Carnival Elation Review
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My family and I (5 of us) returned a few days ago from a 4-day cruise to Cabo San Lucas on Carnival Elation. First, let me say we had a wonderful time! I can't compliment the staff enough for making it a memorable experience. I've found other's reviews very helpful as we prepared for our first cruise, so I'll give you some thoughts of what we experienced:
Embarkation: We arrived in San Diego around noon and parked at the Laurel Travel Center (about 1 mile from the pier). Their rates are significantly less than the lot across from the pier and their parking is covered with 24-hour security. (The $2/day coupon on their website also helped!) They have a quick shuttle service to the pier and we were in the port building within 10 minutes. The crowds had already gathered for check-in by the time we arrived, but even so, we were on the ship within 40 minutes. We packed swimsuits and a change of clothes in a separate bag in case we didn't get our luggage until later that day, but we didn't need the suits: the pools didn't open until the following day! We wandered around the ship until our rooms were ready about 1:45 pm. Our luggage arrived about one hour later.
Food: We were very pleased with the food and the food service! We ate dinner every evening in the Dining Room and enjoyed it very much. (I would have preferred sitting at a table with just my family—there were five of us—but our 5 tablemates were pleasant and cordial.) Menu selections were all very good, but I would highly recommend the dishes identified as "George Blanc Signature Selection". Those were especially delicious! My son and I enjoyed ordering several appetizers and entrees each night and trying new foods out. We ate in the dining room for dinner and started out eating breakfast and lunch there, but soon found that Tiffany's had very similar food (if not the same) and was a quicker option for breakfast and lunch. Our kids loved the soft-serve ice cream. The pizza and calzones were OK, but they would only make the varieties on the posted menu (we asked). The made-to-order omelets were delicious! We didn't purchase the soda cards, and we didn't need to—plenty of lemonade, fruit punch, juices, etc. We aren't big soda drinkers anyway.