I just returned from 5 days on the Carnival Elation on a trip through the Bahamas, with stops at Grand Turk and Nassau. Our stop at Half Moon Cay was canceled due to bad weather.

This was the first cruise that I'd been on and I'd have to say, overall it was pretty decent. Definitely not a 10/10 in my book, but I'd say a good value nonetheless. The total price that we paid, including gratuities, insurance and whatnot, for an inside cabin on the lowest deck was about $1650 for a family of four with two "senior citizens". Not bad at all, in my book, for what we got.

I found the Elation to be a well kept ship, if slightly garish in a Vegas casino sort of way. The color scheme of the interior was fairly dark colored, and the rooms were definitely old-fashioned appearing, but they were really roomy (for an inside cabin) and the beds and linens were incredibly comfortable. I didn't want to leave them in the mornings! Housekeeping did a pretty good job, though somewhat minimal- putting together the bed nicely twice a day and changing the towels. They did fold some cute towel animals for us a couple times. Read more