LIVE! Mardi Gras on the Mardi Gras 2/26 - 3/5. Let’s Cruise!

[TravelBluebird]

Just finished a fantastic meal at Rudi ‘s Seagrill!  Off to celebrate—Happy Mardi Gras from the   Carnival  Mardi Gras!

 

Ps Mardi Gras mischief—it’s upside down no matter what I try!

[luvcruzing]

[christinalvt]

22 hours ago, TravelBluebird said:

 

That sounds very tasty! As others have mentioned, it would be nice to have more late night options for snacks.  

I heard somewhere that there is a “Grab and Go” section at the Java Blue Cafe where you can get packaged fruit plates and other snacks for free. Can you confirm that if you happen to go by there? Thanks! Have a great time!
- Christina

[TravelBluebird]

58 minutes ago, christinalvt said:

I heard somewhere that there is a “Grab and Go” section at the Java Blue Cafe where you can get packaged fruit plates and other snacks for free. Can you confirm that if you happen to go by there? Thanks! Have a great time!
- Christina

 

Back at the room after Mardi Gras festivities! I know for sure they have grab and go breakfast sandwiches for free; also (at least in the morning) fruit plates, yogurt, granola; we will check to see what they have later in the day tomorrow

Edited March 2, 2022 by TravelBluebird
Daughter had more information

[TravelBluebird]

1 hour ago, luvcruzing said:

Thank you for fixing the photo! I couldn’t get it to go right side up on the go with my phone!  Just back to the room a bit before midnight from the Lido Deck Mardi Gras party! TONS of people, very festive.

[TravelBluebird]

Tonight’s sunset was beautiful; I took these off my balcony; the sunset and then we saw a “dragon” in the clouds. Also a photo was taken leaving Nassau yesterday; very photogenic port area, and the light was gorgeous from the late overcast.

[TravelBluebird]

This will be a brief rundown on our Mardi Gras evening; internet has not been great tonight (lots of people on it after the party I think) and we have an early morning excursion planned so I need to et to bed. So full reivews//photos will follow.

 

Rudi’s Seagrill was a great choice for our Mardi Gras evening. Really loved the Ciaoppino soup and the Crab Imperial stuffed lobster. More plus photos in my full review.

 

The Flying Scotsman show had been recommended by so many people; We’re not into magic so we went to see our cruise director sing and wow can that guy sing! Huge range, and able to sing multiple styles.  ‘

 

The Lido Mardi Gras party was wall-to-wall people. The Fun crews handed out swag (hats for men, light up “Necklaces” for women, Mardi Gras tiaras etc). The brass trio played some traditional Mardi Gras music and lots of people came dressed up//in yellow, green and purple. With the brass band playing in the music “balcony” and everyone all dressed up, it was a proper Mardi Gras party. A second line was attempted following the brass band but it was pretty tight around the pool so it was only moderately successful (I did join in). There was a King and Queen of Mardi Gras chosen (2 actually) by the crowd selected from the most dressed up (whey will take ;part in the evey-trip Mardi Gras show later this week) and then finished with Carnival line dancing (yes yes, Cupid Shuffle and Wobble were played!). DJ was still playing when we had to call it a night.

 

I have videos and photos, and will add,  Hope everyone had a festive Mardi Gras! We certainly did!

 

 

[luvcruzing]

8 hours ago, TravelBluebird said:

Thank you for fixing the photo! I couldn’t get it to go right side up on the go with my phone!  Just back to the room a bit before midnight from the Lido Deck Mardi Gras party! TONS of people, very festive.

You're very welcome.  I just couldn’t let those two lovely faces hang upside down.  

[TravelBluebird]

Good morning from beautiful, sunny Amber Cove, Dominican Republic!

 

We just pulled in to port at around 8:15AM. Its going to be a hot day (which is expected and fine) Its 8:26 and Gangway is not open yet (just had an announcement).  

 

We are going to take the Carnival Monkeyland / Puerto Plata City Tour today, and if time allows after, will check out the pool area at the port.

 

Off to get dressed for our excursion! Quick few snaps from my iPad below; I’ll download a couple of the camera shots I took this morning when I return.

 

 

[TravelBluebird]

We had room service breakfast again—put in time 8-8:30 came exactly at 8.  Hot, good coffee. We also got breakfast sandwiches this morning $4.00 charge each because we needed some protein and no food on our four hour tour. Plus some fruit. Breakfast sandwiches (bacon, baked egg etc) was good but a bit bland, next time I’d get some Tabasco sauce with it; there is a sauce on the side which did help if you dipped the sandwich. Back to being good after my Fat Tuesday excesses, so I didn’t eat the hash browns nor all the english muffin. Thought I had taken a photo of the sandwich but with no caffeine yet so nope)

 

It was very pleasant to have our breakfast in our sitting area as we came into port!

 

 

 

[SNJCruisers]

5 hours ago, luvcruzing said:

You're very welcome.  I just couldn’t let those two lovely faces hang upside down.  

I thought they were cruising in Australia.

[SNJCruisers]

JavaBlue has really good breakfast sandwiches.  Four choices on English muffins and three choices on a multi grain bread.  Had a cappacola(sp) with cheese and egg twice on the bread and they were good 👍.

Edited March 2, 2022 by SNJCruisers

[TrqoisWtrs]

On 3/1/2022 at 8:29 AM, TravelBluebird said:

Celestial Strings played all over the ship. 

 

On 3/1/2022 at 8:29 AM, TravelBluebird said:

Yes, they play all over the ship (and we have caught them 2x now; love just hearing them play)

Celestial Strings is the show; New Age Trio is the group from there that plays in the bars.  You can follow them on book of faces; they have a new CD coming out soon.🎶

[TravelBluebird]

I’m in! Internet is being impossible, but I’m assuming everyone just got back to their ship after their day in Amber Cove so all trying to be on at the same time!  We have been sitting on our balcony for over an hour taking photos and sketching the beautiful mountains, sea and light in Amber Cove.

 

We had a wonderful excursion to Puerto Plata and Monkeyland! i have lots of photos and a full review to follow; may not be able to get it to you right now due to the horrible Internet.  So WOULD just leave you one photo that kind of speaks for the whole day, but it won’t upload at the moment. I have the premium internet package and this has been the first time its not been usable, but its frustrating.

 

I owe some people info and answers to questions; I have not forgotten.

 

Tonight we are going to the Vegas Nights show in Grand Central (there is also the Love and Marriage show in the Main Theater; I’ve been there, done that) and then dinner in the Teppanyaki restaurant.

 

[Posesmom]

Thank you for the awesome review! 

 

[TravelBluebird]

Still unable to upload a photo; can’t load lots of news sites (wanted to check on the Ukraine/Russia situation). Ship TV (CBS News etc) is completely down so maybe there are systems problems.  I can get the occasional text comment through on this thread and that is about all,   

 

Sail away was wonderful; I think Amber Cove is one of the prettiest ports in this part of the Caribbean with the lush mountains in the background. Nice port too; lots of shopping. We didn’t get a chance to check out the pool area because our excursion came back late (5 hours instead of 4)  and we were HANGRY. 

 

The only shopping we had time to do was the pharmacy; i needed a bigger bandage for that big foot blister and more antibiotic ointment, and daughter wanted a razor. $27 later we had these things. And the ointment is .3 of an ounce! Ah well; the only razor the ship had was $22 alone and they didn;t really have the other things at all.  This was one of those pharmacies where everyone was buying drugs you need a prescription for in the USA (long line; several people bought Amoxycillin and several guys bought *****!).

 

We didn’t get back to the ship till after 3. Luckily Street Eats was open till 5 (as was the buffet). We got the Pork, Shrimp & Spinach Siu Mai and Uttapam (lentil and rice pancake with spiced sukha chicken, coconut and tomato chutney). Both were delicious and very much to our taste; we are not a fan of bland food. Street Eats is such a marvelous addition to the Lido I hope to see it on more ships!

 

We rounded that out with some salad bar.  And then decided on blended coffee drinks (mine decaf). We tried to get them less sweet and that translated to mine with no chocolate and daughter’s extra sweet, so we blended them together in the big wine glasses and shared; much better.

 

Our dinner reservation is at 9 tonight so I think we’ll have an appetite by then!

 

Daughter just back from the gym; she uses it every day (machines and weights) she is pleased with the gym.

 

Still no photo uploads. We are going to go out and about now in search of pre-dinner drinks!

 

 

[TravelBluebird]

Just wanted to add that we DID do some shopping in Puerto Plata and both got some Larimar jewelry. Husband has been forewarned (didn’t want him to read it here first). The pieces were not that expensive and we love, love this light blue semi-precious stone, and that it is only found in Dominican Republic.  I got a teardrop cross and daughter some earring studs. 

 

From Google: Larimar is a rare blue variety of the silicate mineral pectolite found only in the Dominican Republic, in the Caribbean. Its coloration varies from white, light-blue, green-blue to deep blue.  Larimar is considered one of the rarest minerals on planet Earth and this is because its ONLY known source is in one remote mountain located in Bahoruco, Dominican Republic.

 

Need to buy the grandkids something, so I’ll look in the ship’s gift shop tomorrow, plus we are both coveting the Mardi Gras ship mugs sold at Blue Java. That should be it for shopping this trip!

[Pirate46]

3 hours ago, TravelBluebird said:

Just wanted to add that we DID do some shopping in Puerto Plata and both got some Larimar jewelry. Husband has been forewarned (didn’t want him to read it here first). The pieces were not that expensive and we love, love this light blue semi-precious stone, and that it is only found in Dominican Republic.  I got a teardrop cross and daughter some earring studs. 

 

From Google: Larimar is a rare blue variety of the silicate mineral pectolite found only in the Dominican Republic, in the Caribbean. Its coloration varies from white, light-blue, green-blue to deep blue.  Larimar is considered one of the rarest minerals on planet Earth and this is because its ONLY known source is in one remote mountain located in Bahoruco, Dominican Republic.

 

Need to buy the grandkids something, so I’ll look in the ship’s gift shop tomorrow, plus we are both coveting the Mardi Gras ship mugs sold at Blue Java. That should be it for shopping this trip!

Thanks for all the updates, a little surprised that the premium Internet package coverage is so spotty. I’m cruising on MG in a couple of weeks. Do you know if the Cucina de Capitano is open or offers anything for breakfast?  I thought I’d heard they have omelette and such there. 
Also anxious to hear how Tempanyani was. I have it booked for a late lunch on our cruise. 
 

[TravelBluebird]

1 hour ago, Pirate46 said:

Thanks for all the updates, a little surprised that the premium Internet package coverage is so spotty. I’m cruising on MG in a couple of weeks. Do you know if the Cucina de Capitano is open or offers anything for breakfast?  I thought I’d heard they have omelette and such there. 
Also anxious to hear how Tempanyani was. I have it booked for a late lunch on our cruise. 

 

Actually, I went to Guest Services because I was really surprise that the premium Internet was so spotty. Turns out that there was a system-wide outage that was affecting all ships today. It seems better now so I hope the worse is over.  I will find out if Cucina has breakfast (I don’t recall seeing them on the breakfast list but I’ll double check).  Teppanyaki was awesome. Food was fantastic; I got the lobster and filet mignon and they were cooked perfectly. The desert (really a bento box of 6 small deserts!) was divine. Was a little underwhelmed by the show aspect but we were the 9pm dinner and honestly everyone seemed a little tired; our chef prepared great food and was a master at using his cooking tools but he was a bit quieter than I usually have at a Teppanyaki bar.  We had nice people at our table; 2 familys. Parents of one of the families is on their 4th straight (in a row) Mardi Gras cruise!!

 

Ok, after this posts I’ll try a few images from today because the Internet seems like it may be less spotty, but I’m exhausted; time to sleep so I can enjoy Grand Turk tomorrow! 

[TravelBluebird]

All right. Here is what you can expect from the Monkeyland excursion!: 

 

And yay looks like photo upload//internet is working again! 

 

And yes, we have monkeys (spider monkeys!) on our head. Monkeys everywhere! if you don’t want a monkey on you, this is not the excursion for you.

Edited March 3, 2022 by TravelBluebird

[TravelBluebird]

It wasn’t easy with the set up of the monkey encounter at Monkeyland, but I was able to try out my new telephoto lens (more on this later in my full excursion review) and get some great shots of the monkeys without people. Here is one of my favorites from today: 

 

 

[TravelBluebird]

One of many photos I took of the port at Amber Cove today from my balcony. I need to sort through them but the light and the clouds were so pretty; here is one:

 

 

[TravelBluebird]

Ok definitely calling it a like (I’m getting side eye from daughter who is like GO TO BED Grand Turk tomorrow, and me: BUT THE INTERNET IS BACK. She is right.

 

Also...it’s Wednesday night. Am I the only one who starts getting sad the cruise is nearly over on Wednesday even though you don’t leave till Saturday morning?  Just 2 more days left, and Friday is packing day. 

 

Good night all; again, thanks for reading along with me!

[x lindsay x]

I am really enjoying this thread. We get on the MG in just under two months and I love hearing about the ship from another perspective. 

[TravelBluebird]

1 hour ago, x lindsay x said:

I am really enjoying this thread. We get on the MG in just under two months and I love hearing about the ship from another perspective. 

 

Thank you; which itinerary will you take?