Erica Hollister

Age: 33
Occupation: Registered Nurse
Number of Cruises: 3
Cruise Line: Carnival
Ship: Elation
Sailing Date: July 11th, 2004
Itinerary: Western Caribbean

My family & I (DH, 7yr old, 10yr old) went on the 7/11 Elation cruise. This was our 3rd cruise as a family and we had a good time. However, we did have one continuous issue for the first 5 days, more on this later..

The day we left, we were all very excited, my 2 boys couldn’t wait to meet other kids (and they met a bunch & no they weren’t the ones running between peoples legs or playing in the elevators! Lol). We boarded about 1pm so we were able to go straight to our cabin to dump off our carry ons and then we went to grab some lunch and explore the ship. The ship was very clean, there were some signs of wear and tear but still clean. ?

We had requested an early seating for dinner but we were assigned the late sitting. Upon returning from dinner the first night, our cabin carpet near the door was damp. We weren’t sure why.

First day at sea, the boys were itching to SWIM, so off we went. That lasted a couple of hours and then they needed additional entertainment so off to Camp Carnival they went. I was relieved. I went back to the cabin to find standing water (at least an inch) in the bathroom. I was a little grossed out but I just threw all of the towels down and paged the stewardess. She came by and informed us that the night before while we were at dinner that she had discovered the same situation and had called the plummer (ie. wet carpet) and he had come to fix it. He again was called and returned to try and open the drain where the water was rising up from (clean water or sewage tainted?), as he worked on this he would stomp through the water and onto the carpet. All I could do was leave and shake my head. Later that day upon returning, no water but wet carpet and a wet smell. I told my stewardess that afternoon but nothing was done. That evening getting ready for dinner, the water was draing very slow and after 4 showers, more water in bathroom. JEEZ. Tuesday morning I finally went to the pursers desk. They said they would send the HEAD pummer to evaluate. Wednesday, still not fixed, still rising, I am getting frusterated. I go to see the purser again, they assure me that the HEAD plummer says it is fixed. I assure them that it is not, they reply with, “I will have it looked at again.” Through all of this I NEVER acted ugly or threw a fit because I thought if I was very polite they would want to hurry and fix this instead of if I was hateful they would think, “what a witch, let her suffer.”

Thursday, smell increasingly worse, returned to purser, they finally had someone shampoo the carpet. For “my trouble” they sent me 3 5x7 photo coupons.

Oh by the way, I failed to mention the drain contiuously gurgled day and night like water was trapped and bubbling in there, very annoying but just kept thinking that surely it would be taken care of soon.On the last night of the cruise they sent me a letter with a voucher for 15% off of our next cruise. Not hardly compesation for the ordeal. I just wished they would have changed our room to another one without the problem.

BUT, we NEVER let this really bother us. We had a ton of fun, the stewardess was very nice, the dining room staff was very nice (DH & I only ate there 5 nights & never breakfast or lunch and my 2 boys only ate 2 nights with us there, with the late sitting it was easier to eat on the Lido).

The first port was Progresso, we did not book an excursion because the ruin were just too far to sit on a bus and listen to my kids complain so we went to town, shopped and then walked over to the beach. Very pretty. The boys of course wanted to swim and their suits were on the ship (five miles down that long road) so we went over to their market and bought them some shorts to swim in, easier then returning to the ship! They had a lot of fun. Their town is very clean but seems to be very poverty stricken. None of the local children had shoes on and I am sure the concrete was very hot.

The second port was Cozumel, this is our third time there so we got in a cab and went down to a beach that had umbrellas, a swimming pool and a restaurant. It was great. We snorkeled some and then the kids swam in the pool. We stayed several hours then returned to the ship to shower and change and then we headed to town to shop and eat. What a fun and tiring day!

The third port was Belize. We received ta ticket for tender #2 and we were off of the boat but and in Belize by 10am. We weren’t sure what we were going to do there but decided on the cave tubing. It was great! Very reasonable at $160 for the 4 of us (on the ship it was $89 a person). We went on a 15 passenger van with a guide who gave us a tour and some background knowledge of Belize. It was a nice day.

With this being our third time, we had learned to NOT book an excursion through the ship. It is way to expensive. No matter what port you go to, there are many people there trying to sell you a tour for much less. We learned this when we had sailed previously to Cayman and purchased a tour with the stingrays. When we got there, people were buying from the man driving our bus for ½ the price we paid and going with us on the same excursion. We learned our lesson! J

I am sure I am leaving something out. Please ask questions.

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