iria64

I ordered an old fashioned at a couple of different bars (2 or 3 bars). They were all slightly different. I think the biggest difference is one of the bars had dark cherries rather than maraschino.

If you can find a decent selection near you, you can also try mead. This seems to be a growing market and there are many good types to try. My favorites right now are a red currant mead and one made with aronia berries. My wife loves the pumpkin mead.

I found port/starboard to be a 50/50 split... including home port. We did Mardi Gras in August. From what I can tell MG usually dock with bow facing east/toward the ocean when docked in Port Canaveral. For whatever reason, when we docked at the end of the trip, the ship docked facing the opposite direction.

I would not use the self serve soda unless you were on Cheers or Bottomless Bubbles. The first time I used the self serve the soda I selected was not dispensing the proper amount of syrup... I ended up get a cup of colored soda water. All throughout the week there seemed to be at least 1 dispenser at each station that was not working. So, if you were paying for each use, you now have to go down to guest services and argue that the machine was not working and request a refund.

Each ship is different but on the Mardi Gras there were plenty of luggage tags to be taken. There were also multiple locations to obtain the tags. We came across the 1st location by the pool and as we wandered the ship was able to trade up our tag numbers.

Not exactly true... our last cruise we docked about 2am. They started debarkation around 8am. We got off the ship around 8:30am. ALL of the luggage zones were filled. If the ship had come in at a normal time then yeah, they would still be getting luggage off the ship.

It is a nice ship but there were some questionable decisions when the ship was designed. I can't say for the casino, but it seemed many places on the ship were not designed for the number of passengers it can hold.

Even with Bs you will most likely only be, at most, 30 minutes behind the first A groups. We had B12 group for Mardi Gras. They started boarding shortly after 11. We were on the ship by about 11:45.

My take on the ship is that there was nothing on the ship that made me go wow. Granted I have only been on two other cruises but on both of those ship when you boarded you immediately were hit with an open space that was two or 3 decks high. Walking on the the MG I just felt closed in. Where you get on the ship may have been 3 decks high but you really could not tell. Edited to add: While walking around the ship there was really nothing that jumped out at me saying "that would make a nice picture."

To be fair, we never really went to bars at night or during peak times. We would mostly hit up the shows and order from the staff that came around. I know what you are saying about the photo stations and can see how it would be a problem especially on formal nights. Since that's when people are dressed up that would be when they want their picture taken. Another thing I just remembered... the sight lines in the show venues are awful. One of the comedians even commented on it during one of his shows... something along the lines of... "I want to be put in a venue that is hidden in a closet with poor signage and the most noticeable entrance cannot be used. Also, how about putting big ass poles around the room so people in the back cannot properly see the show."

Was on the MG in August. I never had a problem getting a drink from a bar. The longest was maybe on embarkation day around the pool... maybe 5 minutes. Pig & Anchor was our least favorite restaurant and we never ate in the MDR for dinner. Overall the ship was OK. My biggest complaint was the usage of space. For a new ship you would think some of the public spaces would have been more thought out. Its almost like they put in the revenue generating areas and then figured out how to squeeze in the public spaces. You can be walking around outside on deck 7 and you come to a dead end. The only way to get back inside is to go all the way back aft.

We did Guys since we were on the ship before noon. I think if we would have had a later boarding time we would have done a lighter meal.

If you are talking about what time the ship arrives in port... we arrived sometime around 2-2:15 in the morning during a thunderstorm.

The Bayou Lemonade was very good. I tried making it when I got home but could did not have the aged rum so had to make do with what I had on hand. Still was good though.

On our last trip there was 1 port, Nassau, that insisted on photo ID/passport before letting you back in to the dock area. I know we saw one group pulled off to the side as they did not have the required id. Even if the OP was able to board they are still going to have to be careful getting off the ship if they were not able to procure the proper photo id.

We had 15315... luckily these were right under where deck 16 cabins started. As for the bolt coaster... all you really hear is a hum and it is not that loud. It also seemed to be down a lot. I do not think I saw it run during the week we were on the ship. I know it ran because occasionally you would hear it but I never actually saw it run. On a side note... we did enjoy watching the flying fish from the balcony on the trip back to canaveral.

Speaking of the tags they put out. We were not aware that this was how it was done until we passed a board that had the luggage tags on them. They still had a decently low numbers so not too bad. Still wandering the ship we came across another board that still had lower tag numbers. Basically, if you want an earlier tag #, grab the lowest you can find but still keep looking... there will be boards that see less foot traffic that night have lower tag numbers.

Actually, my DD, who does not do well in new social settings found the app very useful. She was able to look over the menu before hand so she knew what she wanted to order.