Free specialty dinning Mardi Gras ?

[nimiq]

Hello all,

 

Does anyone know until when the specialty dinning venues on the Marci Gras 

will be free of charge ? 
 

Also if anyone can recall which ones are free ? 
 

I’ve heard it should be for inaugural season but not sure if that’s correct. 
 

Thanks all

Sea Ya 

Eric 

[mondello]

4 hours ago, nimiq said:

Hello all,

 

Does anyone know until when the specialty dinning venues on the Marci Gras 

will be free of charge ? 
 

Also if anyone can recall which ones are free ? 
 

I’ve heard it should be for inaugural season but not sure if that’s correct. 
 

Thanks all

Sea Ya 

Eric 

ChiBang, Cucina del Capitano, and Guy's Pig and AnchorBrewhouse and Smokehouse are currently included on Mardi Gras. Inaugural Season may be thru Oct. as posted by others or possibly longer.

[May1cruiser]

Those ^^^^ are correct. And those are very tasty...

 

[nimiq]

So if I book for December these might all be at charged at that point ? 
 

Thanks 

[K_e_short]

52 minutes ago, nimiq said:

So if I book for December these might all be at charged at that point ? 
 

Thanks 

 

Thank you for the question. I was about to post the same thing as I'm cruising Dec 26th.

 

[geaux_aces]

1 hour ago, nimiq said:

So if I book for December these might all be at charged at that point ? 
 

Thanks 

Carnival hasn't said how long it will last. Having experienced this dining arrangement last month, I can say it's a really good value add. Also, I think it's working out very well for Carnival. If the goal is to more evenly disperse crowds around their biggest ship, they'll need to keep this up.  Personally, I'd be surprised if they don't keep it. 

[Joebucks]

6 minutes ago, geaux_aces said:

Carnival hasn't said how long it will last. Having experienced this dining arrangement last month, I can say it's a really good value add. Also, I think it's working out very well for Carnival. If the goal is to more evenly disperse crowds around their biggest ship, they'll need to keep this up.  Personally, I'd be surprised if they don't keep it. 

 

Knowing what I know about large businesses, there are probably a lot of things they are looking at with this "test". I'd doubt that dispersing the crowds are that high on the list of variables, but could be. Especially as they learn about this class of ship.

 

I'd wager to say they are looking highly into how it impacts price perception, customer satisfaction, fare prices, etc. How it stimulates booking in a rough time for the industry. What the food and staffing costs look like. How it impacts other spend on the ship. And probably even learn a few things they didn't anticipate. It's pretty crazy how many included food options there are on this ship. I don't think I've ever been on a vacation that even came close to this.

 

We all know that a $500 fare + $100 food cost is looked at differently by customers than a $600 fare that includes food cost. 

[mrak]

Somewhere someone mentioned having talked to the designers of the ship, and they said they knew when they designed it that the two MDRs were not sufficiently sized to handle a 100% capacity Mardi Gras, so they were counting on heavy use of the specialty restaurants, so I think this may be something that they do for a long time, if not permanently. I don't think its a coincidence that those 3 specialty restaurants are enormous compared to other ships. 

[Virga]

Having seen the ship at low capacity, I'm of the opinion that they'll either keep this up or offer half off specials during fully booked weeks.  We especially enjoyed Cucina - ate there three times!

[Knights on the Beach]

I've seen cruise vloggers speculate it will last until the end of the year and others have said until April. We have Mardi Gras booked for December and March and hope we get to try those venues for free. 🙂

 

[geaux_aces]

4 hours ago, Joebucks said:

 

Knowing what I know about large businesses, there are probably a lot of things they are looking at with this "test". I'd doubt that dispersing the crowds are that high on the list of variables, but could be. Especially as they learn about this class of ship.

 

I'd wager to say they are looking highly into how it impacts price perception, customer satisfaction, fare prices, etc. How it stimulates booking in a rough time for the industry. What the food and staffing costs look like. How it impacts other spend on the ship. And probably even learn a few things they didn't anticipate. It's pretty crazy how many included food options there are on this ship. I don't think I've ever been on a vacation that even came close to this.

 

We all know that a $500 fare + $100 food cost is looked at differently by customers than a $600 fare that includes food cost. 

What's funny is that you and I are saying very similar things, I was just saying it from the perspective of the customer not the company. Crowds being spread out and not having to wait in line for things like food is a big part of customer satisfaction, price perception, and staffing costs. Have you been on Mardi Gras?  I just don't think there's reason to have built a restaurant like ChiBang with so much space if you're going to charge for it. I think Carnival always anticipated moving to this model with the new ships. I guess only time will tell.

[ZoeyVictoria]

We went to ChiBang, Cucina (twice) and Guy’s Pig & Anchor on the Mardi Gras in September.  It worked out well for us and for Carnival, since we enjoyed it so much we paid to eat at JiJi’s, Cucina, Guy’s Pig & Anchor, and the Steakhouse on the Horizon last week 🙄.   It actually was a good deal - $60 pp for the steakhouse plus two of the others.  

[Pellaz]

I'd be surprised if they don't keep the three freebies for a lot longer (or permanently) also.  

They are tweaking the MDRs a lot regarding set dining and YTD:  on our cruise the upper floor of Palm was YTD and the lower was exclusively set-time dining, and a family told me they had set-time dining in the much-smaller Flamingo.  And yet on other cruises the Palm has been used just for set-time dining on both floors....  

 

The Cucina was great and we went there twice.  Guy's Smokehouse was...problematical.  Our orders were mis-plated, the atmosphere is VERY loud with bands performing right by the tables,  and my friend's pork ribs were so carbonized he couldn't get a fork through them.  The maitre'd actually took photos so he could shame the chef.  😮  

 

[jordanaire]

Bonsai Tapanyaki was NOT free on our September 24th cruise non the MG

[kwokpot]

5 minutes ago, jordanaire said:

Bonsai Tapanyaki was NOT free on our September 24th cruise non the MG

I don't think it was ever mentioned that Bonsai Teppanyaki & Sushi are free it hasn't ever been free.

Edited October 18, 2021 by kwokpot

[Pellaz]

1 hour ago, jordanaire said:

Bonsai Tapanyaki was NOT free on our September 24th cruise non the MG

Could you point/quote where anyone said it was free/included?   Fahrenheit 555, Bonsai Teppanyaki, Bonsai Sushi, Seafood Shack, Chef's Table, Emeril's and Rudi's Seagrill are all upcharge options as on other ships so equipped.  

 

[Wanderer2021]

I am sailing on Mardi Gras on N0vember 6. I just looked at my Hub app and under specialty dining they were charging for those restaurants. I hope it will be complimentary once on the ship, but wouldn't they need to credit those who purchased it? That seems like a hassle. I hope we are lucky enough to get it complimentary. Do you think they would tell me if I called? Is anyone currently on a sailing that could let me know? Thanks so much!

[SNJCruisers]

On 10/18/2021 at 2:35 PM, jordanaire said:

Bonsai Tapanyaki was NOT free on our September 24th cruise non the MG

At 32.00, it isn't free and was never even implied anywhere that it was free.  Similar to the 38.00 covers at the Steakhouse and Rudi's Seagrill.   The 15.00 covers at Cucina del Capitano and Chibang, as well as the a la carte dinner charges at Pig n Anchor are the temporary and possible fulltime included venues on the Mardi Gras that are free.

[jordanaire]

Well excuse me all of you! I was told by my travel agent that the tapanyaki was one of the restaurants that would be free. That's what I was told and was what I expected when I boarded the ship. No need to make me look like a fool when I made the posting. Sounds like the TA needs to get her information right before passing it on to her clients! Have a great day, y'all. No more berating, please.

Edited October 20, 2021 by jordanaire

[mrak]

1 hour ago, Wanderer2021 said:

I am sailing on Mardi Gras on N0vember 6. I just looked at my Hub app and under specialty dining they were charging for those restaurants. I hope it will be complimentary once on the ship, but wouldn't they need to credit those who purchased it? That seems like a hassle. I hope we are lucky enough to get it complimentary. Do you think they would tell me if I called? Is anyone currently on a sailing that could let me know? Thanks so much!

go to your actual booking manager on the Carnival site. I just checked for my 11/20 cruise and those are not available for specialty restaurant pre-reservations. When you click that from the Hub app, it is just showing you the generic list for that ALL ships. 

[vwrestler171]

On 10/20/2021 at 12:57 PM, jordanaire said:

Well excuse me all of you! I was told by my travel agent that the tapanyaki was one of the restaurants that would be free. That's what I was told and was what I expected when I boarded the ship. No need to make me look like a fool when I made the posting. Sounds like the TA needs to get her information right before passing it on to her clients! Have a great day, y'all. No more berating, please.

Yes, YOU have an incorrect TA.  Don't get mad that YOU were given incorrect information by YOUR TA.

Edited October 22, 2021 by vwrestler171

[kwokpot]

On 10/20/2021 at 2:57 PM, jordanaire said:

Well excuse me all of you! I was told by my travel agent that the tapanyaki was one of the restaurants that would be free. That's what I was told and was what I expected when I boarded the ship. No need to make me look like a fool when I made the posting. Sounds like the TA needs to get her information right before passing it on to her clients! Have a great day, y'all. No more berating, please.

If you had disclosed that you were told by your TA that piece of information prior to your cruise then there would have been less pushback on your statement. It has never been discussed here on CruiseCritic that Bonsai was complementary.

[Computer Nerd]

On 10/18/2021 at 4:07 PM, Pellaz said:

Could you point/quote where anyone said it was free/included?   Fahrenheit 555, Bonsai Teppanyaki, Bonsai Sushi, Seafood Shack, Chef's Table, Emeril's and Rudi's Seagrill are all upcharge options as on other ships so equipped.  

 

What is the cost for Rudi's and Emeril's?

[mondello]

3 hours ago, Computer Nerd said:

What is the cost for Rudi's and Emeril's?

Rudi's SeaGrill is $38, same as Steakhouse. Emeril's Bistro is al a carte pricing with seafood/market price; breakfast was $5. Pretty sure these are accurate.

[SNJCruisers]

4 hours ago, Computer Nerd said:

What is the cost for Rudi's and Emeril's?

 

1 hour ago, mondello said:

Rudi's SeaGrill is $38, same as Steakhouse. Emeril's Bistro is al a carte pricing with seafood/market price; breakfast was $5. Pretty sure these are accurate.

Emeril's market price is for fresh seafood.  Their small plates are between 6-12 and desserts are 4.