Carnival Elation

Pros: Service and price
Cons: Not enough time at each port

My sailing date was Jan 30, 2000. It was a 7 day cruise and I would recommend to anyone. There is a lot to do on the trip. You can eat all you want and you are treated first class anywhere you go. The rooms are very clean and are attended to almost 24...

Pros: Good food, lots of fun, many thing's to do with kids.
Cons: Salt water pools, crowded tanning decks, small rooms.

When me and my family went on the cruise to Mexico it was fantastic. There was plenty to do and enough time to do it all. If you get off the ship be sure to go to Chico's Paradise. This is a restraunt out a ways from Puerto Vallarta, and they will let...

Pros: multiple activities
Cons: wether can get cold

The Elation was a fabulous ship with many things to do. I went on a seven day cruise to Mexico, where we docked at Puerto Vallarta, Mazatlan, and Cabo San Lucas. I have been on many cruises before, but this one was the best by far. I went with one...

Pros: The shore excursions were great.
Cons: Most everything else.

We recently traveled on the Carnival Elation and were horribly dissappointed with our experience. The ship was not in good repair (stained and ripped carpet in the hallways). Our first room had wet carpet and after 24 hours we noticed an unbearable smell. We were then moved to a smoking room which, while better than the smell of the first room, was a source of frustration throughout the week. The ship always seemed cold and there wasn't a way to control the temperature in the room. The food was not that fantastic and the entertainment was not at all family friendly. I had been under the impression that this cruise was all inclusive for the most part, but did not find that to be the case. Every time we turned around they were trying to charge us for something else ($2.50 per soda or $45 per person for the week, spa "seminars" that were sales pitches for $300 worth of vitamins, etc.). This was our first cruise, but overall I was not impressed by Carnival and would never cruise them again.

Pros: Will not cruise on this line EVER again...stay away from this cruise line
Cons: Too many to list...dirty ship, too many kids, no activities, expensive sodas/drinks, dingy cabins...

I get nauseous just seeing the Carnival name. A couple of years ago I was on this ship for the Ensenada/Catalina cruise. I had the worst time of my life and I have taken many previous cruises. After contracting pink eye from the ship being extremely dirty I had to go the ships doctor (which was the most interesting part of the cruise!) and after a couple of hundred dollars out of my own pocket got medicine for it. There were no activities on board and ship is set up terribly. After complaining to the cruise line and getting a useless 15% voucher which I trashed I will NEVER cruise with this company again. Go Royal Caribbean for a GREAT time!

Pros: I lived. The ship was very clean and cabins larger than expected.
Cons: Incredible motion. If you fear being trapped (as I do); cruising is NOT the answer.

We were on a family reunion on the June 5, 2005 cruise. Since I had never cruised before; I read many reviews and was wearing a motion sickness patch the whole time. What no one pointed out in the reviews I read is that you are *STUCK* on the boat. You cannot get in your car and drive away. Tropical storm Allison (a very weak storm) entered the gulf over by Florida and Georgia which made the Elation a roller coaster ride from Belize all the way back to Galveston. I shudder to think what it would have felt like if a hurricane had been in the Gulf. I did not feel like eating for those three horribly long days at sea at all. *IF* I ever cruise again; it will only be an Alaskan cruise in sheltered channels. It took me 3 days of being off the ship before the ground stopped moving up and down.

Pros: great weather!
Cons: ineffectual staffing, poor communications, poor baggage handling, unsatisfactory response from corporate office.

A friend and I traveled the carnival Elation in Feb. 2005. Despite the hype for a great trip, lost luggage pretty much ruined the fun. Four pieces of luggage taken off the bus and placed on the ship, two were misplaced. Daily wear for my friend and evening wear for me were among the missing.

The pursers were much less than helpful. The steward staff could not account for the loss, and a "complete" search of cabins netted nothing. (THE LUGGAGE TURNED UP AT THE END OF THE CRUISE, HAVING BEEN PLACED IN THE CABIN ACROSS THE HALL)

Letters to the cruise line remain unsatisfactory, offering a 10% discount for a cruise that will not happen on Carnival again. How much inconvenience can you afford for a 10% discount?

Pros: Half Moon Cay and Grand Turk
Cons: Can't think of any!

Here is to you cruisers who like the islands where you just relax. My favorite stops were; Half Moon Cay and Grand Turk. Both of these islands were a day of paradise where you could just relax and not worry about anything except enjoying the beach and/or pool on Grand Turk. The ship was A rated and the sushi bar was great. The entertainment was par for Carnival ships and service was great in the dining room. I would say this was my most memorable cruise as I was celebrating my thirtieth anniversary.This was my seventh cruise-so I have others to compare it to. I hope that Carnival keeps this itinerary as it has been my favorite, so far.

Pros: Ports were great once you got away from Carnival.
Cons: Too many people, their ill-behaved kids, and some safety and health issues

Basically this was a sea going bus ride. With 3500 passengers on board standing in lines was a constant. Twenty minute waits at the buffets were typical. After tendering onto Grand Cayman we stood around in the sun for over 2 hours waiting for our tour to start and again waiting for a tender to get back to the ship. Getting into Cozumel required a 90 minute wait as did getting out. Finally we had to wait 5 hours to debark. Of course our Cruise Director reporting this was all beyond Carnival's control but one began to wonder what if anything was under their control. All of this was compounded by a crew attitude that seemed to see the passengers as a single great mass of annoying people who needed to be transported from one point to another instead of individuals who each paid a good deal of money to be there.

Overall, if you like standing in large groups of people drinking expensive booze while your kids a running around who knows where bothering who know who then this is the boat for you!

Pros: Great food at dinner
Cons: Long miserable check ins and debarkations

The Carnival Elation cruise we took (week of Feb 29, 2004 thru March 6, 2004 was Ok. It had the best and most consistent food at the main dinner event of any of the 3 cruises we have been on. Nice ship, good staff, ok destinations.
BUT . . . getting on and getting off the ship in Galveston is the worst experience I have ever had. Long lineups at immigration, then getting your picture taken, then getting thru security, then getting your "on board sail pass" took close to two hours in a hot, unorganized room.
It was almost as bad getting off and the line up to get a cab was not controlled and very poorly done.
The city itself is relatively new to cruisin - it shows. Lots of "closed" shops in the area, not much to see and the hotels rip you off Saturday nite b4 the cruise. (eg $100 for Saturday nite - $55- 65 any other nite.

Pros: I would have been a great trip. The Elation looked to be a fun ship.
Cons: It ruin our honeymoon trip by cancelling and not refunding the money in timely fashion.

We book a trip on the Elation. Three weeks before the trip it was canceled. Leaving us with no trip and no money to book us a new trip with anyone else. We are simply screwed and not in a good way. A once in a life time change gone. What little faith I had in cruise lines is gone. I hope anyone using Carnival in future doesn't do what we'll done, trust them with most of your vacation money. We will get the money eventually. But not in time to go on our honeymoon. After calling Carnival to work something out, they said "sorry" and then offer us a cruise for a lot more money. I not for sure if its bait and switch, but sure sounds like it to me. So every time we see one of their commercials, we get a little irritated. All we wanted is to have a nice honeymoon which we can't.

John Patton