Not the best of experiences!

Let me start by saying...we cruise a LOT....and I have NEVER felt the need to complain like I am about to do. 

When we was entering the check in at the Jacksonville terminal....we was delighted to be pulled from the line and taken to the priority check-in by a lovely lady. I wish we had gotten her name! Then the lady checking us in was also wonderful! We had high hopes that this was going to be a wonderful cruise!

Then.....we boarded the ship. We have sailed on other carnival ships and was quite happy with them....so we was pretty shocked at the condition of the Elation. Dark, dirty, and the Lido deck is a crazy layout! The main part of the Lido deck was very cluttered looking with the waterslide, pool (which is very small), a raised  & covered dance floor. They lost that open airy feeling other ships have.  Im not a smoke but my husband is....and the only places for smokers is either in the casino or in one section of the Lido deck. Both places are VERY noisey which made it hard to have conversations with others. 

As for the food.....very pedestrian at best. We are foodies, I am a chef, so we usually look forward to the food. The buffet was a joke. We heard MANY MANY people complaining about the taste, temperature and lack of variety of food at the buffet. The staff serving at the buffet line was very stoic to rude. And there was ALWAYS long slow lines at every complimentary food station on this ship. Many times there was only 1 side of the main buffet opened which really backed things up. The deli was OK....standard sandwiches...but again....long lines always. The grill area was not good in my opinion...and again...long lines with very slow service.  Sadly, we didnt get a chance to try the Mongolian Grill. The lines were always SUPER long....but it did smell amazing! I assume it was very good considering how long the lines were. 

What next? OH! The Serenity deck.........cmon Carnival! Where is a pool JUST for adults? The Carnival Dream has an AMAZING Serenity area with pool! The deck chairs were stained and filthy looking. 

The pool area on deck 11 was my fav place to sun. But that pool is also very small and in need of repair badly.  The walls of the pool had a lot of spots that had peeled and been painted over which made it look awful. 

Our room was OK.... Spacious room with 2 port holes....room # E3. The bathroom was roomy but the shower was needing a good cleaning of the grout. 

The guest services desk is located in the main lobby on deck 7, which also has a bar and musicians playing. That made it hard to be able to communicate with the staff at the desk. We literally had to scream over the steel drums! 

The casino is nice and HUGE! We did like that there was window seats in there. 

One of the things that really upset us was that on our last night at sea.....at 6Pm after eating dinner....the crew had the Lido deck all blocked off for cleaning. The smokers HAD to go to the casino instead. Every other ship we have ever sailed on  did that kind of cleaning in the late evening or overnight so as to not disrupt the passengers. 

Now...the thing that really down right makes me angry is the photographers. The middle of gangway is no place to be taking photos! Passengers were stopped getting on AND getting off the ship at every destination. And then again on the dock at the very end of the gangway for photo ops! Move the photographers off to the side to allow the rest of us to move along if we choose to. 

We was told this ship is going into dry dock in September.....good....it needs a LOT of TLC. But I do hope Carnival also makes it a point to work on the crew as well. Most that we encountered were below average at best.