Guy's On Mardi Gras (both)

[codeyell0]

So we recently sailed on MG. 2/11-2/18/23
I was very disappointed in Guy's.  

The burgers Joint.
no fresh-cut fries like the other ships I have been on. They were just regular fries, I love his fries but not on this ship. 
Did this change on all ships?

Brew House.
Maybe it was my sailing. I was so excited.
The BBQ sauces seemed watered down, none tasted really good.
I had the BBQ sauce at the burger joint and it was good. again on other ships.
Dinner
The potato salad, the sauce was good but the potatoes were so watery like they had let them sit in water for way too long. made them horrible.
Brisket was good, but no bbq sauce.  The rest of the items were ok. I think someone changed the recipe for the items for the day we went. we never went back
The cobbler was odd IMO. a small cast iron skillet, a few apple slices, a couple of crumbles of something (not sure exactly, these tasted fine) and then a lite sauce.
Lite as in small amount. It was not very good, didn't eat it
I did like the fried onions. and the Mac n Cheese was great!
Lunch
I decided to try lunch.  
They were low on many items when I got there.  
What happened to the brisket on the lunch buffet? I have watched many videos in the past and they had brisket now its smoked beef.
More like a pot roast smoked.
The chicken was ok. Beef ok but when you were expecting brisket. Mac was good too
The sausage was not the same as at dinner. But it was decent. 
Nothing really screamed AWESOME!!

I was watching a video about the brew house and they had different items each night of the cruise
they said go on the first night they have filet.  This was not the case, each night was the same menu

nothing changed.

When did all the changes happen?  Maybe some of these expectations are old.
I have been watching videos on this ship for a long while as we were booked on MG over a year ago, but changed cruises due to Carnival canceling kids club.

 

[Guest BasicSailor]

15 minutes ago, codeyell0 said:

Did this change on all ships?

Yes it did.

[codeyell0]

14 minutes ago, BasicSailor said:

Yes it did.

Everything? the fries, the dinner menu, the smoked beef?
it's like the quality went down.  Less like guys more like carnival's recipe?

 

[Joebucks]

Honestly, I've generally been pretty satisfied with the food on Carnival. The BBQ has always underwhelmed me (except for the dry rub chicken, which I would usually not order from a BBQ place).

 

Guy's burgers was just fine last month

[Pellaz]

14 hours ago, BasicSailor said:

Yes it did.

Actually, based on recent posts here on CruiseCrtic, NO, it didn't.    Or at least, not on all ships and not all the time.  

Some posters here have reported the "original" good/hand-cut fries WERE available, particularly toward the beginning of the cruise.

[Paelos]

I was on the same sailing and I agree the bbq by my standards as a southern American was awful. The sides were bland, the sauces tasted watery and sugar forward, and the meat was very boring with little smoked taste. 

 

We did the lunch and it was so lackluster we didn't ever go for dinner. I agree with you about the items missing as well it was a constant stream of things taking time to get replaced on the lunch service line. It was almost like the didn't expect 6000 people in the ship.

 

Add in the fact they were out of the pig and anchor souvenir mugs and the brewery tours all sold out in the first couple of hours? I found the whole area off putting.

[Colorado Beach Bum]

We’ve been on Mardi Gras four times and dinner menu at guys p&a has been different every time - and in my opinion, not for the better.  We really enjoyed the nightly specials which are now gone.  Also enjoyed the thunderstruck tater tots, now gone.  The size of the side have gotten bigger which I guess is an improvement but overall the experience is way down from our first two Mardi Gras cruises.  

[jcearth]

Just off the Mardi Gras - the Pig and Anchor was the biggest disappointment on the entire ship.  Service was subpar and slow, the food was a bit of a disappointment (although mac and cheese was good), but the biggest disappointment was the bar.  It was by far the worst place to get a drink on the ship.  Service was at a monolithic pace, and oftentimes, it took over 30 minutes to get a drink.  I opted to go outside to the Watering Hole and got my drinks much faster.  It was strange to see such slow service, when other venues on the ship were busy yet still very efficient (coffee shop, pizzeria, Shaq's, Guy's Burgers to name a few).

 

The fries at Guy's Burgers were not as good as in the past, but there are also 2 other venues to get your fry fix (Shaq's and Time Fries)

[Pellaz]

15 hours ago, jcearth said:

Just off the Mardi Gras - the Pig and Anchor was the biggest disappointment on the entire ship.  Service was subpar and slow, the food was a bit of a disappointment (although mac and cheese was good), but the biggest disappointment was the bar.

We didn't have any problems like that with the bar, but our dinner visit to Guy's P&A was a once-and-done.  Service was slow, items were mis-plated, and my friend John's order of ribs was so overcooked you couldn't put a fork into them...and the maître'd took a photo of them with his cellphone so he could "shame the chef."   

 

We DID like the lunch BBQ buffet outside, though...but we're used to it from other ships.  

 

15 hours ago, jcearth said:

  It was by far the worst place to get a drink on the ship.  Service was at a monolithic pace, and oftentimes, it took over 30 minutes to get a drink.  I opted to go outside to the Watering Hole and got my drinks much faster. 

We went to the Watering Hole bar pretty often, since it seemed underutilized and seldom busy.   Windy too, while underway, but not as windy as the Serenity bar.  😄  

Edited February 28, 2023 by Pellaz

[ray98]

You are describing the new Carnival.

[jerseyjjs]

7 hours ago, Pellaz said:

We didn't have any problems like that with the bar, but our dinner visit to Guy's P&A was a once-and-done.  Service was slow, items were mis-plated, and my friend John's order of ribs was so overcooked you couldn't put a fork into them...and the maître'd took a photo of them with his cellphone so he could "shame the chef."   

 

We DID like the lunch BBQ buffet outside, though...but we're used to it from other ships.  

 

We went to the Watering Hole bar pretty often, since it seemed underutilized and seldom busy.   Windy too, while underway, but not as windy as the Serenity bar.  😄  

 

 

Do they serve beer by the bucket at Guy's P&A?

[Pellaz]

16 hours ago, jerseyjjs said:

 

 

Do they serve beer by the bucket at Guy's P&A?

 

I'm not certain, but I'm fairly sure they do.  They'd be silly not to, considering the themed area.  🙂

[asalligo]

20 hours ago, ray98 said:

You are describing the new Carnival.

This! Unfortunately, this is our new normal with Carnival. Maybe it will get better several years from now when the stock is back above 30. 

[LPut714]

Just off Mardi Gras two weeks agi

Guys burgers still good I would often time get without a bun

Fries not the same have declined

we did the smoke house for lunch not dinner also decline only decent meat was the pork

hot sides were lukewarm at best

 

[thomasale]

uh oh, booked for April 29th, sounds ominous

 

[ray98]

On 3/1/2023 at 7:38 AM, asalligo said:

This! Unfortunately, this is our new normal with Carnival. Maybe it will get better several years from now when the stock is back above 30. 

Stock will never see $30 until the debt load is no where near $34B and they manage to quit losing additional millions per day.

[asalligo]

14 hours ago, ray98 said:

Stock will never see $30 until the debt load is no where near $34B and they manage to quit losing additional millions per day.

And you do not think they will be able to do that in several years? I have made an outlook reminder to come back to this thread March 6th, 2026. We shall see. 

[cruisegirl1976]

On 2/27/2023 at 12:31 PM, jcearth said:

Just off the Mardi Gras - the Pig and Anchor was the biggest disappointment on the entire ship.  Service was subpar and slow, the food was a bit of a disappointment (although mac and cheese was good), but the biggest disappointment was the bar.  It was by far the worst place to get a drink on the ship.  Service was at a monolithic pace, and oftentimes, it took over 30 minutes to get a drink.  I opted to go outside to the Watering Hole and got my drinks much faster.  It was strange to see such slow service, when other venues on the ship were busy yet still very efficient (coffee shop, pizzeria, Shaq's, Guy's Burgers to name a few).

 

The fries at Guy's Burgers were not as good as in the past, but there are also 2 other venues to get your fry fix (Shaq's and Time Fries)

I was only the Feb  4th sailing and the bar situation was completely opposite from your experience, I walked up to the bar and had a drink within 5 minutes, numerous times, and the watering hole I waited much longer. My hubby loved the pig and anchor, and the burger place, those were the most enjoyable things we liked on the ship, the italian restaurant, the food was good, but the service was very slow.. we waited 20 minutes just for water, and another 10 before we had a waiter, and only on the very last night of the cruise were we offered drinks at dinner.