DragonOfTheSeas goes LIVE to Mardi Gras on the Equinox 2.20.17

[DragonOfTheSeas]

I have a few more pictures and things to share tomorrow once we get to our house.

[Stella777]

I am so very glad to have been able to follow along on this thread as I knew you and your husband would post a very accurate portrait of your cruise and the Mardi Gras, I only wish you could rest and be able to hop aboard the next cruise with so many Beadies on board. The March 3-27-17 cruise. i know at least 17 people on this cruise! Thanks for sharing your awesome cruise!

[DragonOfTheSeas]

Café al Bacio is a coffee bar on deck 5. It was popular all hours of the day. I can give them a testimonial. I was fond of the iced coffees. They served coffee with various types of alcohol, also. The coffee is an additional fee [included in drink packages], however, they serve various pastries and cookies for no additional fee. This is 1/3/ of the case. They were yummy.

 

Here are the pictures of the food in the Aqua cafe for lunch. The salad bar looked good.

 

 

Proteins to add to the salads:

 

 

Fruit, etc:

[DragonOfTheSeas]

I am so very glad to have been able to follow along on this thread as I knew you and your husband would post a very accurate portrait of your cruise and the Mardi Gras, I only wish you could rest and be able to hop aboard the next cruise with so many Beadies on board. The March 3-27-17 cruise. i know at least 17 people on this cruise! Thanks for sharing your awesome cruise!

 

 

Have a good time! I will miss all of you.

[VolvoMan]

Information for those who booked the $249/person "NO16 - Signature Event Sailing: Mardi Gras Grandstand Seating (Monday)" shore excursion ...

 

The Orpheus and Proteus parades were wonderful, but the price was not. The original excursion was to be 5 hours from 17:00 to 22:00; the latest buses did not arrive at the parade site until 18:00, the Proteus parade appeared at about 19:00 followed at about 20:30 by the Orpheus parade. Shore excursion buses departed the parade at about 21:30. Fellow cruisers that paid $249 each were seated next to people that had paid in the range of $36 - $49 each. My wife and I chose to walk back to the ship at 22:30 after what we thought was the end of the Orpheus parade; as we were leaving we learned that there was more to come but how much was unknown because a float had broken down.

 

Celebrity was made aware of the displeasure by many fellow cruisers and had a meeting the next day. On Thursday those who had explicitly complained to Celebrity were advised that they would each receive a $100 certificate good for use on a future cruise. When I learned this from friends cruising with us, I went to Guest Services to state my formal complaint and that of another couple sailing with us, and we were added to the list of people to receive the credit. Later that evening we were advised by phone that certificates would be mailed to our home address (or possibly to our travel agent). While waiting for departure on Friday morning, we saw actual credit certificates received by one of our fellow cruisers and I saw that their certificate would be good for 1 year (until 03/02/2018).

 

FYI, I heard second hand that the $249 included the bus transportation (obviously), the cost of the tour guides with the paddles (obviously), and (surprisingly) insurance for every guest. But $249 ?? We appreciated the $100 gesture that Celebrity has made; $149 is more palatable. We don't know if all $249 payees are being compensated. We are still onboard and look forward to our certificates when we get home.

[2theship]

I'm following your thread (thank you btw) as we are going on the 2018 -- I'm in a wheelchair, is there much transportation issues from the ship to the french quarter? or is it in reasonable walking distance, how long of a walk ? (I'll be in my power chair, but my wife will be walking) --

 

 

We got home last night and I'm just getting caught up on Cruise Critic. The best way to get to the French Quarter is the Riverfront Streetcar. There is a stop right outside the Julia Street Terminal and does not cross any parade routes so it always runs. Its route is from Julia Street up to the French Quarter. There is a lift for wheelchairs. There is information about their accessibility here:

 

http://www.norta.com/Accessibility/Streetcars

 

Celebrity was very lacking with information regarding public transportation. All they would do is say was that "some routes may not be running due to parades".

[DragonOfTheSeas]

Thank you Volvo man and 2the ship. I am sure there are lots of people who are just catching up on the various threads. I hope they will continue to add useful information for those who are taking this itinerary in coming years.

 

I think this itinerary is new for celebrity. I am not sure that they have the Kinks worked out yet. But I'm sure things will work better next year. One thing I found particularly strange was the gangway to get back on the ship. We boarded the ship from the ground level and went down to level 1. The opening that you had to walk through was only about 4 feet above the gangway so you had to bend over to get back into the ship. I tried to take a picture of this and they stopped me

[Orator]

The Future Cruise Certificate should be sent to every passenger who paid $249 for the parade and not just those who complained. By limiting to only those who complained Celebrity is only encouraging future formal complaints by those who don't want to be shut out from compensation. They do have a list of all those who purchased tickets.

[Pier290]

Aside of the itinerary....what would u rate the ship overall?

 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using Forums mobile app

[Cruise Raider]

Information for those who booked the $249/person "NO16 - Signature Event Sailing: Mardi Gras Grandstand Seating (Monday)" shore excursion ...

 

The Orpheus and Proteus parades were wonderful, but the price was not. The original excursion was to be 5 hours from 17:00 to 22:00; the latest buses did not arrive at the parade site until 18:00, the Proteus parade appeared at about 19:00 followed at about 20:30 by the Orpheus parade. Shore excursion buses departed the parade at about 21:30. Fellow cruisers that paid $249 each were seated next to people that had paid in the range of $36 - $49 each. My wife and I chose to walk back to the ship at 22:30 after what we thought was the end of the Orpheus parade; as we were leaving we learned that there was more to come but how much was unknown because a float had broken down.

 

Celebrity was made aware of the displeasure by many fellow cruisers and had a meeting the next day. On Thursday those who had explicitly complained to Celebrity were advised that they would each receive a $100 certificate good for use on a future cruise. When I learned this from friends cruising with us, I went to Guest Services to state my formal complaint and that of another couple sailing with us, and we were added to the list of people to receive the credit. Later that evening we were advised by phone that certificates would be mailed to our home address (or possibly to our travel agent). While waiting for departure on Friday morning, we saw actual credit certificates received by one of our fellow cruisers and I saw that their certificate would be good for 1 year (until 03/02/2018).

 

FYI, I heard second hand that the $249 included the bus transportation (obviously), the cost of the tour guides with the paddles (obviously), and (surprisingly) insurance for every guest. But $249 ?? We appreciated the $100 gesture that Celebrity has made; $149 is more palatable. We don't know if all $249 payees are being compensated. We are still onboard and look forward to our certificates when we get home.

 

 

We were also on this cruise and attended the parades on Lundi Gras but saw that pricing for the grandstand seating on Celebrity's website and thought it was an obvious mistake. I called and they verified that was the pricing but I really couldn't see paying $500 per couple for viewing a parade, although it did also come with a little grab bag. Through our roll call, I learned of a site where the tickets could be purchased for the Lundi Gras parades and purchased these even though I thought they would be the cheap seats. Come to find out, they were the same exact seat options that we purchased through the parade tickets website and there were still tickets available for the grandstands through this website a couple of weeks before the cruise. I think the takeaway is that if you are happy enough with your purchase, it's probably best not to ask what others have paid ... for their tours or for the cruise, for that matter. We did note that somebody was going around asking people what they paid for their tickets, as we were obviously not part of the tours coming in with Celebrity .... when someone asked us, I simply noted they were probably better off not knowing. It would probably just ruin their fun. I did have faith, after seeing a man complain to a Celebrity representative (maybe that was you), that they would probably step up to the plate and give some type of compensation. I could see charging $75 for the parade seating and transportation and maybe even another $10 pp for the grab bag but never could see how they could have justified charging $249 pp. Maybe they will reduce that charge for their Mardi Gras 2018 cruise.

BTW ... we had a wonderful time at the parades and think we (and you) only missed one float ... the one that had broken down. As we were walking back, we saw the tail end of the same parade as we hit one of the cross streets and it ended with the same float we saw while in the stands.

[bluecruisin]

Dragon, I have been reading daily as you wrote. Noe I completely forgot if you went to the Garden District? Did you go, like it, walk it or take trolley? How far from ship. Thanks!

[DebiOco]

Wow! Thanks so much for the streetcar info, 2the ship! This changes everything for us because I walk with a cane. Now I'll be able to show my Honey the Quarter after all! I've been there, but he has never been to NOLA. I'm so excited to be able to share this with him!

For any other mobility challenged cruisers, the fares are discounted to 40 cents each way if you get an RTA-issued ID card. Same discount for seniors 65+ with driver's license or passport!

[Baron Barracuda]

Looks like we have big shoes :D to fill in November!

 

 

Just to clarify, the great planning I complimented was done by our cc group, not X. DW & I participated in at least 10 tours and activities run by our cc friends. They were truly the life of the party. Really felt X could have brought more Mardi Gras spirit, especially traditional New Orleans food. Hopefully they've learned something for next year.

[DragonOfTheSeas]

Dragon, I have been reading daily as you wrote. Noe I completely forgot if you went to the Garden District? Did you go, like it, walk it or take trolley? How far from ship. Thanks!

 

 

I did not go to the Garden district on this trip. But, I had been there many times before. DS went to Tulane for law school. So we visited whenever we visited NOLA, even after he graduated. [These pics are from our 2015 B2B cruise in mid-March the embarked from NOLA]

 

Here is Tulane it is directly on the St Charles street car line:

 

I was always fascinated by this tree. The students would take their Mardi Gras beads and decorate it.

 

 

 

Across St Charles from the campus is the Audubon Park and Zoo. It is a beautiful and peaceful place to visit. there are some beautiful houses along the edges.

 

 

 

 

 

The houses along the street car line had beautiful gardens and many flowers were in bloom. But, I am not as fast a photographer as I needed to be to get those pics.

 

It is too far to walk. You need either to take the street car or a taxi.

 

edit: I did a MapQuest and it is 4.8 miles from the cruise terminal.

Edited March 4, 2017 by DragonOfTheSeas

[DragonOfTheSeas]

Just to clarify, the great planning I complimented was done by our cc group, not X. DW & I participated in at least 10 tours and activities run by our cc friends. They were truly the life of the party. Really felt X could have brought more Mardi Gras spirit, especially traditional New Orleans food. Hopefully they've learned something for next year.

 

 

I agree the Cruise Critic activities made the cruise much more enjoyable.

 

On Monday night [after the 709 Charles Street fiasco] I ate a late dinner/snack in the buffet. I noticed quite a few NOLA inspired dishes. Unfortunately few ate dinner that night on the ship. i had not planned to either. :(

[debshomespun]

We were also on this cruise. We were very disappointed in the Mardi Gras theme Celebrity gave us, just about nothing. We boarded the ship shortly after 11:00. We were greeted with the glass of champagne and beads. Others in our group boarded about noon, and the beads were gone already. I asked the CD John about this at the NO sail away party, and his excuse was some people took more than 1 strand. Come on Celebrity, you know there are 2500+ passengers, and should have had at least 1 set of beads for each passenger, and a few extra.

 

There was not any Creole foods available in the MDR, or buffet, until we reached NO. It would have been nice for Celebrity to get everyone in the mood by having ethnic foods leading up to our arrival in NO. Also, there was no type of entertainment pertaining to Mardi Gras until after we docked in NO. By then, most people were off the ship enjoying the local entertainment.

 

I was the one on our roll call with the idea of the parade, and we made a large banner, and carried at the front of the parade. There were many people from the roll call that were in the parade, and all the other passengers seemed to have a great time as we passed by. We started at the Gastro bar, and went around deck 4, then to deck 5. From there, we proceded to the pool deck and through the Solarium. Then, we proceded through the buffet area, and up to the Sun bar to finish. We felt it was a great time to have the parade as we sailed up the Mississippi River to get everyone into the spirit for Mardi Gras. Very disappointed Celebrity didn't offer anything special for our sailing up the Mississippi.

 

We purchased tickets on our own for grandstand seating at Lafayette A section for $30.pp Monday night, and $60.pp Tuesday parades, along with the VIP pass for potties. If we did this again, we would not get any grandstand tickets. We would pull up a spot near the end of the parade for throws. The Zulu Parade seemed to do many more throws to the locals they knew (lots of relatives). We did get 2 of the prized coconuts, lots of beads and a couple stuffed animals.

 

We spend about an hour on Bourbon Street every night and got a very large collection of beads, all colors, shapes and sizes. Lots of fun.

 

When we returned Monday evening to the ship, it was about midnight. Our cabin (6210) was just above the exit, and many of the crew members were leaving the ship after their work, to go out to experience Mardi Gras. We had gotten so many beads, I started to throw them down to the crew as they were leaving. I think I had more fun throwing them out to the crew, then getting them on Bourbon St.

 

Fat Tuesday is a holiday, and most businesses were closed. Many of the gift shops were open, and a few small eateries and restaurants. We left the parade just before 1:00 Tuesday, and walked over to the French Quarter. There were SO many people dressed it was better than Halloween. We went to the area of the French Market, and we ate lunch at the French Market Cafe. If was good. Then, we went over to the French Market and did a little shopping. We went back to the ship to change, then went out for 1 last trip down Bourbon Street. We had tons of fun. Most of the passengers were really into the Mardi Gras spirit, and had brought masks and outfits to wear.

 

[DragonOfTheSeas]

debshomespun--Thanks for all of the great information. I bet throwing the beads to the crew was such fun! :D

 

I think the parade around the decks was one of the highlight of the whole cruise.

[debshomespun]

debshomespun--Thanks for all of the great information. I bet throwing the beads to the crew was such fun! :D

 

I think the parade around the decks was one of the highlight of the whole cruise.

 

 

Thank you! We had a great time.

[DragonOfTheSeas]

Since several of you have mentioned the parade. I will post a couple more of the pictures I took from the parade.

 

 

 

 

 

[raprice18]

Really felt X could have brought more Mardi Gras spirit, especially traditional New Orleans food. Hopefully they've learned something for next year.

 

Totally agree with this statement.

[cruise47]

Maybe, Celebrity is reading this thread and will improve their onboard activities for this cruise journey in the years to come.

[DragonOfTheSeas]

Maybe, Celebrity is reading this thread and will improve their onboard activities for this cruise journey in the years to come.

 

 

I thought about this a bit and decided there were a few things they could do that would not increase costs.

 

Twice when we cruised on a TA that was over Halloween we got an email to remind us to bring a costume and that there would be special activities. [They do a blast email to inform us about Zika, so have address already formatted] They could send a similar email for this cruise. I heard a few people say they wish they had know to bring a costume/masks.

 

Since the day before arriving in New Orleans is a sea day they could make this all about Mardi Gras. [spread some of these out into the next day until we arrive]

• Have a contest for best costume, best mask, most unusual beads, etc
  
• Feature a couple of foods specific to the region at lunch and dinner. [They had some of this while we were in port, but few ate on the ship.]
  
• Hold a parade on the day we arrive in NOLA [as the roll call did] Meet in the Sky lounge and work down stairs. The band could be on the pool deck playing When the Saints Go Marching In as the parade goes around the top 2 decks. End on deck 3 with a party ,maybe with a balloon drop.[have had these for Halloween and even once for Veterans' Day]
  
• Make the trivia answers be about New Orleans and Mardi Gras.
  

Can anyone else come up with some ideas?

 

PS--They had some decorations in the center lobby, some NOLA themed food while in port, and gave out a strand of beads with the champagne as we boarded. I am sure they felt this made it a signature sailing. However, you can tell from the pics of the passengers they were ready to party and were all about Mardi Gras and wanted more.

Edited March 5, 2017 by DragonOfTheSeas

[mfnjan]

This sounds like a great cruise and something to think about in 2019!

[micheleg]

Thanks again for all of the great information Dragon! For those of us sailing in 2018 on this cruise, we can use all of your sound advice starting now!

[Baron Barracuda]

Totally agree with this statement.

 

 

Hi neighbors!!!

 

You had more decorations on your door than X put on the entire ship.