Mardi Gras Review Good Bad and Ugly

[Mary Louise]

Hi,

 

Spa

 I typically do not go to the spa as I find them quite expensive. While on the cruise a $50 spa gift card appeared on my account. I decided to take advantage of it and had a fire and ice pedicure. It was $79 plus gratuity  minus $50. Making an appointment was easy. The staff at the desk were very friendly. When I arrived for my pedicure I was given a form to complete. One of staff took my form and informed the person who was going to do my pedicure that I was there. She did not show up. The other staff member filled the pedicure tub and told me to come over.

 

My person finally came over about 10 minutes later than my appointed time. She never introduced herself. My chair was next to the window and had a beautiful view of the ocean. I mentioned this to my pedicurist and she said that view gets old. I asked her how long she has been working for the company and she said 15 years. She was not friendly.  The pedicure was ok. I don't think I will return. The spa itself is beautiful. 

 

Pictures

If you like taking photos I must say the Mardi Gras has many different back drops. There was never really a line except for the staircase station. Retrieving your pictures was easy. However the watermarks on the pictures was annoying. The photographers were in the dining rooms, but they were not annoying.

 

Laundry Services

 Both my husband and I receive three bags of laundry each. We only used three bags on this cruise. We sent it to the laundry in the morning and it was returned later in the evening. Fast service and a nice perk. 

 

Communication 

Communication was poor. Hurricane  Ian was hitting FL. There were many Floridians on the ship and the captain only mentioned it once. The CD came on and repeated the same exact thing. If you did not have internet like me I relied on the free NHC website to track the hurricane and the free CCL website for updates. We knew the port was closed, and not sure if it was opened for our return. The captain told us the watch a station on TV for updates. A hurricane of this magnitude required more info regarding the port, incase flights needed to be changed. I have had captains that were much more communicative with the passengers.

 

Tomorrow I will go over some of the entertainment venues. 

[Mary Louise]

9 hours ago, sparks1093 said:

Thanks for the review, can't wait to try Mardi Gras ourselves!

You will enjoy the Mardi Gras. It is a beautiful ship with very friendly staff. 

[lazydayz]

19 hours ago, notscb said:

 

Thanks for sharing your experience with us!
I'm really curious (based on other discussions on this forum), do you feel that the aft balconies give enough privacy? I know you're on deck 12, which might provide for a bit more, but with the ships design do you think it's enough?

 

We felt we had plenty of privacy.  We could lean out and see the people beside us, but it really is NOT an issue.  

[momof3cruisers]

This is a really informative review. Thanks for doing this. 

[CruizinSusan70]

Great review so far.   Just wanted to mention something about the elevators.  As you mentioned there are three banks.  The front and middle banks each have 8 elevators and the aft bank only has six.  The middle bank is usually the ones where you have the longest wait.

Regarding the space issue, you can easily fit 9 people in the elevators, 3 people front to back and 3 across.  If there is a scooter, it would be 7 people and a scooter.  The scooter goes in the middle with up to 3 people on either side and my DH standing behind me.  So you can infer that we had first hand experience with this.  Four different weeks this year on the MG.

[sammee]

I'll be sailing this weekend. Thanks for the review, especially about the places to eat. Decisions, Decisions.

[Caps_Shield]

You said that the bathrooms are a typical bathroom.  Did you mean atypical like horrible.  The toilet area is really small.

[mikaula]

Looking forward to the rest of your review. 
 

[Mary Louise]

6 hours ago, CruizinSusan70 said:

Great review so far.   Just wanted to mention something about the elevators.  As you mentioned there are three banks.  The front and middle banks each have 8 elevators and the aft bank only has six.  The middle bank is usually the ones where you have the longest wait.

Regarding the space issue, you can easily fit 9 people in the elevators, 3 people front to back and 3 across.  If there is a scooter, it would be 7 people and a scooter.  The scooter goes in the middle with up to 3 people on either side and my DH standing behind me.  So you can infer that we had first hand experience with this.  Four different weeks this year on the MG.

Hi,

 

 I also should mention that the aft elevators do not go to the fourth deck . There are variables on how many you can fit in an elevator.  The size of passengers as well as any aids  (canes, wheel chairs, scooters etc.) they use when on the elevator. I wish everyone lined up like you mentioned, but in my experience, some passengers did not make room for others. Glad to liked the Mardi Gras. 

[Mary Louise]

1 hour ago, Caps_Shield said:

You said that the bathrooms are a typical bathroom.  Did you mean atypical like horrible.  The toilet area is really small.

The bathrooms are not horrible. There was plenty of storage space. The toilet is small. 

[Mary Louise]

Entertainment and Activities

CCL certainly exceeds here for activities. My family and I

 

 

[Mary Louise]

Entertainment and Activities

CCL certainly exceeds other cruise lines for activities. My family and I like to play trivia, and it was offered several times a day. Trivia games were usually packed. They had several bean bag toss games through out the day. There were other games as well that you could get involved in.  It appeared that there was something for everyone. 

 

We did go see one comedian. We thought he was pretty funny. My son saw a different one and thought he was good too. The Punch liner club is bigger than the other ships I have been on. Some passengers complained that it was small, but actually for the venue, I thought it was pretty large for a comedy club. Passengers lined up to get into the shows, but we has no problem finding a seat. 

 

The main theatre is only one floor. We were there for the first magic show, Family Fued and the Platinum party. We never had problems finding a seat. 

 

On the other hand, seating for the entertainment that was scheduled in the center of the ship was horrible. Passengers would get a seat an hour in advance so they could see the show. There is not enough seating. From my recollection they offered three different shows. The shows were primarily, the singers, dancers, magic and some aerial  acrobatics. I am not into the singers and dancers in any cruise that I have been on. It is just not my think. The Mardi Gras did incorporate them into the magic and aerial performers. 

 

I personally think that CCL should offer one less show and have it more frequently. Some seats had an obstructive view and it was just too much of a hassle getting a seat. 

While the show was going on, there was the background of shaking martini containers at the bar. 

 

If you want to see these shows go early get a seat away from the bar. 

 

There was plenty on live entertainment on the ship. I loved the violinists. 

 

Tomorrow I will write about the ports and bars. 

 

 

[ryanpatricksmom]

1 hour ago, Mary Louise said:

Entertainment and Activities

CCL certainly exceeds other cruise lines for activities. My family and I like to play trivia, and it was offered several times a day. Trivia games were usually packed. They had several bean bag toss games through out the day. There were other games as well that you could get involved in.  It appeared that there was something for everyone. 

 

We did go see one comedian. We thought he was pretty funny. My son saw a different one and thought he was good too. The Punch liner club is bigger than the other ships I have been on. Some passengers complained that it was small, but actually for the venue, I thought it was pretty large for a comedy club. Passengers lined up to get into the shows, but we has no problem finding a seat. 

 

The main theatre is only one floor. We were there for the first magic show, Family Fued and the Platinum party. We never had problems finding a seat. 

 

On the other hand, seating for the entertainment that was scheduled in the center of the ship was horrible. Passengers would get a seat an hour in advance so they could see the show. There is not enough seating. From my recollection they offered three different shows. The shows were primarily, the singers, dancers, magic and some aerial  acrobatics. I am not into the singers and dancers in any cruise that I have been on. It is just not my think. The Mardi Gras did incorporate them into the magic and aerial performers. 

 

I personally think that CCL should offer one less show and have it more frequently. Some seats had an obstructive view and it was just too much of a hassle getting a seat. 

While the show was going on, there was the background of shaking martini containers at the bar. 

 

If you want to see these shows go early get a seat away from the bar. 

 

There was plenty on live entertainment on the ship. I loved the violinists. 

 

Tomorrow I will write about the ports and bars. 

 

 

100% agree with holding  entertainment in the Center Stage Area.  Even bingo was a disaster.  I think that it would be fine if they had a band playing, or any other type of performance that didn't require you to see.  Why on earth they would have a dance/aerial show where at least half of the seats (if you can find one) were blocked by either pillars or the level above is beyond me. 

[Mary Louise]

2 hours ago, ryanpatricksmom said:

100% agree with holding  entertainment in the Center Stage Area.  Even bingo was a disaster.  I think that it would be fine if they had a band playing, or any other type of performance that didn't require you to see.  Why on earth they would have a dance/aerial show where at least half of the seats (if you can find one) were blocked by either pillars or the level above is beyond me. 

Totally agree

[ninjacat123]

4 hours ago, Mary Louise said:

Entertainment and Activities

CCL certainly exceeds other cruise lines for activities. My family and I like to play trivia, and it was offered several times a day. Trivia games were usually packed. They had several bean bag toss games through out the day. There were other games as well that you could get involved in.  It appeared that there was something for everyone. 

 

We did go see one comedian. We thought he was pretty funny. My son saw a different one and thought he was good too. The Punch liner club is bigger than the other ships I have been on. Some passengers complained that it was small, but actually for the venue, I thought it was pretty large for a comedy club. Passengers lined up to get into the shows, but we has no problem finding a seat. 

 

The main theatre is only one floor. We were there for the first magic show, Family Fued and the Platinum party. We never had problems finding a seat. 

 

On the other hand, seating for the entertainment that was scheduled in the center of the ship was horrible. Passengers would get a seat an hour in advance so they could see the show. There is not enough seating. From my recollection they offered three different shows. The shows were primarily, the singers, dancers, magic and some aerial  acrobatics. I am not into the singers and dancers in any cruise that I have been on. It is just not my think. The Mardi Gras did incorporate them into the magic and aerial performers. 

 

I personally think that CCL should offer one less show and have it more frequently. Some seats had an obstructive view and it was just too much of a hassle getting a seat. 

While the show was going on, there was the background of shaking martini containers at the bar. 

 

If you want to see these shows go early get a seat away from the bar. 

 

There was plenty on live entertainment on the ship. I loved the violinists. 

 

Tomorrow I will write about the ports and bars. 

 

 

What bugged me about sitting in that area was that other passengers would hold court at a table and talk loudly, like the show wasn't going on.  My mom and I moved away from said group and then another group would sit down near us talking loudly and making it difficult to enjoy the entertainment.

[matymil]

8 hours ago, Mary Louise said:

The bathrooms are not horrible. There was plenty of storage space. The toilet is small. 

I didnt realize how much i would love a shower door but then it happened and i fell in love with the shower door. I love the way the bathroom and the entire room in general is laid out. Much more storage, much more charging ports

[CruizinSusan70]

7 hours ago, ryanpatricksmom said:

100% agree with holding  entertainment in the Center Stage Area.  Even bingo was a disaster.  I think that it would be fine if they had a band playing, or any other type of performance that didn't require you to see.  Why on earth they would have a dance/aerial show where at least half of the seats (if you can find one) were blocked by either pillars or the level above is beyond me. 

The grand central area is the only area where aerial type shows could be seen.  The main showroom also had two entrances, with the primary entrance on deck 7 and the secondary entrance next to the spa on deck 6, which we used for my scooter.

[Mary Louise]

Ports

San Juan

We were the first cruise ship to dock there after Fiona. I was not sure if we would be going because of the damage and power outages as well as the political unrest. The side of the island where we docked appeared like business as usual. We walked over to the Castillo San Felipe del Morro. I have been there before, but my son and his family wanted to go. Both my husband and I have the senior National Park, so we let our son and his spouse in. Our grandson was free. The walk is doable, it is all uphill. The fort offers beautiful views of the ocean. It is amazing given the age of the fort it is still standing after all these years and hurricanes. My husband and I returned back to the ship. I must say there were police everywhere. They were on bikes, walking, ATVs in cars. The island must have received a message from the cruise line that if you want tourist dollars you must create a safe environment.  Either you found having the heavy police presence comforting or unnerving. 

 

Amber Cove

I have never been to Amber Cove and heard so much about it. I was so much looking forward to this port. I guess I thought this was a CCL private island, but quickly found out differently. First the water was not the beautiful Caribbean aqua blue water. It was more like dirty water. As you get off the ship, there are bikes with covered seats to take you to the main area. At times it was unsafe to walk, as they were constantly going back and fourth and not sticking to one side or the other. They should have designated bike paths. 

 

When planning for the cruise, we thought about renting a cabana. I am so glad we did not. The cabanas over the dirty water was not something I would want to spend my money on. Perhaps the hurricane made the water dirty but not sure as i have never been to Amber Cove.

 

The pool area is really nice. I would not take a lounge chair by the swim up bar as it was very crowded and noisy. Try to go early and get a chair right in front of the pool away from the bar. It gets very crowded and people are just trying to add chairs when there is just no room. You can rent umbrellas for $20.00. You need to bring a credit card or cash. You can not use your carnival card. The bathrooms are clean. 

 

You can purchase food and beverages on the island. If you purchased the CCL drink package you could not use it on the island. You need to pay for your beverages. 

 

I  really do not think that Amber Cove can handle the Mardi Gras and another ship. The Freedom was there. It was just too crowded and you are literally on top of each other. My family and I are not smokers so people would smoke and vape in their chairs next to us.  We decided to leave and just quickly look at the shops. I returned to my favorite pool on deck 8. It was not crowded or noisy. I could get food from several food venues that were open. If I go to Amber Cove again, I will stay on the ship.

 

Nassau 

We originally was scheduled to go to Grand Turk but because of damage to the pier we went to Nassau instead. The water is beautiful in color. However we did not get off of the ship. I have been to this island before and there was nothing I really wanted to do. The CD did make an announcement to not bring excessive cash or jewelry off of the ship. This was the first time I have ever heard this announced. I wish we had been able to go to Grand Turk as it is one of my favorite ports.  Seasoned cruisers stayed on the ship like us. No lines for food and plenty of loungers by the pool. 

 

I will do bars tomorrow. 

Fell free to ask me any questions. 

 

ML

 

 

 

 

 

[matymil]

2 hours ago, Mary Louise said:

Ports

San Juan

We were the first cruise ship to dock there after Fiona. I was not sure if we would be going because of the damage and power outages as well as the political unrest. The side of the island where we docked appeared like business as usual. We walked over to the Castillo San Felipe del Morro. I have been there before, but my son and his family wanted to go. Both my husband and I have the senior National Park, so we let our son and his spouse in. Our grandson was free. The walk is doable, it is all uphill. The fort offers beautiful views of the ocean. It is amazing given the age of the fort it is still standing after all these years and hurricanes. My husband and I returned back to the ship. I must say there were police everywhere. They were on bikes, walking, ATVs in cars. The island must have received a message from the cruise line that if you want tourist dollars you must create a safe environment.  Either you found having the heavy police presence comforting or unnerving. 

 

Amber Cove

I have never been to Amber Cove and heard so much about it. I was so much looking forward to this port. I guess I thought this was a CCL private island, but quickly found out differently. First the water was not the beautiful Caribbean aqua blue water. It was more like dirty water. As you get off the ship, there are bikes with covered seats to take you to the main area. At times it was unsafe to walk, as they were constantly going back and fourth and not sticking to one side or the other. They should have designated bike paths. 

 

When planning for the cruise, we thought about renting a cabana. I am so glad we did not. The cabanas over the dirty water was not something I would want to spend my money on. Perhaps the hurricane made the water dirty but not sure as i have never been to Amber Cove.

 

The pool area is really nice. I would not take a lounge chair by the swim up bar as it was very crowded and noisy. Try to go early and get a chair right in front of the pool away from the bar. It gets very crowded and people are just trying to add chairs when there is just no room. You can rent umbrellas for $20.00. You need to bring a credit card or cash. You can not use your carnival card. The bathrooms are clean. 

 

You can purchase food and beverages on the island. If you purchased the CCL drink package you could not use it on the island. You need to pay for your beverages. 

 

I  really do not think that Amber Cove can handle the Mardi Gras and another ship. The Freedom was there. It was just too crowded and you are literally on top of each other. My family and I are not smokers so people would smoke and vape in their chairs next to us.  We decided to leave and just quickly look at the shops. I returned to my favorite pool on deck 8. It was not crowded or noisy. I could get food from several food venues that were open. If I go to Amber Cove again, I will stay on the ship.

 

Nassau 

We originally was scheduled to go to Grand Turk but because of damage to the pier we went to Nassau instead. The water is beautiful in color. However we did not get off of the ship. I have been to this island before and there was nothing I really wanted to do. The CD did make an announcement to not bring excessive cash or jewelry off of the ship. This was the first time I have ever heard this announced. I wish we had been able to go to Grand Turk as it is one of my favorite ports.  Seasoned cruisers stayed on the ship like us. No lines for food and plenty of loungers by the pool. 

 

I will do bars tomorrow. 

Fell free to ask me any questions. 

 

ML

 

 

 

 

 

Tbh you didnt miss much with Grand Turk. Ive been twice since July and i dont think they've recovered from the lack of tourism plus i believe Fiona is the 2nd hurricane theyve been hit with recently. For my July cruise i brought my friend, who was a first timer, and he said he thought Grand Turk looked like a third world country....and this was before Fiona. The trick with Nassau is just finding a good excursion. We did the Blue Lagoon excursion and loved it

[notscb]

3 hours ago, Mary Louise said:

Perhaps the hurricane made the water dirty

 

I'd say that the hurricane probably did quite a bit of stirring up over that area.

 

3 hours ago, Mary Louise said:

If I go to Amber Cove again, I will stay on the ship.

 

That's how I feel about cruise line private island areas by cruise lines. It's the same as being on the ship (to me at least) but with the added bonus of the cruise line trying to squeeze even more cash out of you for their own benefit (versus the benefit of a local economy if they were to stop in a non-private port).

[CruizinSusan70]

20 minutes ago, notscb said:

 

I'd say that the hurricane probably did quite a bit of stirring up over that area.

 

 

That's how I feel about cruise line private island areas by cruise lines. It's the same as being on the ship (to me at least) but with the added bonus of the cruise line trying to squeeze even more cash out of you for their own benefit (versus the benefit of a local economy if they were to stop in a non-private port).

Amber Cove as well as Grand Turk are not owned by Carnival.  If you wish to eat or drink at either stop, it's on you, not covered by Carnival.  There are private stops by RCI, MSC and NCL that provide a buffet and extend their drinks packages.  Carnival provides food on HMC I believe since I've never been there.

[ninjacat123]

34 minutes ago, CruizinSusan70 said:

Amber Cove as well as Grand Turk are not owned by Carnival.  If you wish to eat or drink at either stop, it's on you, not covered by Carnival.  There are private stops by RCI, MSC and NCL that provide a buffet and extend their drinks packages.  Carnival provides food on HMC I believe since I've never been there.

You're correct.  Carnival provides a burger, jerk chicken, salads, brownies and cookies buffet.  They do that on Princess Cay as well.

[matymil]

23 hours ago, Mary Louise said:

 I guess I thought this was a CCL private island, but quickly found out differently.

 

I can see why you would think that its a private island. Carnival owns the port not the island. Amber Cove is the name of the terminal not the city which is Puerto Plata so its very easy to get it confused. Same with Grand Turk, they own both ports, which are very nice imo. But yeah if you stray to far away from the port area it can get dicey.

Edited October 7, 2022 by matymil

[Mary Louise]

Hi,

 

  First let me say we did not purchase the drink package. We had $750 of OBC and used that to purchase our drinks. I listened to people who bought the drink package and they were saying they need to drink 7-8 drinks to break out even. That is way too much drinking for me. 

 

Prior to the drink package, there appeared more bar servers going around asking if you want drinks. "Medication for your Vacation" was something we would hear quite often. Now there did not seem as many servers. I do not know if this is just my observation, or there is actually less to make it harder to obtain drinks for those who purchase the drink package. 
 

However I did purchase the upgraded wine package. This was $168 plus $18% gratuity. If offered five bottles of wine. Additionally we did bring our own wine on board too. There was a good selection of wine in this package. They did offer a lesser package but the wines were not very good. 

 

We did order wine at dinner the first night. We had wine left over and they stored it for us. We were able to retrieve our bottle at another restaurant but they did tell us it would take some time and it did. If you like wine this was not a bad deal. 

 

When we went to the various bars there was plenty of seating. However the servers were scarce and we just went to the bar to order our drinks. 

 

I do like the themed bars. It was always fun to try a different venue.

 

RedFrog Tiki Bar

This bar is on the Lido deck and has two floors. It has great views of the ocean and lido deck. e drank traditional tiki bar drinks. I had the Red 's Rum Treasure. Very sweet, and did pack a powerful punch. My son likes Tiki drinks and visited this bar more frequently.

 

The Fortune Teller Bar

This bar had some pretty unique drinks. the menu itself was pretty cool. I had the Venus Rising and loved the colored ice cube. Some drinks were smoky. I would suggest to go to this bar just to see the menu and read the drinks.

 

Alchemy Bar

If you want to see a show then head on over to the Alchemy bar. The bar tenders like to shake and put together any concoction you can think of. They also have nightly specials. One night it was ladies night. $1.00 off martinis. Guess who was buying? 🙂

 

Havana Bar

I had the Cuban Ice Tea. Three different rums really packed a powerful punch. Plenty of seating and nice views of the ocean. 

 

The Brass Magnolia

This is such a pretty bar. There was nothing on their menu that I was interested in so I stuck with my old standby Cosmo.

 

Guy's Pig and Anchor

If you are going to have BBQ you might as well have beer and bourbon. This restaurant has its' own brewery. They brew several beers. If you cannot decide what beer you want with your BBQ, You can order a flight of beer and sample 4 different beers. 

 

Dining Room

I did order a chocolate martini one night and it was a great choice for a dessert drink. 

 

If you have any questions please send them my way.

 

Thank you

 

ML

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Mary Louise]

Platinum Perks

Priority embarkation and disembarkation is a nice perk. We did not take advantage of this perk. CCL would not let my son embark with us, so we stayed with him and his family until his group was called.

We typically put our luggage out the night before, but this time we decided to walk off with our luggage. My son lives in Orlando and was concerned about his property. I am glad we did this, as when we came home I read that it took some passengers a couple of hours due to only having one ramp due to storm damage at the pier. 

 

A nice perk is a 1.5 liter of water for each platinum guest. This was easy to redeem. Our cabin Steward left two bottles in our room. You could also go to any bar or restaurant to redeem your free water. 

 

Carnival does make it difficult to redeem any alcoholic beverage. You get a free drink during any sea day brunch. I would just go to the restaurant and place my order. There is a maximum dollar amount, but they do not tell you what it is. I would order a cosmo to go and I was charged $1.77. CCL should just allow you to gat your drink when and where you want it, and cover it totally, unless it is a $20.00 glass of wine. RCCL does give diamond and diamond plus passengers 4 and 5 drinks for free, anytime you want them.

 

Additionally there was a reception and the invite said you would get a free glass of one and one complimentary drink that you can use anytime 1 hour before the reception until the end of the cruise with a dollar limit of $10.00. Previously receptions you could have any drink from the bar. Some platinum and diamond members opted not to go. We did get our free glass of wine. The $10.00 maximum does not cover the cost of a cosmo or other martini, so we paid extra. This is cheap of Carnival. 

 

I do like the free laundry and only used 3 of our 6  free bags. It is a nice perk. If you were sailing back-to-back or on a longer cruise this helps with reducing what you pack.

 

CCL does give out a free gift. My favorite gift that I ever received was the insulated beach bag. I use it all the time. Now it is a coozie holder. We also get a free pin  of the ship that we are on. When I got the pin it actually said Ecstasy, so I swapped it out for the Mardi Gras.

 

Those were the perks that we did take advantage of.

 

Internet 

We did not purchase any Internet packages, however we did purchase the $5.00 chat for the entire week. We found it useful for checking with our son on where to meet and when. 

 

There are some free sites, the NOAA and CCL are also free. 

 

If any questions, please reach out to me. 

 

ML