LIVE from the Carnival Mardi Gras April 6th-13th

[GothOnAShip]

Today is going to be sober day because I don’t want to drive home hung over. I’ll probably max out my Cheers! Package on seltzers to bring home though. Might as well. We already paid for them. 
 

We went to Blue Iguana this morning/afternoon for lunch. Excellent as always.

 

Then we did a few trivias in the Brass Magnolia. The first one was lyrical challenge. We got 22 out of 40. Not bad. Then they had Majority Rules. We didn’t play that one, but it looked fun. There was a really obnoxious group behind us that was getting a little belligerent about their answers not getting chosen. In the end a quiet girl from Montana or something won the ship on a stick, and the real prize was for the rest of us that it wasn’t the belligerent group in the back. 
 

Then there was Explain a Movie Badly trivia. That one’s always fun. We got 16 out of 20. 
 

Now we’re going to pack and enjoy the balcony for a bit. The couch in our room looks like the closet threw up all over it, so we need to fix that before we do anything fun. 
 

We’re thinking Emeriel’s for dinner again. I kind of want to do the gumbo again, but we typically go to a New Orleans restaurant in Orlando for gumbo on Saturday nights, so I imagine that’s what we’ll do tomorrow night after we get home. Then we’ll probably do one more night in the piano bar. 
 

I have all the Fun Times, so I’ll post those at some point. Probably once I get home. 
 

This is our last towel animal friend.

[mamiamjo]

On 4/10/2024 at 2:44 PM, GothOnAShip said:

They have soda fountains where you can buy soda by the ounce (or it's included in the Cheers! or bubbles package) located on Lido and one in Pig and Anchor.

Regarding getting the soda fountain drinks, do you have to see a staff person, or is there a Sail N Sign scanner or something?

[GothOnAShip]

On 4/6/2024 at 9:24 PM, 1st4our25th said:

Post a comparison if you can. I loved the Steakhouse on Sunshine, didn't try it on Vista, but really want it this go round. But....I also want to try Teppanyaki. Problem is I'm not a fan of any fish/seafood (I'm a filet girl) and the desserts don't sound like anything I'm used to, so I don't know if it would be my cup of tea. But I want to try it for the experience. If I could only do one, I'm not sure which I'd pick. If they are good enough I would possibly do them both.

Post Steakhouse, here’s my comparison:

 

The filet in both is amazing and you can’t go wrong either way. The filet at the steakhouse is a traditional grilled filet, while at teppanyaki it’s cooked on the grill top, with tons of garlic butter (delicious, but your cholesterol will go up by like five points just looking at it, lol). I don’t like seafood either, but having it all cooked on the same grill wasn’t an issue. I couldn’t taste seafood at all. I’m not even sure it touched the same part of the grill. 
 

At the steakhouse, you pick your appetizer. At Teppanyaki, they give you some of everything. Most of it is seafood, so I didn’t eat any of the appetizers, which I felt awkward about, but the staff didn’t blink an eye at it so that’s good. 
 

At teppanyaki, you get a show. Which is a lot of fun. At the Steakhouse, we were lucky enough to get a show of sorts. There was a guy seated next to us who was on a first date with a woman he clearly met on the cruise and she was becoming progressively less into it as the dinner went on. I was entertained, but that really is a luck of the draw sort of thing. I could also see that being off putting for someone who isn’t me, so there’s that. 
 

At teppanyaki, you’re seated with other parties, which I thought was really fun. We did it the first night and we had a cruise friend for the rest of the week. At the steakhouse you’re seated with just your party…sort of. One would think that the tables would be a little more spread out like in a restaurant on land, but on the Mardi Gras they’re not. We were inches from two other tables, one of them being the first date. It didn’t bother me. I like making friends, but I did prefer the fun party atmosphere of teppanyaki if I’m going to be mixing and mingling with strangers. 
 

I liked the option to take dessert to go in the steakhouse. The desserts at Teppanyaki wouldn’t really work for that. Not a deal breaker for either, but it’s an option I like. 
 

Overall, both are great options. I think my preference is Teppanyaki, but I will be doing both again on my next cruise! 

[GothOnAShip]

18 minutes ago, mamiamjo said:

Regarding getting the soda fountain drinks, do you have to see a staff person, or is there a Sail N Sign scanner or something?

There’s a sail and sign scanner. You can do it by yourself. 

[vanislandcruisers]

Enjoying this...Thanks for taking us along!!!

[GothOnAShip]

22 minutes ago, vanislandcruisers said:

Enjoying this...Thanks for taking us along!!!

Thanks for being here! 

[GothOnAShip]

Okay, I know this has been a largely positive review, but I do have one complaint. It’s from a couple days ago, but I’ve been thinking about it ever since. 
 

On Wednesday night, the piano bar was closed, so we went to the late night comedy showcase. So I realize this is the late night show and the comics want to make it a show that actually needs to be labeled 18+, but both comics had jokes that crossed lines in order to do that. The first comic started off with a couple of transphobic jokes. The audience loved it, and I realize it was written for a typical cruise audience, which tends to be righter leaning, however, it’s objectively pretty gross to single out and make fun of an already marginalized group of people, just for shock value and a few laughs at a cruise ship comedy show. The rest of his set was clearly 18+, but focused on telling stories of traveling, working on cruise ships, his marriage and family, and his adolescence. That was all good and funny. It had the sex, drugs and rock and roll that would make it 18+ material. I just don’t understand why he started off the way he did. 
 

The next guy had some straight up political jokes that were incredibly right leaning. Not my thing. I don’t tend to think that way, but I recognize that others do and that they have the right to believe the things they do. I had a problem with the comic using a word that I won’t put on cruise critic, but it combined the word liberal with an outdated term for people with developmental disabilities. If you want to make fun of people that align with liberal policies, fine. I’d argue that a cruise ship probably isn’t the place to do it, but at the end of the day, you have the right to say what you want to say about opposing political policies and ideologies, so whatever. But to single out a group of vulnerable people with disabilities that they did not choose and compare them to an opposing political party to demonstrate that you believe both groups are on equal footing in terms of intelligence is absolutely disgusting and has no place in a Carnival comedy show, even if it’s just done for shock value because it’s the 18 plus show. 
 

One of the things I love about Carnival is that it’s a much more inclusive cruise line than its competitors. They’re very deliberate in their programming to ensure that everyone is welcome and comfortable and there are many opportunities to celebrate differences and showcase connections between people. This was not that. I don’t blame Carnival for that. I doubt the comedy material is scrutinized that thoroughly before the comics go on and I’m sure the material changes too often to be kept up with. I think these were poor choices on the part of probably otherwise lovely individuals. That being said, it was pretty disappointing to hear those jokes. 
 

Anyways, that’s my one complaint. I guess if you have only one real complaint in a whole cruise, it’s been a pretty good experience. Definitely not going to let this one thing ruin the cruise, but in the spirit of an honest and complete review, I thought I’d address it this once. 
 

 

Time to pack and continue having a great time. Only one more day, got to make the most of it. 

[sparks1093]

You got us to 8 days to go, so thank you! So looking forward to boarding now!

[GothOnAShip]

58 minutes ago, sparks1093 said:

You got us to 8 days to go, so thank you! So looking forward to boarding now!

So glad you enjoyed the live and it helped get you through to your cruise! You're going to have so much fun! The Mardi Gras is such a great ship!!!

[1st4our25th]

7 hours ago, GothOnAShip said:

Post Steakhouse, here’s my comparison:

 

The filet in both is amazing and you can’t go wrong either way. The filet at the steakhouse is a traditional grilled filet, while at teppanyaki it’s cooked on the grill top, with tons of garlic butter (delicious, but your cholesterol will go up by like five points just looking at it, lol). I don’t like seafood either, but having it all cooked on the same grill wasn’t an issue. I couldn’t taste seafood at all. I’m not even sure it touched the same part of the grill. 
 

At the steakhouse, you pick your appetizer. At Teppanyaki, they give you some of everything. Most of it is seafood, so I didn’t eat any of the appetizers, which I felt awkward about, but the staff didn’t blink an eye at it so that’s good. 
 

At teppanyaki, you get a show. Which is a lot of fun. At the Steakhouse, we were lucky enough to get a show of sorts. There was a guy seated next to us who was on a first date with a woman he clearly met on the cruise and she was becoming progressively less into it as the dinner went on. I was entertained, but that really is a luck of the draw sort of thing. I could also see that being off putting for someone who isn’t me, so there’s that. 
 

At teppanyaki, you’re seated with other parties, which I thought was really fun. We did it the first night and we had a cruise friend for the rest of the week. At the steakhouse you’re seated with just your party…sort of. One would think that the tables would be a little more spread out like in a restaurant on land, but on the Mardi Gras they’re not. We were inches from two other tables, one of them being the first date. It didn’t bother me. I like making friends, but I did prefer the fun party atmosphere of teppanyaki if I’m going to be mixing and mingling with strangers. 
 

I liked the option to take dessert to go in the steakhouse. The desserts at Teppanyaki wouldn’t really work for that. Not a deal breaker for either, but it’s an option I like. 
 

Overall, both are great options. I think my preference is Teppanyaki, but I will be doing both again on my next cruise! 

Thanks so much for the comparison. I may just have to do both. 😆

[GothOnAShip]

Last night after we packed we went to go collect some alcohol and play mini golf. Mr. Goth scored 36 and I scored 45. Yes it was only 9 holes. It was windy…. Or we’re not great at mini golf lol. You decide which is more accurate. 
 

Then we got Emeril’s for dinner. We both ended up doing the gumbo again even though we’re probably having gumbo tonight too. It was just so good! 
 

Then we went up to Lido for desserts. I had some cheesecake and Mr. Goth had cookies. Pro tip: on a cruise, just take the whole piece of cheesecake. Don’t cut a fourth of it off and leave it to see if someone wants to split it with you. The consideration for food waste is appreciated, but in this situation nobody wants your last bite of cheesecake. 
 

Then we went down to Summer’s Landing for Swirls because it’s the last night of the cruise, so might as well double up on desserts. On the way there we got stuck because the parade for the World Works Here was happening, so we got to watch all the crew members walking with the flags representing their country. That was really cool. I love the Carnival does that. 
 

We caught some of We Are One. We saw it last time and really liked it. We liked it again this time. If it were on land, I would say it’s a bit problematic to have so many cultures being portrayed by people who do not belong to that culture. The way to do that on land would obviously be to give those opportunities to performers belonging to that culture, but on a cruise ship the cast can only be so big. They can’t house and pay 60 performers all week for one show, so they did the best they could with the cast they had. That being said it was a diverse cast so that was cool. 
 

Then it was back to the piano bar. We stayed there the rest of the night and said goodbye to our new piano bar friends as well as the bartender, Hannah, and of course Brad. One obnoxious drunk couple came in and made the whole thing about them. At first it was just dining loudly, making an absurd amount of requests and trying to hype up the crowd to like nightclub levels of energy, which was not the vibe anyone else was looking for. It escalated to booing other people’s requests and being incredibly rude about any song she didn’t request. At one point, a mother who had recently lost her four year old son requested his favorite song and she booed the request, complained loudly that it was a children’s song and she didn’t want to hear it. At the end, she clapped and yelled “Yay it’s over.” Brad did a great job with trying to redirect her and when that didn’t work ignoring her and redirecting their attention. But the moral of the story is that some people shouldn’t consume alcohol. Not long after that another drunk lady came in, but she was delightful and kind. Brad sang a song about her and the first drunk lady left all mad because someone else was getting more attention than her. Oy vey. 
 

The rest of the evening at the piano bar was wonderful. One of the playlists production performers came in to sing a couple songs with Brad. He was amazing and they were phenomenal together. I’m so glad Brad was the piano man this week and I’m so glad we spent so much time there. Brad was amazing and I would pick my next ship based on him alone if I knew he’d be there. Great performer and a great guy! 
 

Then we went back to our room. We packed the last few things and hung out on the balcony for a few minutes.

[GothOnAShip]

Debarkation was easy. We do express and carry our luggage off because we’re still young and capable of doing it and it gives us more flexibility. We thought elevators would be a problem, but we left our room at 7:30 and there was nobody waiting at the elevator. We got on an empty one within minutes. From there we walked off the ship with no waiting. Got through customs with no problem. We were in the parking garage within 15 minutes. 
 

Once in the parking garage, elevators were a little bit of a wait, but that’s to be expected. Everyone had formed four nice lines and was being patient and courteous, so that’s always nice. The elevators were slow because they’re programmed to only send one each time the button is pushed and the open elevator needs to close and begin moving before the next can be called. Eventually, we collectively figured out that the last person to get off should push the button for the ground floor to just send the elevator back down to those still waiting. That sped things up a bit. 
 

The drive from Port Canaveral took just over an hour. We’re home now with our cats. 🐈‍⬛ I’ll post final thoughts and Fun times later on today. 

[Frank12]

1 hour ago, GothOnAShip said:

Debarkation was easy. We do express and carry our luggage off because we’re still young and capable of doing it and it gives us more flexibility. We thought elevators would be a problem, but we left our room at 7:30 and there was nobody waiting at the elevator. We got on an empty one within minutes. From there we walked off the ship with no waiting. Got through customs with no problem. We were in the parking garage within 15 minutes. 
 

Once in the parking garage, elevators were a little bit of a wait, but that’s to be expected. Everyone had formed four nice lines and was being patient and courteous, so that’s always nice. The elevators were slow because they’re programmed to only send one each time the button is pushed and the open elevator needs to close and begin moving before the next can be called. Eventually, we collectively figured out that the last person to get off should push the button for the ground floor to just send the elevator back down to those still waiting. That sped things up a bit. 
 

The drive from Port Canaveral took just over an hour. We’re home now with our cats. 🐈‍⬛ I’ll post final thoughts and Fun times later on today. 

Isn't it nice living an hour away from PC?😜

[Knights on the Beach]

Thanks so much for posting your live review! We love Mardi Gras and really enjoyed following along with you this week. 😍

 

17 minutes ago, Frank12 said:

Isn't it nice living an hour away from PC?😜

 

6 minutes is even better. 😊

[1st4our25th]

48 minutes ago, Knights on the Beach said:

 

6 minutes is even better. 😊

 

That would be a dream 💕. I just couldn't stand to be that far from my kids and grandbabies. 

[ninjacat123]

2 hours ago, Frank12 said:

Isn't it nice living an hour away from PC?😜

Someday.....😺

[grima625]

Thank you for the wonderful review!  I enjoyed following along. 

[GothOnAShip]

2 hours ago, Frank12 said:

Isn't it nice living an hour away from PC?😜

It's so nice! I can't imagine having to get on a plane or make a several hour long drive home now. It was great. I was off the ship just before 8, home before 10. 

[princess76021]

23 minutes ago, GothOnAShip said:

It's so nice! I can't imagine having to get on a plane or make a several hour long drive home now. It was great. I was off the ship just before 8, home before 10. 

Envious!!!

my home port is Galveston almost 5 hour drive 

hugs from Texas

[GothOnAShip]

Final thoughts:

 

The Mardi Gras is a beautiful ship with an amazing staff. We had a wonderful week and we can't wait to book our next cruise. Sounds like we might have a family cruise on this ship with our siblings and their children coming up soon, and we're so excited to experience this ship with them. It was a spring break cruise, but for the most part everyone was on their best behavior. Things got a little rowdy last night because I guess the last night is the night to max out your drink package? Personally, I barely drank at all yesterday because I didn't want to be hung over or ya know, still drunk by the time I had to drive home, but I was in the minority. I guess one guy caused a major ruckus at one of the comedy shows and the comedian asked him to leave. Then the guy tried to fight the comedian and security had to put him on house arrest in his room for the rest of the night. He was escorted off in handcuffs by 5 county sheriffs as soon as we docked. That was definitely the exception and not the rule though. Most people were on their best behavior.  

 

The highlights were:

Teppanyaki the first night

The Piano Bar- Brad, the bartenders and the little group of die hard piano bar fans that seemed to be there until the bar closed around 1am each night

Strawberry Daiquiris

Shaq's Chicken 

Blue Iguana

Emeril's

Voodoo Moon

We are One

Getting "trapped" during the parade of crew members walking with flags for the World Works Here and getting to see everyone up close

Making friends with random people at bars

Winning our first ship on a stick at animal trivia

Stargazing with Mr. Goth on the balcony really late each night

Family Feud

Love and Marriage

TJ and the Fun Squad- They all worked so hard to create a fun and memorable experience for everyone

The crew

 

The not so great things were:

Chi Bang! wasn't amazing, but there are other Mexican and Asian food options on the ship, so we'll just go to those next time.

The comedy show we attended. I did a whole post about that, so I won't get into it again, but this was really our one big issue with this cruise.

While most of the other passengers were lovely, a few were not. On a ship with over 6,000 passengers and almost 3,000 crew, it's bound to happen that you get a few people that are not that nice, are happier when they're miserable/complaining/being rude or downright mean to others, or are just having a bad day. It happens. I hope those people had a great cruise and enjoyed themselves as well. 

 

Even though I stopped the Cheers! count midweek, I think I determined that it's worth it for us. Funny story, we had about 20 seltzers and canned beers in our mini fridge (okay maybe not all it that tiny fridge, but in the room), so we took those home. We added up the value of them on a Carnival ship and it was about $160. The value at Target... probably $30-35. Not significantly different from bar prices on land. I just thought it was funny how much the value decreased once we smuggled them off the ship and into our kitchen, lol. 

 

Overall, super fun cruise! Glad to be home with the cats. I think they missed us and I definitely missed them. Can't wait for the next cruise. This was probably our last cruise before adopting a teenager, so the next time we'll have Mini Goth. I can't wait for the chance to experience this as a parent. 

 

Thank you all for following along this week for my very first live and for all your comments and questions. I'm a Millennial, so internet validation makes me very happy. I can't wait to do this again. I'll post the Fun Times once I unpack them. 

[Frank12]

3 hours ago, Knights on the Beach said:

Thanks so much for posting your live review! We love Mardi Gras and really enjoyed following along with you this week. 😍

 

 

6 minutes is even better. 😊

You got me beat, but I'm also an hour and a half from Jaxport! 😁

[Journey11]

Very interesting and informative review. Thank you! Glad you had a good cruise.😊

[mamiamjo]

2 hours ago, princess76021 said:

Envious!!!

my home port is Galveston almost 5 hour drive 

hugs from Texas

Ours too, but we're much closer at 1.5 hours away 🙂

[mamiamjo]

1 hour ago, GothOnAShip said:

Even though I stopped the Cheers! count midweek, I think I determined that it's worth it for us. Funny story, we had about 20 seltzers and canned beers in our mini fridge (okay maybe not all it that tiny fridge, but in the room), so we took those home. We added up the value of them on a Carnival ship and it was about $160. The value at Target... probably $30-35. Not significantly different from bar prices on land. I just thought it was funny how much the value decreased once we smuggled them off the ship and into our kitchen, lol. 

I'm glad you had a great time! We're going to be on the Celebration next month and are getting excited to experience an Excel Class ship.

I'm glad they served your seltzers unopened. I got a couple of Celsius(es?) on our last cruise but really don't remember if they served them closed or open

[GothOnAShip]

1 minute ago, mamiamjo said:

I'm glad you had a great time! We're going to be on the Celebration next month and are getting excited to experience an Excel Class ship.

I'm glad they served your seltzers unopened. I got a couple of Celsius(es?) on our last cruise but really don't remember if they served them closed or open

They shouldn't have an issue serving Celsius unopened since its not alcohol. One of the bartenders told me that Carnival policy is to open alcoholic beverages for the guest (probably because they want to limit people to 15 and they don't want people doing what I did and hoarding them in their rooms because then they could share it more easily or exceed the limit some days, lol), but most of the bartenders didn't open them or would happily serve them unopened if asked. Only one said no. I imagine that if you asked them not to open your Celsius, they'd be happy to leave it closed.