Joe & Diane

Age: 44
Occupation: Optician / Systems Administrator
Number of Cruises: 3
Cruise Line: Carnival
Ship: Elation
Sailing Date: March 7th, 2004
Itinerary: Western Caribbean

The ship is very nice and is laid out great. The atrium is beautiful! Our inside stateroom was nice. We had a king size bed and two pull down beds. The shower was bigger than we’ve seen on other ships. The room stewards were very attentive and we enjoyed our towel pets every night. The theater is large and very comfortable. There are several lounge areas and each one is unique and has great details. The casino was okay but needs a better selection of slot machines. It did not pay off very good for us.

The ship entertainment was very good. The rock & roll band “Dirt Poets” was good. We also enjoyed Joel, the piano entertainer. We enjoyed the Elation dancers and their costumes. The Las Vegas style productions were fun. The other two cruises we’ve been on did not have the Las Vegas style costumes. The Disco played too much hip-hop music and very little disco.

The ship activities were okay. Bingo is too expensive. We enjoyed the game show events and horse racing. The scavenger hunt was a lot of fun. The cruise staff is excellent. Larry, Mike, and Cindy were all entertaining.

Meals in the dining room were very good with a variety of entrée selections each night. The buffet area was okay but was lacking in entrée selections. Desserts were not very good. Pizza and ice cream are available 24-hours a day which we loved. There were plenty of tables in the buffet area and outside on the deck and by the pool. The Gala Buffet presentation was amazing. The chefs did a fantastic job creating the food presentation.

We went to three ports – Progresso, Cozumel, and Belize. In Progresso, we took a city tour and sat on the beach under Tiki huts where we enjoyed drinks with chips & fresh salsa, and listened to strolling mariachis. The locals were very friendly. We didn’t swim because the water was muddy due to several days of rain before we arrived. Cozumel had beautiful blue water. We took a taxi to one of the beaches and enjoyed snorkeling and sitting on the beach again under Tiki huts. In Belize we took one of the Carnival tours to a Mayan ruin and a riverboat trip down the Belize River through the rain forest. We saw howling monkeys, manatees, bats, crocodiles, iguanas, etc. The tour guide was excellent!

Our days at sea were very relaxing. The weather was great except for a quick rain shower one day and a rainstorm when we arrived back in Galveston. The ship rocked a little bit but most of the time it was smooth.

The Mexican midnight buffet by the pool was lots of fun – good food and music. We did not enjoy the band that played every day by the poolside. We enjoyed the hamburger grill – we miss the fries already.

Getting on and off the ship took a lot of time – much more than on our other two cruises with Princess and Royal Carribean.

This ship did not disappoint us. We had a great time and would recommend the ship to anyone.

Ask a Question About Carnival Cruise Lines