Restaurants on Carnival Elation
Having excellent food on a cruise is one of the reasons why people keep doing it. Here’s a list of Carnival Elation restaurants you can try out while on your cruise. This post dives into the food options available per restaurant, and which ones are free or are extra pay. We do apologize in advance if this post makes you already want to go on your cruise to start eating!
This post is a part of our cruising series. Here are other cruise-related posts that you may be interested in, covering Royal Caribbean, Virgin Voyages, Carnival & Margaritaville at Sea:
Contents
Carnival Elation’s home port is in Jacksonville, FL. If you’re not local and are looking for places to stay in the Jacksonville, FL area, here’s a map to help you find the perfect hotel for your stay. The port is located close to Blount Island, on the east side of I-295. Although if we can recommend a hotel, they would be:
Now on to the restaurants on Carnival Elation!
Tiffany’s on the Lido Deck is the buffet, with small kiosks dedicated to the actual buffet, pizza, a bar, and a deli. While we cover Pizza Pirate and the Carnival Deli in separate sections below, the buffet itself is a little bit underwhelming. First, the buffet is only open at certain hours of the day. Want a hot breakfast? You’ll have to wait until 8 am before they open up the bacon and sausage station. Pretty much any meat is only available past 8 am.
Want lunch? You’ll have to wait until noon before they open up whatever they decide to serve for lunch.
It is a bit inconvenient – why can’t they just open for breakfast an hour before, say 7 AM and 11 AM for lunch? Having breakfast at 8 am is a bit late and more catered towards people who wake up a little later. Smaller ships on the Carnival fleet also tend to be booze cruises where there are a few more people waking up early, but for traveling with young kids, waking up early is not a surprise.
Tiffany’s can get really crowded during embarkation and disembarkation day. When we embarked on our cruise and the rooms were not yet available, everyone crowded into Tiffany’s, but we were lucky to finally find a spot to sit down! Other ships call their buffet differently, so you may not get Tiffany’s buffet outside of the Elation.
The buffet has two sides: but it is not uncommon to have lines that go a long way to either side. During port days, only one side of the buffet actually serves food. They close down the second buffet serving, so expect to queue if you visit at noon.
The buffet menu options change from lunch to dinner every day that you are cruising. I wouldn’t say there’s a specific cuisine in mind, it’s more of a mix-and-match type of thing. They have meats, vegetables, soups, a build-your-own salad station, and dessert. The dessert station is pretty popular and usually has 3 or more different cakes available for you to try. There are 2 types of cookies available at all times and 2 different types of jell-O flavors too.
Tiffany’s is located on the aft (back part) of the Lido Deck, Deck 10 of the Carnival Elation.
It seems that having access to 24-hour pizza is one of the cruise industry’s core requirements. We’ve been on 4 different cruise lines, and they all had a pizza station running all day except for Margaritaville, which has an odd pizza situation. Pizza is one of those meals you can expect will always be there on your cruise vacation.
The pizza station in the Carnival Elation is called Pizza Pirate, and it is not a standalone pizza place (like for example in Virgin Voyage’s Scarlet Lady). It is actually located inside Tiffany’s Buffet at the Lido deck, in the back part of the buffet. There is typically one person operating the pizza oven, so you tell them which pizza you want from the menu, and they will make it fresh on the spot. The pizza on the Elation was pretty good and not overly oily or greasy.
You can also order a Caesar Salad on the side. The pizzas are not exactly fast. During peak times, you will have to wait for a pizza to be made, especially if you plan to get a full pizza and not just a slice. Pizza Pirate is complimentary and is included with your cruise fare.
Just like Pizza Pirate Tiffany’s Buffet also has a 12-hour deli station, open from 6 AM to 6 PM. The Deli contains a menu of cold and hot sandwiches that are prepared fresh for you. Similar to the Pizza Pirate station, it only has one person making all the sandwiches. There may be a bit of a wait, especially when people start ordering hot sandwiches that have to go into the mini sandwich oven.
The variety of sandwiches that can be custom-ordered is pretty good.
You can also order Potato Chips and coleslaw as a side to go with your sandwich order. The deli is included with your cruise fare, no additional payment is required!
Celebrity chef Guy Fieri’s partnership with Carnival means that you can try several burger options on board that have a more unique vibe than your other, usual, burger joints.
Guy Fieri’s Burger Joint is located on Deck 10, the Lido Deck, right outside Tiffany’s buffet, and next to the pool and the Blue Iguana Taco restaurant.
The decor for Guy Fieri’s Burger Joint has a pretty laid-back vibe, with a surfboard and tables that are decorated with maps of various U.S. places and Guy Fieri’s printed notes about each one. There is also audio and video of Fieri explaining the concept of the restaurant and how his burgers are made on the TV located in the kiosk.
Just like at the Blue Iguana, you tell the server what type of burger you want. There is a menu with a few different options. The line can be intimidating sometimes, but in our experience, it moved pretty quickly.
We tried the Plain Jane and the Straight Up, and both were good, though the Straight Up had more flavor. We actually thought that the best part about it was the fries, which are really well-seasoned and have a small kick.
Located on Floor 10, next to Tiffany’s buffet and Guy Fieri’s Burger Joint, is another favorite dining spot of ours, Blue Iguana Cantina. It’s like Chipotle, where you can prepare a burrito, taco, or bowl with a variety of fresh ingredients. This was one of our favorite things to eat because it was filling, healthy (or at least healthy-er), and the lines weren’t often crazy.
And you can top your meal off with sour cream, crema fresca (highly recommended), or a variety of sauces at the toppings bar. We would highly recommend getting either the taco or burrito, as they are always hot and freshly made (these are like the delicious Chipotle tortillas, they are not the preservative-filled ones you buy at the grocery store).
There are two main dining rooms on the Carnival Elation, one in the forward (front) part of the ship, and one in the aft (the back part of the ship). The difference between those two is if you choose anytime dining versus a set dining time. The set times are separated into two: early dining, which starts at 5:30 PM, and late dining, which starts at 8:00 PM.
When traveling with a young child, it is always best to secure either an early dining slot or a choose-your-own time slot. 8:00 PM is a bit too late for our child, but yours may be different. There’s always a buffet available, but frankly, we don’t really want to eat dinner in the buffet for dinner, given that the options are very limited.
For our 5:30 PM Early dinner option, our family of 3 was placed at a big table, which was meant to share with another group of people. In the 6 nights that we were on the Elation, we’ve only had to share our table with another family once. If you do arrive early, the servers will not wait for other members of your big table to arrive. Instead, they will attend to you as if you are just one group.
The Elation’s dining room design and style are not much different from dining rooms on other cruise lines. The waiters wear white and black formal, and they sometimes dance and perform during the meal. The cutlery and plates were upscale (or presented as such) and there are large chandeliers everywhere. The service is usually composed of a head server, assisted by an assistant server and a beverage server. The service in the dining room is often excellent, and it definitely was on the Elation.
Where the quality does differ is the food. While Carnival has a menu with a variety of options (chicken, pasta, seafood, all well presented), we felt that the food was hit and miss. For example, the pasta dishes we ordered were often a little dry and didn’t have much flavor. The chicken pot pie was overly liquidy and not thick enough, and it would be nice to get bread that is at least warmed up a little bit.
However, the desserts were quite good, especially the chocolate lava cake, which was one of the best desserts we have tasted on any cruise line.
If you’re in a set dining spot, the servers get to know you and your preference the more you go back to the main dining room. In our case, we were celebrating a birthday the week before, but they made it a point to at least give me a slice of cake that had Happy Birthday on it and even sang a song for me.
The servers knew the name of every one of our family, what our drink orders were, and the fact that we prefer our food to be served as soon as available. We were trying our best to get our dinner done within an hour because our child has a limited attention span. They were updating us about the hurricane that was going to pass through Florida and was always asking how our day was.
This level of attention to detail and the fact that the servers were trying to connect was appreciated and made us remember our trip more.
An extra-pay experience, the restaurant offers sushi and sashimi, made according to your order. This is a small walk-up kiosk near the front part of Deck 9, the Promenade, close to the picture gallery. The restaurant hours vary.
If you’re wondering why the library of the Elation is closed because of an event, chances are, these are the folks who paid extra to join the Chef’s Table. The Chef’s Table is a special dinner, where the menu options are not included in any of the main restaurants or the buffet. Additional fees apply, and diners can also go behind the scenes to see the galley (ship’s kitchen) in action.
Located on Deck 9, the Promenade Javablue cafe offers coffee shop favorites as well as dessert options for an extra fee. Javablue is also the hub to get the daily trivia and puzzles. There are very few seating areas located in the cafe, so the orders are all fulfilled in to-go containers. There is plenty of seating available on the Elation’s Promenade, all within a few steps from the Javablue Cafe.
For those with children, this is a character breakfast for an additional fee held in one of the main dining rooms. Dr. Seuss and Thing 1 and Thing 2 show up during the breakfast and take photos and interact with the tables. The breakfast menu is Dr. Seuss-themed. Additional fees apply to every person participating in the experience.
Would suggest trying this character breakfast only if your children are not afraid of getting too close to the mascots. Our 2-year-old son (at the time we cruised) was happily watching them dance from afar, but when they came close, he started getting scared, so we skipped the experience altogether. Older children would enjoy the experience more if they are fascinated with the characters.
The Carnival Elation is a smaller and older ship, but you won’t go hungry if you choose to cruise on this ship. There are plenty of options available at all hours, catering to all taste palettes and dietary restrictions. However, if we were to choose which one is our absolute favorite restaurant on the ship, it would have to be Guy Fieri’s Burger Joint. A very close second is the Blue Iguana Cantina. You don’t see a lot of build-your-own tacos and burritos on other cruise lines.
Have you cruised the carnival Elation? Which restaurant was your favorite?
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