GWAE

I see that you have been on horizon, Vista, and Mardi Gras. Also Mardi Gras multiple times so I assume that's your favorite. Is there something on that ship over the other 2 that draws you to it?

I only wrote that about the ports because we are happy with any of the ports. Only 3 of the places are places that I have been too and the kids have only been to Bermuda so these are all new to them. We were on NCL prima this year and it wasn't really for kids but they still had a blast so I am probably over thinking this since all of these ships have more for kids than the Prima did.

First time on Carnival. There will be 4 of us, 2 kids ages 10 and 12 and our in laws. We will have 2 balcony cabins. We have narrowed it down to a few ships based on our dates. We are not so much concerned about the ports that we will be going to but more about the ship choice. It is stressful to say the least. This will be our in laws first cruise and our 5th but first on Carnival. We will be flying in so I know Port Canaveral will be a little bit more of a pain than Miami. Please give me some opinions based on Here are our options. Out of Port Canaveral: Vista Mardi Gras Out of Miami: Horizon Magic The Magic is the oldest ship of the choices so that has me concerned a little. The balconies are also priced the lowest of all the ships so again it worries me that there is a reason for that. My first thought is to go on the Mardi Gras since it is a newer ship and also larger but that also means a lot more people. Thank you for giving me some opinions.

Cant help you on that one. We never attempted to take anything but I have seen reviews where they did not allow. I can see them not having doggy bags but if you have your own I can't imagine them telling you no. Anytime our kids were hungry at the odd times we just ran up to the buffet and grabbed a quick bite. If the buffet was closed then we just did the local and most times they were pretty quick, especially on the apps. There were 2 or 3 times that we ran in there and ordered apps and that was it. chicken wings was an app so we ordered a table full of those one of the times.

I asked the wife One is Disco wonderland. They play 70s music but have dancers and such. This is a club atmosphere with dancing and the whole floor was opened. She thinks the other one is called Ocean Music Fest or something like that. This was all of the bands playing together. They started with older music and moved into newer music. The kept half the seats opened, enlarged the stage and had room for dancing. it took some people to get down there to dance but eventually there were a ton. My wife and kids were down there right away dancing away. I hung out on one of the couches and drank. There is also Sensoria that we missed which is edm type atmosphere. Couches are on deck 7 Endulge had a BBQ menu but I can not remember what was on it. It isn't what I would consider BBQ like pulled pork, ribs, etc. It was upscale. I think of the items was bacon wrapped duck.

Wife and I were just talking. We aren't sure if we are just not picky or easy to please. I was really worried going into this trip that it was going to be terrible because of reviews. Most of those reviews I never experienced. Only one time was a bar overwhelmed and it was up at the gocart track because they had 1 bar tender and a huge group came off the go carts and wanted a drink. We only waited 1 time for a table and it was 11pm at the local. It was a 10 min wait and when we were seated within 10 min half the restaurant was empty so if we came a few min later there would have been no wait. To hijack broons thread here are my minor complaints and favorites. Even my complaints made had no affect on our time. We just moved on to something else if there were to many people. Complaints: 1. I don't like the atrium area for bands. Not enough seating and often times had a lot of people. We never wanted to look for a seat. 2. They could use seeting in some areas like the stadium so we had somewhere to sit while kids ran around. 3. Minigolf still broken after 6 months. Either fix or repurpoae. 4. Having to walk through the buffet to get to the pool area is stupid. 5. Mini golf and darts area is outdoors so when we had weather like we did they were closed. Maybe have those 2 indoors so they can be used in bad weather. 6. I wish the food hall had 1 restaurant that was American food like pizza, burgers, chicken. Etc. We only went once because my family didn't have much they liked with the current offerings Favorites: 1. There are bars everywhere. Sometimes they were full and couldn't sit right at the bar but plenty of seating nearby. I was always able to swing by a bar on the way to anywhere and get a drink. 2. Food at Hudsons was great. Fish tacos were my go to but everything we had was good. 3. Service was really good by everyone. 4. Having the theater transform was neat. Anytime we could.grab a seat on the comfortable side balcony with the couches we did. We sat there for almost every show. 5. The shows in the Prima club aka theater after hours were really good. I can't remember the names of them now but we almost missed them because we didn't realize what they were. One was a band that was all of the house bands put together for a concert. It was really really good 6. We paid to do the behind the scenes tour. It was expensive but tremendous. We got to see the gally, crew deck, crew bar, the place where all the freight comes in, freezers, engine control room, behind the theater, and the bridge. We got to talk to the heads of each of those departments as well and see them in action.

we must have been very close to each other getting off the ship. We encountered the same thing.

enjoyed your review until the Bruins part 😉 Here was our door for the last 5 days.

it is so weird to get peoples perepectives and hear their stories. I was on the same ship as most here and what, 3000 other people. I see complaints about long lines, crowded areas, broken electronics, terrible disembark, etc. but here I am thinking. I can not believe I didn't wait in line for a single meal, did not see anything broken other than the mini golf, never waited more than 2 minutes for a drink, had great meals, and had overly nice staff my entire time. To be honest, prior to going I had planned on requesting some of the auto gratuity to be removed because paying $40 a day for 2 kids seems like overkill to me but everyone was so nice and everything went so smoothly I just let it be. Even tipped extra in many places. As for disembarking, we were packing and about to walk out the door to grab breakfast when they called for it. We walked to elevator on floor 17 and had to wait for 4 elevators because they kept coming by full, presumably from the buffet. Once we got on, we went down, the line was right next to our elevator and it took about 20 minutes to get scanned off the ship, 10 min walk to customs, and about another 10 min walk to our car. We were in the lincoln tunnel before 9am. I had no complaints there either.

I was wondering if this was a big deal. I wanted to ask the captain when we did our tour but I forgot once there.

Thank you for your insight. It was spot on for the most part. I was in the bridge on our tour during that picture above when the wave hit the front of the ship. The captain was unphased. It was neat to see them in action. When the wind would blow hard it would rattle the windows and the captain would ask them to call out their wind speed. Wind topped 85mpg while we were in there.

Oh and about the Bruins. There is a TV in the local but doubt they will have the game going. Possible but doubtful. There is 1 sports channel so it depends what they put on it.

We were all in shorts and t shirts. It was a little chilly when wind blew but it wasn't bad. We were swimming in the ocean but we are from Pennsylvania so the Temps didn't bother us. Mini-golf electronics were not working but you could play but it's a simple course without them. We found just about everything was working in the galaxy. There might have been one or 2 not working but most were. FYI, kids have to be 55 inches to use a few of them. My younger was to short.

This is like a free excursion.

Thanks for the info. Got our sea bands ready and I guess will take dramamine as well. We have our behind the scenes tour in 90 min. I wonder if they will cancel. If not cancel I wonder if we will see the bridge. Not sure if they are in panick mode with this.

It is weird that when I connect to wifi with my laptop it does not work well but if I connect through my phone and then Hotspot to my laptop it works just fine.

We didn't enjoy endulge at all. I like the concept but I am a meat and potatoes kinda guy and the food there is a little to upscale for my likings. The nochi (sp?) Was really good though.

Have you ever watched below deck tv show? Just hope they don't treat their down time the same or the first day might be rough for us. Haha

We will have 1 full day/overnight in Bermuda. We haven't been able to settle on any excursions as it seems most of them are water related and it will be a little colder in April. So in lieu of doing an excursion we are thinking about getting an all day bus pass and just taking the bus to St George, see the sights up there and then on the way back hit a few random stops along the way. So a few questions. 1. from the dock yard is the easiest way to get to St George to take the ferry to Hamilton and then get a bus from there? 2. I have been all over the internet but does anyone know of a site that would essentially put together a bus itinerary like this? 3. Has anyone done this and did you think it was worth it? thank you

Coming from GA it might feel cold. In NYC late April the highs will be near 70 and lows near 50. For us that is shorts and tanktop weather 😉 Bermuda average will be in the high 70s and low in high 60s at night.

Thanks all. We have a few caves in Western PA. Sounds like doing these ones would be a waste of time compared to those ones.

We are struggling to find something to do for an overnight in Bermuda. We will be there the first week of April. We were going to do the snorkeling tour to a shipwreck but I am not sure if they are doing them and it appears the water will be cold. Does anyone know if that is the case? Other question is about crystal cave. I have a bad knee. Not so bad where I can not walk but I have a hard time crawling. All of the pictures I have seen for Crystal seems to have nice pathways. For anyone that has done this tour, what is the walk like and was the tour worth it?

Has anyone gone Scuba diving in Bermuda at the end of March. We will be there 3/29-04/01. I have read online that some people say you need wetsuits this time of year but the water temp appears to be around 70 which is similar to what it is when we swim in Atlantic City. Others have said that you don't need so looking for someone that has actually done it instead of an article.

Thanks for posting. I don't see the noise boys listed on their website. Was this show a limited showing? Or just removed? This will be our first in a long time. I have see a lot of reviews complaining about the paxked theater. How do you reserve times so we can make sure we get a seat?

Wait, doesn't everyone say dippy eggs? I am having pierogis for dinner and pop to drink.