Elation Review 6/18-6/25

[bubbles1209]

We were super-excited about this trip, and let me say from the beginning that we did not go in with high expectations of everything, we were just ready to relax and have fun........and we did.

Saturday

We got up at 4:30 Saturday morning (the 17th) and headed for the airport. We took a flight from Augusta to Atlanta with no problems, then connected in Atlanta to Miami. All of you first-timers, if you've never been to an airport, eat before ya go if possible, the food there is high. That's a tricky thing though because if you're not sure about getting airsick..........it's your call. I was afraid to eat before we flew. Anyway we got into Miami, waited a bit but finally got our luggage. The carnival rep we saw was rather pushy. She was an older lady and she insisted on seeing our booklet and getting our voucher before we even picked up our luggage. We told her the 3 of us would see her after we got our luggage. When we did get it, none lost, there was a male rep from carnival much nicer that saw the carnival booklet in my hand that said right this way. When he took us to a line that was for the shuttle to the hotel . Once again here came the same older lady asking me to follow her. She took me to a counter, dh stayed in line with dd, he didn't like her at all, lol. She said ok, there's 2 of you, and where are you headed? There was a younger lady at the counter that I handed my booklet to and she corrected her and said, I've got it. The older lady said where are you 2 going. The younger lady said, there's 3, they are going to the hyatt , and I've got it. She handed me stickers for us to wear to show where we were going to put on our shirt, and politely asked we wait in line for the shuttle to leave. Never saw the older lady anymore which was a good thing. Got in line, probably waited 5 minutes, and onto the shuttle which was a greyhound bus. We were transferred to the hotel, we were told we were gonna drop off the people getting on ships sailing that day first and then to the hotel, but they went backwards, and dropped us off, and then headed for the pier. We checked in, went to get some lunch in the hotel restaraunt, don't go there too pricey. We went up for a nap, then went and explored Bayside. Lots of shopping there, live entertainment, and it is also where the boat tours leave from when ya want to kill a little time. We stopped at a place called the other bar for a drink, and when dh went up to order it while dd and I sat down, the waiter asked if he could come sit with us. He liked dd. Of course, dh said no, he came and joined us, and the waiter had to settle for just bringing over our drinks. When we got done, we went back to the hotel, and crashed.

Sunday

We got up Sunday morning, we had put the deck tags on our luggage the night before for the porters at the pier. We wen downstairs to the lobby, they pointed us in the right direction, and went out for the transfer. We hopped in the greyhound bus, (they will ask ya which ship you are going on so that you get on the correct bus) off to the pier we went. I couldn't believe the size of the ships, Elation is a smaller one than some , but to me it was still huge. We got our luggage to a porter, handed him 5 bucks, and were shown which door to go to. We went in, they asked if we had our funpass already filled out, and we told them yes, they said go into this line. The line wasn't that long, we got to the pier between 11:30 & 12. We had our i.d's out, birth certificates, and the funpass. We got to the counter, check in was quick and smooth. She asked for our i.d's, passport or birth certificate, and asked if our funpass was complete. She asked for the page in the booklet for the sail&sign, we had written cash over where the cc# is supposed to be, and she gave us our paperwork, and sent us around to board the ship. We stopped for a picture, then headed onto the ship. We got on, went to the purser's information desk to set up the sail&sign account, and went looking around a little. On our sail & sign account, we had it where 2 out of 3 cards could charge, and were only charged $210 for the tips. 10 per person per day. Rooms were not acessible until 1pm. We found our room, dropped off our stuff, and before ya knew it, it was time for muster drill. I went to muster in a grass skirt, I'm sure by the time the lifejacket was on, I looked really cute:p Couldn't get a pic though, 'cause dd forgot the camera. We got that over with, took the lifejackets back up, and went to meet our roll call friends at the Lido pool bar. Everyone didn't show up, but it was fun meeting the ones that did. Afterwards, we just kinda killed the day exploring the ship. Dinner for us was at 8, we went to dinner. The tables were elegant, and a good variety of food. Afterwards we explored more, got unpacked, and was ready for bed.

The Rest Of The Week

I'm not gonna go day by day, that would take forever. Half Moon Cay was our first stop, Carnival owns that island, we went and looked around the shops, and spent the day on the beach. We went and got something to eat, then a thunderstorm came up, and we tendered back to the ship. First formal night was that night. Missed the captain's cocktail party, but not dinner. Everyone was dressed to the nine's. We did book 1 excursion through carnival, the Ultimate Island Experience in St.Thomas. We did that, it says it takes 6 hours, but it doesn't. They take you up to 1 or 2 scenic stops for photo opps, then to Maagen's Bay Beach for 2 hours, and drop you off at a historic tour of old homes. You have a choice of touring the homes, taking a shuttle back to town, or walking back to town. We went through the homes. DD thought she had found the way out....LOTS of STEPS to go down, steep ones too. We followed her, she was wrong..........:eek: the steps led to a locked gate. We had to turn around and climb all of those steps, uphill no less, back to the home, and wound up going out the way we came. Needless to say DH and I were sore for the next couple of days. We then went shopping, and afterwards, we did the ST.Thomas skyride on our own. It was gorgeous, well worth the money. DH, and DD came back and took a nap, that was my quiet time and exploring time all week. Everytime we would come back from port, they would take naps, and I would watch the sail-aways, relax in a lounge chair with a cold drink, or just explore. In San Juan, we went to Fort El Morrow, more steps. The views were beautiful, and it is full of history. We took a cab there on our own, got another when we were done to drop us off in town. We went shopping, and at the end, found..........:eek: Senor Frogs:D Can't see San Juan without going there, and it's really close to the cruise terminal. Our 2nd formal night was Thursday night after San Juan, lots of nice dresses, and photographers everywhere. Grand Turk was the next day, not too much to do there, there's Margaritaville, t-shirts are $25 & up, nicer shirts run $70 and up. Got a margarita, had to try one from there, spent the day on the beach, and back to the ship. We didn't get on the beach until around 2 or so, we slept in. DH was in the casinos every night, I went a few nights, we won over $1,000 between us. I had never been in one, and wouldn't ya know on a night I had been drinking and was feeling no pain, I hit 36-1 odds on roullette, and won!:eek: Now if I could just remember doing it, lol. There was 1 texas hold'em table that's it. It was past the casino and the discos, all the way to the back in front of the Cole Porter Club. It was 5/10 limits. That got to be a nightly thing, running into the wee hours of the morning for some. DH and I were in bed by 2 most evenings. We also spent our time the first 3 days or so dancing at Romeo & Juliet's. The name of the group we liked was Music Boardwalk, and in my honest opinion, they took too many breaks. They were good, but by the time you were enjoying yourself, they took a break. There were lots of activities on board, some of them though, in my opinion, they could time a little different, because some of them started while you would be eating dinner. I liked eating in the dining room too much to skip dinner and grab something else just to go to an activity. They had bingo, dance classes, newlywed show, karaoke, lots of things. I did get a full body massage, it was $115 but well worth it for me. The ship was in good shape, they were doing a lot of cleaning. I had heard of some people having plumbing problems, and air conditioner problems, but for us we had no problems, and those problems I heard of were immediately taken care of. George the cruise director is hillarious, he was great. We got to see the singer Marcus Anthony perform. He's opened for Diana Ross as well as many others. We got called up on stage to dance while he sang....it was fun! Got a bottle of champagne for participating!The beds were too comfortable, no complaints there. We had a wonderful time, and I am already ready to go on another one. The ship rocks, different places and times, you could really feel it, but none of us got seasick at all, and I'm happy to report that once we are home, we aren't feeling that rocking motion I've heard people talk about that ya get after being on a ship for so long. I've tried to include our pics in my signature, hopefully they come through. I'll be glad to try and answer any questions.

[seashell36]

Thanks for the review bubbles! My family is on the Elation right after it moves to Pt Canaveral this fall. Did your DD go to any of the camp activities? My DD will be almost 10 when we sail and I was wondering about CC activities.

[bubbles1209]

Thanks for the review bubbles! My family is on the Elation right after it moves to Pt Canaveral this fall. Did your DD go to any of the camp activities? My DD will be almost 10 when we sail and I was wondering about CC activities.

Nah, I got a little irritated with her, all she wanted to do was run room service to death while she watched soccer. Can't help ya there. By the time she decided she wanted to get out and do things, it was time to come home. Are the pics on my signature working out? Hope you guys can see them.

[Curt Jerome Wild]

Sounds like you had a blast.

And yes, your pictures are working.;)

I just have a question...

How was any noise (if any) for you being under the galley?

CJW

PS It seems like your great attitude and sense of fun contributed to your great cruise.

[bubbles1209]

Let me add this to my review, meant to say it before, but forgot to. When we were getting off of the ship, we waited around until between 10 & 10:30, they made the announcement, that everyone needed to be heading off the ship at this time. We were trying to avoid the lines, and did not want to do self-disembarkation. That started at 7:15 a.m. We went to Tiffany's grabbed some breakfast, which they started taking everything apart and cleaning up while we ate. We got off of the ship which had already been cleared earlier by customs, and got in line. The line moved slowly, they were letting so many at a time down the escalator to the lower level where customs was located. The people in front of us had taken a picture inside of the pier which is a no-no, (there are signs telling you not to), and the customs officer made them locate it and delete it. He looked at our declaration form, said thank you and on we went. We were in another longgggggg line to get to our luggage. We found it, and a porter asked if we needed him. We said yes, he said follow me. We did, he bypassed this longggggg line of people with luggage waiting to get out of the terminal and took us right to the doors where you walk out and straight to our shuttle bus. If you don't want to wait in a line just to get out of the pier, after you have cleared customs and get your luggage, by all means get a porter, or you'll be waiting a good hour or so in line to get out. Worth 5 bucks to get on out of there.

[bubbles1209]

Sounds like you had a blast.

And yes, your pictures are working.;)

I just have a question...

How was any noise (if any) for you being under the galley?

CJW

PS It seems like your great attitude and sense of fun contributed to your great cruise.

We did hear noise from the galley above, late at night, sounded like thump thump thump...and a little banging. It didn't last very long, never even used the earplugs that we took with us. We were so tired when we laid down at night it didn't matter. But for future reference, I might try and find a room that wasn't under the galley.

[etwright]

Bubbles,

Thanks for your review. We are going on our first cruise on the elation in August. We can't wait! I really enjoyed your pictures and it does appear that your attitude contributed greatly to the fact that you enjoyed it so much. Like you mentioned we aren't going expecting much except to have a great time and I am sure we will!!! :)

[etwright]

Bubbles,

Thanks for your review. We are going on our first cruise on the elation in August. We can't wait! I really enjoyed your pictures and it does appear that your attitude contributed greatly to the fact that you enjoyed it so much. Like you mentioned we aren't going expecting much except to have a great time and I am sure we will!!! :)

[flyingb]

We were super-excited about this trip, and let me say from the beginning that we did not go in with high expectations of everything, we were just ready to relax and have fun........and we did.

Saturday

We got up at 4:30 Saturday morning (the 17th) and headed for the airport. We took a flight from Augusta to Atlanta with no problems, then connected in Atlanta to Miami. All of you first-timers, if you've never been to an airport, eat before ya go if possible, the food there is high. That's a tricky thing though because if you're not sure about getting airsick..........it's your call. I was afraid to eat before we flew. Anyway we got into Miami, waited a bit but finally got our luggage. The carnival rep we saw was rather pushy. She was an older lady and she insisted on seeing our booklet and getting our voucher before we even picked up our luggage. We told her the 3 of us would see her after we got our luggage. When we did get it, none lost, there was a male rep from carnival much nicer that saw the carnival booklet in my hand that said right this way. When he took us to a line that was for the shuttle to the hotel . Once again here came the same older lady asking me to follow her. She took me to a counter, dh stayed in line with dd, he didn't like her at all, lol. She said ok, there's 2 of you, and where are you headed? There was a younger lady at the counter that I handed my booklet to and she corrected her and said, I've got it. The older lady said where are you 2 going. The younger lady said, there's 3, they are going to the hyatt , and I've got it. She handed me stickers for us to wear to show where we were going to put on our shirt, and politely asked we wait in line for the shuttle to leave. Never saw the older lady anymore which was a good thing. Got in line, probably waited 5 minutes, and onto the shuttle which was a greyhound bus. We were transferred to the hotel, we were told we were gonna drop off the people getting on ships sailing that day first and then to the hotel, but they went backwards, and dropped us off, and then headed for the pier. We checked in, went to get some lunch in the hotel restaraunt, don't go there too pricey. We went up for a nap, then went and explored Bayside. Lots of shopping there, live entertainment, and it is also where the boat tours leave from when ya want to kill a little time. We stopped at a place called the other bar for a drink, and when dh went up to order it while dd and I sat down, the waiter asked if he could come sit with us. He liked dd. Of course, dh said no, he came and joined us, and the waiter had to settle for just bringing over our drinks. When we got done, we went back to the hotel, and crashed.

Sunday

We got up Sunday morning, we had put the deck tags on our luggage the night before for the porters at the pier. We wen downstairs to the lobby, they pointed us in the right direction, and went out for the transfer. We hopped in the greyhound bus, (they will ask ya which ship you are going on so that you get on the correct bus) off to the pier we went. I couldn't believe the size of the ships, Elation is a smaller one than some , but to me it was still huge. We got our luggage to a porter, handed him 5 bucks, and were shown which door to go to. We went in, they asked if we had our funpass already filled out, and we told them yes, they said go into this line. The line wasn't that long, we got to the pier between 11:30 & 12. We had our i.d's out, birth certificates, and the funpass. We got to the counter, check in was quick and smooth. She asked for our i.d's, passport or birth certificate, and asked if our funpass was complete. She asked for the page in the booklet for the sail&sign, we had written cash over where the cc# is supposed to be, and she gave us our paperwork, and sent us around to board the ship. We stopped for a picture, then headed onto the ship. We got on, went to the purser's information desk to set up the sail&sign account, and went looking around a little. On our sail & sign account, we had it where 2 out of 3 cards could charge, and were only charged $210 for the tips. 10 per person per day. Rooms were not acessible until 1pm. We found our room, dropped off our stuff, and before ya knew it, it was time for muster drill. I went to muster in a grass skirt, I'm sure by the time the lifejacket was on, I looked really cute:p Couldn't get a pic though, 'cause dd forgot the camera. We got that over with, took the lifejackets back up, and went to meet our roll call friends at the Lido pool bar. Everyone didn't show up, but it was fun meeting the ones that did. Afterwards, we just kinda killed the day exploring the ship. Dinner for us was at 8, we went to dinner. The tables were elegant, and a good variety of food. Afterwards we explored more, got unpacked, and was ready for bed.

The Rest Of The Week

I'm not gonna go day by day, that would take forever. Half Moon Cay was our first stop, Carnival owns that island, we went and looked around the shops, and spent the day on the beach. We went and got something to eat, then a thunderstorm came up, and we tendered back to the ship. First formal night was that night. Missed the captain's cocktail party, but not dinner. Everyone was dressed to the nine's. We did book 1 excursion through carnival, the Ultimate Island Experience in St.Thomas. We did that, it says it takes 6 hours, but it doesn't. They take you up to 1 or 2 scenic stops for photo opps, then to Maagen's Bay Beach for 2 hours, and drop you off at a historic tour of old homes. You have a choice of touring the homes, taking a shuttle back to town, or walking back to town. We went through the homes. DD thought she had found the way out....LOTS of STEPS to go down, steep ones too. We followed her, she was wrong..........:eek: the steps led to a locked gate. We had to turn around and climb all of those steps, uphill no less, back to the home, and wound up going out the way we came. Needless to say DH and I were sore for the next couple of days. We then went shopping, and afterwards, we did the ST.Thomas skyride on our own. It was gorgeous, well worth the money. DH, and DD came back and took a nap, that was my quiet time and exploring time all week. Everytime we would come back from port, they would take naps, and I would watch the sail-aways, relax in a lounge chair with a cold drink, or just explore. In San Juan, we went to Fort El Morrow, more steps. The views were beautiful, and it is full of history. We took a cab there on our own, got another when we were done to drop us off in town. We went shopping, and at the end, found..........:eek: Senor Frogs:D Can't see San Juan without going there, and it's really close to the cruise terminal. Our 2nd formal night was Thursday night after San Juan, lots of nice dresses, and photographers everywhere. Grand Turk was the next day, not too much to do there, there's Margaritaville, t-shirts are $25 & up, nicer shirts run $70 and up. Got a margarita, had to try one from there, spent the day on the beach, and back to the ship. We didn't get on the beach until around 2 or so, we slept in. DH was in the casinos every night, I went a few nights, we won over $1,000 between us. I had never been in one, and wouldn't ya know on a night I had been drinking and was feeling no pain, I hit 36-1 odds on roullette, and won!:eek: Now if I could just remember doing it, lol. There was 1 texas hold'em table that's it. It was past the casino and the discos, all the way to the back in front of the Cole Porter Club. It was 5/10 limits. That got to be a nightly thing, running into the wee hours of the morning for some. DH and I were in bed by 2 most evenings. We also spent our time the first 3 days or so dancing at Romeo & Juliet's. The name of the group we liked was Music Boardwalk, and in my honest opinion, they took too many breaks. They were good, but by the time you were enjoying yourself, they took a break. There were lots of activities on board, some of them though, in my opinion, they could time a little different, because some of them started while you would be eating dinner. I liked eating in the dining room too much to skip dinner and grab something else just to go to an activity. They had bingo, dance classes, newlywed show, karaoke, lots of things. I did get a full body massage, it was $115 but well worth it for me. The ship was in good shape, they were doing a lot of cleaning. I had heard of some people having plumbing problems, and air conditioner problems, but for us we had no problems, and those problems I heard of were immediately taken care of. George the cruise director is hillarious, he was great. We got to see the singer Marcus Anthony perform. He's opened for Diana Ross as well as many others. We got called up on stage to dance while he sang....it was fun! Got a bottle of champagne for participating!The beds were too comfortable, no complaints there. We had a wonderful time, and I am already ready to go on another one. The ship rocks, different places and times, you could really feel it, but none of us got seasick at all, and I'm happy to report that once we are home, we aren't feeling that rocking motion I've heard people talk about that ya get after being on a ship for so long. I've tried to include our pics in my signature, hopefully they come through. I'll be glad to try and answer any questions.

 

Thanx bubbles,

This a great review and the pics are very good and cover lots of things. The ship looks great, but will miss having a balcony but wanted the itn. DH can't walk very far so we always book a cabin near Lido and dining room. All balconys too far forward.

Thanx again, makes it even harder to wait 'til Jan!

Luv's Crusin'

[pacerzfan]

Thanks for the nice review and pictures bubbles!!!!!!!!!!!!

[cruizinrican]

I loved it! And your pictures were awesome! How old is your daughter? I am guessing about 15/16?

 

We cruise in 2 months and I can't wait! Just made final payment other day and soon the tickets will be here! I am hoping sometime late next month early Aug. I booked an Oceanview GTY and can't wait to see where on the ship we will end up!

 

So when is your next cruise, bc I know you are addicted now! LOL

[seashell36]

Great pics! Your room is near the one we will be in this fall, glad to hear not to much galley noise! Can't wait!!!:D

[bubbles1209]

I loved it! And your pictures were awesome! How old is your daughter? I am guessing about 15/16?

 

We cruise in 2 months and I can't wait! Just made final payment other day and soon the tickets will be here! I am hoping sometime late next month early Aug. I booked an Oceanview GTY and can't wait to see where on the ship we will end up!

 

So when is your next cruise, bc I know you are addicted now! LOL

DD just turned 14 in May. Will definitely plan another, just not sure when yet.

[endobaby]

Thanks for the info...we will be cruising at the endo of this month....

 

and loved your critique and pictures looked awesome...I can not wait until then....

 

Millie:D

[salty dingo]

Great pictures. I really enjoyed looking at the Elation and the ports. Can't wait to see in person in September!

[palmlover]

Thank you for this review!! I am getting SO excited now!