Our Marvelous Mardi Gras B2B (with pics!) - April 23rd, 2022

[Jamman54]

3 minutes ago, kelkel2 said:

Because of the freedom fire, maybe you can switch to MG on carnival’s dollar. I wonder if it will be done with repairs by then and if carnival would let you switch!

Anything said now is pure speculation, but I have a hunch that the Freedom will be back in service sometime in July. We're on her in January. 

[Knights on the Beach]

19 hours ago, BasicSailor said:

I thought they closed the Sky Bar for a while now ?

 

18 hours ago, Jamman54 said:

 

It was closed when we were there last August, but I understand it reopened in October or November. 

 

 

We enjoyed the Sky Bar in March, had a great server!  

 

17 hours ago, Jamman54 said:

 

Patti zooms in on the Mardi Gras…..

 

 

 

We were in the second cabin from the left at the top (directly under the r & d) in March. Great room and location!

 

23 minutes ago, Jamman54 said:

 

Thanks for reading! I'll be posting some more shortly. The Mardi Gras is a great ship. Keep your Freedom cruise and book the Mardi Gras next time! 

 

Well ... we were going to be on Freedom tomorrow - but now we'll be on Mardi again!  I'm not unhappy!  😊 We're booked on Freedom in October too so we'll get on her before too long!

[Jamman54]

Patti is going to head back down the other set of stairs to take pictures……

 

 

I’m going to have another beer here, and then head back to the cabana, and have Nataly our server bring me a bucket of El Presidente’s, and then hit the pool.

Here are some more views, including some of the Hilltop Cabanas, as Patti heads down the stairs….

 

 

 

 

 

She comes out by the Coco Cana Lounge, which is where all of our drinks and food come from…..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To be continued…..

[Jamman54]

Here are a couple of views of the Pool Bar. There are tables and chairs on the second level if you want to eat there…..

 

 

 

Patti comes back to the cabana looking for me. Here are a couple of views of the pool from our cabana……

 

 

The gray building on the left has the bathrooms and changing rooms…..

 

 

Patti finds me in my favorite spot. It’s the perfect place to people watch as they stroll by…..

 

 

That’s me on the left, and across the way is the VIP section where you can rent the comfy loungers and umbrellas. Every once in a while Nataly would come by and ask me if I needed another beer. Of course I would say yes, and she would bring me one in a plastic cup.......

 

 

Here are the pool rental and cabana rates…..

 

 

Here are a couple more pool views…..

 

 

This is the walk in section, with the bathrooms just behind…..

 

 

If you crave a good hot dog, they have a Nathan’s stand…..

 

 

To be continued…..

[Jamman54]

Patti continues with her picture tour. This is the kids play area and splash zone…..

 

 

 

 

This is the crew center where crewmembers can get off the ship and relax…..

 

 

 

Looking up to the top of the zip line…..

 

 

Here’s the bottom of the zip line…..

 

 

This is the Kissing Booth. Never saw that here before…..

 

 

The big chair for photo ops…..

 

 

Pretty view of the Freedom and Mardi Gras together…..

 

 

This is the Water Equipment Rental Dock and the rental prices…..

 

 

 

To be continued…..

[Jamman54]

Patti heads to the Pier Bar. This bar also services the Ocean Cabanas…..

 

 

 

 

 

This is the Grand Ocean Cabana……

 

 

Here are some views of the Ocean Cabanas…..

 

 

 

 

Patti looks up to the four Hilltop Cabanas. We have no interest in ever renting an Ocean or Hilltop Cabana…..

 

 

Looking over at the pier, it looks like the Freedom passengers are streaming ashore…..

 

 

To be continued…..

[Megan_Strick]

16 minutes ago, Jamman54 said:

Patti heads to the Pier Bar. This bar also services the Ocean Cabanas…..

 

 

 

 

 

This is the Grand Ocean Cabana……

 

 

Here are some views of the Ocean Cabanas…..

 

 

 

 

Patti looks up to the four Hilltop Cabanas. We have no interest in ever renting an Ocean or Hilltop Cabana…..

 

 

Looking over at the pier, it looks like the Freedom passengers are streaming ashore…..

 

 

To be continued…..

I feel like that Ocean Cabana is a waste of money. Why would you spend that money to look at yucky water?

[Jamman54]

22 minutes ago, sthrnbll said:

I feel like that Ocean Cabana is a waste of money. Why would you spend that money to look at yucky water?

 

We agree, much less swim in it! 

[Jamman54]

Here’s another view of the Mardi Gras and Freedom…..

 

 

Patti is now back at the pool, and it’s getting a little more crowded…..

 

 

Some fun at the pool…..

 

 

 

 

 

There is a fish spa here…..

 

 

Patti crosses the Plaza and sees the Carnival excursions lining up…..

 

 

This is the bus departure area……

 

 

 

Here is a helpful sign…..

 

 

To be continued…..

[Jamman54]

Patti heads over to the amber exhibit. Here are some little waterfalls and a stream…..

 

 

 

 

Amber exhibit information…..

 

 

 

 

Here are some examples of how amber trapped insects, frogs, and lizards…..

 

 

 

 

Patti captures some of the flora and fauna…..

 

 

 

 

To be continued…..

[Jamman54]

Patti now heads over to browse some of the shops…..

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is a display of Dominican Republic information and history…..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To be continued…..

[Jamman54]

Here is some unusual artwork…..

 

 

 

This is the much photographed Amber Cove sign….

 

 

Pretty artwork…..

 

 

There is a small beach that is just off the property…..

 

 

Patti meets me back at the cabana, and Nataly takes our food and drink orders. Here are the drink and food menus…..

 

 

 

 

 

I ordered the pork belly sampler, and Patti ordered the chicken tenders. We shared an order of fries. Here is a picture of Nataly and me. She took great care of us all day!…..

 

 

After this, the camera pretty much got put away. We spent the rest of the afternoon sunning on our deck, cooling off in the pool, having a few drinks, and relaxing.

 

To be continued…….

[Jamman54]

Around 4:30pm we decided to head back to the ship. We paid our bill which was $92, and gave Nataly a large, well deserved tip. Once we got to the pier we grabbed a pedal cab to take us the rest of the way…..

 

 

Here are some views of the Mardi Gras and Freedom as we were pedaled back to the ship…..

 

 

 

 

Once on the ship we went back to our cabin and out on the balcony to check out the views. Here’s a view of the Freedom and her funnel, which sadly, doesn’t look quite as good as I write this today…..

 

 

Our Cruise Director Lee is out on the pier welcoming guests back to the ship…..

 

 

 

Here are a couple more views of the Freedom….

 

 

 

These four guys over on the Freedom seem to be having a good time…..

 

 

To be continued…..

[Jamman54]

The officers on the pier seem to be keeping an eye on the passenger count…..

 

 

 

 

Everybody’s back on board so the crew breaks down and brings in the remaining gangway…..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To be continued……  

[Jamman54]

The Mardi Gras sailed promptly at 6pm. Patti and I went up to the Tides Pool on Deck 16 aft for the sail away……

 

 

 

 

 

Here are some views of Amber Cove as we sailed away…..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To be continued……

[Jamman54]

We are leaving the Freedom behind…..

 

 

 

 

Here are some views of the coast as we sailed away from Amber Cove…..

 

 

 

 

 

 

Goodbye Amber Cove until next time!

 

 

To be continued…..

[Jamman54]

We decide that tonight we are going to try Chibang for dinner. We request a table for two on the Hub App, and in less than ten minutes our table is ready…..

 

 

We have made it to Chibang, and here is the menu…..

 

 

 

This is our table, and the service team assigned to it…..

 

 

 

We are being attacked by some sort of hairy creature…..

 

 

 

 

Patti starts off with the Mandarin crunch salad…..

 

 

For her main she has the sweet and sour shrimp and Hakka noodles…..

 

 

 

For dessert she has the Crema Catalina……..

 

 

To be continued……

[Jamman54]

I started with the pot stickers…..

 

 

For my main I had the Kung Pao Chicken with green beans…..

 

 

 

For my dessert I had the Chibang chocolate…..

 

 

The chefs are working hard in the kitchen…..

 

 

 

Goodbye to whatever the heck this thing is…..

 

 

We didn’t really like Chibang. The food wasn’t really served that hot, and in all fairness, it doesn’t come close to comparing with JiJi Asian Kitchen. We decided right there and then that this was a one and done for us.

 

After walking the ship a bit we watched a little bit of Vegas Nights, but we were tired and decided to call it a night……

 

 

But not before stopping at Cherry on Top for a snack!

 

 

Back at the cabin we found tonight’s towel creature…..

 

 

Coming up next: Our long awaited return to Grand Turk!

[calgaryhhr]

Great posting and thanks very much. We are on the Mardi Gras in two months and this stuff is very useful.

 

One question though as I haven't been following the cruise news very closely but are the Mardi Gras cruises all going to San Juan now? Our cruise was supposed to include SJ but they switched it to Nassua because of Covid and I was really bummed. Are they switching ports back to SJ now? My itinerary still shows Nassua.

[Jamman54]

37 minutes ago, calgaryhhr said:

Great posting and thanks very much. We are on the Mardi Gras in two months and this stuff is very useful.

 

One question though as I haven't been following the cruise news very closely but are the Mardi Gras cruises all going to San Juan now? Our cruise was supposed to include SJ but they switched it to Nassua because of Covid and I was really bummed. Are they switching ports back to SJ now? My itinerary still shows Nassua.

Thanks for reading. I believe that if your cruise was switched from San Juan to Nassau, it will remain that way. Our cruise was never switched. 😎

[cruisin4Becky]

12 hours ago, kelkel2 said:

Because of the freedom fire, maybe you can switch to MG on carnival’s dollar. I wonder if it will be done with repairs by then and if carnival would let you switch!

Im wondering the same thing. Most likely it will be repaired by then.if not,then hopefully I can get on the Mardi Gras. It leaves the same day as the Freedom,and Im flying Southwest home so can easily change my flight

 

[jimbri]

Another great review.  Thank you.

[jolyroger]

You always have the absolute best reviews!! The perfect blend of beautiful pics and commentary ! We'll be on the MG in 41 more days cruising the same islands as well . Definitly  giving us more ideas of different things to do on these islands since we've been before ( especially the zipline, that I can't wait to do!) Also what did you thing of the Cruise director Lee? Never heard of him before , but he'll be ours as well.

[Jamman54]

45 minutes ago, jimbri said:

Another great review.  Thank you.

Thanks for following along once again! Much more to come! 

[Jamman54]

45 minutes ago, jolyroger said:

You always have the absolute best reviews!! The perfect blend of beautiful pics and commentary ! We'll be on the MG in 41 more days cruising the same islands as well . Definitly  giving us more ideas of different things to do on these islands since we've been before ( especially the zipline, that I can't wait to do!) Also what did you thing of the Cruise director Lee? Never heard of him before , but he'll be ours as well.

 

Thanks for reading and your kind words!  We love Lee Mason. He is one of the best cruise directors in the fleet. We had the pleasure of sailing with him on the Splendor, Panorama, and now the Mardi Gras. Very high energy, friendly, and approachable. I'm sure that you'll like him. I believe he will be leaving on vacation some time in July.