What a ride!! 1st time cruise went far beyond expectations. The ELATION is a beautiful ship.

We left North Texas on Sunday a day early because of an ice storm. We had till Monday to get there so I wanted to go early to make sure we had plenty of time. Saw many wrecks on the way down to Galveston around Dallas but after passing Ennis it was clear sailing except for the Drizzle to Galveston. It was 30 degrees in Dallas with freezing light rain and drizzle. We arrived at the motel on the beach 7 hours later after leaving home; the rates were great for the winter 52.00 a night with free continental breakfast. It was a 361 mile drive. They had free parking for cruise guests but leaving our car outside in a rear parking lot of a motel was not our cup of tea. We elected to go to EZ cruise parking after booking on-line for 40.00 and receiving a 5.00 off per car booking. This lot is also unattended at night but a 12 foot fence and razor wire seems to fit our idea of a little bit more security then the motel. We woke up early Monday morning and headed to the beach to check out the sights. It was 39 degrees, cold for them, so we decided not to spend any time at the beach. We headed down the strip about a mile to the local Wally World and picked up things we had forgotten for the trip and then headed for the ship. When we turned the corner off of the main street, there she was. She took your breath away she was so big.

We located the EZ Cruise parking lot about two blocks from the ship, and parked our car. As soon as we parked the staff at EZ cruise was there to unload our car and load them in there van for the trip to the Terminal. When we arrived they unloaded our luggage and we tipped 1.00 per bag and he was happy. He told us not to let the handlers get our bags after unloading at the Terminal because we only had to go in the door to check in our luggage, then we had to walk a LONNNNNNNNNNG ways to the check in process with our carry-on luggage. We checked our entire heavy luggage at this time and added the tags to them before leaving. We walked to the other end of the Terminal and up to the second d floor for our first check-in for Sign and Sail cards and showed all of our documents, tickets, birth certificate, marriage licenses, etc. they then issued or cards and we headed for the next line to have our first ship photos taken. After going thru this line you walk down another long corridor and arrive at another place where they take your security picture so that every time you get on or off the ship you put your sign and sail card in a reader and it will pop up your picture so they are sure its you. Makes us feel safer with the added security. Read more