Where's Mardi Gras?

[smurf1635]

3 hours ago, MCC retired said:

The last few times that I checked , the first sailing still bookable has been March 27th .

My guess that there is uncertainty that the ship will be ready to accommodate the sailings before that so they may be holding back their availability ? 🤔

We are booked on the Dec 04th sailing .😕

This is exactly what I'm thinking/hoping.  They are being cautious 🤗

[lasekeye]

This is exactly what happened when they had to cancel the first time.

 

We were scheduled for the first 2 sailings from Copenhagen, and out of curiosity I was always doing mock bookings to check on the availability status.  There were many, many cabins available, but over night, the sailings were fully booked for many sailings ahead, then a few days later we got the cancellation email.

 

Sure hope it’s not happening again.  We took one of our 25% FCC and booked again for December.....I wonder if we will get the original FCC AND another FCC if they have to cancel the Mardi Gras again.

[siestakeys04]

33 minutes ago, lasekeye said:

This is exactly what happened when they had to cancel the first time.

 

We were scheduled for the first 2 sailings from Copenhagen, and out of curiosity I was always doing mock bookings to check on the availability status.  There were many, many cabins available, but over night, the sailings were fully booked for many sailings ahead, then a few days later we got the cancellation email.

 

Sure hope it’s not happening again.  We took one of our 25% FCC and booked again for December.....I wonder if we will get the original FCC AND another FCC if they have to cancel the Mardi Gras again.

Yeah I’m thinking that I might have to switch ships this December. If I can’t sail the Mardi Gras I’m looking at the Breeze and Radiance

Edited March 21, 2020 by siestakeys04

[RWolver672]

14 hours ago, cksv said:

Even considering the fact that people are rescheduling their cruises due to COVID-19, I find it hard to believe that the Mardi Gras suddenly sold out overnight for 4 consecutive months, especially on Carnival's largest ship ever built.

 

Remember too that 8 of the original sailings were cancelled.  Those people booked future cruise on her after the first of the year.  Eight cruises with roughly 6000 passengers doesn't take long to fill up all of the cruises for those months.  Now add the virus to that and the ships are full.

[jimbo5544]

2 hours ago, RWolver672 said:

 

Remember too that 8 of the original sailings were cancelled.  Those people booked future cruise on her after the first of the year.  Eight cruises with roughly 6000 passengers doesn't take long to fill up all of the cruises for those months.  Now add the virus to that and the ships are full.

Add to that, most of the interim cruises were selling really well.  We were in the 8/31 and tried as soon as we heard (the day of the announcement) and could not find a decent cabin on the Mardi Gras for 8 weeks.

[mouche]

On 3/19/2020 at 5:50 PM, cksv said:

Carnival just posted this 8K and one interesting bit:

"The Corporation also believes the effects of COVID-19 on the shipyards where its ships are under construction, will result in a delay in ship deliveries."

https://www.carnivalcorp.com/node/60916/html

 

I'd bet that the delivery date has been pushed out and will be communicated to those that have bookings prior to March 2021 shortly.

Well, this sucks, I already had to rebook Mardi Gras to Feb 6th 2021

[smurf1635]

Maybe it will be just a few weeks...... still hopeful. 

[cksv]

Some news that I came across today: https://cruisebusiness.com/index.php/news-section/top-headlines-category/8551-meyer-werft-suspends-work-on-iona

 

If you don't already know, P&O Cruises is owned by Carnival. Looks like they might be intentionally delaying delivery of their new ships due to recent events.

Edited March 25, 2020 by cksv

[kwokpot]

17 minutes ago, cksv said:

Some news that I came across today: https://cruisebusiness.com/index.php/news-section/top-headlines-category/8551-meyer-werft-suspends-work-on-iona

 

If you don't already know, P&O Cruises is owned by Carnival. Looks like they might be intentionally delaying delivery of their new ships due to recent events.

Exactly. Same thing is going to happen with Mardi Gras.

[Joe817]

20 minutes ago, cksv said:

Some news that I came across today: https://cruisebusiness.com/index.php/news-section/top-headlines-category/8551-meyer-werft-suspends-work-on-iona

 

If you don't already know, P&O Cruises is owned by Carnival. Looks like they might be intentionally delaying delivery of their new ships due to recent events.

Thank you cksv. Very interesting. There are 2 or 3 more interesting articles on that page worth reading.

[elphin]

According to the Carnival website the ship cannot be booked before March 2021.  I am wondering if its delivery is being delayed again?  Work in Finland has ground to a halt as a result of the virus so this seems very possible.  If delivery is being delayed why doesn't Carnival tell us straight rather than leaving cruisers to find out by deduction?

 

It is entirely possible there is a plausible reason for not allowing bookings before March next year perhaps all sailings are sold out?  Therefore treat this post as mere speculation.

[1025cruise]

Nothing official yet, but most likely delayed again.

[DubNHub]

We booked a Jan 2021 sailing because our April 2020 Breeze cruise got caught up in this mess. Gonna be real upset if this one has to get rescheduled too!

[TeresaJ]

4 minutes ago, DubNHub said:

We booked a Jan 2021 sailing because our April 2020 Breeze cruise got caught up in this mess. Gonna be real upset if this one has to get rescheduled too!

Us too! We booked the Mardi Gras for January 2021 in place of our Horizon one this month. I'm hoping for the best.

[DubNHub]

24 minutes ago, TeresaJ said:

Us too! We booked the Mardi Gras for January 2021 in place of our Horizon one this month. I'm hoping for the best.

I noticed the Jan 2021 (and later) sailings not appearing anymore and initially chalked it up to thousands and thousands of folks re-booking due to this mess. Then I thought... what if they have to halt construction because of this? It’s certainly a mess with no good solutions. 
 

As an aside, I’m now researching other cruises in the event we have to re-schedule again. I just read an article, posted yesterday, that the Carnival Radiance’s transformation has been officially postponed. She’s at dry dock in Spain. It was supposed to be a 38 day job, and now the first 4 European sailings have been cancelled. After reading that, I assume Mardi Gras is having the same issue. Guess we’ll know by Friday! I know it’s a silly thing to stress about... but we really needed our April cruise (big move, two career changes) to de-stress. Neither of us have a lot of flexibility with our careers, and I don’t think anyone is able to book an interim vacation right now anyways (land or sea) to make up for our April cruise. So we reluctantly pushed it out to Jan 2021. I think we could most likely book an Oct-Dec 2020 cruise somewhere... but then again, what if this mess continues and disrupts those also? 

[bobandsherry]

It is entirely possible there is a plausible reason for not allowing bookings before March next year perhaps all sailings are sold out?  Therefore treat this post as mere speculation.

That's the word our PVP told us, all the rebookings from first delayed filled up the ship. But you know where the PVPs get their marching orders, and paychecks, from. [emoji39]

Sent from my ONEPLUS A6013 using Tapatalk

[FiredogCruiser]

3 hours ago, elphin said:

According to the Carnival website the ship cannot be booked before March 2021.  I am wondering if its delivery is being delayed again?  Work in Finland has ground to a halt as a result of the virus so this seems very possible.  If delivery is being delayed why doesn't Carnival tell us straight rather than leaving cruisers to find out by deduction?

 

It is entirely possible there is a plausible reason for not allowing bookings before March next year perhaps all sailings are sold out?  Therefore treat this post as mere speculation.

I don't think anyone can do anything except speculate at this point, since no one knows what the various government mandates will be, or when. I don't know how Carnival, or anyone else for that matter, could plan without knowing if ports will be open, airlines flying, hotels functioning and local transportation operating. I'm sure they are waiting for information just like everyone else is. However, it is reasonable to assume that no matter when the go ahead is given it is going to take some time to ramp up. Logistics on supplying ships for one thing. Reprogramming is another, and done on the fly, will result in higher than normal glitches.

 

My major concern is not running out of gin before the stay at home order expires. Drink doesn't solve the problem, but you don't seem to care as much.

[TeresaJ]

There are two other recent topics on this board. There is speculation that the ship is being delayed since the sailings have been taken off the website.

[RMLERL]

I was originally scheduled on the Mardi Gras  September 30 repositioning sailing out of NY- I continually looked at the prices to see if I could grab some OBC for Early Saver- and all of a sudden the sailing was showing no  availability and then it disappeared completely. And then it was cancelled.

I am booked on the Horizon for April 18(that I booked after my Mardi Gras was cancelled). My Horizon sailing will be cancelled too.  So I made a list of about 5 sailings that  I could use as a replacement. The March 13, 2021  Mardi Gras was high on my list.

Last Thursday it disappeared as an option.

Pretty sure- based on my what happened before to me- that Carnival does not expect that Mardi Gras will be here before late March 2021.

 

[MaryZ]

I'm pretty sure the shipyard is closed.  With all the deaths in Italy, they aren't going to be working for awhile.
 

[Denverdonkeys]

36 minutes ago, MaryZ said:

I'm pretty sure the shipyard is closed.  With all the deaths in Italy, they aren't going to be working for awhile.
 

Mardi Gras is being built in Finland. I think the "Radiance" is being "refurbished" in Italy.

[MaryZ]

ahhh...well apparently  Finland is closed too

[DubNHub]

30 minutes ago, Denverdonkeys said:

Mardi Gras is being built in Finland. I think the "Radiance" is being "refurbished" in Italy.

Radiance is in Spain, but they’re closed. Already cancelled her first 4 European sailings also. 

[Denverdonkeys]

11 minutes ago, DubNHub said:

Radiance is in Spain, but they’re closed. Already cancelled her first 4 European sailings also. 

correct, I shouldn't have been so quick to point out the previous error! thanks!

[DubNHub]

12 hours ago, Denverdonkeys said:

correct, I shouldn't have been so quick to point out the previous error! thanks!

Italy, Spain, and I’m afraid Finland... doesn’t matter where, I think it’s all going to be affected. Just waiting on word from Carnival while I research other cruises. We booked a Jan 2021 Mardi Gras cruise because our April 2020 cruise on the Breeze was a no-go. Wouldn’t be surprised if we had to re-reschedule this one.