Carnival's new MARDI GRAS!

Aida Nova in a somewhat Carnival suit.

6600 passengers? No thanks.. maybe when it’s doing a TA or a repositioning but Caribbean, Bahamas and Mexico out of Port Canaveral? 3000 passengers max for me..

For its schedule of  basic Carnival Itinerary this sounds far to big.. The first TA looks interesting but after that I think its one to avoid unless they relocate it to somewhere that can actually cope with those numbers.

Did Royals Harmony before the cruise thinking what are we doing on this ship with over 6000 passengers. Completely surprised that the passengers spread out and really never crowded. Ended up being one of your favorite ships. Already booked on the Mardi Gras for the Halloween cruise 2020. 74 years old and want that roller coaster ride. 

Any one remember how Carnival

got their "Fun Ships" moniker?

Every time the rust bucket

Mardi Gra got stuck for mechanical

issues they gave away free

Liquor til they ran out...

We are the Moore's

Tampa Bay

Mardi GRA

12/20/2020

Hi...we are also booked on the 2020 Inaugural  Mardi Gras out of Copenhagen...Patty and John.

Nearby Safety Harbor, Florida. 

Another disaster..

On 4/17/2019 at 8:33 AM, DD474 said:

Mardi Gras will be the biggest Carnival ship ever built. Other than RCL Oasis Class ships (all 4 are tied for 1st). Mardi Gras will be the 5th biggest ship in the world as of 2020.   She'll have both Emeril Lagasse and Guy Fieri Restaurants. 1st roller coaster at sea.   Gross Tonnage  180,800     Guest Capacity  5,282     Length In Feet  1,130     Onboard Crew  1,745

Also Shaq's Chicken

4 hours ago, twodaywonder said:

Also Shaq's Chicken

You are correct..it just keeps getting better. 😁

Our first ever cruise was on the Mardi Gras in September of 1979 out of Miami.  Seeing the old ship pictured next to the new one is amazing regarding size.  Also, in 1979 the ships did not have the stabilizers like they do these days.  My husband was so sea sick that it took me 11 years to get him to cruise again.  I guess we'll try the new one.

My parents were on the original Mardi Gras in February 1978 during the blazered of "78" After seeing the original Mardi Gras in a picture next to the new Mardi Gras I new I had do book it. My husband and I have been on over 14 cruises most being on Carnival we will be on the Freedom in October going to the Panama Canal. In September 2020 we will be on the Mardi Gras going out of NY very excited not sure how I feel about such a big ship I'll keep you all posted 

Is this going to be ready to sail by August of next year? 🤔 Seems like they have a long way to go.

I am booked on it for 9/9/20-9/23/20.  I already had my Vista cruise cancelled because it had to go into dry dock.  I hope I don't have a cruise curse... (With that said, Carnival gave us a free cruise AND our $ back for canceling us at the last minute so it was not a bad deal.)

We are booked on this for their TA from London to NY!  We love Royals Oasis class ships & we are looking forward to this. We will probably take it all the way to Florida! 

The original Mardi Gras was my very first cruise as a kid out of Boston to Halifax in 1982 so like someone before me posted, I just need to sail on her. 

In the process of doing the 2021 Halloween Cruise on the Mardi Gras also. This time Halloween will be on the second day of the cruise.

I personalty prefer rccl however if you like Carnival do not let the size overwhelm you these mega ships are so large that not everyone is at one location at same time as there is so much going on at the same time .we cruise nearly every year and once in awhile twice for the most part the mega ships are less crowded because people are spread out in different areas ,you will notice at ports early in the morning as everyone wants off first.   

We also cruised on the first Mardi Gras. We will be taking our granddaughter, who will be just turned 18, for the New Years 2020-2021 cruise on the Mardi Gras!

I loved Harmony of the Seas.  I enjoyed Anthem of the Seas.  I am booked on Oasis of the Seas.  I will have to try this one as well.  Go large or go home.

I did an 8 day cruise out of Baltimore to Nassau on the Mardi Gras in December 1975.

It was my first (and only) cruise on Carnival.  The ship was dirty, the food was inedible, the service was horrendous and about 40% of the time I felt like I was about to become seasick - and I have never gotten seasick on any of my 15 cruises.  The Mardi Gras was the closest I ever came to getting sick.  The only good thing about the ship was that most drinks were 75 cents or less - an era when the cruise lines priced drinks cheaply and advertised as such to get you onto the ship.

I don't care what Carnival builds and whether they are "paying homage" one of their original two ships - if it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and quacks like a duck it's a duck.  It's a Carnival ship - so it's a duck.  The only Carnival line that is worse than Carnival is Costa.  The travel agent that booked my first five cruises (1970's and 1980's) told me never to consider setting foot on a Costa ship that they were generally not seaworthy, people got sick all of the time, the food was horrible and the service horrendous.  She went on a Costa cruise with her husband at a reduced travel agent rate - all she paid was the amount of the taxes.  It was so bad they left the ship part way into the cruise and flew home.

The 32 people that died on the Costa Concordia didn't have the option to leave the ship and fly home.  I wasn't surprised that it was a Costa ship.

On 11/13/2019 at 2:05 AM, davidjplatt said:

I did an 8 day cruise out of Baltimore to Nassau on the Mardi Gras in December 1975.

 

It was my first (and only) cruise on Carnival.  The ship was dirty, the food was inedible, the service was horrendous and about 40% of the time I felt like I was about to become seasick - and I have never gotten seasick on any of my 15 cruises.  The Mardi Gras was the closest I ever came to getting sick.  The only good thing about the ship was that most drinks were 75 cents or less - an era when the cruise lines priced drinks cheaply and advertised as such to get you onto the ship.

 

I don't care what Carnival builds and whether they are "paying homage" one of their original two ships - if it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and quacks like a duck it's a duck.  It's a Carnival ship - so it's a duck.  The only Carnival line that is worse than Carnival is Costa.  The travel agent that booked my first five cruises (1970's and 1980's) told me never to consider setting foot on a Costa ship that they were generally not seaworthy, people got sick all of the time, the food was horrible and the service horrendous.  She went on a Costa cruise with her husband at a reduced travel agent rate - all she paid was the amount of the taxes.  It was so bad they left the ship part way into the cruise and flew home.

 

The 32 people that died on the Costa Concordia didn't have the option to leave the ship and fly home.  I wasn't surprised that it was a Costa ship.

Your opinion only. Things happen. Things change. Your choice to miss out.

I would never miss out by not sailing on a Carnival ship.

If you continue to cruise on the "Walmart" of cruise ships you would never know what a cruise was like on a "Nordstrom" cruise line.  You obviously don't know what you are missing.

I just came off of a 15 day cruise on Celebrity from Rome to Dubai.  Everyone I spoke to that cruise that had cruised on Carnival disliked Carnival and said "never again".

I guess some people prefer quality over quantity and low price.

I’m another original Mardi Gras cruiser 😄. It was our first cruise and we sailed Thanksgiving 1984. My parents, sister and I all shared a cabin and had a suitcase just for our shoes! Lol! Poor Dad! Have such great memories of that trip. 

On 11/13/2019 at 2:05 AM, davidjplatt said:

I did an 8 day cruise out of Baltimore to Nassau on the Mardi Gras in December 1975.

 

It was my first (and only) cruise on Carnival.  The ship was dirty, the food was inedible, the service was horrendous and about 40% of the time I felt like I was about to become seasick - and I have never gotten seasick on any of my 15 cruises.  The Mardi Gras was the closest I ever came to getting sick.  The only good thing about the ship was that most drinks were 75 cents or less - an era when the cruise lines priced drinks cheaply and advertised as such to get you onto the ship.

 

I don't care what Carnival builds and whether they are "paying homage" one of their original two ships - if it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and quacks like a duck it's a duck.  It's a Carnival ship - so it's a duck.  The only Carnival line that is worse than Carnival is Costa.  The travel agent that booked my first five cruises (1970's and 1980's) told me never to consider setting foot on a Costa ship that they were generally not seaworthy, people got sick all of the time, the food was horrible and the service horrendous.  She went on a Costa cruise with her husband at a reduced travel agent rate - all she paid was the amount of the taxes.  It was so bad they left the ship part way into the cruise and flew home.

 

The 32 people that died on the Costa Concordia didn't have the option to leave the ship and fly home.  I wasn't surprised that it was a Costa ship.

You still went on 5 cruises? What? Any idea how many get sick every day from eating in restaurants and die every day from accidents. Your reasoning not to cruise on any ships is not a very good one.

Our honeymoon Cruise was on on the Mardi Gras. We were hooked on Cruising back then. We had a great time on every cruise we were ever on. Some better then others but all great. Time for another. Maybe the new Mardi Gras.