Elation Review 1-31-13

[hotrodchick7887]

We just got back from the Carnival Elation yesterday and we had an amazing time. We had a group of 27 people traveling with us. I don't think I will ever travel with a group that large again because it is very hard to get everyone together at the same time and include everyone in the same activities.

We got to New Orleans around noon on Thursday the 31st and had a very fast embarkation. There was literally NO wait to get onto the ship. Once on the ship we immediately went to the Lido deck for the buffet. It was chilly (but not too cold) in New Orleans so we tried to stay inside for the most part. After eating we toured the ship some then went into the "City Sports Park" to play a little mini golf and watch the ship sail away... We waited and waited to sail and eventually had to go and get ready for dinner. The ship waited over two hours before sailing off because of "traffic" and some guests were late getting to the ship. (We later found out that one of the comedian's flights was late and they were waiting on the comedian.) While getting ready for dinner we met our room steward who was awesome! His name was Simen (pronounced Sea-men). Although his name was quite humorous and we got a good laugh out of it he took really good care of us. Our dinner assignments were for the Inspiration dining room. Carnival messed up and put the other half of our group in the Imagination dining room. During our first night at dinner we mentioned this to the MatreDe and he immediately fixed the issue and the following nights our entire group was able to eat together. Our waiter was Constatine and he was great and very patient with our large group with the exception of one night where he seemed to be in a very bad mood. He made up for his bad mood on the other nights and was wonderful the rest of the trip. After dinner we went and played a game of BINGO in the Mikado lounge and watched the Welcome Aboard Show. I have been to the Welcome Aboard Show on my past two cruises and was always VERY impressed. I don't know what happened with this show but we were NOT impressed. There was a very short and corny dance by the dancers at the very beginning of the show and the rest of it was the cruise director talking and bringing guests up to dance on stage. The comedians were very funny but very short during the show. The cruise director talked WAY too much during the show and dragged on and on. We made friends with a waiter in the lounge (Samson) who remembered us all by name the remainder of the trip; he really took care of us. After the show we all went to the Jeckle & Hyde (Spelling??) Dance Club and danced it up until about 2am. We then found the all night pizza, pigged out, then called it a night.

During our first day at sea we did a lot of exploring, eating, and watched the contests that were going on out on the Lido Deck. That night was formal dinner and I was about ready to strangle a couple of family members that were EXTREMELY pushy about pictures. I'm all about taking family pictures but dang, it shouldn't take an hour to get it done and I don't want to listen to griping the WHOLE time! After the picture fiasco we had a very nice dinner where I pigged out on two servings of Lobster and Shrimp. After dinner we all changed then went to the Rock show in the Mikado lounge which was the best show on the ship. After the show we went to the Comedy lounge and watched the two comedians perform, they were very funny. We called it a night around midnight because we had to get up early for Cozumel the next morning.

In Cozumel we did some shopping in the port then decided to walk and walk some more. Once we got tired of walking we finally agreed to go with one of the MANY cabs that had stopped trying to pick us up. We told the driver that we wanted to go to Carlos & Charlie's. The driver took us about two miles past Carlos & Charlie's and dropped us off in front of this shopping center where they tried to usher us inside. (I think the driver got some kind of commission for taking us there because he kept trying to get us to go inside and get a complimentary margarita.) We were not happy about this because we were hungry and thirsty and just wanted to go sit down! SO... we walked some more and finally got to Carlos & Charlie's where we were finally able to get and get a couple of drinks. After eating we decided to go walk some more, I think we probably walked close to ten miles that day. We finally got a cab to take us back to port around 2 pm where we finished up our shopping and got back on the ship. We relaxed on the Serenity deck for a while in the wonderful Mexico sun and I took a nap. When it got close to time for the ship to leave port we went to the front of the ship to watch the pier runners. We saw a couple of runners and got a good laugh.. then I had the embarrassing pleasure of watching my extremely drunk family stumble up the pier to the ship. That night we had dinner, watched a show in the Mikado lounge, then went to the dance club again.

The morning of our last day at sea we had the Behind the Fun tour scheduled. We met at 8:30am in the library and from there had a 3 hour tour throughout the ship. We got to go to the galley where they prepare all the food, the I-95 where everything is loaded and unloaded from the ship, backstage of the Mikado Lounge, where they do all the laundry, where the crew gets to hang out, and up to the Bridge where we met the Captain and got a group picture. We even got the recipe to the Warm Chocolate Melting Cake.. YUM!!!!! After the tour we got into our bathing suits and went out to try to get some sun. The sun was warm but the wind was blowing SO hard that it was hard to stay in the sun without freezing. So we decided to get in the hot tub for a while to stay warm. After the hot tub it was time to get ready for dinner where the dining room staff sang goodbye to everyone. We then went to the comedy lounge where we watched the two comedians again and got some good laughs.

The morning of debarkation went very smoothly. We waited in a short line to get through customs but after that we were on our way home. The Elation is an older and smaller ship but it was still wonderful. The seas were pretty rough the whole time so a couple of people in our group were sick. I only saw the cruise director once during the whole cruise and that was the first night during the Welcome Aboard Show. I was not very impressed with the cruise director, Jeff Bronson, he was not very funny and was rarely seen. The food was great the whole trip and I think I gained about 5 lbs because I ate SO much. Overall the cruise was amazing and I can't wait to plan my next one.

I did not save the Fun Times this cruise. I took a ton of pictures and will try to post them tomorrow when I get home from work. (I'm working right now and have to work til 1am.) If anyone has any questions I am more than happy to answer them.

[Mizzouaholic]

Thanks for the review!

[battchief1]

Thanks for the review, look forward to the pictures.

[hotrodchick7887]

Ok, going to try to upload some pictures through Photobucket.. please be patient with me.

[gelo7]

Nice review.

[summer_girl]

Hmmm...I have also had that Mr. Bronson as a cruise director and found him to be quite annoying. I am in hopes he is not on our Elation cruise this upcoming May...oh well... I am not much of a complainer.

 

And I too would not want to cruise with that big of a group. Too hard to please everyone!

[hotrodchick7887]

 

 

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[hotrodchick7887]

They weren't kidding about this horn!!! We were standing in front of it when it went off and I couldn't hear right for about an hour afterwards!

 

 

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Our room R73

 

 

 

 

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[hotrodchick7887]

We took around 400 pictures total during the trip. If you have any questions at all about the cruise let me know and I will try my best to answer them for you.

[cruiseclues]

We appreciate your photo review and see you had a fun cruise...we've also had table assignment problems in our last two cruises which were resolved the next night, but never so far with Carnival. :)

[HannaBanana/Platinum]

We just got back from this trip too! Girls trip! Had a blast. This was my platinum cruise and the best one yet, even though the ship is smaller/older than others I have sailed on. Some of you guys look familier!!! :) Love the pics!!!

[LzyCruiser_NWA]

How long did it take you all get to open sea once the boat leaves the dock?

[HannaBanana/Platinum]

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