cingroomer

This is getting ridiculous and just another money maker for Carnival. They now offer a limited number of rapid testing for 100.00 a person. They say to get the at home test, no one has those. This is ridiculous. They give unvaccinated people 72 hrs to before boarding to get the test but those of us vaccinated only 48 hrs and no one can guarantee test back by then.

On 7/15/2021 at 11:06 AM, ProgRockCruiser said:

Elation underwent the final tweaks of FunShip 2.0 in late 2019 (IIRC), getting an Alchemy Bar (replacing Gatsby's Great Bar) and a few other things, IIRC.  No structural changes AFAIK.  It still may not have everything a larger ship can offer just based on size alone, but I think it now has all the bases covered.

 

Go check out the deck plans to see if there is anything missing that you like on other, larger, ships.

Yes, a couple things. The Dive in Movies, I love, and an adult only pool. I'll survive though. LOL

On 6/24/2021 at 6:20 PM, groundloop said:

Elation was the last ship I was on before cruising got shut down.  Enjoyed her as much or more than the larger ships we've been on.

Why did you enjoy her so much? We will be on her in November, and while I seem to prefer the smaller ships since they actually seem to have larger common areas, they don't have as much to do, which I am fine with. I understand she was upgraded this past year, do you know if thats true. 

On 6/24/2021 at 2:42 PM, linbobky said:

we will be on the elation for a b2b in november.  2 5 day cruises. it will be our 24th and 25th cruise on carnival. Milestone that is. we are ready to cruise.

We will be on the Nov 18th sailing for my birthday, so looking forward to it. 

My cruise is May 1 out of Miami, I called and asked for an extension and they gave me till Feb 28th, said thats the best they could do, my friend also called and they gave her till march 27th...hmmm, but the 28th was the best they could do for me so it just depends who you get on the phone and how much they want to help you. I will probably pay the balance and hope to be able to cruise in November, with having the covid vaccine I'm no longer worried about going. 

Seaday brunch is the new one, but it is very good and has some different items on it. We all enjoyed it. ...take your own tea to the tea time, its ok, they are ok with that. I wish I would have known, I would have. 

The deli sandwiches are fresh made so you can get them however you want. 

The premiere cruise was for the gamblers, thats why the casino was packed all the time. And full of smoke. 

You can also use the hub to check your account, see whats happening that day (or week), see what food and drinks are available and check the evening menu. Its really a cool feature. 

I just got home from a 7 day Miracle cruise and thought I would give a few pros and cons. First, this was a Premiere cruise, I didn't know that when I booked it and would not book a premiere again, however, I would go on the Miracle again and again and again. I've done 12 Carnival cruises and have never had such a pleasant, efficient staff. Yes, there were a few glitches, but over all, this staff hustles and is extremely friendly. My room steward for 8172 was excellent. Always had clean towels and plenty of ice. How they remember everyones name just amazes me. The food in the MDR is pretty good, I wasn't always thrilled with the menu selection but I sure didn't starve. The buffet, specially Chop Sticks was pretty darn good. Always a different soup each day, and always very tasty. The way the buffet is set up is excellent. The salad bar off by itself, carving station, pizza pirate, chop sticks, the deli which makes fresh sandwiches and the grill. No, they do not have a Guy Burgers, but the grill is by far superior. Its the original grill with hotdogs, hamburgers, fries, nachos and chicken fingers. The pizza...well, it is what it is, but they also have a Ceasar Salad if you want to eat a little lighter at night. The Deli is open till 11:30 which is awesome. One of the grills was also open later. 

Chloe was the CD. She has a lot of energy. Shes really a nice person too and I was impressed with her quick wit at some of the games. The entertainment was ok, its the Carnival Players and it was a different show each night but pretty much the same thing, some dancing and singing but they added some video and some other little surprises to make the shows a bit more exciting (I won't ruin it here). The rest of the normal Love and Marriage...Bingo...Hairy Chest etc the same as the other ships. They also have a lot of live bands and duos because the common areas are so large and there are so many neat little nooks and crannies on this ship. and a huge Alchemy bar, you never felt crowded. There is only one dining room on level 2 and 3. 

This ship is definitely laid out different than the others, its the old time ship style. Its a couple hundred feet longer yet holds less people. You never feel crowded anywhere and the food lines are minimal. The worst part of the ship is the Casino. It very smoky, crowded and not a great selection of slots. For a premiere cruise, this is not one you would want. Lots of the premiere cruises complained. The Serenity is a nice size, had a pool and hot tub which I really liked. It also has quite a few tables to eat at making it convenient instead of eating on your lounge chair like some of the other serenitys. 

The little Chapel on the ship is adorable, you must visit it. There are several bars and lounges, you just have to keep walking around to find them. The Red Frog is where its happening at. We found it to be the liveliest every night.

The decor, for me, left a little to be desired. Little naked angels everywhere was sorta icky, and naked women and half naked men...some people call it art, especially Europeans, its not my taste, but Carnival seems to like that as I've seen it on other ships also. 

The elevators were impressive, they were quick and we never had to wait long. We did your time dining, never had a wait, even with 9 of us, though the first and last night the servers were sparse and dinner took almost 2 hrs both of those nights. I'm not sure why that was because it was not like that through the week. The Seaday brunches have some unique menu items and everyone we travelled with really liked them. We also attended an afternoon tea, it was ok, the scones were great, little tiny cucumber sandwich triangle and a salmon triangle were served, you had to pay extra for anything except regular tea bags, I think they are wrong to do this, come on, how much are speciality tea bags? 

I also had a massage...it wasnt anything any better than what i get for 1/3 price at home, the girl started to pressure me right off before the massage about he Elemis products for purchase and I promptly shut her down, and we went on from there. She was very chatty but accomodating to what I wanted. There is a small gym and spa area that seemed adequate for those wanting to use it.

All in all, I loved this ship. I would not hesitate to go on her again. There is not all the 2.0 upgrades but I didn't miss any of them. I understand she is going into dry dock again next year, I just hope they don't make too many changes. Maybe a little face lift is all thats needed.

On 3/23/2019 at 11:42 PM, BBigfoot613 said:

 

I have this room booked AGAIN on this exact cruise in June. I pushed back my sail date just to get that balcony. It'll be the 2nd time in this room and likely won't sail the triumph class without it. I loved the extra room!

 

 

Good to know since I will have 2 teens and doing the package that allows for the $5 messaging option. I'd assume your slow internet was the same service this chat feature uses? (If anyone else knows please feel free to answer)

 

I just quit smoking about 6 weeks ago so also good to know I likely won't be in casino losing a ton lol

 

 

Are you referring to their only being 2 elevators in the terminal?

 

 

The only question that comes to mind off the top of my head is the formal night. Which night was it? My kids and I enjoy those and I want to make sure to plan accordingly

There are 2 elevators when you are exiting the ship that they make you wait at to go down to the luggage. Its not really a good set up.

Formal night was the day we went to Key West, the 2nd night on the ship. 

On 3/25/2019 at 1:36 PM, aggiejade said:

The Salsa and Salsa in Cozumel, did you book through Carnival or a private tour operator?

 

 I have booked it twice through Carnival. LOVE IT

I was just off the Victory last week and I can say the food was really good. The Deli made fresh sandwiches, the MDR had some great choices an I enjoyed everything except the salmon patties and broccoli soup. Everyone with me loved their steaks. At Seaday brunch they all had the steak and eggs *filet mignon and said it was the best. I'm a pretty picky eater and don't eat meat, and while its not 5 star, I would say its probably 4 star. I did not eat off them buffet except for breakfast one morning and the food was a bit colder than I like, the bacon was very well done. I like breakfast in the MDR though best. Their pizza was ok, the crust thin and crunchy and I like that too. I had shrimp and clams from seafood shack, they weren't greasy and their breading was fantastic, all fresh made. 

I have been on the Liberty twice and Victory 4 times (just got off this past week). I much prefer the Victory over the Liberty though they are a bit a like. The staff and food seemed to be much better. Our Victory cruise was close to perfect. 

We just got off the Victory and did it also. Always do. Was only one night we got a pager and waited maybe 20 minutes. They now have both the 3rd and 4th deck in the MDR since they now have more people wanting it. 

This will be short and sweet but to the point. This is my 4th time on the Victory, and I've seen many changes with her, but obviously I love this ship. After my most recent cruise on her, I love her even more. 

This was a short 4 day cruise, Key West and Cozumel ports. The Key West stop was very short, leaving the port at 2;00 so not much time to do anything, plus living in Florida I go there occasionally anyway, but we did the free Duvall Loop bus just to get a little feel of Key West. Afterwards we stopped for some fantastic fudge and cookies and then drinks at Wet Willys, they have the most frozen concoctions I have ever seen in my life. Then back to the ship. 

I always choose my time dining since I never really know when I will want to eat. In the 4 days of MDR we only had to wait one time, for about 20 minutes for the 5 of us. 

In Cozumel, we just went to the pharmacy to buy our antibiotics, did a little shopping, bought a watch and then had some nachos and Sol (like Corona) then headed back to ship. Again, have been to this port a lot, so we were only off ship a little bit. My favorite thing to do here though is Salsa and Salsa. If you have never been, be sure to check it out.

So, the ports out of the way, my over view of the ship.

Room 8435, extended aft balcony room. The room is small but adequate, balcony is awesome with 2 chairs and one lounger, Plenty of room. Bathroom the normal, nothing special, water naturally ran out of show. Ramone our steward, excellent. Requested twice a day room service and ice and housecoats. Toilet paper is absolutely awful. I'm not sure if they have to use this for the septic system or what, but its really thin and scratchy. Shampoo is just ok, no conditioner, body shampoo smells great and lathers nicely. Refrig worked well, room stayed nice and cool, closet space and hangers plentiful. The television stations suck, they should really do better on this.

MDR, we all really liked the menu for the most part (I don't eat meat so there was one night that was rough for me so I had 4 appetizers). All the food we had was good except the crab cakes, we didn't care for those, and I didn't like the Broccoli cheese soup though others did. Steaks were cooked perfect according to those with me. The bread, to die for. No tablecloths except for one night, sorta miss those but oh well. Wait staff was excellent also. No real long waits for the food. The desserts as usual were very good. The Seaday Brunch we thought had a nice menu and the food was good. They do not automatically give you the danish anymore, you do have to request it. The Seafood shack was a treat for me one day, the clams and shrimp and fries for only 6.00 were very good, actually it fed two of us easily. The Deli sandwiches were made fresh so you could change them up a bit except the veggie wrap was premade (with hummus and couscous and avocado and other good stuff) and it was delicious. They are open until 11 at night now, we really enjoyed that. The pizza was actually better than I remembered it, maybe they changed it too. On port day they set up a special breakfast buffet too which was really convenient in the adult pool area. All in all, our food experience was great. 

Entertainment was decent. We had seen the comedians before and liked them and were afraid it would be the same material but it wasn't, so that was a good thing. The shows were ok, not the quality I have seen on other lines ships, but they were fine. The CD Ryan Rose was a hoot. Loved his energy, his sense of humor, he kept things going. 

Internet....really bad. I had the middle package and never was able to get into my email. Not sure if it was because I was aft, but it was very poor. Disappointed me because I like to keep tabs with my dog/cat/horse sitter that way and could not get an email 😞

Was sad that we didn't get the wait staff entertainment the last night, not sure if we just missed the show or they quit doing it, but we were in and around the dining area for quite sometime and never saw a show. We did see one the first night, we always love that.

Victory does have an aft adult pool. The pool guards made sure no kids came in, was very happy with that. They removed a second row of lounge chairs by the pool on both sides, bad move. Not enough lounge chairs by the pool. They have a lot on the upper deck but people like being by the pool. Dumb move on Carnivals part. They added additional tables and they were never full or even half full. They do have the beer station (and ice cream) back by the pool. 2 hot tubs, never really hot once the retractable roof was opened but always full. 

Dive in movies had some good movies, this is always so much fun. Take you blanket, it gets chilly, yes, it really does. They have popcorn here also.

We did the martini tasting at the alchemy bar. 19.00 for 4 pretty nice size martinis. You pick 4 of the 6 choices and then they set them in front of you. You have to guess which is which. I did it just by smell and was awarded a really cute carnival wine charm. 

Casino...well, I lost. Its pretty smokey even though supposed to only be half smokers. Saw people smoking through entire place. Only 2 roulette tables which were always full, not happy about that. 

Band by the Casino was just ok most of the time, they did switch out and have one good one that played for just a bit, wish they would have played more. Steel drum player on deck 3 was very good, personable, enjoyed him a lot. 

Sushi  by the Casino, never tried it but looked good. Didn't really see anyone buying it. Used to have the tasting bar there but thats gone.

All in all, loved the cruise. Few minor things I would change. Heard a lot of people complaining about rust on the ship, hey its salt water. Living in Florida I know how hard the salt water and air is on cars, houses, boats etc. 

 Normally their boarding and debarking process is great, this time it was not. They have changed up the debarking and you have to wait in long lines to go down the only 2 elevators to retrieve your luggage. I would suggest self assistance. 

If you have any questions I would be glad to answer them. I will go back on this ship. The crew seemed really happy, they talked a lot to us. Many have been with Carnival 20 or more years. Fun times!!

I was watching a video of the Ocean Suite, 7258 and it showed the tv on the side of the room, not across from the beds and it didn't look like it even swiveled out. I know a lot of people wouldn't care, but we do take a nap or just some chilling out time prior to dinner and like to watch a movie or some tv, but this doesn't look possible at all from the bed. Does anyone else know. It just seems weird that carnival would put a tv on the side of the room and not across from the bed. Especially since they aren't particularly big tv's so they can't be seen from everywhere in the room.

We're leaving on Sunday - do you require a reservation for dinner in The Solarium? Or can you just show up?

They do require one though I'm sure the first day or two people aren't familiar with it so you could probably get in if you have a small party.

I believe the Dog House and Johnny Rocket's on the Boardwalk are open for lunch on embarkation day, along with the Solarium Bistro and the Wipe Out café.

From what I was also told, because of the fact that this ship was loaded, many people 4 to a room instead of just 2 and we sailed at full capacity, more restaurants were open than usual AND that is why the Solarium Bistro was no charge for dinner (which we did enjoy a lot).

Hi Cindy, did you make it to the M&M? I wish they would have us introduce ourselves so we would know who is who since everyone leaves immediately.

Alot of what you wrote was true for us as well. My wife says that the crabcakes were the best she ever had and the lobster was better than the last ten or so sailings. I thought that the filet with bernaise sauce and the rack of lamb were outstanding. I know food is subjective, but we believe the food on Freedom OTS was better. The shows were good and we too missed the aqua show due to weather both nights. It was definitley rockin and rollin with the waves this week. Very unusual. And you are right about the amount of seniors and scooters aboard this week. My biggest pet peeve this week were the adults who would arrive last at an elevator but be the first on. Sorry, didn’t mean tonhijack your thread

Yes, we were at the M&M, my husband won a water bottle and the couple with us won a hat. We were on the right side of the room behind the string of people that won everything LOL I thought it went a bit long though I enjoyed Jeff (the cruise director) and thought he was funny. Yes, I wish we could have all introduced ourselves with our CC names...in the past, the ones I have been on were just people walking around talking and were able to do that. This one was a bit different.

We were on last week and we had some rockin, heard a stabilizer is broke. It was no big deal, sometimes when there were white caps people were walking a little side ways. Like you, I enjoy a little rockin at night. Friends on there this week said they are experiencing the same thing. I don't think its a big deal and didn't hear of anyone getting sick.

I have heard that one is broke and last week on the ship it rolled gently but more than normal, it is still doing it this week according to some of my friends that are on there. It didn't seem to impact anyone was just odd to have a ship of that size roll like it did.

Interesting review. Was this your first time on RCI or cruising in general? I ask because you mentioned how small the room/bathroom/shower was. I've been on four different cruise lines and the rooms are all pretty small except for the suites.

 

When we were on the Oasis I thought the food was pretty good for a cruise ship. Didn't have any problem with food being too cool. Of course any cruise is dependent on the date you go on it. We tend to book off peak times when the ships are less crowded. The clientele tends to be different during holidays and during the peak vacation seasons.

I've done 3 RCCL, 1 Norwegian and 8 Carnival cruises. Our Norwegian was by the far the biggest bathroom, Carnivals are small also but do have plenty of counter space and shelves under the counters as well as being quite a bit wider. The room size itself is pretty well comparable except this one had exceptionally small closet and no drawers unlike the others. Also, placement of the bed away from the doors seemed odd, though some may like that. I personally like to lay in bed and look out the door at the ocean. I do think this cruise had an excessive amount of people, they stated several times that there were more than normal amounts so I do believe that had an effect on food service and maybe even quality.

Hello and thank you for the review! The past two sailings people were talking about not having water on the ship, that the toilets were backed up and some said no water for two days, did you encounter this problem?

Nope, there was never a problem with that...thankfully. LOL Sooooo many old people on board and lots and lots of those scooters too.

I'm on the West Coast in New Port Richey and we left at 8:15 on Sunday and were at the port at 11:00 and that was with a Racetrack stop for drinks. If you get there too early all you do is hit the huge line of traffic entering the port anyway.

We never had the bartender fill our mug or cup, they always just handed us a glass of soda after they looked at our card and saw we had the soda package. Never even gave us a slip to sign.

Embarking in Port Canaveral was long and hot, we arrived at 11:45, long lines, didn't move quick, finally boarded ship at 1:10. We headed to our cabin which was ready, dropped what we had then headed to a Cafe on Deck 8 (Boardwalk) we were told about. Food was ok, except the soup...all the soup we found out the entire week is just puree, unless it specifically says has noodles, otherwise its just broth. This place had a make your own salad line so that was good, they also had premade salads and sandwiches and desserts and specialty coffees, open until 3 each day so you can take back to room. Egg salad was horrible, tuna fish barely ok, waldorf salad just some apples with mayo....salads do NOT look like the ones in the case, be forewarned.

After lunch we walked through the Entertainment and Shopping area, its really crowded, like a floating mall and they have bands playing there and games going, that sort of thing. Its a cool area.Sorrento pizza and Cafe Promenade there, open till 2 am, so of course, thats the place to be late night.

We had dinner reservations for Solarium Bistro that night and I really liked this place. The appetizers and desserts are buffet, nice salad bar, entree is order. Bright, cheerful, healthier good food and faster than the MDR. It over looks the pools and ocean. We ate here several times. Its a pay restaurant for dinner (sometimes) but not for lunch or breakfast and normally much quieter.

Sunday evening we had ressies for the adult comedians, they were funny, picking on the audience, quick, great sense of humor and not raunchy, which I really appreciated. Outside of the Comedy club is always the smell of popcorn, 2.50 for a small bag, but tasty.

Monday was seaday and while the ship has a lot of pools and hottubs and bars, and is crowded there are seats somewhere, lots and lots of lounge chairs. Adult pool small but adequate. There are some towel stations around to get your towels since they are not provided in the room. I don't like that. Anyway, we ordered room service for breakfast then settled in the Solarium for the day. Had lunch in MDR and dinner as well. We had reservations set for the week for our time dining so it didn't over lap with our evening entertainment reservations. Allow 2-2.5 hrs for dinner, yes, it does take that long when there are 6400 people on the ship. Dinners in the MDR are ok, not good for people that don't eat meat, their fish selection is fish no one at our table ever heard of, and they seem to include mushrooms (yuk) in everything. The soup is awful (except French onion is ok) breads and rolls delicious. Food portions much larger than on other ships. Only things exceptional I had all week were the Crab Cakes and Lobster tails. Everything else was just ok.

For entertainment, the Headliner show (Abba) and CATS and Come Fly With Me were all excellent. We didn't get to see the Aqua show, which brings me to this. Be sure to check you tv messages several times a day. Ours had been cancelled and rescheduled several times and unfortunately we missed the Aqua show because of this.We had room service a few times, the wings are good but messy. They bring the food pretty quick too. The entire ship seems to have a problem with food temps, colds aren't cold and hots aren't hot, but that doesn't bother me as much as it did some of the people we travelled with.

The staff is very friendly, they talked about their time with the company, their families, how much they liked working there, how they were trained etc. The guys working the cafes are quite slow so don't be in any hurry if you go to them. Customer service lines were never long so they must have been able to help the people quickly, though for a problem I had, it took them 4 calls and 2 days to get it right.

Breakfast in the MDR can be ala carte or buffet, however, I will warn you, that one day we went for ala carte and there was a 35 minute wait for eggs...and no fresh orange juice.

Veronica was our waiter in the MDR most of the time and really good, very sweet girl.

As for the room itself, it was certainly not what I expected. Balcony room on 12, bathroom extremely small, the shower is pathetic, like getting in a Star Trek tube, beam me up Scotty, literally can't turn around in it. No shower gel, some horrible shampoo, take your own. No counter space or drawers in bathroom...not kidding...and the sink is about thigh high. really a bad design. The sleeping area, my bed was shoved up to the very small closet you can barely get in, no drawers, a few shelves. Can't watch tv in bed either since it was across from the couch with was by the sliding doors. I did not like this room and will not ever get it again, room 12554. The room steward was ok, though I had a casino voucher and my glasses on the night stand and they both disappeared.

I never made it to he Zip Line or Rock Climbing but I did watch others and it looked like fun.

The ship rocked much more than I thought it should with it being so large, however, come to find out that they had a broken stabilizer, so I'm quite sure that made the difference. It wasn't enough to bother any of us though.

The reggae band at the pool was fun, I really enjoyed that, plus they played in the evenings in one of the venues. Another band in Dazzles was absolutely unreal, I could listen to them all night.

There seems to be a lot going on at once and then nothing, so you will definitely get down time. Debarking was a nightmare, but I don't think it was there fault, I think it was customs. Our 9:00 debark happened at 10:45 so beware if you are needing to catch a plane.

All in all it was ok, not sure if I would go again unless I got a really good offer, I'd certainly do a different room. The ship seems overwhelming the first couple of days but is easy to figure out. It is huge though, like a floating mall.There are some things I missed from other cruises I've had and some things I liked better. I hope if you are reading this and going to be on her that you've got a few hints of help.