Elation 1/23/06 review

[Gillster]

My wife and I just got off of the Elation on saturday and we thought we'd share our opinions of the cruise. This was our second cruise, the first was on the Disney Magic 7 nighter. We were told by many that we would be spoiled by the Magic and disappointed with Carnival. Wrong! We loved the Elation and had a great cruise. The decor is beautiful and the ship is very clean. In my opinion, the ship doesn't show her age at all.

 

We live in San Antonio so we drove to Galveston on Monday morning and parked at Ezcruise parking. We waited less then 5 minutes for the shuttle to the terminal and were dropped off right in front of the door that leads to the stairs up to the check in area. We waited in the check in line for less then 5 minutes and had our Sail and Sign cards and were in line to get on the ship. The seats were all full in the waiting area and they had not started embarkation when we arrived but we were still photographed and on the ship within 20-30 minutes. We were asked to stay away from the rooms until 1330 so we explored the ship a bit.

 

At 1300 when the dining room was opened for dining requests, we requested a table for 2 and recieved it from Jean-Pierre. We were switched from the Imagination to the Inspiration dining room and had a nice quiet table for two and were provided excellent service by Michael St. Vincent and his assistant Edison. We ate dinner in the Inspiration dinig room every night and the food was always outstanding and the wait staff very attentive. Jean-Pierre provided entertainment every night with a Frank Sinatra tune every night but one when he sang a Tony Bennet tune. We also ate one open seating lunch and one open seating breakfast in the Imagination dining room, food and service were excellent both meals. Try the Eggs Benedict if you get the chance.

 

We were in Cabin E2 on the Empress deck and our cabin steward was Mario, almost invisible and outstanding at his job. He introduced himself in the hallway on the first night, kept our small cooler full of ice without being asked and with the exception of one instance (when I ran back to get something I had forgotten), always made up the room or turned down the bed while we were out so we returned to a perfect room again. The new bed linens are very comfy, the wife is already talking about buying some for home use.

 

Our first meal on board was on the Lido deck, I had a burger my DW had the buffet. We ate on deck where we were subjected to the sounds of "Versatile" the not so versatile "Calypso" band playing on the Lido stage. They were loud and if you weren't paying close attention, one song bled into the next as they all sounded pretty much the same. We made a habit of avoiding them after that.

 

The only other notable things in an otherwise flawless embarkation were the almost undescribably nasty funk that permiated the mid-Empress deck area until we left Galveston. It was that nastiy kind of rotten egg smell and we ran into it going up the gangway and then in the main lobby on the Empress deck. Fortunately in didn't extend down the hall to our room and was gone as soon as we set sail. Also, apparently a piece of luggage was dropped off of the side of the dock. They brought out a bunch of folks who tried to fish it out with poles and finally a guy with what looked (from 7 stories up) like a camera on a cable which he lowered over the side. After about 20 minutes they gave up and we started moving. When the wash from the propulsion system hit the dock, out floated the missing suitcase which tried to follow us out to sea.

 

We caught every show in the Mikado Lounge and enjoyed them all. The show on thursday night was a country show and featured fiddle player Barry Van Wie and really shouldn't be missed. Even if you don't like country music, this guy is an awesome entertainer with a very infectious style. He is outstanding. The featured singers are very talented and the dancers terrific. The cruise director was Jorge Solano (George before 5pm) and he was absolutley hilarious. We attended things we might otherwise have skipped just to be entertained by Jorge. There were two featured comedians (both were funny but not as funny as Jorge:) ) Gene Merola was up first on tuesday night and was by far the funniest of the two. He was at the welcome aboard show and then did an "adults only" show on tuesday night. I thought he was okay at the welcome aboard show but was hilarious at the midnight show. The second comedian was Marvin Bell. He was okay, also adults only and more adults only the Gene's show, do to liberal use of profanity.

We made several donations to the on board bingo in the Mikado lounge, we had fun and a lot of losing cards. Oh well, it was a good time to enjoy their excellent strawberry daquaris as well as the drink of the day. We bought a drink of the day early on and had the same glass refilled at a discount. Also attended the Captains cocktail party wich provided some nice free drinks and snacks. We went to the first art auction, just for the free champagne, but the free booze wasn't worth watching that poor guy trying to peddle his art. It was kind of like a train wreck though, it was hard to turn away from. Oddly, nobody bought any of the $25,000 originals he was offering. We skipped thte rest of the auctions.

The only excursion we booked was for Dzibilchaltun in Progresso. We wanted to see some ruins but wanted to avoid the 2.5 hour each way bus ride of Chichen Itza. We had an excellent tour guide named Jose who was very knowledgeable about the area and the ruins, and we had about 2 hours to explore on our own. Dzibilchaltun also has a natrual sinkhole called a Cenote wich is filled with sparkelingly clear fresh water and you are encouraged to swim in it. We did and it is very refreshing, especially on a hot day. The water is beautiful. If anyone wants pics, let me know:) .

Due to the lenght of stay being cut in Cozumel, we just stayed on the ship and really enjoyed have the whole place to our self. We used the water slide, hot tub and pool as though it were our own private area, no lines for food, drinks or anything you could need or want. Also had a chance to meet and talk to Jorge and "Big Sexy" while they were on deck.

We used room service for breakfast 3 mornings including debarkation morning and once for a snack. Mixed review there, 1st morning prompt and order perfect, 2nd time prompt and order screwed up, 3rd morning order perfect, delivered about 2 hours early. Be sure to have cash for tips if you use room service. We also found the internet cafe to be a wonderful tool for keeping in touch with those at home (we have 3 young children who stayed with grandma) at a much more reasonable price then the ship-to-shore phone rates. You can just log on and sign up for a rate package, don't wait around for the cafe manager like we did:) , he's pretty invisible. This way grandma emailed us everyday and we emailed her back so we were kept up to date.

When we returned to Galveston, we were called to disembark a little before 9am. We were off the ship, got our luggage and were through customes by 0930. We waited about 10-15 minutes for EZcruiseparkings shuttle which dropped us right at our car and we were on I-45 headed north by 1000, home by 1330. Now if the dang floor would just stop moving in the house, and if my kids would read the "service cabin now" sign we hung on the door, life would be good again.

Hope that helps anyone considering this fine ship. If you have any questions at all, please feel free to ask. I would highly recommend this ship to anyone interested.

[pbhutch246]

Sounds like you had a fantastic time. We sailed on the Elation in August of 04, right after my husband got back from Iraq. It was a wonderful 2nd honeymoon for us. We absolutely loved the ship, we felt it didn't show age either. The ports then were Progresso, Cozumel and Belize. We did the same excusion in Progresso (don't ask me to spell it lol) and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. We opted not to swim in the Cenote after hearing that skeletons had been pulled from the bottom. Sorry, couldn't get past that "ICK!" feeling.

 

Thanks for sharing your experience with us. We're planning on a cruise in May and taking the kids this time and in the mean time, I have to live vicariously through other people and the detailed reviews I get here.

[psycoma]

My mom and I cruised the Elation (my first, her second) in October of 2003 and I have to say that I wish she was still in Galveston doing the 7 days because I would have loved to go on her again!! It was so wonderful. The only thing I regret about the entire week was trying to see the whole ship the first day. My feet were killing me and I gave myself plantar fasciitis :P It's a mistake I will *not* be repeating on the Conquest next year lol. So glad to hear that people are still loving this ship! It is such a wonderful place to spend a week! :)

[mslaabs]

Gillster,

Thanks for the review. My husband and I are sailing on the Elation in May, which will be our first Carnival Cruise. We are a little leary about taking Carnival after having been on Celebrity and RCCL, but we couldn't pass up the price (RCCL was $800 more for almost same itinerary/time). Your review helps to ease some of that leariness (is that a word?). Anyway, I do have one question... Did you happen to notice if there was one lounge "act" that was basically just a guitar player singing songs? That's one thing I really liked about RCCL is that they had one lounge where you could just go and spend the whole night listening and singing along to the guitar player (no loud drummer or loud amplifiers).

[psycoma]

... they had one lounge where you could just go and spend the whole night listening and singing along to the guitar player (no loud drummer or loud amplifiers).

 

I'm not sure about a guitar player, but they have the piano bar. The person playing in there usually has a list of songs they know and they play while you (and whoever else is there) sit around him at the bar and sing. Be aware though in case you're a non-smoker that it can get smokey in there. It's (if memory serves) on the deck above the main atrium, above the Empress deck, right to the right of the dining room that is there. I'm sorry that I don't know the name of the dining room but I can't remember (and it's the one I ate in all week lol).

[NCLSEA123]

Gillster, I am staying in the same class of cabin and was wondering if you had any pictures of the cabin and ship that you could share. My email is Allan317@bellsouth.net Thanks

[JoeMini]

Hi,

 

Nice Review....we had a very good time also!

 

We went on the Elation last summer when it was the 7 day cruise. Even though it was our 1st cruise, and myself and wifey was real giddy about the whole cruise thing, we found the Elation a really nice ship.

 

If memory serves me correct also, there was a piano bar that got a little smokey, and there was a guy who set up shop throughout the ship playing guitar music.

 

Also, they had karoke night in the Cole Porter lounge which on some nights had some really good singers as well...

[Gillster]

We opted not to swim in the Cenote after hearing that skeletons had been pulled from the bottom. Sorry, couldn't get past that "ICK!" feeling.

 

Not that seeing that crystal clear water wouldn't have overcome some 600 year skeleton's but our tour guide noted that this was the only Cenote found so far without evidence of human sacrifice.

 

 

NCLSEA123 some pictures of our cabin have been emailed. Let me know if you get them okay and if you have any questions I might be able to answer.

 

Chris

[PJNJcruise5]

Thanks for the excellent review on the Elation. I can't wait to sail with her this year and look forward to other reviews when she moves over to Florida. Did you happen to go to any of the lounges for dancing? My husband and I like to dance and I'm just wondering if there any recommended places for dancing onboard.

[gfsmith]

Like you are first cruise was a 7 day on Disney Magic. Our next several were with Carnival. Although Disney was great Carnival was just MUCH more FUN... Cruising on the Elation for a 2nd time this Sept. Cant wait!!