it in a savings account – but I’ll probably spend it before getting on the ship –this way I have no choice – so I wait to put down my $300. Interesting the couple next to me has never been on a Carnival Cruise before – they are looking for an upgrade – the nice woman helping them asks what they are looking for – oh course they want a suite with a balcony – what room are they in now – lets just say it’s a lower inside – but wait they are good friends with the captain and want to send him a note saying that they are on the ship – I wanted to ask if they know the Captains first name (ummmm….captain??) (do they really think that is going to work) – the couple are told we’re sailing full, suites go first, but if there is something available they will get back to them with cost (oh – they want it for free – since it is their first cruise and they are personal friends with the Captain) I tell my guy that since I’m also personal friends with the Captain and I think I should get to drive the ship out of port when we leave – I then tell him how I don’t envy his job at all and I would go crazy if I had to deal with people like that on a daily basis (one of my friends tells me that I do deal with people like that all the time – a look of sadness washes across my face)

Off to Shore Excursion Desk – since there were only 4 tours offered for Ensenada online – I was interested to see what else was being offered – about 30 tours were offered on the ship – so I booked my winery tour and went back up to the pool to lounge out till sail away.

Fast forward – we sail away – I waive at the video guy – horn goes off in my ear – call friends back home to tell them we’re sailing – horn goes off again – I almost drop phone – ship turns around – San Diego is in the distance – get another drink – kill time – go to the Spa for the raffle – don’t win anything – remember the Cruise Critic get together (2 hours to late – sorry guys) – sit around and listen to a bad piano player (he played well enough – but singing wise – dude find a key and stick with it). Get ready for dinner – I usually hit the spa to shower – the showers are much more relaxing there – 4 shower heads on the side and the one on top – cares melt away.

Drink before dinner – laugh at the people waiting online from 7:50-8:15 for the dining room to open up – people – its not a general admission concert – you have assigned seats – sit back, have a drink and just wait it out.

Shake Freddy the Maître D hand when I walk in – get escorted to my table – meet out waiter (Adrian from Peru); assistant waiter Iwayana (sp) from Indonesia and our bar server Lina from Peru. All 3 work very well together.

A note about dinner – I’ve read here that the portions have gotten smaller over time – I’ll agree with that – but it isn’t like having dinner at Joel Robuchon Restaurant in MGM Grand - you can always order a 2nd entrée and guess what – you will not be charged for it (wow what a concept)

I didn’t really want to see the show after dinner – I keep hearing how they are labeled Las Vegas style entertainment – maybe 1980’s Las Vegas style entertainment – Las Vegas style entertainment is more Cirque and Blue Man – it should say Branson, MO style entertainment. So after dinner – a couple of walks around the ship – a quick run through the casino – I still love to watch table games – I was watching Caribbean Stud Poker and the dealer asked if I wanted to play – I declined –he dealt a hand – asked if I wanted to play – I said no thinks – this was the way it went for 4 hands – after hand #3 he said – come on don’t be scared –. I declined again – saying I just like to watch. Hand #4 he baited me again – look even the little lady here isn’t afraid of me –why is a big guy like you afraid to play (2 second beat) – “The big guy isn’t afraid to play – but I don’t really like to play a game that has about a 5.3% house edge – and don’t even get me started about the double zero on roulette or not being able to take odds at craps.” Looking back – I think I took his comments a little too personally and I was probably rude to him because he was only doing his job – but I hadn’t had any alcohol in about 3 months – so the drinks were going to my head.

Time to go to sleep

[1timecruiser]

Hilarious review!!!! I'm heading over to the 2nd page to finish this.

I'm not even going on the elation, but only have 7 days til I do cruise, so this story is also helping with my anticipation!

[johnlcruise]

Great review, I also work in guest services here in the mountains, so I can really relate.
Keep it coming.