THe Elation,the weather,the drive the cruise

[PNGfan]

I've always been told don't wait until the day of the cruise to drive or fly in. My plan was to drive in Friday morning the day before...Mother Nature had something else planned for me. Thursday evening I realized we were going to have ice for my departure. Too late the weather moved in before I could leave. Friday morning all the roads I needed were closed(I was driving from Port Neches TX to New Orleans). A warm up was predicted at 1st so I didn't worry too much but then the temp stayed near freezing all day and a hard freeze happened Friday night into Saturday. Saturday morning I check the weather. Check roads...my 1st bridge I needed was OPEN so I hit the road around 5:15am(it takes me 5 hours on a good day to get to New Orleans). I was making good time and I hit Lafayette. The roads are closed and stuck...no path to New Orleans open to me. I call the ship at 11am to inform them I 10 is closed. They tell me to call back every 30 minutes with an update and I do. In the mean time I tell my sister to get on the ship as she lives in New Orleans. Finally around 2pm I 10 opens. It's a 2 1/2 hour drive and the ship is scheduled to leave at 4pm. I am freaking. My sister says SPEED! I call the Elation to let them know I am now finally moving but afraid I will not make it. They tell me to keep coming as the captain has not made a decision as if to wait or not. Turns out over 100 passengers were stuck with me on the highway. It's now 3:30 I am in full panic mode. Check in ends at 3:30 and I am still 45 minutes from the ship. The Elation check in people call me to find out how far away I am. She tells me to keep coming. The hour hits it is now 4pm our departure time I am about to break out into tears. I am sure I have been left. I call and they answer. I am now 15 minutes away...the ship is still there. At this point I am nervous but told keep coming. I call when I see the Super Dome and the give me turn by turn instructions until I pay to park. I breathe a sigh of relief as I was just told they know I am on my way to check in. I walk on board at 4:23pm with several other right on my heels and other 45 minutes behind me. We departed shortly after 6pm(a truck with provisions for our cruise turned out to be stuck way behind me in traffic...thank you God). The Elation is a beautiful ship. I had booked a cheap cabin E185. This cabin is perfect for a parent and child,2 adults as long as one can get on the top bunk,college kids,teens. Our room was extremely clean and was plenty big(I would book it again in a heart beat) the shower is big,2 closets,bed were comfy. The food was great on some days only good on others(I always found something I wanted). The staff on the ship was very friendly. The entertainment was really good...love the piano bar and it was always crowded. The guy who was at the main bar by guest services he was nothing less than spectacular. Went to a few art auctions(great for people watching). Our 1st sea day was the "formal/cruise elegant night" I have never seen so many people dressed up and taking pictures. The lobster was really good and I have to say it cracks me up that is the night they had bbq ribs(and yes I ordered ribs to take back to my cabin to eat after I got out of my dress). First port was Cozumel and did a shopping scavenger hunt with $25 onboard coupon book ended up with all kind of little treasures. Visited Margaritaville for a bit of fun. The weather was amazing and just a great day(we had people late for the ship but they did not run the pier a taxi drove them all the way to the ship). The next day was Progreso and the weather was amazing. Walked down to the beach had a massage at Marina's and drinks from Tommy's(I prefer this place clean bathrooms,free wifi and prices are not to bad). after beach time walked through the produce/meat market(great place to see real Mexico) then headed to the flea market(it was much larger than when we visited in October). Made our way back to the ship and relaxed onboard(one port I thought we would not have pier runners and we had about 8 of them). The Mexican buffet this night was pretty good. I had joked I wanted one of the coconut half and they said take one they had plenty(I love coconut so took them up on that). Up to this point the cruise had been wonderful and now the rocking begins. I have always take seasick pills with me. I take one every night just to be on the safe side. Our last sea day. The ship was rocking like no other ship I have been on. The seas were rough and the wind was bad 52mph and rainy. They Captain announce not to go outside unless you really needed too. They let us know it would calm down later in the day. A few people fell down the stairs and the ship tossed us around pretty good. Lots of seasickness going on. The crew stationed outside were in full winter gear. For me the rocking made me want to sleep. By around 6pm it had calmed down some and the winds were down to 38 mph. It was a cold night outside but the crew made sure people had stuff to do...they added lots of inside activities. By 9pm it was just cold outside with moderate rocking. Hit the comedy shows the last night and had a good time. The piano bar once again was a hit. Headed to bed for the night and put out my luggage. Got up to see we were almost to port. Breakfast was good and disembarking was easy. Had a great time and would go on this ship again.

[gregg204]

Glad to see Carnival was communicating with you on the way there and you made it. I've lived in south Louisiana my whole life and I can't remember a winter like this. The north US has it a 100 times worse and goes through this every year. We're just not equipped for it. I saw someone spotted a snow flake in New Orleans and news broke in to report it. :D

[christyran1228]

Pretty impressive wall of text! lol

 

 

I'm so glad everything worked out :D

 

 

We had our first cruise on the Elation in August .... we loved it so much! :)

[PNGfan]

I am thankful I made to the ship and the cruise was well worth it in my opinion.

[Mysticks1]

So glad you made it and really glad to see that the communication was there and that they kept up with where you were and what time you would arrive. The weather here the past few days has been awful with the ice storm that we have had. I left work Tuesday at 11:00 and drove home in rain with the temps below freezing, sleet started just after lunchtime and continued overnight.

 

Everything here in Mobile was shut down on Wednesday including I-10 with the bridges iced over and the tunnels closed due to cars being unable to get up the hills to get out of them. Just yesterday a 140 mile stretch of I-10 from the Alabama/Florida state line to Marianna FL was closed due to ice. It has been 20 years since we have had ice on the roads like this. It was 16 degrees here yesterday morning and will be 70 tomorrow.

[kmc500]

Everything here in Mobile was shut down on Wednesday including I-10 with the bridges iced over and the tunnels closed due to cars being unable to get up the hills to get out of them. Just yesterday a 140 mile stretch of I-10 from the Alabama/Florida state line to Marianna FL was closed due to ice. It has been 20 years since we have had ice on the roads like this.

 

Has to be Global Warming, eh? OT, but I surely got a kick out of hearing that the ship stuck in the antarctic by summer ice was full of scientists studying the affects of global warming!

 

Kevin C

[Mysticks1]

Has to be Global Warming, eh? OT, but I surely got a kick out of hearing that the ship stuck in the antarctic by summer ice was full of scientists studying the affects of global warming!

 

Kevin C

 

Yes, I guess that is what it is. :D Whatever is causing it I wish it would stop. This is the coldest winter we have had in a long time.

[My6Dogs]

It's the dreaded Polar Vortex.... :eek:

 

Mike

[buckeyefrank]

Based on the weather I assume you were on the Jan 25th sailing. We were on the cruise before. I plan on doing a pictorial review when I get a few minutes but it was pretty rocky for us as well coming back to port.

[KBilliot]

Based on the weather I assume you were on the Jan 25th sailing. We were on the cruise before. I plan on doing a pictorial review when I get a few minutes but it was pretty rocky for us as well coming back to port.

 

Buckeyefrank I look forward to your pictorial review :D My husband and I along with a few others will be sailing on Feb 13th. This is our first time being on the Elation.

[KBilliot]

PNGfan Sounds like you had a wonderful cruise despite your challenging travel arrangements:eek: Thank you for sharing your experience with us.

 

Katrina

[PNGfan]

Yes it was the Jan 25 sailing. The weather has gone nuts. :)