Live from the Mardi Gras 6/25, is the third time the charm

[AlkaSelzer]

8 hours ago, jimbo5544 said:

We booked room 8268…hope it will be great. 

[jimbo5544]

12 hours ago, AlkaSelzer said:

We booked room 8268…hope it will be great. 

Having stayed in multiple HC rooms on Vista class ships I was leary to stay in this room.  I will give my cents on the topic in the next day pr two, but suffice it to say I do not think you will be disappointed.  

[jimbo5544]

Dinner dance

[jimbo5544]

What awaited us in cabin

[jimbo5544]

Time to go home

[jimbo5544]

Coming up, debark and summary.  

[Green4me]

Breakfast of Champions  🙂 Thanks for all the great pictures Jimbo, we board in a week.

[Green4me]

(the Bloody Mary) 😉

[jimbo5544]

12 hours ago, Green4me said:

Breakfast of Champions  🙂 Thanks for all the great pictures Jimbo, we board in a week.

Thanks for following along.  It has been my pleasure.  

[jimbo5544]

12 hours ago, Green4me said:

(the Bloody Mary) 😉

It was spectacular 

[matt082600]

On 6/24/2022 at 6:59 AM, jimbo5544 said:

While we live in Florida, we spend summers in CT and Long Island with kids and grand kids.  Got our negative tests at 11pm, updated verifly and went to bed.  Flying out of New Haven this morning.

Aittle late to the party, but I'm following along.  Go Tweed!

[jimbo5544]

So time to wrap up this party.  Debark went really smooth and WAY ahead of schedule.  We were supposed to be in the Punchliner at 8.  They started self debark about 7:15.  We were waiting for some of our group (they were already off the ship 🤪, but we got off around 7:45.  Picked up our bags and were in the bus to MCO before 9.  Easy peasy.  

[jimbo5544]

So this was our third time on the Mardi Gras, the first was her 2nd sailing and if memory served me correctly, about 2300 people and we stayed in a balcony 14 Aft port side.  The second sailing was in January and we stayed in a aft excel suite (utterly outstanding room(s)) and there was around 4,000.  This time I knew lower capacity had been reached, but was really interested in how many would be on the ship.  I asked mid week and was told that the number was over 6,200, the most people on the ship to date.  There was no doubt you could tell.  While the ship can hide people for great lengths of time, it still did show at other times.  All that said, it was a super enjoyable cruise. 

[jimbo5544]

Another question we had to answer was about the Havana area.  We are BIG fans of this area, BIG fans.  While we had seen online, and later when we did the TA event on the ship, I. Was openly disappointed in this area for several reasons.  The biggest being the size of the pool, and also the placement of the rooms.  

 

We still LOVED it.  The pool was never over crowded, ion fact, for large portions of the day, we had the pool area to ourselves.  The bar area is still fun and convenient.  The rooms are more narrow (like the rest of the balcony rooms), but we still very much enjoyed them.  If I had a gripe it was that the life rafts were beneath us.  Small gripe.,  I am HAPPY to say the Havana area is alive and well.  LOVED IT

[jimbo5544]

This ship is flat out home run in regards to food.  The options, the flexibility the different locations.  Entertainment was really really good.  Totally different from out past cruises.  Lee was good, our first time with him.  Ho announced he was going to take out the Celebration, we will see him again.  The whole  crew to us, seemed to work very well together.  Not sure if it was timing or what.  

[jimbo5544]

We had a great cruise, thanks for following along, it had some one offs with rescuing 4 people adrift and then being picked up by the coast guard the next morning.  

 

We do not currently have a sailing on her booked (do have 2 on the Celebration) and 4 other cruises booked, but I cannot imagine not getting on her again…..soon.  If you have not done so already, do the Mardi Gras.

[jimbo5544]

Next up for is October on the Pride for a Greece cruise.

[jetsfan58]

On 6/25/2022 at 10:48 AM, jimbo5544 said:

Breakfast on the morning after

What Hotel did you stay in?

On 6/25/2022 at 10:52 AM, SRQbeachgirl said:

 

Wow. Sounds absolutely terrifying. Glad you made it to Orlando in one piece!

Drive when you can! Leave the skies to birds!

[jimbo5544]

2 minutes ago, jetsfan58 said:

What Hotel did you stay in?

Drive when you can! Leave the skies to birds!

Hampton Inn and suites at MCO.  In retrospect, thought our time on this planet was coming to an end.

[Drazil65]

Thanks for all the MG info and pix, we are on the MG this December (corner suite) and 2023 in HC balcony.  Looks like a blast (having the HC area pool to ourselves would be awesome!) and we are excited to get on MG.  We are definitely fans of the bigger, newer ships and looking to book Celebration in the next year (so will be gathering info on that ship as well).  

[Moonglo]

On 7/1/2022 at 3:59 PM, jimbo5544 said:

Smokehouse bar, love the drinks at this bar

Now thats an Olive.....the drink looks great too.......

[Jamman54]

1 hour ago, Moonglo said:

Now thats an Olive.....the drink looks great too.......

Thanks again Jimbo for your thoughts and observations. Enjoy your cruise on the Pride. When are you on the Celebration? 😎

[we b cruzin]

Thank you for your review. I enjoyed following along on your adventure. We will be on the Mardi Gras next April.

[jimbo5544]

2 hours ago, we b cruzin said:

Thank you for your review. I enjoyed following along on your adventure. We will be on the Mardi Gras next April.

Thanks for following along, you will love the ship

[jimbo5544]

3 hours ago, Jamman54 said:

Thanks again Jimbo for your thoughts and observations. Enjoy your cruise on the Pride. When are you on the Celebration? 😎

Jan 23 (I think). Western