Carnival Elation Review

Carnival Elation--What a way to bring in the New year!

Review for the Western Caribbean Cruise on Carnival Elation
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cntla
First Time Cruiser • Age 50s

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Sail Date: Dec 2011
Cabin: Interior
Traveled with children

I had read lots of reviews to try to get acquainted with what we needed, what to do and how to do it. It all was helpful. We arrived to New Orleans a day ahead as I didn't want to risk not getting there in time to board due to unforeseen circumstances. We stayed at the La Quinta in GRETNA!! Clean not fancy at all but staff very nice and helpful. It literally is about 5-10 minutes to the French Quarter and to the Port. I would definitely recommend it if you are looking for a one or 2 night stay before or after your cruise and don't want to spend a lot of money. It also has free parking. You can park your vehicle here while you cruise also and take a taxi to the port. (about $17 for taxi one way for 4) we did choose to just park at the port since we are a family of 5 and would have had to have a van taxi which is more like $25 plus tip, etc. and then a taxi back. It would have saved us a little bit of money but knowing that when we got off the ship we were getting in our vehicle and headed home was more appealing.

Upon arrival at the port, everyone is very helpful and friendly and you move thru the stages quite quickly. Security was similar to the airport and easy to get thru. Check in, getting sail and sign card and welcome aboard pic all easy and smooth......We arrived about 11:45 am to the port. We boarded, went to the Lido deck for lunch and walked around. They said our rooms would be ready by 1:30 and they were. Our luggage was there by 5 all of it which was nice. We departed late and everything seemed to be running a bit late because of that. Not a big deal really though. Because it was New Year's Eve they did not have a meet and greet. I think this may have changed the way people interacted a bit. We really didn't meet a lot of people on this cruise. Our kids that attended the camp carnivals (Circle C and O2) did though. We also had anytime dining so we didn't have dining mates either...which was good and bad.

Our room...everyone warned us it would be small and it was!! However not a big deal for us as we usually vacation in our pop up camper. Plus, we didn't book this trip to spend time in our cabin. Our room was always clean and our beds turned down each night while we were at dinner. A family of 5 can fit in an interior state room. 2 beds fold down from the walls a trundle bed under one and the other 2 twins make into a king under the other. USE the space under the bed to store suitcases. The vanity in the bathroom was plenty big for all of our bathroom items. I did buy a mesh shower bag thing that hangs over the shower head to hold those items. It worked well. I had seen a post about bringing suction cups to help hang items to dry...didn't work due to little tiles so no suction. There is not a shower rod so hanging wet items is a bit tricky and as stated in previous posts it takes forever for stuff to dry in the bathroom. Speaking of the bathroom, I found it to be bigger than I expected. There is only one outlet so the advice about a plug in strip would have been nice if you have multiple items that you need to charge. We did not have the strip and it worked out but would have been nice. The irons are in the laundrette (on the Elation that is floor 6 near room 152). There was not a hairdryer in the room but I think you can ask for one?? We made due without it which is fine. The beds we found to be quite comfortable. Because you do not have any sunlight into the room, it is easy to sleep the day away. We set an alarm after the first morning just to stir us so we didn't sleep away the day.

Cabin Review

Interior

Cabin 4C

our room was tiny but fit our family well. use the space under the bed. we didn't plan on using our room except to sleep and change clothes so we were satisfied. It was a great location.

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