Mardi Gras - Aug. 21 - 28, 2021, 7 Nights - Western Caribbean Live

mrak · August 25, 2021

24 minutes ago, crewsweeper said:

Supposedly -Yes! However, people arrive earlier and wait and if not busy get let in, which may make you wait if you're not in the right line before Noon. But unless you have faster to the fun or diamond platinum status you're not getting into your cabin before 1:30P.

I am platinum and I want first boarding! lol

9 minutes ago, geaux_aces said:

Yes, it is exactly at midnight. I did it this weekend for our Sept 4 Mardi Gras sailing. We got the earliest time slot by being online right when they dropped. I'd suggest skipping ahead in the check-in process to secure your time then go back and do the rest.

Is this Eastern Time? haha

geaux_aces · August 25, 2021

5 minutes ago, mrak said:

I am platinum and I want first boarding! lol

Is this Eastern Time? haha

So if you're platinum, then it'll be 16 days out. You shouldn't have any problem competing for the earliest spot. Yes, it is Eastern Time.

kwokpot · August 25, 2021

43 minutes ago, geaux_aces said:

Yes, it is exactly at midnight. I did it this weekend for our Sept 4 Mardi Gras sailing. We got the earliest time slot by being online right when they dropped. I'd suggest skipping ahead in the check-in process to secure your time then go back and do the rest.

I'm on the same cruise and could have chosen the first slot but since we're coming from a hotel at the Orlando airport I didn't feel we need to leave too early so I chose the 11-11:30 time slot. I have the car service (Courtesy of the Elite Cruise perk!!!) coming at 10:00.

Frank12 · August 25, 2021

Great pics.

What an amazingly beautiful ship!

wardwhitty · August 25, 2021

Thank you for doing your review. We sail on September 4th and can not wait. I was wondering if you knew how the Sargassum situation is in Costa Maya? We have a beach excursion so was just wondering if it was pretty clear.

Oceansaway17 · August 25, 2021

Very pleased to see a person who is a big fan of RCI now doing a CCL new ship.

I was on Ovation in May 2019 for the famous first Alaska cruise. In fact I am on in 2 weeks again.

But as excited as I was too see that ship with all the wonderful places, it does look like M GRAS is truly a beautiful ship. As was the Vista that I have sailed on. Panorama next year.

Question, if all the lights are off in room are you allowed to partially open the curtains and can you go out on balcony?

Also Twangster, do look for the afternoon 5 layer cakes really decorated in the back of windjammer. They are a hit at lunch time so take photos.

Enjoy and I hope those RCI folks will now see how great the new Carnival ships are.

I hear new MSC are looking great too.

twangster · August 26, 2021

16 hours ago, Oceansaway17 said:

Very pleased to see a person who is a big fan of RCI now doing a CCL new ship.

I was on Ovation in May 2019 for the famous first Alaska cruise. In fact I am on in 2 weeks again.

But as excited as I was too see that ship with all the wonderful places, it does look like M GRAS is truly a beautiful ship. As was the Vista that I have sailed on. Panorama next year.

Question, if all the lights are off in room are you allowed to partially open the curtains and can you go out on balcony?

Also Twangster, do look for the afternoon 5 layer cakes really decorated in the back of windjammer. They are a hit at lunch time so take photos.

Enjoy and I hope those RCI folks will now see how great the new Carnival ships are.

I hear new MSC are looking great too.

Truth is I can find something to love about any ship, any line.

You are free to use a forward balcony but they don't want light spilling out onto the dark bow so they can maintain their night vision on the bridge. That's not stopping my neighbors who have their curtains open and TV on filling their balcony with the flickering lights typical of a TV. They apparently sleep with the TV on because it goes on all night as I have gone out several times trying to do some astrophotography despite the full moon. There are a couple such forward balconies ignoring the "keep your curtains closed at night" policy. I'm not one of them. I put the bathroom light on with door closed which spills just enough light into my cabin so I can see not to walk into things like the bed but not so much light to illuminate the balcony. I also need it dark to star gaze.

I recently did a MSC Meraviglia trip report so head over to the MSC boards to check it out. Next up for me is Odyssey in a few weeks and a Princess cruise to Alaska a few weeks after that. MSC had a great free balcony upgrade promo a few weeks ago so I booked a few more on them this fall. Royal keeps on sweetening the perks for their top tiers so I have many booked on them too. I'm spreading my restart dollars in support of a few cruise lines. Life's too short to sail just one cruise line and there is always something to love about each cruise line.

kdr69 · August 26, 2021

23 hours ago, twangster said:

By this time more and more people were up and moving about so I went back to my cabin to see how my time lapse video worked out.

Our arrival into Cozumel.

Want to know who was holding the camera at the end when it turned and left your balcony lol

KmomChicago · August 26, 2021

10 minutes ago, kdr69 said:

Want to know who was holding the camera at the end when it turned and left your balcony lol

I was trying to figure that out too. How are we getting this angle here?????? Deus ex machina?

twangster · August 26, 2021

Continuing on... to the Fahrenheit 555 Steakhouse.

Fahrenheit 555 Menu

Farenheit 555.pdf

Edited August 26, 2021 by twangster

twangster · August 26, 2021

Some more from this general area...

twangster · August 26, 2021

Limelight Lounge

kwokpot · August 26, 2021

17 minutes ago, twangster said:

Some more from this general area...

This set of photos really shows how much Carnival has 'Grown Up' from it's days of Farcus interiors. I can't believe this is the same company that produced the Carnival Splendor.

twangster · August 26, 2021

Checking on my balcony to see how our arrival was going...

In anticipation of getting off I grabbed a bite to eat. Blue Iguana for breakfast. Custom ordered burrito.

Just as I was getting ready to head off the ship... yikes! Pouring rain.

Some more exploration around the ship while the rain cloud passes.

Center stage with the shades drawn.

Production crew busy grabbing more marketing content.

Out to Summer Landing still wet from the rain but not actually raining.

Looks like another rain cloud heading our way. Time for a spicy bloody mary at the Havana Bar. Yum.

Edited August 26, 2021 by twangster

RFerrington · August 26, 2021

21 minutes ago, twangster said:

Checking on my balcony to see how our arrival was going...

In anticipation of getting off I grabbed a bite to eat. Blue Iguana for breakfast. Custom ordered burrito.

Just as I was getting ready to head off the ship... yikes! Pouring rain.

Some more exploration around the ship while the rain cloud passes.

Center stage with the shades drawn.

Production crew busy grabbing more marketing content.

Out to Summer Landing still wet from the rain but not actually raining.

Looks like another rain cloud heading our way. Time for a spicy bloody mary at the Havana Bar. Yum.

How are you enjoying the Carnival life ?? The ship looks beautiful !!

twangster · August 26, 2021

50 minutes ago, RFerrington said:

How are you enjoying the Carnival life ?? The ship looks beautiful !!

I'm having a blast! Beautiful ship. Seriously.

twangster · August 26, 2021

Picture self service kiosks.

A car on a ship. Yep.

Pizza 24 hours.

Paninis.

Panini Menu:

Pizza Menu:

twangster · August 26, 2021

Summer Landing.

Pig & Anchor serves complimentary breakfast each morning.

The aft elevator bank has its own route into Summer Landing.

As Homer would say... Mmmm. Beer.

Full details on the entire brewery process on board:

Parched Pig Menu:

Parched Pig.pdf

Edited August 26, 2021 by twangster

twangster · August 26, 2021

Heroes Tribute Lounge.

Heroes Menu:

Heroes.pdf

twangster · August 26, 2021

Guest Services.

twangster · August 26, 2021

It seemed like everytime I made a move towards getting off the ship it started raining again.

At least I had company.

I have several more visits to Cozumel over the next couple of months so I wasn't overly disappointed with staying on the ship.

Edited August 26, 2021 by twangster

princess76021 · August 26, 2021

Your photos are absolutely gorgeous!!!! Thanks for sharing!!!

Hugs

twangster · August 26, 2021

For the rest of the day I put the cameras down and since it was raining I went with it and jumped in a pool. I may have taken an afternoon nap because I'm on a cruise and can do that.

Once evening rolled around I was wandering around the ship and found myself in Grand Central. Unsure what I felt like for dinner I opened the app and looked at the food section to see what's open.

I decide I'd try Cucina del Capitano since the wait time was under 10 minutes so I checked in using the app.

I figured it might be a few minutes so I went over to the Grandview Bar and ordered a gin & tonic. Before they could make me a drink my phone notified me my table was ready.

I tapped On my way! and off I went. No wait at the host/hostess stand and I was promptly seated.

Some bread to start.

I had looked at the menu earlier and had decided on the Rucola, Cracked Farro Salad to start.

Then I had the Spaghetti Carbonara with Roasted Broccoli & Cauliflower on the side.

For dessert it was the Lemon Frozen Torte.

This was a very good meal and it was included in the cruise fare. Service was spot on and timing was perfect. I ordered the Cherry Pie Pinot Noir and they asked if I'd like a refill when my first glass of wine was nearly gone.

Overall it was a great experience from using the app to check in through to the end of the dinner.

Cucina del Capitano Menu

Cucina del Capitano.pdf

Cucina Wine List

Cucina wine list.pdf

ProgRockCruiser · August 26, 2021

5 hours ago, kdr69 said:

Want to know who was holding the camera at the end when it turned and left your balcony lol

5 hours ago, KmomChicago said:

I was trying to figure that out too. How are we getting this angle here?????? Deus ex machina?

It would appear that @twangster has a pretty sophisticated gimbal mount, which was mounted to the railing wall. It seems to have an auto-rotate with sensed direction mode, and either auto-zoom or twangster is doing some remote control (or is zooming in post-production). Also possible it is a 360 deg lens/camera system, and the view presented is simply part of the whole captured scene.

What I like about these time-lapse videos going into/out of port, is it shows you where/when the stabilizer systems engage or deactivate - the horizon is dead-steady, then as you get close to port they deactivate/stow them and you get a regular wobble (or vice versa).

twangster · August 26, 2021

Mardi Gras has a lot going on in terms of entertainment. It's hard to do it all during one cruise so another cruise may be in order. There so much going on in different areas it's hard to capture it all.