carnival elation shopping options
Being on a cruise ship means the cruisers are a captive audience. What is there to do aboard a ship day aside from lounging by the pool or doing endless trivia? Go walk around and explore the ship in the hopes of bringing a souvenir home, right? Here are the Carnival Elation shopping options onboard the ship.
Here are the Carnival Elation shopping options on the ship. There are not that many shops available on the ship. The Carnival Elation is one of the smallest ships on the Carnival Fleet, so don’t expect much.
This post is part of our cruising series. Here are a few more articles that we wrote about cruising. Theses posts cover Virgin Voyages, Royal Caribbean, Carnival, and Margaritaville at Sea.
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If you want Carnival branded items, need toiletries you may have forgotten, and even over the counter medication? The Fun Shop has most of them in store. Prices are definitely more expensive than on land. However, if you are in a pinch, the onboard store has most items that you need. The Fun Shop has ship branded items to help you remember your cruise too.
In short, the Fun Shop has an assortment of things to buy. On the Carnival Elation, there are two Fun Shops. The first shop has the sundry items, branded gear, handbags, flip-flops, and so on that are moderately priced. The other Fun Shop has your usual jewelry, perfume and liquor options.
At the smaller Fun Shop, on the left side of the Mikado Lounge, you can get branded merchandise. Want Carnival branded items? This is the place to go. We got a 50th anniversary commemorative item made from the banisters of the original Carnival Mardi Gras at 40% off. Want a souvenir that says which ship you’ve been on? You can get Carnival Elation branded items from this side.
There are handbags available on this side of the store as well. They’re nothing too fancy, and the prices are a bit more expensive than you would get from discount stores. This is also the spot to get snacks or medicine. Broke your flip-flop? Head over here too.
Located on the bigger Fun Shop on the Carnival Elation, is the alcohol shop, and the jewelry store. If you attend any events hosted at the Fun Shop on the Carnival Elation, you’ll pop over to this side. Check the Carnival app for any events and times. By going to this Fun Shop, you can join a raffle, or get free booze sometime during your trip. We attended an Effy event where we got free champagne, no purchase required from the jewelry store.
The items they sell on the shops onboard are tax and duty free. Items may be a bit cheaper than on land, but do your own research to see if there is a better price and quality of the item ashore.
If you buy bottles of alcohol on the ship, you won’t be able to open it and consume it onboard. The shopkeepers will keep the bottle for you and have it packed and ready for pickup on disembarkation day. Customs usually let you bring in a bottle of alcohol per person without paying any duties.
If you like Pandora’s jewelry and collecting charms for the bracelets, there is a small kiosk onboard the ship. We’re not big fans of Pandora jewelry. After buying an item a few years ago, we realized that you can’t really expose Pandora jewelry to water. Pandora’s jewelry tends to discolor, and feels very low quality. It was disappointing considering the price we paid for the item, but to each their own.
There are onboard exclusive charms that they are touting on the cruise planners. However, we have no idea if they really are that exclusive as on land. We highly recommend skipping Pandora, but know that they have a kiosk on the ship by the Mikado Lounge.
On the 9th floor, Promenade Deck, is a small Swarovski store. They offer discounts on certain items on deal days and also have onboard exclusives. We do like the Swarovski brand, but don’t own pieces from it yet. However, take a look if you are a fan of the brand or are just curious what’s available on the ship. They do look shiny and sparkly if you walk by the store a lot!
Carnival Elation has its very own candy shop and small toy store, geared towards those who are looking for dessert or stuffed animals. The store is called Cherry on Top. The candy is paid per pound, and you are free to mix and match items. They also sell packaged candy, but the selection is not as varied as the candy available per pound. Prices are expensive, for both the stuffed animal and the candy itself. This store is also located on the Promenade Deck, in a very high traffic area.
If you are on the lookout to buy skincare and maybe makeup, you can get them from the Spa Carnival on the top deck. There is a makeover demonstration where you can try some of the items that they are selling onboard, which are mostly facial items (toners, moisturizers, and facial wash), as well as tints that you can use as lipstick or a blush. The prices are definitely more expensive than what you can get from a drugstore or a Target on land, but it may be your only choice when you are buying skincare you may have left behind onboard the ship.
Traveling with kids or love plush toys in general? On one sea day during your cruise, there will be a pop-up Build the Bear at Sea event. This event allows you to enjoy building a bear while on a cruise ship, picking an unstuffed friend, customizing their clothes, and putting them in a special carrying bag to take home after the parents pay for it, of course.
This is a special pop up event on Carnival Cruise ships which only happens once every cruise. The comedy club serves as a temporary venue where children and parents can choose a friend, stuff them while on the ship, and customize their clothes and accessories. The entire event lasts a maximum of 2 hours, and spots are limited.
You will have to pre-register on the app, and when you get to the lounge, employees from the kids club check if you are registered and give you a number. The number is first come first served, and dictates when you can get up to the stage to pick your friend and accessories. You can’t just turn up, grab an item from the shelf, and pay. Everything is done through the number.
The best item to get from Build the Bear at Sea is a captain’s uniform. It is not cheap, at $20, you will get a captain’s hat, jacket, and pants, but you can then use it to clothe one of your other bears that you may have at home. In our case, we have one of the birthday bears we got on our child’s 3rd birthday for $3, and that captain’s outfit fit the bear just fine.
You can also get a Cat in the Hat stuffed friend onboard the ship but even though there’s a Green Eggs and Ham themed breakfast and a Cat in the Hat themed parade, the Cat in the Hat is just that. There is no additional stitching or themeing that mentions the Cat in the Hat was from Build a Bear at sea, so if you’re looking for that extra embroidery on the plush, you’re out of luck.
The Elation has a ton of photographers onboard, which try to capture every single moment you have on cruise. They go from embarkation to disembarkation and everything in between. There’s multiple backdrops that you can choose from, and they guide you on how to pose to get the best quality photos you can get. Not sure if they photoshop every single photo to cover up blemishes and the like, though.
You can see print outs of your photo from the photo gallery, and you can see some photos digitally as well on some screens. Within Pixels Photos, they also sell lanyards and pin sets that are exclusive to the ship that you’re sailing on. In our case, they have a pin set that says Carnival Elation. While the souvenir looks amazing, the price point is not ($20).
If you have cruised more than once, even with different cruise lines, you will likely be familiar with the Park West Art Gallery. The gallery staff typically do various fun activities to get people involved in learning about the different art works that the gallery has, and to also try to nudge them to buy a piece or two. When I first went into a Park West auction, I thought there would be some high-pressure tactics employed, but that was not really the case. They pretty much let people bid however they want and let the events unfold. The auctions are fun even if you don’t bid yourself, just to see what prices people will go to for certain art works.
In the Elation, the Park West Gallery is located on Deck 9 in the Limelight Lounge. That’s where they conduct their auctions and art seminars. The auctions come with free champagne, so even if you never bid a dime, you will get a free drink out of it. In case you do get swept up in the experience and buy an artwork that you maybe don’t know much about, you do have the option of not actually buying it. This happened to us once and while it is certainly a little awkward, the gallery does show flexibility in this regard.
And there you have it, all the shopping options available on the Carnival Elation. The Elation is a small ship, and is one of the oldest in the fleet. While the stores are not as impressive as the new flagships like the Mardi Gras and Celebration, this post will help you know that the options to shop are still there. Are you planning to shop while you are on Carnival Elation? Remember to budget a little bit extra on top of your cruise fare and gratuities to help pay for these purchases! Let me know if I missed a store on the Elation or if there are any changes to what they have to offer.
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