We went on the short four night cruise to the Bahamas because the Port of Jacksonville is just twenty minutes down the road from us. I've been on eight or nine Carnival cruises before this and one on Royal Caribbean. I have preferred Carnival.Our last cruise was also on the Elation in 2016, but out of New Orleans, going to the Western Caribbean. The Elation has been recently refurbished and looks pretty good now, although we liked it before also.We were in an outside cabin, M185, on Main Deck. .I feel like the cabins have a slightly new design. Ours had been set with a queen bed, but we got it quickly converted by Yudah, our great room steward, to twin beds and an overhead berth. The setup for twin beds, we feel, isn't as good as the old design. When made into twins, one of them is directly under the berth, and the one in the lower kept hitting her head on the upper. With the old layout this didn't happen. We think the bathroom is a little bigger with a more spacious shower. Anyway, we all prefer Carnival's cabins to RCCL's. The Elation has added a lot of new balcony cabins. They look a little odd, hanging off the side of the ship, but I'm sure they work just fine. There's now a water slide on the top aft for the kids.

Where we thought the ship could be improved was the food. Having been on a number of Carnival cruises, and having worked in the restaurant business, I've always been surprised by the excellent quality of the meals served in the dining rooms. Not so much this time. Here's a recap of some of the dishes, all from the Dining Room (Inspiration):

Pork Chop, always on grill menu: not at all good, grill marks but no char, unlikely that it was grilled, possibly sous vide but I doubt it,no seasoning, no flavor, no taste. Read more