Carnival Elation Review

Great little ship, fantastic cruise

Review for the Western Caribbean Cruise on Carnival Elation
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Mutumbojimbo
2-5 Cruises • Age 50s

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Sail Date: Dec 2014
Cabin: Ocean View

We selected this cruise as a graduation present for my wife. When I asked her where she’d like to go, she said that she really wanted to see some of the Mayan ruins. After looking at the various excursions that Carnival offered, she decided that Uxmal was her choice, as you have so much access to the site, and that meant that our choices were the Elation or the Triumph. We chose the Elation as the dates worked better, we had never been to New Orleans, and we could drive that distance which left more money for onboard and my wife did not have to limit her wardrobe. We were accompanied by my wife’s cousin, Pat, my mother, and my wife’s best friend, Michelle, and her husband for a party of 6.

The week before our cruise my wife and Michelle went shopping for a graduation dress. Instead of buying one dress at Belk or a fancier store, she found 6 at Marshall’s and Ross and suddenly, driving to the port seemed like an excellent decision. The dresses all required separate shoes, so I quickly printed another luggage tag too. On Saturday, my wife fulfilled her dreams and graduated Law School, we celebrated and then drove home so we could finish (start?) packing and get the house ready for the couple that came to sit with our kids.

We left Chattanooga about 9 on Sunday; it’s an easy, but boring drive straight down I-59. We made a couple stops, but were at our hotel by around 5 and quickly found the rest of our party. We stayed at the Quality Inn Maison St. Charles. I thought the hotel was charming; it’s a collection of refurbished buildings around a courtyard. Our room was nicely decorated and comfortable. A trolley line runs right out front to Bourbon St. and there were plenty of restaurants within a block or two. We ate at Zea’s, the food was delicious, then went across the street and West one block to the Blind Pelican, where we had grilled oysters for “second dessert”.

Cabin Review

Ocean View

Cabin 6D

Carnival offers basic cabins, but you 'll find everything that you'll need. We had a hair dryer which is not always the case on a Fantasy Class ship. I like being high enough to take the stairs to most locations, but we chose the Upper Deck as to make sure that we were not beneath the galley or show lounge. I was surprised that the televisions were not updated during the recent drydock but they were good enough.

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