Mardi Gras - free dining venues

[13cheermom]

Does anyone know how long the Mardi Gras is going to continue free dining in some of the original pay-fee venues?  I know they started this at the inauguration of sailing but how long will it continue.  We will be sailing in November, and trying to plan out what will be available free vs pay.  Thanks if anyone has any insight or accurate information on this.

[kwokpot]

While there been no official announcement about the current no-fee restaurants I think the general consensus is the current setup will be a permanent arrangement. The reason being that the design of the Mardi Gras's main dining rooms are too small to accommodate a full ship and it was designed that way on purpose. There's nothing preventing Carnival from keeping this arrangement and it's not unique, just look at NCL and Celebrity. In the end what Carnival designates as included dining vs extra fee is all arbitrary, semantics, and marketing. The amount space allocated to Chibang it would be impossible to fill that restaurant if there was a cover charge and the seats are needed to adequately seat all passengers at dinnertime.

[ray985]

On March 9th, Carnival Brand Ambassador posted to his Facebook page the following: 

"If you'll be sailing on Carnival Mardi Gras, just more confirmation that Carnival does not plan to charge for ChiBang, Cuccina del Capitano, and Guys Pig and Anchor."

I think that's as close as we're getting to an official announcement. 

 

I 100% agree with kwokpot, the dining rooms aren't sized to fit all the passengers and they need the other 3 venues to split the load. When I was on the Horizon in 2020, they were testing having Guys Pig & Anchor free to see how many people would go there instead of the dining room. The maitre'd said they were testing this concept to get ready for Mardi Gras knowing everyone couldn't fit in the dining rooms on the ship. 

 

Also, Guy's and Captains menu's are different from the ones on the ships with the upcharge, with noticeably "cheaper" options. If they're going to start charging, they're going to have to go with the better menus from the other Carnival ships. 

 

[Lee Cruiser]

50 minutes ago, ray985 said:

I 100% agree with kwokpot, the dining rooms aren't sized to fit all the passengers and they need the other 3 venues to split the load. When I was on the Horizon in 2020, they were testing having Guys Pig & Anchor free to see how many people would go there instead of the dining room. The maitre'd said they were testing this concept to get ready for Mardi Gras knowing everyone couldn't fit in the dining rooms on the ship. 

I wonder what that means for the next two ships, Celebration and Jubilee. It will be interesting to see if they will be the same.  If they are using the same design concept, it's hard to imagine the main dining rooms being much bigger.

[kwokpot]

51 minutes ago, Lee Cruiser said:

I wonder what that means for the next two ships, Celebration and Jubilee. It will be interesting to see if they will be the same.  If they are using the same design concept, it's hard to imagine the main dining rooms being much bigger.

It would mean the same thing for the new ships. Royal's Quantum Class originally had what was called Dynamic Dining. There are four different MDRs with different designs and had different menus. Ultimately it didn't work and the concept was eliminated and the same menus were used for all four dining rooms. In fact the newest Quantum Class ship did away entirely with the four smaller dining rooms and went back to one big MDR. Celebrity on the other hand has had much success with the four smaller MDR/Restaurant concept and continues it on their Edge Class ships. If I  remember correctly NCL's Prima Class no longer has a MDR and just goes with the Multi Restaurant concept with some being complementary and some having extra fees. Virgin Voyages is the same, no such thing as a MDR. As I previously said it's all semantics/marketing. 

[Ellaleah]

 

While there been no official announcement about the current no-fee restaurants I think the general consensus is the current setup will be a permanent arrangement. The reason being that the design of the Mardi Gras's main dining rooms are too small to accommodate a full ship and it was designed that way on purpose. There's nothing preventing Carnival from keeping this arrangement and it's not unique, just look at NCL and Celebrity. In the end what Carnival designates as included dining vs extra fee is all arbitrary, semantics, and marketing. The amount space allocated to Chibang it would be impossible to fill that restaurant if there was a cover charge and the seats are needed to adequately seat all passengers at dinnertime.
 

I will be on the Celebration 12/27/22.  I changed from traditional to anytime because I am hoping that the policy stays the same.

[ray985]

On 4/9/2022 at 10:30 PM, Ellaleah said:

 

 

While there been no official announcement about the current no-fee restaurants I think the general consensus is the current setup will be a permanent arrangement. The reason being that the design of the Mardi Gras's main dining rooms are too small to accommodate a full ship and it was designed that way on purpose. There's nothing preventing Carnival from keeping this arrangement and it's not unique, just look at NCL and Celebrity. In the end what Carnival designates as included dining vs extra fee is all arbitrary, semantics, and marketing. The amount space allocated to Chibang it would be impossible to fill that restaurant if there was a cover charge and the seats are needed to adequately seat all passengers at dinnertime.
 

I will be on the Celebration 12/27/22.  I changed from traditional to anytime because I am hoping that the policy stays the same.

 

Yeah, the only really confusing part about Carnival's implementation is that it's not consistent across the fleet. Cucina del Capitano and Guy's Pig and Anchor have the same name as restaurants on other Carnival ships, but different menus on the Excel class ships and will have no charge. Chibang is easier for non-cruise experts to understand, because it's only on the Excel-class ships. They should have went with different names so as not to confuse passengers, but I don't think they ever really think it through. I mean, how many versions of "Red Frog" venues do they have? And try explaining the difference Guy's Pig and Anchor BBQ (free seaday lunch) vs Guy Pig and Anchor Smokehouse (paid dinner venue) to a rookie cruiser.

[peteandpris]

Do the special restrurants serve Lobster on formal nights?

[ray98]

7 hours ago, ray985 said:

 

Yeah, the only really confusing part about Carnival's implementation is that it's not consistent across the fleet. Cucina del Capitano and Guy's Pig and Anchor have the same name as restaurants on other Carnival ships, but different menus on the Excel class ships and will have no charge. Chibang is easier for non-cruise experts to understand, because it's only on the Excel-class ships. They should have went with different names so as not to confuse passengers, but I don't think they ever really think it through. I mean, how many versions of "Red Frog" venues do they have? And try explaining the difference Guy's Pig and Anchor BBQ (free seaday lunch) vs Guy Pig and Anchor Smokehouse (paid dinner venue) to a rookie cruiser.

I think Carnival does this because the locations are the same concept with minor tweaks.  After all, most people going on a cruise don't study the difference between P&A BBQ and P&A Smokehouse before the cruise.  They get on and experience what is presented to them.

[cheer25mom]

I really like the concept of not having a huge MDR. Honestly, I think having the food service broken up into different kitchens preparing different menus improves overall food quality. We have sailed on ships with this concepts, and it seems like food is fresher and hotter and the quality is better than when they are trying to fix 3000 meals at the same time for a MDR. 

[Illbcruzn4life]

9 hours ago, cheer25mom said:

I really like the concept of not having a huge MDR. Honestly, I think having the food service broken up into different kitchens preparing different menus improves overall food quality. We have sailed on ships with this concepts, and it seems like food is fresher and hotter and the quality is better than when they are trying to fix 3000 meals at the same time for a MDR. 

Jimbo 5544 just posted that as of May 1, 2022 they will start charging

[almdp1989]

On 4/11/2022 at 1:18 PM, peteandpris said:

Do the special restrurants serve Lobster on formal nights?

Cucina does, I am not sure of the others. 

[jimbo5544]

9 minutes ago, almdp1989 said:

Cucina does, I am not sure of the others. 

For the record, when we went to Cucina for the “free dinner” it was a different smaller menu.  Not sue if these two things are related

[Cruisegirl1919]

13 hours ago, Illbcruzn4life said:

Jimbo 5544 just posted that as of May 1, 2022 they will start charging

He's wrong. John Heald replied to someone asking about that post that it was completely untrue and there's no plans to change them to paid. 

[csm5986142]

On 4/11/2022 at 10:18 AM, peteandpris said:

Do the special restrurants serve Lobster on formal nights?

 

Yes, they have limited items from the MDR on their menu and we were able to order lobster in Chibang recently on Mardi Gras (at the first formal night).  We have been on Mardi Gras twice and they make it a point to mention you can go there for lobster on formal night because the MDR will be packed but Chibang was maybe half full.  Way quicker service (at least in our experience).