We sailed the Elation on 5/1/05. We cannot say enough good things about this trip. We spent Saturday night before the trip at Holiday Inn on the Beach. Great hotel and great room. We chose this hotel so we could leave our car there and be shuttled back and forth to the port. However, when we arrived, the earliest shuttle was at 12:30 so we opted for a cab.
We arrived at the cruise terminal at 11:15am ($11 cab fare). We were immediately escorted to the Skipper's Club check in . We were the only people there at the time checking in to Skipper's club so it was very quick and painless. We were then escorted to a separate waiting area and boarded the ship around 11:45am after those with special needs and a wedding party. We could not help ourselves and went straight to our room. We were pleasantly surprised to find our room ready for us.
This is only our second cruise and our first cruise was in 1998. We had read a lot of negative reviews about the ship and I live by the saying that a cruise is only what you make it. Our room was a great size for the two of us. Our balcony was actually larger than I expected after reading other reviews. We were toward the front of the ship so the entire cruise was very quiet. Never even heard a tv or hairdryer from the rooms next door. We spent the rest of the day exploring the ship and attended the meet and greet set up to meet our Cruise Critic friends.