Mardi Gras 10/09 - 10/16 -- lots of good, some bad, and some of the quirky

[urbanhawk]

6 hours ago, Pellaz said:

 

Nope, US dollars.  

 

Also, the soda is served as a can, but they give you a cup of ice for it "on the rocks."  

$13.00 for a hotdog- ouch!!!😮

[Pellaz]

37 minutes ago, urbanhawk said:

$13.00 for a hotdog- ouch!!!😮

 

$13 for a Nathan's hot-dog, fries (which were good) and a soda.  You'd pay a lot more at, say, Six Flags, and they don't have to import every morsel and can from overseas.  

[Pellaz]

1 hour ago, nimiq said:

Question 1  : Would you sail her again once those free dinning options become for charge ? 

 

Yes, certainly.  

1 hour ago, nimiq said:

Question 2:  How was the food in the MDR ? 

 

I'll need to expand on my "food thoughts" in a post, but 5 of our group on 7 are experienced cruisers and we thought the MDR food was fine.  

 

1 hour ago, nimiq said:

Question 3 : What did you think about the main production shows ? 

 

I didn't really see any in the theater.  I did see bits and pieces of events on the Grand Central stage and was pretty impressed -- that's a great space for events and the production values, even down to live-view monitors with different angles, were impeccable.  

 

1 hour ago, nimiq said:

last Question 4 : Is there a dance club on this ship ? Seems like no one has mentioned it.

 

Yes, it's called the Limelight.  

 

Edited October 19, 2021 by Pellaz
re-casting answers outside of reply boxes

[jimbri]

Great photos and review.

[mondello]

Good job on the review and great pictures. I enjoyed the dishes in the video of Cucina d'C.

[monykalyn]

18 hours ago, Pellaz said:

I really love "Towel Menagerie Morning" on Carnival.  These critters were all placed on the morning of our last cruise-day when we were arriving at Nassau.  

I don't think any other cruise line does this; another reason why I like the "Fun" side of Carnival.  

Love it too! My sons first cruise a couple years ago-he went up early to get food (TEENS!) and came back all excited that the chairs all had the towel animals on them. One of those little surprises that just add to the Fun!

[ZoeyVictoria]

19 hours ago, Pellaz said:

 

Nope, US dollars.  

 

Also, the soda is served as a can, but they give you a cup of ice for it "on the rocks."  

You got a cup of ice?!!  For $7 plus tip, I was handed a can plus one already dripped-on napkin under a small paper container of lukewarm “cheese” fries.  Had to ask for a plastic fork and a packet of salt.

[SNJCruisers]

Which deck was your aft balcony on and how was the airflow? Did you feel it was worth the extra money?

[Pellaz]

7 hours ago, ZoeyVictoria said:

You got a cup of ice?!!  For $7 plus tip, I was handed a can plus one already dripped-on napkin under a small paper container of lukewarm “cheese” fries.  Had to ask for a plastic fork and a packet of salt.

 

They offered the fork and the cup of ice.  

I actually forgot to ask for any salt, but with my incipient high blood pressure, it was probably for the best.  🙂   

How long ago did you stop there?   I have no idea when that Nathan's cart first appeared but it was apparently pretty recent, since it doesn't appear in other recent, exhaustive reviews of Amber Cove.  

[Pellaz]

17 minutes ago, SNJCruisers said:

Which deck was your aft balcony on and how was the airflow? Did you feel it was worth the extra money?

 

We were on Deck 10, midship.  We had one of the few aft-extended balconies that accommodates three people.   I thought the airflow was fine -- much better than at the Tides Bar.  😮    And the view is much better than from aft balconies on the Royal ships I've been on; no metal fairing or superstructure in the way. 

 

If there had not been a lounger out there I'd have been a bit upset, but since they have apparently supplied one lounger to each of the aft-extended balconies at some point since the inaugural sailing, we thought it was worth the extra expense.  My friend Kathy especially liked to lounge out there.  

Edited October 20, 2021 by Pellaz
clarifying location

[SNJCruisers]

21 minutes ago, Pellaz said:

 

We were on Deck 10, midship.  We had one of the few aft-extended balconies that accommodates three people.   I thought the airflow was fine -- much better than at the Tides Bar.  😮    And the view is much better than from aft balconies on the Royal ships I've been on; no metal fairing or superstructure in the way. 

 

If there had not been a lounger out there I'd have been a bit upset, but since they have apparently supplied one lounger to each of the aft-extended balconies at some point since the inaugural sailing, we thought it was worth the extra expense.  My friend Kathy especially liked to lounge out there.  

A little confused.   You said you were located midship, but deck 10 aft-extended balcony.  So, just for clarification,  you were aft facing above the Tides Bar in a middle location.  Thanks

[Pellaz]

3 hours ago, SNJCruisers said:

A little confused.   You said you were located midship, but deck 10 aft-extended balcony.  So, just for clarification,  you were aft facing above the Tides Bar in a middle location.  Thanks

Oh, sorry!   Yes, we were on Deck 10 facing aft, right in the middle; just a bit starboard of the ship's centerline.  (I was thinking of the phrase "rudder amidships.")  

 

It might be easier to go back and note the cabin location I provided in the first post, 10501, and then check the deck plans.    

Edited October 20, 2021 by Pellaz

[IntrepidFromDC]

What a great review.  I like your style and hope you appear in a Rocky Horror Picture Show sequel that is better than the failed effort.

[Pellaz]

11 minutes ago, IntrepidFromDC said:

What a great review.  I like your style and hope you appear in a Rocky Horror Picture Show sequel that is better than the failed effort.

 

Umm, thanks.   

I think.  

😄 

[Pellaz]

Okay, and now on to the more boring portion of the review, i.e., the part that doesn't involve the newest and most advanced ship in Carnival's fleet.  🙂  

 

Travelling down and logistics

In the past, my friends John and Kathy and I have done a complicated dance whereby they drive down from eastern Kentucky to my place NE of Atlanta in their huge 2003 Chevy custom van, and then we drive down to Florida in the van, stopping at an intermediate waypoint west of Jacksonville overnight and then heading down to South Florida (think PortMiami or Port Everglades) and arriving the day before embark.  We traditionally stay at a stay-park-cruise hotel to get free parking and a free shuttle to the port.  

Since THIS cruise was out of Port Canaveral (our first time there), however, we decided to try to do the entire drive in one day.  It was grueling; we managed, but we won't do it again.  🙂  

Also, since their van had front-end problems, they said they wanted to take my little 5-speed Ford Focus from my house down to Cocoa, where our pre-cruise hotel was.   Wha?  You mean I have to actually clean out my car?   Will everything fit in it?  😄    

 

John and Kathy left Kentucky at around midnight and drove to my place with no issues, arriving at around 6 am.  We managed to fit everything in my car only by piling some luggage on the unused rear passenger seat, and off we went.  

Georgia had received a LOT of rain in the preceding week and we encountered some on the way down I-75.  At two points the Waze app directed us off the highway and onto side roads to avoid some major accidents.  During the second detour, we noticed a slowdown ahead on a small side-road.  "Hey," Kathy exclaimed, "there's water flowing OVER the road!"   Sure enough, there was a stream that had overrun its banks.  That area had received 8-10" of rain in the previous 3 days.  😮   

I didn't really have a choice but to try to plow through it, with the water about 18" deep and higher than the bottom of the car doors.  "Umm.  I don't think we're supposed to leave a WAKE behind us on the way down TO the cruise; that's the ship's job!"   😄    We made it, though.  

Waze had said to take 75 South toward Orlando and then head toward the coast, involving the Florida turnpike, but I resisted that idea.  Always in the past we've taken I-10 over to Jax (staying overnight in Baldwin or Macclenny) and then I-95 south.  It's the route I personally prefer because I'm more used to it, and we've only had major traffic issues once taking that route.  

Turned out that the coastal route was only fifteen minutes longer and didn't involve any tolls, so we went "my" way.  Although there was some sluggish traffic on I-95 south of Jacksonville, people said on the cruise groups that the center-Florida turnpike route had been horrendous...so we lucked out.  

 

Pre-cruise Hotel

 

I had booked the Days Inn Cocoa (not the Days Inn Cocoa Beach) via park-n-fly.com since it was only $100 for all three of us, included a free shuttle for two people (I would pay $15 as the odd man out), and free parking for the duration of the cruise.   At check-in I was told they had two shuttle times available:  9 am and 12:30 pm.  😮   

Our arrival time at the port was 11:30 so the 9 am shuttle was out.  I grudgingly booked the 12:30 pm shuttle.   😞  

Our hotel room had some issues.  There was no desk for me to set up my laptop.  The tiled floor was somewhat slick.  There were not enough outlets, the bathroom tub faucet leaked....     Somehow we survived.  🙂  

BUT they provided a 15% off coupon for all of us at the restaurant in front of the hotel, C's Waffles, which was open from 4-8 pm as well as their customary breakfast hours.  We happily ate there since there was nothing else in the area, and it was quite good, if a bit slow out of the kitchen.  We didn't care; it's not as if we were on a tight schedule...  🙂      

 

Shuttle issues

The next morning -- cruise embark morning! -- I discovered that the 12:30 shuttle had been cancelled since no-one had booked it.   Eh?   WE had booked it...   Apparently we had been placed on the 9 am shuttle, which was of course leaving right then and we weren't ready in any way.  AND, the check-in lady last night had failed to give us our return trip voucher for the shuttle company, Cocoa Beach Shuttle.  Fails all around.  

The morning lady got us set up with a return voucher and didn't charge for the extra passenger (me), which was nice because we had to take a Lyft over to the port.  

Of course, our Lyft driver got lost.  His navigational app kept telling him to go to the Disney terminal and we had told him "Mardi Gras!  Terminal 3!" a few times.  After looping around the port roads twice he finally got us to Terminal 3.   Whew!   Our relatively fast embark could begin!   (Covered in Post #1.)   

 

 

Edited October 20, 2021 by Pellaz

[Pellaz]

The Return Drive

Remember I mentioned that we would NOT make the entire drive in one day again?   Well, we'd already decided we wouldn't, and so on the night before we embarked I booked an intermediate stay at the Quality Inn in Perry, Georgia, which is literally in the middle of the state.  (That's why the Georgia State Fair is held there, and it was running as we passed the vast site.)   

I had an ulterior motive:  I'd been thinking of visiting the new Buc-eee's location north of there in Warner Robins, and maybe also paying a visit to Virtual RailFan's live-feed railroad camera in Cordele, GA, south of the hotel (I'm involved with VRF as a Youtube live-chat moderator) so I could wave at it...but we were all pretty much wiped out from our "out of the stateroom by 8:30" morning ordeal and I didn't go to either.   The weird, mystical Cult of the Buc-eee's Raccoon would have to wait.  😄  

 

The Quality Inn in Perry was much better than the Days Inn in Cocoa FL:    there was a desk so I could start typing up more of my notes for this review,  there was a BIG in-room refrigerator (10-12 cubic feet, I suspect) and best of all...lots of plugs and USB charging points!   The hotel room was decidedly old, but had been well-maintained.  For dinner that night we made a pick-up order at a nearby Chinese restaurant, China House, and it was good and plentiful...of course.   🙂   

I finally got a good night's sleep.  🙂   

The hotel had only a grab and go breakfast due to COVID, which we were fine with.  There was also an indoor pool right off the lobby which I looked longingly at, but opted to avoid.  (There was a surfeit of loud kids in it.  WHERE is my Serenity pool now?  🙂 )   

 

We were up and out by 11 am and made good time -- a cold front had come breezing through the day before and the weather was cool, dry and crisp --  and we were back at my house at around 1:30 pm, which is REALLY good time.  We transferred their stuff back to their big ol' van and that's pretty much when our adventure ended.  

 

I still had to go inside and placate my cat, however.  It took about 15 minutes of sharp "where have you BEEN?!" meowing, and then about two hours of constant purring...but I was so glad to be home.  Here he is, expecting belly-rubs.   ❤️  

 

 

 

[toober]

1 hour ago, Pellaz said:

(That's why the Georgia State Fair is held there, and it was running as we passed the vast site.)   

I had an ulterior motive:  I'd been thinking of visiting the new Buc-eee's location north of there in Warner Robins, and maybe also paying a visit to Virtual RailFan's live-feed railroad camera in Cordele, GA, south of the hotel (I'm involved with VRF as a Youtube live-chat moderator) so I could wave at it...but we were all pretty much wiped out from our "out of the stateroom by 8:30" morning ordeal and I didn't go to either.   The weird, mystical Cult of the Buc-eee's Raccoon would have to wait.  😄  

Buc-ee's got too big to stay in Texas? lol

[ZoeyVictoria]

9 hours ago, Pellaz said:

 

They offered the fork and the cup of ice.  

I actually forgot to ask for any salt, but with my incipient high blood pressure, it was probably for the best.  🙂   

How long ago did you stop there?   I have no idea when that Nathan's cart first appeared but it was apparently pretty recent, since it doesn't appear in other recent, exhaustive reviews of Amber Cove.  

We were there last week, on the Horizon (10/10 - 10/16).

[ninjacat123]

5 hours ago, Pellaz said:

Okay, and now on to the more boring portion of the review, i.e., the part that doesn't involve the newest and most advanced ship in Carnival's fleet.  🙂  

 

Travelling down and logistics

In the past, my friends John and Kathy and I have done a complicated dance whereby they drive down from eastern Kentucky to my place NE of Atlanta in their huge 2003 Chevy custom van, and then we drive down to Florida in the van, stopping at an intermediate waypoint west of Jacksonville overnight and then heading down to South Florida (think PortMiami or Port Everglades) and arriving the day before embark.  We traditionally stay at a stay-park-cruise hotel to get free parking and a free shuttle to the port.  

Since THIS cruise was out of Port Canaveral (our first time there), however, we decided to try to do the entire drive in one day.  It was grueling; we managed, but we won't do it again.  🙂  

Also, since their van had front-end problems, they said they wanted to take my little 5-speed Ford Focus from my house down to Cocoa, where our pre-cruise hotel was.   Wha?  You mean I have to actually clean out my car?   Will everything fit in it?  😄    

 

John and Kathy left Kentucky at around midnight and drove to my place with no issues, arriving at around 6 am.  We managed to fit everything in my car only by piling some luggage on the unused rear passenger seat, and off we went.  

Georgia had received a LOT of rain in the preceding week and we encountered some on the way down I-75.  At two points the Waze app directed us off the highway and onto side roads to avoid some major accidents.  During the second detour, we noticed a slowdown ahead on a small side-road.  "Hey," Kathy exclaimed, "there's water flowing OVER the road!"   Sure enough, there was a stream that had overrun its banks.  That area had received 8-10" of rain in the previous 3 days.  😮   

I didn't really have a choice but to try to plow through it, with the water about 18" deep and higher than the bottom of the car doors.  "Umm.  I don't think we're supposed to leave a WAKE behind us on the way down TO the cruise; that's the ship's job!"   😄    We made it, though.  

Waze had said to take 75 South toward Orlando and then head toward the coast, involving the Florida turnpike, but I resisted that idea.  Always in the past we've taken I-10 over to Jax (staying overnight in Baldwin or Macclenny) and then I-95 south.  It's the route I personally prefer because I'm more used to it, and we've only had major traffic issues once taking that route.  

Turned out that the coastal route was only fifteen minutes longer and didn't involve any tolls, so we went "my" way.  Although there was some sluggish traffic on I-95 south of Jacksonville, people said on the cruise groups that the center-Florida turnpike route had been horrendous...so we lucked out.  

 

Pre-cruise Hotel

 

I had booked the Days Inn Cocoa (not the Days Inn Cocoa Beach) via park-n-fly.com since it was only $100 for all three of us, included a free shuttle for two people (I would pay $15 as the odd man out), and free parking for the duration of the cruise.   At check-in I was told they had two shuttle times available:  9 am and 12:30 pm.  😮   

Our arrival time at the port was 11:30 so the 9 am shuttle was out.  I grudgingly booked the 12:30 pm shuttle.   😞  

Our hotel room had some issues.  There was no desk for me to set up my laptop.  The tiled floor was somewhat slick.  There were not enough outlets, the bathroom tub faucet leaked....     Somehow we survived.  🙂  

BUT they provided a 15% off coupon for all of us at the restaurant in front of the hotel, C's Waffles, which was open from 4-8 pm as well as their customary breakfast hours.  We happily ate there since there was nothing else in the area, and it was quite good, if a bit slow out of the kitchen.  We didn't care; it's not as if we were on a tight schedule...  🙂      

 

Shuttle issues

The next morning -- cruise embark morning! -- I discovered that the 12:30 shuttle had been cancelled since no-one had booked it.   Eh?   WE had booked it...   Apparently we had been placed on the 9 am shuttle, which was of course leaving right then and we weren't ready in any way.  AND, the check-in lady last night had failed to give us our return trip voucher for the shuttle company, Cocoa Beach Shuttle.  Fails all around.  

The morning lady got us set up with a return voucher and didn't charge for the extra passenger (me), which was nice because we had to take a Lyft over to the port.  

Of course, our Lyft driver got lost.  His navigational app kept telling him to go to the Disney terminal and we had told him "Mardi Gras!  Terminal 3!" a few times.  After looping around the port roads twice he finally got us to Terminal 3.   Whew!   Our relatively fast embark could begin!   (Covered in Post #1.)   

 

 

Mom and I stayed at the Days Inn Cocoa Beach at the Cocoa Beach Pier and paid for Park n Cruise, total $199.  One reason I picked this location is because we like to walk down the pier to Rikki Tiki Tavern at the end of the pier. We were happy enough with our room but our A/C growled all night. Bfast was fine in the bfast room off of the lobby. The shuttle was 20 minutes late.  Return shuttle took about 20 minutes to arrive at port.  Our driver was nice and took extra care of me and mom.  Thanks for the follow up on your great review!!

[Pellaz]

16 hours ago, toober said:

Buc-ee's got too big to stay in Texas? lol

 

They opened a location in Warner Robins GA a while back, and a new one in Calhoun, GA just a month or two ago.   The Raccoon is on the offensive.  🙂   

 

We also saw two in Florida on I-95.  

[Pellaz]

12 hours ago, ninjacat123 said:

Mom and I stayed at the Days Inn Cocoa Beach at the Cocoa Beach Pier and paid for Park n Cruise, total $199.  One reason I picked this location is because we like to walk down the pier to Rikki Tiki Tavern at the end of the pier. We were happy enough with our room but our A/C growled all night. Bfast was fine in the bfast room off of the lobby. The shuttle was 20 minutes late.  Return shuttle took about 20 minutes to arrive at port.  Our driver was nice and took extra care of me and mom.  Thanks for the follow up on your great review!!

 

 

We paid $100 plus taxes for the room at the Days Inn Cocoa.  I liked the fact that it is right off I-95, very easy access.   With free parking and the free shuttle (even though we could only use it on the way back), it amounts to a free stay.  🙂   

[Pellaz]

I promised a "deeper dive" post about the dining options on Mardi Gras, so here it is.    (Edit:  here's Part 1, anyway. 🙂 )  

 

After all, the vastly expanded selection of eateries -- especially, right now, the "free" ones -- is probably THE single biggest hallmark of the ship.  

 

I did not sample any of the for-fee options onboard and I don't think any of our extended group did either.  There really wasn't any need to with all the other choices, and since one of them (Emeril's) is focused on Cajun cooking which I translate as "spicy," and another (Rudi's SeaGrill) specializes in seafood, which I translate as "nasty," those were mentally off the table for me from the get-go.  Before the haters jump in....my uncle owned a charter fishing boat out of Montauk L.I., and the smell of rotting fish at the dock put me off seafood -- except, oddly, tuna fish -- for life.  

 

Starting with the new options....

 

Big Chicken -- this was really good to great, especially as it's "free."  I had the M.D.E. ("most dominant ever") sandwich, both fried and grilled.  The fried chicken sammy was unsurprisingly a bit better but I wanted a grilled sandwich at a later visit (for "health reasons") and it was fine.  I'd put the fried M.D.E a little behind a Popeye's Chicken Sandwich but it has the benefit of not costing $5.  🙂   It's better than the other fast-food places' big chicken sandwiches, IMO.

I also tried the breakfast chicken sandwich (on a biscuit) and it was okay. 

NOTE that grilled chicken is not available for breakfast.

Surprisingly, there is NO mayo available on the toppings bar.  😮  

Also, if you'd like to have more than a spoonful or two of potato salad, ask them for a separate plate; the small metal containers on the toppings bar (where the potato salad "lives") are, well, laughably small.  😄 

 

Chibang! -- excellent for lunch (one of my favorite meals of the cruise); we did not sample it for dinner.  The reason why?  All of the negative or mediocre reviews...plus we had already tried the Cucina and the MDR and liked them so there wasn't much pressure.  I wish we'd tried it ONE night.  That lunch stir-fry bowl, though....wow!  I'd had it before (as Jiji's) on the Vista and the Magic, and also as Mongolian Wok on other ships.  I'm a Mongolian stir-fry FIEND, so I really liked this.  Like the newer ships with Jiji's Asian Kitchen, you fill out your order form with what you want and they stir-fry it and bring it to you -- no waiting in line like at the Mongolian Wok.  (I never cared; it was always worth the wait.)   Service was impeccable.  There is a separate lunchtime menu (posted elsewhere) but I just went straight for that ordering card.  🙂     

NOTE they are NOT open for lunch on embark day (a change from other ships, and we were greatly disappointed in this) and they are not open for lunch on port days, just as on other ships.  They close for lunch at 2 pm and I made it there on the last sea-day with about ten minutes to spare...whew!   

 

Piazza Panini -- really good.  I got the reuben sandwich and it was fine.  My friend John got one of the other, more Italian-y options (since he's actually Italian, yo) and he said he liked his...which means it passed a higher bar than normal.  This is the stand-in for the Deli on other Carnival ships and for some odd reason, it closes at 10 pm rather than 11, heralding the start of each evening's Dark Times...i.e., that nighttime nightmare when the ONLY "free" food options are the Pizzeria and Swirls (ice cream and fro-yo).  Ye hath been warned.  I saved half of my reuben for the Dark Times and stuck it in the in-room fridge.  

 

JavaBlue Café --  I never had a chance to sample the free sandwiches here but my friend Kathy did and she said they were good.  They certainly LOOKED good (but I was pretty full when I passed by).  They also allegedly have free grab-n-go options but whenever I drifted by that case was empty.   

Carnival should take a page from Royal here and keep this location open 24-7, similar to the Promenade Cafe on Royal's larger ships.  Even if it's just grab-and-go stuff, it would be better than just pizza and ice-cream after 10 pm.  

 

Street Eats -- this was one of the best new surprises for me onboard.   I was nervous because it looked like it would be a lot of Weird Foreign Food...and it pretty much was...well, except for the fries.  I'd heard of them before. 🙂     But hey, it's "free" and I tried it and wow!  The choices I tried were not overly spicy, which was good for me, and in some cases like the fries were surprisingly filling.  Standouts were the Bulgogi Beef (a Korean thing) and another of the "sizzlin" choices that I can't quite remember.   Not every day had great choices for me; there WAS one day when mostly seafood was proffered, but I resolved to make a "reconnaissance pass" every day to check out the fare.  I was glad I did.  

 

Shawarma -- (permanent station for Lido buffet).   I wasn't sure what the heck this was when I boarded.  My ignorance has now been corrected.  Who says cruises are never an enlightening, cultural experience?  🙂   

I really liked this!  Give it a try, folks!   

 

SeaDogs -- (permanent station for Lido buffet).   This has been offered as a cart on other ships (usually out of the way up on the Sports Deck) but on Mardi Gras it is a separate spot on Lido.  These were good.  They offer hot-dogs topped to order and also Italian (?) sausages.  

 

Let me fire off this first book installment.  Volume 2 will follow later after work and my weekly radio show.  🙂  

 

Edited October 22, 2021 by Pellaz

[Pellaz]

Okay, continuing with my look at Mardi Gras' dining options after a longer-than-expected delay....  

 

Cucina del Capitano -- this is not a new option per se, but the fact that it is complimentary for dinner on Mardi Gras is!  We had really enjoyed visiting the Cucina for its complimentary "Captain's Pasta Bar" on the Vista and the Magic, especially on embark day when the Lido buffet is overrun with newly-arrived cruisers.  We made a beeline for it as soon as we got onboard and were saddened to discover that, to our horror, it was not open for lunch on embark day.  So, we sadly retrieved the shattered pieces of our expectations and went to Big Chicken instead. 🙂  
Oddly enough I never got to Cucina for lunch, what with all the other choices on board AND the fact that they are only open on sea days, but we went there for dinner on the second night and we were all happy with it -- even my stateroom-mate John from Italy. (Although we all agreed Nonna's one (1) Meatball is no match for John's homemade meatballs.  Sorry, Nonna.)  

I had the spaghetti carbonara and the short-ribs and the latter were just as good as they have been in the MDR (they are one of my favorites from there).  John even said it would be worth the customary $15 upcharge assessed on the other ships in the fleet, which is high praise indeed from us cheap no-specialty-upcharge folks. 🙂    

 

Guys Smokehouse and Brewhouse -- whew, this was like night and day, and not in a good way.  
We went for lunch on one of our sea-days and it was just as good as on the other ships that have it -- served outside on the lanai buffet style (by the crew).  I had the pulled pork-butt and the beef brisket.  (I just really wanted to use the word "butt" in a proper sentence, so there ya go. 🙂 )   
BUT, but and again butt....   Dinner at the Smokehouse was...problematical.  😞 
First, it's really LOUD.  There were two bands performing at different times on the small stage so if you're thinking to replace a typical dining room meal or a Cucina or Chibang dinner, keep this in mind.  One of the bands even had a horn section, and those are hard to mic down.  Bring earplugs; you can thank me later.  
As it is, we asked to be seated on the far side of the room, over in the Heroes' Lounge section on the picnic tables, away from the noise.  This may have been our undoing since the server had to come further over there to us; we had to grab a rack of BBQ sauces ourselves, etc.  You place your order by filling out a card ("this OR this AND this"), and so we were surprised when our orders came back mis-plated, with different items on the wrong plates.  We asked for our order cards back and pointed out the discrepancies.  Then, my friend John's ribs were...carbonized.  He couldn't put a fork in them; they were THAT burnt.  When the maitre'd saw them he apologized profusely and took a photo with his cell phone so he could show the chef the error of his ways.  I thought we should take our own photo and post it on Twitter whilst tagging @GuyFieri, but milder heads prevailed.   

I thought my own dinner -- pulled pork and the brisket with sides, plated correctly -- was good, but all in all it was an experience we didn't relish repeating...and we didn't.  

 

Main dining room (MDR) -- I was expecting us to be seated in the Flamingo Dining Room since others had said YTD folks were seated there on prior sailings.  I was chatting with a family in one of the hot tubs on the first day and they said they had set-time dining...in Flamingo.  "What?"   I checked my S&S card and sho' 'nuff, mine said "Chibang, Cucina and Palm, Deck 7."  I suspect they tweak the dining locations based on demand, and since the two MDRs don't seem to have anywhere near enough capacity to accommodate YTD and set-time dining, I'm expecting YTD to include complimentary Chibang and Cucina for the foreseeable future.  
As for the food in the MDR, we were satisfied.  5 out of us 7 are experienced cruisers by now and we didn't find any glaring problems.  Standouts for me were the prime rib (their bribe to get me to put on "nice" clothes), short ribs, lasagna bolognese and a few others.  We're not really foodies so I can understand where epicureans might find it lacking, but we didn't. 
SeaDay Brunch (MDR) -- still one of the best meals of the entire cruise.  Steak and eggs!  

 

Lido Buffet -- we only ate here a couple of times, breakfast on two port days and once for lunch  -- and while it did seem that the conventional choices were a bit reduced and some "islands" were shut down due to sailing at about 60% capacity, we really liked the plentiful seating and the added options I mentioned above.  Kudos to Carnival for adopting the same "islands" concept that Royal uses as opposed to the huge long buffet lines on other ships.  Although lines might still form, they won't look quite as intimidating.   I also liked the automated soda stations here.  There are two locations, plus another in the starboard-forward corner of Guy's Smokehouse.  Pro Tip:  place your card on the reader firmly, ONCE.  If it scans it twice by accident it will interpret it as a second attempt within 5 minutes and you'll have to wait.  

 

Fresh Creations -- this is the salad bar located to the right of the bar in the Serenity area.  It officially passes my litmus test for salad bars:  it includes green olives. 🙂  

I made myself a salad from here twice and was pleased.  (The crew will serve out the items on the back row, like meats, shrimp, etc.)  As I mentioned before, the biggest problem here was the wind; they REALLY need to install some sort of windbreak for it.  On one particular windy day -- which are common in Serenity since it's near the prow and up high -- pieces of lettuce were being whirled up and over into the Serenity pool. 😮   
According to Carnival's site this is open every day, not just sea-days, so a less windy port-day experience should be possible. 

 

Guy's Burger Joint -- once you get used to the different location, which is above the main Lido Deck (called "Lido Upper" on the elevators, Deck 17) you really appreciate the larger seating area and the queue-line.  That always bothered me on other ships:  when the line got long it would tend to stretch across the deck and block the center doorway.  I only got one Guy's burger from here all cruise (!) but it was just as good as on the other ships.  It's a real home-run for Carnival and they've managed to squeeze one in on every ship now.  
Alas, despite my best intentions, I never got to try the breakfast burger here.  I got there a bit too late one morning and they were in the process of changing over.  Oh, well.  At least it's yet ANOTHER choice for breakfast on this big ship!  

Blue Iguana Cantina -- this has been another home-run for me on Carnival, especially the breakfast burritos.  On other ships it's often seemed like no-one realized they were open for breakfast, and so I eluded the long lines in the Lido and get a burrito here before my friends had even gotten their breakfast.  I got a burrito for lunch here and it was just as good as any others I've had...and very filling. 🙂  

 

Pizzeria del Capitano -- still better than Sorrento's on Royal. 😄    I only had one pizza (well, a half-pizza) from here all cruise, a quatro formaggia (4-cheese), but it was good.  

I think they should offer a wider variety of pies -- maybe a deluxe, or a veggie, or an all-meat -- IF you are paying $5 to have one delivered to you.  But maybe that's just me.  

After 10pm, this is the only free-food game in town; at least it's good. 🙂 

 

--And I think that's it for dining on Mardi Gras.  It always sounds trite to say this, but...you won't go hungry!    

 

Edited October 25, 2021 by Pellaz

[KmomChicago]

2 hours ago, Pellaz said:

 We're not really foodies so I can understand where epicureans might find it lacking, but we didn't. 
SeaDay Brunch (MDR) -- still one of the best meals of the entire cruise.  Steak and eggs!  

 

Excellent summary. Your non-foody comment describes us as well. I agree with all your food deets. SeaDay Brunch steak and eggs continues to be a top food hack and always a good enough reason to visit the big dining room a couple days per cruise.

Just a couple extra points - as you note, Cucina and Chibang! might need to stay comp permanently to manage dinner capacities - and though it was not your favorite this time around, the P&A Smokehouse is another in that category that is helping manage the nightly load.  While none of these three venues are probably life-altering culinary experiences, they are all interesting options and provide unprecedented flexibility for included suppers making us feel spoiled for choice.

 

We all see the megaship industry trends toward more and more upcharge dining and these 3 venues provide the extremely pleasant sensation of "getting away with something" to the guests. The perceived value on our end is through the roof, for experiences and food that are really not much more costly (if at all) to pull off for the cruise line than the MDR itself.  As you kinda noted, the inclusion of these places may also encourage a few more people to put on a clean collared shirt at night rather than resorting to the Lido in sweaty t-shirt of the day attire. 

We only ate at the Smokehouse once, for "second dinner" on what I believe was our 2nd night aboard, in the last hour of service for the night, after taking our teen to Bonsai Sushi at 5:30 and getting less than ample quantity for an upcharge.   Smokehouse is noisy as you note, and far from what a decent person might call "dining" at all. However, during some kind of break in the evening entertainment, it was a good "last chance" for nighttime vittles before the dreaded Dark Times.  I don't think we were in there much longer than 30 minutes start to end and our meal was definitely okay for that purpose.

 

To that point I wonder if the Lido will start to experience a big 9:30 nightly rush as cruisers get the hang of, well, the hangries on this ship and the fact that everyone has that little mini fridge in their rooms.

[19cruiser59]

When do the "free" usually paid options for dining go back to being paid only?

does anyone know?

 

I was thinking about booking Mardi Gras in Nov or Dec 2021.