I am booked on the Mardi Gras!!!

[hopelea]

I just booked the October 24, 2020 sailing on the Mardi Gras.  We have three rooms in the Havana area.  After looking at the deck plans it doesn't look like the havana area is as nice as the havana on  the Vista.  Anyone have any thoughts on that?  The Vista had a really nice pool area, lots of chairs, a couple of hot tubs.  I looked at a deck plan from icruise and it doesn't show any of that.  I am concerned and thinking about changing my rooms.   Thanks!!

 

Hope

[jimbo5544]

Having stayed in Havana rooms in both Vista and Horizon, we were really excited to see the area on the MG.  While I share your disappointment, we have one booked on the first northern Europe cruise.  I am sure we will here more about them in the interim.

[hopelea]

So it looks the same to you as it does me?  The Vista deck plans shows a nice area.  The MG doesn't.  There looks to be a tiny pool are in a corner close to the bar area.  I am calling my PVP in the morning.  I think I am going to swap to a spa balcony.  I just don't want to take any chances.  We have had spa rooms and loved them.  

[Love-to-ride]

On 1/29/2019 at 6:00 PM, Snowbath said:

Date? Thanks. 

August 31, 2020.

 

[CruiseRookieSteve]

10 minutes ago, jimbo5544 said:

Having stayed in Havana rooms in both Vista and Horizon, we were really excited to see the area on the MG.  While I share your disappointment, we have one booked on the first northern Europe cruise.  I am sure we will here more about them in the interim.

We had a Havana Room on the Carnival Horizon Transatlantic cruise. We booked it just to see what it was like but it was a bit of a waste for us as neither my wife or I are "pool" people. We went into the spa one time on the entire 14 day cruise. For this MG cruise we've just booked a balcony near the center of Deck 5 that is near the stairs and elevators. It looks like we are really close to the Piano Bar and a lot of other action on Deck 6. We mostly like the music venues on the cruise so don't mind being closest to those. From what I can tell, Deck 5 is the lowest level to have balconies. Carnival mentions it as being "close to the waves" which is fine for me as I enjoy listening to the ocean while we cruise. On our recent cruise to Hawaii on the Splendor we were on Deck 6 near the center of the ship and were happy with that. We were just one level up from most of the public areas which are Decks 3, 4, and 5 on that ship, plus the Lido on Deck 9.

[puschi1906]

I just read that the roller coaster has a high restriction of maximum 76 inches. That's a real bummer for my husband as he is taller than that 😕

[13cheermom]

14 hours ago, hopelea said:

So it looks the same to you as it does me?  The Vista deck plans shows a nice area.  The MG doesn't.  There looks to be a tiny pool are in a corner close to the bar area.  I am calling my PVP in the morning.  I think I am going to swap to a spa balcony.  I just don't want to take any chances.  We have had spa rooms and loved them.  

 

I think I would have to agree with you about the difference between Havana Balcony vs. Spa Balcony.  When I checked the prices it would be about another $700 for 2 of us between the two.  At least with Spa rooms you know what extras are available where the Havana rooms it's a guess.  I would only book Havana rooms on Vista or Horizon going forward based on the secluded private area.  Definitely not worth that price difference for us.

[Jerseygirl1416]

14 hours ago, hopelea said:

So it looks the same to you as it does me?  The Vista deck plans shows a nice area.  The MG doesn't.  There looks to be a tiny pool are in a corner close to the bar area.  I am calling my PVP in the morning.  I think I am going to swap to a spa balcony.  I just don't want to take any chances.  We have had spa rooms and loved them.  

We loved our spa balcony on the Breeze but the spa balcony’s on the Mardi Gras are under public spaces which I won’t take the chance for noise on those and the balcony cabins on deck 17 are 11 decks from the spa itself.

[dbrucern]

We got the call too and booked Nov 28th but then noted it appeared on my Casino Choice offer and called back so we are paying a little less and getting money to play in the casino and DUO. 

[CruiseRookieSteve]

11 hours ago, Jerseygirl1416 said:

We loved our spa balcony on the Breeze but the spa balcony’s on the Mardi Gras are under public spaces which I won’t take the chance for noise on those and the balcony cabins on deck 17 are 11 decks from the spa itself.

We were in a Havana Cabana balcony on the Transatlantic Carnival Horizon cruise, but one level up from the dual spas at the rear of the ship. We had to go through a maze to get from our stateroom down to the actual spa whirlpools. The Havana Cabana nightclub was directly below our stateroom and we could clearly hear the music from our stateroom. We are into jazz, but no so much into Latin Jazz which they played all evening. It wasn't too bad for us as that is the time we are mostly out of our stateroom enjoying the other live music venues around the ship.

[Jerseygirl1416]

I just read that Heald confirmed that all cabins on the Mardi Gras will have bigger showers with glass doors and shaving ledges for women. Someone’s listening! He also said that the pools will have built in steps. 

[grandmarnnurse]

4 minutes ago, Jerseygirl1416 said:

I just read that Heald confirmed that all cabins on the Mardi Gras will have bigger showers with glass doors and shaving ledges for women. Someone’s listening! He also said that the pools will have built in steps. 

Yes, they did listen!! 👍

[BETSY DOLL]

On 1/29/2019 at 7:49 PM, Jamman54 said:

 

I was totally shocked when my PVP called and asked if I wanted to book now. Luckily I knew what cabins we were interested in because of the leaked deck plans. Carnival should have released the dates, itineraries, and deck plans yesterday then just opened the bookings at 10am tomorrow. The booking process is going to take so long because everybody is going to have questions. My first questions were dates and itineraries.

Hey Jamman, what is the best way to cumnicate.we need to book a meet n greet.

text me to doll39gwtw@aol.com. Thanks, Betsy

[ProgRockCruiser]

12 hours ago, BETSY DOLL said:

Hey Jamman, what is the best way to cumnicate.we need to book a meet n greet.

text me to  xxxx. Thanks, Betsy

 

You really shouldn't put that personal info there.  You should ask a mod to delete it.

[Jamman54]

13 hours ago, BETSY DOLL said:

Hey Jamman, what is the best way to cumnicate.we need to book a meet n greet.

text me to doll39gwtw@aol.com. Thanks, Betsy

 

Hey Betsy! Looking forward to meeting you and yours on board. A little early to be planning a meet and greet since I have seven cruises to go on before this one. It will also be better to talk about this on the roll calls.

[Jamman54]

44 minutes ago, fyree39 said:

I had a bump out cabin on Anthem of the Seas.  The one thing you might notice is the wind.  Anytime we were at sea the amount of wind whistling on our balcony was pretty impressive.  I think it's due to the balcony bumping out on the sides of the ship.  I'll be interested to see if you have the same issue.

 

We had a JS on the hump on the Explorer of the Seas and don't remember the wind being an issue. that's the reason we wanted to try a hump balcony on the Mardi Gras. We'll see! 

Edited February 13, 2019 by Jamman54

[Mediterranean_Honeymooner]

On 1/29/2019 at 6:33 PM, Jamman54 said:

So, my PVP called me at 7pm telling me that I was his first call and that I could book my cruise now. We'll be on the first cruise from Port Canaveral on October 16th 2020. It's an 8 day cruise going to San Juan, St. Thomas, Amber Cove, and Grand Turk. The following cruises will be 7 days. He told me that there will be some Med cruises and a TA. We booked an 8J Deluxe Balcony on Deck 11 (11358). Got $200 OBC and a 50% deposit. (ES) rate. We are so excited!!!

 

Would you mind posting which PVP you have?  Or if that’s not allowed, will you email me at medcruising at yahoo dot com?  Mine is awful and I really want someone I can establish a relationship with.

[Jamman54]

3 hours ago, Mediterranean_Honeymooner said:

 

Would you mind posting which PVP you have?  Or if that’s not allowed, will you email me at medcruising at yahoo dot com?  Mine is awful and I really want someone I can establish a relationship with.

 

Not allowed to mention names on here, but I did shoot you an email.

[Jamman54]

We decided to switch to the 15 day New York to Port Canaveral Journeys cruise. I was able to snag the same hump balcony (11358) that I had booked for this cruise. Didn't think that would be possible since the 8J's & 8K's don't show on the website, but my PVP said it was available.

[misterkevin]

On ‎1‎/‎30‎/‎2019 at 12:11 AM, Dylobs said:

Got on this the moment that I could for my partner and I. Although the Havana area doesn’t look as equipped on this ship as on the Vista class, I placed a courtesy hold on one of the new Havana Vista Suites - We’ll have a long time to plan for this one, so lets go all out!

 

I particularly liked the front location on Deck 8 for this room, and I hope it’ll have some nice deck space with the private lanai, which appears to be what the gray space is on either side of the ship for these rooms.

 

”In a Havana Vista Suite you’ll find all the luxury of a suite, all decked out in Cuba-inspired décor. Outside your Havana Vista Suite lies a private lanai with your own hammock chair, plus exclusive daytime access to Havana Pool area... not to mention amenities like VIP check-in, a walk-in closet, and a bathroom with one luxurious rain shower.”

 

That said, I think a lot will rest on the configuration of the room and how things are situated since it is a corner space.

 

Here’s to hoping that we find out more information about the ship and its areas soon!

 

Hi Dylobs--

We just booked 8234 in the Havana area for the same cruise you're on. I was thinking about taking one of the last 4 extended balconies, and I changed my mind at the last minute. When we were on the Vista last time we had a Havana aft-facing balcony one floor above the Havana pool area. In the evening when they opened up the deck to the ship, a bunch of teenagers would congregate in the hot tub basically right outside our room and make lots of noise. How can I stand at my cabin window naked that way?  I'm wondering how exclusive this will be with more cabins dedicated to the HA and from what I can tell, no hot tubs? We'll see. It should still be better than the main pool and the Serenity areas, but it's all a big unknown at this point.

[PhillyFan33579]

On 2/3/2019 at 12:07 PM, Jerseygirl1416 said:

We loved our spa balcony on the Breeze but the spa balcony’s on the Mardi Gras are under public spaces which I won’t take the chance for noise on those and the balcony cabins on deck 17 are 11 decks from the spa itself.

 

I am curious to see how the cloud 9 spa balcony cabins on deck 17 turn out.  We have a cruise booked in February 2021. We have always stayed in a cloud 9 spa cabin on ships that have this area. I didn’t want to stay on deck 5, so deck 17 was the only other option. 

[Jerseygirl1416]

2 hours ago, PhillyFan33579 said:

 

I am curious to see how the cloud 9 spa balcony cabins on deck 17 turn out.  We have a cruise booked in February 2021. We have always stayed in a cloud 9 spa cabin on ships that have this area. I didn’t want to stay on deck 5, so deck 17 was the only other option. 

Yeah me too but I just didn’t want to take the chance with noise from Serenity and I definitely didn’t want to be on 5 either under those venues. I ended up booking on 14 in the aft area where the ship starts to bow out so it looks like the balcony will be larger than the balconies in the same category. I am really looking forward to the ship, I love the new big ships, but was definitely disappointed with what they did with the spa location and the spa cabin locations.

[Jerseygirl1416]

Also on Breeze our cabin was right by the door that entered into the gym and then just up the stairs by the glass elevator and you were in the spa. We’d go in our robes and didn’t feel funny about it since we usually never even saw anyone either way. I’m definitely not riding down the elevator from 17 to 5 in my robe but that’s just me.

[ProgRockCruiser]

On 2/17/2019 at 7:42 PM, Jamman54 said:

We decided to switch to the 15 day New York to Port Canaveral Journeys cruise. I was able to snag the same hump balcony (11358) that I had booked for this cruise. Didn't think that would be possible since the 8J's & 8K's don't show on the website, but my PVP said it was available.

 

This re-inforces my suspicion that the really good cabins have all been pre-snagged by PVPs/TAs, and are not available to the general public trying to book themselves.

 

Which is a shame, because up until now, I was not aware that Carnival allowed that - the advantages to having a PVP/TA was for other reasons, like a bit more advanced notice, or that personal touch in making the reservation and any changes (i.e. delegating the leg work), and maybe some extra OBC.

 

@Jamman54, I know you can't say who you use, but is it a Carnival PVP, or an external agency TA?

[misterkevin]

On 2/2/2019 at 4:08 PM, eroller said:

 

 

Nice pic, but a glorified hot tub is actually what it looks like to me.  It certainly won't be very deep (hot tub depth) and there won't be any actual swimming.  I imagine most people will be sitting in it along the edges on built in seating just like a hot tub.  It even has the plastic drains all around perimeter just like most hot tubs have.   

 

I'm not saying it won't be a nice area.  I think it will be, but I don't think this will be a traditional swimming pool by any means.  It's a compromise based on the constraints of its location.  

This looks like a photo from the side of the ship. The Havana area is supposed to be at the front of the ship. Am I missing something? Maybe there will be both "glorified hot tubs" AND a relaxation pool?