A little late to the party…my thoughts on Mardi Gras! Lotsa pix! The Great, the Good, and the slightly annoying

[geonurse]

We’ve recently returned from our first voyage on the gorgeous Carnival Mardi Gras. This was one of my middle of the night bookings that I seem to be so fond of doing whilst half asleep or attempting to have something worth living for. I broke the news about this one gently and lovingly to dear husband and it wasn’t too long at all before he accepted it and was getting just as excited as I about it!😍

side note: we had a Panorama Havana aft wrap out of Long Beach booked just prior to this , but had to cancel due to a minor family emergency ….so we applied Panorama down payment to this new Mardi Gras booking. 
Mardi Gras ended up being quite the consolation prize, even with our tiny inside cabin - we will talk about that more later on 🙂 

Edited December 13, 2022 by geonurse

[Drazil65]

Interested...we leave this weekend on MG and look forward to your thoughts and pix thank you in advance!

[geonurse]

Flew into MCO every early the day prior, picked up our car rental and drove to visit my snowbird mom who lives nearby. Spent the night and returned the car the next morning at Port Canaveral and Ubered to port. Our first annoyance of the trip would come shortly as embarkation was significantly delayed due to an emergency on the returning ship. We figure this into the travel experience however, and just tried to enjoy the fact that we made it to port with no issues, we were healthy and we were on vacation. We ended up boarding the ship at 330 in the afternoon. Those who arrived later in the day waited in significantly longer lines. The ship was over an hour late for sail away. Again, what can you do. Do not dwell.

Went straight to muster, then to our cabin 17242 on the spa deck. 
Made a beeline to Guys Burgers which conveniently was also on deck 17. This Guys is huge! ♥️All was right with the world and even more so with that first Swirls Ice cream

[RoperDK]

Following along. We are on the Mardi Gras next month! 

[geonurse]

Our cabin: annoyingly small. As in tiny. And the bathroom was teeny tiny.  There was plenty of storage space however. But the shower was actually awesome…. A clever glass door that swiveled in and out , great water pressure and always plenty warm. 
we never really got used to our tiny cabin though, and bumped into walls, corners, and each other all week. Very minimal counter space in this category of cabin as well. 
The fridge kept our Diet Coke and waters cold and our awesome room steward kept our ice bucket full and our cabin sparkling all week. 

Edited December 13, 2022 by geonurse

[geonurse]

But let’s talk about the wonderful location of this tiny cabin. 1 deck above the main Lido, 1 deck below Serenity. We loved Serenity on this ship. It is huge! And for the first time we were able to try the salad bar that was located there. Tons of toppings , very fresh. Even had tiny shrimp cocktail. A full bar and also a nice big self serve ice water carafe with cups available . Two hot tubs and a swimming pool. Loft 19 was right above Serenity. Trust me when I say, if Loft 19 does not come with your cabin, you shouldn’t waste  xtra money for it ..there are SO many nice areas on this ship to spread out and relax completely included in the normal fare. We thoroughly enjoyed this Serenity area. 
we never even saw anyone in the Loft 19 area any of the times we were on Serenity. We did notice that the infinity pool from Loft 19, dripped continuously on all of us going thru the salad bar line right below…this seemed to bother some people more than others 😅.design flaw 

Edited December 13, 2022 by geonurse

[Eli_6]

Completely agree with you on Loft 19.  The pool/hot tub was more like a wading pool/kiddie pool.

 

Did you feel like the Mardi Gras was super busy?  We went when it was at partial capacity. 

[geonurse]

We were pleasantly surprised at the traffic flow and lack of congestion. I heard that our sailing was full but I cannot confirm. The location of eateries and “ “neighborhoods” really seem to help with this. Yes, sometimes not having all the eateries close is a pain, but it definitely helps…much better this way imo.

[Drazil65]

Since we have a suite with extended balcony (and also love serenity) we are not interested in the  loft 19 cabana.  But, its interesting to see CCL lower the price to $1750 for next week in what seems a bit desperate to entice sales.  Looks like they have succeeded in selling 4 so far. 

 

It seems like this is what happens for many of the MG sailings right before embarkation, all 12 cabanas were all  available until they lowered the price so it does not appear they are selling at $2500 for the week.  Seems like they would start at the $1750 and maybe have a better chance of selling out? 

[Drazil65]

The neighborhoods are what we enjoy about Royal, so we are excited to see how CCL did with the concept.  

Edited December 13, 2022 by Drazil65

[geonurse]

The other thing that we really enjoyed about our category of cabin, is that there was an express elevator in our hallway that went straight to the spa on deck 5! The elevator opens right into the thermal suites… nice thallasotherapy pool, heated loungers, steam rooms, sauna, showers…there was only one time all week that the  heated loungers were completely taken. We were impressed with this spa.

Edited December 13, 2022 by geonurse

[geonurse]

6 minutes ago, Drazil65 said:

Since we have a suite with extended balcony (and also love serenity) we are not interested in the  loft 19 cabana.  But, its interesting to see CCL lower the price to $1750 for next week in what seems a bit desperate to entice sales.  Looks like they have succeeded in selling 4 so far. 

 

It seems like this is what happens for many of the MG sailings right before embarkation, all 12 cabanas were all  available until they lowered the price so it does not appear they are selling at $2500 for the week.  Seems like they would start at the $1750 and maybe have a better chance of selling out? 

It’s crazy to me that they charge so much..when you can get a lovely experience and plenty of elbow room in Serenity….

[geonurse]

Our most favorite place turned out to be Summers Landing on Deck 8aft.Specifically the Patio Pool. Great vibes, relaxing, not noisy…and killer views from that infinity pool- especially during sailaway! Guys Pig and Anchor , Flavortown Bar, and Heroes Lounge butt up to this pool area so there is always food options - even a Swirls station. You also have the  Pizza and Paninni place, and Bar Della Rosa nearby. Guest services, excursion desk and Pixels are also  near this area of the ship. 
this area also had 2 hot tubs and just felt to me like the Havana areas on Vista class ships. Interestingly, the Havana area on Mardi Gras was not large at all and I don’t think it even had hot tubs?

Edited December 13, 2022 by geonurse

[LouChamp]

Aloha Love your writing style. Thank you for reporting!

[Momma1980]

Thanks for posting!  I really liked the Mardi Gras. After so many Carnival cruises it was nice to be on such a very different ship!  

[MsOne]

Whoa, that room is tiny! I was not expecting that! Thank you for sharing the pictures. And details about the express elevator. That's usually the area I like to stay in on ships (just above Lido, inside cabin).

[Pellaz]

Great review!   We loved the ship also!  

[crewsweeper]

Deck 8 rocks.  As does the Serenity, if not overly crowded.  We avoid the pools and spa like the plague.  We have a cove spa in January but weren't all that impressed with the spa facilities last year., DW just likes the  massages and steam room.  Men's locker room was so much better on the Dream and Breeze and even the Legend and Liberty had better locker rooms and showers.

All the cabin bathrooms on the MG are basically after thoughts. 

[sparks1093]

It looks like we will really enjoy Mardi Gras in 2024. Thanks for your thoughts and following along!

[ninjacat123]

My mom and I shared an interior room on MG Oct 2021 and yes, it was tiny.  Our fridge was under the desk, not under the TV.  Bathroom was tight but I did love the shower door.  We loved all the restaurants but our favorites were Big Chicken and Emeril's.  Thanks for posting your review!

[geonurse]

Our first night on the ship we decided to have dinner in Cucina del Capitano. This was a big step for DH because he is a loyal main dining room fan. But Mardi Gras wins again , because they offer a small main dining room menu in select specialty restaurants..so he could have his beloved chocolate melting cake and strip steak , while I enjoyed something different from the specialty restaurant menu. Brilliant move Carnival! Cucina, Chi Bang and Pig and Anchor were the no cost specialty restaurants…all SO very good.

At Cucina on the first night we had Caprese and the Nona meatball appetizers, both chose the grilled shrimp entree, DH had chocolate melting cake and I chose Lemoncello. So wonderful…every single bite! Service timely and warm yet professional.

Edited December 15, 2022 by geonurse

[geonurse]

On 12/14/2022 at 1:10 AM, Momma1980 said:

Thanks for posting!  I really liked the Mardi Gras. After so many Carnival cruises it was nice to be on such a very different ship!  

Yes we really enjoyed all the differences and additions ♥️

[geonurse]

Sea Day morning #1 I let DH sleep in and hit up Emerils as soon as it opened, which I believe was 8 am.

Interestingly, most of the breakfast places don’t open until 0800. Java Blue cafe starts serving their breakfast at 0730. Dining room and lido buffet not open until 0800 on sea days.

Anyway, Emerils was fabulous. I had an espresso and a wonderful Pain Perdu . There is a nice  little seating area here to have a bite ….the ocean can be seen thru windows on one side of the hallway…and the decor and design here is just so beautiful….

my bill came to 8$.

Edited December 16, 2022 by geonurse

[geonurse]

The grand central center stage area replaces the traditional atrium of most ships and it was really stunning. Whatever time of day we strolled thru here we found something interesting going on. Some mornings we just got a cup of coffee from Java Blue and enjoyed looking at the ocean thru the wall of beautiful windows….

One annoyance was lack of functional seating and not enough of it when there was a popular show going on. Even tho there were three levels , I just wish there could have been more seating…

[geonurse]

Center stage during the day