Anyone sailed the Elation lately ?

[wardwhitty]

We have sailed the Elation many times in the past but it has been awhile.  We leave on Saturday,  has anyone recently sailed her?  I know she has had a lot of the upgrades.  Anyone have tips, suggestions, ideas on sailing capacity, great bars or bartenders ?  To be honest we are just so excited to get on the ship.  We sail to Grand Turk and Amber Cove.  If you sailed this itinerary, were there other ships in port as well ?  

[mondello]

23 minutes ago, wardwhitty said:

We have sailed the Elation many times in the past but it has been awhile.  We leave on Saturday,  has anyone recently sailed her?  I know she has had a lot of the upgrades.  Anyone have tips, suggestions, ideas on sailing capacity, great bars or bartenders ?  To be honest we are just so excited to get on the ship.  We sail to Grand Turk and Amber Cove.  If you sailed this itinerary, were there other ships in port as well ?  

We were in Grand Turk on 12/28 and Enchanted Princess pulled in rather late, around mid-day. I was kind of surprised they showed up late but, we were down the beach at Jack's Shack so the extra ship didn't effect us. 

[ScubaKat]

Sandrine, the bartender at the Lobby bar is awesome.  It's a great place to relax and listen to music before and after dinner.  

[afcruiser]

We sail on Elation 3/28.

First time on this ship with our 7 Y.O. Grandson.

His first cruise.

A rebook due to Covid and vaccines.

Would love to read about your sailing when you return. 

 

Hubby and I are Platinum but been a few years since we've cruised. 

 

Thanks in advance.

Have a wonderful time. 

[wgeddings]

We sailed on Elation Dec 26, 2021.  It was my least favorite cruise in 20 years (but like pizza, even a bad cruise is still a cruise).  My review of it is on the board if you want to read all about it but a few quick notes:

 

1. It is a smaller ship so even with lower capacity, it seems more crowded.  
2. The Lido buffet always seemed crowded with a slow moving line. 
3. Smoking area stink really spreads so you have to watch where you go.  
4. MDR wait staff were really good and tried hard.  Food was lackluster though. 
5. PUBLIC BATHROOM DOORS - I put that in all caps because you need to watch out for it.  The doors use an "automatic" button which seldom worked but also had the lovely feature of not keeping the door closed.  We would often be in a public area and watch as the door just swung open with someone sitting on the toilet.  Also, while you may think you locked it, it was not closed enough so it did not lock and many people walked in on other people.  
6. Internet speed was horrible.  It is an older ship with slow internet, even the premium.  Forget streaming anything ever.  Some websites would load, others would not.  If you want to check e-mail, or look on IMDB about a movie, you should be fine but if you want to join a Zoom meeting or do business, you will struggle. 
7. They were the strictest ship we have been on about wearing masks.  Whether that is good or bad depends on your feelings.  
8. Guy's Burger Joint - the burgers were served on slider rolls.  Someone told us they ran out of buns even on the first day, someone else said that they always do them that way on such a small bun.  Other ships do not so just be aware.  
9. The Deli and the Pizza Pirate are in the back of the Lido Buffet area and are almost always very crowded.  There is also a bar back there which is good for getting a soda with your meal.  Even though there is a wait for the Pizza Pirate (never pizza just sitting waiting to be scooped up), it is decent pizza.

Hope that helps.  

 

On earlier cruises this past 6 months, we have been to Amber Cove a couple of times and I posted a review of it.  Short answer, stay on the ship.  There is a port area that was built that has typical port shops (and free internet) but to get to the nearest town means a shuttle, taxi or tour ride and the town is not that interesting.  They are building things so in a year or 2 it might be great but many of the really good things (Amber Museum, cable car, etc.) have not been open due to COVID.  

 

Tommy