Knights on the Beach

I live here too (under 2 miles from T-3) and the Holiday Inn is definitely within walking distance right across from the Mardi Gras terminal. It is the old Ron Jon and they do rent by the night when they have availability.

We were on Freedom in October and there was no smoky smell then.

That was not the case after 10:00 pm on MG in May or last week. They had quite a few people making pizzas and the line went fast. Last week they also had servers carrying plates of pizza down the line to expedite the process. It was much better than during our MG cruises a year ago (December 2021) and in March. People keep complaining about how it was on their past cruises but Carnival is making changes and it seems to be getting better. Now we weren't in line for pizza at 2:00 am so I have no idea how it was then, but around 11:00 pm it wasn't bad at all.

The deli closed at 10:00 on Mardi Gras this last week. The only time we were in P&A (or close by) that late was Sunday night when we watched the Dolphins game. They made me lose my appetite anyway, so I didn't think to look and see if they were getting ready to put any food out. 😝

We like to get on the ship early, go to muster then grab a bite to eat before those lines get long, then explore the ship. No need to sit in a crowded buffet, there are plenty of other places on the ship to check out. We check our luggage and just carry on a backpack so we don't feel the need to go straight to our cabin. But there are different arrival times so everyone can pick what works best for them.

Or it's just the way the airlines price the flights, I doubt it has much to do with cruise arrival times. We flew out of MCO twice last month and the early morning or late afternoon/early evening flights are almost always the cheapest.

I tend to agree with this somewhat. This year we cruised in March, May, October & December and enjoyed them all. I'd probably prefer not to cruise during Spring Break again mostly due to the price but we originally booked that because our grandkids were off that week. They ended up cancelling because the youngest wasn't old enough to be vaccinated so Camp Ocean wasn't open to his age group at that time. They were able to cruise with us for a 4 night long weekend in October and that was great. We heard lots of stories about the kids causing trouble on our SB cruise but fortunately we weren't affected by most of it, but they sure kept security busy that week. Many years ago when our kids were in school, we cruised mostly during June. One year we did a big family cruise during Thanksgiving week and absolutely loved that. The weather was perfect and it was cheaper than our June cruises. We're pretty much at the point where we can cruise any time of year (unless our kids' families are joining us) but I think so far mid-December is my favorite.

I didn't see this listed on the Hub app at all last week so I wonder if they stopped doing it on MG?

Unfortunately the above isn't always correct. We've been in 16295 and 16287 on Mardi Gras and the deck plan shows the door on the left for both rooms. 16295 has the bed by the balcony and 16287 has the sofa by the balcony. The only sure way to find out is if someone posts the info.

Both are great but I like the chicken so much, I just get the tenders. 🙂

I don't know Tom, we always have early boarding so we've never been out there to see what really happens if someone shows up after 2:00 with all their luggage.

Our MG boarding passes for tomorrow show final boarding is 3:00 pm but if you want to check your bags, you need to be there by 2:00. The below was in an email we received about a week ago. Checked luggage delivery service is available until 2 hours before the ship's departure time. If you arrive after this time, you will be responsible for taking your bags on board.

This was our experience exactly on Freedom in October. We had a disappointing meal (both service and food) at the steakhouse on Mardi Gras in March so we really didn't plan to eat there on Freedom but were so happy we did. It was easily the best steakhouse experience we've had on any cruise. We were a family of 8 including grandsons who are 5 and 8 and every one of us loved it. Our oldest grandson had fish & chips and he kept thanking our servers and telling them how much he loved it. 😍 Actually even the MDR food and service were way better on Freedom than it was on Mardi Gras or Magic.

The email we received for our upcoming cruise says we need to stick to our arrival time.

Mini version. ☺️

I'm with him! I loved Freedom! It was actually cool being on a smaller ship like we use to cruise on all the time years ago after being on Mardi Gras three times. Back then we thought the Conquest class ships were so big.

I love this - your comments and the beautiful drink. ❤️ The Kung Pao chicken at Chibang is my favorite! I agree, the MDR on MG is definitely hit or miss - mostly a miss for us on the nights we went. But the good thing is there are so many great options for dinner, we didn't miss the MDR once we decided to skip it. And I have to remember that rainbow drink. Do you know what kind of alcohol it had in it? Thanks so much for posting - I loved following along!

We had a so so experience at the steakhouse on Mardi Gras. The food was pretty good but not as amazing as it had been on other ships, service was off and we were seated in an odd location behind the bar. I think we paid $38 pp that time. On the other hand, a few months later we had a far better experience at the steakhouse on Freedom. Everything was spot on - the food was delicious, service was probably the best we've ever had and the atmosphere was more like an elegant old world type restaurant. We didn't book that in advance so we paid $42 pp and it was worth every penny. We love Teppanyaki on Mardi Gras and will do it again on the next cruise. Someone mentioned small portions but that was definitely not the case for us. I have a shellfish allergy and have never liked going to those types of restaurants on land. But now I've been to it on two different ships with no issues and I love it. Cucina is one of my all time favorites. It's included on MG but I'd pay for it on another ship. Next cruise on MG, we'll be going to Rudi's. I'll be eating steak because I don't eat seafood so we'll see how this goes.

The local Uber/Lyft drivers and taxi drivers know not to get in that long line of cars. If they go past the garage, they can drop you off faster and get the heck out of there to go pick up their next riders. Not sure if they're really supposed to do that though, but our last driver did. lol Have you seen Jennifer yet? She was at Alchemy in March and Fortune Teller in May. I'm sad to say I haven't seen any of my favorite bartenders in your pictures yet. I know some of them have left for Celebration but I was hoping a few were still on Mardi. I'm finally caught up and loving your review!

My favorite is just the chicken - it tastes great all by itself. I usually get the chicken tenders for breakfast. MG is a big ship; you'll get lots of exercise just walking around! 🙂

Lido inside for sure - love cabins on the Lido, whether they're inside or balcony! We're happy with either.

Platinum/Diamond (and suites) have already been getting priority for self debarkation all along.

Maybe they had an off day, but we weren't fans of the broth bowls. I thought the stir fry was much better. Stir fry vs broth bowl:

Last week we booked Celebration for December 2023 and are paying $1336 total for a balcony on Lido. Mardi Gras was over $700 more for the same week in the same cabin type. I don't know why it was so cheap but we jumped on it.

Cucina is one of my favorite venues on Mardi Gras.