Back from Elation yesterday--mini review

[Mike Dante]

Back to reality. Heres the skinny in a nutshell

Day B4--Stayed at the Admiral Semmes in Mobile. Got it on PLine for $55--SCORE..room was clean, hotel was clean and close to port. No complaints. Would stsy there again for next cruise.

 

Day of:

Got to port at 11:00. the shuttle from the hotel would not be available till 2 for us. I figured thats too late, and by the time I paid to park at hotel and cab it over and back, its almost as much as parking at port..I got myself all worked up from reading other posts about not getting into the parking garage and being routed to the Civic center, but we drove right in and it was $75 well spent.

 

We are platinum w/ carnival so VIP checkin was sweet( I would imagine with the length of the line it would be about 1 to 1.5 hrs in line for checkin for non VIP).we were on the ship, ate lunch and in the pool by 12:30, (1st people in) and I being the 43 yr old big baby was the 1st person down the slide---yay for me!

 

We have cruised carnival many times, that all the newness and magic may be gone for us now, but you still get that great feeling when you embark and hit the atrium for the 1st time...I can only imagine seeing it through the eyes of new cruisers again. The ship is older and not as well kept as many of the others I've been on. But they are out cleaning all day and night.

 

What I like about this size ship is it is easy for the wife and kids to navigate their ways around, and it doesnt take them till day 5 to feel comfortable in finding their way(we'll more so the wife :>) -kids know by day 1)

 

Entertainment:

We saw the show rhythm, but missed the other show..rhythm was just ok, and I usually like the shows more than my wife.. I think the best show was on Cozumel night, when we had a juggler and comedian. Although after seeing the comedian, I was looking foward to his R rated show the next night, but he was better doing his PG show in my opinion.

 

Cruise director was Steve Knicely sp? He was fine, and don't flame me, but we've sailed with John Heald so many times, that change is good--different bits and such...His welcome aboard show was enjoyable and different than Johns usual. Funny how now adays the CD does alot less than the entertainment staff. For us personally, we dont cruise for that reason anyway. Find me a chair by the pool, get me a foo-foo drink and wake me up for dinner.

 

Casino--was good to me--I left up $400 on BlackJack--paid for wifes Spa day--woohoo

 

Food--Standard Carnival food...Lobster on day 2...ate all meals except cozumel dinner in the dining room--we used anytime dining for the 1st time and liked it alot..I dont need all the shows and whatnot while I eat....We had the same server 3 of the 4 nights and she was great--Shout out to Gama--wish you were home with us.

 

Cozumel==sunny day spent at Paradise beach. $150 covered our day of cab, 2 kids getting the $12 wrist band to play on the water toys, 2 lounge chairs for my DW and I , plus a whole bunch of food, and a few cokes--we didnt drink in port. Worked out well that there were only 3 ships in port--Personally, Coz has gotten too built up over the yrs.

 

Calica/Playa-we enjoyed this better. Sat on the beach all day and ate and drank..All told, this with cab was $110. We liked this because there are waves and the beach is more of a finer sand, and there are no rocks in the water front..Felt like we were in a corona commercial sitting there all day.

 

Camp carnival_we had one child in the 9-11 group--he loved it and went every night. We also had 1 boy in the circle c group 11-13, and he had the best time ever and made alot of friends.--The ship was jam packed with kids

 

Debaration. We went slow as my wife spent the entire last day sick in the cabin. We all got sick at some point of the cruise starting with my oldest son on day 2, myself and my youngest on day 4 and the DW started on day 3..I doubt it was from MExico food/drink, because on day 2 when my oldest got sick, we hadnt been to port yet--We all recovered in time to enjoy the rest of the cruise but DW was out of it and didnt leave the cabin after breakfast on day 5. Customs was Slowwwwwwww..and we were in the vip line too....

Easy to get to car and get on the interstate..

 

I have all the fun times for all 5 days, and will try to scan them in the next day or so...

Any other ????'s--let me know...Due to the proximity of Mobile, we will go out of there again.

 

PS:I saw another poster made mention of a hot cabin. Ours was fine.Certainly not as cold as previous ships, as my wife always takes a jacket with her, and never used it once this trip.

 

Enjoy your cruise--there will always be negatives on every ship. As long as the positives outweigh them, why dwell on it??? Bon Voyage

[fremissante]

Hey Mike!

 

Thanks for your review on the Elation. I will be doing the same itinerary in September. Which beach did you go to in Calica? Was this an excursion you booked through Carnival? Also, did you have to pay cash for your bar bill at the beach, or do they take credit cards?

 

Look forward to seeing your capers/ fun times!

[kyleandjenna]

Looking foward to the "fun times" you are scanning. We sail the elation at the end of August. Thanks for the review!

[boaterette]

Thanks for the review. I miss the Elation being out here as it is one of my favorite ships.

[LHP]

We are sailing her in August....would love to see those Fun Times as well.

[maverickmom]

I, too, was on this cruise. It was our first cruise, and definitely not our last one!

 

We stayed at the Renaissance with the Park and cruise package. $145 for room and parking all week. We were on the 11:45 shuttle to the port and on the Lido deck eating by 1PM. We woke up at 6:30 AM to see the Elation out our 16th floor window.

 

In Coz, we booked the Isla Passion by Twister boat and it was great! Leo and his crew took great care of us on the beach. Food, open bar, great beach, great service, water toys, all inclusive.

 

We didn't book anything for the Calica port day. We shopped at the small straw market at the pier and got back on the boat.

 

My 17 DS had a great time, lots of kids on the ship, and I hardly saw them. Club O2 had a lot of activities planned, encouraged the kids to interact with each other, and kept them busy.

 

I didn't have any complaints about the cabin temp, but I heard several unhappy cruisers talking about it.

 

Dining room was fine We ate at the MDR for breakfast twice, once for lunch, and every night. Food was good, service was great. Nice selections on the menu, something for everyone.

 

Debark was easy for us. We were the first group called and we used the self-assist method. The lines moved quickly and customs was quick We walked to the car (2 blocks) rather than wait for the hotel shuttle and we were in the car at 8:02 AM.

 

Mobile / Elation was a great experience for us, we will do it again.

[Mike Dante]

Hey Mike!

 

Thanks for your review on the Elation. I will be doing the same itinerary in September. Which beach did you go to in Calica? Was this an excursion you booked through Carnival? Also, did you have to pay cash for your bar bill at the beach, or do they take credit cards?

 

Look forward to seeing your capers/ fun times!

 

We juust did our own thing. On the calica stop, you just need to take a cab to downtown Play del Carmen ($13 for 4 ppl). walk through the shopping are on the main drag and then take any side street right down to the beach...It's basicaly 1 long beach, with little sections set up on it..I waked to the 1st set up with chairs and umbrellas and camped out there.. $10 for 2 lounges with cushions and a umbrella for the day. Not sure if they take charges, but if so, it'd probably be like at Paradise beach, where they tack on 20%. You may want to pay in pesos though, as the exchange rate is around $11.50 pesos to the dollar, but on the beach they were telling me it's only $10--their greed just made me tip less, as I paid with American $$...you can exchange $4 right in the downtown main street where the cabs drop you off.

[ohyes]

Thanks! You really got the excitement building up here!!!! We take this cruise on July 26.

 

Exchanging dollars for pesos...i need to read up about that. It never crossed my mind to do that, but it might be a smart move. maybe?

 

Thanks again. We are staying at the Admiral Semmes, also - and with a room scored on PL. We got ours for $54.00. :p now, how to spend that extra dollar......

[seadoll]

We leave on July 3rd. What is the Anytime dining? When we booked, we had to select the early or late dinner. Is this something that you can switch to when we get on board or is it automatically open to everyone?

[Ashpalo]

Thanks for posting a review. Glad to hear that you had a good cruise.

 

Lookin' forward to seeing your Funtimes!!!

 

Ashley :)

[Kokomos]

Thanks for the review Mike. Could of questions about you p/line Was that your first bid? What star and location did you bid? If you choose to leave your car and take the shuttle how much extra would it be?

Thanks

Wanda

[Ashpalo]

Thanks for the review Mike. Could of questions about you p/line Was that your first bid? What star and location did you bid? If you choose to leave your car and take the shuttle how much extra would it be?

Thanks

Wanda

 

 

There are instructions in this thread on the Gulf Coast board:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1196159

 

 

A bunch of us got really good deals. Good luck.

 

Ashley :)

[crazy about critters]

We are going in Sept. and using the anytime dining for the first time. Could you tell us which dining room it was in... Is it the one at the back of the ship or in the middle... thanks... :)