Carnival Elation Review
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This cruise was such a great time and turned out better than I thought it would. I have a few minor complaints but there were minimal compared to the awesome time we had. This ship is 20 years old but did not feel like an old ship due to the awesome upgrades it got last year. Guy's Burger Joint and Blue Iguana Cantina were perfect alternatives to the buffet which I typically try to avoid. Red Frog Rum Bar and Blue Iguana Tequila Bar were both excellent and offer a variety of drink options. All of the bars were great (get the Cheers package)! The new WaterWorks splash pad/waterslides were so much fun and even though we were the only adults on them at the time we had an absolute blast. Dining was great with excellent food and service. We did the Sea Day Brunch to enjoy a relaxing meal with excellent food but unfortunately our server was not very friendly and was very short with us. The shows were so enjoyable to watch even though they were exactly the same ones we saw last year on the Splendor. Hopefully Carnival updates them soon before we go again next year. The comedians were hilarious and were a great way to end the night. The lounges were very nice and offered all kinds of activities. I didn't really care for the night club simply because the DJ wasn't very good. The club was very nice and the drinks were nice and strong but the only music played was "gangster rap" music that was incredibly hard to dance to. Everyone on the floor didn't really know how to dance and most were standing around. I would have liked more party dance music like they play at the sail away and deck parties.
Cabin Review
Ocean View
Cabin was a perfect size. Of course bigger would have been better but we have plenty of room for our things, my wife had plenty of mirror space and there was room enough for us to get ready at the same time in the general area. Not big enough for us to be in the bathroom or hallway at the same time but hey, it's a cruise. That is to be expected. I did feel like the room was a little warm even though we had the air on full blast. We had a picture window which was great because when you have the curtains open during the day you have a great view and it makes the room look bigger.
Port Reviews
Jacksonville
This is such a great port to sail out of! Embarkation was the easiest process I've ever had on a cruise. We paid for our parking in advance and breezed through the line, found a spot and walked for less than a minute to the terminal. From the time I parked the car to the time I stepped on the ship it only took 22 minutes! And when we got off the ship we went to the baggage claim, got a porter to load up our bags onto a cart and he walked it all the way to our car and loaded it for us. Ship to car time was 18 minutes. I would recommend going out of this port especially when bringing children or elders because it was so easy.