mdin

We ordered Fun Ships on Mardi Gras in March. They were $1 off at sailaway I believe. Just ask for the Fun Ship at most bars and they will know what it is.

Nice review, thanks for sharing! The Havana area is great! My wife and I booked it on our two cruises next year (Horizon and Vista). I haven't been able to find anything on the internet, but I wonder what upgrades (if any) Vista will get during the dry dock? Hoping they add Teppanyaki like they have on Horizon 😃.

Got HAL and NCL, but no Carnival.

My wife and I noticed this the other day as well, very cool. BTW, for those who don't know, the Roku screen saver has tons of references to movies and TV shows. Fun to try to identify them.

Yes. We booked an interior Havana cabin on our Horizon 2022 cruise. Loved everything about it. Have it booked again for Horizon and Vista next year. We didn't book it for our Mardi Gras cruise this year though. After seeing the renderings, we opted not to get it. That said, we ended up regretting not doing it. We figured Serenity could substitute it, but it didn't even come close. Next time we go on that class of ship, we will book Havana.

I much prefer the Eastern Caribbean itinerary. Western is nice, but St. Maarten is beautiful and pushes the Eastern to the top.

Thanks for sharing. Nothing on my Amex this time, but I do have the 10% offer on my Chase.

My wife and I average 4-6 drinks on sea days and 2-4 on ports. We added up our bar tab the last 2 cruises and in both cases the drink package would not have been worth it. That said, we don't drink coffees or sodas and we purchased a couple of 12 packs of bottled water.

None here, Amex Blue

Maybe they'll add Teppanyaki during the dry dock.

I was considering doing a 12 day from NYC in 2025 or 2026 if it was offered. Hopefully it comes back and does some late fall sailings.

The rules were being broken and I mentioned it to an employee. That employee didn't seem to care and instructed me to take it to guest services. I could have done that, maybe security would've been sent and the person or persons playing music would have to stop. Then the next day I'd have to do it again because it wasn't just an incident involving the same person. It was multiple people doing it throughout the sailing. Sometimes it's just not worth the extra effort dealing with inconsiderate people, especially on vacation. Doesn't make it any less annoying though.

We only brought it up to an attendant in Serenity and they said we needed to contact guest services. We ended up not contacting services about it. It was was annoying having the speakers going, but by no means did it ruin our vacation.

Loved Havana. The pool area was never crowded.

I cruised this past March, and Carnival sent out some rule reminders which included Bluetooth use prior to our sailing. Unfortunately a few people didn't get the memo or didn't care. Everyday someone was playing their personal playlist (probably a f@$#king masterpiece to their ears) by the pool or loungers in Serenity. Defeats the whole vibe of that space. I have no problem with them being used within their own cabin.

Thanks for sharing. Unfortunately, I don't have it in my offers either.

Stayed on deck 7 Havana Interior on Horizon. Loved it!

I was supposed to sail on Vista in February 2024, but had to move it due to the dry dock (Horizon in March now 👍). Something I have looked into and can't seem to find amywhere is if Vista will be getting any additional venues, such as Teppanyaki? Anyone know?

Thanks for sharing. This is what my wife and I plan to do on our trip there next year. Beach day and with lunch and drinks at Passions on the Beach.

Great review so far!

For the age old question, is the cheers drink package worth it? We didn't have the drink package, instead we didn't restrict ourselves and ordered whatever, whenever we wanted. We averaged 4-6 drinks a day each on sea days. On port days, that number was 2-3 each. Our combined total was $776 (18% gratuity included). So far us, the drink package is not worth it. Note that we purchased 2-12 packs of water that I didn't take into account. We also don't drink sodas or coffees.

We had a great day there despite the seaweed, but not sure I would return under those conditions. They will give you an update on the conditions when you arrive at the meeting location. You have the option to opt out then. The service and resort are phenomenal. Maya Chan does there best to clean up their property, but the water was not appealing to us. The rest of the neighboring shore was overwhelmed in it. When the breeze blew in our direction we did get the stench of rotting seaweed. It didn't ruin our day by any means, but it is something you will notice.

It was bad in Costa Maya (Maya Chan) 2 weeks ago. Not bad in Cozumel (Mr. Sanchos).

Overall thoughts: My wife and I liked, not loved Mardi Gras. We had a good cruise. For us, this was the best cruise we've been on in terms of food, both in options and quality. Need another week to get more in lol. The French Quarter was our favorite area. Enjoyed the food and bars in this zone. The new layout of the ship with the different zones was very easy to navigate. Different than the usual Carnival cruise and something they got right. A lot activities available to do during the day, including Bolt which was worth the $15. Nightlife at bars was popping, but it did seem to die down earlier than on our previous cruises. Although we enjoyed our time in ports, ultimately we both prefer the Southern and Eastern Caribbean itineraries. That said, not one time did we feel the ship rock, even slightly. Not sure if that's a Western Caribbean thing or it just takes a lot to rock the ship. I heard (unofficially) there were 6400 guests on our sailing, and it felt like it. The ship felt crowded, indoors at times, but especially outdoors. Probably the most crowded I've felt on a ship so far. Not having Havana didn't help. The crew and staff are amazing. They work so hard, refer to you by your name, and do everything possible to make your vacation great. I think anyone sailing on Mardi Gras will have a good time. They'll enjoy great service, food, entertainment and drinks. Some negatives like the Bluetooth speaker rule not being enforced is annoying, but it probably won't ruin anyone's vacation. On a side note: This is kind of weird for me write about it, but I figure I'll put it out there as a PSA. On several occasions on this sailing I used the public restrooms and several times I witnessed someone leaving without washing their hands. From stall to exit door. Definitely wash or sanitize your hands before and especially after touching anything, like the serving spoons in the buffet for example. Never know who handled it last. This isn't something exclusive to Mardi Gras, Carnival, or the cruise industry. Has more to do with society really. I'm sure it happens everywhere unfortunately.

Grand Central is a cool concept. It's a versatile space used for different events throughout the day. Morning shows, Q + A's, game shows, musicals, etc. We attended 2 shows during the week. Celestial Strings and Voodoo Moon. Celestial String is a good show. The dancers and singers do a good job. I had already watched it on Horizon, but watched it anyways. We arrived 10 minutes before showtime but were lucky to find two seats close to the stage on 6. Voodoo Moon was a dark, 80's? music based musical. We enjoyed the storyline along with the music. In this case, we had to watch the show standing the entire time on 7. It was packed. The negative about Grand Central is that a lot of the seating is obstructed. Very difficult to get a seat with a good view. We attended comedy shows twice, both in the main theater. The first comic wasn't our style of comedy. We gave it another chance on the last night, and Billy D. Washington was hilarious. Probably the best I've seen at sea. The theater is an improvement over the Vista class. It's not as big, but the layout makes it that all seats have a good, unobstructed view.