Carnival Elation Cruise Reviews - Reviews

This cruise was terrible.  I would not recommend it to anyone.  I have cruised over 10 times and always with Carnival and have never had such a negative cruise experience.  The staff appeared to be mad at something and miserable.  The service was bad, especially at the bars and restaurant on the lido deck.  Most of the time only one side of the bar was open so we had to wait 30 to 45 minutes for servers to bring our drinks.  The one side that was open was in the smoking section so when I went to the bar to try and speed up the process I had to cover my face because I am allergic to cigarette smoke.

Lines to get food took between 20 and 30 minutes. During the time that folks were getting back on boat from ports of call, all but one buffet line was closed. I asked for some ranch dressing and was told rudely that did not have it. Room was not cleaned but two times, had to go get towels myself.  We requested king bed during online check in, was not done.  Had to go request it.  There was trash under the bed when we first got to our room.  Lines at guest services would be long and only one staff person helping folks.  The service in the dining room was slow and food was a disappointment.  You now have to pay a charge to get the good food, like lobster.  The best thing about the cruise on the Elation was the fast debarkation at the end, which I was ready for.  I had bragged on carnival so much from my past experience and planned this trip with four other couples, some who had not cruise before.  I am so embarrassed that they spent their money and vacation time on such poor service and quality.

The check in process was very easy and getting on the ship was the same. Our bags were in the room when we got to the room. It was such a pleasure to see so many people smiling and greeting you every time you passed them. 

The crew on ship is amazing. We had a blast. Good mix of ages, plenty to do and really enjoyed it. We loved the private island excursion in Nassau.  Highly recommend it. 

Didn't care for the cruise -- the boat was very rocky! even seasoned cruisers were complaining; our cabin needed updating -- it was nice, but kindof old and tired looking; the lines were too long for food or drinks -- I understand that there is a fine line between crew count and passenger count -- but during "peak" times, there should be some adjustments made in scheduling crew so the lines aren't so long!  Loved Half Moon Cay - but the drink package isn't valid there -- so spent an extra $90 on drinks, 3 a piece for me and my daughter.

Overall I believe the cruise was good. We went with our 2 year old and there wasn't much for him to do which is why we chose the cruise with only one day at sea. The food was decent, but be prepared to only drink lemonade because that's all they have to drink (unless you paid extra for soda). They only have one pool and it's not that big so it was mostly used by teenagers. Don't bother buying any internet package because you won't be able to get any wifi connection anywhere on board. Buy the water package online before your cruise so it's waiting for you in your room because that's another thing you won't find on board, bottled water. 

You need two stop children from getting in the hot tub . Hot tubs are for adult

the water need too be hot. . I HAD A GOOD TIME the food was good. I love half moon k I will go back one day

The Elation is a bit older and is set for upgrades in September when she goes in for 30 days at dry dock. We enjoyed the vacation.  The dining experience was great. Coming back into Jacksonville is where the main problem came in. We were told to be out of our cabins by 8:30.  At which time we needed to be on Deck 9 or 10. Deck 4 was scheduled to be off ship from 8:00-8:15 deck 5 from 8:15-8:30.  We were on deck 5.  We thought we could get on the forward elevators on deck 5 and go down.  Well that wasn't the case.  We were told to go up to deck 9 or 10 and catch the elevators down to disembark.  We had a great time and will cruise again just on a bigger ship. 

The Elation is a bit older and is set for upgrades in September when she goes in for 30 days at dry dock. We enjoyed the vacation.  The dining experience was great. Coming back into Jacksonville is where the main problem came in. We were told to be out of our cabins by 8:30.  At which time we needed to be on Deck 9 or 10. Deck 4 was scheduled to be off ship from 8:00-8:15 deck 5 from 8:15-8:30.  We were on deck 5.  We thought we could get on the forward elevators on deck 5 and go down.  Well that wasn't the case.  We were told to go up to deck 9 or 10 and catch the elevators down to disembark.  We had a great time and will cruise again just on a bigger ship. 

food was better than the reviews. steak was only comparable to Golden Corral. Shows could use some improvement.Recommend for party goers and teenagers.

The price wasn't bad the ship was kind of  old .all  the  water was Rusty and I was  told the cabin Stewart he told me to let it run for a while I let it run for about 30 minutes before the water came out somewhat clear. 

I would Sail  on a newer ship next time

We are frequent cruisers. The unique 5 night cruise on the Sensation was perfect. Not too long, not too short. The crew was fantastic. James in the Fun Squad was a remarkable young man. He made our cruise one of the best we have ever had.

Trip started out well. Staff are all great, so pleasant and helpful.  Seas were rough a couple days and all the medication didn't help.  Purchased a watch for $350 on ship and found on amazon for  $125 upon returning home. I don't recommend on ship purchase.  Excursions were fun and definitely worth the expense. 

The crew did not know all aspects of the ship. If you ask the same question to different crew members, you would get different answers each time. The crew did not seem to be knowledgeable about the ship/rules/etc. For example, my boyfriend asked where he could purchase a Aloe bottle and each crew member gave a completely different answer, so we found ourselves walking all around the ship trying to figure out the real answer and wasted a good hour of our vacation time.  Our stateroom was missing a room service menu, we waited over an hour after calling to request one, and still no menu. My boyfriend went to guest services and they did not seem to have one there for him to grab (which was weird- Holland never had that problem) but assured us they will expedite the issue... only for him to come back to our our stateroom and wait another 45 minutes before having to go back and ask again.I requested two bathrobes and had to remind the crew the next day again that we have yet to receive them. Lets not talk about the time we found ourselves with no toilet paper. Almost every meal we had on board was cold. One perfect example was the one cold pancake in the middle of a stack I ordered from the Seaday brunch one morning.To add on, the description from the waiter was completely wrong from the food I really got.  To make matters worse, at one point, the bread basket I received before my dinner meal had an half eaten bread piece in it! When I pointed it out to the waiter, he did not seem to care at all, simply grabbed it and replaced it without saying one word!  Come on! As if things could not get any worse, when my boyfriend went to purchase the CHEERS package, they told him that I am forced to purchase it as well, even though I do not drink AT ALL. So basically Carnival make about $310 in profit out of pure awful customer service.That was almost just as much as I paid for the cruise itself!  Although we even heard stories of others purchasing the CHEERS package and getting away with the other not purchasing it. So that is what we get for following the rules I guess.  I understand there were probably people before us who abused the system and shared drinks, but another solution can be figured out to solve that issue besides lets force everyone to purchase the package. The only positive part of the vacation were the other guests on ship. Everyone was nice and very fun to hang with. I  met some of the greatest people I have met in my life. Although I am sure there are many other cruise lines that attract amazing people as well, so I defiantly would not recommend this cruise to others.

The cruise itself was a little chilly, but mirrored the quality of past cruises.  I think Freeport should be taken OFF as a port destination.  It is too run down from past hurricanes and nobody is fixing it up.  The locals certainly don't have the money and the investors have all taken money and run.  

We have always been on bigger ships, so this was a first for us.  This was our first Fantasy class ship which was small (little over 2000 passengers and I recall the staff was 950).  Jax terminal is a small temp. structure.  Once you enter the cruise terminal (via car) and are in line, you go into another long line just to get to the porters to drop off your luggage.  From there, you drive into another long line to park into the port parking lot, so be sure to allow plenty of time prior to your boarding time.  We had a suite, so we went into the priority line (almost to Platnium).  I think the ship was built in 96 and in 2014 the Elation got some work done on it, but it does look older and very tired.  It goes into dry dock in the fall of this year. We went to Nassau and Freeport and have been there before.  You can save money by going on your own shore excursion and can save a lot by just taking a taxi to Atlantis and doing your own thing (just think of Atlantis as a big amusement park, do you really need to pay for a guide to get you there etc., No way). The next port was the private island of the Holland America line which Carnival uses.  Everyone said this was simply THE best place.  Well. it takes a tender to get there and the sea had whitecaps everywhere, so we were not allowed to go.  As for being on this ship for 2 fun days at sea, not enough places to go and not enough things to do.  Yes we missed the bigger ships.  No specialty dining options, no sports bar, no sports trivia or very many other trivia's etc. that we were used to. We were disappointed in the food selection that was served in the main dining area.  The first day onboard, we looked at the menu and decided to do a steak for an upcharge (we had some OBC, so we were going to use it).  On the menu, it was under the steakhouse selection.  We were used to the specialty steakhouse, and thought it would be prepared the same way.  It did not taste the same at all.  We did eat on Lido a couple of nights and found that they had some of the same selection that was in the main dining room plus pizza etc.

We were happy to see that they did have a comedy punchliner show to look forward to though.  There is only one pool on this ship and no outside theater.  We went during spring break and it was hard to get into ear shot of the bartender, but usually managed to find a bar that just opened before the spring breakers moved from one bar to another.  Our steward was great and so were the dining room staff. 

We would have loved to see the wok open during dinner hours instead of just noon to 3:30pm.  There was always a long line for the wok.

It was a nice trip, would have been nicer to get to go to the private island port but if you are used to a bigger ship with more options, stay with the bigger ship.  It was also in the 40's when we returned to Jacksonville, very chilly, burrrr.

A little disappointed we were not able to reach our last destination which was the Half moon Cay due to uncontrollable situation when Mother Nature says no.  The whole crew were excellent and friendly. Kuddos to Kevin for the hardwork. The showtime everynight was the best. We will surely come back for the next cruise with Carnival cruise ship. Thanks for the experience it was our 18th wedding anniversary celebration. 

My favorite part of the cruise was the dining staff. Virhkam was the best! Least favorite part was the third party because the entire cruise our party had to deal with them since they wouldn't hold up to their word for our on board credit where never received. Their apology was giving us 50.00 gift card to use towards our next cruise. Which in my opinion 50.00 compared to the thousands we spent already to book the vacation as is. Will definitely be booking elsewhere for future vacations let alone cruises. 

There was 16 of us celebrating my Mother in Law's 96th birthday.  The staff was amazing, they treated her like a queen.  Not a day went by that at least a dozen Carnival employees didn't recognize and acknowledge her with Birthday wishes.  We booked the cruise on the Elation, out of Jacksonville, due to the convenience of the local port.  The ship is much smaller than most we have cruised on and is in the process of doing room upgrades (much needed), some of our gang's room had already been upgraded and some not, we had a suite and it had not been upgraded :(.  Food and service was the best we had experienced.  Will definitely choose Carnival again! 

John McCann and our room steward, Ivan, were definitely the highlight of the trip.  Both were personable and professional and gave you the feeling that the the customer mattered.

The ship, when underway, rumbled incessantly.  Something like the rumble you got in an old pickup when the universal joints were going bad.  It NEVER stopped.

The "Oceanview" room was not anywhere near as nice as the picture in the reservation photos.  The window was approximately half the size shown and you couldn't see out of it due to pitting and cloudiness between the panes.

I must say, the food was excellent and the dining room staff were outstanding.  The buffet was good food, and the wait staff kept the dining area clean.

Two things really bothered me about the cruise.

First, it took forever to get a drink in the Casino or at the Casino bar.  One of the bartenders kept forgetting people's drinks!  Two bartenders is half what you need to service that bar.  There should be one dedicated to the wait staff, at least. In the Serenity adults only area, I gave up after an hour and went to get my own drink.

Second, ice was spilled in my room next to the bed.  The stench that resulted from that spill was terrible.  The ice had partially melted and the water that got into the carpet must've activated something lying dormant...mold or whatever...Ivan did his best to get it out, even had the carpet cleaned, to no avail.  The smell was not as overpowering, but it was still there.

I will not sail on this ship again.

This was a fun cruise. The food was a little disappointing to me but who can really complain when there's an all-you-can-eat buffet? The rocking on this ship was the absolute worst I have ever experienced. I understand the winds were rough, but surely something can be done to steady that vessel. Also, the organization of exiting the ship for excursions needs to be addressed. My group had the faster to fun pass but this had no impact on us exiting the ship faster than anyone else. Leaving the ship when we pulled back in to the home port was also a mess. Needless to say, I did enjoy myself because of the company I was with, but there are some areas to improve for Carnival.