My (first-cruise!) review of the Elation 4/28 (long)

[Sourismom]

I sailed on Carnival's Elation out of Port Canaveral on April 28-May 3. It was my first cruise, so I didn't have anything else to compare it to, but pretty much everything about the cruise was fabulous.

 

We flew in the night before and rented a car from Budget to drive from the Orlando airport to Cocoa Beach. It was a breeze. Seriously, if you're going to rent from Budget, do the Fastbreak option online beforehand if it's available at your location -- we bypassed the very long line at the airport counter, went straight to the garage and had the car key in less than five minutes.

 

We stayed at the Luna Sea Motel in Cocoa Beach. It wasn't anything fancy, but we didn't need that. It was clean and convenient, and that's what we were after. My only complaint was the pillows -- they were so thin that two together still weren't soft enough. We ate dinner that night at Rusty's on the waterfront -- I highly recommend it -- walked on the Cocoa Beach Pier and visited Ron Jon's Surf Shop.

 

We took the car back to Budget the next morning at the Port Canaveral location and took their shuttle to the port. The shuttle driver was very friendly and knowledgeable, having been on several cruises himself. We had VIP check-in, which was really nice, as the line was pretty long when we got there. For some reason, our Sail & Sign cards weren't ready, and we had to go to the security station to get them. Just took a few minutes.

 

We had lunch at Tiffany's buffet, then went to the cabin. Our cabin was M96, which I thought was a great location. Ugly painting on the wall, though! We wanted twin beds, but they were together in a king, so we had to get that taken care of. They rearranged them when we were at dinner that night.

 

I'd been pretty worried about getting seasick, since I tend to get motion sickness, so I wore seabands all the time, and loaded up on ginger pills and Dramamine. The first day, I felt slightly woozy and hyper-aware of the movement of the ship, but thankfully I didn't actually get seasick ever and the wooziness went away.

 

FOOD:

I'm mostly a vegetarian (I do eat fish), and I certainly got enough to eat on the cruise! I did eat a lot of fish, but I felt like I could've eaten well if I hadn't. We ate in the dining room every night, and there was always a vegetarian option. I really liked what I got every night except for one -- I didn't care for the fish I got the next-to-last night (grouper, IIRC). It wasn't awful, just not that good. The eggplant-and-zucchini parmesan I got the last night was fabulous -- very fresh-tasting and not breaded.

 

My one disappointment with the food was the desserts on the buffet. They always looked fabulous, but were almost always rather bland and tasteless. I found the only desserts that were worth getting were the ones involving chocolate -- they were always the best. Of course, the best of all was the warm chocolate melting cake at dinner. The first bite made me bounce in happiness every night. And the soft-serve ice cream that was available 24/7 was yummy.

 

I went to High Tea on the sea day, and I highly recommend it -- some of the best treats I had the whole cruise. Though it was odd that they served the scones with cream cheese rather than whipped cream or clotted cream.

 

I was glad we'd brought on a few bottles of water, because I thought the water in the dining room and buffet tasted TERRIBLE. Seriously, I couldn't even drink it. I'm not usually a fan of fruit punch, but I really liked the kind they offered.

 

They said the average cruise weight gain was 7-10 pounds, and I ended up firmly in the average! I think I would've gained more if I hadn't made the decision to bypass the elevators and take the stairs every time.

 

GRAND TURK:

This was our first stop, and it was really nice. We took a taxi into town and walked around for a bit. It certainly wasn't touristy -- lots of rundown houses and trash on the ground -- but it was an interesting look at "real" island life and not the perfect, Disneylandish cruise center. There wasn't a lot to do, however -- the museum wasn't open yet -- so we headed back to the cruise center. I looked around the shops and sat on the beach for a bit. Lots of people were having fun at Margaritaville, but that's not really my scene -- and there was nothing vegetarian there for me to have for lunch, so I just ate the granola bar I'd brought.

 

Then it was time for our Ultimate Snorkling excursion. I'd been snorkeling once before, at Key West, and it hadn't been a very good experience. The water was really choppy, the current was super-strong, and I got sick from swallowing so much sea-water. But I wanted to give it another chance, and I'm so glad I did! This experience was SO much better. The water was pretty calm and very clear, so I saw a bunch of fish. I had bought a dry snorkle and my own mask beforehand, and I think that helped a LOT. I got cold pretty quickly at the second stop, so I got back on the boat early -- and of course, then everybody still in the water saw a stingray! One man on the boat even dove down to pet it. I was sad I missed it.

 

HALF MOON CAY:

Absolutely beautiful! The water was unbelievably blue. We got up early and were the third and fourth people off the first tender, so we got a prime spot. We claimed two hammocks side-by-side in the shade a fair ways down the beach (in front of a water-sports booth), and also rented a clamshell right in front of the hammocks. Honestly, though, we barely used the clamshell, sticking mostly to the hammocks while they were in the shade (they were out of the shade by about noon). And once they were out of the shade, the sun was coming directly in the front of the clamshell. It looked like we could have flipped the clamshell over, but then we'd have basically no view. So we abandoned our spot and explored other parts of the island.

 

You may have heard that a guest died while snorkling at HMC on this trip. My friend happened to witness them trying to revive him, but I was on another part of the island at that point, so I didn't witness it. I'm very glad of that, as my friend was understandably upset by it.

 

We took an Eco-Tour of the lagoon, and our guide, Sasha, was excellent. It wasn't terribly exciting, but it was entertaining and I enjoyed it a lot.

 

NASSAU:

We got there very early in the morning, and I was shocked at how deserted the streets were. From descriptions, I was expecting a total madhouse -- but that came later on the day! While my friend went off to his dolphin-encounter excursion, I did the self-guided walking tour and then walked to the Ardastra Zoo & Gardens (in retrospect, I wish I had taken the jitney, because it was hot and took a while to get there).

 

I adored the zoo. It's small, but I was amazed that the flamingos and peacocks were just wandering around freely. You could go right up to the flamingos! I was chosen to stand among them during their marching show (mostly it was a herding show, really), which was fun. Then I got to feed apple slices to the lorries, the cutest and most colorful little birds. That was amazing.

 

I ate lunch at the Fish Fry near the zoo, and I have to say it was a disappointment. I had cracked conch -- I wanted conch fritters, but they weren't going to be ready for another half hour -- and I didn't really care for it. Too greasy.

 

It happened to be Election Day that day, so nobody was allowed to sell or serve alcohol, even in the duty-free shops -- which made for some disappointed and cranky cruise-ship passengers! Luckily, I had bought the alcohol I wanted already at Grand Turk.

 

SPA:

I splurged on a spa treatment after we got back to the ship from Grand Turk. I hadn't intended to, but then it seemed like such a decadent thing to do. I got a Port-Day special of a half-hour back massage, a foot massage and a facial for $99. It wasn't the best massage I've ever had, but the facial was wonderful (I'd never had one before), and I almost fell asleep. The massage therapist of course tried to sell me some of the products, but I just said I couldn't splurge anymore, and she didn't persist at all, which I was thankful for, so I gave her a bigger tip. :-)

 

I went on the cruise looking for some relaxation, but it ended up not being relaxing at all! But that was my own fault, because there was so much stuff going on that I wanted to do, I didn't take enough time to simply laze around in a deck chair with a book.

 

I had only a couple of minor complaints about the whole thing. One of the fluorescent lights in our cabin started flickering on the third day, and they removed it, but they never replaced it. So we were left with a dark spot in the room. And we took the shuttle back to the airport afterward, and the driver was really surly and rude when we were waiting to load up. He didn't say anything the entire trip, except to ask for tips when we got to the airport. Certainly neither was enough to come close to ruining the trip.

 

All in all, it was a great time, and I really want to do it again. I'm just sad that the Elation is moving to San Diego, because I'd love to take that ship and itinerary again.

[PINEVIEW01]

Thank You for the review. We will be on her in December but, out of Baja.

[cruiseapril]

Enjoyed your review. We were on the Elation the week before you and also had a great cruise. We liked Grand Turk alot, but wondered why they haven't cleaned up the town a bit. The old buildings are interesting, some run down, as you mentioned.

 

We enjoyed Ardastra Gardens last year-it's good to read that others have too. An attractive little relaxed zoo.

[marty30907]

Great review. We sailed the Elation Mar 31, 07 and loved Half Moon Cay! Now you have to learn to deal with PCD (Post-Cruise Depression)!:D

[sjohnson529]

I thought we were the only ones to ever have gone to Ardasta Gardens! That is just the neatest little zoo. We enjoyed our day there so very much. We walked it also, and it was hot. It was worth it though. Next time in Nassau we plan to go back.

 

Glad you enjoyed your cruise...now book another :D

[Kurbanfan]

 

 

 

I'm just sad that the Elation is moving to San Diego, because I'd love to take that ship and itinerary again.

 

 

Sorry...but we are happy she is coming to Calif. Will be on her for the second time in August:D

[Sourismom]

A few things I wanted to add:

 

The desserts you can buy at the Musical Cafe are better than the buffet desserts, and they're incredibly reasonably priced -- $2.00 for a huge slice of cake. If you want a slice of the apple cake, get it fairly early in the day; it was always gone by early evening. It's yummy (although it would've been better warmed). I can also highly recommend their oatmeal cookies. My friend loved the black-forest cake, but it wasn't quite chocolatey enough for me.

 

My favorite relaxing places on the ship to sit were on the back deck by the children's pool and in the seats along the windows in Elation's Way near the Musical Cafe.

 

There was always a line at the sushi bar, since it was open for just a few hours each night. I got sushi one evening, and it was pretty good. I'm not a sushi afficianado, though.

[Sourismom]

I finally got around to posting pictures from the cruise. You can see them here:

http://travel.webshots.com/album/559064464WsYyEp