Our Marvelous Mardi Gras B2B (with pics!) - April 23rd, 2022

Jamman54 · May 16, 2022

Ahoy, Cruise Critic family! My beautiful wife Patti and I have just returned from another month long adventure. We spent three days in Port Canaveral / Cocoa Beach, then boarded the beautiful Mardi Gras for two weeks, then finished off our trip with six days in Orlando. Our first week on the Mardi Gras was a 7 day cruise to the Eastern Caribbean, stopping at San Juan, Amber Cove, and Grand Turk. The second week was a 7 day cruise to the Western Caribbean, stopping at Cozumel, Costa Maya, and Isla Roatan (Mahogany Bay). For us, this was the perfect rotation as the first two days of the first cruise were sea days, and the last two days of the second cruise were also sea days.

These cruises on the Mardi Gras were a long time coming. To tell this story let me take you back to January 2019. Bookings for cruises on the Mardi Gras were to begin at 10am on January 30^th. At this point no itineraries had been released, and only unofficial copies of the deck plans were in existence. At 7pm on the 29^th my PVP called me and said that we could book. Startled at getting the call, and not knowing what the itineraries were, we told him to book us on the first cruise out of Port Canaveral. Having seen the unofficial deck plans, we booked an extended balcony on the “hump”, as we loved our “hump” balcony when we sailed on the Explorer of the Seas.

The next day when the itineraries had been released, we saw that there was a 15 day repositioning cruise from New York to Port Canaveral. It had an awesome itinerary and was just what we were looking for. We changed our booking to that cruise, and we were able to keep the same “hump” balcony that we had originally booked. To say we were pleased would be an understatement. Now all we had to do was sit and wait for the ship to be built.

Fast forward to December of 2019, when Carnival announced that because of construction delays, the first eight sailings would have to be cancelled. We were devastated to say the least. The 25% Future Cruise Credit that was given helped soften the blow a little bit. Having our 2020 and 2021 cruises already booked, we chose our April, 2022 dates and booked her again. Three months later the nightmare that is the pandemic came, and is still here today, but I don’t want to dwell on it anymore, so let’s fast forward back to the present day.

We will be driving down to Florida once again. Being away from home for so long it just makes sense to have your own car down there. You can pack as much of your stuff as you want to, since you don’t have to worry about luggage weights and car rentals. Back in the day when our vacation time was limited, we used to drive straight through in one shot which used to take about 16 hours. Since we have the time now, we break it up into two days.

This is going to be a very long review so be patient with us. Patti took well over four thousand pictures during this adventure, so I have a lot of sorting, cropping, and re-sizing to catch up on. Even though I took my laptop with me and worked on the photos from time to time, there’s no way I could keep up with Patti’s itchy shutter finger! We also have to catch up with life, work, and such, so we may not post anything for a day or two from time to time, but just remember we have always finished our reviews.

As usual, our reviews start and end at home and cover everything in between. I know that some people like to get right into the cruise stuff and I understand that, but when doing these reviews we want to re-live the whole vacation, not just part of it. So, the cruise stuff may take a few days to get to, but once we’re on it, we’re on it! Our format will remain the same as our past reviews with a day by day account. As always, there will be many, many pictures with plenty of explanations and details. For those that are wondering, our go to camera is the Canon PowerShot XS720 HS, and our water camera is the Fuji FinePix XP60.

So, let’s get this party started! We strive to make you feel that you are cruising right along with us, so grab yourself a DOD, and hop on board with us and join the fun!

To be continued…..

Cruise, J.D. · May 16, 2022

This will be a fun and epic review! Thanks for doing it.

Jamman54 · May 16, 2022

Pre-Cruise (April 19^th & 20^th) - Our Journey Begins!

As always, we begin our travels around 9pm in the evening. This allows us to bypass the morning rush hours in Baltimore and Washington. Our son Ryan will be minding the house and our cats. He takes our picture as we head out the door…..

I don’t mind the drive at all. There is hardly any traffic, so I set the cruise control to 79 mph and listen to tunes all night. Patti on the other hand, tolerates the drive as long as I stop at Cracker Barrel along the way. As usual, we stop at the Cracker Barrel in Santee, South Carolina just as they open at 7am…..

After filling our bellies, and Patti getting a little shopping time, we are back on the road again. We made it to today’s final destination, Kingsland, Georgia around noon. We are staying at the Comfort Inn & Suites. If this place looks familiar, it is are usual stop over point when heading south or cruising from Jacksonville…..

Our room is not yet ready, so we head over to a nearby Ruby Tuesday’s for some drinks and appetizers…….

Patti had the salad bar, and I had the coconut shrimp and fries. Our room was ready at 2:30pm, and we were given room # 301…..

To be continued……

Jamman54 · May 16, 2022

Here are some views of the Country Inn & Suites. This is the lobby seating area…..

I guess you can call this the business center…..

This is the area where they serve the included breakfast…..

This is the fitness center…..

The laundry room if you need to do laundry…..

This is the pool and spa area…..

Now let’s talk about how we are going to handle getting our covid tests now that we are in the window for getting them. We were hoping to get tested today here in Kingsland, but neither CVS or Walgreens offered the rapid antigen tests in the area. The nearest CVS that offered the rapid antigen test was just south of Jacksonville, so we had booked it two weeks prior for tomorrow at 9:30am. Knowing that CVS has a habit of cancelling appointments, we also booked a Walgreen’s in Cocoa Beach for later in the afternoon. In the event that didn’t happen, we had our proctored test kits ready to go if needed. One way or another, we would be tested by the end of the day tomorrow!

To be continued…..

Jamman54 · May 16, 2022

10 minutes ago, Cruise, J.D. said:

This will be a fun and epic review! Thanks for doing it.

First to the party. Welcome aboard!

peteandpris · May 16, 2022

Sooooo excited can't wait for our turn to start Nov.12, and Nov.19, back to back. Thank you.

Jamman54 · May 16, 2022

4 minutes ago, peteandpris said:

Sooooo excited can't wait for our turn to start Nov.12, and Nov.19, back to back. Thank you.

Glad to have you aboard! Take notes!

cruiserNC · May 16, 2022

Can't wait for more. Love your reviews! 🙂

Megan_Strick · May 16, 2022

1 hour ago, Jamman54 said:

Ahoy, Cruise Critic family! My beautiful wife Patti and I have just returned from another month long adventure. We spent three days in Port Canaveral / Cocoa Beach, then boarded the beautiful Mardi Gras for two weeks, then finished off our trip with six days in Orlando. Our first week on the Mardi Gras was a 7 day cruise to the Eastern Caribbean, stopping at San Juan, Amber Cove, and Grand Turk. The second week was a 7 day cruise to the Western Caribbean, stopping at Cozumel, Costa Maya, and Isla Roatan (Mahogany Bay). For us, this was the perfect rotation as the first two days of the first cruise were sea days, and the last two days of the second cruise were also sea days.

These cruises on the Mardi Gras were a long time coming. To tell this story let me take you back to January 2019. Bookings for cruises on the Mardi Gras were to begin at 10am on January 30^th. At this point no itineraries had been released, and only unofficial copies of the deck plans were in existence. At 7pm on the 29^th my PVP called me and said that we could book. Startled at getting the call, and not knowing what the itineraries were, we told him to book us on the first cruise out of Port Canaveral. Having seen the unofficial deck plans, we booked an extended balcony on the “hump”, as we loved our “hump” balcony when we sailed on the Explorer of the Seas.

The next day when the itineraries had been released, we saw that there was a 15 day repositioning cruise from New York to Port Canaveral. It had an awesome itinerary and was just what we were looking for. We changed our booking to that cruise, and we were able to keep the same “hump” balcony that we had originally booked. To say we were pleased would be an understatement. Now all we had to do was sit and wait for the ship to be built.

Fast forward to December of 2019, when Carnival announced that because of construction delays, the first eight sailings would have to be cancelled. We were devastated to say the least. The 25% Future Cruise Credit that was given helped soften the blow a little bit. Having our 2020 and 2021 cruises already booked, we chose our April, 2022 dates and booked her again. Three months later the nightmare that is the pandemic came, and is still here today, but I don’t want to dwell on it anymore, so let’s fast forward back to the present day.

We will be driving down to Florida once again. Being away from home for so long it just makes sense to have your own car down there. You can pack as much of your stuff as you want to, since you don’t have to worry about luggage weights and car rentals. Back in the day when our vacation time was limited, we used to drive straight through in one shot which used to take about 16 hours. Since we have the time now, we break it up into two days.

This is going to be a very long review so be patient with us. Patti took well over four thousand pictures during this adventure, so I have a lot of sorting, cropping, and re-sizing to catch up on. Even though I took my laptop with me and worked on the photos from time to time, there’s no way I could keep up with Patti’s itchy shutter finger! We also have to catch up with life, work, and such, so we may not post anything for a day or two from time to time, but just remember we have always finished our reviews.

As usual, our reviews start and end at home and cover everything in between. I know that some people like to get right into the cruise stuff and I understand that, but when doing these reviews we want to re-live the whole vacation, not just part of it. So, the cruise stuff may take a few days to get to, but once we’re on it, we’re on it! Our format will remain the same as our past reviews with a day by day account. As always, there will be many, many pictures with plenty of explanations and details. For those that are wondering, our go to camera is the Canon PowerShot XS720 HS, and our water camera is the Fuji FinePix XP60.

So, let’s get this party started! We strive to make you feel that you are cruising right along with us, so grab yourself a DOD, and hop on board with us and join the fun!

To be continued…..

YAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

Megan_Strick · May 16, 2022

1 hour ago, Jamman54 said:

Here are some views of the Country Inn & Suites. This is the lobby seating area…..

I guess you can call this the business center…..

This is the area where they serve the included breakfast…..

This is the fitness center…..

The laundry room if you need to do laundry…..

This is the pool and spa area…..

Now let’s talk about how we are going to handle getting our covid tests now that we are in the window for getting them. We were hoping to get tested today here in Kingsland, but neither CVS or Walgreens offered the rapid antigen tests in the area. The nearest CVS that offered the rapid antigen test was just south of Jacksonville, so we had booked it two weeks prior for tomorrow at 9:30am. Knowing that CVS has a habit of cancelling appointments, we also booked a Walgreen’s in Cocoa Beach for later in the afternoon. In the event that didn’t happen, we had our proctored test kits ready to go if needed. One way or another, we would be tested by the end of the day tomorrow!

To be continued…..

One day on your way down I'm going to meet you guys in Kingsland. I live about 30 minutes away in the next county up.

Jamman54 · May 16, 2022

26 minutes ago, cruiserNC said:

Can't wait for more. Love your reviews! 🙂

Thanks for reading. Welcome aboard!

23 minutes ago, sthrnbll said:

YAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

Always good to have you along!

16 minutes ago, sthrnbll said:

One day on your way down I'm going to meet you guys in Kingsland. I live about 30 minutes away in the next county up.

Would be happy to meet you. Next time should be in January.

Jamman54 · May 16, 2022

Pre-Cruise (April 21st) - Testing / We Arrive in Port Canaveral.

We were up at 5:30am to get showered and ready for the day. The weather forecast was for a beautiful day. Around 7am we went down to partake of the included hotel breakfast…..

Around 8am we began our journey south once again. We had about an hour drive to get to the CVS location where we would be tested. We wanted to make sure we were there early. Soon after leaving the hotel we had arrived in Florida….

About a half hour later we were passing through Jacksonville…..

About a half hour after that we have arrived at our CVS….

It was located just a few blocks right off of I-95. After a few minutes wait we were both tested. The staff there was exceptionally nice. They told us that they would send our results within an hour, so back on the road we went.

To be continued…..

Edited May 16, 2022 by Jamman54

Jamman54 · May 16, 2022

A couple miles down I-95 we saw a sign for Buc-ee’s. We had never been to one before, so we wanted to see what all the fuss is about…..

I tell you we were pretty impressed, and can see why everyone raves about the place. Back on the road again and soon the texts from CVS arrived…..

Yes! We’re going cruising again! After a few more hours we have reached the exit for Port Canaveral…..

We have arrived!

The Freedom and Elation are in port today…..

To be continued…..

Cruisegirl1919 · May 16, 2022

So excited for this, reading it will be a great way to get me through the next two weeks of work before boarding the MG myself!

Megan_Strick · May 16, 2022

22 minutes ago, Jamman54 said:

A couple miles down I-95 we saw a sign for Buc-ee’s. We had never been to one before, so we wanted to see what all the fuss is about…..

I tell you we were pretty impressed, and can see why everyone raves about the place. Back on the road again and soon the texts from CVS arrived…..

Yes! We’re going cruising again! After a few more hours we have reached the exit for Port Canaveral…..

We have arrived!

The Freedom and Elation are in port today…..

To be continued…..

Was that the Buccees in St. Augustine? That's the only one I've ever been to.

we b cruzin · May 16, 2022

Thank you for the review. I am looking forward to reading all about your adventures.

sgttami · May 16, 2022

Jeff,

It's always a pleasure to look forward to all your wonderful reviews!

Once again, thanks for sharing!

Pam

Jamman54 · May 16, 2022

24 minutes ago, Cruisegirl1919 said:

So excited for this, reading it will be a great way to get me through the next two weeks of work before boarding the MG myself!

Glad to have you aboard! You will have a great time on the Mardi Gras.

18 minutes ago, sthrnbll said:

Was that the Buccees in St. Augustine? That's the only one I've ever been to.

I believe it was.

Jamman54 · May 16, 2022

12 minutes ago, we b cruzin said:

Thank you for the review. I am looking forward to reading all about your adventures.

Glad to have you along for the ride. Thanks for reading!

4 minutes ago, sgttami said:

Jeff,

It's always a pleasure to look forward to all your wonderful reviews!

Once again, thanks for sharing!

Pam

Hey Pam! Can always count on you to join us!

mjrcruiser · May 16, 2022

Been so looking forward to your review! I was getting off Mardi Gras as you were getting on. The ship was beautiful, food was great, oh and so were the drinks, too!! We had an awesome time! Can't wait to relive it again through you! 😀

jerseygirlinAZ · May 16, 2022

Hooray for this review!

Jamman54 · May 16, 2022

This time we are staying at the Hampton Inn. It is a new property, and it is located very close to the port entrance. When searching for hotels for this trip, the Hampton was the lowest price, so we decided to give it a try. We are Hilton Honors members, so that helped sway us as well. We have arrived at the Hampton Inn, Port Canaveral…..