A Spring Break on the Mardi Gras Review 3/12-3/19 with a few pics and far too many words....

[cindik]

Loving your review, and your writing style. Keep it coming!

[cruisingguy007]

2 hours ago, cruisemom2 said:

We also love Guy's and agree - the line looks long but moves fast.  We ate there several times that week.

 

And the teens!  Fortunately, we were oblivious to most of their antics until towards the end of the week.  Our cabin was on deck 16 at the end of the hall closest to Lido so we didn't have any hall runners or kids stealing decorations off the doors or anything like that.  We didn't get internet so I didn't check the FB page at all until we got home.  Our son & DIL got internet I think on the last sea day so they could check on their puppy, etc. and they told us about all the issues with teens.  Basically all we saw were the huge messes they made at or near the ice cream machines.  On the day we were docked in Nassau, we ate at Guy's at a table by the water.  Some of the kids or teens dumped a huge pile of ice cream from the deck above and it landed on the deck narrowly missing a crew member who was bussing tables.  I mean, they must have filled multiple bowls or cones and taken it up there and dumped it all at once.  Security went up after them.

 

I'm embarrassed as a parent. My teens are on the older side but if they did something like this, let's just say, security may be coming after me for laying down an arse woopin right out in the open..lol. Truthfully, It's more of a reflection on the parents than the kids though, parents try and be their kids friends these days, instead of their parents. This is shameful behavior.  

[nancydee]

Loving your review and your writing style.

Can't wait for more....

 

[rolloman]

I was on this cruise as well. You must have had a forward cabin to have felt the rocking you described. I was midship deck nine and felt basically no movement. I was actually impressed the ship handled so well. I was on the inaugural sailing and it was great at 40% capacity. However, I will never sail Mardi Gras again since now experiencing it at full capacity. This ship felt way too crowded compared to  similar passenger sized Royal Caribbean ships. The initial draw and defining visual character is the roller coaster, yet it is hardly ever working for one reason or the other. On the last day when it made a handful of runs, some guy was actually stuck on it for about 20 minutes. The Palm dining room was like a high school cafeteria and the buffet felt like MSC, minimal choices and missing deserts compared to the inaugural. Those were my chief complaints.  Anyway...looking forward to the rest of your review, very entertaining thus far. 

[cruisingguy007]

1 hour ago, rolloman said:

I was on this cruise as well. You must have had a forward cabin to have felt the rocking you described. I was midship deck nine and felt basically no movement. I was actually impressed the ship handled so well. I was on the inaugural sailing and it was great at 40% capacity. However, I will never sail Mardi Gras again since now experiencing it at full capacity. This ship felt way too crowded compared to  similar passenger sized Royal Caribbean ships. The initial draw and defining visual character is the roller coaster, yet it is hardly ever working for one reason or the other. On the last day when it made a handful of runs, some guy was actually stuck on it for about 20 minutes. The Palm dining room was like a high school cafeteria and the buffet felt like MSC, minimal choices and missing deserts compared to the inaugural. Those were my chief complaints.  Anyway...looking forward to the rest of your review, very entertaining thus far. 

 

I don't know, sure seems to be a lot of complaints over on the Royal board as well (bookface also). The facade of superiority is cracking and it's not even near capacity. It'll get real interesting when there are 7K people on their newest. Even the other smaller behemoth ships are garnering complaints about crowds, lines, lack of places to sit, food/beverage shortages, staff shortages and those low capacity entertainment options that are so often touted as being far superior to Carnival's. There is a such thing as "too much of a good thing" and some may come to reappreciate the smaller ship classes. Bells and whistles mean nothing if you can't even get a chance to use them, they are so swamped as to be unenjoyable and the basic functions of cruising/vacationing become challenging and clogged with a sea of humanity. Disneyland of the Sea doesn't sound like much fun to me.   

Edited March 26, 2022 by cruisingguy007

[Knights on the Beach]

13 hours ago, cruisingguy007 said:

 

I'm embarrassed as a parent. My teens are on the older side but if they did something like this, let's just say, security may be coming after me for laying down an arse woopin right out in the open..lol. Truthfully, It's more of a reflection on the parents than the kids though, parents try and be their kids friends these days, instead of their parents. This is shameful behavior.  

 

I hear you!  We starting taking our kids on cruises when they were 12 and 5, then did multiple large family cruises with their cousins who were close to the same age.  They all behaved well or that would have been the end of cruising for them.

 

9 hours ago, rolloman said:

I was on this cruise as well. You must have had a forward cabin to have felt the rocking you described. I was midship deck nine and felt basically no movement. I was actually impressed the ship handled so well. I was on the inaugural sailing and it was great at 40% capacity. However, I will never sail Mardi Gras again since now experiencing it at full capacity. This ship felt way too crowded compared to  similar passenger sized Royal Caribbean ships. The initial draw and defining visual character is the roller coaster, yet it is hardly ever working for one reason or the other. On the last day when it made a handful of runs, some guy was actually stuck on it for about 20 minutes. The Palm dining room was like a high school cafeteria and the buffet felt like MSC, minimal choices and missing deserts compared to the inaugural. Those were my chief complaints.  Anyway...looking forward to the rest of your review, very entertaining thus far. 

 

Very interesting to hear other viewpoints on Mardi Gras.  It was also our second time (first was in December) and I thought the ship handled the crowds very well. We had to get to Center Stage early to get good seats, but expected that.  Java Blue almost always had long lines so we just went to Bar Della Rosa in the mornings for coffee.  Guy's sometimes had a long line, but it moved fast.  Bolt wasn't a draw for us, but our son & DIL loved it.

 

I do agree with you about the MDR.  We only ate there twice in December and once on the 3/12 cruise - the food just wasn't that impressive.  We don't usually do the buffet (other than to grab a couple pieces of bacon to go with our Big Chicken or Blue Iguana breakfast), but agree with your assessment there as well from what I saw.  However, the very same thing was true on our Royal cruise in November, very few choices.  The great thing about Mardi Gras is we don't have to eat at the buffet or MDR because there are so many other dining venues.  Cucina is my favorite and we loved Teppanyaki.  We're booked again for December and can't wait.

 

 

 

[HolySpearit]

Omg 2 pages wow I am blessed and astounded. I also love when people that were on the same cruise comment! I think it’s incredibly interesting to see how people on the same trip have different experiences and opinions on things so keep them coming! And yes we were indeed forward on the ship so that explains why I was getting shooketh all night long! 

And the ginger juice was not bad! Heavy ginger taste but I dug it. 
 

UNEXPECTED SEA DAY CONT…

Where were we, oh yea guys and bratty children. So D was a little sleepy after my balcony antics at 6am so we went back to the room for the afternoon. G had already been there and left us this towel Turkey which is the first time I’d seen a multi colored towel animal. How festive! 
 

D took a snooze and I read my book. We had early 5:30 (#elderly again) reservations at Bonsai Tepanyaki. We had done this on Norwegian and MSC but never Carnival. Spoiler alert: it’s the same on every ship. Is there a specific cruise hibachi chef school they all attend? I suspect so. 
 

Table seated 10 and there were 3 hibachi tables. This seemed small to me for so large of a ship. We had reserved way in advance. Ordered drinks, ruled out allergies and got a little amuse Bouche type thing. It was shrimp based I think…so I passed it right to D. It was either shrimp or tomato, I forget, but I don’t touch either one of those devil foods. He said it was good. Soup came out (miso, it tasted like every other miso soup at a hibachi place) and chef comes out to do his thing. You can do a combo of any 2 things on the menu. You also get fried rice.  I did just chicken because I have the palette of a toddler. D got steak and shrimps. Chef does the traditional light the oil on fire, make the snake egg dance, beat the fried rice heart. We feign being impressed. He was a cool dude we’ve just done it a lot both on land and at sea. Chicken was good! D also approved of his steak and shrimps. Dessert is a bento box thing with a variety of stuff including matcha ice cream, some kind of chocolate thing that was tasty, and a fruity drink thing that D said was vodka (staff is still in masks I can’t hear) but it didn’t taste vodka-y to me. It was GOOD though. I ponder asking for a large glass of it then decide I will not make the staff think I am an alcoholic or a juice-a-holic if D was trynna play me. Overall I give it a 7/10. Food was decent, it was a fun if not new experience. Staff was all very sweet and we were out in about an hour. I would vote do it, especially if you’ve never done it before. 
 

our very festive Turkey. D said it was a duck. He needs to study his animals. 

Dessert box at dinner 

 

Edited March 26, 2022 by HolySpearit

[Hogladyrider]

Loving your review....love your writing style!  No way would us "elderly" cruise during spring break!

[HolySpearit]

UNEXPECTED SEA DAY FINALE 
 

After dinner we head over to Grand Central to catch what was advertised on the schedule as “Celestial Strings”. However the LED board thingys also had “a night of enchantment” showing. 
 

The interesting thing on MG is during the day, the entertainers rehearse on the center stage. So you can watch if you want. Well earlier that day I saw this same background and the entertainers running around in what looked like wedding dresses. I mean clearly this is not something we could miss. 
 

We snag some seats with a good view and play some cards while we wait. Celestial strings comes and does their thing. 2 women and a man in very tight pants play the violins. They are decent. 
 

Then the entertainers come out. But the women are just wearing normal white and black dresses. And there was no running around.  WHAT?! I HAVE BEEN BAMBOOZLED!!!! I struck up a conversation in a line with someone at some point and this came up. Someone said the entertainers were on the last week of their contract, and the ones rehearsing in wedding dresses were the people starting next week. I guess as a reward for working out your contract you don’t have to don the bridal garb for the final performance. I mean seems fair but still. 
 

This had what I think was a seasonal theme as the screens played sort of video game looking visuals of seasons. The violin group also plays during the singing. There was also Evanescence involved. I will tell you, you have not lived until you’re on a cruise ship watching people scream “SAVE MEEEEEEE” while a virtual tour of the White Witch Palace from Narnia plays on the screen accompanied by violins. I am indeed enchanted, if not still slightly pressed at the lack of bridal shenanigans. What a time to be alive. 
 

We have an early morning in Grand Turk tomorrow so after a quick stop at the bar for some more Tito’s and a small

donation of my previous winnings at the casino, we call it a night. 
 

Updates will be a little slower over the weekend but we’ll be back with our first port day and FINALLY SUN!!!!!! 

[rolloman]

I received the same multi-colored towel animal...I thought it was a toucan because of the red beak? Interesting though, out of all my sailings this was the first multi-colored towel animal for me as well. 

[sid_9169]

Makes note: never cruise during spring break... Great review!...

[scoutfinch72]

Another parent of teenagers chiming in to say if I found out those were MY kids acting like bratty hooligans all over the ship, you can be damn sure they would be paying me back for every single penny of their cruise fare and it would be the very last time they'd ever set foot on the deck of a cruise ship again with me.  Since their part time jobs now pay more than my first job out of grad school did in 1997, it wouldn't take them long.  😂

 

Seriously, though, I do not understand how parents can be so oblivious to their kids.  Maybe its's because my youngest is autistic and can be pretty disruptive sometimes, but I am hyper aware of when my kids are being annoying to those around them.  We are sailing on the Panorama in July with my 17, 14, and 10 year old and my daughter's 15 year old best friend.  My group will not be among those causing havoc!

[Knights on the Beach]

8 hours ago, HolySpearit said:

Omg 2 pages wow I am blessed and astounded. I also love when people that were on the same cruise comment! I think it’s incredibly interesting to see how people on the same trip have different experiences and opinions on things so keep them coming! And yes we were indeed forward on the ship so that explains why I was getting shooketh all night long! 

And the ginger juice was not bad! Heavy ginger taste but I dug it. 
 

UNEXPECTED SEA DAY CONT…

Where were we, oh yea guys and bratty children. So D was a little sleepy after my balcony antics at 6am so we went back to the room for the afternoon. G had already been there and left us this towel Turkey which is the first time I’d seen a multi colored towel animal. How festive! 
 

D took a snooze and I read my book. We had early 5:30 (#elderly again) reservations at Bonsai Tepanyaki. We had done this on Norwegian and MSC but never Carnival. Spoiler alert: it’s the same on every ship. Is there a specific cruise hibachi chef school they all attend? I suspect so. 
 

Table seated 10 and there were 3 hibachi tables. This seemed small to me for so large of a ship. We had reserved way in advance. Ordered drinks, ruled out allergies and got a little amuse Bouche type thing. It was shrimp based I think…so I passed it right to D. It was either shrimp or tomato, I forget, but I don’t touch either one of those devil foods. He said it was good. Soup came out (miso, it tasted like every other miso soup at a hibachi place) and chef comes out to do his thing. You can do a combo of any 2 things on the menu. You also get fried rice.  I did just chicken because I have the palette of a toddler. D got steak and shrimps. Chef does the traditional light the oil on fire, make the snake egg dance, beat the fried rice heart. We feign being impressed. He was a cool dude we’ve just done it a lot both on land and at sea. Chicken was good! D also approved of his steak and shrimps. Dessert is a bento box thing with a variety of stuff including matcha ice cream, some kind of chocolate thing that was tasty, and a fruity drink thing that D said was vodka (staff is still in masks I can’t hear) but it didn’t taste vodka-y to me. It was GOOD though. I ponder asking for a large glass of it then decide I will not make the staff think I am an alcoholic or a juice-a-holic if D was trynna play me. Overall I give it a 7/10. Food was decent, it was a fun if not new experience. Staff was all very sweet and we were out in about an hour. I would vote do it, especially if you’ve never done it before. 
 

our very festive Turkey. D said it was a duck. He needs to study his animals. 

Dessert box at dinner 

 

 

6 hours ago, rolloman said:

I received the same multi-colored towel animal...I thought it was a toucan because of the red beak? Interesting though, out of all my sailings this was the first multi-colored towel animal for me as well. 

 

So on the unexpected sea day, I was feeling a little woozy and took a nap.  My DIL (not feeling great either) sent me some Bonine and I felt much better after I took that and the nap.  I don't usually get seasick at all but I was out of commission for about 3 hours that day.  Anyway, we ran into our room steward when my husband was walking me to the cabin and told him I was going to take a nap. So we totally missed out on the toucan/turkey/duck.  😏

 

We also went to Teppanyaki at 5:30 (earlybird/elderly hour) but on Tuesday/Grand Turk Day.  Our guy was entertaining and the food was awesome.  I'm allergic to shrimp and I've honestly never been to a habachi restaurant on land that I've liked.  We went to the habachi on Royal in November and I loved it.  It was every bit as good on Mardi Gras.  I had chicken and steak - and let me tell you the steak was way better than the filet I had in the steakhouse on night one.  Oh and the juice thing!  I couldn't understand what he said it was either but it wasn't vodka.  🤣🤣🤣  Our son said drink it to cleanse your palate between trying the different dessert things.  I did, but still don't know what it was.  lol

Edited March 27, 2022 by cruisemom2

[TrqoisWtrs]

On 3/26/2022 at 12:05 PM, HolySpearit said:

G had already been there and left us this towel Turkey which is the first time I’d seen a multi colored towel animal.

 

22 hours ago, rolloman said:

Interesting though, out of all my sailings this was the first multi-colored towel animal for me as well

 

They are so cute!  I read somewhere its because of the 50th birthday celebration.

[KyloRen]

OMG I feel you on the kids running around everywhere. My 12 yr old was in an elevator and told me a pack of kids twerked on her and ran off. WTH. Literally roving packs of delinquent kids everywhere

[antmaril]

Thanks for your great review.  You have made me laugh out loud more than once!  😁

[2wheelin]

20 hours ago, scoutfinch72 said:

Another parent of teenagers chiming in to say if I found out those were MY kids acting like bratty hooligans all over the ship, you can be damn sure they would be paying me back for every single penny of their cruise fare and it would be the very last time they'd ever set foot on the deck of a cruise ship again with me.  Since their part time jobs now pay more than my first job out of grad school did in 1997, it wouldn't take them long.  😂

 

Seriously, though, I do not understand how parents can be so oblivious to their kids.  Maybe its's because my youngest is autistic and can be pretty disruptive sometimes, but I am hyper aware of when my kids are being annoying to those around them.  We are sailing on the Panorama in July with my 17, 14, and 10 year old and my daughter's 15 year old best friend.  My group will not be among those causing havoc!

My last cruise we had a cabin near elevators. For two night we heard LOUD running and yelling in the hallways and presumed it was children. The third night I opened the door and yelled SECURITY!. The TEENAGERS did, looked at me and swiftly walked away. Never heard them again.

However, the next morning in the buffet I heard the mom next to us asking three teens if they were running in the halls again last night. “You sounded like a herd of elephants, HA HA HA”. No parental responsibility whatsoever.

[bmc alabama]

Enjoying your review!  We were on the same cruise and it’s interesting to see it from your perspective!  We saw the rehearsal too and made sure to get there early that night as the costuming, etc. looked very cool.  Also, that cast was the main theater cast.  I liked the regular Center Stage cast better.  Speaking of entertainment.  I’m interested to see your review of Voodoo Moon.  I caught parts of both showings and there was a major difference between the two…

 

On another note.  It’s hard to describe the crud weather we had the first few days.  I think that a lot of the “crowding” complaints came from this.  The problem, though, on those first 2/3 days was that everybody was inside due to the weather, and you felt it.  It was much better later in the week when the weather got better.

 

As to the teens…. All that I’ll say is that we had fun each night reading the FB posts.  That kept us entertained.

 

Last thing.  Loved our stateroom.  We were towards the back in one of the balconies that “jutted” out.  Tons of room out there!

 

Lastly… my favorite picture:

[Momma1980]

5 hours ago, bmc alabama said:

Enjoying your review!  We were on the same cruise and it’s interesting to see it from your perspective!  We saw the rehearsal too and made sure to get there early that night as the costuming, etc. looked very cool.  Also, that cast was the main theater cast.  I liked the regular Center Stage cast better.  Speaking of entertainment.  I’m interested to see your review of Voodoo Moon.  I caught parts of both showings and there was a major difference between the two…

 

On another note.  It’s hard to describe the crud weather we had the first few days.  I think that a lot of the “crowding” complaints came from this.  The problem, though, on those first 2/3 days was that everybody was inside due to the weather, and you felt it.  It was much better later in the week when the weather got better.

 

As to the teens…. All that I’ll say is that we had fun each night reading the FB posts.  That kept us entertained.

 

Last thing.  Loved our stateroom.  We were towards the back in one of the balconies that “jutted” out.  Tons of room out there!

 

Lastly… my favorite picture:

Hi! I noticed you had a lounge chair as well as the standard 2 chairs/table on your extended balcony. Did you have to ask for the lounger?

[Knights on the Beach]

7 hours ago, bmc alabama said:

Enjoying your review!  We were on the same cruise and it’s interesting to see it from your perspective!  We saw the rehearsal too and made sure to get there early that night as the costuming, etc. looked very cool.  Also, that cast was the main theater cast.  I liked the regular Center Stage cast better.  Speaking of entertainment.  I’m interested to see your review of Voodoo Moon.  I caught parts of both showings and there was a major difference between the two…

 

On another note.  It’s hard to describe the crud weather we had the first few days.  I think that a lot of the “crowding” complaints came from this.  The problem, though, on those first 2/3 days was that everybody was inside due to the weather, and you felt it.  It was much better later in the week when the weather got better.

 

As to the teens…. All that I’ll say is that we had fun each night reading the FB posts.  That kept us entertained.

 

Last thing.  Loved our stateroom.  We were towards the back in one of the balconies that “jutted” out.  Tons of room out there!

 

Lastly… my favorite picture:

 

I'm not the OP but we saw the first Voodoo Moon show.  It was my favorite Center Stage show in December and we watched both shows at that time, but only the first one a couple weeks ago.  I still thought it was very good but it was better in December.  It seemed like parts of it were left out in the March show.

 

Do you mind if I ask which cabin you were in with the deep balcony?  We're going on MG again and our friends have one of those rooms on deck 15 (under Big Chicken area I think).

[lazydayz]

OP, great review and keep it coming!  Looking forward to the next installment. 

[bandjwayne]

On 3/25/2022 at 12:08 PM, HolySpearit said:

Do you set 3 alarms too when you have to be at the airport early, or are you normal? 

Being from Rochester and flying from MSP.....I have about 4 set. 1) get up 2) reminder to get up 3) car is leaving 4) if we don't leave now we will be late for sure.  Our times are typically 3am, 3:05am, 3:20am and 3:30am!  I always thought this was normal for most people.

[bmc alabama]

6 hours ago, Momma1980 said:

Hi! I noticed you had a lounge chair as well as the standard 2 chairs/table on your extended balcony. Did you have to ask for the lounger?

 

Nope.  It was already there on the balcony.  I think that all these "bump out" balconies may have them.

 

3 hours ago, cruisemom2 said:

 

I'm not the OP but we saw the first Voodoo Moon show.  It was my favorite Center Stage show in December and we watched both shows at that time, but only the first one a couple weeks ago.  I still thought it was very good but it was better in December.  It seemed like parts of it were left out in the March show.

 

Do you mind if I ask which cabin you were in with the deep balcony?  We're going on MG again and our friends have one of those rooms on deck 15 (under Big Chicken area I think).

 

We were in 12476.  Great location.  I would absolutely take this cabin again.

 

As to Voodoo Moon.  For the first performance, the main female singer is hoisted up during one of the songs and it's pretty cool as she belts it out hanging up there in front of the LED screen.  For whatever reason, during the second performance, they couldn't get the cables attached, so she just sang off to the side of the stage.  Not nearly as impressive an effect...

[jlabs03]

21 hours ago, KyloRen said:

OMG I feel you on the kids running around everywhere. My 12 yr old was in an elevator and told me a pack of kids twerked on her and ran off. WTH. Literally roving packs of delinquent kids everywhere

I would have reported them to security, this is not OK.  They have cameras almost everywhere including the elevators so they could have found the kids.

[2wheelin]

3 hours ago, bandjwayne said:

Being from Rochester and flying from MSP.....I have about 4 set. 1) get up 2) reminder to get up 3) car is leaving 4) if we don't leave now we will be late for sure.  Our times are typically 3am, 3:05am, 3:20am and 3:30am!  I always thought this was normal for most people.

Hey, Rochester here too. I practically have travel time to MSP down to a science depending on whether it includes parking or not. That only adds 5 minutes usually. I set the alarms but rarely need them I am so excited to be going somewhere.. 

Sorry I got sidetracked here answering the third Medicare scam call today.