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Elation 1/15/11-1/20/11


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We had a great cruise on the Elation. I know we lucked up since the prior cruise had horrible weather & propulsion problems.

We booked last minute (the week before) to get away from our unusually snowy winter & because we got such a great deal on the cruise.

Pre-cruise

We drove down from Nashville the night before our cruise & stayed at the Microtel Inn & Suites Saraland & did the park & cruise package. I would highly recommend staying there. It is right on I-65 & about 10 minutes from the port.

The hotel is not fancy but is new & very clean & the beds are comfortable. Each room has a microwave & refrigerator.

The staff is wonderful. They were all so friendly! The shuttle driver even brought hot coffee when he picked us up after the cruise.

We paid $128.39 including taxes & that included a room for up to 4 people, parking for up to 2 weeks, transportation to & from the pier (it was great to be dropped off right at the door), free wi-fi & free breakfast. The biscuits & gravy were very good.

There is a Ruby Tuesdays next door & a Walmart right down the street.

Embarkation

We had a leisurely morning & left about noon on the shuttle to go to the ship. After about a 10-15 minute drive we were dropped off at the door. Embarkation was the easiest ever. We were on the ship within 45 minutes. The staff at the port were smiling & joking with us.

We went down to see if we could get in our room to drop off our carryon but the doors were still locked & there were quite a few people waiting so we decided to wait too. They didn't open the doors until 1:30 exactly.

We booked last minute so we did not have many options on room choice & we booked cabin M-76. Our cabin seemed pretty small but we have had balconies on our last two cruises so maybe we have just been spoiled. It was fine for the 2 of us & we hardly ever stay in the room anyway.

It had the 2 pulldown beds which seem to take up more room & extra bedding for those in the closets which took up some of the storage space. My DH had to crawl off the end of the bed to get up since it is pushed against the table at the bottom. Our bathroom actually seemed bigger.

We did like the location. It was very convenient to everything & was very quite.

We started putting things in the drawers & the cabin steward came in & said he was not finished cleaning our room so we went out & let him finish.

We never saw him again the rest of the week but our cabin was always clean & our beds turned down & we always had cute little towel animals. We did ask him to keep our little ice chest filled & he only did it 1 time but other than that he was fine.

Weather

We had nearly perfect weather. It was really nice the day we left Mobile. The 1st sea day was a little chilly & rained a little but we were able to sit on the deck most of the day. It was long pants & t-shirt weather. We were not in bathing suits but not in the snow either!

We had absolutely gorgeous weather in Progreso & Cozumel & our last sea day was a little chilly but we laid out in bathing suits quite a bit of the day & got more sun.

The serenity deck is a great place to lay out as it blocks a lot of the sun but it fills up early & most of the people there stayed all day so get there early if you want to get a chair. It is wonderful back there though. The lounge chairs are comfy, it has 2 hot tubs & the view is always amazing!

We found a great new place in Progreso (or new to us anyway) & I will post about it soon but I need to download pics & do some laundry.

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Thanks for the nice review! It seems hard to find good reviews or any recent ones about the Elation on here. :-) Looking forward to our cruise in May!

 

I have never been on a bad cruise. Some are better than others but my DH & I always have a good time.

Amazing weather, good food, plenty of great entertainment, fun ports, the new friends we made & getting to spend time with my hubby made this a wonderful cruise!

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I took some pictures but not a lot since we just used this cruise as a quick getaway. I really didn't take many of the ship (I usually take more of people) but I did take some in Cozumel & Progreso. If anyone wants to see them I will download some.

 

Food

We had late seating & were seated at a table for 10 & had 8 the 1st night but one couple changed to early seating after the 1st night so there were just 6 of us. It was a great group though & we had some lively conversations. We definitely would not have gone to dinner the night after we went to Cozumel (we had to much incredible food & drinks there) but we always had fun at dinner so we went & nibbled! I got a fruit plate that night that seemed a lot better than the fruit at breakfast & had blackened chicken that was also good but I was so full I could hardly eat.

 

The service was excellent at dinner. We never lacked for anything. Our group got up & danced every night & our waiters thanked us for being such good sports. The bar staff was also very attentive at dinner. Sorry to say I don't remember their names.

 

I thought the food overall was very good.

 

I always love the soups especially the strawberry bisque.

 

Of course the lobster & prime rib were good on Elegant night which by the way is the 1st sea day.

 

The porkchops were good. Some of our tablemates tried the lambchops & the fried fish & raved about it.

 

I think the only thing I tried that was not good was the pasta & chicken dish I ordered as an appetizer one night & it was cold. I could have reordered but I had more than enough.

 

Of course it goes without saying that the chocolate melting cake & the bitter & blanc are delicious! And we all know calories don't count when you are on a cruise!

 

Omelette's were good in the restaurant & the Lido deck but the bacon was kind of a hit or miss. We like bacon crunchy & a lot of the time it was limp & greasy.

 

We enjoyed the pizza & the deli bar & my DH liked the sushi bar.

 

The lines moved quickly at the buffets & the hamburgers on the Lido deck were great with mushrooms & sauteed onions.

 

I absolutely love the soft serve ice cream & the small size cones are just right.

 

I was excited to try the Mongolian Grill but was disappointed with it. The people that tried it the 1st day said it was good but ours tasted like steamed vegetables with little taste. We didn't try it again after that.

 

We ordered room service one time & it came promptly. We love the BLT's & the veggies & dip.

 

More later,

Juli

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So funny I'm from Nashville and going on the Elation Next week and staying also @ the Microtel small world

 

Hope you have a great cruise! With the right attitude you always will!

The staff at the Microtel made it a great stay. They deserve kudos!

We are actually from Lebanon but who knows where that is?

Juli

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I do!:) I'm from East TN and pass by there every time I go to Nashville, with the occasional stop at the outlet mall!

 

Thanks for posting! My DH isn't much of a cruise, but I have been thinking of trying to get him to go on this one. I think he might like 5 days better than 7 and a shorter drive than FL.

 

Can't wait to hear about Progresso.:)

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Grand suites are NICE!!! And make you sooo terribly spoiled. Third trip on Elation leaving on Monday 24th... In an OS suite this trip - was in a GS in November and hope the only difference is the bathtub...Cause the closet in the GS is awesome-love the storage and the full length mirror! To the other poster who said they are trying to get hubby to go on this one - YES! This will be my hubbys first with me (6 without him cause he thinks he hates cruises, he went on one about 25 years ago with another person).. I have assured him it was just the company, not the cruise!!! I am sooo going to change his mind...he said he didn't even know ships had balconies so suite with balcony for him it is!!! He will love it after this - Take your hubby on one too and I guarantee he will be hooked! I agree, a 5 nighter is a better way to start than a week. To the first poster, OMG, I am soooo thankful this problem seems to be resolved...If hubby was on cruise with problems he might never return...me I couldn't care less as long as the bar didn't run out of cerveza!! haha

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We know where Lebanon is!!!!! But we're from southern middle TN so we are familiar with the area!!! :p We just booked the 4 night cruise to Cozumel for March 3rd. Can't wait! After 8 inches of snow last week, an inch this week with ice before hand and more snow in the forecast Sunday....I can't wait to get out of here!!!!! Anxious to see your pictures of Progreso. We sailed the Triumph to Progreso and Cozumel in December and loved the area!

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We know where Lebanon is!!!!! But we're from southern middle TN so we are familiar with the area!!! :p

 

Ha, ha. We're from TN, too. Originally from Cannon County. Now live in Clarksville. And, we leave on the Elation in three weeks.

Edited by vanityfur
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OK. I stand corrected about Lebanon. lol! But most of you are from Tennessee!

The majority of the people on the Elation were from the South. Mostly Tennessee, Alabama, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Florida, Georgia.

 

We took pics driving down through the snow & then it started snowing on us again when we were about 30 minutes from home. We got 3 more inches that night which made us want to turn around & head back to the Caribbean! We are not used to as much snow as we have received this year!

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Entertainment

My DH & I thought the entertainment on the Elation was excellent.

 

The 1st night was the Welcome Aboard Show.The Carnival Elation dancers were very good & full of energy. The lead singers Emily & Jason were both incredible.

 

The 2nd night was the show Just Rock. That is the only night the late seating goes to the show before dinner & the early seating goes after dinner. That was also the night of the Captain's Celebration with $1 off drinks.

 

I was kind of surprised that there was not a show on the 3rd night. Instead they had the Marriage Show in the Mikado lounge at 10:30 PM. We always enjoy it no matter how many times we have seen it & I thought Steve did a good job hosting.

 

The 4th night the Elation singers & dancers performed the new show "WIN" & it was incredible. I can see why it cost so much to produce it. Skeeter was a little lame but other than that we thought it was great!!! The "Win" 60 second challenge was funny too with our fellow passengers performing. There was also a Lido deck party that night with a Mexican Buffet but we didn't make it!

 

The last night was the Legends Show & I always admire the talented passengers that get up there & perform. This cruise they only had singers.

 

We caught a glimpse of the two comedians, John Wesley & Dean Gaines, during the Welcome Aboard Show & laughed so much we went to see all of their late night shows.They each performed a family friendly show the 2nd night & there were 3 adults only comedy shows that night. On the last night, they performed the family friendly show 2 more times & the adults only 3 more times. We never made it to the family friendly & the 1st 2 adult shows were repeats from the 1st night they performed so we just went to the 11:45. Don't forget to turn the lights out! It's more romantic!

 

Some of our friends spent a lot of time at the Atrium Bar with James playing the piano & enjoyed it there.

 

We went to the Piano Bar with Liz playing one night but it was kind of dead in there this cruise. She plays the piano very well & knows a lot of songs but we didn't think she was a great singer.

 

We were walking through the Drama Bar & saw Pat the guitar player who we 1st saw on the Spirit last year. He is VERY GOOD. We danced up there some.

 

We went in the Romeo & Juliet lounge to dance one night but we didn't really like the band & didn't stay long.

 

We meant to but never made it to the Karaoke Bar.

I was happy there was not a big screen TV on the Lido on the Elation as I did not like the one on the Victory. I would much rather listen to music on the Lido deck but I know some people like the big screen.

 

All in all, there should be something for everybody!

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It is a shame you missed Deans family show as it is much better than his adult show. Dean is our favourite comedian on carnival and we missed sailing with him this time.

 

We thought both comedians were really funny & wanted to see the family friendly shows too but Dean's was at 7:30 & John Wesley's at 8:30 the 1st night they performed & John's was at 7:30 & Dean's 8:30 the last night.

We had the 8:15 seating & just couldn't seem to be ready that early.

Our loss as they were both very good!

Juli

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We will be cruising in 3wks!!! On the Elation Feb 12th!!! Cruzngma, look for a "sea" of kiwi green shirts! We're a group of medical coders! We're gonna learn (4hrs on each sea day to get continuing education credits for our certification) and then the rest is play time !!! Last year we had a few lucky folks cruising with us. One couple won over $700 from one pull of the slot machine. My DH and I won $1000 at bingo. Yep, I'm playing bingo again this year!!

HAPPY CRUISING EVERYBODY!!!!!!!

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Will be sailing in 5 days for the second time in 3 months ever since they got rid of the Holiday we like the closeness to Nashville to Mobile i refused to sail on the Holiday Class ships they were way too small for my liking but would also enjoy pics what did u do in Progresso? we are thinking about doing the Ruins Of CI

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