A 1st time cruiser's review: Elation 7/14 - 7/19

[duncmelsmom]

What a great time!! This definitely won't be our last cruise. My rating system is out of 5 stars. My hubby and I are 45-55 year olds.

 

Alcohol:

We took 3 large rum runners and 3 small ones filled with vodka and gin. They all made it on board! We brought 2-12 packs a La Croix (our mixers), and together we brought 1 bottle of wine. Our room was in the middle of the boat which made it easy to make our mixed drinks. We tipped our room steward $5 extra per day to keep our 2 collapsible coolers full of ice. We brought 2 large tervis cups and kept them full! At the buffet at Tiffany's we'd see a bowl full of limes each morning. These were taken back and cut for our many drinks! Occasionally, we'd order a bucket of beer, a glass of wine for dinner or an umbrella-ed fruity drink of the day. Our bar tab was $267, but....I won a drawing to take up to $500 off our bar tab. NICE!! :) Rating: 5 stars

 

Behind the Scenes tour:

We signed up for this tour of the ship immediately. It was a 3 hour tour (a 3 hour tour...), and was so interesting. I do think the tour could have been completed in 2 hours; they were sorta stalling to make it 3 hours. They gave us a hat, lanyard, picture with the Captain, and had some yummy chocolate strawberries sent to the room. Rating 3.5 stars

 

Shows:

Rock On: excellent dance, song and costume. Definitely a 5 star

Adults only comedy: Hilarious!! Get there early because it fills quickly. Definitely a 5 star

 

Progreso:

Got off of ship and ordered a tour via Autoprogreso (thanks for the advice) to the Mayan ruins, Uxmal, for $49 each. We had 6 on our tour (including the 2 of us), in a van with A/C. It was an interesting 1.5 hour drive and the ruins were unbelievable. A couple with us said that these were the best because we could climb around them. We loved it. It was the highlight of our cruise. We ate at a nice Mexican Restaurant on the Uxmal location. We got back in time to watch some crazies have a great time funneling booze, dancing and swimming in the little pool right off of the boat. I am so glad we took this trip. I was worried that the heat, ride and walking would get to us. It was wonderful. Our tour guide seemed to know where to stand in the shade and breezy places.

 

Cozumel:

We hired a driver, Gerry, for the day. I read so much about it, I had to give it a try. We really didn't know what to tell him that we wanted to do. First we bought 12 Sol beers for the car's cooler. Next we shopped for some souvenirs. I got a beautiful silver necklace for $40. I wish I had bought more for gifts. We bought our kids some things. I'm a teacher, so I wanted to see some schools, a Presbyterian church, we saw the Mexican President's vacation home, the Mayor's home, many other resorts and fine homes. Gerry stopped at a produce stand and bought some Dragon Fruit. He cut it up and we snacked as we took off to the East side. We took some pictures of the waves hitting the coral, and ate at Coconuts, YUMMY! Gerry took great pride in his island and was so very patient with our questions and picture taking. He seemed to have great ideas of how to entertain us. We gave a $50 deposit months ago, and paid Gerry $85 + $15(tip). He toured us around for 4.5 hours. It was a nice time. I think that because I loved Uxmal so much, it was hard to top that. Rating: 4

 

Supplies (to pack):

Both the extra outlet strip and the shoe hanger to hang on the bathroom door were great ideas, as was the bathroom spray (no comments, please). The only thing I can think of that I wish I had was a lit alarm clock. I discovered that I constantly watch the clock in my sleep. When I couldn't find the time, I would wake a little to turn on my phone and check the time. This made for a few restless nights. I needed a watch too, so I wouldn't miss any activities. Turning my phone off and on all of the time wasn't working as well as it does on land. I guess there's too much to see and do!!

 

Food:

Remember, it's our 1st cruise. I was totally impressed with everything. I can see why I gained 5 pounds. One time we waited 30 minutes during the seated lunch for our dessert, and ended up leaving, but all other times we were well served and taken care of. We tipped our server at dinner each night an extra $5. We just like them to know how much we appreciate them. We had the 8:15 dinner and it worked for us. Sometimes it seemed a little late, but it was a great way to meet with our friends and compare notes on each of the day's activities. We didn't do much with our friends from home because we all had different interests. We loved it that way!! Food: 5 stars

 

Winnings:

I was pleased to win up to $500 on our bar tab. We also had a $160 credit because you guys taught me how to watch the price of our trip decrease. I played BINGO one day and shared $200 with the other winner. All in all we paid $82 for gratuities, Behind the Scenes, and our Bar Tab. I was totally excited. Our friends (2 other couples) paid $600 or $800 on theirs. Thank goodness for rum runners!! (Can I say that enough??)

 

The Elation was a gorgeous boat. With about 2000 cruisers, we had fun running into the same people throughout our trip. We'd play BINGO with one couple, lounge by the pool with another, and sit at the comedy show with yet someone else. Everyone was so laid back and friendly.

 

Wrong idea:

I had some friends tell me that Carnival was the "Walmart" of cruises. My hubby and I disagree. Either it wasn't, or we fit in to the Walmart crowd easily. Yes, there were the people we'd always see eating. I think they wanted to get their money's worth with food. We appeared to always be drinking...so what??!??

 

We loved that it was 5 days. Five days was enough. We loved the smaller size of the ship. The stops were wonderful. Next I'd love to do the Southern Caribbean. My mom cruises lots and it's her favorite.

 

Thanks to all of the threaders on Cruise Critic who helped me have such a memorable experience. You guys really know how to share great ideas!

 

Let me know if you have any questions.

[MelBCroozer]

Very nice review!! We will be on the Elation in 2 weeks. We've sailed her twice before. We enjoy cruising & the Elation is a great getaway!! Glad you had a great vacation.

[jdeville71]

I'm glad you enjoyed your first cruise. Our first cruise was on the Elation back in 2011 when she sailed out of Mobile. We loved it and instantly became hooked on cruising. We just booked our third cruise (Conquest).

I don't care what people complain about........... I guess they just are never satisfied. But we always enjoy our cruises! The way I see it, we are on vaction (no work, no laundry, no cleaning, cooking, etc) so it's all good!!

Good luck and I hope you enjoy many more happy cruises!

[lastinga]

Thanks for your review!

[BigDfromTN]

Nice and concise.

 

Thanks,

[Nadersmom]

Thanks for the review. We go on the Elation in November for our first cruise and I dont see too many reviews for the Elation so thank you thank you.

 

Glad to hear you enjoyed yourself. Any photos you have would be great also!

 

Did you board early? What time did they let people start checking in ?

[etwright]

Glad you had an awesome cruise. We also became "addicted" to cruising with our first cruise on the Elation:D:cool::D

[jeffmemphis]

Thanks for the review!! We leave on the Elation the 1st of October and it will be our first cruise. Glad you enjoyed it. I have a question for you, would you mind emailing me at jwoods@generaltruck.com ?

[duncmelsmom]

Here are a couple of pictures. I tried to get some on the ship, some at Uxmal and some with our driver in Cozumel.

[duncmelsmom]

We parked at Fulton Parking for $12/day. They were WONDERFUL. We were in and out so fast. I can't think of what time we got there. It was probably around 10:30 and they started boarding at 11ish. We went right in to eat lunch. I read to bring a bathing suit, which we did, but most of our luggage was in our room rather quickly.

 

We also did self disembark and were right off the ship. Our level (7) was the first called to leave. I found everything to run so smoothly. Well, except getting off and on the ship in Cozumel. That took quite a bit of time as I don't think anyone stayed on the ship.

 

Another thought: Take pictures everywhere. We did and loved looking through them all. At the end, I gathered them together and picked one to buy as a souvenir. The small ones are $11.99 and the large are $22. Of course the one I loved was large. Oh well, it was THAT good. :)

[mykindaparty]

Can I ask a silly question....where did you hide the rum runners to be able to smuggle them on the boat?

[duncmelsmom]

I thought someone might ask! ;) I put one in a flipper of our snorkel gear, one in the lining of the suitcase, a couple with the toiletries (I read that the caps are what are picked up in the scan and to blend the caps with the other caps), one in the middle of our clothes. I just randomly hid them everywhere and crossed my fingers. I thought for sure that some would get through. That's all I was hoping for, maybe 2 or 3.

 

Our friends had a note that said their suitcase was searched and found fine. It also had a RR hidden safely that went undetected.

 

One guy we met had his alcohol taken, but he packed his in the orginal bottle (no RR).

 

Another guy brought his in his carry on bag, located in a contact solution container.

 

Good luck!

[mschancey]

Thanks for the review. We go on the Elation in November for our first cruise and I dont see too many reviews for the Elation so thank you thank you.

 

Glad to hear you enjoyed yourself. Any photos you have would be great also!

 

Did you board early? What time did they let people start checking in ?

We are going on the Elation also in November. The 17th to be precise.

[vivavegas]

Great review! Glad you had a great cruise! Thanks for sharing..:)

[bplazo]

It is interesting that you are a teacher and sneaking alcohol on board and then telling everyone else how you did it. Kind of like cheating on a test :)

 

I agree with you about the Elation being a great ship. We were on it in May and we had a great cruise. We will probably sail with Carnival again.

[duncmelsmom]

Yeah, definitely not a great moment for me, huh? I wondered if I would offend anyone. Sorry to those whom I might.

[bplazo]

Yeah, definitely not a great moment for me, huh? I wondered if I would offend anyone. Sorry to those whom I might.

 

Hopefully your students do not read Cruise Critic :). Not offened, just interesting.

[ward6226]

 

Wrong idea:

I had some friends tell me that Carnival was the "Walmart" of cruises. My hubby and I disagree. Either it wasn't, or we fit in to the Walmart crowd easily. Yes, there were the people we'd always see eating. I think they wanted to get their money's worth with food. We appeared to always be drinking...so what??!??

 

 

 

 

Glad you enjoyed the Elation. It is a great ride! Carnival does share something with Walmart.....they are both number 1 in their respective business. :D