Hello! My wife and I traveled with our best friends, Randy and Amy, their parents, and Amy's aunt and grandmother. There were 10 of us in all. We left on the Elation on 9/12.
Embarkation was not too bad. We drove to Galveston on Saturday and stayed the night at a hotel on the seawall. We arrived at the ship about 10am. We were one of the first groups to arrive and waited in the terminal while 3 different wedding parties were brought on 1st. Once the line got moving, I would say we passed through all the checkpoints and were on board by about 12:15.
We went right to our cabin and were able to put our stuff away before heading to Tiffany's for lunch and to watch some football.There was a lot to absorb for us first time cruisers, and we tried to explore a little that afternoon. The muster drill was pretty painless, and then it was up to the deck to watch us leave the port.