First off - a cruise is exactly what you make of it. This is our third time sailing on the Elation and her sister ship, the Ecstasy (8/4/14 - 8/9/14). Yes they are dated, and yes, they are some of the smaller cruise ships in the fleet. You will get past the dated decor after the first day so don't let that bother you. But here is a great advantage of the smaller ships - you will meet the most wonderful people on the cruise and you will get to see them all the time! Because of the layout of the ship, you will always run into the same people over and over. On the bigger ships, this will never happen. All four of us (two adults in their late 50s and two adults in their mid 20s) said the smaller ship is the way to go (after sailing on the Carnival Magic two years ago). We loved playing the trivia games as a break from the pool area - plus that's where we saw all our new friends!

A shout out to our wonderful cabin steward, Warin - I tipped her up front and told her that both our cabins would need lots of ice and she sure delivered! Filled ice buckets twice a day in each room. Plus anything else we ever needed, she was right there to help.

We chose the Anytime Dining and really like the flexibility of that option. We ate anywhere from right when it opened at 5:45 one day to as late as 9:15 another night. Read more