Elation May 15th 2017 Review - Back to Carnival after long hiatus

Been some time since I have been Carnival and when I returned I wanted to try one of the newer ships. However, my 19-year-old daughter really wanted to cruise on a certain date (week after finishing the spring semester) and only a 5 day due to work. She wanted to take along her best friend and since they couldn’t book a cabin by themselves, my wife and I booked the two cabins in our names. Luckily at the time we scored a great deal on an OV and were able to bring our 13-yr-old son at little to no cost. This would be our first cruise out of Jacksonville, and driving wise (from NC) it was great. The port itself was nice and parking was relatively inexpensive and very convenient (short walk to the ship).

The benefit of booking a cabin for me and the other cabin in my wife’s name was that I alone could purchase the Cheers package since my wife doesn’t drink as much as I do (and would never get the full value of the drink package). So a quick Cheers review. I didn’t like signing receipts every time (and yes I always tipped a dollar each time) but it is what it is. I was disappointed in the lack of bourbon choices ship wide and how crowded the bars were. (I know it is a small ship but everywhere we went there was lines. I have been on plenty of small ships and this time it just seemed packed everywhere we went). There were not many roaming bar servers at the pool area (we used the aft pool mostly) and one “secret” is to use the bar that is open only on sea days behind the basketball/volleyball area. There were only 3 or 4 people at most at a time there. Atrium bar service was good – even when crowded. I didn’t go over 15 anytime during the week. Like Celebrity it was nice to have the specialty coffees included (but I loved not signing receipts on Celebrity!) and I enjoyed the Music Bar every morning. I was lucky enough to grab 3 ($100) gift cards on Verizon to save 10% and apply the difference ($12 or so) to my sign/sail account onboard (the machine was working so I had to wait in line for guest services).

Overall I enjoyed the Elation (she was clean and in good shape) but I have never felt so crowded before. Given the future dry dock later this year (hoping she gets some nice upgrades) and convenience of Jacksonville I might consider doing the Elation again (or a B2B as I prefer longer than 5-days).

Embarkation: We had the 1:00pm to 1:30pm check-in slot. I understand the need but I still prefer to get to the port at 10:30am and get on the ship by 11:30am – even though that 1hr or so can be hectic and a pain. We arrived at the parking lot around 12:30, had a guy carry the family over in a golf cart and were into the terminal right before 1pm. The security lines moved fairly quickly and check-in was pretty painless. Took the obligatory picture and were on the ship fairly quick.

Food: We ate in the MDR (anytime dining) every night but one. The food was a little above average, nothing too special or remarkable. One night the service was SLOW…we skipped desert since we wanted to catch a show. Bar service was always good in the MDR, which was nice. The buffet was below average to me, small of course due to the size of the ship but the choices were bleh. Breakfast was average. The sea brunch however was really good in the MDR. Compared to other past Carnival cruises I think the food quality was poorer this go around. I know all the mainstream lines have cut back. I actually enjoyed Carnival’s food (especially their steakhouses) in the past but it has been since 2013 since I last sailed Carnival. I wasn’t expecting a wow factor or to be impressed, but I was a little saddened that it didn’t meet my old Carnival expectations. I know it can vary by ship and cruise itself, but I wish I had a choice of Guys or specialty restaurant to substitute a night or two. And yes, I did miss the tablecloths every day.

Lunch was a zoo, and finally on the last sea day we were able to grab some food at the Mongolian Wok. (every day the line was 50 people+) but showing up 5 minutes before they opened. Even the pizza pirate place had lines around 15-20 people and it just moved slowly. I managed to grab some slices during off times (breakfast and late afternoon). We did the Taste Bar one night and the samples were good. We did one Tea Time (held at Dukes piano bar) and that was small and crowded (last time on Carnival it was in the MDR) and they didn’t have as much of the good stuff as before.

Smoking – yikes. I don’t smoke and I really don’t mind others smoking. I guess I was surprised at the number of inside places where once could smoke on the ship (like I said before, it has been 4 years since I have been on Carnival). My only “complaint” was that the live band always played in the Drama bar in the evenings, and this is a great bar for one to smoke in. And everyone was! Anyhow my wife is extra sensitive and we couldn’t enjoy a drink and listen/dance to the live band. We stood outside near the Music Bar to at least hear a song. BTW they held trivia at the bar as well and it was too much smoke to enjoy for us.

Our Cruise Director was Kevin Donahue and he was great. He lived up to the picture of what a Carnival cruise director should be: energetic, fun, and zany. He did a great job during 80’s trivia in the Atrium one night – don’t miss this performance.

We did see two production shows – Rock of Ages and Divas. Both were pretty good and enjoyable. We saw one family friendly comedy show and I thought it was pretty good. There wasn’t a lot of people and that had an impact on the whole atmosphere I think. We also saw one Hasbro show and it was ok, fun to watch the kids participate. We went to one piano bar sing-along and that was ok as well.

Half Moon Cay: like most people have said, it is a beautiful beach. It was our first time there and I am glad we made it. There were plenty of chairs and the water nice and calm. It felt crowded at times but was still enjoyable. If you walk all the way down there are less people of course, and some hammocks to use. It is frustrating that you can’t use the Cheers package here. The food was good (burgers and jerk chicken) and the weather was very nice.

Nassau: We decided to walk to the John Waltings Rum factory, where we did our own tour and rum tasting. Afterwards I ended up shopping (ok, watching two teenage girls try to haggle for T-shirts/knick-nacks in a hot/humid straw market for an hour) while my wife and her friend ended up at Sharkeez for some drinks and jello shots.

Disembarkation: Uggggh. The worst yet of all my cruises. We were walk-off and there was mass elevator confusion and several bottlenecks. It wasn’t a fun scene but once we were off customs went by fairly quickly.

So even though I wanted to sail the Breeze or Vista when I returned to Carnival, I did enjoy the Elation for what she is. She was in great shape overall and after her upgrades I would consider driving down to Jacksonville again for a quick getaway. My last cruise in January was on the Allure, so this is about as stark of a contrast as one could get….and I did have a good time. I still want to try a newer Carnival ship at some point but I don’t know when I will get back to Carnival…too many good deals (considering overall value) on NCL and MSC right now. We will see – I am looking at 2019 right now.:D

Yours in cruising,

JohnBoy in NC

Thanks for sharing that review JohnBoy!☺️ Glad you're finally back.

Thanks for your detailed review. Interesting to read one from the perspective of not having sailed with Carnival for a while.

Glad you enjoyed your cruise. Thanks for the feedback.

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