My short review of Mardi Gras cruise Mar 12-19 - good and bad

[SNJCruisers]

23 hours ago, silversneakers said:

Cats is very looooong.  People seem to leave before it is over.  If you haven't seen it and want to then maybe you will stay for the entire performance.  It isn't bad, just really looooooong.

The 2 hour plus version has been chopped to a respectable 90 minutes.  Still on the fence about seeing it in June, but since we're there for 12 days, we'll probably go to a matinee one of the weeks.

[RCLcruiser2012]

On 3/27/2022 at 4:00 PM, archer_310 said:

I'm sure everyone is tired of seeing review after review of the Mardi Gras, but after 14 cruises (2 on Carnival), I felt I had to let people know my view of this new ship.  Especially after having read reviews leading up to our cruise which painted this ship as the best thing since sliced bread.  As I said, I'll keep it short and won't do any in-depth reviews like other people have done.  I feel that after 14 cruises, our family has a good idea as to what is good and what is not.  We have cruised a majority with Disney and 2 with RC.

The good:

1. Chris Williams (The Flying Scotsman) - his energy and enthusiasm made the performances much better

2. The look of the ship - it's a beautiful looking ship and still clean - unfortunately more about this later under the not so good

3. Theater - finally something of decent size to host entertainment.  Now get some quality shows to put in here.

4. Plenty of deck chairs.  This has been a problem on other ships - not being able to find a lounger to enjoy the sun.  There seemed to be plenty of space on this ship and we apparently had 6000 on board.

5. Muster - quick and painless

6. On and off the ship was pretty quick and painless

 

Not so good:

1. Entertainment - Some of the entertainment in the center stage and theater were well done, but I found that the performances went on just a bit too long.  Some of the entertainment was just boring, but everyone likes different things, so I won't comment more on this as it is a personal preference.

2. Cabins - small.  We had an extended balcony.  It was OK, but the rooms are smaller than other cruiselines we've been on.  Why no more curtain separating adult bed and kid's bed anymore?  Does anyone test layout of bathroom ahead of time?  You have to be a contortionist to get at the toilet paper.Bolt

3. Bolt - only ran 2 days out of the entire cruise.  I understand that weather might have affected some days, but only 2 days out of 7?

 

Bad:

1. Food - we never ate in the Palm as we never saw anything , on the menu, so I can't review the food there.  We did do the Marketplace breakfast and dinner buffets.  We also did Cucino del Capitano a few times which was decent.  Food generally was bland.  No taste to the pizza at Pizzeria del Capitano which was very disappointing.  Not much choice at buffets and hardly any variation in breakfast options.  I can't stress how disappointed we were when comparing to previous cruises.

2. Marketplace layout - terrible.  Buffet setup was puzzling as you would have lines forming where people needed to walk.  People getting omelets would block access to toast and bagels.  It was not a good setup.  For such a big ship, I don't understand why they laid it out like this.  I have seen MUCH better on every other ship we've been on.

3. No garbages - ANYWHERE.  This was a big peeve.  If you wanted to throw something out that wasn't recyclable, good luck on finding somewhere other than your cabin to do it.

4. No where to put used dishes.  Other cruises have had places to discard plates, cups, utensils, etc so that they can be retrieved by the staff.  There was no where on the Mardi Gras to do this.  You had to find a table that someone had been eating at to get rid of something.  As a result, glasses, plates, etc. were being left everywhere on the ship - elevators, stairs, etc.  It was a terrible look.

5. Bad layout of perimeter of ship.  If it's not the glass being too high, you have a double railing at the edges of the ship which prevent you from looking out over the side of the ship.  I've never seen this on any other ship and it was frustrating trying to look out and down from anywhere on an upper deck.  Are they that afraid of jumpers now?

6. Stores - 2 small stores each about the size of my living room for a ship this size???  Can't stress how disappointed we were in the shopping options (not referring to the jewelry shops).  If you wanted a t-shirt and were male, good luck finding anything.  My son wanted a model of the ship, which he has collected from every ship we've been on, but they sold out in 2 days and could give me no options for purchasing post-cruise.  Still waiting to hear back from Carnival.  I'm not going to go into the 2 for $20 sale and the mess that caused.

 

I can't think of anything else at the moment.  Please understand it's not my intention to malign the Mardi Gras, but we have done a fair number of cruises and we all agree that this was the worst ship we have been on so far.  We were SO looking forward to this cruise as we had high expectations for this brand new ship.  To me, it just seems like more thought should have been put into some aspects of the layout of things on the ship.  My wife tells me that we're done with Carnival for the foreseeable future and I can't disagree with her.  Did I hate the cruise - no. Would I recommend it to others - probably not.  It was my sister's first cruise and I don't see her doing another given she didn't really enjoy this one.  It's not my intention to to turn people away from the Mardi Gras, but if you've cruised before, beware that you might be disappointed as well.

One comment.  CURTAIN!  I love the curtains on ships but it seems ships are doing away with these.  When you have kids it is important!  I hear you!!! 

[Joebucks]

On 3/27/2022 at 7:00 PM, archer_310 said:

Bad:

1. Food - we never ate in the Palm as we never saw anything , on the menu, so I can't review the food there.  We did do the Marketplace breakfast and dinner buffets.  We also did Cucino del Capitano a few times which was decent.  Food generally was bland.  No taste to the pizza at Pizzeria del Capitano which was very disappointing.  Not much choice at buffets and hardly any variation in breakfast options.  I can't stress how disappointed we were when comparing to previous cruises.

 

Your review was doing well until you posted this. This basically said nothing was good, and everything was a problem. Most of us take these claims with a massive grain of salt.

 

The breakfast comment baffles me the most. What are you looking for with variation in breakfast? Did you also just visit the buffet for that everyday? There definitely are some slight variations to that. There are also breakfast burgers at Guy's, breakfast burritos/arepas at BlueIguana, brunch on SeaDays, chicken and biscuits at Shaqs, and not to mention the paid options. What would you add?

 

You sound to me like the kind of person who goes to the buffet everyday for scrambled eggs. Then complains about how bland it is.

Edited April 4, 2022 by Joebucks

[archer_310]

1 hour ago, Joebucks said:

 

Your review was doing well until you posted this. This basically said nothing was good, and everything was a problem. Most of us take these claims with a massive grain of salt.

 

The breakfast comment baffles me the most. What are you looking for with variation in breakfast? Did you also just visit the buffet for that everyday? There definitely are some slight variations to that. There are also breakfast burgers at Guy's, breakfast burritos/arepas at BlueIguana, brunch on SeaDays, chicken and biscuits at Shaqs, and not to mention the paid options. What would you add?

 

You sound to me like the kind of person who goes to the buffet everyday for scrambled eggs. Then complains about how bland it is.

 

I'll just say that compared to other cruise buffets, they had more options to choose from than the 5 or 6 that they laid out each day on the MG.  For a big ship, I would have expected more options.  I actually did try a breakfast option from Big Chicken one day - sausage and egg on biscuit - thinking it might be like what you get at McDonalds.  One bite was enough to see that the sausage was still very pink inside.  Needless to say I didn't eat it.

BTW - I do like scrambled eggs - what's wrong with that?  I also like the omelets that they made, just a very long line to get one.

 

[SNJCruisers]

9 hours ago, Joebucks said:

There are also breakfast burgers at Guy's,

Not available in February for our B2B.  

 

7 hours ago, archer_310 said:

I also like the omelets that they made, just a very long line to get one.

Whether you realized it or not, there were four different lines at the buffet to get an omelette.  Two located in the aft and mid sections.

[archer_310]

23 hours ago, SNJCruisers said:

Not available in February for our B2B.  

 

Whether you realized it or not, there were four different lines at the buffet to get an omelette.  Two located in the aft and mid sections.

 

Yes, I realized.

[TravelBluebird]

On 4/4/2022 at 10:22 AM, archer_310 said:

I'll just say that compared to other cruise buffets, they had more options to choose from than the 5 or 6 that they laid out each day on the MG.  For a big ship, I would have expected more options.  I actually did try a breakfast option from Big Chicken one day - sausage and egg on biscuit - thinking it might be like what you get at McDonalds.  One bite was enough to see that the sausage was still very pink inside.  Needless to say I didn't eat it.

BTW - I do like scrambled eggs - what's wrong with that?  I also like the omelets that they made, just a very long line to get one.

 

I honestly think that the buffet on the Mardi Gras has less options because a large number of people are doing something else for breakfast — on my recent MG cruise, I had the breakfast buffet once, and that was on disembarkation morning. Otherwise, I had the sea day brunches (delicious), Blue Iguana, room service (free continental, or $5 breakfast sandwich) beignets at Emeril’s ($5), breakfast sandwich at the cafe.  

 

I do hear what you are saying about lack of choices in the buffet in general..definitely less stations and variety of food than in years before COVID for lunch.  I hope as the ships ramp up to full capacity and supply lines get less dicey, that the offerings expand again. I’ll see how the buffet on the Spirt compares to MG shortly —I’ll be on for 16 days, so I’ll definitely eat at the buffet for lunch, and for breakfast a few times as well.

[kwokpot]

1 hour ago, TravelBluebird said:

 

I honestly think that the buffet on the Mardi Gras has less options because a large number of people are doing something else for breakfast — on my recent MG cruise, I had the breakfast buffet once, and that was on disembarkation morning. Otherwise, I had the sea day brunches (delicious), Blue Iguana, room service (free continental, or $5 breakfast sandwich) beignets at Emeril’s ($5), breakfast sandwich at the cafe.  

 

I do hear what you are saying about lack of choices in the buffet in general..definitely less stations and variety of food than in years before COVID for lunch.  I hope as the ships ramp up to full capacity and supply lines get less dicey, that the offerings expand again. I’ll see how the buffet on the Spirt compares to MG shortly —I’ll be on for 16 days, so I’ll definitely eat at the buffet for lunch, and for breakfast a few times as well.

I think people are looking at the buffet the wrong way. The Shawarma, and hotdog stations, Street Eats, Big Chicken are all part of the Lido Deck food offerings (Not to mention Blue Iguana and Seafood Seafood Shack and Guys Burgers). There's certainly MORE food selections than all other Carnival ships, NOT less.  

[SNJCruisers]

5 hours ago, archer_310 said:

 

Yes, I realized.

I always checked out whichever line was the shortest and chose that one.

[anyone4cruisin]

On 3/27/2022 at 7:00 PM, archer_310 said:

 

3. No garbages - ANYWHERE.  This was a big peeve.  If you wanted to throw something out that wasn't recyclable, good luck on finding somewhere other than your cabin to do it.

4. No where to put used dishes.  Other cruises have had places to discard plates, cups, utensils, etc so that they can be retrieved by the staff.  There was no where on the Mardi Gras to do this.  You had to find a table that someone had been eating at to get rid of something.  As a result, glasses, plates, etc. were being left everywhere on the ship - elevators, stairs, etc.  It was a terrible look.

 

 

Your garbage and dishes comments resonated with me. For many years, Carnival’s lack of trash cans in public spaces were welcome because there was ALWAYS a Carnival employee quickly removing the trash and guests didn’t have to view potentially unsightly trash cans. I used to joke that it felt like an invisible Carnival employee was following me as my trash would disappear before I even had finished putting it down. 

 

In more recent years, food and trash has been sitting on unattended tables and odd public spaces (elevators, hallways, stairways,etc) when it used to never in the past, and for increasingly longer periods of time. This is probably due to the decrease in staff which is a whole other topic.

 

Perhaps Carnival needs to rethink and provide public trash cans.

 

[audcc77]

With regard to the lack of curtains separating the sleeping area to the sitting area, I don’t think Carnival has ever had these. 
 

When we traveled with 4 kids plus parents, in hotel rooms, we had everyone in the same tiny room because there were no such things as suites back then and I don’t recall the TV being an issue.  
 

You might try earplugs and a sleep mask for your child.  That’s what we did with ours and it worked fine. 

[mysticbluebmw]

I was shocked at the few folks that complained about this review. They’re allowed to have an opinion. Just because yours is different doesn’t invalidate theirs. I happen to agree, the selection wasn’t very good at the buffet, and they did rotate the mains every other day, so one day was salmon Benedict and French toast, next day ham Benedict and pancakes. However the omelettes were good, but the lines were long. Not a great option when you’re eating with others. Otherwise big chicken was just a chicken tender on a not so good biscuit. There was blue iguana, but the burrito fillings were bland, so hope you like salsa. There were no breakfast burgers at Guys. And the sea day brunch was literally the same food as on lido except for maybe chicken and waffle which was extremely low quality. If you have a different opinion, I respect that. This is mine.

[SmoothFlying]

8 hours ago, mysticbluebmw said:

I was shocked at the few folks that complained about this review. They’re allowed to have an opinion.

Yup !! And that is the VERY reason I will NEVER read anybody's review (good OR bad) about certain elements of a cruise. Nor will I ever write a review about a past one.  I imagine three folks on the SAME cruise would and could write three different opinions after the cruise. 

 

Mac