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

[Jamman54]

2 hours ago, bigdog60 said:

Can't wait for the full review. They are always entertaining and informative.

 

Thanks for jumping aboard again. Informative and entertaining is what we aim for. 

 

1 hour ago, Rockypoint said:

Yay, so happy to have one of your fabulous reviews to follow along. I always love them as they make me feel like I'm on vacation with you.

 

Thank you so much for the time and effort of putting these together.

 

That's the whole idea. Thanks for the kind words. 

 

[DebOinKC]

 Love your reviews and Patti's pictures.

[cruisingbajan]

On 5/16/2022 at 1:06 PM, Jamman54 said:

Ahoy, Cruise Critic family! My beautiful wife Patti and I have just returned from another month long adventure. We spent three days in Port Canaveral / Cocoa Beach, then boarded the beautiful Mardi Gras for two weeks, then finished off our trip with six days in Orlando. Our first week on the Mardi Gras was a 7 day cruise to the Eastern Caribbean, stopping at San Juan, Amber Cove, and Grand Turk. The second week was a 7 day cruise to the Western Caribbean, stopping at Cozumel, Costa Maya, and Isla Roatan (Mahogany Bay). For us, this was the perfect rotation as the first two days of the first cruise were sea days, and the last two days of the second cruise were also sea days.

 

These cruises on the Mardi Gras were a long time coming. To tell this story let me take you back to January 2019. Bookings for cruises on the Mardi Gras were to begin at 10am on January 30^th. At this point no itineraries had been released, and only unofficial copies of the deck plans were in existence. At 7pm on the 29^th my PVP called me and said that we could book. Startled at getting the call, and not knowing what the itineraries were, we told him to book us on the first cruise out of Port Canaveral. Having seen the unofficial deck plans, we booked an extended balcony on the “hump”, as we loved our “hump” balcony when we sailed on the Explorer of the Seas.

 

The next day when the itineraries had been released, we saw that there was a 15 day repositioning cruise from New York to Port Canaveral. It had an awesome itinerary and was just what we were looking for. We changed our booking to that cruise, and we were able to keep the same “hump” balcony that we had originally booked. To say we were pleased would be an understatement. Now all we had to do was sit and wait for the ship to be built.

 

Fast forward to December of 2019, when Carnival announced that because of construction delays, the first eight sailings would have to be cancelled. We were devastated to say the least. The 25% Future Cruise Credit that was given helped soften the blow a little bit. Having our 2020 and 2021 cruises already booked, we chose our April, 2022 dates and booked her again. Three months later the nightmare that is the pandemic came, and is still here today, but I don’t want to dwell on it anymore, so let’s fast forward back to the present day.

 

We will be driving down to Florida once again. Being away from home for so long it just makes sense to have your own car down there. You can pack as much of your stuff as you want to, since you don’t have to worry about luggage weights and car rentals. Back in the day when our vacation time was limited, we used to drive straight through in one shot which used to take about 16 hours. Since we have the time now, we break it up into two days.

 

This is going to be a very long review so be patient with us. Patti took well over four thousand pictures during this adventure, so I have a lot of sorting, cropping, and re-sizing to catch up on. Even though I took my laptop with me and worked on the photos from time to time, there’s no way I could keep up with Patti’s itchy shutter finger! We also have to catch up with life, work, and such, so we may not post anything for a day or two from time to time, but just remember we have always finished our reviews.

 

As usual, our reviews start and end at home and cover everything in between. I know that some people like to get right into the cruise stuff and I understand that, but when doing these reviews we want to re-live the whole vacation, not just part of it. So, the cruise stuff may take a few days to get to, but once we’re on it, we’re on it! Our format will remain the same as our past reviews with a day by day account. As always, there will be many, many pictures with plenty of explanations and details. For those that are wondering, our go to camera is the Canon PowerShot XS720 HS, and our water camera is the Fuji FinePix XP60.

 

So, let’s get this party started! We strive to make you feel that you are cruising right along with us, so grab yourself a DOD, and hop on board with us and join the fun!

 

To be continued…..

Yaaay another Jamman review.👍

 

Can't wait to read the rest of what I know will be another fantastic review!!🙏

[Hogladyrider]

All enrolled to follow along!

 

Really enjoy your precruise info as well.....the Hampton looks very nice and super convenient....a win win for sure.

 

 

[joe/jack]

36 minutes ago, Bajan Keith said:

Yaaay another Jamman review.👍

 

Can't wait to read the rest of what I know will be another fantastic review!!🙏

Please continue enjoying your review 

We are on Mardi Gras in 17 days and we are beginning to pack. This ship looks like a real fresh take on the Carnival line

 

[TravelGirlinDallas]

I'm late to the party, but I'm here for it now! Looking forward to all of the pictures!

[mcgore83]

Always enjoy your reviews and Patti's pictures!

[kpark895]

Yeah!  I've been waiting for this review for what seems like ages!  Thanks for all of your hard work, Jeff and Patti!

[blarko]

Dang! I’m late to this party....didn’t need realize you had started and now I’m already 4 pages behind. I gotta catch up! Loving the review so far 😀

[Hooked!]

Thanks for taking us along on another one of your awesome adventures! I appreciate all of the pics and info on your pre-cruise adventures, too...gives us ideas of new things to do/see when cruising out of those places! 😎

Megan

[Starfish on the beach!]

Love reading your reviews and viewing the awesome pictures!!

 

[HeyJut]

So glad to be following another adventure.

Hampton Inn looks nice. Love the walk-in shower.

[SRQbeachgirl]

22 hours ago, rmh661983 said:

So glad to see a new review of the Mardi Gras. I am going on her in June and love living vicariously through everyone else until it is my turn.

 

We're on the same sailing! Can't wait to be on the ship!

[3smithboys]

Can’t wait to read more. DH and I are going on a B2B in June! 

[AKR2011]

I always look forward to your awesome reviews with Patti's beautiful photos. Thanks so much for taking us along again!

 

❤⚓ Ashley 

[Chipster2]

It was great sailing with you and Patti again. Look forward to following the review. It will be great to relive the 2 weeks we got to spend on the Mardi Gras. Hope to do it again!

[Jamman54]

13 hours ago, DebOinKC said:

 Love your reviews and Patti's pictures.

 

Thanks. Glad to have you aboard! 😎

 

13 hours ago, Bajan Keith said:

Yaaay another Jamman review.👍

 

Can't wait to read the rest of what I know will be another fantastic review!!🙏

 

Glad to have you aboard once again! 😎

 

[Jamman54]

13 hours ago, Hogladyrider said:

All enrolled to follow along!

 

Really enjoy your precruise info as well.....the Hampton looks very nice and super convenient....a win win for sure.

 

 

 

Thanks for following along! We enjoyed the Hampton Inn and will return. 😎

 

12 hours ago, joe/jack said:

Please continue enjoying your review 

We are on Mardi Gras in 17 days and we are beginning to pack. This ship looks like a real fresh take on the Carnival line

 

 

Thanks for reading. You will enjoy the Mardi Gras! 😎

 

12 hours ago, TravelGirlinDallas said:

I'm late to the party, but I'm here for it now! Looking forward to all of the pictures!

 

Glad to have you back on board! 😎

[KmomChicago]

I'm up early and ready to read. . . 🙂

[Jamman54]

10 hours ago, mcgore83 said:

Always enjoy your reviews and Patti's pictures!

 

Thanks for your kind words. Welcome aboard! 😎

 

10 hours ago, kpark895 said:

Yeah!  I've been waiting for this review for what seems like ages!  Thanks for all of your hard work, Jeff and Patti!

 

Glad to have you back on board once again! 😎

 

9 hours ago, blarko said:

Dang! I’m late to this party....didn’t need realize you had started and now I’m already 4 pages behind. I gotta catch up! Loving the review so far 😀

 

Not late at all. You'll be boarding the Mardi Gras later today! 😁

[Jamman54]

9 hours ago, Hooked! said:

Thanks for taking us along on another one of your awesome adventures! I appreciate all of the pics and info on your pre-cruise adventures, too...gives us ideas of new things to do/see when cruising out of those places! 😎

Megan

 

Thanks Megan, for your kind words. More coming later today. 😎

 

9 hours ago, Starfish on the beach! said:

Love reading your reviews and viewing the awesome pictures!!

 

 

Thanks for reading and your kind words. 😎

 

9 hours ago, HeyJut said:

So glad to be following another adventure.

Hampton Inn looks nice. Love the walk-in shower.

 

Glad to have you along for the ride once again! 😎

[Jamman54]

8 hours ago, 3smithboys said:

Can’t wait to read more. DH and I are going on a B2B in June! 

 

Thanks for reading. You're going to have a great time! 😎

 

8 hours ago, AKR2011 said:

I always look forward to your awesome reviews with Patti's beautiful photos. Thanks so much for taking us along again!

 

❤⚓ Ashley 

 

Glad to have you along for the ride once again! 😎

 

8 hours ago, Chipster2 said:

It was great sailing with you and Patti again. Look forward to following the review. It will be great to relive the 2 weeks we got to spend on the Mardi Gras. Hope to do it again!

 

It was great sailing with you and Gerry again. Feel free to share your thoughts as the review progresses. 😎

[Jamman54]

10 minutes ago, KmomChicago said:

I'm up early and ready to read. . . 🙂

 

Should have slept in. I have to work first. 😁

[jbhcw]

also a bit late...company coming and I've been busy!  So wonderful you can be gone for month!  Loved the pics of the Hampton Inn...favorite hotel so glad to see one at Port Canaveral...we used to...ages and ages ago stay at the Radisson....Thanks so much for doing this Jeff and Patti!

[we b cruzin]

57 minutes ago, jbhcw said:

also a bit late...company coming and I've been busy!  So wonderful you can be gone for month!  Loved the pics of the Hampton Inn...favorite hotel so glad to see one at Port Canaveral...we used to...ages and ages ago stay at the Radisson....Thanks so much for doing this Jeff and Patti!

jbhcw - how is the Radisson? We were thinking of staying there next April pre-cruise.