few question carnival elation

[crazy4tweety]

Hello we are thinking of planning a cruise in may. We are thinking of doing this cruise: Ship: Elation

 

Ports of Call: Miami, Florida; Nassau, Bahamas; St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands; San Juan, Puerto Rico; Grand Turk, Turks and Caicos Islands; Miami, Florida

 

2006 Departure Date(s): May 21 We did western carribean in december and were on the norweigan sun. I have only been on 2 cruises and they both were on the norwegian line. I know the norwegian is freestyle cruising which we really enjoyed, What I have read carnival is not . Queston one is there assign dinners. I thought I read they had a buffet is the buffet only open at certain times. Question two. I read that there room are 50 percent bigger than most cruise ships we had a pretty good side room on the sun,is this true. Question three do they have a soda card like norweigan has. Question four of these ports listed what do you consider a must see. Boy I ask alot of question I probably have more lol. If you ever been on the norwegian line do you prefer carnival. Ok that will be it for right now. Thank you in advance .

[bjr928]

Hi Crazy4Tweety,

 

I just got off the Elation Saturday and will try to answer as many of your questions as I can:

1) You receive an assigned dining time when you check in at the pier - it will be on your sign & sail card. I like it because you get the have the same waiters everynight and get to know your tablemates. However, if you don't want to go to the formal dining room any or all of the nights, there will always be some sort of buffet food available (until midnight or so) or 24 hour room service.

 

2) Carnival's rooms are larger than other lines. I have been on both NCL and Carnival and I noticed that while my Carnival room was larger - it didn't seem to be THAT much larger.

 

3) Carnival does have the soda card option. I believe for adults it is $5 per person per day. Not sure about the rate for children.

 

4)The only ports I've been to that you are going to are St Thomas and San Juan. In St Thomas, we did a shore excursion with Doobloon's (I think that was their name) - it was on a boat that looked liked a pirate ship and they took you to a private island to snorkel and relax for the day. It was great! San Juan was the port we cruised out of, so we didn't have much extra time here - but we did take a tour of Old San Juan and I really enjoyed that.

 

5) Like I said earlier, I have been on NCL and CCL and i DO prefer CCL because there always seems to be more to do on board, the other passengers have a more laid back attitude and not so stuffy, and in general is just more FUN! (at least in my opinion) I will say that the NCL ships do feel more ritzy and glamourous than the CCL class of ships I have been on, but it's not that much of a difference that it bothered me. Plus I cruise to have fun!

 

Here's a link to my review of the Elation cruise I was just on - hope this helps you some. And please don't be afraid to ask any questions you think of - that's what we are here for! :)

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=282262

[cheshyrkat]

The cabins on Elation (and all Carnival ships) run about 185 sq ft. The suites are bigger than that, but I don't know any exact dimensions. I don't know the cost of the soda card, but if you do a search in the Carnival boards you will find information.

[jvera]

I will be taking Carnival Elation this April with their new itnerary. This will be my third on Carnival. I went on RCC and Norweigan, as far as room size Carnival is by far the roomest, their bathrooms are also much larger. I agree with Carnival be more laid back and more activities, i enjoyed my self here the most than any other cruise line that's why i'm cruising again.:)

[crazy4tweety]

When we were on the norweian I thought they could have more activitys so it is nice to hear that carnival has more activites.Thanks