Carnival Cruise Lines
Elation Cruise Review
Bahamas

Myles
Age: Unknown
Occupation: Unknown
Number of Cruises: First One
Date of Cruise: December 14th, 2006

We booked our cruise through Carnival Cruise lines. The booking process is a painless process, and the person on the phone was most helpful with our numerous questions from us “Rookies.” Being a rookie, I had no idea, except from the numerous reviews I’ve read on-line, what to expect for service, food, cabin size, embarkation/debarkation, etc., so please bear that in mind when you read this.


Embarkation/Boarding:

The boarding process was smooth and painless. The (expected) wait in line was not long, and in minutes, we were aboard the ship. What surprised me however, was when we checked in, we were told our cabin number, which we already knew, and were told to go through to the gangway and onto the ship, and that there was a buffet being served on the Lido deck. There were no directions given to our cabin, which we did find with ease. It was only the day AFTER we sailed that we discovered there was a such a thing as a “Deck Plan”, which we found out about after discovering where the Purser’s desk was. I STRONGLY recommend to Carnival that they pass out deck plans as passengers are boarding. This may seem small, but to those of us first-timers, they’re invaluable!


The Ship:

I was not prepared for the sheer multitude of people I ran into (and ran into, and ran into again…). While this is not a show-stopper, it can lead to over/under – shooting the floor you want to get off of on the elevators. Getting an elevator can be an… interesting… process in of itself. Patience is the name of the game, here. Trying to get information at the Purser’s desk was a chore. I don’t know how it happens on other ships, but this one had a ten person wait in line AT LEAST at any given time, day or night. A solution to this might be to take one of the rooms that see little to no traffic and convert it into a secondary “Information-Getting” area.

I found the ship to be clean, and you have to walk around very off hours to find slices of pizza where no slice of pizza has been before, BUT for the most part, I found the ship was kept well. On a side note, I noticed some art rated PG-13 or higher displayed in public areas, and was not really meant for young eyes to look at.

Three Cheers for the advanced technology propulsion system they had! Not to mention the drug Bonine: We had some pretty rough seas the first and last nights of our cruise, and I’m sure the propulsion system dampened out much of the motion of the sea. If anyone has seen the cartoon where Tweety offers Sylvester a nice, juicy piece of salt pork, you will have an excellent picture of what the ride could have been like. I heard of other couples being thrown around in their beds, but from where we were, the most we experienced was some rocking around and some lurching.


Cabin:

Since this is our first time cruising, I will not be able to comment on whether our stateroom was large or small. What I can say is that we were on the Upper Deck, starboard side, forward, in an interior stateroom. At 6’ 2”, I am in no way the smallest person you would ever meet. That said, I found the cabin to be adequately sized, although I had to often, time my bathroom runs with when my wife was standing in the entranceway or not. Getting in and out of bed at night was complicated, as the only way they were able to push the two twin beds together to form a queen/king was to shove a twin bed next to the wall, the shove the other twin bed next to that.

I’ve read numerous reviews from people complaining about the air conditioning on their various cruises: There’s NOOOOO problem with the A/C here! We froze!

We didn’t meet our cabin steward until the day after we sailed. I had no idea I was supposed to meet him before this time, but he did keep our room well-kept.

One of the days, when I was trying to catch a nap, we heard the sounds of construction coming through the walls, which woke me up. We went to the Purser’s desk to complain, and to Carnival’s credit, the noise stopped soon after, and there was a follow-up phone call and letter.

Although the stateroom is really just supposed to be a place you briefly visit to change, nap (?), or otherwise visit for only an hour or two, before venturing out for more shipboard fun, I would probably get an exterior stateroom with a balcony next time, just to see what it’s like.


Food:

The food wasn’t GREAT and TERRIFIC like I read in various other reviews, but it was palatable. Due to our lifestyle being as busy as it is, we eat out often. I was therefore expecting better quality food than what one would find in your average buffet-style restaurant, and that includes the formal dining.

The formal dining was a disappointment: It took them three tries to get my steak right one night, and on the rest of the nights, it usually took them at least one try to get the steak right, and it also took me a couple attempts to get the waiter to understand that I didn’t want dressing on my salad. When I asked one waiter for salad without dressing, he said the salads were already pre-made with dressing (huh?). I don’t know if he just didn’t understand what I was saying, or if he just didn’t want to be bothered with taking my “special order”. HOWEVER, once the waiter(s) understood what I wanted, all went well from there in the salad department.


Service:

The service was good. There was a considerable language barrier, however, which at times I found to be rather annoying, especially when I was asking someone a question, and some of the bridge officers could also stand to read “People Skills 101.” Still, the service itself was good. I can remember several very helpful crew members in the buffet restaurant who went out of their way to help me. Two of the nights, we walked into our stateroom to find towel animals on our beds, and this was a nice touch, and there was always a brochure with the next day’s activities waiting for us each evening.


Entertainment:

Much of the entertainment centered around drinking, gambling, and shows with costumes that definitely did not warrant a “G” rating – if you know what I’m talking about. Neither my wife nor I gamble or drink, and I personally don’t go for those kinds of shows, so there wasn’t a whole lot left over to do after that. The game show was fun, and the cruise director was a pretty good game show host. There were also a couple trivia contests, ice-carvings, and other such activities available. Still, I would have enjoyed a wider variety of activities than what was offered: A movie, perhaps?

I DID try one of the shows – “SPIN” – and it was okay. Being a musician, I appreciated the band, which was very good. In fact, I give a “thumbs-up” to all of the musicians on board. There was a classical trio in the atrium consisting of flute, piano, and cello, and there was a jazz trio in the rear lounge.

In retrospect, I’m probably not giving the entertainment as glowing a review as it deserves. It rained almost constantly from the day we boarded until the day we docked, so we didn’t intend or use many of the activities/amenities because of this. It’s also because of the bad weather that there probably wasn’t as much TV footage as they would normally have hoped for. This caused them to endlessly repeat the footage they DID manage to get over and over and over again. You can only watch clips of the “Men’s Hairy Chest Contest” (don’t ask…) so many times before you start going a little wakka-wakka.

A word to the wise: DO NOT go on a cruise in the Bahamas in or around mid-December. Any money saved by cruising during the off-season will be spoiled by the rainy weather and overcast skies.


Ports:

We were both not impressed with Freeport, and I would not recommend it to anyone. The port of Freeport is in an industrial area with many factories and ship loading facilities surrounding it. As far as I can tell - and I could have missed something here - there was a small beach, a shopping area, and that was pretty much it.

Nassau was much nicer. The weather behaved, too (yeah!). If I had time, I would have rented a car and explored the island. We spent a solid few hours at Atlantis, and it was well worth the time and taxi fare to see. “The Dig” is a must-see. The downtown area was a nice walk, but be forewarned of the drivers: They slow down for no pedestrian.

In most cases, the merchants were aggressive, but not obnoxiously so, at either port. A solid “No, Thank you” and a livening of your step will lose anyone who’s more persistent.

Getting on and off the ship to go to these ports was a breeze.

We avoided the excursions because we wanted to explore the area ourselves. If I may suggest, this is actually the best way to see the ports. By the time most everyone on the ship was waking up and thinking about an excursion, my wife and I had already gone ashore, seen what we wanted to see, purchased what we wanted to purchase, and then came back to the ship, all of which with very few crowds and lines to deal with.


Debarkation:

After reading many stories and reviews about the almost-controlled madness known as “Debarkation”, I won’t elaborate on this too much except to say this:

- Have ALL of your information (final bill, etc.) in hand and ALL of your questions answered the night before debarkation. DO NOT expect to get information (or anything else, for that matter) from the Purser’s desk the morning of and during debarkation.

- The Pre-Debarkation talk is most informative and helpful, and I recommend attending it – heed the warnings about not packing your travel papers (I, fortunately, was spared that…) – , which leads me to my next point which is:

- If it’s at all possible, use self-debarkation. Although there’s a certain convenience to leaving the bags for the porter the night before, this means the morning after you will have to go to a separate room with about 2,000 other people all clamoring to find their luggage, which has been sorted by the color baggage tag you have been given. Did I mention the REAAALLY long line to get to that room with the 2,000 people? We found self-debarkation to be much more efficient, even though we toted our own bags.


Summary:

This cruise was good, but not great, and in many cases, I was disappointed with what I saw.

I don’t know if I was expecting too much; I know I’m not the “Party ‘Till You Drop”/Clubbing type; and I know the weather was most certainly a contributing factor to my disappointment. Nonetheless, the jury has been ordered to NOT render a final verdict about cruising until at least one more cruise has been taken. That way, I’ll know for sure as to whether cruising is really my cup of tea or not.

I would not choose to go on Carnival the next time around, and I would most certainly not choose to go at the time of year that I did, but overall we enjoyed cruising, and we most certainly will try it again, and I also know I would try a bigger ship next time around.

I’ve already begun checking out other cruise lines and ships, and if anyone wants to e-mail me with suggestions for cruises that offer a more Disney-like atmosphere and set of activities please do so at mylesschuster@bellsouth.net. I will appreciate any helpful suggestions you may have. I’ve already got Disney Cruise Lines on the consideration list, but it’s VERY expensive. If anyone has any insight as to why Disney Cruise Lines is worth twice as much (if not more) than any other cruise line, once again, that is helpful information.

To conclude, The favorite memory of our cruise for both my wife and I is sitting out on deck – when the weather permitted – at the back of the ship, and watching the wake and the ocean go by.

 

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