Cruise Review - Carnival Elation 12/5/04

Pre-Cruise: We (husband and myself, our 7th cruise, and my mother-in-law, her 2nd cruise) arrived in Galveston the evening before the cruise and stayed at the Best Western Beachfront. Hotel was easy to find. Rooms were clean, but not fancy. They offered a continental breakfast and we were able to leave our car parked there right in front of the building. They called a cab for us at the front desk and it arrived very promptly. When I saw the jam of traffic and people at the cruise terminal, I was very glad we had opted for the hotel parking/taxi option.

Embarkation: We arrived shortly after 11:00 a.m. We breezed through the check-in process in about ½ hour with very friendly people at the counters. We found out as we were checking in that they had changed the itinerary: Progresso - Tuesday, Belize - Thursday, Cozumel - Friday due to an extreme congestion of ships in Cozumel on Wednesday, the day we were supposed to be there. No problem, always glad to avoid an 11-ship day in Cozumel! We were on the ship and in Tiffany's (the Lido restaurant) about 12:30 p.m. Our rooms were not ready yet, but our steward (who we met very briefly then for the only time) let us leave our carry-on bags there. One pet peeve with embarkation.....having to pose for the silly embarkation picture. But, I suppose that delay paces the people trying to get on board so they don't get all backed up. Read more