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Elation Birthday Cruise December 15-20, 2012 Picture Journal and Review

athenasbyshanna

By athenasbyshanna,
in Carnival Cruise Lines

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athenasbyshanna

athenasbyshanna

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A couple of things I missed:

Security in NOLA was a BREEZE! They barely looked at anything. We got through with our carry on wine and soda without a double check. We did smuggle a little bit of liquor on which all got through just fine. Lauren and Alex didn't realize they were supposed to put their soda and wine in their carry-ons and got all off it in their checked luggage! No notes in any bags, no naughty room visits! We probably could have even brought more wine on if we wanted!

 

We did meet Sanjaya, our room steward when we first got to the room. He was so nice always saying hi by name. I asked him to keep our coolers iced and it was done almost everyday! Anything we asked for was met with "No problem! It is your vacation! Enjoy your vacation!" He and his assistants were great! I'll have pictures of them the last day.

Actually every staff member we came into contact with on the ship was awesome. Very friendly, calling us by name if they had served us even just one time. Only one bartender was what I thought under par. The blonde bartender in the atrium bar. She couldn't describe a drink to us and just didn't seem happy. But she did take our picture and pep up a little after that. Just not the same level of happiness and friendliness that we got from everyone else.

 

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athenasbyshanna

athenasbyshanna

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Thanks for the review. We stayed at the Westin the night after you did (we sailed on the Conquest on 12/16). I was not happy. Elevator service was non-existent once you got to your room. We had to walk from the 14th floor to the 11th floor so we could catch the other elevator to the ground floor. Then when we went to check out, we had to go all the way up to the 25th floor before getting back down to the 11th. Walls were thin. I called for help with the luggage and was told it would be 30 mins. It just wasn't a great stay at all.

 

Can't wait to read the rest of your review.

 

This is one of the problems Lauren and Alex had with the hotel. When they went to check out, they literally waited 25 minutes for an elevator from our floor. Matt and I didn't have any problems! :confused:

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athenasbyshanna

athenasbyshanna

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While Photobucket catches up, I'll post some random photos from Lauren and Dawna that might fill in some blanks! :p

Did we get this one already? I'm funny in pictures!

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First day on the ship exploring; I was overly ecstatic to finally be in the ship! This is my "I'm so EXCITED" pose!:

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Some of the cups I made for everyone with goodies inside: Custom Koozie, lots of Crystal light packets, Bath and Body Works Hand sanitizer (smelled yummy! Even Matt liked his!) and some candy!

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Matt getting down on some "Shampbooze"!

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Liquor Tasting:

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Edited by athenasbyshanna
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athenasbyshanna

athenasbyshanna

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We did go to the Welcome Aboard show. I don't remember if it was before dinner or after, but it was cute. I loved Willie Lee, our cruise director! I was surprised to hear he had only been with Carnival for 2 months and only been a cruise director a little before that!

I didn't get any pictures of the Welcome Aboard show. Not sure if we were allowed or not, but I think I ran to make drinks and got back after it started.

We did take some pictures before dinner

The only photographer I remember well is Carla. She was from South Africa and had freckles and was soooo funny! Se was super tired the end of the week, but still very witty and fun! We loved her and I am very sad I didn't buy the picture of us with her in an elf costume!

This is funny

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And lead to this picture, one of the very few I bought. Wait, no, Dawna bought this one, but I DID buy the one of me and Matt at this picture setting and its my favorite. I don't think Photobucket has uploaded it yet. . . We took tons, but these were my favorite!

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So, next is dinner first night. We had table 340 in the Inspiration dining room at 8:15. I was so happy with this time and setup. We had a six top booth for just our group and we had the most amazing waitstaff! Kenneth, Sonjito (both from the Philipines) and Ricardo (from Peru). They just had awesome personalities that went great with our crazy group! They always remembered our names, anticipated our every need before we even knew we had a need, but still cut up and had tons of fun with us every night!

Inspiration

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Our empty table

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and napkin setup

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Everyone night 1

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athenasbyshanna

athenasbyshanna

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And NOW it's Food Porn Time!!!!!

The duck. . . I didn't like that it was cold, didn't like the weird ice noodles under it, but the flavor was ok. Matt said it tasted like Turkey or something just as normal. . .

Its pretty, though!

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Cream of broccoli soup - Sooo yummy!!!

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Beef Brisket. Everyone's favorite for the week! Didn't think my favorite would be from Comfort Kitchen but it was sooo tender and delicious flavor!!

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The lasagne was also delicious! Good thing I remembered to get a picture, cause once Matt took one bite, it was gone in a flash! I almost didn't get my bite! See what I mean about sitting next to him to get a bite? I've taught him to share in the 3 years we've been together. He still doesn't like it, but I haven't lost a finger to his fork yet. :rolleyes:

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Kenneth, our head waiter. He was also the room service supervisor and lead singer for the waiter performances! He worked hard! He and Sonjito did the tea parties, too.

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Dessert is next!

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athenasbyshanna

athenasbyshanna

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Dessert Menu

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Warm Chocolate Melting Cake. Kenneth made us all get one Night one - even Alex, who didn't want dessert! And of course he brought them all with 2 scoops of ice cream! It was runny and delicious but I was sooo full!

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I also tried the diet orange cake because I thought it sounded intriguing. . .It was not.... It was pretty boring. Needed more Zing or something. It wasn't bad, just not good. haha

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It was very pretty though!

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Our lovely dinner friends!

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The Inspiration

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athenasbyshanna

athenasbyshanna

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After dinner, it was SNOWING in the atrium!!!! It was soap bubbles! So pretty!

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Went back to the room for a bit before some more sightseeing

Where we found our puppy friend to remind us of our puppies at home

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And I had to take a picture of my hairstyle cause I never get it to look this good! LOL!

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athenasbyshanna

athenasbyshanna

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He hates pictures but we're cute, huh?

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We saw something in the water, maybe an oil rig, but we weren't sure

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Pretty funnel

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So, Lauren and Alex were getting sleepy and were going to go back to bed when we saw a little boat speed up to the ship. We thought it was the Coast Guard and watched for a little bit. I wanted to see what was going on, as the boat kept getting close and then switched sides. I waved to the guy and he waved back! We then found some people who were also watching it and figured out it was the Pilot Boat, coming to pick up the River Captain who has to captain us through the Mississippi River. It was so cool to see the guy step right off our boat onto the Pilot Boat while we were moving! So glad I stayed up and got to see this! My camera died right before this whole thing, so I will steal Lauren's pictures and add them later! It really was an amazing experience at midnight on our first night at sea!

Last picture before the camera died

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athenasbyshanna

athenasbyshanna

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So I took a combo of medicines and am starting to get a little loopy and Photobucket is uploading the last 100 of my pictures before I can steal and upload Lauren and Dawna's photos. So, I am going to stop for now so I can finish all of that and integrate their pictures instead of adding them at the end. Yup, loopy. Not sure if any of that made sense! Let me know if I can answer any Elation questions for anyone in the meantime!

 

The only thing I forgot that we are ALL regretting now is an airborne regiment the week before and during the cruise. I got sick starting the morning we docked in NOLA and have been trying to get over it ever since (10 days now) and everyone else on the cruise with us has since gotten sick, too. Apparently the flu is going around anyways, but we obviously got it on the boat, as I started feeling yuck while still on. TAKE AIRBORNE!!!! I did take my multi-vitamin and B vitamins everyday and still got super sick!:eek:

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athenasbyshanna

athenasbyshanna

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What were the dates of your cruise. Also I saw people in the pool on the boat. What was the weather like at this time? Any help would be awesome! Be on the boat in 21 days!!

 

Like it says in the title, we cruised December 15-20

 

The weather was beautiful. 70s in NOLA on day one and then in the 80s the rest of the time. It did rain the morning we were in Cozumel but cleared up as soon as we got off the boat. It was quite cold in NOLA when we returned.

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