Prior to boarding the ship on 4/9/07 we spent three nights at the Hard Rock Hotel in Orlando. Awesome accommodations and Universal was great! We drove rental car to agent near port and took shuttle to the ship. This was our second time cruising with our two young boys. First time was with Royal Caribbean and the experience was great!
Embark: Elation Ship: We had pass ports, all went fast and smooth. We were on board within 15 minutes. We booked two connecting rooms with carnival. Our boys are 5 and 12. We originally had a quad and our "vacation planner" called and said we can put you in a connecting room for an additional 80.00 dollars, ocean view. As long as the cabins are connected that would work for us That sounded like a great deal, so we agreed. However when we got to our rooms, they were not connected. I immediately called our "vacation planner" and she said she couldn't see the screen since the ship was sailing today. She said there was nothing that they could do. The rooms were side by side but not connected. We checked with the purser desk and were told the ship was booked and nothing could be done. In fact, there are no connecting rooms on the ship at all. The vacation planner knew this, and sold us something that didn't even exist. So needless to say my husband and I were not able to sleep in the same cabin the entire cruise. Activities: One of the reasons we chose carnival was because of the large water slides. My 5 year old was told he was not old enough to go down the slide. The requirement says "48" inches, yet my son could ride certain rides 48 inches at Universal. Because of the restrictions on the slide, we had one son in the pool slide and one in a separate pool to watch over. Food: Early seating in the Inspiration Dining Room. Food was good. Tiffany's buffet was fair. Staff: Room Stewards and Dinner Team were nice and good with our boys. Shows: Did not enjoy any of these. Camp Carnival had children watching shows were the women were dancing around in thongs...
Port of Call: (1) Grand Turks & Caicos: Short stop with our time spent at the pool at Margaritaville. Nicest Margaritaville we have seen, has swim up bar. (2)Half Moon Cay: Our favorite port of call. We didn't want to leave this beautiful place. Beautiful blue water and white sandy beaches! This is carnivals own private island and we had a barbeque while we were on the island. What a great place to soak up the sun. (3) Nassau: Another short stop, had enough time to do a little shopping. We chose not to do any excursions this time and do what we wanted. It worked out best for us. Other: The entire cruise was very rocky. nausea medication did not even help.