Elation review - June 10th

[tennleex]

I posted a review of a recent trip on the Elation. Here's a cut-n-paste from it:

 

I took my 11yo son on the Elation 6-10-10. It was a reward for a good school year. We normally cruise with my wife and 3 other kids...

 

 

Embarkation

I'd seen a lot of reported problems with this, so we drove down the night before from Tennessee and stayed at the Hampton Inn downtown. They have a Carnival park and save rate. It worked great. The hotel was very clean and friendly. They fed my son cookies as soon as we walked in. We had dinner at a pizza place down the street and breakfast in the hotel in the morning. About 11am we walked about three blocks to the cruise terminal. We each had a roll cart. The hotel offered transportation but without our ladies in the party we just walked. No problem. We were on the ship before noon and eating on the Lido deck.

 

The Ship

I think it was fine. We've been on several ships in the Fantasy class and besides decor they are all laid out similarly. This ship didn't have the "evolutions of fun" no huge waterslide- but the boy didn't complain. Everything seemed very normal for a carnival cruise

 

Oil

It changed our path to Cozumel, but you only noticed if you looked on the tv channel that showed where the ship was on a map. It didn't affect the itinerary at all. Never saw the oil. I was imagining watching a smoker flick a cig in the water and the whole Gulf explode in fire, but there was no such excitement.

 

Cozumel

We've been several times, so we just hung out at the Puerta Maya Fat Tuesday, well until a lovely lady decided to remove clothing a la Mardi Gras. I'd intended to watch the US World Cup match there, but I skipped the opportunity to teach my son about female anatomy and we watched the match in the Cole Porter Lounge aboard ship.

 

Camp Carnival

Frankly the best part of the cruise. My son was always asking to go. He enjoys the games, the scavenger hunts, the video games. He did the "stay up til 0330AM party on the port night.

 

One bad thing

Carnival has ruined the official poker aboard ship. They've made the "rake" so high that no one played on the PokerPro table on any day (or night) of the cruise- at least not before 11pm. I heard a couple of folks say people were meeting at the table then going to a cabin to play to avoid paying Carnival for not providing a dealer. I can't figure this out. They have basically staked out a dead space in the casino where they receive no revenue.

Debarkation

No problem. We did self assist. They started about 0730, and by 0815 we were off the ship, had walked back to the Hampton and were driving home to Tennessee.

[Karen1217]

thanks for the review! we're getting on the elation this morning in a few hours. I'm still wondering what the best time to arrive at the parking garage is. I'm glad to hear the oil won't affect our cruise.

[LHP]

thanks for the review! we're getting on the elation this morning in a few hours. I'm still wondering what the best time to arrive at the parking garage is. I'm glad to hear the oil won't affect our cruise.

 

Please come back with a review and at least a copy of ONE of the Fun Times!!

[LHP]

Great review....

 

glad you and your son had a great time. We are headed that way in August!

[Ashpalo]

Thanks for the review.

 

One question - what time did you arrive at the port?

 

Thanks,

Ashley :)

[Purplesaurus]

Thanks for the review. Always pleasant to read a good one.

 

When walking to the port, did you enter on the left side or right side? we're thinking about getting dropped off instead of parking. We hope to be on the LIdo having lunch around noon, too

[yogimax]

Thanks for your review and glad you had a wonderful time!

[scperk]

Thanks for the review. Always pleasant to read a good one.

 

When walking to the port, did you enter on the left side or right side? we're thinking about getting dropped off instead of parking. We hope to be on the LIdo having lunch around noon, too

You enter on the right but have someone drop you off a couple of blocks from the terminal/...I've never seen such a line of cars trying to enter the terminal...It was an absolute zoo when we got off in May..Whenwe came out it was two lanes thru the terminal and they soon made it only one lane and there were absolutly NO cabs.....Dennis.....

[tennleex]

Thanks for the review. Always pleasant to read a good one.

 

When walking to the port, did you enter on the left side or right side? we're thinking about getting dropped off instead of parking. We hope to be on the LIdo having lunch around noon, too

We entered on the left. We only had one piece of luggage each (4 day) so we just went in and right up the escalator with our bags- skipped the baggage check in process. If I had had my wife we'd have went to the luggage check in as she take (um) a bit more stuff.

[chachi]

Glad to hear you enjoyed yourself. Thanks for sharing.