Live from the Elation

[GS92]

Fire away with any questions and I'll do my best to answer. Me, wife and 16 and 11 yo daughters. Here's my thoughts so far...

 

Jaxport access was very easy. Only short waits to enter the port, drop off luggage and get into the lot. Boarding started at 12:30 but we didn't arrive until about 1:00.

 

Check in went really well. I would highly recommend FTTF. When we walked up the main security line was out the door and snaked out into the sun. We walked right inside. It was worth the $$ just for that. And after security, we were ushered in front of everyone else to a check in agent. Again, well worth the $$. I also had a small issue that needed guest services attention and was able to jump right to the front of that line as well.

 

We are in cabins M98 and M102 which I was pleasantly surprised to find were the last two renovated cabins on the main deck. Flat screen tv, plenty of outlets, etc. Very nice.

 

Lunch and dinner were uneventful. Food was fine. Went to the opening show after dinner. Cruise director (Kevin) is very good. Show was pretty cheesy for my taste but enjoyable.

 

Freeport today and Nassau tomorrow. Have a car rented for Freeport to go to Gold Rock beach and then just do our own thing for a while. Atlantis through Comfort Suites tomorrow.

[pipandgabesmom7]

We will be on here in 17 days! Sailing out August 21! Excited to follow along.

[ja_martin]

Fire away with any questions and I'll do my best to answer. Me, wife and 16 and 11 yo daughters. Here's my thoughts so far...

 

Jaxport access was very easy. Only short waits to enter the port, drop off luggage and get into the lot. Boarding started at 12:30 but we didn't arrive until about 1:00.

 

Check in went really well. I would highly recommend FTTF. When we walked up the main security line was out the door and snaked out into the sun. We walked right inside. It was worth the $$ just for that. And after security, we were ushered in front of everyone else to a check in agent. Again, well worth the $$. I also had a small issue that needed guest services attention and was able to jump right to the front of that line as well.

 

We are in cabins M98 and M102 which I was pleasantly surprised to find were the last two renovated cabins on the main deck. Flat screen tv, plenty of outlets, etc. Very nice.

 

Lunch and dinner were uneventful. Food was fine. Went to the opening show after dinner. Cruise director (Kevin) is very good. Show was pretty cheesy for my taste but enjoyable.

 

Freeport today and Nassau tomorrow. Have a car rented for Freeport to go to Gold Rock beach and then just do our own thing for a while. Atlantis through Comfort Suites tomorrow.

 

CD Kevin Donohue = the most fun, enjoyable CD I've ever traveled with. Spent many weeks with him on The Splendor during 2015 and 2016. If you get a chance, go to his 80s music trivia at night that's held in the Atrium (at least it was on The Splendor). It was the best and I swear, half the ship watched or participated from all levels of the Atrium. It rocked.

 

He is the one CD I want to travel with again.

 

Enjoy your cruise!

[DirtybirdDave]

Just off Elation yesterday. Kevin is the best CD we've ever experienced.

 

Would disagree with purchasing FTTF. We didn't have it, and never saw where it would have been beneficial. Maybe it was because we had an earlier embarkation, but it only took about 30 minutes from the time we unloaded our luggage until we were on the ship. The only other time it could have been useful would have been to get an earlier tender to Princess Cays, but I woke up early to go get us tender tickets.

 

We also had a recently updated room and found it much nicer than I had anticipated. Definitely a plus.

 

Really my only negative, was the food. Wasn't bad by any means. Just wasn't as good as I've had with other cruise lines.

 

Hope you have a great time!

[GS92]

Just off Elation yesterday. Kevin is the best CD we've ever experienced.

 

Would disagree with purchasing FTTF. We didn't have it, and never saw where it would have been beneficial. Maybe it was because we had an earlier embarkation, but it only took about 30 minutes from the time we unloaded our luggage until we were on the ship. The only other time it could have been useful would have been to get an earlier tender to Princess Cays, but I woke up early to go get us tender tickets.

 

We also had a recently updated room and found it much nicer than I had anticipated. Definitely a plus.

 

Really my only negative, was the food. Wasn't bad by any means. Just wasn't as good as I've had with other cruise lines.

 

Hope you have a great time!

 

I have an aversion to standing in lines and anything I can do to limit that I will. You may be right if you get there early but I can guarantee that it saved us at least 30 minutes if not more and we didn't have to stand in line outside.

[Whimsy88]

 

Freeport today and Nassau tomorrow. Have a car rented for Freeport to go to Gold Rock beach and then just do our own thing for a while.

 

 

Would appreciate info on this (where you rented the car, pricing, etc.) if you would care to share. Plus how you enjoyed it. We're on the Elation at the end of October and thought about this same thing for Freeport if cost effective. Hubby is pretty adventurous with driving, and none of the set excursions appeal to us... Many thanks!

[GS92]

Would appreciate info on this (where you rented the car, pricing, etc.) if you would care to share. Plus how you enjoyed it. We're on the Elation at the end of October and thought about this same thing for Freeport if cost effective. Hubby is pretty adventurous with driving, and none of the set excursions appeal to us... Many thanks!

 

Just back on the boat. Everything went well. We rented from Island Jeep and Car Rental. I chose them because they were the only one at the port. The only drawback to that is they close at 5:00 so we had to return the car a little earlier than we preferred. We got the SUV which was a Jeep Liberty. Total rental was $105. Make sure you ask them for the online rate when you book. Otherwise they will charge you about $40 more. Also, they did not tell me in advance that they charge another $400 to your card as a damage deposit and then void the charge when you return. I wasn't happy but we were kind of stuck. Other than that, it worked great. We went to Gold Rock Beach and Banana Bay restaurant. Beach was beautiful and the food was really good.

[GS92]

Would appreciate info on this (where you rented the car, pricing, etc.) if you would care to share. Plus how you enjoyed it. We're on the Elation at the end of October and thought about this same thing for Freeport if cost effective. Hubby is pretty adventurous with driving, and none of the set excursions appeal to us... Many thanks!

 

And I forgot to add that driving was no problem. There was very little traffic. You do need to be comfortable with traffic circles as there are a good number of them. Otherwise, just keep reminding yourself to stay on the left and it's easy.

[momin05]

Just off Elation yesterday. Kevin is the best CD we've ever experienced.

 

Would disagree with purchasing FTTF. We didn't have it, and never saw where it would have been beneficial. Maybe it was because we had an earlier embarkation, but it only took about 30 minutes from the time we unloaded our luggage until we were on the ship. The only other time it could have been useful would have been to get an earlier tender to Princess Cays, but I woke up early to go get us tender tickets.

 

We also had a recently updated room and found it much nicer than I had anticipated. Definitely a plus.

 

Really my only negative, was the food. Wasn't bad by any means. Just wasn't as good as I've had with other cruise lines.

 

Hope you have a great time!

 

Nice to hear good things about Elation! What time was your assigned check in time and what time did you get there? We have always thought Jax was a breeze but I am hearing otherwise now.

[momin05]

We will be on here in 17 days! Sailing out August 21! Excited to follow along.

 

We are also on August 21 sailing!

[momin05]

Fire away with any questions and I'll do my best to answer. Me, wife and 16 and 11 yo daughters. Here's my thoughts so far...

 

Jaxport access was very easy. Only short waits to enter the port, drop off luggage and get into the lot. Boarding started at 12:30 but we didn't arrive until about 1:00.

 

Check in went really well. I would highly recommend FTTF. When we walked up the main security line was out the door and snaked out into the sun. We walked right inside. It was worth the $$ just for that. And after security, we were ushered in front of everyone else to a check in agent. Again, well worth the $$. I also had a small issue that needed guest services attention and was able to jump right to the front of that line as well.

 

We are in cabins M98 and M102 which I was pleasantly surprised to find were the last two renovated cabins on the main deck. Flat screen tv, plenty of outlets, etc. Very nice.

 

Lunch and dinner were uneventful. Food was fine. Went to the opening show after dinner. Cruise director (Kevin) is very good. Show was pretty cheesy for my taste but enjoyable.

 

Freeport today and Nassau tomorrow. Have a car rented for Freeport to go to Gold Rock beach and then just do our own thing for a while. Atlantis through Comfort Suites tomorrow.

 

Thank you for posting live! Can you tell me about the comedy shows? How many different PG shows are there (I saw fun times that only showed 2 but was hoping they do more in summer with a lot of kids on board.) And what time are the PG shows?

 

Thank you so much!

[Irish1223]

We are leaving on Monday's cruise. Do you know if CD Kevin will be on that particular cruise (August 7)? TIA!

[easyboy]

Thanks for checking in. Will be following your updates. Enjoy!

[DirtybirdDave]

Answers to a few random questions. Our check in was 11 am. Got in the car line around 10:45 and was on board before 12 without FTTF.

There were 2 comedians onboard and each did 2 PG shows (although one repeated the same content). They were at 7 and 7:45 and each last 30 minutes. R rated shows were later in the evening.

Pretty sure Kevin will be on Elation at least until dry dock.

[marshhawk]

the last time I was on the elation, there were life jacket boxes in the corner of the cabin, which really took up a lot of space, have they done away with them and put the life jackets in the closets like other on ships?

[momin05]

Answers to a few random questions. Our check in was 11 am. Got in the car line around 10:45 and was on board before 12 without FTTF.

There were 2 comedians onboard and each did 2 PG shows (although one repeated the same content). They were at 7 and 7:45 and each last 30 minutes. R rated shows were later in the evening.

Pretty sure Kevin will be on Elation at least until dry dock.

 

Thank you for this! It is interesting that your check in was 11. It seems like I have been reading where the earliest check in has been 12:30 or 1pm.

 

It sounds like there were maybe three different PG shows, that is certainly better than two! I hope they stick with 7:45. Often they are 7:30 and those are hard to make from early dinner.

 

Thanks again!

[GS92]

Thank you for this! It is interesting that your check in was 11. It seems like I have been reading where the earliest check in has been 12:30 or 1pm.

 

It sounds like there were maybe three different PG shows, that is certainly better than two! I hope they stick with 7:45. Often they are 7:30 and those are hard to make from early dinner.

 

Thanks again!

 

Sorry for the delay in responding. The onboard wifi was pretty spotty yesterday for some reason. The PG shows were 7:30 Friday and Saturday nights and tonight's is at 7:45.

[GS92]

the last time I was on the elation, there were life jacket boxes in the corner of the cabin, which really took up a lot of space, have they done away with them and put the life jackets in the closets like other on ships?

 

In our cabins, they are on top of the closets in their own little area.

[nc762shooter]

the last time I was on the elation, there were life jacket boxes in the corner of the cabin, which really took up a lot of space, have they done away with them and put the life jackets in the closets like other on ships?

We did not have the boxes in U239 in April, they were on the top shelf of the closet.

 

Sent from my SPH-D710BST using Tapatalk

[momin05]

GS92, if you have it, I would love to see the one-page Entertainment Schedule if you can post it upon your return. I suppose you disembarked today. Hope it all went well!

[Whimsy88]

Is there still an elegant night (and lobster) in the MDR on this short sailing?

[futureCPR]

Is there still an elegant night (and lobster) in the MDR on this short sailing?

 

To piggyback off of Whimsy's questions, if there is an elegant night- which night was it?

 

I'm getting married on the November 9th sailing and the ceremony will take place in Nassau. I kind of wanted to go to dinner in my wedding dress, so if it was elegant night the night of Nassau, that would be perfect.

[momin05]

Is there still an elegant night (and lobster) in the MDR on this short sailing?

 

There is an elegant night on short sailings, but lobster has been replaced with a scallop dish that is actually quite good. You can purchase a lobster at dinner for $20.

[momin05]

To piggyback off of Whimsy's questions, if there is an elegant night- which night was it?

 

I'm getting married on the November 9th sailing and the ceremony will take place in Nassau. I kind of wanted to go to dinner in my wedding dress, so if it was elegant night the night of Nassau, that would be perfect.

 

Elegant night is typically Day 2. Looks like you are on a four day cruise with Freeport on Day 2 so I would guess that will be your elegant night.

[Whimsy88]

There is an elegant night on short sailings, but lobster has been replaced with a scallop dish that is actually quite good. You can purchase a lobster at dinner for $20.

 

Good thing DH likes scallops!;)