This was a great cruise!! We really enjoyed our ship, the Carnival Elation. The ship was well-kept. The rooms were a little dated, but the dining areas and recreation areas were much more modern. Our assigned table for dinner was right next to a window so that was really cool. This was our first cruise, and we had a blast. The ship was big, but not overly big so it was easy to navigate. Take the stairs- it's a great workout to burn off all the food you will eat and save the time from waiting for an elevator! We had 4 people in our room, and it worked out surprisingly well!

The biggest critique of this ship would be that the pools were very small. They weren't big enough to be able to stay in them because of the amount of people in them. But I think this is a critique of many cruise ships and not just pertaining to this ship. The waterslide was a lot of fun. The crew and staff were great. Our activities director, Kevin, was a lot of fun and made it very memorable. It did get annoying with all the alcohol venders roaming throughout the ship in addition to all the alcohol references on-board, so I would be careful about bringing children into that type of environment. There was an on-board band, Aqua Fermata, that we really enjoyed listening too.

The nighttime entertainment was great. If you like to workout while on a cruise, their fitness center was great! A lot of equipment and the treadmills were faced towards to the front windows of the ship so it was a great view! I ran the track on the top deck which surrounded mini-golf, and I really enjoyed running there. Overall, it was an awesome stay and we are looking forward to doing another cruise soon!