Carnival Elation Review
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Additional details
My wife and I are mid fifties, never been on a cruise before, thought we'd give it a try. Embarkation was from New Orleans, about a five hour drive for us. We drove down the night before embarking and stayed in the Hampton Inn Convention Center planning to drive over to the port parking the next morning. At check-in (late -- around 11:30p) I mentioned we were going on a cruise and they said they had a parking deal (we had already had valet service on the car) for cruises, we could leave our car in their valet parking and take the shuttle. We went for that service, worked great.
We had purchased FTTF, went down for the shuttle at 9:50a (had a scheduled 10a shuttle ride) on cruise morning, driver was there so loaded us up and we were at the port by 10a. Cruised (ha - cruised; see what I did there) through customs and were seated in the FTTF group by 10:15a or so. Went through check-in with Carnival and got our S&S badges pretty quickly and seated to await boarding, but boarding didn't start until around 12:15-12:30p, so a fairly long wait after check-in. The trip up the gangway went quickly and we were on board, greeted by a group of singing staff members as we entered the atrium on deck seven. Found our room quickly (same deck on which we boarded, 7) and my bag was there waiting, my wife's hadn't arrived. We unpacked my bag, explored the ship for awhile, had drinks, got back to the room around 3:30p, wife's bag was there so unpacked it and were set for the cruise.
We had the early 6:00p dining time, and ate in the MDR (first cruise, one acronym learned :) ) every night. Service was excellent, Stephen was our waiter, Syaiful and Carlos assisting, and we never wanted for anything. Food was good to very good every night. We ordered a bottle of wine each night -- cost about 2.5 to 3 times our local liquor shop prices before gratuity. We'll likely take advantage of the "bottle of wine each" option next trip (you're getting a clue of the direction of the review -- there will be a next time) as the $92 bottle we had one night could have been a very nice bottle had we brought it on board and paid the $15 corkage fee.
Cabin Review
Ocean View
We had the cabin laid out as a king bed, it was clean and functional but you could see some wear and tear. Chips on corners, etc. As this was our first cruise, can't comment on space as compared to other rooms but space was limited and most noticeably when we were changing for dinner in the MDR -- but was easily manageable. No place to sit down except the bed and one little stool pushed under the desk. Bed was comfortable, as were the pillows. You could feel where the two twin matresses came together, but we didn't find it a problem.
Electrical outlet in the cabin by the bed worked but was cracked, the one in the bath we couldn't plug anything into (may have needed switched or something, there was what looked like a tab on it) but didn't hinder us as we used the one in the cabin, swapping things out as needed. I brought a long extension cord but didn't need to use it.
The window was reasonably clean, and we did enjoy having the view, opening the curtains during the day to allow the sun in. TV worked fine, when we were in the room it mostly stayed on the channel that had ship info (speed, wind, distance traveled, etc.) and had an inset that swapped between the front camera, the pool camera, and radar info on the area. Given the cheap cost of fairly large flat screens these days, was surprised at how small the TV was, but I guess it is a chunk to the bottom line to upgrade in volume.
Closet space was adequate for our needs; if the same space is provided for those rooms that house four folks, I would think it would be a problem. Shower was fine, sink space limited but adequate, toiletries fit fine in the ample medicine cabinet.
Overall, no problem with the room choice, no problem with the room. We chose near the stairs and found it convenient. Out the door, short hallway, up one flight and we are at the MDR. Up three flights and we are at Tiffany's. We did not have a problem with noise from the elevators or noise from the overhead dining room -- but if you view the deck plans we were sort of under one corner of the dining room, so that may have helped. We did hear noise a couple of times, but not at night when we were heading to bed. Was usually late, though.