Elation Review:

[tigerdadky]

Just got back from the Elations last cruise out of galveston. This was our first cruise so I cant compare it to any other. I will start by saying that the Elation is a beautiful ship, even more so than expected. Embarktation was a breeze, was at the terminal around 11:30 and by 12:30 had my carryon luggage in my room and was eating at Tiffany's. We had early seating dining and that was absolutely fabulous. There were 4 in my party and another party of 4 at our table and we had a blast. Our waiter was called Z, he said his name was too hard to remember, from Croatia, and his assisant was Imade. They were both excellent and made our dining experience memorable. I would encourage everyone to bring the proper attire to dine in the dining room because that is the best experience on the boat in my opinion. The cuisine there was absolutely great. Our first night we tried to do it all and around 2 a.m. we had our nightly pizza and headed to the room. As for the rooms they were much larger than I expected and the bed was by far the best bed I had ever slept in. Nothing about the room was an inconvience as far as we were concerned. Tuesday was a fun day at the sea and we had a lot of fun that day too. Chair hogs had all the pool chairs taken by the time we got there so we went to the upper deck and laid till lunch. We had burgers and hot dogs at the deck grill and they were very good too, might be because I didnt have to prepare it but they were great.Checked out the topless deck and that was an experience too. Tuesday was the captains party and the formal night. I was one of the resister who wouldnt bring real formal but I did bring clothing suitable so we did do formal night. If I were to ever cruise again I would most definitely go formal, the people doing it seemed to be having so much fun, dont have to be a tux but a dark nice suit would have been nice to have had our pic taken in. After dinner we did karoake and then the comedy show, it was average at best. After late night pizza we returned to our stateroom. Wednesday was Progresso. Unless you have a tour there I would suggest you enjoy the day on the boat. We walked thru the flea marked and bought a few things. Outside the flea market is slums, nothing there to do. We went back to the boat and had lunch at the grill and laid by the pool and drank blue margaritas all afternoon. Had a very good server named Jose and he was very accommodating all week long. Too many blue margaritas later i attempted to get into the hot tub but my legs didnt cooperate and i sprawled on the floor, my second attempt was more successful. We went to the broadway show wed nite and it was ok, not really my gig, but my party enjoyed it real well. There is a sassy little barmaid in the Drama bar i want to mention named Juliette from Poland. I ordered a miami vice and never having one before I started stirring it and she slapped my hand and said not she worked hard making it that way and I was supposed to drink it that way, I said yes mam and it was great. Pizza again tonite that I might add is very good. Thursday was Cozumel, much better than Progresso but they are still trying to recover from the hurricane. For the most part the shops were all open. I might add that we opted not to take any of the shore excursion on either port of call so I cant comment on them at all. Carlos and Charlies was worth the trip to Cozumel. It is a place that anyone who likes to have fun should visit. My DW and myself both got a spanking from a senior and senioretta, it was a blast. Thursday night was a fun night too, the comedian that night was much better and the fiddle player was awesome. Had midnite buffett that night, mexican buffett. it was pretty good too. Forgot the Grand Gala Buffett Tuesday night, it was awesome to see but maybe not as good to eat. Friday was a fun day at sea, did the pool thing all day and the games and music was a lot of fun. Was a bit tired by friday night so we skipped the late night comedy show, did a little shopping and got our bags together for departure. If there was anything negative about the cruise it was debarktation. We waited over 4 hours to get off and the veteran cruisers even said they had never taken that long to get off before. Dont know if it had anything to do with that being the Elations last cruise out of Galveston or what but it didnt go very well at all. They even let some of the crew off first, dont know if they were going over to the Ecstacy or not but they got off before we did. Even with that I would rate our cruise on a scale of 1-10 an 11. The crew was tops and the food was great and the entertainment was excellent. Had the times of our lives and will never forget the experience. Our waiter Z will be on until Sept. so if you have the opportunity to cruise the Elation hunt him up and pray hes your waiter. Dont know anything about Ecstasy but I know Galveston is gonna miss the Elation and I know Miami cant wait to get her back. My hats off to Carnival, they know how to throw one hellofa party.

[kodiac]

Thank you for this detailed review. We look forward to meeting your waiter Z. Does he have any tables for two? Perhaps I can get a table in his section...

[Snoozeman]

Thanks for the review. Since there was no one boarding after you sounds like they did take their time. I bet your right about crew going to the Ecstacy. They needed to get over there to help with new pax. I was on just before you and was told about 20-25% of the crew was going over to Ecstacy, most were going home, and some staying thru drydock and staying with Elation.

 

Glad you enjoyed it, it's a fine ship.:)

[sherrintxs]

Wow, now I am really glad we did self debarkation Saturday, 4 hrs, geez. The Carnival employees that got off when we did they were all lining up outside at buses taking them to the airport, guess they were either going home or to another boat.