Carnival Elation Cruise Reviews - Reviews

The staff was very rude only me house keeper was nice food was not so great same food everyday on lido deck and it was cold room service take 2 hour  would not ever ride this boat again.

We had a great time.  I wish I had done this years ago.  The only negative was getting off the ship.  It was hot and my legs and feet were tired from the walking and waiting in line.  The people on the ship that took care of us were wonderful and always helpful.

This was my first and will be my last.

I was sea sick for 3 days. There were limited activities and most were geared toward children. 

There was no variety in the food. The food was just o.k.

The furniture in the room was old and reminded me of college dorms. The entire ship needs to be updated.

The best part of this trip was leaving the ship!

I do not recommend this trip.

We had a great time!! Half Moon Cay was beautiful and the food there (provided by Carnival) was delicious and lots of it!! We reanted a clam shell to get som shade. We wouldn't have needed to. There are trees to get under if you don't want the sun. Our side trip at Nassau was perfect. We bought the package from CruiseOnly t the British Colonial Hilton. We were on a private beach with a beautiful pool as well as the ocean. Our package included $40 eah for food at lunch time. The food at the hotel was delicious!! Our server was Dianne, she took very good care of us. We are not drinkers so the $40 was plenty for a good meal, vigin frozen drinks and even soft drinks later in the afternoon. We walked to the hotel, about 2 blocks away, were able to leave our towel and beach bag there while we walked and shopped the town. I would reccommend it to anyone wanting to enjoy the island and not spend so much. 

The Ship was not as large as some I have been on but it was still clean and decorated beautifully, the staff were caring and very efficient. Only had 1 waiter that was too busy for us, but he was serving many that night. The food was excellent and liked trying new things. The swordfish was yummy!! 

I only regret not having all my siblings and spouses with us! Thank you Jennifer from CruiseOnly!

Customer service was horrible. The food was horrible, and the ship was old and rusty. This shop needs a complete overhaul. Evertyhing was horrible. There is not much good that I can say about it. I have been on other cruises and this one I do not even want to remember.

Wa were over charged I am not happy about it we were charged twice for the same message are talking to 3 different staff members I still have nothing fixed 

We had a orginally booked to go to Half Moon Cay, Nassau and Freeport. Thankfully  the Captain kept us out of the storm, and we skipped HMC and went to Key West. I love Key West, however, it effected the rest of our ports arrival. We had to be up super early 2 days. So minor, I know.

Totally worth the cruise! Be sure and VIP Luxury sail in Freeport. Unforgettable.

This was a good cruise even though the weather did not cooperate.  Was really looking forward to Half Moon Cay which was cancelled.  Key West wasn't bad, just not enough time there.  The Elation needs to be updated.  We enjoyed overall.

I love cruising and one of my favorite part is the great food.  This time the food was such a disappointment.  I could hardly believe it. One evening there was salmon on the menu for dinner, there were six of us sitting at our table, four people ordered the salmon and two of the orders of salmon was not done. The only good meal we had was the prime rib. One night out of five, I couldn't believe it.This was my sister's first cruise and I had told her how good the food was on a cruise and we got this. It wasn't all bad, our servers were great, Jose our waiter,and the rest of our table crew made up for the bad food.  Freddie and the crew at the deli were a pleasure.  Harold, our room steward, was excellent. Our room was always clean and he was pleasant, always smiling and check to see if we needed anything. 

I celebrated my 60th on this trip and was given gift cards from Essy our room steward. She was very pleasant.

Our excursion to Blue Lagoon VIP swim with the dolphins (although rather unorganized at the port) turned out to be the highlight of our cruise.

The ship was very nice and everyone on it was very polite.  The crew was very helpful with answering questions.  However....the food needs to change...the selection on the buffets was just about the same each day and could use a little more variety.  I have been on 4 different cruises (my first with Carnival) and I would definitely go Carnival again...just a bigger ship.  This was the smallest I have sailed on and you could definitely feel the waves.  With that being said...first time cruisers please consider a bigger boat.  Also, when we got to Freeport and exited the ship we had our pictures taken and noticed after we got home and looked at the pictures a little better that the picture they took in Freeport was listed as Junkaroo Beach which was in Nassau...a little disappointing that it was listed incorrectly.

The best part of the cruise was getting off the ship for the shore excursions. The port of Nassau was very nice.  The day was much more entertaining than anything on the ship 

I thoroughly enjoyed my cruise, the entertainment was awesome especially the comedy show with Dean Gaines. I was a little disappointed in the ship itself, it was 19 years old and it showed, granted I did notice they were remodeling; I just wasn't fortunate enough to have a upgraded room. The food could have been better, especially in the restaurant, however for my first cruise 🚢 I enjoyed the most of it.

This boat is a little dated, but overall a nice ship. The service in the dinning room was terrible in comparison to my last carnival cruise a few years ago and nothing in comparison to Royal Caribbean.  We have a good time no matter what but I would not choose this particular ship and port days were shorter than others we have been on. Friendly staff and attentive servers is important, when most of us can only afford a cruise maybe once a year. On the up, entertainment was good and professional pictures were wonderful!

So be careful on doing things early .. we order the soda package early and decided to upgrade for the alcohol package. They would not refund the soda package..  also if you get either package make sure you don't order drinks while at Port they charge tax... Really wasnt alot or a big deal but crew said that it was a computer glitch and charges would be removed and they weren't.. also the customer service desk is a joke ... They blame everyone else and take no accountability for anything blaming the home office.... Was wife's birthday, they were nice to give a coupon for 50 off at the spa.. great right ... NOT ... They gave it the night before when we were suppose to arrive at Nassau.. with the only option to be used while in Port and was only good during that time .... No instructions came with the coupon and when she went the next morning they told her it was expired. Spa wouldn't budge and customer service desk blamed HQ again. Went on the Elation... Boat is in bad shape and we found out it is scheduled to be dry docked in May for a total overhaul .... Hint wait don't book this boat !!!!!! 

We left on April 3, 2017 for a 5 nights Bahama cruise from Jacksonville Florida.  This was our first cruise so we dont have any other experiences to compare it to.  However, we have stayed at several all inclusive resorts, so some of our critiques from from that.

The Ship:  The ship was big.  12 Floors.  We found it easy to navigate around the ship, only got confused a few times with the Inspiration and Imagination dining rooms because they are named so similarly.   A lot of people say that this ship is outdated, again we have nothing to compare it too but felt that it was kept up well.  Didnt see anything nasty and the rooms were clean.  Compared to an all inclusive resort it was very nice to have everything close together.

The Room: We stayed in room R157 on the 4th Floor (Riviera).  Our room was super.  We had the beds pushed together into a King size and had the bunk lowered for our 5 year old daughter.  We also had ocean view, which I dont think I could do without, we loved it.  The stewardess kept our room immaculate and the bathroom clean, floors swept, etc.  Towel animals every night.  

The Food: The food wasnt great.  Main dining room food was okay, but it was very gourmet.  So if you arent into that kind of food you will be disappointed.  We didnt try the room service, but the menu was similar to what was found everywhere else on ship.  The Lido buffet was bland and similar every day.  We got tired of eating pizza 3 times a day.  The sandwich buffet was very good though and I ate there once or twice a day too.  Lines were outrageous to get food.  Also liked the Dr. Suess breakfast but not sure why they charged an extra $5 as the menu was similar to that of Sea Day Brunch.  Elegant night wasnt all that elegant, so Im not sure why they call it that.  Just a few more people dress up a tad bit nicer than usual.

Pools: These are horrible.  The drop to get into them was scary our child didnt even want to go in.  I couldnt get in because I have lupus and have a hard time getting up and down ladders and the ladders in that pool were not handicap friendly.  The water was also freezing in all the pools.  My child would only go in the hot tub, which was hot on the sunburn.  Ive seen pix on other ships and their pools look better.

Ports:  Freeport was a waste of time.  We did an excursion All Inclusive Beach Getaway.  Had we not done that, it would have been a complete waste.  I dont really know why the cruises even stop here.  Half Moon Cay was the absolute best.  We rented a clam shell for $30 and had lunch at the BBQ.  Which was pretty much more of the same as what was on ship.  The water was gorgeous and sand was soft.  Nassau, I could take or leave.  A lot of upscale shopping like Gucci, Guess, Pandora, etc.  My daughter got her hair braided and it was a waste of money.  $50!  We walked around for a short time then went back to the ship.

Entertainment:  The singers werent the best we've ever seen, but the show was awesome nonetheless.  We saw Epic Rock and the Soul one on the last day.  Our Cruise Director, Kevin was the BEST.  He really made our trip wonderful.  He was funny and fun to be around.  The last night they did an 80s Trivia/Sing Along and it was a ton of fun.  The whole ship was singing in that Atrium!  Also they did Build a Bear Workshop and our daughter loved it.  Prices were similar to that of the real store and it was a great souvenir to bring home.  

Photographers:  OMG! They are every where!  Be prepared to get your picture taken every time you turn around.  It felt like paparazzi!   They did a nice job on the photos where you actually went there and posed for them, but the shots trying to get you leaving the boat or coming back from the port all nasty and sweaty just dont make good photos.  They also dont organize them well and they WASTE so much!  They print EVERY SINGLE PICTURE and display them for all to see.  They need to come up with a system similar to Disney, with their magic band.  Why not use our sign and sail card to link to our pictures and then we can see what we want.  Maybe purchase a CD or downloads or something? The pictures were super expensive too!  $22 for an 8x10.  We seriously had about $400 worth of pictures in our hand by the time we found *most* of our pictures.  There were thousands and thousands of photos to look through.  Such a waste to throw all those pictures away.

Motion of the Ocean:  Now I was told by several people that you cant feel the boat.  Feels like your on land they said.  Yeah, they lied.  Two-Three days you could see the boat moving out the window.  It didnt end up bothering me, but man it was rocking!

Overall, this was an awesome trip.  I do want to go on a cruise again sometime.

I really enjoyed the cruise it was my first time. The service on the ship was impeccable, I am so impressed. I would personally like to thank Herald one of the stewards on the Rivera deck, he was very attentive and knew me by first name without me telling him. He spoke to me as if he had been knowing me for years which made me feel very comfortable. Thank you carnival.

We had a wonderful vacation in paradise! This was our children's first cruise and they were amazed at all of the things going on around them and loved how the staff treated them. Our steward Dedi was so friendly and was very attentive and Bagiasa in the dining area was great. Our oldest is 11 1/2 and is still struggling to cut up steak. Bagiasa I guess saw this, and cut up the steak for her. She tells everybody about that!  We truly enjoyed our vacation. The only thing that was not good onboard was the smell in the bathrooms, not just in our stateroom, but other restrooms as well. There was a strong smell of urine by the toilets in multiple restrooms we used. Other than that everything was great

We cruised as part of a large group and the service we received all around was really great.  I want to point out in the Inspiration Dining Room our wait staff, Robin and Luh.  They were outstanding.  We enjoyed coming to dinner every night to see them.  They knew all 15 of our names after the first night!  They were fun while also taking excellent care of us.  

We also really appreciated our cabin steward, Alexander.  He was always there when we need something and took time to get to know our schedule so our cabin would always be ready for us.

Tom was very helpful and understanding through the whole process. the staff on the cruise were very helpful. We especially enjoyed Rhett as a bartender. He knew all of the drinks we were asking for.