We had a great time on the Elation! I have only been on the Jubilee, and this cruise was 1000X better!...we cannot wait to go again very soon!
I went with my husband, Brother-in-Law, MIL, and FIL. The in-laws live in North Houston, so we decided to leave on Sunday morning around 9:30. That put us in Galveston around 11:00. My husband's grandmother volunteered to drive us down so that we would not have to pay the parking fee ($10/day!). By the time we got up to the place where they let passengers out, it was around 11:15-20. There was lots of traffic because people were still being picked up from the previous cruise.
We decided not to let the porters take our luggage. That saved some money and it was a great decision. You just take your luggage about 10 steps and check it in yourself. We will never give our luggage to porters again!