Carnival Mardi Gras or Harmony of the Seas

[rs45thompson]

 I’m trying to decide  which to book :  The Carnival’s  Mardi Gras or Royal Caribbean’s Harmony of the seas. I love the thought of a new ship with the new roller coaster. But with carnival I’m finding a lot of the entertainment is the same. I will sail on my first Royal Caribbean cruise in September  on the Allure of the seas. The reason I was  considering Harmony of the seas is because of the entertainment. From what I understand the Entertainment is different from Ship to Ship.  Any help in making this decision would be appreciated.

[JasperCruiser]

I’m looking at the same two ships and both look interesting. Having sailed on Royal a few times in the past I’ve never been disappointed and I love their shows. However, a bright and shiny new ship like the Mardi Gras is equally tempting. I’ve been doing a lot of price comparisons between the two and Mardi Gras seems to have the edge, but not by enough to be a deal breaker/maker either way. I think I may flip a coin.

[rs45thompson]

Just now, JasperCruiser said:

I’m looking at the same two ships and both look interesting. Having sailed on Royal a few times in the past I’ve never been disappointed and I love their shows. However, a bright and shiny new ship like the Mardi Gras is equally tempting. I’ve been doing a lot of price comparisons between the two and Mardi Gras seems to have the edge, but not by enough to be a deal breaker/maker either way. I think I may flip a coin.

 

I may have to flip a coin too.   Really hard decision!

[cajunfla]

I'm just curious .... Have you asked this same question on the RC section of CC?  If so, what was their response?

[sunsetme]

which ship has more pools?

 

[rs45thompson]

3 hours ago, cajunfla said:

I'm just curious .... Have you asked this same question on the RC section of CC?  If so, what was their response?

No I haven’t.  I guess I always come here because I cruise carnival the most.

[rs45thompson]

3 hours ago, jdechter said:

which ship has more pools?

 

I don’t know.  I know Harmony has the abyss but the Mardi Gras looks like it has some great slides too.

[30scruiser]

If entertainment is your main priority any of the RCCL megaships would be your best pick. It is different ship to ship and each of their megaships has its own main Broadway type show plus other production shows, diving shows, etc. 

 

Are the prices comparable? I do think a lot of things look great about Mardi Gras but I haven’t heard that they’re doing anything different with the entertainment so it’s probably the same production shows you’ve seen on other ships.

 

 

[Joebucks]

It depends what you find important. If you really enjoy the entertainment that Royal offers, then that might be your best bet.

 

Who knows, maybe Carnival steps up their entertainment game on a larger ship? Maybe, maybe not. For as much as we know about the Mardi Gras, there is still a ton that is unknown. No one has yet to sail such a large Carnival ship to be able to give you a definitive answer.

[ray98]

That is a tough call but since you are already doing Allure I would check out the Carnival offering.

[omarchs]

One thing to keep in mind is that the Mardi Gras roughly will have roughly the same number of passengers as the Harmony. The Harmony is 46,000 tons larger to better handle the number of passengers. Most of the early feedback from other posters on the Mardi Gras also relates to having too many passengers for its size. 

 

Carnival hasn’t said much about the entertainment yet, but you can probably expect a few new 30-40 minute playlist productions. Hopefully the main theater will be improved over the current Vista class Liquid lounge which has terrible sight lines in much of the theater.

[deliver42]

There is a big difference between the Allure and the Harmony. If you have kids, the Harmony is a different world than the Allure. I doubt if you would go wrong with either the Harmony or the Mardi Gras. I would base it more on price and itinerary.

[Aquahound]

I totally agree with omarchs' point  Both ships will carry about the same number of passengers, yet Mardi Gras will be 46,000 gross tons smaller than Harmony.  That puts Mardi Gras' space to passenger ratio down in the 20s, which is a horrific score in the cruise industry.

 

I would wait to book Mardi Gras at a later date, after the reports have come in regarding crowding.  Go with Harmony for now.  

[CruiseMomTX]

We sailed on the Harmony in Jan, our first RCCL ship in about 10 years and LOVED it!!!  We came home and booked the Harmony for May as soon as our teens get out of school.  We sailed Carnival Vista a week ago and were underwhelmed.  We also turned Platinum on that Vista sailing so we have been quite loyal to Carnival for some time.  For us the Harmony was so much better than any Carnival ship we have been on, its massive and I think there were around 6300 on our sailing yet you would never know it.  We don't go to shows anymore on Carnival they're just not that good but loved the shows on the Harmony.  The food is much better on Harmony.  Now we think the staff overall is way more friendly on Carnival and that does go a long way.  The Mardi Gras is a new ship but I would still probably pick the Harmony, can you tell we loved it? lol.  

[cruzin Phillis]

Looking at the Mardi Gras deck plans, I am concerned about the crowd control. It seems that carnival has design the basics to fit their other ship models with a few upgrades here and there. I was on the oasis and it never felt crowd due to the layout of the ship. I would sail Harmony just for that.

[pirate4me2]

I going to say, I have yet to cruise RCCL and I absolutely ADORE Carnival, and I had the Mardi Gras booked, BUT I changed my mind. I always try to go with an open mind but the more and more I looked at the space ratios on Mardi Gras the more concerned I got....it looks like it is going to be crowded. I was also really disappointed what they did with the Havana area compared to the Vista class. I will probably check the Mardi Gras out, but it will be after others have gone on it and reported back about what they think.

[jimbo5544]

7 hours ago, omarchs said:

One thing to keep in mind is that the Mardi Gras roughly will have roughly the same number of passengers as the Harmony. The Harmony is 46,000 tons larger to better handle the number of passengers. Most of the early feedback from other posters on the Mardi Gras also relates to having too many passengers for its size. 

 

Carnival hasn’t said much about the entertainment yet, but you can probably expect a few new 30-40 minute playlist productions. Hopefully the main theater will be improved over the current Vista class Liquid lounge which has terrible sight lines in much of the theater.

Here scratching my head-on how there could be feedback on something still being built.  Speculation...maybe.  Also questioning how you know what the 46,000 tons either adds or detracts to a cruisers value of space on q cruise ship.  How much space would make you feel it was ok, or is the larger number always wins?  

 

Entertainment is more than an off broadway rerun of a play in my book as well, but we can discuss that another time.  The one point I think is a good one is site lines in the theater, and I would be shocked to see a major change in that.  Maybe Carnival can put a slide like Harmony has....oh wait, Royal copied the slide thing already.

Edited March 14, 2019 by jimbo5544

[jimbo5544]

6 hours ago, CruiseMomTX said:

We sailed on the Harmony in Jan, our first RCCL ship in about 10 years and LOVED it!!!  We came home and booked the Harmony for May as soon as our teens get out of school.  We sailed Carnival Vista a week ago and were underwhelmed.  We also turned Platinum on that Vista sailing so we have been quite loyal to Carnival for some time.  For us the Harmony was so much better than any Carnival ship we have been on, its massive and I think there were around 6300 on our sailing yet you would never know it.  We don't go to shows anymore on Carnival they're just not that good but loved the shows on the Harmony.  The food is much better on Harmony.  Now we think the staff overall is way more friendly on Carnival and that does go a long way.  The Mardi Gras is a new ship but I would still probably pick the Harmony, can you tell we loved it? lol.  

So...the only thing you might still even give an even shake to is the funnel?  

[rs45thompson]

7 hours ago, deliver42 said:

There is a big difference between the Allure and the Harmony. If you have kids, the Harmony is a different world than the Allure. I doubt if you would go wrong with either the Harmony or the Mardi Gras. I would base it more on price and itinerary.

 

There’s not much of a difference in price. And the itinerary is about the same.

[rs45thompson]

 I was leaning more towards the carnival Mardi Gras‘s and have put a hold on it. But after talking with you I believe I may cancel that and book the harmony of the seas. Thank you so much. 

[Tapi]

I was having the same dilemma, trying to decide between Harmony or Mardi Gras for the kids school break. I booked the brand new Norwegian Encore instead. 😂

[jimbo5544]

17 minutes ago, Tapi said:

I was having the same dilemma, trying to decide between Harmony or Mardi Gras for the kids school break. I booked the brand new Norwegian Encore instead. 😂

LOL, was it in the discussion list?

 

[Tapi]

On 3/13/2019 at 4:28 PM, rs45thompson said:

I will sail on my first Royal Caribbean cruise in September  on the Allure of the seas.

We sailed on Allure of the Seas during her inaugural season. To this day, no ship has wowed me the way that Allure did. There’s truly nothing quite like the Oasis class of ships, and in my humble opinion, they should be experienced at least once. We sailed on Carnival Dream a few months later, and while we had a very enjoyable time on that cruise, it was underhwhelming in comparison. 

 

With all of that said, other cruise lines are gradually closing the gap with the Oasis class, not only in term of size, but also in terms of overall experience. Between ship design, cuisine, entertainment, staterooms and innovative ideas, other cruise lines (including Carnival and the new Mardi Gras) are truly giving the Oasis ships some stiff competition. We sailed on MSC’s new Meraviglia a few months ago and we were almost as wowed as we were with Allure. 

 

Look at pricing, itinerary, and amenities. Also check what type of accommodations and amenities you can get on each ship for the same amount. As mentioned above, we just chose (the still under construction) Norwegian Encore, and a big reason why we chose it over Mardi Gras was because we could get in the Haven (with a long list of perks) for less than a similarly sized stateroom on Mardi Gras (and which comes with zero perks). 

 

It seems to me like, no matter what you pick, you’ll be sailing on an amazing ship, so don’t sweat the decision too much! 😀

[jimbo5544]

1 minute ago, Tapi said:

We sailed on Allure of the Seas during her inaugural season. To this day, no ship has wowed me the way that Allure did. There’s truly nothing quite like the Oasis class of ships, and in my humble opinion, they should be experienced at least once. We sailed on Carnival Dream a few months later, and while we had a very enjoyable time on that cruise, it was underhwhelming in comparison. 

 

With all of that said, other cruise lines are gradually closing the gap with the Oasis class, not only in term of size, but also in terms of overall experience. Between ship design, cuisine, entertainment, staterooms and innovative ideas, other cruise lines (including Carnival and the new Mardi Gras) are truly giving the Oasis ships some stiff competition. We sailed on MSC’s new Meraviglia a few months ago and we were almost as wowed as we were with Allure. 

 

Look at pricing, itinerary, and amenities. Also check what type of accommodations and amenities you can get on each ship for the same amount. As mentioned above, we just chose (the still under construction) Norwegian Encore, and a big reason why we chose it over Mardi Gras was because we could get in the Haven (with a long list of perks) for less than a similarly sized stateroom on Mardi Gras (and which comes with zero perks). 

 

It seems to me like, no matter what you pick, you’ll be sailing on an amazing ship, so don’t sweat the decision too much! 😀

Haven for thee same price is a deal

 

[Tapi]

4 minutes ago, jimbo5544 said:

LOL, was it in the discussion list?

 

It truly wasn’t! I just expanded my search and the Encore came up. I priced it out and  came up with a better deal so I booked it!