My husband's extended family and I just got back from the Carnival Cruise Elation over Christmas. It was the first cruise for most of us. I had read the reviews and it was very helpful. We were traveling with 13 family members, including our "kids" ranging in ages 8-22.

We drove over from Dallas Saturday afternoon and stayed at the La Quinta where we could park our car for free the week of the cruise. We got to the pier at 11:30 a.m. and breezed through embarkation. The picture taking went quickly and were in Tiffanys for lunch.

We were disappointed in our room steward, who never introduced himself until we complained about midway through about his lack of service. He didn't seem to know when we were out of the cabin and were dissatisfied when we weren't able to get clean towels, etc. Carnival did adjust our bill for this and we did have sufficient service the rest of the week. Read more