My adult daughter and I took our second cruise on the Elation on May 30 from Mobile, AL. We stayed at the Microtel in Saraland, AL and did their "Park and Cruise" option. We arrived before our room was ready after making the 8 hour drive from Missouri. The clerk felt sorry for us and bumped us up to a suite at no extra charge. Our room was great. After resting a bit we drove down to Dauphin Island and visited Ft. Gaines and spent a little time on the beach. It was Memorial Day weekend and things were crowded but we are glad we went. The next day we enjoyed the hotel's free breakfast then were in the first van to be shuttled to the cruise ship pier. We left the hotel at 10:30 and were on the boat before noon. This was the easiest embarkation I've ever had in 5 cruises.The Elation left right on time. (Our last Elation cruise left 30 minutes late)A Mobile Harbor Police boat escorted us for part of the way. There were a few clouds and sprinkles as we were leaving but nothing to put a damper on any one's spirits. We attended the Welcome Aboard Show that evening and even though it is the same show on all the ships I've been on, it was still fun. The CD, Steve, had all the veterans stand up and be recognized which I thought was nice for them. The rest of the evening was spent in the casino and getting reacquainted with the Elation. The next evening we attended the show "Just Rock" as well as the two "R" rated comedy shows which were hilarious. The Thursday night show "Win" was a little less enjoyable but still a good time. During our 5 days we played Bingo, did the towel folding class, the Family Feud game, Newlywed Game, some dance classes and too many other things to mention. We have no complaints about this cruise and loved out time there. There were less "problems" on this cruise than any of our previous. A few times the ice machines weren't working and once there was a problem with the elevators but nothing major. There were a lot of high school senior trips on the cruise (662 seniors according to the cruise director) but they were for the most part very well behaved. I have cruised on the Triumph and I prefer the Fantasy class ships. While on board I put down a $100 deposit on a future cruise and now have 2 years to book the cruise. For doing this I'll receive an automatic on board credit of $50 to $200 depending on the length of the cruise. I'm already booked for a December 2011 cruise! Our debarkation was super easy. We did the self assist like always and were off the ship and through customs in record time. Once outside the pier, we called Microtel and were back to the hotel in less than 30 minutes. This was my most problem free cruise to date!