Jump to content

Racegirl6

Members
  • Posts

    327
  • Joined

About Me

  • Location
    Florence, SC (Recently moved here from Peoria, IL)
  • Interests
    Museums, art history, travel, family, US History, Cruising
  • Favorite Cruise Line(s)
    Carnival
  • Favorite Cruise Destination Or Port of Call
    Belize or Cozumel

Racegirl6's Achievements

Cool Cruiser

Cool Cruiser (2/15)

  • Great Review Rare

Recent Badges

  1. The Havana Bar also have coffee choices as well as Java Blue.
  2. I know on Carnival you can get a weeklong spa pass for the thermal suites, but I also recall seeing daily passes on the app on the Magic. I would like to utilize the spa but not every day. Can anyone tell me how much it is per day and what is included?
  3. On the Mardi Gras April 22-29 cruise, we did not have any information as to where to get our items. We are Gold, so we get the 2 bottles of water and a pin. We got the bottles of water at a bar and the pins are at Pixels. I scanned the code but it didn't inform me as to where to go. I asked guest services about the pins, just to be sure it was Pixels.
  4. Amber Cove, Puerto Plata City Tour. Amber Museum, Umbrella Street, Pink Street, beach and Fort San Filipe.
  5. Part 8, Last Sea Day and Debarkation Friday was our last sea day. We started with breakfast on the Lido, followed by a game of Wheely Big Trivia, in which you play in groups like Trivial Pursuit. We didn’t win but really had fun playing. We played a music trivia game after that, then found other things to do outside. Our day was pretty relaxing since the past couple were busy port days. For lunch, we opted for the Pizza for the first and only time, it was very good and I highly recommend it. After lunch we looked around the ship, spent some time outside and in the cabin then met our aunts in the Havana Bar to listen to karaoke, I even got up and sang a song, which is something I rarely do. The drinks in the Havana Bar are so good, I highly recommend the Cuban Iced Tea, it was my favorite, the mojito is really good there as well. For dinner, we had ChiBang for the second time. I loved the lettuce wrap appetizers, I forgot to mention those earlier. I also had the Kung Pao Chicken. Nothing was bad at ChiBang, it was great both times we ate there. We finished the night in the Mardi Gras Theater for the comedy, we saw Jason Blanchard first, then Steve White, both comedians we saw twice on this cruise and they were very funny. That would end our night and we had to finish packing for our departure in the morning ☹ We self-debarked and were off the ship and to our parking lot by 9:00 AM, it was a tad busy getting off the ship, and my husband’s passport renewal booklet had not come by the time we left so he had to use his birth certificate which took much longer than the passport line. So if you need to renew your passport and it is expiring sooner than 6 months out, send your renewal very early. It took us 13 weeks to get passports back this year. Another thing we learned, that saved a good half hour, was to talk to the person in the security line if you know you have used facial recognition in the past but you have not gotten your new passport back before your trip, my husband did this and they pulled him from the line and had him go to the passport line and scanned his face and he was cleared. Give it a try, it really helped speed things up. I really have no complaints at all about the Mardi Gras, we loved everything about it. Our waiters, bartenders, room stewards and all staff were amazing. If you are on the fence about taking it, just do it, it is a much larger ship, but there is so much to do you will find something you love.
  6. Red Frog Pub is really fun, be sure to look for happy hour specials, they sneak them in occasionally. Ocean Plaza is fun for trivia games during the day and bands in the evening. Also in Ocean Plaza is a small breakfast bar in the morning and salad bar at lunch, nice for a snack during games and the coffee shop is right next to it. I also love the serenity deck on the Magic, one of the best.
  7. Part 7, Grand Turk, Final Port Day Our next port stop was Grand Turk, which turned out to be my favorite stop of the cruise. In 2018 we stopped in Grand Turk while on the Carnival Magic. We were with friends and decided not to do a shore excursion……big mistake. I know Grand Turk’s free beach is a favorite with many cruisers, but I just couldn’t see how. When we first got to the beach, most chairs were taken, so we found loungers closer to the entrance to the beach rather than near the water. Unfortunately, the locals who were selling their own excursions were very loud and were bickering with each other, ruining the beach for us. We moved to the pool at Margaritaville, but if you have been there before you’ll know it is mostly concrete with not a lot of shade, so it was very hot. I went in the pool for a bit but that was all there was to do unless you partied with everyone else. Our daughter, who was 13 at the time was not into the pool or the busy beach. Anyway, we are back in Grand Turk with an excursion booked and we were all excited about it. We snorkeled and swam with the stingrays. It was a gorgeous day, the snorkeling was refreshing and there were plenty of fish to be seen. The swimming with the stingrays was fun and the island they took us to was gorgeous. This was the Grand Turk I was looking for since that day in 2018. We had a Carnival sponsored excursion, but the only downside to it was we had to walk about 15 minutes to the boat, in the sand, along the free beach, which in my opinion was no better than it was in 2018. I recommend doing an excursion in Grand Turk, see the beautiful beaches and water away from the port for a nice day. After our excursion, we went back to the ship because we had a 2:30 time slot for Bolt!! My husband and I were very excited to ride the first roller coaster at sea and it did not disappoint, although it is short for the 15.00 per person price tag, the backdrop of Grand Turk made it an even better experience. After Bolt, we had our first and only Guy’s Burger Joint burger. We always enjoy Guy’s burgers on Carnival ships, and these were very good, even the fries. We found German Chocolate cake on the buffet and had a slice along with hazelnut gelato. We didn’t do much after that, had dinner in the Palm Restaurant and called it a night. Being out in the sun all day made us tired.
  8. Part 6, Amber Cove and Hubby’s 60th Birthday!! The ship arrived in Amber Cove early in the morning. We had an excursion planned and we would meet up at 10:30. I booked this excursion through Shoreexcursioneer.com so we would have to walk out of the port area and onto the main road to meet the bus. We did the Puerta Plata City tour which included a lot more than what the Carnival excursion offered and a smaller price. We arrived the bus as everything worked out according to plan, we did have to wait for passengers from the Carnival Freedom to arrive before we took off. The tour would first take us to Macorix Rum Factory, we did a tour and tasting there, then were able to shop the different types of rum they had. We chose a pineapple rum to make drinks at home. Next stop on the tour was the Amber Museum and Cigar Factory, they were both in the same building. The Amber Museum was quite smaller than I was anticipating but it was still interesting. Amber is mined in Puerto Plata hence the name Amber Cove. Some of the samples of amber in the museum were used in the movie Jurassic Park. They had an entire jewelry store devoted to amber and the official stone of the Dominican Republic, Larimar, it is blue and very pretty. Just a note, if you want to buy a piece of Larimar jewelry, buy it at another gift shop or craft market, it is much cheaper. I got a Larimar necklace and set of earrings for 20.00 outside of the fort where we will go later. After the museum, we were led down the street to see the umbrella street and pink street, followed by the city square and cathedral. The next part of the tour was the Del Oro Chocolate Factory, where we learned how Dominican chocolate was made, we also sampled brownies and hot chocolate from their factory. It was delicious. The next stop was a quick one at the beach, where there are artisans selling crafts and cheaper Dominican jewelry. The beach was lovely. We were not there very long though. The last stop of the day was Fort San Filipe. We did a short tour and took some pictures. The views of the ocean were pretty. Our time was running short and it was time to head back to the port, we got stuck in a traffic jam and were getting a little worried about making it back in time, but our tour guide and driver got us out of there and onto a different route. We made it back with plenty of time to spare, even the Carnival tours were getting back at the same time. I was so glad to be back, ready to get on the ship, shower, and lie down. While we were walking on the dock, my husband and I noticed the Bolt was running tests. After I got back to our room, I looked it up on the app and saw there were time slots available for the next day so I signed us up. The Bolt was something we were really looking forward to. We signed up for an early dinner time and opted for the Palm Dining Room. It was my husband’s birthday so he chose surf and turf off the steakhouse selections of the menu. I had the ribs, salad and alligator beignets. We watched more comedy this night, had a few drinks and called it a night. Our excursion wore us out.
  9. I personally don't think you should compare the Mardi Gras to the Freedom, those are 2 completely different types of ships. Yes, the Mardi Gras can be difficult to navigate at first but there is just so much more to do. You can do a lot or you can do a little. We did not do any of the specialty restaurants, did not go to the pools, but still had an amazing time playing trivia, seeing comedy shows and just enjoying our time together. It may not be for you, but I have to disagree. I couldn't even compare the Mardi Gras to the Magic, my other favorite ship.
  10. Part 5, Sea Day 2 For our second sea day, we once again had breakfast at the buffet. I chose to get an omelet at the omelet station since the eggs on the buffet are not my favorite. Breakfast in the buffet is actually really good on the Mardi Gras and we would eat there daily. After breakfast, we went to the Limelight Lounge for another couple rounds of trivia. We really enjoyed several trivia games on this cruise. After that, my husband and I decided to walk around outside for a while then grabbed a clamshell near the Bolt Roller Coaster entrance. Bolt had not been running yet on our cruise, but we overheard a staff member saying it was due to be repaired while in port at Amber Cove the next day. More to come on Bolt in a couple of days. We decided to have lunch at Big Chicken this day, we had not been there before so we had to give it a try. Both of us had The Big Aristotle Chicken Sandwich which comes with bacon, muenster cheese and BBQ sauce, you can also get fried onions on it if you like but I can’t eat onions, so I said no thank you. We also got fries to go with our sandwiches. My husband got the potato salad and slaw and really liked both of them, and he said they were both very cold, so you knew they were being taken care of since they are on a side bar. I liked the fries so much I had to get one more order. The chicken sandwich was good, but I didn’t care for the cheese, so I took it off. This is a nice addition for lunch on the Mardi Gras. The rest of the afternoon we spent walking around, having a drink and going back to the cabin for rest. We decided to have dinner in the Palm Restaurant this evening, the wait was a bit long so we got ready then had a drink at the Grand View Bar before dinner. This bar is located by the Grand Central Stage on Deck 7. This bar was not crowded at all so we got to talk to the bartender a little bit and discuss drinks. She made one up for my husband, I don’t recall what it was but it was a play on and Alabama Slammer. He really liked it. I had the Carnival Cosmo and my aunt got a Twilight Zone. Our dinner table was ready so we headed to the Palm. I was not super thrilled with the menu selections this evening so I opted for the steak on the everyday grill menu. I thought it was really good, I ordered it medium rare so it would be a bit more tender. For my appetizers I opted for the meatballs, which were really good and the iceberg wedge salad. After dinner, we decided it would be comedy night, I love the comedy shows on Carnival. First up was the rated R show with Jason Blanchard, he was so funny and we all really enjoyed it. The drinks are really good as well, try the rum punch. Russ nagel was the second show of the night, his set was the PG show, he is a dry humor comedian, different than Jason Blanchard, but still really good. After the shows we called it a night. Amber Cove was our next stop in the morning and we had a city tour planned.
  11. I just had the fries 2 weeks ago and I didn't dislike them, no they aren't the same as they used to be but they weren't horrible. I did miss the mushrooms more.
×
×
  • Create New...