IntrepidFromDC

like two ships in the night...

As you are probably well aware, you are in for a TREAT! Good luck trying to do everything! If I could only give one tip for first-time Mardi Gras cruisers it would be about the food - check out the much-improved free food at places like Shaq's, Shawarma, Seadogs, Street Eats and choose any time dining so you can eat at Chibang and other places (help me people) at regular dining time instead of MDR. Oh, and don't forget about Rudi's!

Hi everybody. I've been on 25 cruises, all Carnival. Usually I cruise with my daughter but once again young love trumped vacay with dad so while I'm looking forward to my first ever B2B (and my second and third cruises on Mardi Gras, my favorite ship by far!), it'll be bittersweet. That said, I think I'll get over it every time I look at a dinner check and it's half of what I'm used to, having extra spending money, etc. I fly to MCO early Friday and will spend the day in Cocoa Beach. Based on numerous recommendations from several of my favorite cruisecritic friends, I'll be checking out Riki Tiki on the Cocoa Beach Pier Friday afternoon for the first time. After Riki Tiki I'll walk the beach to the TripAdvisor #1 rated Cocoa Beach restaurant, Florida Fresh Grill. Reviews on that restaurant have been great to stellar, so I'm excited. Saturday morning I'll uber to Port Canaveral terminal 3 for my 10:30am check-in. The first 7-day cruise is Western Caribbean to Cozumel, Costa Maya and Roatan. The second half of the B2B is billed as Eastern Caribbean, but since the ports are Nassau (replaced San Juan after I booked - boo Carnival), Grand Turk and Amber Cove we all know better. I have been to all these ports before and don't have any excursions planned, although that will likely change if/when I recover enough from my recent bout of TexasTeachitis (alcohol-aided twisted ankle), although mine is more a top of the foot sprain. First thing on board I'll either hit Shaq's or Shawarma, then drink and exploration time! I have a family harbor room both cruises - kinda weird since I don't have kids in tow, but the offer was $100 (plus casino cash and obc) or $220 for an interior. At least this way I don't have to worry about bacation days. I'd like to thank you guys for your recent trip reports, especially coolant-Dave, Jamman and a few others, which helped me manage my anticipation. My live reports usually are photo-heavy, I do try to comment on things I've learned on excursions and here and there and of course I'm open to questions. Your Friend and Mine, the other Jeff

$100 cruise plus port fees and taxes, minus $250 casino cash and $200 obc for each cruise. On Mardi Gras and B2B!

The way it was explained to me is there are different departments allocated different promotions to offer prior cruisers based on data they've collected and sometimes you might get promotions mixed with the increase/decrease in cabin prices due to supply and demand, plus the structure of the offers are different. In the past I can also remember having two offers on the exact same cabin, ship, sail date that were different by a small amount. This usually happens when my promotions are around ten or more. All I know right now is I leave in two days for my first ever B2B and both 7-day cruises aboard Mardi Gras are less than free! Thanks Global Casino Services and Carnival!

My daughter's gf is an ex-Carnival casino supervisor. He says they have multiple prints of the same "special" item being auctioned and let's say the highest three bids on an item shown are $5,000, $3,000 and $1,500. They take all the money and hand out three "limited" prints.

Awesome start to the live, Dave!

I was thinking of commenting "Thanks for sharing, Dave. Keep coming back."

Great pics of Mardi Gras! How's come I can't get pics that good when I'm sailing her?

They remind me of the torture chamber devices at Chateau Chillon in Switzerland.

BEEN WAITING FOR THIS! AWESOME INTRO AND START!!

Right, I don't think any of the Carnival ships qualify for port of call in Venice, Italy due to size. From Google... The Italian government has banned all but the smallest cruise ships from central Venice. ...and... Q: Why were large cruise ships banned from Venice? A: The 25,000-tonne limit means only small passenger ferries and freight vessels can use the canal. The decision followed years of protests against cruise ships and a warning from Unesco that Venice was at risk of being put on the world heritage endangered list unless the vessels were permanently banned.

Check out TripAdvisor's recommended day tours with local operators. We did one and paid less than $100 for both of us, in an air-conditioned minibus with great clean windows, saw the whole island, stopped at the tourguides house for an in-house tour, meet the family and sample wife's homemade rum punch, then lunch on the west end at a local restaurant frequented by land-based tourists on a pier, very good fresh fish. Total tour, entire island and a lot of history and fun facts, about 5 hours and never a dull moment. These tours let you see what the island is really like, not someone's idea of what tourists should see. The guy who did ours was semi-famous because he donated a lot of money to build Roatan's only manicured soccer field with lighting.

I'm not a math guy, but I seem to remember from high school that one of the defined characteristics of a line was that it had no limit, but ran infinitely. 😁 🏴‍☠️

Say WHAT? I'll be right there. 🍻

The boarding pass itself indicates you "must" print it. I have showed up to cruises with it on my phone and they print it out for me.

That's gooiiinnngg on your PERRRRMANENT RECORDDDD!!!

You too, Tom, on your upcoming Carnival and MSC cruises.

Here's a second on the GT beach being much better about 300 yards down, near Jack's Shack. Unfortunately, Topher is gone and some have said the place is not the same. I'll report back when I visit Jack's Shack in a few weeks. Hoping for great char-grilled chicken and strong drinks as usual, and that the beach is still great. Not quite HMC great but close once you walk a few football fields down away from the madness. If you don't want to be approached by locals selling weed, just stay at water's edge your entire walk down.

Feels about 3x larger.

Works for me! 🙂

If you like that feel of electricity in the air, where the casino feels like an endless playground, you can't go wrong with Mardi Gras. Plus Mardi Gras has a non-smoking and smoking casino (connected but you really don't smell any smoke on the non-smoking side, as they're separated by the bar which is about half non-smoking (I think). Best of all is the view from the table games on the non-smoking side - floor to ceiling clean windows with ocean views! Happy donating! 😁 🏴‍☠️

This is my first time trying to add passport, credit card, health info to my first MSC booking. I get past the passport and credit card, try to do the health questionnaire but no luck, even though I got confirmation page for passport and credit card. Help!!!!

Saint Greg I read it all, it was fantastic but unless I missed it you didn't comment on the jerk chicken?