Family vacation with a 2 year old Toddler

We had a good experience with booking the cruise. We did end up buying payment protection because with a little one you just never know what can happen. However we did run into a issue where we were not able to travel at one point and when we called back literally the next day we could not have cancelled because we would lose 50% of our deposit and we had to wait for the 3rd party trip protection to reimburse us.

We ended up going!! This cruise ship Elation was one of the oldest ships so it was not as not as the ones we went with Royal Caribbean. It did offer the same things as others but the pool/deck area looked a bit old and other things in the ship. We traveled November 9th so the weather from New Orleans was cold... bring winter things as even in the summer time it can get chilly at night especially being outside.

The cruise offered CAMP CARNIVAL which I highly recommend for everyone, we were able to drop out little one off for few hours (no charge) while me and the husband enjoyed a little time to our selves. After 10pm there is a hourly charge which we did not mind, we did 2 nights of us going to dinner alone.

We ended up purchasing the excursion and if you are going to Progresso, we highly recommend All Inclusive Resort I believe its called Reef, they had a small kiddy pool, their buffet was amazing and who doesn't like all inclusive private beach/pool to just your group. We did run into a big dilemma when we arrived because the guy told us to be back at the spot by 9:45AM that is when the bus leaves for the island. When we arrived we were told that we had to wait additional 30mins for the second bus because the first one was filled up. We were never advised of this and ended up causing a stir because I was not going to wait and waste another hour of our time at the beach because their bus filled up. That was their responsibility to know how many people can book a excursion and I felt bad for anyone left behind. We ended up going with the first bus and the resort was just amazing.

The cruise it self had only 50 kids, but overall it was a pleasant stay. The staff both at night dining and throughout the cruise are just lovely and pleasant. Will definitely travel again just not with Elation, I will look into other newer ships that probably offer more things for the kids.