I had read many bad reviews on here about the Elation being old, unfriendly staff, sorry food, bad entertainment, etc, etc. Those people must have sailed on a different Elation than me. I loved the Elation!

I will start with embarkation. My grown daughter and I drove from Arkansas to New Orleans (about a 6 1/2 hour drive) arriving at Fulton Parking Place about 1:30. I highly recommend this parking garage. The rate is $12.00 a day $4.00 cheaper than the port parking and they shuttle you to the pier of course. Arriving this late there were no lines. We did not check any luggage we only had carry-ons. Security did go through my bag because I had water. I could not believe the water bottles that were confiscated sitting against the wall containing alcohol. There were hundreds of them. I can't believe people really try to get away with this.I found security to be very friendly.

Our room was ready when we got on the ship. Our room was a porthole at the very front of the ship on Floor 7 Empress which is the floor we had entered on. I was a little leery of being this far forward on the ship but it turned out to be a pleasant surprise. Being at the end of the hall there was no traffic. No doors slamming, no feet going up and down the hall. The steward's closet was beside us but they kept the noise to a minimum and we rarely heard them. We met Seri from Romania our room steward. He was very friendly and always willing to accommodate any need we had. I do have to add that coming into port and dropping the anchors can be loud in the forward rooms but it is only a couple of times and I actually got use to it and enjoyed the sound. lol. Read more