Joehult

I was on Mardi Gras in the beginning of December and it was a similar experience. 6 hours to embark, 3 hours after being forced out the room to disembark. Lackluster main stage. Meh food, and overworked staff. So this is pretty much industry wide now. Pre Covid days are not returning any time soon, unfortunately.

How far is the drive? Checking other airlines this weekend, the cheapest flight to Florida was $1600 on American and nearly 3 grand on delta, but I’m 2000 miles away from Miami. So the other airlines are getting in on the gouging game. If it was me, I’d wait and see how they handle this weekend, if they’re still canceling most of the flights, hit the road on Monday. Stressing over a flight is not a great way to begin a vacation. There is also a good chance of another storm moving over the Rockies on Monday, that’ll mess things up in Denver and Chicago for the first half of next week.

Mardis gras isn’t a very good family ship. Entertainment is mostly adult oriented, the bolt is constantly shut down(only ran 8 hours over a 7 day cruise, a few weeks ago). And those ports suck, with grand Turks being the only one with a beach right off the ship. Also, for a being a good sized ship, carnival really botched the floor plans. Over half of the free roam space is being taken up by the center stage, which is the main hub of the entertainment on board. The central pool deck is about 60% the size of carnivals average ships. The water slide area, was also constantly shut down due to weather and waves. I don’t know, it’s a poor ship for those that just want to relax, and not a great ship for kids.

I was on this ship in February, they honestly did you a favor. Covid staffing shortages + no usable Wi-Fi + no in room entertainment + a lackluster entertainment schedule = just get a hotel by the beach.

passengers can be monitored easily, both medically and making sure they behave. Less chance of passengers sneaking out either on to their balcony or roaming the halls. And if a passenger does roam while on the isolation deck, they’re only contaminating other sick passengers. Instead of a hundred room service staff being exposed while bringing you meals and supplies, only handful are being exposed, and they can be fully hazmat. Whether or not they are is another question. But if they are doing it right, they can mitigate infections. out of sight, out of mind is another reason. Nothing says a good time like a big yellow sign posted on your neighbor’s door.