Elation Review 5/29

[txteachers]

Had a great time! 1st cruise - Six of us, ages from 13 - 70 (I'm in the middle;) )

 

Parking: www.ezcruise.com reserve online $45. This worked extremely well on both ends of the trip!

 

Porters: We did not use the porters. Please USE the porters!!! If you don't, you luggage gets stacked in a pile and you are at the mercy of someone coming back and putting your luggage on a cart and getting it to the right place. Also anyone can walk back in and get a piece of luggage, I know this because I left my carry on, walked back in got it and walked out. They were loading the luggage, but didn't ask me for ID or anything:eek: We did get our luggage - - I was a little concerned!

 

Embarkation: Someone recommended we arrive early - we arrived at the dock at @12:45 p.m. There were virtually no lines, crew ready to direct you. We were onboard by 1:15! Crew was all around on the ship when we boarded and you just had to look like you had a question and they were ready to help. We found our rooms R212 & 200, dropped our stuff off and went to Tiffany's for lunch.

 

Rooms: ocean view, Riviera deck. 3 in each room - plenty of room, space and hangers. Our steward was great with service but lacked in his people skills. You asked him a question and he might not answer it, so you weren't sure if he was going to take care of your need and before you knew it, you were taken care of.

 

Dining Room: We had early seating. 1st night dress code waived because many people didn't yet have their luggage. The 1st several nights service and food was excellent. As the week went on food was good, service still excellent UNTIL the 2nd formal night. 2nd formal night service was horrendous and food wasn't up to par. Only ate breakfasts 2X in dining room - - service GREAT, food ok.

 

Tiffany's: Super breakfasts! Good lunches - - salad/fruit bar, desserts, ice cream, pizza, buffet, lemonade, tea, juices. We enjoyed this. The crew in here works really hard (until Sat.)

 

Crew: They were friendly and helpful

 

Ship: beautiful, very well taken care of, someone somewhere is cleaning all the time - windows, floors, etc.

 

Gym: nice equipment, good hours, after 1st day not crowded. treadmills, bikes, elliptical machines, weight machines and free weights

 

Ports of Call: We attended the briefing - which was quite helpful.

We are the frugal family, but here's our adventures:

Progreso: Bus to town square; $2 bus tour of city, fun & short; independents all over ready to take you wherever you want to go; we took a van to Dzilbilchaltun Ruins, waited for us and returned us to town square for $65 total - the entrance fee was $6 pp (13 and under free). The excursion from Carnival was $55 pp. We still had time for Corona Beach and shopping. The water was quite pretty - - many posters have compared it to Galveston - - it's much nicer (at least it was on our day).

 

Cozumel: A poster mentioned www.cozumelinsider.com which has great information. We wanted to snorkel w/o the crowds. We took a taxi (needed 2) for $7 each way to Palmar Estate Beach Club, with access to Dzul Ha Beach. They put chairs in the shade on the beach for us, had use of their pool and facilities and NO CROWDS. It was us and one other family! Several excursion boats came to this same area and snorkeled - - they only stayed 20 minutes or so & were gone. We had unlimited time! Also did a small amount of shopping. The diversity of fish here was incredible!

 

Tenders for Belize: This actually could have been handled much better, but turned out okay because all the passengers were incredible. You're told to go to the Cole Porter Lounge and it will be first come first served - - but there's no way the crew member knows who gets there first - - I figured there'd be a riot - - but it actually went very well. We were on the 1st tender (after those with CC excursions) and arrived in Belize City at 9:10 a.m.

 

Belize: Do your research! We took a water taxi, which was a short walk from the pier, to Caye Caulker for $17.50 RT pp. We missed the 9 a.m. taxi and caught the 10:30 taxi knowing that we wanted to return on the 3 p.m. taxi. We found someone to take us snorkeling - including going to Shark/Ray Alley for $17.50 pp - - the snorkeling was AWESOME. When the snorkeling was over, our boat did have to be pulled back to the dock :eek: We did make the 3 p.m. taxi. Now, the water taxi carries as many people as it can hold, their groceries and possibly their pets! We loved it! And - - you can ask the water taxi captain to drop you at the Tourist Village Pier - - the ticket seller told us to do this. We had time for shopping upon our return.

 

Days at Sea: You can be as active as you'd like. We were looking for quiet and solitude and were able to find that as well. There were very few deck chair hogs - - which was a pleasant surprise! There were many large group activities, my DH was looking for more things that you could do in smaller groups or individually - that was limited to pool, reading, basketball and ping pong. 5 out of 6 of us were not disappointed!

 

Entertainment: Evening shows in the Mikado were a little Six Flags for me, but the 13 & 15 yr olds thought they were great. DH loved the Casino and comedian. Art Auction was fun! Karaoke with Sally was a kick!

 

Self Debarkation: Was told this would start at 7:15 - started earlier than this. We got in line @ 7:20 and were in our car before 8:30! This looked a little crowded but actually went fairly smoothly!

 

Sorry this was so long - - surely I didn't leave anything out! If I did, feel free to email me at kj_mlsmith@yahoo.com

[gypsymom3]

Sounds like you had a great time! I'll be on the Elation July 3rd, 1st cruise also, so it's good to hear your positive review!! Also, thanks for the info on parking, we'll be saving money going through the ezcruise site! Thanks for the review, I can't wait to get on the ship!!!!!!!!:)

[okiemom]

Thank you so much for your review! We will be on the Elation December 4th, 2005 and this will be our fourth cruise with more to come in the future. Cruising is the best way to travel for us and we would go more if we had the time and money. Again, thanks for your review!:)

[alleghator]

In Progreso, we're thinking of visiting the Uxmal ruins. Did you speak with anyone who did this?

 

--Heidi

[txteachers]

In Progreso, we're thinking of visiting the Uxmal ruins. Did you speak with anyone who did this?

 

--Heidi

 

Cannot help with this - sorry

[derf5585]

Cannot help with this - sorry

 

From your screen name I can see you are a teacher. I have a question for you. What is a simple explanation for "Carnivalization of Literature"?

[txteachers]

From your screen name I can see you are a teacher. I have a question for you. What is a simple explanation for "Carnivalization of Literature"?

 

That sounds like a great research question! ;)