Carnival Elation cruise from Mobile, AL

By KeithnRita

• September 21, 2011

Carnival Elation cruise, Sept 10, 2011 - 5 day Western Caribbean - Progreso and Cozumel

The cruise before ours had bad weather from the remnants of tropical storm Lee and lost 1 day as the cruise before them had to delay returning to the port of Mobile, AL because of unsafe conditions. We were told the Gulf was still rough for this cruise and many folks were seasick.

Our weather was perfect! We left the house at 5:00 AM the day before the cruise and 10 hours later and only one Cracker Barrel, we arrived at the Renaissance Mobile Riverview Plaza Hotel on Water Street in Mobile, AL, across the street from the cruise terminal. They upgraded us to a room with a view and when we woke up the next morning we watched the Elation dock. Our one night stay included free covered parking and shuttle service to and from the ship. Also at the port was the Carnival Ecstasy in dry-dock receiving some upgrades.

We took the 10:45 shuttle to the port and after waiting in line approx 45 minutes we made it aboard ship. We usually try to avoid the early shuttles so we can avoid the long lines. Oh well, we were on the ship before noon! Our stateroom E42 on the Emerald deck port side forward was not going to be available until 1:30 so we took a tour of the ship and then headed to Tiffany's buffet for lunch.

We won't bore you with all the details except to say it was a wonderful cruise! We met some great folks from the roll call, Linda and Jake, Tina and Jim, Diane and George, Joe and Kim, Catherine and Jeff, and Susan and Becky. The food in the dining room was outstanding, as was the service through out the ship.The entertainment was good and we even were able to do some dancing. Rita's foot injury is finally getting better. Our stateroom steward did an adequate job, although he was very forgetful. The ports of Progreso and Cozumel were good as the weather was great. No tours for us as we went to relax, which we certainly did. We also did some line dancing at an outdoor bar in Progreso.

The only negative was the disembarkation which was excessively slow! It seems the immigration officers were more thorough than usual. It didn't help that many of the folks hadn't filled out their forms!

After we finally made it thru we found our hotel shuttle and headed back to our hotel and picked up our car. We then headed to the USS Alabama Memorial Park and took a tour of the USS Drum submarine and the battleship. I'm a WWII history buff and we both thoroughly enjoyed the tours.

After spending the night in Cullman, AL we made it home the next day around 2:00 PM.

This made for a very fast and relaxing vacation week with some great memories.