My husband and I as well as another family of 5, 2 adults and 3 teens, headed to New Orleans on March 17th. Our cruise on the Elation was set to leave on the 18th, but we opted for a night in New Orleans to avoid any delays. Also, the 17th is St. Patrick's day and we thought it would be FUN to check out the parade in New Orleans.

We arrived to our hotel in Gretna around 3:00 PM. I had called to double check that I had reserved the park and cruise package, however; apon arrival they said we had not booked that and they were sold out of that package. The staff was VERY rude, but the rooms were decent, and breakfast the next morning was nice. Except for the rude man who was never satisfied with the staff. We later saw him on our cruise, still yelling at people. Anyways, back to the evening before. After we got checked in and cleaned up we headed out for dinner. We ended up eating at Bubba Gumps, it was delicious! After dinner we walked around , collected some beads (no flashing was involved), and enjoyed the parade. It was very lively, and I can't even begin to imagine how crazy it gets during Mardi Gras. We headed back to our hotel to get some rest. (yeah right, I was WAY too excited)We woke up the next morning, gathered our luggage, grabbed some breakfast and headed to the port. We arrived about 10:30. We had priority booking and were seated in a room to the side with refreshments. The process went very quickly and then we moved to the main seating area waiting to board. We were on the ship by 11:30! It was fantastic! My husband and I have cruised before, but of course the excitement of being on a different ship was still there. Our friends however, had never cruised before! Half the fun was seeing their excitement!

We headed straight up to the Lido Deck to grab some food. I had food from the wok, one of my most favorites! We walked around, took some pictures, it was SUPER windy that day and a little overcast, but nothing was going to dampen my day! We checked on our rooms, and were told about 15 more minutes. We went and purchased our soda cards, in my opinion TOTALLY worth it, then headed back to our room to check it out. This was my first time having a balcony and I could hardly contain myself! I must admit I was little shocked at the size of the balcony, but it was still AMAZING! The decor was as to be expected of the older ships. Everything was clean, in working order, just a little tacky. Read more