From Galveston to Belize - 1st Carnival cruise
Written: Mar 31 '05
|
Product Rating:
|
|
|
Pros: Good check-in and check-out, friendly staff, good entertainment, family friendly ship, 24-hr pizza
Cons: Too many smoking areas, no dance floors of any size, food just so-so
The Bottom Line: A relatively inexpensive vacation to warm ports of call during the winter is a good way to relax and have fun with the family. Give this cruise a try.
|
|
|
| D_Edgers's Full Review: Carnival Elation |
In the past 11 years my wife and I have made 15 cruises. We have sailed with Norwegian, Royal Caribbean, Holland American and Orient. We have sailed out of Vancouver, B.C., Seattle, San Diego, Florida, Boston, Puerto Rico and Singapore. So when a trip to Belize from Galveston, Texas on Carnival: a destination, port and ship we had not tried -came along, we decided to go for it.
We do not know any people who have sailed on the Elation, or for that matter, Carnival, so gambled that the negative rumors (party ship crawling with kids) we had heard over the years were not all true. The cruise price was very inexpensive, so the cost of the trip from Seattle to Houston was largely offset.
The plane trip was as good as any we have experienced. The trip from the airport to the pier is almost the longest commute we have experienced. Check-in at the Carnival terminal in Galveston went quite smoothly - having all the paperwork filled in beforehand really helped speed things up.
First Impressions: The ship appeared very clean on the outside and crew members were touching up the paint as we boarded. The second-floor cabin was roomy enough, although a rather large box containing life preservers took up space in one corner of the room. All the other ships we have been on store the preservers over closets or under beds. The life preservers were not laid out on our bed for the lifeboat drill, either. I suppose the reason for hiding them in the floor box was due to embarrassment for their dirty appearance. The bathroom was a nice size, plus there was a container by the sink containing a regular-sized bar of Lever soap, 4 sample packs of various flavors of Crest toothpaste, a man and woman 3-blade razor, a dental floss tool, 4 packages of shower jell, hair jell, and 4 packs of extra strength Tylenol and Tylenol PM.
Lifeboat Drill: The lifeboat drill was the most complicated, strenuous and unpleasant one I have been through (except for some on a troopship over 40 years ago). We gathered in our dirty life preservers 5 decks above our cabin, then went up one more deck to assemble under our lifeboat. Roll was never taken, so some people could have (and did) skip the drill. I noticed a very old and infirm-but-conscientious lady had to force herself (with my wife and me helping) to climb 6 flights of stairs for the drill. This was also the first drill where it was stated: Women and children will be admitted to the lifeboats first! (that is if they survived the climb to the lifeboats)
Eating Facilities: There are two main dining rooms that were nothing special. We ate early (5:30 PM) which we liked. The food quality varied: seafood was average, meat usually good, skimpy portions of vegetables, fowl - pretty good, desserts - good, and coffee - fair. I have quit using bar services because of the high prices. We could have done without the nightly entertainment by the waiters who we could not see very well, if at all, because our table was tucked into one corner of the dining room. The waiter and the assistant were excellent!
Tiffanys Bar and Grill, on the pool deck, was the place to eat if you did not want to eat in the dining room. There was a 24-hour pizza place that made very good pizza! The soft-serve ice cream machines were conveniently located near the desserts and away from the buffet line. Pretty good variety of hot food. Fair variety of fruit, but no bananas for three days.
Ship Layout, Activities and Facilities: It was necessary to have a map of the ship with you until you were familiar with it because the decks were labeled rather than numbered. The only indication of the deck number was by the elevators in fairly small numbers. The theater was not a very good layout, because the floor was not sloped and your view of the stage was sometimes blocked. Dance classes were offered, but if you wanted to practice, you were pretty much out of luck because the few lounges with dance floors (like the Romeo and Juliet Lounge) could not accommodate very many people, plus smokers were allowed and it got kind of hard to breath. There was a D.J. outside of the casino where there was room to dance, but the only music played was Country-Western so if you did not line-dance or two-step, tough luck. Captains parties were held in the theater, and if you wanted to dance there, you had to get on the stage. The water slides and pools for the kids were great. All the facilities and activities for kids were outstanding. There were: BINGO, trivia, towel-folding, port talks, art auctions, etc. The art auctions were really well done and not through Park West as on most other cruise lines.
Ports:
Progresso: This is a new stop at a refurbished old port. In 1847 sisal for rope was exported, but 100 years later the market pooped out along with the port facility. The town itself is not anything to shout about, but some of the shore excursions are excellent. You can venture out via Jeep, truck or kayak; go shopping in Merida or tour that town and maybe take in a rodeo; or explore some excellent Mayan ruins. We chose a 7-hour (about 5 on a bus) trip to the famous Chichen Itza (sounds like Chicken Pizza) Mayan city with its 9-story pyramid, life and death sports court and 1,000 pillar mall (predates our shopping malls by many centuries). Only a portion of this former 100,000 population city is excavated, but there is more than enough to amaze the average tourist. This was a Must See on our visit wish list and we were not disappointed. The heat and humidity are intense even in the winter, so you might wish to avoid a summer visit.
Cozumel: If you like to snorkel, scuba, swim, fish, power boat or venture into the jungle, this is a great place to do it. This is also a good place to shop and it is growing fast.
Belize: Because of reefs, atolls and cays it is necessary to tender from the ship to shore. We have tendered several times over the years, but this was by far the most interesting collection of tendering vessels we have ever seen. There were everything from watercraft ranging in length from about 28 to 40 feet in length powered by outboard and inboard motors. There were quite a variety of tours available: there were city tours, zoo tours, cave tubing (which we recommend), snorkeling, 2-tank reef fishing, and more Mayan sites to visit. There are many shops at the waters edge for the shopper. It proved to be a wonderful port of call.
Trip summary: Overall, it was a good vacation, but because we are not spring chickens or of the traveling with children age group, this is not a cruise line we would probably choose in the future. We thought it was a reasonably priced cruise to some ports we had never visited before. A good number of the passengers were just a bit too frenetic. We are glad we had a chance to try Carnival and would recommend it to younger travelers.
Recommended:
Yes
Best Suited For: Families
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
D_Edgers
|
|
Location: Port Orchard, WA USA
Reviews written: 5
Trusted by: 0 members
About Me:
Don Edgers
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.