Anyone done the Mardi Gras cruise

[Baron Barracuda]

We also sailed with the krewesers last month. Agree with all that has been said. We also walked up Julia St. to St Charles to watch the Sun and Tues parades. Lots of friendly local families, felt totally safe. For Monday night a number of us bought $30 grandstand tickets online through mardigrasparadetickets.com. We were in Lafayette Sq, section A just above the reviewing stand. Not crowded, and great visibility.

 

Agree that X could and should have done more. Lay it all on cd Grantham, he's responsible for entertainment. Heard him brag that he was going to one of the balls in town and wouldn't even be on the ship one night.

 

The immigration fiasco Sunday was all X's fault. They distributed numbers to everyone and then were very slow to call them. After over an hour they were still on #2. Our group was #6, but the gangway area was congested so they told us to just go. Was amazed to find terminal totally devoid of passengers, just CPB personnel standing around waiting. Just glanced at passports and waved us through. Someone from X should have been there managing traffic flow. Spoke to folks with #14 who didn't get off ship for four hours. Hopefully X learned a lesson for next year.

[hcat]

There is a live thread with lots of info and photos that we followed...if you search for it, it may be very helpful.

[Orator]

We also sailed with the krewesers last month. Agree with all that has been said. We also walked up Julia St. to St Charles to watch the Sun and Tues parades. Lots of friendly local families, felt totally safe. For Monday night a number of us bought $30 grandstand tickets online through mardigrasparadetickets.com. We were in Lafayette Sq, section A just above the reviewing stand. Not crowded, and great visibility.

 

Agree that X could and should have done more. Lay it all on cd Grantham, he's responsible for entertainment. Heard him brag that he was going to one of the balls in town and wouldn't even be on the ship one night.

 

The immigration fiasco Sunday was all X's fault. They distributed numbers to everyone and then were very slow to call them. After over an hour they were still on #2. Our group was #6, but the gangway area was congested so they told us to just go. Was amazed to find terminal totally devoid of passengers, just CPB personnel standing around waiting. Just glanced at passports and waved us through. Someone from X should have been there managing traffic flow. Spoke to folks with #14 who didn't get off ship for four hours. Hopefully X learned a lesson for next year.

 

Let's be fair. Both John, the CD and Mario, the HD are from NO and made themselves more than available to answer questions. They even did a special information and Q & A session in the Theater. John mentioned at his presentation that he was a friend of Harry Connick, Jr and accepted an invitation to his party. Mario pit in extra duty that night. There was so much extra they did that people were not aware of because they just wanted the passengers to have a good experience. From what I know from some Senior Officers the disembarkation problem was not the fault of Celebrity. There were two major factors. First, Immigration refused Celebrity's request to do an onboard processing the evening before arrival. Second, a Carnival ship that was scheduled to leave Julia St Dock had an emergency and were delayed. We needed to wait for them to leave before we could enter. Of course, all wasn't perfect. The Parade tickets and arrangements needs to be reworked! This was really a wonderful cruise. The many friends aboard, both old and new, added to my experience.

[cruisinwithmaandpa]

Can you elaborate on what John did extra to make the experience better, maybe I am missing something. If it wasn't for the Cruise Critic group that planned out the parade and the other get togethers, it would have been just another cruise. We spoke with John, and he pretty much could have cared less to speak with us. Gave us about 10 seconds of his time. But he made sure he had a talk on his previous job as stuntman/actor and lousy trivia. You know you have over 2,000 passengers coming on the ship, and you hand out about 300 sets of beads, really, they cost next to nothing to purchase. I don't blame Celebrity for the immigration snafu, we walked off the ship and still made it to the Bacchus parade.

[Orator]

Can you elaborate on what John did extra to make the experience better, maybe I am missing something. If it wasn't for the Cruise Critic group that planned out the parade and the other get togethers, it would have been just another cruise. We spoke with John, and he pretty much could have cared less to speak with us. Gave us about 10 seconds of his time. But he made sure he had a talk on his previous job as stuntman/actor and lousy trivia. You know you have over 2,000 passengers coming on the ship, and you hand out about 300 sets of beads, really, they cost next to nothing to purchase. I don't blame Celebrity for the immigration snafu, we walked off the ship and still made it to the Bacchus parade.

Don't want a debate. Perhaps we had different expectations and experiences. Did you go to the deck party on Monday evening? John called in a few favors and brought a local jazz group and some Mardi Gras characters on board to entertain us. John and Mario also arranged for Mardi Gras cakes to be served in Oceanview Cafe. I've been on several "theme" cruises and at least his time there were some decorations to give a clue to a theme. Not much as you said, but more than most. Mario arranged to get the cut outs.

[Cruise Raider]

Thanks for all the great info..we are booked for the 2018 cruise and were thinking of canceling and going to Jazz Cruise instead...still tossing it around!

 

You are most welcome!! I think the jazz cruise would be an absolute blast and wouldn't hesitate doing that one either. Tough decision, for sure but don't think you can go wrong with either one. One thing that might help is probably not as many places closed down during the Jazz Festival. That really didn't affect us that much but as others said, they wanted to go to the WWII museum or have some retail therapy and that wasn't possible on Fat Tuesday. I had visited the museum's website prior to the cruise and it clearly stated it would not be open....but, there was still an opportunity to go on Lundi Gras.

 

I almost forgot ... there was an officer on the Equinox that calls New Orleans his home. He did give a little lecture in the Celebrity Theater that was most helpful. I wished I had read more of my daily schedules as we may have missed one or maybe even more of these talks. We made it to the one that was called 'The language of New Orleans' or something like that. He gave us little pointers and even stuck around for a Q&A session afterwards. I may not have been fair to Celebrity when I mentioned there was no information given on how we could catch the streetcar into town. It may have been in one of the short but informative lectures. We just had so much going on that we may have missed lots of stuff!!

I can also say that Justin, the Activities Director, was out and about and this kid had some incredible energy. He was fun .... we saw him a few times in town answering questions for the passengers .. and I think this may have been his time off. So kudos for that.

We would have loved to see the band or gotten some of the king cake if we'd gotten back onto the ship without waiting so long in line on the dock. We did see the band leaving the ship while in the line. By the time we got back onboard, there was only pizza left up in the buffet .... but, wow.... best pizza ever! :D

[mac66]

This was the Mardi Gras cruise that wasn't.

 

This happened to be a cruise that stopped in New Orleans during Mardi Gras. It was not a "Mardi Gras Cruise" or Mardi Gras themed cruise. Some passengers to their credit tried to make it such but the cruise line certainly didn't. Could it have been? Yes. Should it have been? I don't know maybe, maybe not. Would it have been more fun if Celebrity had made it "Mardi Gras Cruise"? Probably but we had a good time anyway.

 

On the other hand why wouldn't they make it a Mardi Gras cruise? Why didn't they have Dixie Land Band/Mardi Gras Party on one of the at sea nights? Why didn't they have someone giving a lecture on the Mississippi river, the delta, the bayou as we were sailing up it? I thought the trip up the river was fascinating.

 

I think Celebrity really missed an excellent opportunity (missed the boat?) to make this a special Must Do cruise in the future. As it is, Mardi Gras was cool but the cruise was nothing special other than lots of fun people to share it with.

 

On the other hand we really didn't know what to expect to we weren't disappointed.

Edited March 22, 2017 by mac66

[Cruise Raider]

We did the Mardi Gras cruise as well. General consensus in our group of 4 is that they could have skipped Costa Maya (and or Mexico all together) and gone to NOLA on Saturday instead of Sunday. Actually it didn't need to be 11 nights. They could have just gone to Key West, maybe Grand Cayman and then right to New Orleans.

 

 

Oh no....not Costa Maya ...other than New Orleans, that was the only port that I cared about. Grand Cayman is such a nightmare when there are that many ships in town. We never bother getting off the ship there anymore because tendering is such chaos. The seas certainly made that true even more so on this sailing. Where we docked in Cozumel was a big yuk and it was so hot, we just got back on the ship and enjoyed a day at the pool. But we had such a great time in Costa Maya ... headed down to Mahahual Beach and got reservations at El Tropicante for loungers in shade and massages for . on the beach! It was awesome and I would go back there anytime!!

[mac66]

Oh no....not Costa Maya ...other than New Orleans, that was the only port that I cared about. Grand Cayman is such a nightmare when there are that many ships in town. We never bother getting off the ship there anymore because tendering is such chaos. The seas certainly made that true even more so on this sailing. Where we docked in Cozumel was a big yuk and it was so hot, we just got back on the ship and enjoyed a day at the pool. But we had such a great time in Costa Maya ... headed down to Mahahual Beach and got reservations at El Tropicante for loungers in shade and massages for . on the beach! It was awesome and I would go back there anytime!!

 

 

Okay, fair enough. My point was that we primarily booked to go to New Orleans during Mardi Gras not to do those other ports again. It wouldn't have broken my heart to have skipped one or more of them.

[debshomespun]

I was also on the cruise. I felt Celebrity also missed the boat with helping passengers get in the spirit of Mardi Gras. I personally spoke with John the cd just after the CC Meet & Mingle. I told him we were going to have a parade around the ship at 1:00 on Sunday afternoon while going up the Mississippi River. His attitude was he could have cared less. He said this was Celebrity's first time there, and he was the CD as his girlfriend lives in NO, and he has spent time there, along with Mario (one of the officers) who lives in NO. I didn't go to the lectures about NO. I have been to NO 5 times, but this was a first for Mardi Gras. As for the local entertainment having been brought on board while in port, this is pretty common for cruise lines. We have been to Hawaii and the South Pacific, and on those cruises, there was local entertainment brought onto the ship. We also missed it, as we were off the ship. I think it is the cruise lines way of bringing local entertainment to the ship for those either not able, or not wanting to get off the ship.

 

I also spoke to John at the sailaway party from NO. I voiced some of my opinions as to how Celebrity could make it a little more themed cruise. Upon embarkment, Celebrity handed out beads, as mentioned before about 200, and I know passengers that arrived at noon did not get them. John said it was because some passengers asked for 2 pair. Even so, it they handed out even 1000 in the first hour, there was still another 2000 passengers. That was such a lame excuse. I rarely saw him out and about the ship, other than just before and after the shows in the evenings in the theater. He did show up at 1:00 at the Gastro bar, but didn't come along with us. Guess I should have talked to the assistant CD, Justin. I think he would have come along with us and enjoyed our company!!

 

We also sailed on the Infinity last year for the Rio 3 day stay during Carnival. Celebrity didn't do anything pertaining to Carnival, there were no decorations on the ship, no special food served, just the normal cruise things offered.

 

I think the passengers make the cruise what it is. We had a fantastic time on the cruise, met lots of great people, and made new cruise friends. We thoroughly enjoyed our time in NO for Mardi Gras, but would not go again. Just one of those things we can mark off the bucket list. For anyone thinking of going in the future, definitely go and have a great time. There was definitely a huge police presence in NO, and we always felt safe. We did take extra caution, didn't take credit cards with us, very little cash, and kept to the main roads. We were out til midnight Sunday night, having spent the last couple hours on Bourbon street and enjoyed the festivities. Also, got tickets for the Monday night and

Tuesday parade for grandstand seating at Layfaette Square. I wouldn't bother getting any grandstand tickets. The parades are all over, and very easy to see them, and still get lots of beads and goodies.

 

 

 

[AliceS]

I don't know where to begin. I don't fault Celebrity....they had lectures and information available about Mardi Gras. The cruise got us to NOLA....it was not a theam cruise.

 

The evening security check was a nightmare. Fellow passengers were hostile and the process was not organized at all. No one knew what to do....yikes.

 

We did a walking tour of the garden district and the French Quarter...fantastic. The evening was the 709 disaster. We did get to see the parades, but the venue was awful and the so called (buffet) would find no place in my house for the dog. Not a good situation, but no one knew what to expect and false advertising was set out in spades.

 

We took the trolley to Jefferson square the next day and it was fabulous. You could see everything and hear some good music. Great day.

 

Others in our group went to more parades the next day and loved every minute.

 

Mardi Gras....to me, worth a once.

 

Alice

[videolady]

Just curious if you have done a cruise that stays in NO for Mardi Gras how you liked it? We are considering doing the Reflection in Feb 2018 and just trying to get opinions on the cruise from those who have been.

 

We have booked this cruise already. A friend has taken this cruise and she said it is the best cruise that she and her husband have ever been on. They do a lot of cruising.

[Cruise Raider]

Okay, fair enough. My point was that we primarily booked to go to New Orleans during Mardi Gras not to do those other ports again. It wouldn't have broken my heart to have skipped one or more of them.

 

With that, I agree!! New Orleans was the highlight and we happened to have a great day in Costa Maya. We could have skipped the other two ports and in reality, we kind of did. We just treated them as sea days. I would have much rather gone to Key West, as you recommended.

We still had a blast. Just hope Celebrity looks at some of the suggestions to make next year's NOLA cruise even more fun for those pax. Free advice and some of it is just so easy to put in place. We heard they would have mufalattas (sp?) in the buffet but didn't see them. King cakes, jambalaya, gumbo, crawfish, shrimp boil, etouffee, beignets ... all these would have gotten everyone in the mood for Mardi Gras. The food they had was excellent ... we just didn't see any themed dishes. Our cruise critic roll call set up a farewell lunch and thought maybe they would do something for that ... but just a regular MDR lunch. Like mentioned, hopefully they will look into making next year's Mardi Gras cruise a little more exceptional.

[Baron Barracuda]

Let's be fair. Both John, the CD and Mario, the HD are from NO and made themselves more than available to answer questions. They even did a special information and Q & A session in the Theater. John mentioned at his presentation that he was a friend of Harry Connick, Jr and accepted an invitation to his party. Mario pit in extra duty that night. There was so much extra they did that people were not aware of because they just wanted the passengers to have a good experience. From what I know from some Senior Officers the disembarkation problem was not the fault of Celebrity. There were two major factors. First, Immigration refused Celebrity's request to do an onboard processing the evening before arrival. Second, a Carnival ship that was scheduled to leave Julia St Dock had an emergency and were delayed. We needed to wait for them to leave before we could enter. Of course, all wasn't perfect. The Parade tickets and arrangements needs to be reworked! This was really a wonderful cruise. The many friends aboard, both old and new, added to my experience.

 

 

We'll have to disagree on whether X (especially John and the food and beverage mgr), did enough to meet passengers expectations for a Mardi Gras theme cruise that they had over two years to plan. A jazz band playing poolside Sunday as we came up river, accompanied by authentic NOLA food for lunch at the buffet, would have been wonderful. Instead what little they did took place on an empty ship Monday night. Fortunately, we had the krewesers, whose activities and parades brought the vibe and made the sailing memorable for us.

 

My issue on disembarkation in NOLA has nothing to do with the delay in docking. It's all about taking over four hours for everyone to clear immigration. Have gone through this elsewhere on much larger ships in half the time. It was up to X to provide CBP with a steady stream of passengers, yet there wasn't a single passenger in the terminal when we walked off. Someone was asleep at the switch. We were lucky enough to catch most of an amazing Bacchus parade sunday night, many others weren't.

[Orator]

This was the Mardi Gras cruise that wasn't.

 

This happened to be a cruise that stopped in New Orleans during Mardi Gras. It was not a "Mardi Gras Cruise" or Mardi Gras themed cruise. Some passengers to their credit tried to make it such but the cruise line certainly didn't. Could it have been? Yes. Should it have been? I don't know maybe, maybe not. Would it have been more fun if Celebrity had made it "Mardi Gras Cruise"? Probably but we had a good time anyway.

 

On the other hand why wouldn't they make it a Mardi Gras cruise? Why didn't they have Dixie Land Band/Mardi Gras Party on one of the at sea nights?

[Orator]

Sometimes I wonder if I was on the same cruise. One poster says that there should have been a speaker discussing Mardi Gras. There was and she was wonderful. They constantly showed her presentation on the TV.

Also had a presentation on New Orleans, which I mentioned in in previous post.

One poster suggests that the Dixie Band should have played on a sea day. Of course that means that they would need to board in Ft Lauderdale, or Cayman. Or perhaps Costa Maya. There was a good band. They were friends of the CD and he was able to convince them to come for a few hours.

I too want more, but "more" often comes at a cost.

[cruisinwithmaandpa]

The only people that benefited from entertainment on Monday night is those that didn't want to get off the ship. The majority of the people were off the ship attending parades. He had 8 previous nights to do something, anything, but didn't do a thing. I don't consider serving King Cake in the buffet an experience, sorry.

[omarchs]

Thanks for all the feedback! We are on the Jazz cruise in a month. Was there any restriction on what time during the night you could get back on the ship? There are some early am shows we would like to see, but not sure if you can get back on the ship at 4am.

[cruisinwithmaandpa]

There was no time restriction on us. You could come and go at any time of the day/night.

[Orator]

There was a very active Roll Call for this cruise, perhaps the most active I've seen. There was a core of people who were very active in planning activities. One of the key posters was in the cabin next to me and she was GREAT! Everything about her said "fun" and Mardi Gras. Her door was decorated beautifully and put our door to shame. Some people had special Mardi Gras outfits and they really added to the atmosphere on board. A friend made special ties for several of us and we wore them along with masks on the first Chic Night. However, most people did not decorate their doors. Most people did not wear masks. Some just wanted to see New Orleans and the parades . Several complained that there were "too many events". Different stokes for different folks I guess. I consider myself in the middle. I enjoyed what was presented, but really burned out by the end. Noticed that the masks and beads basically disappeared once we left NO. Wore some beads to Michael's Club and put them into my pocket when I saw that I was the only one. My conclusion: No matter what was done, some would complain that there should have been more; some would have complained that there is too much. Believe me, I heard both on the ship.

[BILL-WI]

Here is my video from the cruise. If you want just the Mardi Gras stuff...start at the 8:50 mark...

 

 

BILL

[mac66]

Sometimes I wonder if I was on the same cruise. One poster says that there should have been a speaker discussing Mardi Gras. There was and she was wonderful. They constantly showed her presentation on the TV.

Also had a presentation on New Orleans, which I mentioned in in previous post.

One poster suggests that the Dixie Band should have played on a sea day. Of course that means that they would need to board in Ft Lauderdale, or Cayman. Or perhaps Costa Maya. There was a good band. They were friends of the CD and he was able to convince them to come for a few hours.

I too want more, but "more" often comes at a cost.

 

I'm not being critical, just making suggestions as to how Celebrity could had done it differently. Do I care? Not really. I had no expectations when I went on the cruise so I wasn't disappointed. I had a great time.

 

 

In regards to more coming at a cost. Yes, and sometime it's worth it.

[Baron Barracuda]

 

This happened to be a cruise that stopped in New Orleans during Mardi Gras. It was not a "Mardi Gras Cruise" or Mardi Gras themed cruise. Some passengers to their credit tried to make it such but the cruise line certainly didn't. Could it have been? Yes. Should it have been? I don't know maybe, maybe not. Would it have been more fun if Celebrity had made it "Mardi Gras Cruise"? Probably but we had a good time anyway.

 

On the other hand why wouldn't they make it a Mardi Gras cruise? Why didn't they have Dixie Land Band/Mardi Gras Party on one of the at sea nights?

 

Don't know how you can say this wasn't a Mardi Gras themed event. X certainly promoted it as such.

 

From the original Dec 2014 email announcing the sailing:

 

 

Signature Event Sailing:

Mardi Gras

Our double overnight stay puts you

in the center of New Orleans'

world-famous festivities.

 

Their web site describes Signature Events as:

 

 

 

Each Signature Event Sailing offers a cruise plus optional unique shore excursions that highlight your world event by either putting you in the middle of the action or giving you a VIP vantage point. Also, on board, you'll be entertained, educated, and engaged with unique shows, speakers, and activities inspired by the itinerary's event. Your takeaway? The full event experience.

 

This is how X describes next year's Reflection sailing:

On your Mardi Gras and Caribbean cruise, take in the electrifying music, dazzling floats, and teeming crowds of New Orleans from your own private grandstand. Catch colorful beads as Mardi Gras crews float by.

On Shore :Experience New Orleans' famous annual Mardi Gras parade like you never imagined with exciting grandstand seating. Join in on the fun and excitement of Mardi Gras as the extravagant floats and costumed entertainers pass by.

On Board: Hear jazz performers and speakers on board before you dock for Mardi Gras









 

Do agree with you about Dixie Land band. Would have been satisfied just to hear ships band playing "when the saints come marching in" as we pulled into NOLA.

End of the day we still had a blast. Just expected a bit more from X.

[Orator]

Don't know how you can say this wasn't a Mardi Gras themed event. X certainly promoted it as such.

 

From the original Dec 2014 email announcing the sailing:

 

 

Signature Event Sailing:

Mardi Gras

Our double overnight stay puts you

in the center of New Orleans'

world-famous festivities.

 

Their web site describes Signature Events as:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Each Signature Event Sailing offers a cruise plus optional unique shore excursions that highlight your world event by either putting you in the middle of the action or giving you a VIP vantage point. Also, on board, you'll be entertained, educated, and engaged with unique shows, speakers, and activities inspired by the itinerary's event. Your takeaway? The full event experience.

 

This is how X describes next year's Reflection sailing:

On your Mardi Gras and Caribbean cruise, take in the electrifying music, dazzling floats, and teeming crowds of New Orleans from your own private grandstand. Catch colorful beads as Mardi Gras crews float by.

On Shore :Experience New Orleans' famous annual Mardi Gras parade like you never imagined with exciting grandstand seating. Join in on the fun and excitement of Mardi Gras as the extravagant floats and costumed entertainers pass by.

On Board: Hear jazz performers and speakers on board before you dock for Mardi Gras









 

Do agree with you about Dixie Land band. Would have been satisfied just to hear ships band playing "when the saints come marching in" as we pulled into NOLA.

End of the day we still had a blast. Just expected a bit more from X.

 

The quote at the top was NOT posted by me. Cruise Critic at times places the wrong name with a statement. It has happened before. I would have never said what is stated in the quote as I took the cruise because it was promoted as a Mardi Gras cruise. It was one of Celebrity's Signature Events.Check post 32 .

Edited March 23, 2017 by Orator

[rjwex]

I was on the cruise also, but my Sunday experience was different. We had group 1, and somehow managed to be at the door when they started, so was probably the 5th off the boat. I had booked dinner reservations in the quarter, actually got there early. Was also able to book Emeril's on Monday, but ended up canceling as we were still at the parade.

 

I agree on the parade tracker - great app so you aren't waiting. We had tickets Monday night. The parades are very long. Orpheus, the second parade, is done by Harry Connick Jr., fun, but we only made a few floats after being out all day and the prior parade.