Just off Elation 3/30

[famtrav]

This was our first CCL cruise. We have been on 2 RC and 1 NCL. My husband and I both thought this ship was beautiful. The other cruises we had been on had more of a stark, modern look.

We stayed at a hotel within walking distance from the pier that offered cruise parking. That was convenient. Embarkation was fast. They were letting people on by noon and our room was ready at 1:30. We had an inside cabin on 7 kind of aft. It was right below our dining room. The buffet was aft as well but everything else is on the other side of the ship. We thought the layout was slightly confusing and carried our little deck plan with us all the time. Our room was a little bigger than others we have had on cruises. The shower was a lot bigger and better. We never saw our room steward, but our room was always taken care of. I noticed that this ship, unlike some others, did not have those hand sanitizer stations all over the place. We just washed a lot.

I had never heard of our one stop, Calica. I checked postings here to see what people said about different excursions. We were going to snuba, then I heard about Edventure tours and we decided to do that. We contacted them and sent the deposit to North Dakota. They told us pretty much what we read about here. We could rent a vehicle and drive to Tulum, or they would provide transportation for $50. We would have to take a taxi to the Lapis Shopping plaza, which is $10. They said that would be refunded to us. They had a list of things we could choose from, and it would be $45 pp. Zip lining would be $5 extra. One of the things they mentioned was getting bananas and going to see the spider monkeys. If we wanted to eat they could take us to a popular restaurant. We would have to buy our own food, but they would have drinks.

I was really pumped about our excursion. We were met as planned, by the proprietors Mom. She was very nice. We drove to their shop and got fins, masks, snorkels. We went in her car. We opted to use their transportation and were glad. The line for rentals was long, and the best price I heard on those was $65. Also, right outside the port the police had set up a speed trap going both ways. Our cabbie was racing the devil, but they didn’t pull him over, and pulled over vehicles all around us. He said they were corrupt. Hmm. Anyway, I was glad we did not have to deal with that. After we got the gear she said, "Let’s get drinks." We went to another little shop. I picked four waters and 2 dc’s for the day. She grabbed a soda as well. She said it was $14. I paid it, no big deal. She put the drinks in a kind of thermal bag, no ice. By the time we got to Dos Ojos they were hot. Dos Ojos is amazing. We snorkeled through the caves for a couple of hours. She was a good guide. We got there pretty early and there were not very many people. Just a few divers. The water was cold! No easing into that! Once you jumped in it was ok. Not many fish. Maybe the water is too pure, I don’t know. Absolutely fab though. By the time we left it started getting busy. We grabbed a hot drink and headed out. She asked if we wanted to see the spider monkeys. We said yes, and stopped at a hut where a family lived and had a small shop. She spoke to a small child who said a jaguar had attacked the monkeys and had eaten a few and we were looking at what was left, 2 small ones. We had no bananas. They were on leashes. We snapped a couple of pic’s and left. We then went to Akumal. That is a gorgeous beach. She swam out with us and took us right to the turtles. It was great. We decided to head back to the ship. It was about 3 p.m. It was a 30-min drive and we didn’t want to take any chances. I’ve seen people running for the ship on every cruise, and I’ve heard stories of people missing the boat. When we got back we had ice-cold cokes and pizza and talked about how great the caverns were. We were not reimbursed the $10 cab fare, and we bought the drinks. We handled it, right or wrong, by taking it out of the 20% tip we planned on giving. We still tipped, but minus $24. Total cost was $174, $87 pp, no food or drinks provided.

Back to the ship. They refer to themselves as the fun ship, a lot. There were more things to do at night than during the day. Lots of clubs and bands. Blood Power was good. It seemed like there were more really drunk people and incidences on this ship. The glasses that you can keep with the drink of the day are plastic, other cruises were glass. They had a different twist on the Newlywed game that made it really fun. The crew overall were very nice. The cruise director was ok. The waiters sang and danced every night. I like to watch them do it. It was particularly corny on this ship. If we ever do CCL again though, when the waiter says enjoy your dessert I’ll be right back, we will probably bow out. They want you to participate! Don’t criticize! We just don’t like the Macarena thing! It’s more than (this) flesh and blood can stand! The pool was really cool on this ship. They had an awesome slide. Kids would love it. They have 3 ping pong tables. People were waiting in line for them. All in all, it was a good cruise and I would recommend it.:)

[kchesneylover]

What about the food??!!!??? Please do tell all about the buffets, restaurants, etc.... Would love to hear about it. :D

[jw4jg1mg2eg1]

I'm so glad you had a wonderful cruise. We really our trip on the Elation last year. Absolutely no complaints other than wishing the self-disembarkation had ran a little smoother..BUT HEY! That was just longer that I had to enjoy being on the ship,huh?

[KansasScrapper]

Do you remember if there were any pool tables?

[famtrav]

They did not have any pool tables, but I was thinking that it would be nice if they did. I thought that for about 5 minutes. I don't know if they would stay in decent condition.

 

The food was really good. Of the cruises we had been on before I thought RC was far better than NCL. I'm just talking about the dining rooms. If you paid and extra $10 to $20 per person on NCL you can have a meal in specialty restaurants. We tried one and it was excellent. I personally thought they should serve that in the dining rooms and use the space for the specialty restaurants for something else. The food on CCL was as good as RC. The lobsters were good size. The steak was really good. They had a good lamb dish if you like that. I heard someone talking about small portions one time, and they aren't huge, but heck you can order two, or one of everything on the menu if you want. The presentation was top notch. Oh, they had this veal parmesan that was the bomb. I hope this does not get any animal rights people going. Maybe I'm too far down on the thread for that! Ha! They had one of the best Baked Alaska's ever. They had a souflee (did I spell that right?) on the last night that was the best I have ever had anywhere. The bread was excellent. That is not a big deal for some people, but FYI for everyone else. The pizza was really good. Of course the day we had it we were famished. They had a sushi bar. It was only open during the dinner hour. I really like sushi, but I was not going to do it in place of dinner. I was so disappointed. So the last day I forced myself to try some. It was not good to me. There was not a big selection, and I ordered the tuna. It had cream cheese on it!:eek: So I had my husband go and get the salmon, and it just did not look fresh. So weird that the quality of that would be at that level. I guess it can't all be great.

 

I did notice that self disembarkation was a little crazy. There must have been more people doing it on this ship. Took a while. :)

[KansasScrapper]

Did they still do Pirate night & photos with them? Do you remember any of the photo backgrounds the ship takes?

[MeLuvDaSea]

Thanks for the nice review. I am glad you enjoyed the Elation. We were on the cruise the week of Mar. 25th - 30th. We also spent a good while playing ping-pong. Ok, my wife and daughter played and I collected the ball each time it scurried across the deck. :) It was fun!

 

Anyhow, if you get a chance, post your pics! I would love to see them.

[kchesneylover]

Thank you so much!! I can't wait to book!

 

They did not have any pool tables, but I was thinking that it would be nice if they did. I thought that for about 5 minutes. I don't know if they would stay in decent condition.

 

The food was really good. Of the cruises we had been on before I thought RC was far better than NCL. I'm just talking about the dining rooms. If you paid and extra $10 to $20 per person on NCL you can have a meal in specialty restaurants. We tried one and it was excellent. I personally thought they should serve that in the dining rooms and use the space for the specialty restaurants for something else. The food on CCL was as good as RC. The lobsters were good size. The steak was really good. They had a good lamb dish if you like that. I heard someone talking about small portions one time, and they aren't huge, but heck you can order two, or one of everything on the menu if you want. The presentation was top notch. Oh, they had this veal parmesan that was the bomb. I hope this does not get any animal rights people going. Maybe I'm too far down on the thread for that! Ha! They had one of the best Baked Alaska's ever. They had a souflee (did I spell that right?) on the last night that was the best I have ever had anywhere. The bread was excellent. That is not a big deal for some people, but FYI for everyone else. The pizza was really good. Of course the day we had it we were famished. They had a sushi bar. It was only open during the dinner hour. I really like sushi, but I was not going to do it in place of dinner. I was so disappointed. So the last day I forced myself to try some. It was not good to me. There was not a big selection, and I ordered the tuna. It had cream cheese on it!:eek: So I had my husband go and get the salmon, and it just did not look fresh. So weird that the quality of that would be at that level. I guess it can't all be great.

 

I did notice that self disembarkation was a little crazy. There must have been more people doing it on this ship. Took a while. :)

[sumer2563]

Thank-you for your review. Did you notice if they had a basketball court and a teen club ( my 16 yr. old son is going) ? Also, how was the sound proofing of the cabin ? We have only been on one other cruise ( the Glory) ,and we loved it. I am a bit anxious about the Elation because it is so much older, but the ports are great. I appreciate any other info. .Have agood day !

[Snoozeman]

Good review. I was on same cruise. Here's link to my review--

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=325626

[futaba951]

Thank you so much!! I can't wait to book!

 

Too late to book Elation out of Galveston. It's history. Ecstacy took over for Elation today.

[Snoozeman]

Too late to book Elation out of Galveston. It's history. Ecstacy took over for Elation today.

yep, did you see the title of my review?