Mardi Gras Aug 7, 2021

[centurycruiser]

I plan on posting our experience on the Mardi Gras 08/07/2021 sailing. It will be in two parts. The first is our embarkation experience which would turn me off to cruising. Bear in mind, my wife and I have been on 242 cruises  which is our favorite vacation pastime.

 

Here  is page 1:

I don't think I ever expected to think this way.

Our next scheduled cruise is October 24. Before cruising restarted I thought once it started we would fill in some of that "blank" time with some new cruises.  Carnival and the cdc dissuaded me. They succeeded in making boarding in Port Canaveral worse than Miami.

For anyone who got spoiled by entering through the Pinnacle or Diamond entrance and zipping through the terminal and getting on board in 10-15 minutes, this was a disaster.  TWO AND A HALF HOURS to get on the ship. No Diamond entrance and forget the scheduled arrival times. We arrived and got in the back of a line that was 1000-1500 people. It was like being at Disney on Christmas day.

After that we could not check in because we were "flagged." Our Allure test cruise took us out of the country so we needed to be tested. Another line. This time we were with people who had not been vaccinated. Other adults and lots of kids. We finally get to the sign in desk for testing and they ask for my credit card information.  I tell the girl "no way am I paying for this BS. We've done everything we were supposed to do. I refuse to pay. Call someone who can handle this." She says we are only the testing people. You have to talk to Carnival." I say "I am not moving until you get someone here. I'm not standing in another line."

A doctor associated with the testing outfit came over and talked to me. He offered to escort us to the ship's doctor. Turns out we didn't need to pay because we were both vaccinated but we had to be tested because we were "out of the country." The doctor escorted us back to the sign in table where we filled out forms and waited to be tested. Apparently,  most people were there with children who needed to be tested, but, were free. Two adults show up with no kids and the girl assumed we were not vaccinated and therefore subjected to pay.

After we got our test results we were able to check in, but, that was a different line. And, when we finally got to the boarding area I was told I hadn't checked in!

TWO AND A HALF FREAKING HOURS! Never again.

 

[centurycruiser]

That's pretty much how the ship is, too. Masks are expected inside on the ship, but, once in a bar or restaurant you can remove them. Although some venues have an attendant at the door to remind you to mask. It's kind of funny because they might be outside the Piano bar or the Comedy Club to remind to mask, you go in order a drink and unmask. (a change last night in the piano bar. The audience was asked to mask unless actively drinking, sip and mask. Much mote subdued than previous 2 nights.) After that, the piano bar was mostly empty each night.

There are mask reminders in the elevators but they are not always followed. Rebels I guess. Unlike Royal there are no capacity restrictions. (Royal limited elevator capacity to 4). I am not sure how that would work with more people on the ship. Our Allure test cruise only had 657 passengers. This cruise was 3000.

There are a lot of tables for 2 in the restaurants but there is no social distancing as many are only 4 inches apart.

The "muster" drill was very similar to Royal's. You check in and go watch a crew put on a life jacket. When we did this on Royal it was just my wife and me. Here was a group of 10 or 12.

We are "My Time" dining. At least initially, they are including 3 Specialty restaurants in My Time for free. Capitano's Cusina (Italian), Chi Bang (Chinese Mexican fusion) and Guy's Pig and Anchor (BBQ). These restaurants are usually free at lunch and pay in the evening. We usually do these at lunch and then do the deli (fresh made sandwiches), pizza or Guy's burgers in the evening.

The Carnival Hub, their app, is a necessity. It has your boarding pass, but, they wanted the "paper" at the pier. The daily schedule is on the app, restaurant times and most menus and for My Time diners, there's tabs for the restaurants for Check in to dine. When you are ready to eat, you select that tab and enter the guests names and shortly after you receive notice that your table is ready, with a table assignment. There's a hostess outside each restaurant to direct you to a waiter to escort to your table. There's a desk outside each restaurant, maybe, to accommodate people who have multiple state rooms, or, are not using the app. I love that.

Those specialty restaurants are HUGE. The nice thing about that is even at free they are not full. Imagine if Royal offered Chops or Portfino free! You couldn't get in for weeks.

We also have the Cheers package which is "free" drinks. Specialty coffees, juices, drinks, beer and milk shakes. We had a our first milk shakes at sea this week. The downside is we are limited to 15 a day. Each bar has a different drink menu. You use a QR reader to download the menu and read in adobe acrobat. So, we've tried quite a few different drinks this week.

I asked one bartender if she had to memorize the drinks and of course she had to. I then asked if she only worked the one bar and she said she had already worked 3. That could be 30 or more recipes.

My wife and I both enjoy comfort food so we are loving the food options. Really, really good pizza, fresh made sandwiches (no), Guy's Burgers, Italian, Mexican, Chinese and of course, American.  We are in Heaven!

We went to our first evening show yesterday. It was Rock Revolution, 1969 and the music was memorable.   When you stop to think about it 1969 was a fabulous year for music. They had songs from Hair,  Woodstock, Chicago, Beatles,  in general, a lot of really nice music. We haven't been to evening shows for some time because they rarely change. We haven't been on Carnival for a year and a half, so, we figured we hadn't seen it before.

Carnival started their comedy club years ago. Each new ship had a larger club than previous and the Mardi Gras actually has two comedy venues, each larger than any Royal has. They offer 4 comedians each week with two performing the beginning  of the week and two others performing the end of the week. In addition to the food we like Carnival because the comedy shows are always new and different.

We spent two evenings in the Piano bar. We haven't done much of that since Tommy Treadway on the Big Red Boat!

When we first got on the ship we saw so many scooters I wondered if we were actually on Holland America.  Each cruise line has some eccentrics. Here two men are decked out in souvenir pins that Carnival passes out with the ship name each sailing. I remember seeing someone on Royal who made a vest out of the key chains from trivia. And Holland America used to give canvas totes which a couple had made into matching vests.

This ship is reminiscent of the Carnival Glory. There were a lot of corridors that appeared to be dead ends but just turned a corner and continued. The Mardi Gras has a number of them. And, they turned so much space into restaurants,  bars, lounges, etc, they ran out of room for aisles and corridors.  Some are so narrow it is difficult to pass someone approaching.

They didn't put extra space in the state rooms. We are in a handicap accessible which reminds me of the Sovereign or Majesty. Carnival used to advertise their standard rooms were 185 sf. The Sovereign was about 131 sf. Even with handicap we are closer to that. But they had good storage, closets and drawers.

The week before we cruised I was on Cruise Critic reading about Carnival Diamonds. Someone posted an email they received about changes due to the pandemic.
They no longer distribute water, chocolates, ship pin or gifts to the stateroom. You have to pick up the pin and gift at Pixels and water at a bar. If you want the chocolate you must call room service.

Also, they only service the stateroom once a day unless you request more. We are neat so once a day is fine. We just asked for 4 bath towels.

And, importantly,  each Diamond is entitled to $25 casino free play. We also learned you had to get the cashier to load your card before play.  Tonight I played my wife's free play and "won" $21.75. She still has $4.75 available so, essentially we are even. Eventurally we found out you can not cash out your winnings. You play until you reach $0. On Royal you may only get $5 free play but you can cash out. We won $32.50 on Royal on free play and cashed out.

So, that was all good advice. But, it did not come to us from Carnival. Unlike Royal who provides a notice in the state rooms for D or P benefits, or, even the daily schedule there's nothing in the room. The schedule is on the app, but, nothing about the benefits.

My wife found a place where paper schedules are available,  but,  there are not enough for everyone. She only took one. The schedule is available on the app but none are provided in the state room.

There's a lot to be said for being familiar with a ship or it's layout because you sailed her or a sister a lot.  We still don't know which way is forward and which way is aft. The maps at the elevators are very helpful because they have proper orientation.  The maps on the app, not so much. Do we turn right or left?

I mentioned the specialty restaurants that are free for now and so far we've eaten at each. The meals were great, but, there are  7 other specialty restaurants with charges. So far, it appears the sushi restaurant is least popular. Maybe because the guests are older than Carnival's typical demographic. There are two main dining rooms, one seems for My Time and the other for assigned times. We were in one for Sea Day Brunch and service was terrible. That generally is a nice menu and meal but I doubt we'll be back this cruise. Tomorrow,  maybe, Emeril's. That's a specialty that is $5 for breakfast.

I mentioned fresh made sandwiches previously. Carnival had the NY Deli which had fresh made to order sandwiches.  Only Holland America and Celebrity did that, so, Carnival was in a special class. Now it is Plaza Panini and my wife said when she picked up a sandwich yesterday they took a ready made out of a refrigerator and tossed it in a micro wave. That's the only negative we've experienced so far. I hope this doesn't spread to other ships in the fleet.

There's also a food court near the pool with 5 other places for quick eats. One of the staff said 19 places in all. I plan to check his math.

The Lido restaurant is huge. It appears that if everyone ate there you could still find a seat. And talking about huge, the casino might be the biggest I've ever seen on a ship. They have smoking and none smoking areas in the casino and they seem separated enough that you could avoid the smoking area if you knew which entrance and exit to use.

We were walking around taking pictures today and we went to Serenity and Loft 19. Serenity is adults only and Loft 19 is adults only but requires payment. Lots of cabanas and service. They will brings drinks and food from every restaurant that is open. I'm pretty sure you still have to use the rest room yourself! There is more adults only space than on Disney.

The majority of the servers and bartenders appear to be Chinese and Filipino women. Very cute and very friendly. I can remember when the entire staff was male. But, I guess as fleets and ships increased they had to open it up.

The attendant who guided us around Loft 19 told us there are around 3000 guests this week and around 4000 guests last week. I cannot begin to imagine what boarding was like. The first cruise of the season from a new terminal and perhaps new staff and 33% more people than this week.

Earlier I mentioned Carnival did not provide notice of some benefits, I did find some mentioned on the info channel.  They did not mention the casino free play. You have to listen to all the info to find the info about receiving your benefits.

Unlike Royal's free play where you can cash out winnings, on Carnival it just go to your bank so you can play longer. There's no cash payout from free play.

Most doorways are automatic.  If they don't open automatically they have a button that you can push. It doesn't work with a knuckle.  It needs a finger tip.

Getting into and out of rest rooms (and some doors) only requires waving your hand over a sensor.

When the restaurants are promoted on TV they talk about the upgrade of their deli to Plaza Panini. You already know my opinion of that.

Breakfast is available all over the ship including several specialty restaurants. Only Emeril's Bistro is extra cost starting around $5 and going up to around $8.

There is no library on board. I don't know if it has been repurposed or completely eliminated. On Carnival the library always had board games and playing cards, so, they are not available here.

Lots and lots of trivia. We've done pretty well but not well enough to win, yet.

The elevator control buttons are in the middle of one side. If the elevator is half full you don't know where it will stop. Something new.

I've been drinking a lot of iced tea. Not the Lipton kind. The Long Island kind. Each bar has their own version,  e.g., Cuban, Caribbean, Kentucky, etc. I haven't found one bar with Long Island iced tea. We had the Cheers package!

Tonight is Elegant night. A lot of women are really dressed up. Men not so much.

The bathrooms in the state rooms have night lights similar to Celebrity's newer ships.

Getting off was way, way easier then getting on. If we wanted early departure we were supposed to report to the Comedy Club by 7:30. We left our stateroom around 6:55 and when arrived at the Comedy Club they were escorting people out already.

I love the ship but not enough to cruise again until there is sanity at the pier on embarkation.

 

And, that's my report!

[Moviela]

Well written and packed with useful information. Thank you for the coherent review. 

[SNJCruisers]

Just got done reading your reviews.  Little confused.  One has MG Aug 7 and the other has the same with part 3 added.  Is there a part two?  You mentioned at the beginning of your first thread that it was two parts and the ending of that thread did not flow smoothly with the beginning of the "part 3" thread.

 

You also mentioned about not being able to cash out your winnings that you earned from your free slot play.  Wonder what would have happened if you took the 25.00 in chips and went to the roulette table.  If you bet all 25 on red, won, bet the original 25 again and lost, you should be able to walk away 25.00 richer. 

 

Finally, what type of cabin were you in?  Since you were able to be in Loft 19, I have to assume you were staying in an Excel Suite, but then you did mention you were in a HC room and that it was small.

[Knights on the Beach]

7 hours ago, SNJCruisers said:

Finally, what type of cabin were you in?  Since you were able to be in Loft 19, I have to assume you were staying in an Excel Suite, but then you did mention you were in a HC room and that it was small.

 

He mentioned an attendant showed them around Loft 19 so it sounds like they let them visit the area to look around.

 

Centurycruiser, thank you for your review.  We're booked on Mardi Gras in December and March and you've provided some great info!

[centurycruiser]

8 hours ago, SNJCruisers said:

Just got done reading your reviews.  Little confused.  One has MG Aug 7 and the other has the same with part 3 added.  Is there a part two?  You mentioned at the beginning of your first thread that it was two parts and the ending of that thread did not flow smoothly with the beginning of the "part 3" thread.

 

You also mentioned about not being able to cash out your winnings that you earned from your free slot play.  Wonder what would have happened if you took the 25.00 in chips and went to the roulette table.  If you bet all 25 on red, won, bet the original 25 again and lost, you should be able to walk away 25.00 richer. 

 

Finally, what type of cabin were you in?  Since you were able to be in Loft 19, I have to assume you were staying in an Excel Suite, but then you did mention you were in a HC room and that it was small.

I missed count. The first part was our experience getting on the ship. Worst EVER!

On Royal we used to do roulette. We would each play red/black or even/odd at the same time and walk away  with half the cash. Although, once 2 out of 3 time 00 came up.

After that we would just play poker on the slots.

My guess is you can do table games and if the payoff is in chips, cash them in. I don't know for sure.

We were inside handicap. We explored the ship and the hostess on Loft 19 gave us a tour. The only person on Loft 19 when we were there was the hostess.

I think the only place we missed was the spa.

[AlabamaPoolBoy]

This info is from our cruise on the Mardi Gras the week of 7-14 Aug 2021.

 

Mardi Gras is a big, sparkling new, beautiful ship with lots of great things to eat and do.  Her crew is happy, helpful, and competent.  We had an awesome week and will book another cruise on the Mardi Gras in the near future.

 

We had a regular balcony cabin on the 9th floor.  Instead of a lot of narrative, I will just list some of our observations in the pro and con format.

 

PROS (only listed a few, most everything on the ship was near perfect)

- showers were huge

- bathroom lay out is good

- cabin air conditioning worked great

- cabin lighting was great

- Big Chicken was excellent except

- ship potable water was very good...much better than the Marriot we stayed in onshore

- Wifi reception in cabin, on our balcony and anywhere else we tried it was excellent, about 60db

- the sugar cookies on the buffet were the best I’ve ever eaten

- all week on every occurrence the crew was extremely friendly and helpful all week and they exceeded every expectation.

- Pig and Anchor was excellent.  Tried pulled pork, St Louis ribs, chicken, onion strings, mac and cheese.  All excellent.  Banana pie was awful.  It should be replaced with banana pudding.

- Covid, never felt scared, there was a very high percentage of mask compliance and social distancing, all crew members were masked all week. 

 

 

CONS

- may be just me, but the main stars near all the ship’s elevators seemed steeper and the steps narrower they we have seen on other ships, so look out, especially when wearing a mask

- there was no 120v power on bedside of our cabin, so if you have an electric fan or CPAP or whatever, take two 9 ft extension cords

- other than a very small shelf attached low on the wall next to the bed, there was no place to set fan or much of anything the near bed, a clip-on fan will attach to the headboard

- VOI calling does not work with any of the Wi-Fi packages, but my wife was able to make calls using FB Messenger on the Value Package

- there is no self-service laundry on the ship, which makes absolutely no sense to that they left this feature out

- many deck 9 balconies have obstructed views due to a large white roof extending out 12 or 15 feet beyond the balcony which means you can forget about looking down to the water close to the ship, if you sit on the balcony in a deck chair, the only water you see is above the handrail because the white roof blocks everything below the handrail, the large white roof is the same level as the floor of the balcony

- don't trust things you read on the in-cabin TV info screen channel, What's Happening Now.  Lots of times, dates and other info were wrong, its nowhere good as the old printed version of the Fun Times

- Big Chicken needs mayo on the condiment bar, need more people working, sometimes only one person working and a long line, need a couple of fans behind counter for the workers because it is on the end of the ship, outside and hot as hell, sausage biscuits need work

- no light on balconies, but you can leave the cabin lights on and the curtain open to get some light out there

- many days there was no thousand island salad dressing on the buffet, you could ask for it, but it took 10 minutes to get it and they only brought a very small sauce cup full

- be careful of cabin door, ours had a very sharp bottom edge that can cut your foot if you get your foot under it when opening the door.....don’t ask me how I know

- Wi-Fi worked great, but there were some common links that would not open, like a Rural King Ad or a local car club I am in

- the safe in closet should be mounted higher, is too low to see into easily, especially if you have back issues

- we were never informed that there was at least one passenger testing positive for covid during our cruise

- the in cabin tv selections were very limited and they really need to add Fox News channel to balance out the only available news channel (CBS News)

- the outdoor movies shown were very poor, they could do much better than the movies they showed on the big outdoor screen

 

Once again, great cruise, crew and ship.  I highly recommend Carnival and the Mardi Gras.  We can’t wait to cruise again on the Mardi Gras!

[SNJCruisers]

7 minutes ago, centurycruiser said:

 

We were inside handicap.

Which cabin were you in?  Was it fully accessible or just ambulatory with grab bars only?  Also, after seeing a YouTube video it seems like there are only two narrow closets instead of the four in a regular inside cabin, so you lose out on the new pull out shoe rack and two pull out silver racks.  Is this correct?  Thanks.

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

DARN - just realized that we didn't pick up our Ship Pins last week, darn it!

 

That's ok, we'll be back before year's end.  🙂

Tom

[centurycruiser]

11 hours ago, SNJCruisers said:

Which cabin were you in?  Was it fully accessible or just ambulatory with grab bars only?  Also, after seeing a YouTube video it seems like there are only two narrow closets instead of the four in a regular inside cabin, so you lose out on the new pull out shoe rack and two pull out silver racks.  Is this correct?  Thanks.

Ambulatory. Four closets,3shoe rack, 3 drawers for storage, 2 deep, one shallow.

[SNJCruisers]

1 hour ago, centurycruiser said:

Ambulatory. Four closets,3shoe rack, 3 drawers for storage, 2 deep, one shallow.

I think the ambulatory are just like a regular interior cabin at 158 square ft and it has the grab bars.  The fully accessible is slightly larger, but from what I saw on YouTube only has two closets, not four.

[IntrepidFromDC]

23 hours ago, centurycruiser said:

That's pretty much how the ship is, too. Masks are expected inside on the ship, but, once in a bar or restaurant you can remove them. Although some venues have an attendant at the door to remind you to mask. It's kind of funny because they might be outside the Piano bar or the Comedy Club to remind to mask, you go in order a drink and unmask. (a change last night in the piano bar. The audience was asked to mask unless actively drinking, sip and mask. Much mote subdued than previous 2 nights.) After that, the piano bar was mostly empty each night.

There are mask reminders in the elevators but they are not always followed. Rebels I guess. Unlike Royal there are no capacity restrictions. (Royal limited elevator capacity to 4). I am not sure how that would work with more people on the ship. Our Allure test cruise only had 657 passengers. This cruise was 3000.

There are a lot of tables for 2 in the restaurants but there is no social distancing as many are only 4 inches apart.

The "muster" drill was very similar to Royal's. You check in and go watch a crew put on a life jacket. When we did this on Royal it was just my wife and me. Here was a group of 10 or 12.

We are "My Time" dining. At least initially, they are including 3 Specialty restaurants in My Time for free. Capitano's Cusina (Italian), Chi Bang (Chinese Mexican fusion) and Guy's Pig and Anchor (BBQ). These restaurants are usually free at lunch and pay in the evening. We usually do these at lunch and then do the deli (fresh made sandwiches), pizza or Guy's burgers in the evening.

The Carnival Hub, their app, is a necessity. It has your boarding pass, but, they wanted the "paper" at the pier. The daily schedule is on the app, restaurant times and most menus and for My Time diners, there's tabs for the restaurants for Check in to dine. When you are ready to eat, you select that tab and enter the guests names and shortly after you receive notice that your table is ready, with a table assignment. There's a hostess outside each restaurant to direct you to a waiter to escort to your table. There's a desk outside each restaurant, maybe, to accommodate people who have multiple state rooms, or, are not using the app. I love that.

Those specialty restaurants are HUGE. The nice thing about that is even at free they are not full. Imagine if Royal offered Chops or Portfino free! You couldn't get in for weeks.

We also have the Cheers package which is "free" drinks. Specialty coffees, juices, drinks, beer and milk shakes. We had a our first milk shakes at sea this week. The downside is we are limited to 15 a day. Each bar has a different drink menu. You use a QR reader to download the menu and read in adobe acrobat. So, we've tried quite a few different drinks this week.

I asked one bartender if she had to memorize the drinks and of course she had to. I then asked if she only worked the one bar and she said she had already worked 3. That could be 30 or more recipes.

My wife and I both enjoy comfort food so we are loving the food options. Really, really good pizza, fresh made sandwiches (no), Guy's Burgers, Italian, Mexican, Chinese and of course, American.  We are in Heaven!

We went to our first evening show yesterday. It was Rock Revolution, 1969 and the music was memorable.   When you stop to think about it 1969 was a fabulous year for music. They had songs from Hair,  Woodstock, Chicago, Beatles,  in general, a lot of really nice music. We haven't been to evening shows for some time because they rarely change. We haven't been on Carnival for a year and a half, so, we figured we hadn't seen it before.

Carnival started their comedy club years ago. Each new ship had a larger club than previous and the Mardi Gras actually has two comedy venues, each larger than any Royal has. They offer 4 comedians each week with two performing the beginning  of the week and two others performing the end of the week. In addition to the food we like Carnival because the comedy shows are always new and different.

We spent two evenings in the Piano bar. We haven't done much of that since Tommy Treadway on the Big Red Boat!

When we first got on the ship we saw so many scooters I wondered if we were actually on Holland America.  Each cruise line has some eccentrics. Here two men are decked out in souvenir pins that Carnival passes out with the ship name each sailing. I remember seeing someone on Royal who made a vest out of the key chains from trivia. And Holland America used to give canvas totes which a couple had made into matching vests.

This ship is reminiscent of the Carnival Glory. There were a lot of corridors that appeared to be dead ends but just turned a corner and continued. The Mardi Gras has a number of them. And, they turned so much space into restaurants,  bars, lounges, etc, they ran out of room for aisles and corridors.  Some are so narrow it is difficult to pass someone approaching.

They didn't put extra space in the state rooms. We are in a handicap accessible which reminds me of the Sovereign or Majesty. Carnival used to advertise their standard rooms were 185 sf. The Sovereign was about 131 sf. Even with handicap we are closer to that. But they had good storage, closets and drawers.

The week before we cruised I was on Cruise Critic reading about Carnival Diamonds. Someone posted an email they received about changes due to the pandemic.
They no longer distribute water, chocolates, ship pin or gifts to the stateroom. You have to pick up the pin and gift at Pixels and water at a bar. If you want the chocolate you must call room service.

Also, they only service the stateroom once a day unless you request more. We are neat so once a day is fine. We just asked for 4 bath towels.

And, importantly,  each Diamond is entitled to $25 casino free play. We also learned you had to get the cashier to load your card before play.  Tonight I played my wife's free play and "won" $21.75. She still has $4.75 available so, essentially we are even. Eventurally we found out you can not cash out your winnings. You play until you reach $0. On Royal you may only get $5 free play but you can cash out. We won $32.50 on Royal on free play and cashed out.

So, that was all good advice. But, it did not come to us from Carnival. Unlike Royal who provides a notice in the state rooms for D or P benefits, or, even the daily schedule there's nothing in the room. The schedule is on the app, but, nothing about the benefits.

My wife found a place where paper schedules are available,  but,  there are not enough for everyone. She only took one. The schedule is available on the app but none are provided in the state room.

There's a lot to be said for being familiar with a ship or it's layout because you sailed her or a sister a lot.  We still don't know which way is forward and which way is aft. The maps at the elevators are very helpful because they have proper orientation.  The maps on the app, not so much. Do we turn right or left?

I mentioned the specialty restaurants that are free for now and so far we've eaten at each. The meals were great, but, there are  7 other specialty restaurants with charges. So far, it appears the sushi restaurant is least popular. Maybe because the guests are older than Carnival's typical demographic. There are two main dining rooms, one seems for My Time and the other for assigned times. We were in one for Sea Day Brunch and service was terrible. That generally is a nice menu and meal but I doubt we'll be back this cruise. Tomorrow,  maybe, Emeril's. That's a specialty that is $5 for breakfast.

I mentioned fresh made sandwiches previously. Carnival had the NY Deli which had fresh made to order sandwiches.  Only Holland America and Celebrity did that, so, Carnival was in a special class. Now it is Plaza Panini and my wife said when she picked up a sandwich yesterday they took a ready made out of a refrigerator and tossed it in a micro wave. That's the only negative we've experienced so far. I hope this doesn't spread to other ships in the fleet.

There's also a food court near the pool with 5 other places for quick eats. One of the staff said 19 places in all. I plan to check his math.

The Lido restaurant is huge. It appears that if everyone ate there you could still find a seat. And talking about huge, the casino might be the biggest I've ever seen on a ship. They have smoking and none smoking areas in the casino and they seem separated enough that you could avoid the smoking area if you knew which entrance and exit to use.

We were walking around taking pictures today and we went to Serenity and Loft 19. Serenity is adults only and Loft 19 is adults only but requires payment. Lots of cabanas and service. They will brings drinks and food from every restaurant that is open. I'm pretty sure you still have to use the rest room yourself! There is more adults only space than on Disney.

The majority of the servers and bartenders appear to be Chinese and Filipino women. Very cute and very friendly. I can remember when the entire staff was male. But, I guess as fleets and ships increased they had to open it up.

The attendant who guided us around Loft 19 told us there are around 3000 guests this week and around 4000 guests last week. I cannot begin to imagine what boarding was like. The first cruise of the season from a new terminal and perhaps new staff and 33% more people than this week.

Earlier I mentioned Carnival did not provide notice of some benefits, I did find some mentioned on the info channel.  They did not mention the casino free play. You have to listen to all the info to find the info about receiving your benefits.

Unlike Royal's free play where you can cash out winnings, on Carnival it just go to your bank so you can play longer. There's no cash payout from free play.

Most doorways are automatic.  If they don't open automatically they have a button that you can push. It doesn't work with a knuckle.  It needs a finger tip.

Getting into and out of rest rooms (and some doors) only requires waving your hand over a sensor.

When the restaurants are promoted on TV they talk about the upgrade of their deli to Plaza Panini. You already know my opinion of that.

Breakfast is available all over the ship including several specialty restaurants. Only Emeril's Bistro is extra cost starting around $5 and going up to around $8.

There is no library on board. I don't know if it has been repurposed or completely eliminated. On Carnival the library always had board games and playing cards, so, they are not available here.

Lots and lots of trivia. We've done pretty well but not well enough to win, yet.

The elevator control buttons are in the middle of one side. If the elevator is half full you don't know where it will stop. Something new.

I've been drinking a lot of iced tea. Not the Lipton kind. The Long Island kind. Each bar has their own version,  e.g., Cuban, Caribbean, Kentucky, etc. I haven't found one bar with Long Island iced tea. We had the Cheers package!

Tonight is Elegant night. A lot of women are really dressed up. Men not so much.

The bathrooms in the state rooms have night lights similar to Celebrity's newer ships.

Getting off was way, way easier then getting on. If we wanted early departure we were supposed to report to the Comedy Club by 7:30. We left our stateroom around 6:55 and when arrived at the Comedy Club they were escorting people out already.

I love the ship but not enough to cruise again until there is sanity at the pier on embarkation.

 

And, that's my report!

Wow you packed alot of very helpful information into that report, thank you!  I have to take issue with one comment about 1969: "When you stop to think about it 1969 was a fabulous year for music. They had songs from Hair,  Woodstock, Chicago, Beatles,  in general, a lot of really nice music." ... There are very few bands I would dare mention in the same sentence as The Beatles, especially their 1969 masterpiece, "Abbey Road".  Chicago, would not be one of them!  Did they play no Pink Floyd?  Of course not.  😁 🏴‍☠️

[SNJCruisers]

1 hour ago, IntrepidFromDC said:

Wow you packed alot of very helpful information into that report, thank you!  I have to take issue with one comment about 1969: "When you stop to think about it 1969 was a fabulous year for music. They had songs from Hair,  Woodstock, Chicago, Beatles,  in general, a lot of really nice music." ... There are very few bands I would dare mention in the same sentence as The Beatles, especially their 1969 masterpiece, "Abbey Road".  Chicago, would not be one of them!  Did they play no Pink Floyd?  Of course not.  😁 🏴‍☠️

Which United States based band had the second most hits in the 1970's after the Beach Boys?

[SNJCruisers]

1 hour ago, IntrepidFromDC said:

There are very few bands I would dare mention in the same sentence as The Beatles, especially their 1969 masterpiece, "Abbey Road".  Chicago, would not be one of them!  Did they play no Pink Floyd?  Of course not.  😁 🏴‍☠️

Interesting article I came across having a ranking of 1) Beatles, 2) Stones 3) Beach Boys 4) Chicago comparing hard core numbers across various platforms such as singles, albums, etc.

https://www.he-man.org/forums/boards/showthread.php?263974-The-Beatles-and-The-Rolling-Stones-vs-The-Beach-Boys-and-Chicago-vs-The-Bee-Gees

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

After reading some more of this thread - I also realized that we never "asked" for our $25 pp casino free play... opportunity lost!

 

I agree, the terminal is a pathetic mess. We arrived and asked about the "priority" on our boarding documents. They looked at me like I had two heads, apparently no "special" lines were open. The person I approached asked someone else, and we were directed to the "all others" line, which ended up being for people needing assistance (wheel chairs, etc) and was slower than the much longer "regular" line - with people in that line reaching security before we did... easily an hour in there (or it felt that way).

 

A mention was made about the smoking/non-smoking sides of the casino. I REALLY wish that they'd place some signage at the entrance, and within those sections - as the only way that I could tell was the SMELL or visually seeing someone smoking. What the heck! Perhaps I missed it.

 

Good point about the mayo - but I encountered my issue at SeaDogs. I asked after I was given the hotdog and was told "it's on the tables over there". Well, I went "over there" and found plenty of ketchup and mustard, but no mayo in sight. I finally asked a staff person, and eventually a junior officer - they had to go get some, and brought it to me 3-4 minutes later. Am I the only one who places mayo on a hotdog? !

 

Thanks for the mention of the sugar cookies - great ones are hard to find. I had no idea I should be looking at the buffet (mission for me next trip)!

 

Tom

[kdr69]

On 8/19/2021 at 11:04 PM, centurycruiser said:

There's no cash payout from free play.

so what do you do at the end of the cruise if theres more money won than the amount of free play?

[KmomChicago]

3 hours ago, Tom-n-Cheryl said:

After reading some more of this thread - I also realized that we never "asked" for our $25 pp casino free play... opportunity lost!

 

I agree, the terminal is a pathetic mess. We arrived and asked about the "priority" on our boarding documents. They looked at me like I had two heads, apparently no "special" lines were open. The person I approached asked someone else, and we were directed to the "all others" line, which ended up being for people needing assistance (wheel chairs, etc) and was slower than the much longer "regular" line - with people in that line reaching security before we did... easily an hour in there (or it felt that way).

 

A mention was made about the smoking/non-smoking sides of the casino. I REALLY wish that they'd place some signage at the entrance, and within those sections - as the only way that I could tell was the SMELL or visually seeing someone smoking. What the heck! Perhaps I missed it.

 

Good point about the mayo - but I encountered my issue at SeaDogs. I asked after I was given the hotdog and was told "it's on the tables over there". Well, I went "over there" and found plenty of ketchup and mustard, but no mayo in sight. I finally asked a staff person, and eventually a junior officer - they had to go get some, and brought it to me 3-4 minutes later. Am I the only one who places mayo on a hotdog? !

 

Thanks for the mention of the sugar cookies - great ones are hard to find. I had no idea I should be looking at the buffet (mission for me next trip)!

 

Tom

Where the heck was Sea Dogs? I don’t think I ever passed it. But then I didn’t find Guys Burger Joint until day 5! And no I was not drunk. And I certainly never got a sugar cookie on the buffet, yummy or otherwise. 
 

I’ve seen so much disappointment about suites, Diamond and Platinum benefits nonexistent and not even apparently on anyone’s radar this cruise. Almost like they decided the pandemic provided justification to suspend that stuff just like the Seuss activities and under 12 kids clubs.

 

Considering the hesitancy out there, they better get it together as loyalty passengers are their only hope of survival for the next year or so.

[dbrucern]

On 8/20/2021 at 11:33 AM, Tom-n-Cheryl said:

DARN - just realized that we didn't pick up our Ship Pins last week, darn it!

 

That's ok, we'll be back before year's end.  🙂

Tom

More importantly was there a coffee pot in your room?

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

1 minute ago, dbrucern said:

More importantly was there a coffee pot in your room?

 

Negatory, but at least that was expected (known) going in!

 

Tom

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

40 minutes ago, KmomChicago said:

Where the heck was Sea Dogs? I don’t think I ever passed it. But then I didn’t find Guys Burger Joint until day 5! And no I was not drunk. And I certainly never got a sugar cookie on the buffet, yummy or otherwise. 
 

I’ve seen so much disappointment about suites, Diamond and Platinum benefits nonexistent and not even apparently on anyone’s radar this cruise. Almost like they decided the pandemic provided justification to suspend that stuff just like the Seuss activities and under 12 kids clubs.

 

Considering the hesitancy out there, they better get it together as loyalty passengers are their only hope of survival for the next year or so.

 

It was in the buffet area:

 

 

Tom

[KmomChicago]

1 minute ago, Tom-n-Cheryl said:

 

It was in the buffet area:

 

 

Tom

Thanks. We usually reserve our own private cabana in the buffet, or so it seems, but barely graced its presence this time around, simply due to the overwhelming choices onboard.  It was bright, gorgeous and classy compared to every other Carnival buffet from our brief observation. Not sure about food variety or quality.

 

And no, people usually don’t put Mayo on dogs. But glad they took care of you.

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

13 minutes ago, KmomChicago said:

Thanks. We usually reserve our own private cabana in the buffet, or so it seems, but barely graced its presence this time around, simply due to the overwhelming choices onboard.  It was bright, gorgeous and classy compared to every other Carnival buffet from our brief observation. Not sure about food variety or quality.

 

And no, people usually don’t put Mayo on dogs. But glad they took care of you.

 

(shhhh -- they mayo was for Cheryl)

 

I'm more a kraut/mustard/onions person ... or the occasional chili/cheese/onions/mustard.

 

Which is amazing, as back in the day - ketchup went on everything (no more)!

 

Tom

[RoperDK]

38 minutes ago, Tom-n-Cheryl said:

 

It was in the buffet area:

 

 

 

Tom

Oh my, my husband will be in heaven!  We don't eat them very much at home (trying to be healthier).  I'm the same way about bacon.  Only eat it on a cruise.  Hopefully, that won't disappear entirely by the time we cruise in October.  Was Sea Dogs only open for lunch?

[SNJCruisers]

13 hours ago, KmomChicago said:

Where the heck was Sea Dogs? I don’t think I ever passed it. But then I didn’t find Guys Burger Joint until day 5! 

Sea Dogs is in the buffet area, right across from Schwarma (sp?) .  Guy's of course is 1 deck up on 17, not near the pool like it usually is.

[mjmiller]

On 8/20/2021 at 1:04 AM, centurycruiser said:

We also have the Cheers package which is "free" drinks. Specialty coffees, juices, drinks, beer and milk shakes. We had a our first milk shakes at sea this week. The downside is we are limited to 15 a day.
 

A point of clarification - the 15 per day limit is alcoholic beverages.  You can have unlimited other listed beverages.