Elation Review- June 27 Sailing

[h_blond2]

This was out 7th annual mother/daughter cruise and it was one of the best yet! Mom and I are both teachers and really look forward to our summers because we get to cruise. Some pre and post cruise information- Mom and I drove to Pensacola Beach from southeast Missouri for two days before the cruise. It was definitely a great way to start our vacation! After we got off the ship in NOLA, we visited Villalobos Rescue Center and we loved it! This was my 6th time on the Elation and I'm sad to see it move, so I made the best of my last time on it! If you have any questions, just let me know....now I'll do my best to write a fabulous review for you all! :)

[h_blond2]

We made the three hour drive from Pensacola and arrived at Fulton Place parking around 9:30. It cost $60 to park for a 5 day cruise. This is where we noticed the first change. A Fulton Place employee came up to our car and helped us get our luggage down to the front of the building to wait on the shuttle. At first, it kind of freaked us out, because he just appeared out of nowhere lol! We were kind of rushed from that point and I left my dark sunglasses in the car, but I made it on board with one pair...thank goodness! He had me right my cell phone number on our luggage tags just in case our luggage didn't get on the same shuttle we did. After a 5 minute wait, our shuttle pulled up and we were on our way to the ship! We arrived at the terminal around 10 and had a very easy check in. Since mom and I both have passports and have completed the online check in, we were sent to a shorter line to get our sail and sign cards. It took just a few minutes and we were in Zone 1. Another change- they no longer hand out zone cards, it is stamped on your boarding pass instead. By the time we got through security and check in, it was around 10:45 and then we waited. We boarded the ship around 12:30 and headed straight to the Lido deck for lunch. We ate at the Mongolian Wok and we officially felt like the cruise was underway. After lunch we made our way to our home for the next 5 days, E91. Our room was ready and our luggage arrived shortly after. Our room looked like it always did, but we did notice a thermostat on the wall by the bathroom and we set it on the coldest setting possible. After we unpacked, we got ready for the dreaded muster drill, that didn't even start until 4 pm. We had muster station B, which is located outside the casino on Elation's Way. The muster drill was easy enough and we didn't have to go outside during the drill! Yay! We finally set sail around 4:25. We sat outside for awhile and then lost a little money in the casino. We choose not to eat the MDR, so we had dinner in the buffet and went to some trivia...we actually played a lot trivia during the cruise, but never won that elusive ship on a stick! Oh well! We skipped the Welcome Aboard show because we were tired and knew we would be up early the next morning.

[h_blond2]

 

 

 

[h_blond2]

We woke up bright and early and headed to breakfast on the Lido deck. We ate quickly and then headed up top to soak up some rays! We always lay out on the back of the ship on the Verandah deck. We laid out until about 11 and then headed back to the room and get cleaned up for the rest of the day. It was at this time that I signed up for the ship's Wi-Fi. They had a social media package available for $5 a day or $18 for the cruise. It wasn't the fastest connection ever, but it did the trick. After lunch we headed to Elation's Way for trivia. We participated in Star Trek trivia and Dan's Sing A Long trivia....we didn't do so well on the Star Trek trivia, but did pretty good at the sing a long! We didn't win, but we had fun. After trivia we killed some time by reading on the Promenade deck before heading to the Cole Porter Lounge for the Uptown Funk dance class. I was going to participate, but chickened out at the last minute and just watched instead. The dancers were great and seemed to be having a blast. After dinner we decided to check out the comedy shows. We watched John Mulrooney's family friendly show and he was hilarious! We then headed to the Mikado and watched Comedy & Magic with Bob Brizendine. He puts on a great show...funny and used audience members in his show. Now, I never volunteer to go up on stage, but when he asked for someone to simply write thier name on a playing card, I put my hand up and he picked me! Long story short, I was on stage for about 15 minutes and had an absolute blast! I ended up having to put my hand in his pocket to get my card before he blindfolded me and tried to stab my card with a knife! After the show we headed to bed to get ready for our day in Cozumel!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

[h_blond2]

We were scheduled to be in Cozumel from 9 to 4, but we were actually there from 8 to 5...what a great surprise! We got up early, ate breakfast, watched the Disney Fantasy pull in, and headed off the ship. We actually beat the employees of the stores at the Puerta Maya pier. It was kind of strange to see all the stores closed up, but once the employees started to show up, everything opened up quickly. We walked around the pier, did some shopping and headed to the beach! We always go to Playa Palancar. It is a $25 taxi ride each way, but it is so worth it! When got there, we set up camp and headed into the water. We spent the whole day lounging in the water. We each had a drink and ate guacamole and chips for lunch. There are no pools or water toys at Palancar and that's why we love it. After we got back on the ship, we headed up top for sail away and waved goodbye to the Valor, which had docked next to us at 9 that morning. We sat out and watched Cozumel disappear in the distance and headed inside to eat dinner. At dinner we both noticed that the ship was rocking like crazy. We had plans to go to the comedy shows that night, but after dinner we ended up back in the room where I loaded up on Dramamine and we were in for the night. We later heard that a few people fell that night because it got so rough. Luckily, I don't think anyone was seriously injured. I was kind of glad for the early night because I had spent the last 5 days in the sun and needed the sleep!

 

 

 

 

 

[h_blond2]

 

 

 

 

 

[LanaD1]

Loving your review! We sail on the Elation in 15 days!

[h_blond2]

Loving your review! We sail on the Elation in 15 days!

 

Thank you! Hope you have a great cruise!

[portocaller]

I am really enjoying your review. We are sailing on the Elation in 5 days. I do have a question and I hope you can answer it. How is the Playlist Production install going? What shows were there and if you went, how were they? What was the cruise like in regards to shows in the main lounge?

 

Thanks a bunch.

[authementfly1]

We were on the same cruise and also called on stage for the magic show. I was the dud who couldn't subtract lol! Fantastic cruise.

[h_blond2]

I am really enjoying your review. We are sailing on the Elation in 5 days. I do have a question and I hope you can answer it. How is the Playlist Production install going? What shows were there and if you went, how were they? What was the cruise like in regards to shows in the main lounge?

 

Thanks a bunch.

 

I'll answer all these questions in my section about the last day! :) If I don't, let me know I'll do my best to answer them!

[h_blond2]

We were on the same cruise and also called on stage for the magic show. I was the dud who couldn't subtract lol! Fantastic cruise.

 

Are you part of the couple who had just gotten married the day before? I agree, it was a fantastic cruise!

[h_blond2]

We have been to Progreso many times and weren't in a huge rush to get off the ship. We docked at 9 and we got off the ship around 9:20 and did a little shopping at the pier. We decided to go to Technotel Beach Resort for the all inclusive beach excursion through Autoprogreso. We met Guadelupe by the buses to pay and then killed time by walking around the pier and haggling prices with the vendors. I just love how they tell you something costs $35, but when you go to walk away they tell you they will take $12. At 10 we boarded to bus into town. After doing a little shopping around the bus terminal we boarded the bus to Technotel. Our tour guide was Mario Lopez. He is a great guide. Very knowledgeable and friendly. The bus ride to the beach was around 25 minutes. Went spend around 3 hours and 15 minutes at Technotel and I loved every second of it. This resort has two pools that look nice, but I never got in. Drinks and food are included in the price of this excursion. They also offer 30 minute massages for $25 and they are wonderful. Massages on the beach are so much better than massages in a spa! The buffet offered typical food....fruit, nachos, quesadillas, fajitas, rice, chips and salsa. The drinks aren't extremely strong, but you don't have to pay extra for them, so just drink a lot and it will be ok! We spent the day in the water and at 2:30 we boarded the bus which took us back to the ship. Once back on the ship, we cleaned up, ate dinner, went to some trivia and watched the 60 Seconds or Less show....which was hilarious and just had a lazy night.

 

 

 

 

 

[h_blond2]

 

 

 

 

 

[marshhawk]

Thank you for posting this, I read so few Elation cruise reviews! Has any remodeling been done to the Elation in the last two years? Is the kid pool still on the upper verandah deck, or have they replaced that with a "water park"? Did you eat in the MDR at all? Do you have any food pics? Thanks!

[h_blond2]

Thank you for posting this, I read so few Elation cruise reviews! Has any remodeling been done to the Elation in the last two years? Is the kid pool still on the upper verandah deck, or have they replaced that with a "water park"? Did you eat in the MDR at all? Do you have any food pics? Thanks!

 

The Elation has recieved a few upgrades, but no remodeling. Unfortunately, there is no water park, but we still enjoyed it. No, we never ate in the MDR, so no food pics. Sorry!

[gangstarollerbunny]

Thanks so much for your review! Looks like you had an awesome time!

 

Just a question if you could help answer: My family and I are also driving down to NOLA (from NYC!!!) and we were thinking about parking at the Fulton Street Garage. We are arriving a day earlier, but was wondering if they would let you park there before your ship leaves? And did you have to make a reservation?

[cruisin'pta]

Enjoying your review! We leave on the Elation in two weeks!! SO excited!! Can't wait to read more!

[h_blond2]

Thanks so much for your review! Looks like you had an awesome time!

 

Just a question if you could help answer: My family and I are also driving down to NOLA (from NYC!!!) and we were thinking about parking at the Fulton Street Garage. We are arriving a day earlier, but was wondering if they would let you park there before your ship leaves? And did you have to make a reservation?

 

I'm not sure about parking there before the cruise, but I do know that you do not need a reservation to park there. We always just pull up, pay and drive right in. You might try calling them or checking out their website to see if they allow parking their before the cruise. Hope this helped a little bit!

[h_blond2]

Enjoying your review! We leave on the Elation in two weeks!! SO excited!! Can't wait to read more!

 

I'm glad you're enjoying it! :)

[authementfly1]

Are you part of the couple who had just gotten married the day before? I agree, it was a fantastic cruise!

 

No 14 years. We were at the late performance. Missed a lot of good shows because our dining time was 8:15.

[h_blond2]

On our last sea day, we were up early again. We ate breakfast and then headed up to the Verandah deck for some sun. We laid in the sun until about 11:30. After cleaning up we headed to the Lido deck for the Mongolian Wok and watched part of the Groove for St. Jude while we waited. Everyone looked super happy to be up on that stage and dancing for a good cause. After lunch we headed to the Drama Bar and the Cole Porter Lounge for Super Duper Trivia and Movie Quote Trivia. We then decided it was time to get packed so we weren't so rushed later that night. We always choose the self assist option when leaving the ship, but we were given zone 9 tags to put on our luggage if we chose to let Carnival take our luggage off for us. After packing we killed some time in the casino by playing the penny slots. We definitely are not gamblers lol! After dinner we headed back to the Cole Porter Lounge to watch Caroline Picard's family friendly show. She was hilarious, I laughed the entire time. During this cruise we'd notcied that they didn't have any shows like they normally do and we finally found out why. They premiered the brand new show called Epic Rock. We were at the first performance and I really enjoyed it. The show featured songs from the 70's and 80's and the audience was singing along the entire time. We did notice that this show did not have two 'stars' like the previous shows did. Everyone got solos and were featured in different dances. I really liked that aspect of the show. You really got to see how talented everyone is. After the great show, it was time to head to Caroline's adults only show. I'm not easily offended and I really did think this performance was funny, but I actually enjoyed the family friendly performance more. After the comedy was over we headed back to the room to do some last minute packing and to try to get some sleep.

Up next: Being kicked off the ship and some final thoughts about this cruise.

 

 

 

 

 

[RobinKY]

Nice review and great pics. Funny you mentioned the Fulton Street garage and the luggage attendant. I was caught off guard by this and felt rushed (he wasn't rushing me) but with all the commotion going on. I left my carnival gift card in my car that I was going to apply to my SnS account.

[saltybones]

Great review!

[h_blond2]

Nice review and great pics. Funny you mentioned the Fulton Street garage and the luggage attendant. I was caught off guard by this and felt rushed (he wasn't rushing me) but with all the commotion going on. I left my carnival gift card in my car that I was going to apply to my SnS account.

 

I agree that he wasn't rushing us, but it felt hectic because it was unexpected. Sorry to hear about your gift card!