Elation Review--Lots of pics!

[bluejay555]

This was a girls cruise! It was my mom, my two girls, ages 6 and 8, and me. My husband stayed home with the dogs, poor guy! This was my 5th Carnival cruise, my mom's first (although she's been on several different other lines), and my kids first cruise EVER. Exciting!!!

 

We drove 10 hours the day before, to Hammond Louisiana, and stayed at the Hampton Inn. The girls were a tad hyped up after spending all day in the car.

 

Hampton Inn was very clean and comfortable, and even had "make your own waffles" at breakfast. Too fun!

 

 

My mom had never been to Bourbon Street, so we decided to drive down there. I had no trouble finding a metered parking spot on a side street , which was surprising! My 6 year old immediately found a necklace with big boobs all over it and was begging to buy it lol so we didn't stay too long. Bourbon St. is definitely not kid friendly, even during the morning hours!

 

FINALLY!!! We made it to the terminal at noon. I parked at Erato Street Parking Garage, and it was $80 for the 5 day cruise.

[Future_Mrs_Wetzel]

Subscribing! We will be on the Elation November 2nd, so I am super excited to read all of your review.

[bluejay555]

It wasn't crowded at all, and things were moving really fast. We did have to let security check our bottled water....they looked it over, shook it, and let us go through. We were on the ship within 30 min, and were told our room was ready. This was like 12:30pm! It was pretty incredible!

 

Of course we had to go straight to the Lido deck for some lunch!

 

It was sprinkling on and off, but cleared up just in time for sail away! Yay!

 

Serenity deck. It looked so nice down there! Too bad we had the rugrats with us :p

[bluejay555]

Subscribing! We will be on the Elation November 2nd, so I am super excited to read all of your review.

 

AWESOME!!! You will love the Elation! It was one of my favorite cruises yet:D

Edited August 2, 2013 by bluejay555

[cjknox]

Looking forward to the rest!

[clambert1273]

I love your little one's facial expressions lol We are taking my 6yo daughter on her first cruise on the 27th and I can not WAIT to see her face lol

[bluejay555]

This cruise was a very last minute idea, and we booked it like 3 weeks before the sail date. Therefore we didn't get the room we would have liked (Riviera Deck, very back of the ship, inside cabin) but it turned out to be just fine for us (I will show some cabin pics later). We also didn't get our requested dinner time of 6 pm, but instead were assigned the 8:15 seating. I tried to change this, and was told I couldn't even switch to anytime dining! Oh well, we made the best of it, and loved our wait staff, so it was cool.

I took LOTS of food pics!

 

My 8 yr old ate shrimp cocktail every night.

 

chicken breast....very dry and blah

 

The pork steak was awesome!!

 

chocolate melting cake, of course! It didn't disappoint!

 

One of the bunk beds. It was close quarters in there...they had us packed in like sardines... but it worked!

[GAMOM4]

Love your pictures!

[bluejay555]

Here's a better pic of the cabin. Our room steward would fold up the bunk beds every morning, and that helped with space, but we were barely in our cabin anyway, so no biggie. On our first morning, he did fold up my 6 yr old's stuffed animal inside the bunk bed, and there was a sign saying only authorized personnel was allowed to pull down the beds. She was very upset, wanting her stuffed animal, and there was a phone number for the room steward, so we called him. When he came down to our room, he gave us a bunch of crap about the fact that what we leave in the bunk beds would get folded up for the day and we should know that, blah blah. I was about to go off! (and I had given him $20 the night before, since I knew we'd potentially be high-maintenance, having 2 kids and all) I think he must have felt guilty later, because he was overly nice and accommodating the rest of the time.

 

First towel animal!

 

They changed the chocolate wrappers since last summer!

[bluejay555]

Our first Sea Day!!!

 

Breakfast: the omelet bar was my favorite!

 

There was lots of fresh fruit. This kid is gonna stab herself lol

 

Look at the wall behind my kid. This ship was so fancy! The walls in Tiffany's were the color of peacock feathers.

 

Me and my little one!

[bluejay555]

Late morning (probably 9:30am) and not a chair hogger to be found! I was so impressed with the fact that we could ALWAYS find loungers by the pool. And it wasn't that Carnival was enforcing the 40 minute rule, it was the fact that people were just considerate. When we were on the Conquest last summer, we could never find chairs, and 75% of them didn't have people in them, just flip flops or towels. It was maddening.

 

 

 

We swam in that pool every day of the cruise, and my kids went down the slide about a million times. It was pretty deep. The kids couldn't touch, and my mom and I were up to our necks. It got pretty rowdy in there, too. Kids everywhere!!! We loved that pool though :D

[bluejay555]

We forced ourselves out of the pool so we could go to Camp Carnival for the build-a-bear. Took some random ship pics along the way!

 

setting up for the art auction

 

atrium

Edited August 2, 2013 by bluejay555

[bluejay555]

Build-a-Bear was the only camp carnival activity we did. The girls were interested in going to Candy Bingo that afternoon for just 30 min, but they showed up in their swim suit cover-ups and were not allowed in. You have to be completely dry to go in. Oh well!

 

Examples of the stuffed animals are all lined up and the kids pick which one they want. The staff then hands the child a box with that animal, stuffing, and a t-shirt for the animal. They were really easy to stuff. There was a hole in the back of the animal with a zipper inner lining, and Velcro on the outside....so no sewing.

 

 

 

 

This is the t-shirt that comes with the animal. Of course there are a ton more outfits for sale for about $8-$10. The animals we bought were $24 each. Definitely worth it though, the kids had a blast!

[bluejay555]

Lunch time! There was a Mongolian wok restaurant on this ship, and it was my favorite place. It's like a salad bar....you pick your noodles and veggies, then hand your bowl to the chef, tell him what meat (chicken, beef, or shrimp) and sauce you want, and he fries it all up in a wok.

 

 

There are 3 sauces to choose from, from mild to spicy. I tried thai bbq the first time, because it was the medium spicy one. It turned out to be my least favorite. the mild sauce was black bean, which was good, and the spicy was sezchuan, which I LOVED!

 

There was a 3pm Tea Time in the piano bar. It was so much fun!!! So fancy. There were china place settings at each table, and a waiter came around with a box of different teas to choose from, then more waiters brought a cart of fancy desserts/fruits. The girls loved it!

 

 

 

[bluejay555]

Back to the Lido deck for a late afternoon swim. LOOK AT THOSE EMPTY CHAIRS!!!! Ahhhhh!!!

 

 

This sign was at the towel booth.

 

My kids had soda cards and boy was it worth it. They drank like a gallon of soda! *cringe* And my 6 yr old always ordered mixes....like half orange/half sprite, or half coke/half root beer....and they always made her whatever she asked for, with no problem.

 

My new favorite cruise drink....Twilight Zone! I can't remember exactly, but it was something like pina colada with blue liqueur swirled in. Perfect! My old favorite was a Miami vice, which I still think is yum of course! My mom opted for margaritas.

 

 

Now, my 6 yr old is not a strong swimmer. She's had lessons, but lacks confidence. She was much more comfortable in her life vest because it got so rowdy in the pool at times. Even her water wings didn't make her feel secure enough. She also hated the salt water...hence her face in this pic lol. They were allowed to wear face masks down the slide though, so that helped keep the salt out of their eyes.

 

Edited August 2, 2013 by bluejay555

[christyran1228]

So cute!

 

 

Thank you so much for your review! 13 more days until we will be taking her for a ride! :D

[bluejay555]

So cute!

 

 

Thank you so much for your review! 13 more days until we will be taking her for a ride! :D

 

Cool! Have a wonderful time!

[bluejay555]

I love your little one's facial expressions lol We are taking my 6yo daughter on her first cruise on the 27th and I can not WAIT to see her face lol

 

She is gonna LOVE it! :D Now, I love to cruise, but what I loved even more, was seeing the cruise through my girls' eyes. It was such a great experience, I can't wait to do it again!!!

[bluejay555]

First day at sea was formal night. We got all dressed up, then went to karaoke, since we had time to kill before our 8:15 seating. My kids have a karaoke machine at home, and had been practicing their favorite songs....current top-40 popular songs....and not one of the songs was available for karaoke. Boo! The lady running the show was soooooooo sweet and attentive though (Antoinette from Jamaica) and she sat with the girls and tried to think of other songs they might know. She suggested Rollin' in the Deep by Adele, and my girls ROCKED IT! It was so much fun!!! If you cruise on the Elation, and like to karaoke, go visit Antoinette. She's great!

 

 

My mom and my 8 yr old

 

We decided to try something new every night, and tonight was alligator fritters. They were pretty good! We all gave them the thumbs up.

 

the lobster tail and gulf shrimp were aaaaamazing!

 

although my 6 yr old was kind of grossed out lol

 

The dining room on the Elation is pretty cramped, but the waiters danced every night!

[bluejay555]

We ended our first sea day with a night swim. The pool light was changing colors every few minutes and my kids thought that was pretty cool.

 

This one was too tired to swim, and just wanted to lounge in her jammies with her kindle:)

 

 

OK, tomorrow morning we wake up in Progreso!!! We planned a day at the public beach, which we knew ahead of time was not going to be beautiful and pristine, so we were prepared and were fine with that. But little did we know there would be turds floating in the surf :eek:

 

I have got to go clean my house now. I left my husband and 2 dogs on their own for 7 days, so you can only imagine what I came home to!!! I will post more later.....

[PPH]

Eeewwww!! I'll have to rethink my day in Progreso now. Great review so far. Your girls are adorable!

Edited August 2, 2013 by PPH

[4hunters]

Enjoying the review! Thanks for posting. :)

[Capitan Morgan]

We ended our first sea day with a night swim. The pool light was changing colors every few minutes and my kids thought that was pretty cool.

 

This one was too tired to swim, and just wanted to lounge in her jammies with her kindle:)

 

 

OK, tomorrow morning we wake up in Progreso!!! We planned a day at the public beach, which we knew ahead of time was not going to be beautiful and pristine, so we were prepared and were fine with that. But little did we know there would be turds floating in the surf :eek:

 

I have got to go clean my house now. I left my husband and 2 dogs on their own for 7 days, so you can only imagine what I came home to!!! I will post more later.....

I just looove your review! I love your good attitude and your girls are just adorable! And you're so funny! I will be cruising with my mom, my sister and her son in 24 days in the Ecstasy, which I understand is from the same line, and I have to thank you for the pictures of the cabin. We are four, I was blessed to find one with balcony at a good price, but inside will be just the same size as yours. I will be leaving my husband home as well with my son and two cats, so your comment about having to clean up after living them alone those days, made me smile thinking that I will be doing just the same :)

[bluejay555]

Eeewwww!! I'll have to rethink my day in Progreso now. Great review so far. Your girls are adorable!

 

Don't let the poop ruin your plans! I'm sure it was just a fluke...hopefully! I did notice a bunch of teens swimming there, and they were obviously locals, so it definitely wasn't just tourists there. Seemed to be a pretty popular place.

 

Shopping at the pier

 

 

I had read that the sand was full of broken shells and seaweed, and there were lots of both, but they didn't hurt our feet at all. I had packed water shoes and we didn't even need them.

 

 

 

I was paranoid and made both kids wear life vests, but those came off pretty quickly because the water was calm and very shallow. In fact, you could walk pretty far out and not get into deep water. It was a nice spot for children.

 

Edited August 2, 2013 by bluejay555

[bluejay555]

I just looove your review! I love your good attitude and your girls are just adorable! And you're so funny! I will be cruising with my mom, my sister and her son in 24 days in the Ecstasy, which I understand is from the same line, and I have to thank you for the pictures of the cabin. We are four, I was blessed to find one with balcony at a good price, but inside will be just the same size as yours. I will be leaving my husband home as well with my son and two cats, so your comment about having to clean up after living them alone those days, made me smile thinking that I will be doing just the same :)

 

Well thank you!!! I'm glad you were able to find a balcony. I really wish we would have had at least a window. And yep, you'll probably have some cleaning to do when you get back :p