Just off the Elation out of NOLA. We have cruised several cruise lines before so we have others to compare to. We drove form KCMO 14 hrs the days before sailing. Sent the night in Slidell LA at La Quinta. It was a nice and reasonably price motel. Would definitely recommend it to anyone. We got up the next morning to drive to the port about 30 minutes away. We parked in the Port of NOLA garage, paid $80.00 for 6 days. The convenience to the embarkation location was outstanding. We parked around 9:45 am checked in then the waiting began. We finally got onboard around 11:45 am. There were some folks that had the FTTF and they only got on board a few minutes before us. Our cabins were not ready until 12:30 so we went up to lido to have a quick bite before exploring. We did stop by the cabin to drop off bags and was informed by steward that they were to ready yet. We were not interested in hanging around the cabin anyway. We did change into our swim suites up on the lido to hang around the pool prior to muster drill. The drill was at 3:00 and we had to go to a lounge for the safety talk. We proceeded to out tender locations shortly after.

The whole drill was pretty quick. Then time for the sail away party. It was pretty fun. We did not make it to main dining room that night as we had a bit too much fun. We ate diner on lido that night and was very disappointed. Food was not good and not a big selection. The rest of the evening meals we did make it to the MD. The food was all good there. Our servers were not overly friendly, but no problems. We had breakfast and lunches at the lido everyday. The Mongolian Grill is wonderful! I had it 3 times. I wasn't overly impressed with the buffet food but wasn't dissatisfied either.We did not go on expecting the Ritz. We did not go to the shows, tried one and ended up leaving. The comedians were ok. The Karaoke was very entertaining. The MC, Ty, is fabulous. She is so cute and talented.

The 2 ports Progresso & Cozumel: Progresso we did the dune buggies to the ruins & a beach. Glad that we did it once, would not do it again. I did not feel real safe. The buggies did not have brake lights. There are no stop lights in the area at all and the other drivers were crazy. It was hot by the end of the tour, sun beating down, Would not recommend it. We did Paradise Beach on our own in Cozumel. It was wonderful. Will definitely do it again. The two days at sea were nice. There were NO chair hogs at all. I was so surprised. We never had a problem finding chairs by the pool at all, anytime of the day. Pleasant surprise. Read more