Just off Mardi Gras…The good and not so good

[Wannacruisek123]

This was our fourth cruise, third on Carnival. Our first post Covid cruise. I know some people don’t want to hear negative things, especially if they have a cruise coming up, and I get that. However, there are also people researching to decide what cruise and ship they want to go on. 

I will do a post for the good things, and a separate one for the not so good. If you don’t want to read the not so good list, that’s your choice. 

Overall, we had a great vacation. Spending time with family and making memories is the most important thing to me, and we accomplished that. 

 

[Wannacruisek123]

The good list

1. 1. Embarkation - quick and well organized. We had a suite and therefore had priority boarding, so I can’t speak to what it would’ve been like without that. We were on the ship before 11. Our cabin was ready around 1, with our luggage delivered at 130. We were not able to put our carry-on stuff in the cabin prior to this as some posters had mentioned was a perk of having priority boarding. 
    
2. 2. Debarkation - quick and well organized. 
3.  
4. 3. Bonsai Teppanyaki - excellent. The chef was great. Funny, friendly and entertaining and the food was 10/10. Highly recommend this. FYI: you get a ton of food, so make sure you show up with an empty stomach. You get all 6 appetizers on the menu, two entrees and veggies and a big bowl of rice, and a 6 item dessert bento box.
5.  
6. 4. Ship was well laid out to accommodate the flow of 6000+ guests. Rarely felt crowded. I was pleasantly surprised by this. Any time there was a line, it moved quickly.
7.  
8. 5. Anytime dining - no issues getting a table. Longest wait was maybe 10 minutes for MDR and specialty (Chibang and Italian)
9.  
10. 6. The Carnival Hub App worked well for checking in for dinner. It was handy when we were out and about on the ship and wanted to see what was happening and where. We paid $5 for texting, and this came in handy for checking in with our young adult kids and meeting up. Sometimes texts were delayed in coming through however.
11.  
12. 7. The wifi worked well. My kids both had premium packages. When they weren’t using it, we could access it quite easily on the app. They just had to be logged out. It was very fast, and not glitchy at all. 
13.  
14. 8. The Italian restaurant was good. Friendly servers and food was delicious. 
15.  
16. 9. You can eat at Chibang and Italian once without having to pay extra.
17.  
18. 10. Mobile trivia. Kind of like Jackbox if you ever played that. You answer the questions through your phone. My only suggestion to Carnival might be to hold it in a different venue like the theatre. The screen in the limelight lounge was at floor level which meant you couldn’t see around people's heads very well and the game moves fast.
19.  
20. 11. MDR staff at dinnertime. We had anytime dining, and only ate there three times, but we had the same waiters. Joey and Ye. They were excellent.
21.  
22. 12. Loved Amber Cove. Despite a rainy start, we made the best of it. Rented an umbrella and kids went swimming in the rain. It eventually cleared up, and turned out to be the best day of the cruise. No problem getting chairs right at the pool (it was raining, lol. This may have had something to do with it). Service was excellent, drinks were good and you could taste the alcohol (unlike on the ship). Food was very good. Everything reasonably priced. $28 for unlimited zip lining all day. $5 for the water slides.
23.  
24. 13. Grand Turk - this was our 2nd time here so we didn’t do an excursion as we did a tour last time. Plan was to spend half the day at Margaritaville and half at the beach. Due to generous alcohol in the margaritas we spent most of the day in margaritaville. The beach by the dock isn’t great. We stopped there just before heading back. You need water shoes. It’s not rocky, it’s more like broken shells under your feet in the water.
25.  
26. 14. Broiled sirloin in the main dining room was delicious. A good sized piece of meat for an “included” entree. Better than the old flat iron steak that they used to offer. 
27.  
28. 15. Chocolate melting cake is as good as ever and the same size (I had either read on here or saw on you tube that it was smaller, but I didn’t think it was.
29.  
30. 16. The Gelato bar at lido was good. Different flavours each day and a variety of cheesecakes and other desserts. 
31.  
32. 17. The cabin bathroom was roomy with a large shower (we had an ocean view suite), lots of shelves and storage space.

 

[SASA13]

4 minutes ago, Wannacruisek123 said:

The good list

1. 1. Embarkation - quick and well organized. We had a suite and therefore had priority boarding, so I can’t speak to what it would’ve been like without that. We were on the ship before 11. Our cabin was ready around 1, with our luggage delivered at 130. We were not able to put our carry-on stuff in the cabin prior to this as some posters had mentioned was a perk of having priority boarding. 
    
2. 2. Debarkation - quick and well organized. 
3.  
4. 3. Bonsai Teppanyaki - excellent. The chef was great. Funny, friendly and entertaining and the food was 10/10. Highly recommend this. FYI: you get a ton of food, so make sure you show up with an empty stomach. You get all 6 appetizers on the menu, two entrees and veggies and a big bowl of rice, and a 6 item dessert bento box.
5.  
6. 4. Ship was well laid out to accommodate the flow of 6000+ guests. Rarely felt crowded. I was pleasantly surprised by this. Any time there was a line, it moved quickly.
7.  
8. 5. Anytime dining - no issues getting a table. Longest wait was maybe 10 minutes for MDR and specialty (Chibang and Italian)
9.  
10. 6. The Carnival Hub App worked well for checking in for dinner. It was handy when we were out and about on the ship and wanted to see what was happening and where. We paid $5 for texting, and this came in handy for checking in with our young adult kids and meeting up. Sometimes texts were delayed in coming through however.
11.  
12. 7. The wifi worked well. My kids both had premium packages. When they weren’t using it, we could access it quite easily on the app. They just had to be logged out. It was very fast, and not glitchy at all. 
13.  
14. 8. The Italian restaurant was good. Friendly servers and food was delicious. 
15.  
16. 9. You can eat at Chibang and Italian once without having to pay extra.
17.  
18. 10. Mobile trivia. Kind of like Jackbox if you ever played that. You answer the questions through your phone. My only suggestion to Carnival might be to hold it in a different venue like the theatre. The screen in the limelight lounge was at floor level which meant you couldn’t see around people's heads very well and the game moves fast.
19.  
20. 11. MDR staff at dinnertime. We had anytime dining, and only ate there three times, but we had the same waiters. Joey and Ye. They were excellent.
21.  
22. 12. Loved Amber Cove. Despite a rainy start, we made the best of it. Rented an umbrella and kids went swimming in the rain. It eventually cleared up, and turned out to be the best day of the cruise. No problem getting chairs right at the pool (it was raining, lol. This may have had something to do with it). Service was excellent, drinks were good and you could taste the alcohol (unlike on the ship). Food was very good. Everything reasonably priced. $28 for unlimited zip lining all day. $5 for the water slides.
23.  
24. 13. Grand Turk - this was our 2nd time here so we didn’t do an excursion as we did a tour last time. Plan was to spend half the day at Margaritaville and half at the beach. Due to generous alcohol in the margaritas we spent most of the day in margaritaville. The beach by the dock isn’t great. We stopped there just before heading back. You need water shoes. It’s not rocky, it’s more like broken shells under your feet in the water.
25.  
26. 14. Broiled sirloin in the main dining room was delicious. A good sized piece of meat for an “included” entree. Better than the old flat iron steak that they used to offer. 
27.  
28. 15. Chocolate melting cake is as good as ever and the same size (I had either read on here or saw on you tube that it was smaller, but I didn’t think it was.
29.  
30. 16. The Gelato bar at lido was good. Different flavours each day and a variety of cheesecakes and other desserts. 
31.  
32. 17. The cabin bathroom was roomy with a large shower (we had an ocean view suite), lots of shelves and storage space.

 

Interested to read more.   

[Wannacruisek123]

The not so good

 

1. 1. Food - not great. I’m pretty sure my “angel hair pasta” was Mr noodles. Quesadilla in Chibang was a taco shell with a melted cheese slice inside it. Portions very small across the board. Low quality food unless you paid a premium for the “good food”. I think with the price of cruise fare, you should get better than what was served most of the time. Most food was bland. Very little variety. 
2.  
3. 2. Lido Buffet - so disappointed what this has become. I remember our cruises before covid and the lido was huge with lots of different choices. There was one small buffet at each section with a few options. None of it tasted good. It was all bland, reheated food. The only fruit was melon. Desserts very limited. 
4.  
5. 3. Breakfast - lido was not good. The exact same thing every day. No variety at all. Eggs Benedict always cold with stale muffin. You can’t get your own bacon. They serve it, and it’s not good. All stuck together. If you go to the Pig and Anchor buffet for breakfast, they serve the exact same food as the lido. MDR breakfast bland, no variety. Seaday brunch same. Underwhelming.
6.  
7. 4. There are many “free” food venues on Mardi Gras, but they were only open for short periods of time each time, even on sea days.
8.  
9. 5. Chibang was a miss. Poor unfriendly service, tiny portions, and they brought the wrong appetizer (the cheese slice quesadilla which ended up coming with dessert and no apology whatsoever)
10.  
11. 5. Most staff met the minimum expectation for friendliness, very few felt sincere though. It felt like most were phoning it in and I understand many are at the end of their contracts. We had one fellow in the MDR breakfast who was rude and slammed things down on the table. I’m not sure what his deal was but his partner was quite pleasant.
12.  
13. 6. Our cabin was too narrow. We had an ocean view suite. There was barely room for one person to walk between the end of the bed and the wall and the metal bed frame is hard on the knees in the dark. Nowhere to stow 4 suitcases. Two chairs to sit in for 4 people as the couch got turned into a bed and left that way. They don’t flip it back during the day which I think they used to do.
14.  
15. 7. I’m not sure I like the stacked balconies. On deck nine you have no roof so I couldn’t sit out there in the rain and there was no privacy. 
16.  
17. 8. They only come to your cabin once a day. No more turn down and chocolate on the pillow. You are stuck with dirty dishes until the next day. With 4 in a cabin, you accumulate lots of wet dirty towels and such. I saw a lot of dirty dishes littering the hallway. 
18.  
19. 9. We only saw our room steward twice, not counting the times he just opened the door without knocking. On past cruises, we saw them all the time and they always seemed to be around. I really felt like he did the bare minimum. We paid $700 in tips. For that money, I expect more than that. I realize that the staff don’t set that, Carnival does, and I wonder how much of that the staff actually get.
20.  
21. 10. Tips.  As mentioned above, we paid $700. That is a lot. I think adding an 18% gratuity on top of that to anything you buy is just greed. And as if that’s not enough, when you give me my bill there’s another tip line to add more tip? Um what? Greed, greed, greed. And once again, I blame this on Carnival. Pay your staff better. 
22.  
    11. Carnival maybe try not to be so obvious with your corporate greed. Opening the casino at 530am on debarkation day and sending multiple notifications trying to get you to come spend more money left a bad taste in my mouth. 
23.  
24. 12. The alcoholic drinks had very little alcohol. 
25.  
26. 13. There weren’t enough pools and hot tubs for 6000+ people. They were usually too packed to enjoy. And they’re very small. This was one area where I did notice the volume of people on the ship.
27.  
28. 14. The elevators - oh my the elevators are a problem. There’s not enough, and there was one out of order in every bank it seemed for the duration of the cruise. On the subject of elevators, and I’m sure I’ll get slammed for this, but let’s talk about scooters. I don’t ever remember seeing so many scooters on a cruise ship before. Elevators are first come first serve. Being in a scooter does not give you a pass to the front of the line. Just because people can walk, doesn’t mean they can climb multiple flights of stairs, nor should they have to. The entitlement of some of the scooter people was unbelievable. 
29.  
30. 15. I missed the atrium and the piano, and the promenade. The centre theatre felt like an afterthought and was not designed well.
31.  
32. 16. There was no enforcement of the dress code whatsoever. I saw ball caps, ripped jeans, t-shirts, athletic clothes, spandex in the MDR. Even on formal night at teppenyaki, which I presume formal night extends to (?) a fellow had baggy track shorts and and a grubby white t-shirt on.

[jimbo5544]

Thanks for posting

[havanadaydreaming]

a very nice read that will likely be beneficial to many cruisers.  

 

some of the viewpoints i absolute support.  others may not be such a big deal to me but i certainly know they are to others.  

 

all in all, well done! 

[Hoosierpop]

Lots of good points. Luckily for me, not a single negative you mentioned are things that matter to me. But I like the way you pointed things out in case those are things that matter to people. One thing: Carnival hasn’t done turn down service in many years. That’s not something just on the MG.

[ciship]

We were on the MG in October and I have to say it was our favorite ship by FAR of all our Carnival cruises.  The additions of Pig & Anchor, Chibang, and the Italian restaurant was wonderful.  We have never been fans of the Dining Room, so we loved these "free" restaurants.  We also had an Ocean Suite and I agree...it was narrow.  The ship never felt crowded.  So many places to go and sit quietly.  The only complaint we had were the comedians.  Just awful unfortunately.  We went to four different comedian shows and they just weren't funny at all.  Can't wait to be on the MG again!

[Wannacruisek123]

Oh thanks. I forgot about the comedians. 
Most were funny and we enjoyed them, except Dougie Williams.

His show felt more like church. A comedy show is not a church sermon but that’s what he delivered. I think he misunderstood the assignment big time.

[Wannacruisek123]

14 minutes ago, Hoosierpop said:

Lots of good points. Luckily for me, not a single negative you mentioned are things that matter to me. But I like the way you pointed things out in case those are things that matter to people. One thing: Carnival hasn’t done turn down service in many years. That’s not something just on the MG.

Different things matter to different people. Some of these weren’t a big deal, just observations to share, and alone no biggie but as a whole, it left me considering a different cruise line next time.

[Hoosierpop]

13 minutes ago, Wannacruisek123 said:

Different things matter to different people. Some of these weren’t a big deal, just observations to share, and alone no biggie but as a whole, it left me considering a different cruise line next time.

Exactly. That’s why I think you did a good job with your thoughts. Laid it out clearly so people can think about what matters to them. 

[ChinaShrek]

4 hours ago, Wannacruisek123 said:

Different things matter to different people. Some of these weren’t a big deal, just observations to share, and alone no biggie but as a whole, it left me considering a different cruise line next time.

How was the casino? 

[Wannacruisek123]

12 minutes ago, ChinaShrek said:

How was the casino? 

We had to go in the morning to get a machine. At night, it was packed. They have a smoking and nonsmoking side. There were very few machines with less than $1 minimum bet. We did find a few and they paid out enough to play for a while. We are not big gamblers. They had lots of card tables and roulette.

[ChinaShrek]

10 minutes ago, Wannacruisek123 said:

We had to go in the morning to get a machine. At night, it was packed. They have a smoking and nonsmoking side. There were very few machines with less than $1 minimum bet. We did find a few and they paid out enough to play for a while. We are not big gamblers. They had lots of card tables and roulette.

Thank you! I have a "free" casino cruise planned on the Mardi Gras for February. The food was good in 2023 but it appears that the quality has declined.

[RoperDK]

Thanks for your balanced review.  We have decided that Excel class just doesn't suit us.  We've tried it twice and it just missed the mark for us.  A lot of people love that class of ship, but we now cruise on other classes.   

[crusin okie]

Did a B2B on the Jubilee in January.  Have a B2B booked on MG this October.  On the Jubilee we had a suite for week 1 and a normal balcony for week 2.  We too thought the cabins were a little narrow but in the great scheme of things didn't bother us.  We did feel that the bathroom in the balcony cabin was a little small but the one in the suite was great.  The one thing not mentioned in your review is Big Chicken (BC).  We thought the food there was a great option.  Great review - thanks!

[tha sista]

Thanks for this!

[4hunters]

Thanks for your thoughts!  I appreciate them all - the good and the bad.  👍

[Butterbean1000]

Good review. I haven't cruise on an Excel ship.  I was under the impression the MG had the smart elevators.   Did that not help with the scooters?  I cruised once while having to used a non motorized knee scooter.   Being on the other side, I can say some people were very rude at the elevators doing everything they could do to get ahead of me.  I guess there is a lack of civility with both mobile and non mobile people.

Edited May 14 by Butterbean1000

[Oakman58]

I'm totally with you on elevators and scooters.  It seems like there are more and more scooters on ships each year.  I think a lot of people have decided having a scooter is the easiest way to get around on a ship, regardless of whether or not they actually need one.

[Frank12]

Sailed Mardi Gras a few weeks ago and I only had 2 main complaints. 1- The elevator situation is horrible! I almost exclusively used the stairs ( which I needed anyway! ) LOL.  I can't tell you how many times we were waiting on an elevator and watched a completely empty one (glass doors) go right on by us without stopping!

2-The casino is way too crowded! They had 2 $10 Blackjack tables ( 14 chairs) for nearly 6,000 passengers.

You do the math....  They kept a $100 table open the whole time and it was almost always empty.

Edited May 14 by Frank12

[mamiamjo]

7 minutes ago, Frank12 said:

Sailed Mardi Gras a few weeks ago and I only had 2 main complaints. 1- The elevator situation is horrible! I almost exclusively used the stairs ( which I needed anyway! ) LOL.  I can't tell you how many times we were waiting on an elevator and watched a completely empty one (glass doors) go right on by us without stopping!

2-The casino is way too crowded! They had 2 $10 Blackjack tables ( 14 chairs) for nearly 6,000 passengers.

You do the math....  They kept a $100 table open the whole time and it was almost always empty.

😔

[Wannacruisek123]

6 hours ago, crusin okie said:

Did a B2B on the Jubilee in January.  Have a B2B booked on MG this October.  On the Jubilee we had a suite for week 1 and a normal balcony for week 2.  We too thought the cabins were a little narrow but in the great scheme of things didn't bother us.  We did feel that the bathroom in the balcony cabin was a little small but the one in the suite was great.  The one thing not mentioned in your review is Big Chicken (BC).  We thought the food there was a great option.  Great review - thanks!

Big chicken was good! I loved the potato salad. 

[Knights on the Beach]

5 hours ago, Butterbean1000 said:

Good review. I haven't cruise on an Excel ship.  I was under the impression the MG had the smart elevators.   Did that not help with the scooters?  I cruised once while having to used a non motorized knee scooter.   Being on the other side, I can say some people were very rude at the elevators doing everything they could do to get ahead of me.  I guess there is a lack of civility with both mobile and non mobile people.

 

Mardi Gras doesn't have the smart elevators.

[Butterbean1000]

2 minutes ago, Knights on the Beach said:

 

Mardi Gras doesn't have the smart elevators.

I'm surprised I thought all the new ships had them.