My Long Mardi Gras Story (with pictures and Funtimes) 01/29 to 02/05

[Jamman54]

Bravo!! Great review!! Made us more excited for our upcoming Mardi Gras cruises.🤗

[CruisingWalter]

On 2/15/2022 at 3:36 PM, archer_310 said:

I'll be on the Mardi Gras in 3 weeks.  Where do you sign up for the cooking classes?  I don't see anything on the website.  Is it just done once you get onboard?

They are in the Specialty Dining Section of your planner. Login to your account, go to your cruise and in the Planning, click on Specialty Dining. You have to sign up in advance, most of the classes will be sold out before you board. 

[mlshum]

3 hours ago, archer_310 said:

On your last writing, you mentioned that you had a late debarkation time.  I'm used to most ships wanting passengers off by 9am.  What was the latest that passengers could be off the Mardi Gras?  We have our shuttle picking us up at 9am, but now I'm worried that we might end up with a later time.  Are you able to request a certain time?

You don’t actually request a time but you do choose a zone number tag for your luggage if you want to check your luggage.  On the last day there will be a couple of kiosks set out with blue plastic luggage tags.  The tags are numbered and the lower the number, the earlier the debarkation time.  We were probably off the ship around 9 but I don’t remember the exact time.

 

Another option to make I even faster is self-debarkation.  If you choose that option, you simply don’t put your bags outside the room on that last night.  You WILL have to carry all of your luggage off the ship without assistance if you choose self debarkation.  On our cruise, they called the self-debarkation first by muster drill stations.

 

i hope that helps!  Let me know if you have any other questions at all!

[archer_310]

2 hours ago, mlshum said:

You don’t actually request a time but you do choose a zone number tag for your luggage if you want to check your luggage.  On the last day there will be a couple of kiosks set out with blue plastic luggage tags.  The tags are numbered and the lower the number, the earlier the debarkation time.  We were probably off the ship around 9 but I don’t remember the exact time.

 

That's different than I remember from our last Carnival cruise.  I thought usually your luggage tags were left in your room the night before.  So basically you hope that you can find luggage tags at a kiosk with a time close to when you "want" to get off the ship?  Have I got that right?  We don't need off early, so no need to keep our luggage.  Just want to synch up with our shuttle for the airport.

[SNJCruisers]

Nice review.  I was on for a B2B after you disembarked.  It was our first B2B on Carnival and couldn't have picked a better ship to do it on.  Later this week I will be posting a review.

[firstcruise92]

What a great review!  I loved it.  My husband and I will be on Mardi Gras in October.  I understand your feeling about getting a ship on a stick from every trip.  I have a collection and hope we'll get one from Mardi Gras this year.  We also play the trivia.  When I've cruised with my daughter she wants to hit every trivia, even those we know nothing about.  

[mlshum]

8 hours ago, Jamman54 said:

Bravo!! Great review!! Made us more excited for our upcoming Mardi Gras cruises.🤗

Thanks so much!  I’ll be looking forward to your review!

[cruises42]

13 hours ago, mlshum said:

You're very welcome and the answer is definitely "no" on the shows.  I had hoped for the same thing!  That's one reason you have to get there early....you just get one shot at it.  People do come and go a little, but it tends to stay pretty crowded, at least on our cruise.  One reason it stays a that way is the seating arrangement on the main deck area.  A lot of the seating consists of tables and chairs which can be moved.  People tend to move everything around and it can become very disorganized.  Also, all of the tables have four chairs.  They're fairly close together but when two people sit down, you then have to share the space with people you don't know.  That wasn't a problem for us, but I could see it being uncomfortable for some people.  There were a couple of times we went up to someone and simply asked if we could join them.  It was the only option.

 

I didn't sit much in the bleacher style seating of the upper decks.  As far as I can tell, one of the problems up there was the noise level.  A main walk through area is right behind those bleachers along with stores, bars and venues.  It gets a little noisy.  I love Grand Central/Center Stage and the idea of what they're doing there, but I think it needs just a little more tweaking for the design to be all it can be.  Thanks again!

Thanks again! I might need to look at the Fun Times to see when the shows are. I don't want to miss some of them because we are at dinner. We've missed shows in the past because they have them once and during late seating.

[jigger]

Great Review !!

[Buffettfan 225]

On 2/22/2022 at 9:32 AM, mlshum said:

You don’t actually request a time but you do choose a zone number tag for your luggage if you want to check your luggage.  On the last day there will be a couple of kiosks set out with blue plastic luggage tags.  The tags are numbered and the lower the number, the earlier the debarkation time.  We were probably off the ship around 9 but I don’t remember the exact time.

 

Another option to make I even faster is self-debarkation.  If you choose that option, you simply don’t put your bags outside the room on that last night.  You WILL have to carry all of your luggage off the ship without assistance if you choose self debarkation.  On our cruise, they called the self-debarkation first by muster drill stations.

 

i hope that helps!  Let me know if you have any other questions at all!

Do you have to meet at muster station for self debarkation, or just try to listen for call? 

[EllaDuChien]

2 hours ago, Buffettfan 225 said:

Do you have to meet at muster station for self debarkation, or just try to listen for call? 

 

For self-debarkation, you do not need to take a number, those are for the luggage tags.  You just listen for them to call self-debark and then you can leave since you don't need to wait for your luggage to be unloaded.

[mlshum]

9 hours ago, Buffettfan 225 said:

Do you have to meet at muster station for self debarkation, or just try to listen for call? 

You just listen for the call on Deck 8 or the Lido Deck.  They make announcements frequently with updates to the debarkation process.

[mlshum]

10 hours ago, jigger said:

Great Review !!

Thank you so much!

[cruises42]

On 2/22/2022 at 8:17 AM, mlshum said:

You're very welcome and the answer is definitely "no" on the shows.  I had hoped for the same thing!  That's one reason you have to get there early....you just get one shot at it.  People do come and go a little, but it tends to stay pretty crowded, at least on our cruise.  One reason it stays a that way is the seating arrangement on the main deck area.  A lot of the seating consists of tables and chairs which can be moved.  People tend to move everything around and it can become very disorganized.  Also, all of the tables have four chairs.  They're fairly close together but when two people sit down, you then have to share the space with people you don't know.  That wasn't a problem for us, but I could see it being uncomfortable for some people.  There were a couple of times we went up to someone and simply asked if we could join them.  It was the only option.

 

I didn't sit much in the bleacher style seating of the upper decks.  As far as I can tell, one of the problems up there was the noise level.  A main walk through area is right behind those bleachers along with stores, bars and venues.  It gets a little noisy.  I love Grand Central/Center Stage and the idea of what they're doing there, but I think it needs just a little more tweaking for the design to be all it can be.  Thanks again!

I looked at the Fun Times you posted and saw that the shows were listed as being done twice. Did you not find that they were redone?

[mlshum]

15 hours ago, cruises42 said:

I looked at the Fun Times you posted and saw that the shows were listed as being done twice. Did you not find that they were redone?

On our cruise, the shows in the main theatre were repeated but the shows at Center Stage were not.

[mlshum]

15 hours ago, cruises42 said:

I looked at the Fun Times you posted and saw that the shows were listed as being done twice. Did you not find that they were redone?

You know what, you are absolutely right!  I didn’t even notice that!  Some of them were repeated later.  After about 10-11pm, I’m usually “done” and I didn’t pay a lot of attention to things after that time.  Sorry for my mistake!

[cruises42]

8 hours ago, mlshum said:

You know what, you are absolutely right!  I didn’t even notice that!  Some of them were repeated later.  After about 10-11pm, I’m usually “done” and I didn’t pay a lot of attention to things after that time.  Sorry for my mistake!

I was very happy to see they were repeated. Now if we choose to keep late dining, we won't miss a show.

[willdra]

Thank you so much for sharing your story! I really enjoyed reading it, and I hard chuckled at the “Get Off Our Ship Heart”!! 🤣🤣🤣

[mlshum]

13 hours ago, willdra said:

Thank you so much for sharing your story! I really enjoyed reading it, and I hard chuckled at the “Get Off Our Ship Heart”!! 🤣🤣🤣

Thank you so much for reading along and for your kind words!  I’m glad it made you smile.  Looking forward to your next review!  They’re always hysterical!

[NancyC]

I really enjoyed your review.  I was debating between about 4 cruises in October and your review has tilted the scale considerably and I had read other reviews. Yours is just so personal and fit with our lifestyle. You definitely have a nice writing style.  

[Rob-Bob]

What a great story.  I am really interested in trying the Mardi Gras after reading this.  We did sail the old Mardi Gras.  

 

Thanks for this detailed review.  Much appreciated.

[mlshum]

11 hours ago, NancyC said:

I really enjoyed your review.  I was debating between about 4 cruises in October and your review has tilted the scale considerably and I had read other reviews. Yours is just so personal and fit with our lifestyle. You definitely have a nice writing style.  

Thank you so much for your kind words and for reading along.  I really appreciate it!  I know if you decide on going with Mardi Gras you won’t regret it!

[mlshum]

9 hours ago, Rob-Bob said:

What a great story.  I am really interested in trying the Mardi Gras after reading this.  We did sail the old Mardi Gras.  

 

Thanks for this detailed review.  Much appreciated.

Thanks so much for reading along and commenting.  I think it’s so awesome that you sailed on the original Mardi Gras!  I would say you absolutely NEED to sail on the new one now!  There were several people on our sailing that had been on the original.  I think that’s amazing!

[Rob-Bob]

We sailed on Mardi Gras in January 1992.  We also did Inspiration (Sept 1998), and Imagination (Nov 2003).  I believe those two are also gone.

 

Still standing we did Legend (Nov 2007) and Valor (Dec 2012).  We haven't sailed with Carnival since then (going on 10 years).  We need to try them again.  We have been on 7 other cruise lines during our cruising history.  We really enjoyed them all.

 

You have inspired us to stay young and have fun!!!

[mlshum]

11 hours ago, Rob-Bob said:

We sailed on Mardi Gras in January 1992.  We also did Inspiration (Sept 1998), and Imagination (Nov 2003).  I believe those two are also gone.

 

Still standing we did Legend (Nov 2007) and Valor (Dec 2012).  We haven't sailed with Carnival since then (going on 10 years).  We need to try them again.  We have been on 7 other cruise lines during our cruising history.  We really enjoyed them all.

 

You have inspired us to stay young and have fun!!!

Awwww.......thank you!  I love that you’re young and fun, too!  No other way to be!

 

We’ve been on Victory, which is now Radiance, and Fascination, which is now gone.  Every other ship on which we’ve sailed is still in service.  The only other line we’ve ever sailed was Royal Caribbean.

 

Thanks so much for reading along!