Carnival Elation Bahama Cruise

We took the 4 day Carnival Cruise on the Elation from Port Canaveral to Freeport to Nassau last weekend. It was the nicest 4 days. I jus lay back and aaahhhh each time I think of those nice, easygoing, sunny, not-to-hot days.

Great Trip - Carnival - thank you for providing it - and Thank you Keith for taking me on it.

We went aboard about 1 to a buffet lunch with the greatest cheeseburgers~~ and lots of Carnival drinks-of-the-day. Be proud - I only had a few - and they were pretty mild!! We set sail about 4 but the party was on from the time we stepped aboard!! The size is amazing. I got lost soooo many times!! We met some great people - and we met som "me-first" snobs that just elbowed their way around!! But I don't want to dwell on them. We went down to the Stateroom to find our luggage already there, Keith checked out hte tv channels while I unpacked. THEN WAS THE FIRE DRILL!! It was the second most annoying but fun in a totally odd way, thing that we were required to do. It was over fast enough but the first most annoying just went on.and.on, and.on! Back out on deck, a little bit of exploring and then finding our dining room and table! We met our dinner mates for the cruise (you don't have to go again if you don't like them)After dinner the first evening - I stayed out and played blackjack, poker machines, and Texas Hold'em until the wee hours. I was making laps around the hallways when I heard a door open - and there was my knight in shining Armor - just waiting for me!! This is taken in the "salon" of our stateroom our second evening.We spent the day in Freeport, Bahamas and did a Glass Bottom Boat Tour. You can see abundace of pictures at Flickr. We returned to find our stateroom cleaned and made up, so we took a short nap before going up on deck and return (again) to dress for dinner. It just so happened that the "Formal Dinner" was my Birthday (or maybe Keith planned it that way - I don't know) so I got to see him in a tie for the first time since we went to Washington to a wedding in 1999. Don't he look just wonderful!!

Dinner with Ernest and his trusty assistant Burt (sounds a bit like Sesame Street, huh) was absolutely wonderful. Of course it was every night - but Formal Nite was Lobster Tails, Creme Broule, a Birthday cupcake with the whole waitstaff singing, entertainment, oh, to live like this always - AAAAHHHHHHHH. We went to the Mikado Lounge where we saw a Las Vegas Show - the loveseats we picked were so comfortable - I scooted down and sat on the floor in front - just so I wouldn't doze off and miss anything. We then returned to our stateroom to crash and burn - to find our steward had made our bed (again) folded blankets - evidently figured that we were cold so the a/c flow was adjusted and we had a sexy little piggy made out of towels laying on our bed with our good-night mints!! What a way to go!!!

We were only supposed to be in Freeport for 1 day but the itinerary changed. It didn't make any difference to us - we spent the second day on board - just like we wouldn've if we'd had our "day at sea". And had an absolute blast!! We ate, drank, laid in the sun, Keith went down the waterslide, we danced, we napped, we showered and headed down for ANOTHER wonderful dinner with Burt and Ernie (I mean Ernest and Burt) - another show - a "pamper party" - A wonderful vacation.

In Nassau (we didn't really look for Anna Nichole's baby) - we went on a city historical tour and a tour of the Bahama State Gardens. It was sooooo interesting - and we saw the "Marching Flamingos". And they really do march too!! We returned to the ship just before the Set Sail - watched them carve a fish out of a chunk of ice, went to a "detox" lecture (boy that one was expensive!! :() , dressed for our last dinner aboard, exchanged cards, blog addresses, and email addresses with our dining companions, watched E&B serve another absolutely devine dinner and our cute dinner show. Then back to our stateroom (sniff, sniff) to pack.

Since we were both novice cruisers - just like the Novice RV'er's we made lots of extra laps and had lots of fun getting lost in the Shjip.

The only drawback is the debarkation process. Someone somewhere needs to do some work on that - I have a few ideas - wonder if they'd hire me????

Recommend a cruise = YES. Just do your best to stay aboard. If you don't want to stand in a line that never moves - wait until after 9 am to even start thinking about leaving that breakfast table!!! I'll gie you a hint - RED HATTERS!!