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Review of Elation, Mobile, and Cozumel and Progreso

ckdmom

By ckdmom,
in Carnival Cruise Lines

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ckdmom

ckdmom

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Thanks to all of the posters on this board who helped me with planning our family's first cruise. I hope to help other newbies with all of the follow info...here goes!

 

We arrived in Mobile about 10:00 A.M. and had to wait in line on the road to get into the parking garage for about 25 minutes. We got into the garage, had our luggage quickly unloaded with help from some porters there were close by, tipped them $1 per bag, drove ahead, paid our $85 and found a great parking spot right by the elevators. After entering the terminal, we found that all of the employees were friendly and helpful as we were finding our way through. All paperwork checked! Bags through x-ray machine! And into the long line of cattle herders as we are ready to check in. The line took about 15 minutes, but we were slowly moving the whole time. The kids were really excited about seeing the ship through the windows. As we were waiting, they announced boarding by zones. The people who were waiting already were the 1st to board, but once we met with the lady who checked us in and gave us our S and S cards, we were on our way. Into another line to wait for a group photo and then off to the ship! HOORAY!

 

When we boarded, we headed straight to Guest Services to take care of getting duplicated keys for our kids cabins. We also went to talk to the MDR to see about changing our dining times. Guest Services was great and very quick and accomodating. The MDR was not available until 1:00 to address our concerns. We headed to the Lido buffet for lunch which was OK...very busy and not easy to find a table for 7 of us, but we made it work. Also, all of the lines have different options, even though a worker told us they were all the same....again....we made it work!

 

We then headed to our rooms around 1:30 to see what they were like and where they were. After spending some time looking around the ship, we headed up on deck to watch as we left port. The time was supposed to be 4:00 but it was at least 4:35 by the time we left. It was hard to find a place to watch, but the kids thought it was great.

 

Up next.....meals and days at sea!!!!

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ckdmom

ckdmom

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Meals on Elation:

 

We were assigned to any time dining in the Imagination Dining Room which made me really nervous as we had 3 kids with our party of 7 and I was worried about having to wait to be seated. Actually, we were there close to 6 everynight and never waited more than just a couple of minutes until we were seated. For the 1st 2 nights we sat at a corner table. We had a wonderful waiter (although his name eludes me now!). The food was amazing. There are about 5 meals that are available every night and then about 6 that changed nightly.

Some of the food that we tried in the MDR: Chateau Briand (sp?), Flat Iron Steak, Turkey and Dressing, Salmon with Dill Sauce, Pasta with shrimp scallops and calamari, Shrimp Cocktail, Short Ribs, Ribs, Strawberry Bisque, Lobster Bisque, Mango Bisque, Chicken Noodle Soup, Cherry Soup, breaded shrimp, veal parmesean, and I am sure there were others. On elegant night, we had lobster tails and steak. All of the food that we tried was delicious! The severs in the MDR were amazing as well as entertaining. The last 3 nights we were served by Fernando and he was wonderful with the adults and kids. The portions of each meal were perfectly sized...unless you ordered 2, then there was way too much!

And we had some amazing desserts. The kids fell in love with CHOCOLATE MELTING CAKE! As well as that treat, there were pies, custards, fruits, ice creams, etc. that were all amazing as well.

 

For lunches, we ate at Tiffany's or on the Lido Deck. The Lido deck had the same food everyday for the most part. We did try the Mongolian Grill that is also on the Lido deck. You could choose your vegetables, meats and sauce. DH liked his a lot, I was not impressed....I found the food to be spicy but without much flavor and ended up with a burger instead. In Tiffanys, the kids had pizza a couple of times and it was very good. It did take a few minutes to get through the lines, but nothing that was disturbing. We had Reuben sandwiches from the deli and they were very good. The buffet in Tiffanys is also the only place we found to get a salad at lunch time. The food on the Tiffany buffet was always cold and fresh and was being replaced continually. There is also a hot buffet in Tiffany's. We did not eat that for lunch, but did have it for breakfast several of the mornings and the food was very good. We did have breakfast one morning in the MDR. It was great service, but the food was no better (actually DH said it was worse) than the buffet. Because the buffet was faster, we stuck with it in the mornings.

The kids loved the ice cream machines being available all day. It was vacation of course, so there was even ice cream for breakfast a couple of the days! :)

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stobe1

stobe1

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Our first time to (not so) Progreso was also our last time to (not so) Progreso. We had a terrible experience there and IF we ever take another cruise that stops in (not so) Progreso, we will just stay on the ship.

 

Maybe other folks have had different experiences there? I usually don't complain about a cruise, but (not so) Progreso was simply awful in our opinion.

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loppster

loppster

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Our first time to (not so) Progreso was also our last time to (not so) Progreso. We had a terrible experience there and IF we ever take another cruise that stops in (not so) Progreso, we will just stay on the ship.

 

Maybe other folks have had different experiences there? I usually don't complain about a cruise, but (not so) Progreso was simply awful in our opinion.

 

What was so bad about Progreso?

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ckdmom

ckdmom

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Our days at sea were nice and relaxing. We ate, sat around the deck and enjoyed people watching. We never had any trouble finding 2 deck chairs by each other and we were able to move to several different places around the ship to enjoy the sun.

 

We did have our kids in the Kids Clubs for their ages. The oldest (14) was not impressed, but we had him go the 1st day and he met 3 other kids and spent more time with them than with us...LOL. The middle one (11) enjoyed some of the activities. She made a good friend the 1st day and spent a lot of time the 1st day doing the kids activities. Her friend was not allowed to sign herself in and out of the activites which made our more willing to stay there too. After a couple of days, they started just hanging out different places around the ship. Our youngest (8), did not want to go to Camp Carnival, but we made him start out the 1st morning. After that, he was anxious to go. He loved being there. We did have all of the kids meet us each night for dinner, but other than that, the older 2 hung out with friends and the youngest wanted to be at Camp Carnival.

 

Progreso:

We chose to do an excursion at Progreso. The pier there is 4 or 5 miles long so there is no walking to check things out. I do not think that there were any taxis waiting at the pier (but I was busy with our excursion group so I might be wrong). There was a little shopping that could be done right where we disembarked, but nothing that would occupy your whole day.

We chose to do a Leisure Beach excursion. It was very reasonably priced compared to other choices. We had to find a tour guide on the pier who gave us wrist bands and told us that we had a little shopping time before we left. We boarded the bus and drove for about 20 minutes through a really rough looking part of town. It was sad to see their living conditions, but a great experience for our kids to see.

The beach was very nice and clean and included all-inclusive drinks for the adults. We took advantage of the drinks (margaritas and Miami Vices) and enjoyed the wonderful beach service. The kids loved the water trampoline and could stand in the water quite a way out. There was also free kayaking which DH and the kids enjoyed. The beach was not crowded and we had a great time. Our only complaint was that we had to pay an adult price for our 14 year old. As adults, we took advantage of provided alcohol, but for the 14 year old, the child price would have been more fair.

After several hours at the beach, we loaded back onto the bus and back to the pier where we spent a little time looking at trinket stores and then boarded the ship.

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ckdmom

ckdmom

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The next morning we were in port in Cozumel. We had booked another excursion here that all 5 of us were very excited about....Snorkeling with Stingrays. After debarking, we were able to find the little tent that was marked for our excursion. We waited a few minutes and were then loaded into taxis to take us the couple of miles up the road to the Stingray Park. When we arrived, the people there gave some snorkel instructions, got us our gear, and we were off to the water. We all really loved the experience. The area was fenced off so you had to stay in a contained area, but there was a lot to see. The guide kept going down lower with food so the fish and rays were easy to see. We snorkeled for about 30 minutes. We then headed to a side area where we had the chance to hold and pet stingrays that were swimming among us. We even all got to feed them squid. What great memories for our kids!

After 30 minutes with the rays, we left the water and went to hang out in their little dining area. We ordered some nachos, which were very good, but I found several hairs as we were eating which turned me off.

When were were done there, the workers got us a taxi which took us to downtown Cozumel. It is about 4 miles from the port. My mom and dad walked to the downtown, but ended up getting a taxi back because it was so hot out.

Downtown was lots of shopping and restaurants. We at at Pancho's. DH and I thought the food was very good, the kids did not like it. Our lunch cost us close to $70 which I thought was crazy for a mexican lunch. We then walked through some of the downtown but we were quickly annoyed by the people on the sidewalks trying to get us to come in their shops. Again, a great experience for the kids. We did end up buying some souvineers to take back to the ship.

We were back on the ship by about 3:00 and ready to head back home.

 

Tomorrow....things we loved about the ship!!! And other general information for future cruises!

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ddloml

ddloml

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Our only complaint was that we had to pay an adult price for our 14 year old. As adults, we took advantage of provided alcohol, but for the 14 year old, the child price would have been more fair.

 

The joke about Mexico is that if you're old enough to see over the bar, you're old enough to drink. Your 14 yo probably could have been served a beer or margarita!;):rolleyes:

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ckdmom

ckdmom

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Kids Clubs:

These were great, especially for the youngest (8). Both the 8 and 11 year old colored T-shirts and were able to take some dance lessons. The youngest really looked forward to Wii time and they also liked the dance parties. We did pay extra one night for the 11 year old to go to a special after hours party. She was so unhappy when we picked her up. It was the 2 to 11 year olds all together so there was not much to do and the movie they were showing was a Little People movie. We paid $13 for her to stay late and when we decided to pick her up a little early, she was very ready to go.

 

Drinks:

We had the soda cards for DH, me and the oldest (14). I recommend bringing an insulated mug/cup or buying the one they have for $4.95. If you bring these to the bar, they will fill it up with soda rather than the smaller glasses that they provide. The bars near the Jekyl and Hyde Lounge had terrible service...we had to wait and wait for anyone to help us. We really liked the bar in the back of Tiffany's as well as the one on the Lido deck on the opposite end of the food. The best bargain on alcohol that we found was buying a bucket of Corona's. You got 4 beers for $20 that were served in ice and stayed nice and cold.

 

Cabin:

I was surprised that there was no kind of clothesline in our cabin. I thought there would be one in the bathroom. We just hung swimsuits over hangers.

There were probably about 16 hangers in the closet. I did bring some of my own which we left there for the next lucky guests (maybe it will be you!!;)) There were some others that had been left by the previous guests too.

On the bathroom door, there were 2 towel bars that worked well for hanging my makeup bag. There were 2 hooks in the room on the wall to hang our bags on.

We brought a nightlight and travel alarm. I was so glad to have had these recommendations!

The track on the top of the ship was great for walking/running, although busy in the mornings and quite a challenge to walk on in different places due to the wind! There is a workout room behind the spa that DH and DS used. It looked kind of like our YMCA Cardio room.

Pictures!! There were all kinds of places along the hallway that you could get your portraits taken. We had pics of each of the kids and grown ups, couple shots, family shots, etc. Some of them were great! We ended up buying several because you cannot pass up a good shot of all 5 of us. We had ours done on formal night, but could have done it over and over! Each picture costs between $9.99 and 21.99 to buy their copy. Then you can order other sizes (or just be creative about getting them when you get home :rolleyes:).

 

If anyone has any other specific questions, please post them here....I was a complete nervous wreck becuase I did not know all the details. The information here was amazing, but I had lots of silly questions that I wanted to ask. Feel free to ask!

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ckdmom

ckdmom

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did you eat anything at the Beach Club at Progresso? we had signed up for the same thing, and it doesnt include food so I am curious what you did for lunch?

 

We did not eat there....we used our money's worth at the bar. We returned to the ship on the 1st bus back which was at 12:30 and just ate on the ship. There was a little buffet set up there in a little restaurant but I did not check it out very closely.

We could have stayed for a 2nd bus, which I think was 1 hour later, but we planned to get back to eat on the ship. The kids would have been more than happy to stay for another hour because they were having lots of fun!

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232271

232271

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We did not eat there....we used our money's worth at the bar. We returned to the ship on the 1st bus back which was at 12:30 and just ate on the ship. There was a little buffet set up there in a little restaurant but I did not check it out very closely.

We could have stayed for a 2nd bus, which I think was 1 hour later, but we planned to get back to eat on the ship. The kids would have been more than happy to stay for another hour because they were having lots of fun!

 

thanks for the quick reply. How was the beach condition? i have heard it was shelly and smallish?

 

and how long is the bus ride to the resort?

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ckdmom

ckdmom

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thanks for the quick reply. How was the beach condition? i have heard it was shelly and smallish?

 

and how long is the bus ride to the resort?

 

 

The beach was a nice size. It was certainly not huge, but there are not a lot of people there either. We were able to keep an eye on our kids and not be bothered by other people. I think the ride there was about 20 minutes. The beach by the tables and umbrellas and chairs was nice and sandy. As you got closer to the water there were lots of shells. We collected quite a few of them. Once you got out in the water, the kids said it was nice and smooth.

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wendyandcliff

wendyandcliff

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Thanks for taking time to post your review.

DH and I will be on Elation in January out of New Orleans.

Does the ship have a station with grilled foods? The Conquest has a grill that serves burgers, fries, and chicken, was wondering if Elation has something similar.

Thanks,

Wendy

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djacobson

djacobson

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Thanks for taking time to post your review.

DH and I will be on Elation in January out of New Orleans.

Does the ship have a station with grilled foods? The Conquest has a grill that serves burgers, fries, and chicken, was wondering if Elation has something similar.

Thanks,

Wendy

 

Yes, it does. It's on the Lido deck midship. They will rotisserie chicken and fried chicken tenders.

 

Love a good Carnival cheeseburger at least once a cruise.

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