Carnival Elation 10/21-10/26 Review (no pics)

I don’t normally write reviews so please be patient as this is a work in progress!

I am a mom so my opinions will also reflect that.

I am going to type as much as I can while waiting to be called for debarkation (10am currently).

SATURDAY: We had a 12:30 check in but due to the many slow downs on I95 we didn’t arrive until after 1:30. By that time, the line was pretty long, and I was super thankful that it wasn’t hot. It continually moved but it was slow going. I had gift cards to use as my sign and sail money, and I had to add them to my account on the ship. Easy to do at guest services.

We easily found a seat for lunch which was, of course, Guys Burgers. They are very good about getting the line moving there. Don’t get frustrated if you see a line. It moves quickly!

If any of you remember me asking about connecting rooms, you will know that when I booked the Elation, it did not have any connecting rooms, and I never book them (unless I specifically need one). Our cabin was turned into a connecting room during dry dock. I will comment more on that later when I specifically review the cabin.

Dining room the first night was busy but we were only there for about 1 hour, 15 minutes, which was a welcome relief from our Dream Cruise last year where they were 2 hour dinners.

We didn’t do much this first night as we were exhausted. Early night to bed.

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Yeah! An Elation review! Looking forward to the rest.

SUNDAY / SEA DAY: Weather is always unpredictable at sea, and today it was very windy. Because of the wind, the WaterWorks was closed (except for the little baby racers). That made for lots of disappointed children, and they then took over the pool. If you include the WaterWorks area, finding a seat was pretty easy.

We had such a big brunch this day that we skipped lunch and had dinner at Guys Burger this evening. It’s my fave :)

The hot tubs weren’t too crowded so we ended the evening with some night swimming and hot tub time. This night only one of the hot tubs on the Lido was hot, so the the other wasn’t being used much.

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Yay an Elation Review!! 59 more days to go for us. Looking forward to reading this :cool::cool:

MONDAY/ HALF MOON CAY: I was soooo happy we didn’t have to skip this stop. I was a little concerned with it being so windy the day before, but we had beautiful weather on this day.

Tender process was super easy. Not much of a wait and we were not on an early one (probably more in the middle).

Couple pieces of advice to save some money (that I wish I had known about). When you get off the tender, keep walking until you pass the pirate ship and the little shack where you buy clamshells and floaties. You can easily find some chairs in the shade (for free instead of paying $30 for a clamshell). Also, bring a cheap floatie you can blow up instead of paying $20 to rent one. Would have really enjoyed saving myself $50 that day! Also, alcohol is more expensive as our bucket of beers was over $32 (same bucket we buy on ship for cheaper). Bring some of your water bottles off the ship too!

The food they provide is very good and there are plenty of lines so no real wait. Lots to go around!

We headed for the tenders around 2:45 and we didn’t have a wait at all.

HMC was as beautiful as I had hoped and would gladly live there if I could!

We skipped the dining room again this night. Nobody wants to be around my tired and cranky kids, so we did the polite thing by eating at the Deli and the Pizza Pirate. I had a Reuben at the Deli, and it was delicious!

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TUESDAY / NASSAU: I bought the British Colonial Hilton day passes the week before. I had so many reservations about spending that much, but hoped it would be worth it. Would I buy them again? No. The “beach” was pretty small, although after visiting HMC the day before, it was hard to not compare. The girls only spent a few minutes at the beach and then wanted to head to the pool for the remaining time. We had $120 credit between the four of us. We ended up buying a hot dog meal, chicken strip meal, 3 mojitos, 2 Bahamian beers, 1 Moscow mule, and a peach daiquiri. For some reason, the food prices on the menu were not what they charged us. Hot dog meal was listed as $14. They charged $9. Similar thing with chicken strips. It was nice! Allowed for the two “extra” mojitos.

I would like to find a cheaper option for pool swimming if we ever go back. The girls didn’t seem to care about the beach. They were pretty tired of salt water by then.

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Continued...

As with last night, we skipped the dining room and had another burger at Guys.

Forgot to mention that after HMC, we decided to hit the water slides since they were closed the day before. Even though the Fun Times listed them closed at 7, they closed at 6. I didn’t realize it was going to be that way every night until it happened again tonight. As with the previous two nights, disappointed children make for stressed out parents. Neither myself nor my husband cared, but our kids did.

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WEDNESDAY/ SEA DAY: Weather was cloudy and gloomy with lots of wind. You know what that means. Yep. WaterWorks was closed. All I heard all day was how horrible that was. I wanted to jump ship at that point. The girls were cranky and unbearable to be around. We did some trivia which helped to pass the time.

We had Blue Iguana for lunch. Yummy!!!! Forgot to mention that they have the best breakfast burritos in the morning. Super filling!!!

We are in the dining room this last night as the girls love the entertainment. We got there right at YTD opening (5:45) and we were leaving by 7:20. Not to bad for the last night (which can be long).

We attended the Epic Rock show afterwards. It was good. I enjoyed the music even if the singing wasn’t the best. It’s Carnival. I don’t expect broadway. The ship was rocking enough that I had to take one daughter back to the room since she was sick. I did take some Dramamine before I headed back to the show.

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Thanks for the review! Did you use Camp Carnival at all? We will be sailing with a nearly 3.5 year old and nearly 4.5 year old and plan to use it.

ROOM: We ended up with a connecting stateroom after the Elation dry dock. I didn’t book it that way. It was AWFUL. I was more stressed in the room than I’ve ever been. I felt like I was constantly telling the girls to be quiet or watch the noise. You really can hear everything. We heard their alarm every morning. And we knew by day two they’d hit snooze 2 times. We could hear nose blowing, coughing, laughing, tv, bathroom door closing, and every time they opened a soda can. Everything. I’m sure they could say the exact same thing about us.

Two mornings we had to call maintenance because we didn’t have any hot water. Both times we could hear the maintenance guy outside the door “fixing” something, but he would always tell us “lots of people showering. Try again”. We knew it wasn’t that but whatever. Didn’t care so long as it was fixed.

Because the stateroom was turned into a connecting room, the beds weren’t in the spots they were originally. Before, the long bed was against one wall, the bunk was on the opposite, and the trundle would make an L under the bunk. Now it was the bunk over the king bed on the same wall, and the trundle was right next to the king. Thumbs down on the set up!

On a positive note, the amount of storage was ample, even with four people and three pieces of luggage. For the ladies, I highly recommend a door hanging type organizer. It was awesome for my makeup. Just hung it up in the bathroom door.

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DEBARKATION: We had zone 6, but everyone knows that as soon as they finish with self debarkation, everyone heads to the gangway. Unless Carnival actually comes up with a way to “police” the process, it doesn’t matter what number you have. We got out the door for our ride at 11:15, and our luggage was some of the last to pick up. Zones went over 20 btw.

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FINAL THOUGHTS: I went on a Fantasy class ship for my first cruise. I still love that it’s easy to navigate, but I don’t think I’ll cruise one again. MAYBE if it was just myself and dh. There was more movement than I’d like, and for my girls, there is definitely more to do on the bigger ships.

I love my children. Honestly I do. But this cruise will be our last family cruise for awhile. They were constantly complaining and extremely ungrateful the entire time. I couldn’t wait to get off and go back home. Dh and myself wanted to jump ship by the second day. It did not get any better. I think without them along, I would have more smiles and laughs to share about this voyage.

ETA: it wasn’t a “booze cruise” like the Triumph cruise I took over a year ago. For that I was thankful. There were more kids than I expected, and that made the pool more “kid friendly “, which is great for parents but not so much for the adults.

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Thanks for the review! Did you use Camp Carnival at all? We will be sailing with a nearly 3.5 year old and nearly 4.5 year old and plan to use it.

I did not as my girls are 11 and 12 but I heard from little kids (I work with kids so I relate well with them) that they loved it.

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Thanks for the review......and I totally understand about the kids. In my case it's grandkids. We all went to OBX this summer and I love my grandkids but was so ready for the week to be over. They need to be doing something at ALL times. It's exhausting!

I am cruising Elation with about 20 GF's in April and I'm sure we will have a totally different time then you did!

Thank you for the honest review. And I completely understand about your children. Mine are adults now so don't have to deal with it anymore but it made me remember a hellish trip to Disneyland......

Thank you for taking the time to write your review!

Kim

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I have a cruise with my mom on the Sunshine this spring, and I KNOW I will have a good time! It was just so weird wanting the cruise to be over before we were even 1/2 way done!

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Oh, and when it comes to drop off and pick up at Jaxport, you better do it right! Those security guys will let u know quite loudly and often if you are not.

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What room did you stay in? When I booked our Elation cruise for march 1 I called & wanted a connecting room but they didn't have any.

Thanks for the review!

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What room did you stay in? When I booked our Elation cruise for march 1 I called & wanted a connecting room but they didn't have any.

Thanks for the review!

 

 

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We stayed in U159. The deck plans are updated on their website now so U can see which ones connect

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Did you park at the port or offsite? Did you stay at a local hotel the evening b4 departure? We're booked at the Hampton Inn and are deciding if we should leave our car or park at the port.

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Did you park at the port or offsite? Did you stay at a local hotel the evening b4 departure? We're booked at the Hampton Inn and are deciding if we should leave our car or park at the port.

 

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We actually stayed in Orlando the night before and drove our rental car to Jacksonville. Hubby dropped the girls and I off at the port, returned the rental to the airport, and then took an Uber back to Jaxport.

Would we do it that way again? No! We would stay at Jacksonville the night before.

Thank you for this review, planning a cruise with just my mom and she said she would consider the Elation so this was a good review. By the way, you will LOVE the Sunshine, amazing ship she is.

Thanks for the review.

Enjoying your posts.

Keith

We stayed in U159. The deck plans are updated on their website now so U can see which ones connect

 

 

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We're in U158 next week! And I just looked and it's been turned into a connecting room as well! I had looked at that just a few days ago and it was NOT showing that! I'm not happy at all about that and I know my wife won't be either. I may have to see if we can get moved to a non connecting room.