Jump to content

Carnival Elation Review & Pics - January 19th-23rd


Recommended Posts

Hi everyone, we just got home today from our wonderful 4 night cruise on the Elation today. I wanted to do a quick little review & share some pictures. I wasn't able to find much info about the Elation prior to our trip so hopefully someone will find my review helpful in some way :).

 

 

We live in Alabama about 40 miles south of Birmingham. We decided to drive straight down Thursday morning. It was about a 6 hour drive to New Orleans. We had no problems until we got about a mile away from the cruise terminal. Our GPS kept sending us in the wrong direction. Once we were close enough to the terminal, there were signs pointing out the way to go. We parked in the terminal garage. It was $64 for 4 day cruise parking. We arrived in the garage at 12pm & we were on the boat by 12:30pm. It was the smoothest embarkation process! We were able to go up to Lido deck & get some lunch. They were serving burgers, chicken fingers & fries at the grill & inside Tiffany's buffet they were serving italian food. We were told that our rooms would be ready by 1:30pm. We went shortly after that & they were ready. Our room was M47 (oceanview). Here are some pics.

 

DSC_0070.jpg

 

DSC_0072.jpg

 

DSC_0076.jpg

 

DSC_0077-1.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I recognize you from our roll call thread :) We were there way early and embarkation was a few minutes delayed by a USCG inspection, but other than that, I agree it was very smooth. Our disembarkation seemed a bit disorganized, but we eventually got to where we needed to be. Once I finally figured out where the debark line was snaking around to, it went smooth & fast!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I forgot to mention that our boys went with us, ages 3 & 5. Since we were all up at 4am, we relaxed in the room until the muster drill at 3:15pm. Our muster station was in the Mikado lounge. We were seated in there for about 15 minutes. Then we were all escorted outside & lined up in 3 rows to show which life boats we would use in case of a real emergency. This was probably the worst part, holding the boys still for 15 minutes in a straight row. It was over before we knew it though. Then it was time to set sail. We sailed away at 4pm. It was pretty gloomy outside & I didn't get any good pictures but here's what it looked like.

 

DSC_0090.jpg

 

 

DSC_0096.jpg

 

DSC_0103-1.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

And the desserts at Tiffany's...

 

DSC_0217.jpg

 

DSC_0129-1.jpg

 

DSC_0128.jpg

 

I seriously over-ate on this cruise. To the point that I felt sick the last 2 nights. There were some days that I had 3 desserts :o. Honestly, the food was not that great. I did enjoy the chicken fingers from the pool grill & all of the desserts were delicious!! That is why I over-indulged on them!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We went to 2 shows while we were onboard, "Just Rock" & "Win". Both were great shows. The last show "Win" was a little too late at night for those with small children. It didn't start until 10:35pm. My youngest son was asleep before the show started.

 

We let the boys go to camp carnival several times & they loved it. The girls taking care of them did a great job.

 

We spent some time watching people gamble in the casino. We also watched multiple people try to win a ipad & money in this vending machine called "the vault". We never saw anyone win anything from it though. We did however see a woman that won $10,000 in the casino.

 

The ship does tend to do a lot of sales pitches but if you are prepared, you know ahead of time to avoid them. They didn't bother me much.

 

Overall, we had a great cruise! I love cruising & hope to do it again in the near future. I thought the Elation was very nice & clean. All of the staff was very friendly. I guess the most unfriendly was the MDR wait staff. For some reason, they were not as cheerful as everyone else on the ship. Everyone made a point to stop & talk to my kids. They loved that. For those that don't like kids, there were never many around. Camp Carnival did a great job keeping them corralled. We didn't really participate in any of the night life so I can't comment on that. In our stateroom, our beds were comfy & the room was nice & dark.

 

On disembarkation, we were the last group called off the ship. It was a little longer process than getting on the ship. It probably took 45 minutes. Still not too bad.

 

We would definitely recommend this ship to anyone wanting to cruise to Cozumel. I really wish we had done more exploring of Cozumel. I'm sure it's very beautiful!

 

I'm going to try to scan the funtimes papers & I will add them to the first post. Hope you enjoyed my review. Let me know if you have any questions. I may be able to answer them.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I cannot thank you enough for your review and the pictures. I have been on forums since my husband first told me about our cruise. I was and have been dissapointed that I cannot find very much about the Elation.

So thank you and please keep posting !!!!!

 

I want to know anything and everything. This is my first cruise, super excited.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Great review. We will be sailing on her May 5 of this year. Was on her sister Excstasy last October out of NOLA. Have seen both good and bad reviews, but from the pics and your summary I can see we made a good choice. Either way tho, a bad day on a boat beats a good day at work anyday. :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for review..this upcoming cruise next month will be our 3rd time on the Elation..once out of Cape Canaveral, Mobile and now NOLA..Mardis Gras weekend at that!

Can't wait..doing the 4 day cruise as well!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Forum Jump
    • Categories
      • Welcome to Cruise Critic
      • New Cruisers
      • Cruise Lines “A – O”
      • Cruise Lines “P – Z”
      • River Cruising
      • ROLL CALLS
      • Digital Photography & Cruise Technology
      • Special Interest Cruising
      • Cruise Discussion Topics
      • UK Cruising
      • Australia & New Zealand Cruisers
      • Canadian Cruisers
      • North American Homeports
      • Ports of Call
      • Cruise Conversations
×
×
  • Create New...