We sailed on the elation on November 16 -20. we were a multi-aged group ranging from 7-65. We were in 3 rooms on the Riviera deck. Two inside cabins and one oceanview. We arrived at the Port around 1 pm. Although looking back we probably could have arrived earlier as some were already onboard. There were no lines to speak of ,maybe 10 minutes to go through security. The longest time we had was filling out the Bahama immigration cards, which were handed out in line and had to fill out for each person, including children On previous cruises we had received these with our tickets. When we first boarded it was confusing to figure out getting around. It took about a day to figure out the easiest routes from the cabins to the Lido buffet etc. some elevators do not go from the lower decks all the way to the top. My first impression of the ship was that it was not as polished and fancy looking as Royal Caribbean's ships. We went to our cabins and then found our way to Tiffany's buffet for Lunch. My husband went to the Burger bar on the outside of Tiffany's and the rest tried the Buffet. I will say that the Buffet is not as good as on RC but we discovered that the best bet for Lunch was the Burger Bar or the Pizza located in the corner of Tiffany's. What the buffets were lacking the Dining room made up for however. We were originally booked for the Imagination Dining room but realized after we boarded that our sign and sail cards said the Inspiration Dining Room. We decided to stick with what was on our S+S and were glad we did. We had a table for 8 near the window. Our waiter was Dennis. He was awesome! Much better than on a previous cruise on RC. The food was great too, plenty to choose from unlike RC. The youngest ordered from the kids menu and loved everything-He is a picky eater too. The waitstaff and even the Maitre'D talked with him and put him at ease. The food was served quickly and with great timing. If you didn't like the featured selections there was always an alternative which included steak. I would definitely rate carnivals dining room food much better than Royal Caribbean's. Our first port of call was Freeport and while you do dock at the industrial side of the island. I was pleasantly surprised by this port. I had been to Nassau before but not Freeport. Disembarking at port was easy and getting a taxi very easy, no hawkers here like at Nassau! There was a central desk area the taxis work out of and a woman arranged a taxi for us. Our driver was great . His name was Uncle. Took us on a little tour on the way to Port Lucaya, very entertaining and informative. He took us to Port Lucaya Marketplace and we agreed on a time for pick up. We walked across the street to the beach and used the Westin's beach. We rented a lounge chair for $10 and received towels to use from the bar. Great day at the beach, grabbed lunch at Subway in the marketplace and did some shopping. It was very clean and uncrowded I would go there again. Nassau was our second stop and unlike Freeport was extremely crowded.It was a Saturday and think at one point there were 10 ships in port. It took a few minutes to go through the welcome building at the port. We walked to the Queens Staircase and Fort Fincastle and went to the Pirates museum-which turned out to be a good surprise worth the money $12 and children are free. Did some shopping but it was very busy. We had a lot of people approaching us for taxis and hairbraiding. My advice when you exit the welcome building head to the right where they rent scooters less people trying to sell you stuff. The children in our group went to Camp Carnival and had a great time. My only complaint they need to have some fun activities earlier in the evening. A lot of the funstuff starts at 10 p.m. and the youngest was worn out by then. They did crafts during the day, played games had a mini golf tournament. The teen club 02 was not open much we had one 17 who found it hard to find things to do. The shows were great I enjoyed the show Rhythm. Our favorite club to hang out was the Romeo and Juliet. Awesome band played there. They were extremely talented played a lot of classic rock and 80's It was a great cruise and would definitely go on Carnival again