Carnival Elation Cruise Reviews - Reviews

Good way to take a 4 day cruise out of a easy to get to port that is easy to park just outside of the cruise of the ticket counter and luggage drop off area. Nice get away!!!!

Best cruise ever taken, will definitely do it again. The staff on Carnival Elation is so wonderful. They are hardworking and so considerate. The waiters Domagoj, Ricardo, and Nestor were a cut above the rest! So funny and enjoyable and so very hardworking and attentive. the steward Kadek was unbelievable in meeting all our needs!

This was a first time cruise for our kids and they absolutely loved it. We will definitely be cruising with Carnival again. Next time I will make sure to pack more clothes though, because we seemed to be changing a lot!

Overall we enjoyed the time away. The ports are fun though we would have rather went to Nassau as originally planned before they switched it to Princess Cays. Not sure if we will travel with Carnival again as the cost people pay for cruises you should get impeccable service and amenities.

I'm not a frequent cruiser but I enjoy them. I felt lukewarm about this cruise and the overall experience. My take away is that next time, I'll do more research and find a ship/cruise that will provide the cruise experience I've come to expect.

Really disappointed. For what we paid we should have had all the bells and whistles, fun, staff interaction, amazing food, like our friends did on all their carnival Cruise. I don't think I can trust anyone else that says a cruise ship is amazing due to our ship.

Pleasant Surprise because i didn't expect much. Overall nice experience even though some things could be better. Kids had a good time and we were able to relax. Overall good, but would go on bigger ship next time.

We enjoyed the trip but we could tell the ship was older by the wear and tear we noticed. Staff was friendly especially the room steward. Next time we may try a newer ship 

We sailed on the Elation and had a positive experience.  Friendly staff, very clean and great variety of food.  We would highly recommend this cruise,

Half-moon Cay was awesome. 

Wouldn't recommend Any Time Dining. Caused us to wait over 30 minutes for dinner if we wanted to eat whenever we wanted. Caused us to be late to a few activities we wanted to do. Shows were ok, but there weren't many of them, only 2 on a 5 day cruise. Comedy shows every night. Sea day tea time was good. Not a lot of pushy sales for alcohol. 

We looked forward to this cruise for 6 months, but found things off to a rough start upon arrival at the Jacksonville Port-- which was *completely closed* during our assigned check-in time.  When they finally reopened an hour and a half prior to debarkation, everything was very rushed, porters were rude, and the porter we ultimately used for luggage made inappropriate comments in front of my small children.

Once on the ship, there were endless lines to stand in. Lines for food, lines for service, lines for children's activities.... you think you go on vacation to get away from frustration, only to find yourself stressed when your kids can't get into "kids club" within a 15 minute timeframe-- with only two families left ahead of you??

We completely missed the Carnival-provided lunch on Half Moon Cay, due to misdirected signage on the island (which we later pointed out to Carnival employees).  The lunch area is off in the trees, and signs direct you back towards the beach, AWAY from your only food/ restaurant option between breakfast and 6 p.m. Also, no one informed us that vendors on the island only accept cash, and conveniently enough, the Carnival-branded gift shop on Half Moon was inexplicably closed for the day?

We also had a dietary issue on board the ship (family member with celiac disease), which was brought to guest services, who assured me the maitre d' and head waiter would meet me at the main restaurant, to address and remedy promptly. This never happened. I followed up with guest services, who again made the same promises, yet 6 days passed, and NO ONE onboard the ship ever met with us or followed up on guest service's promises. Ultimately, in spite of our cruise price including meals, one of our traveling parties literally ate Caesar salads and frozen yogurt all 6 cruising days.

This trip would have been wonderful, and the locales visited were absolutely jaw-droopingly beautiful. Unfortunately, experiences onboard the ship were subpar, frustrating, and inconvenient, and efforts towards making those stressors right never even materialized. Was highly disappointed with my first experience onboard Carnival.

We had a great time at the private island and also on board. The crew was funny & helpful. The comedy shows were excellent and everyone was friendly!  Definitely plan to book another Carnival Cruise soon!

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. 

The wait times from pre-embarkment to debarkation were extremely long.  The management of lines needs improvement from drop-off line, parking line, embarkment check-in, food and bar lines to debarkation.  Based on previous Carnival cruise experiences, the food quality was poor and the interior needs a facelift.  The staff were willing to service and did an awesome job.  They deserve recognition as they work many hours and provide excellent service for minimal pay.  

 Although the cruise was amazing and I love most things about it there is one particular thing that made it special to me and my family. Christian in the late dining room imagination  table 225. Christian and his crew delivered the best service I have ever had in my life. Christian and his crew took care  of my family like I would if not even better. They were very professional. They were very punctual. They took care of my family and as every need that we could think of and even the needs that we did not think of. If there was any reason that I would go on another cruise it would be because of the great service that Christian and his crew gave us. If I was able to talk to him again I would sincerely say thank you to him and his crew for making our vacation the best that we could possibly ever imagine.

Our favorite part of the cruse was our excursion in Nassau. The ship was older but elegant. The staff was friendly and accomidating. However, they were overworked. We stopped going to the diningroom after the second night and a 2 hour wait to be seated.  We then waited another 30 minutes for our appetizers. Local people from our departure port were loud and disrespectful. Overall, the cruise was okay, the ship was okay, but leaving from Jacksonville was NOT okay. Don't do it. Just don't.

The  kids club was amazing, my kids enjoy it a lot. The ship needs some updates. We had issues with very loud cabin neighbors. Staff was very friendly.

This cruise is just the right length. It was our first time to the Bahamas and overall we enjoyed it. We did the kayak excursion in Freeport and it was a blast!  Had the best time and the scenery was beautiful. The next stop to Nassau was not so great. Lesson learned. We will never just go into town and to the "beach" ever again. It was very dirty, the people were pushy, and overall it was a very unpleasant experience. With that being said, we would go back and do an excursion or visit paradise island. 

The whole boat Crew and all needs a whole overall done .It was bad .Worst cruise I have been on  with the Carnival Fleet .  There is no Carnival sea side movie theater .Food in dining room was not like the other 10 ships we had been on and the staff was just not personal like the other ships .just needs to be more updated  Needs UPDATING BAD

My favorite part of the cruise was the employees and snorkeling.  The actual cruise experience was pathetically disappointing.  The food was average 90% of the time.  Our waiter at dinner made the trip tolerable.  He was fantastic.  This was my first and probably last cruise.