What not to miss on Mardi Gras? And what to avoid?

[matymil]

Following.

[ChinaShrek]

Could someone post a list of the restaurants that you have to pay extra for (or the ones that are free) on the ship? That would be helpful. 

[IntrepidFromDC]

For me the things I would be sure to do again next time on Mardi Gras are Brass Magnolia (for the music as much as the martinis - hope to see Washboard Band again), Shawarma, Steakhouse, Teppanyaki, Cucina (clams-in-shell with linguine with white wine and garlic sauce was amazing) and Rudi's.  Emeril's meat pies were really disappointing (tasted like something from the freezer section at you local grocer) the food (pic in my review from January) at P&A smokehouse was disgusting, had one bite of each meat and left. 

 

Mardi Gras is my favorite ship by far.

[SNJCruisers]

3 hours ago, ChinaShrek said:

Could someone post a list of the restaurants that you have to pay extra for (or the ones that are free) on the ship? That would be helpful. 

Steakhouse is 38, Rudi's Seagrill is 38, Teppanyaki is 32 plus 20% gratuity.  Sushi, Emeril's, Lobster Shack are a la carte.  All others are included.

[Pellaz]

On 4/1/2022 at 8:56 AM, mom22frogs said:

It may depend on which you've had first. I hadn't eaten P/A for dinner before, so I got used to the menus for it on the Mardi Gras before trying it on the Horizon. I actually preferred the Mardi Gras, streamlined P/A menus and found the recipe differences of the paid version a bit heavy. 

 

Our sub-par dinner experience at Guy's Pig & Anchor included mis-plated food items, slow service, and a burnt, carbonized rib serving that was so hard that the supervisor (person at the greeting podium) took a photo of it so he could shame the chef.  Not even a fork would make a dent in it.  😮  

 

The mis-plating was especially odd since you fill out a "request sheet" for what you want, and the items are all at a crew-served buffet-style area on the far portside wall.  

 

In fairness regarding our slow service, we asked to sit over in the Heroes Lounge section (picnic tables) instead of the section by the stage to get away from the noise.  

[mom22frogs]

5 hours ago, Pellaz said:

In fairness regarding our slow service, we asked to sit over in the Heroes Lounge section (picnic tables) instead of the section by the stage to get away from the noise.  

That would explain a lot. I ate there probably 5-6 times the weeks I was onboard and I had some minor errors. They were crazy pushed (due to covid sickness I assume) even when the ship was less booked. As it's going up to 100+%, I'm sure things happen. In my case, it was the wrong desserts, haha, so I suffered and had them bring out the right ones as well. 😄 

 

It's easy to think a night of slow service was that restaurant, but I think they've centralized food prep, meaning it might have been slow at *every* restaurant you went to. One of the nights I went to Cucina (again out of 6+, I'm not a MDR fan) was astonishingly slow and I thought it was them. Well then a friend I made said her meal at the MDR that same night literally took just as long (like 2 ½ hours to get through a basic meal!!!). Clearly they were shortstaffed that night and I would have thought it was that restaurant if I hadn't had data to realize EVERY restaurant was running slow that night. 

 

I can't swear they're doing that shared galley but when you watch how they bring the food it sure seems like it. I'm trying to think about Chibang because you can see their kitchen. I don't remember their food coming out with covers. I guess you'd have to tour or find someone in the loop. On some of the restaurants (Cucina, MDR, etc.) they were also rotating table service between restaurants. I'm not sure if that was again a covid thing (trying to keep numbers up) or a new thing for this ship.  

 

I do think they have some issues with service, because I think the free specialty dining reduces tipping which reduces *motivation* to give that extra special service that makes specialty dining special. I completely agree with that. I saw some workers loafing and not really being motivated, but I saw some really busting their butts to do a good job. I kinda figure it isn't their fault how the system is set up and it isn't their fault when they're short staffed due to covid. So if someone was *loafing*, nonchalant, and generally not trying, I took offense at that. However that wasn't the norm. Mainly it was in the Cucina I saw that, and that's a managerial problem. Some of those people were trying really hard and the way they have it set up now for work flows overworks some and underworks others and doesn't give as pleasant service.

Edited April 4, 2022 by mom22frogs

[Pellaz]

On 4/4/2022 at 11:09 AM, mom22frogs said:

It's easy to think a night of slow service was that restaurant, but I think they've centralized food prep, meaning it might have been slow at *every* restaurant you went to. One of the nights I went to Cucina (again out of 6+, I'm not a MDR fan) was astonishingly slow and I thought it was them. Well then a friend I made said her meal at the MDR that same night literally took just as long (like 2 ½ hours to get through a basic meal!!!). Clearly they were shortstaffed that night and I would have thought it was that restaurant if I hadn't had data to realize EVERY restaurant was running slow that night. 

That is possible, but the food at Guy's Pig & Anchor is served from a buffet-style layout along the port side wall.  Assuming they keep the buffet stocked, it's hard to see how a slow kitchen could affect service speed there...unless they were unable to keep it stocked. 

 

On 4/4/2022 at 11:09 AM, mom22frogs said:

 

I can't swear they're doing that shared galley but when you watch how they bring the food it sure seems like it. I'm trying to think about Chibang because you can see their kitchen. I don't remember their food coming out with covers. I guess you'd have to tour or find someone in the loop. On some of the restaurants (Cucina, MDR, etc.) they were also rotating table service between restaurants. I'm not sure if that was again a covid thing (trying to keep numbers up) or a new thing for this ship.  

How do you mean, "rotating table service"?  

 

Ironically, our service in the Cucina was impeccable, and we happily returned there on the second-to-last night...and tipped a bit extra since the service was great.   Our MDR service was so-so the first night, then excellent the second night (and we made note of our wait-staff), then we did the Cucina, and at some point we returned to the MDR and requested the same wait-staff on two subsequent nights.  

We never went to Chibang for dinner due to lackluster reviews -- I personally would have liked to try it -- but I made a point to go there for lunch just before closing on the final sea-day...and the stir-fry bowl a la Jiji's Asian Kitchen or Mongolian Wok was, not surprisingly, one of my best meals during the cruise, and with impeccable service.   

 

 

[Guest BasicSailor]

What not to miss on Mardi Gras? And what to avoid?

 

I would say avoid peak cruising season, spring break and so forth. 

[almdp1989]

On 4/1/2022 at 12:49 AM, mom22frogs said:

The cooking classes are great fun and always had people standing outside watching, wishing they were doing them too.

 

It's easy to miss the music performers in the Brass Magnolia, etc., so definitely watch in the Hub app for them. 

 

It's possible to walk out a side door on deck 7 to go where the lifeboats are, but don't do it, especially late at night when the wind is whipping. You might find some of the doors are locked and end up wondering if you'll be texting to be rescued.

 

The spa on the Mardi Gras is WAY better than what people had described here. I'm sure people can complain about the size, etc., but those steam rooms are AMAZING, just hot, hot, hot. 

 

ETA: Skip the breakfast biscuits at Shaq's (and the sea day brunch for that butter) as they're completely disgusting. Whoever made that recipe needs to go to biscuit purgatory. Not worth the calories, not decent, not edible, not even really a biscuit. The only truly awful thing I ate on the Mardi Gras. 

Biscuit purgatory! Hysterical. As a Southern woman, I completely get your meaning. 😂😂

[csm5986142]

On 3/31/2022 at 9:49 PM, mom22frogs said:

The cooking classes are great fun and always had people standing outside watching, wishing they were doing them too.

 

Book these early - I didn't realize how soon they sell out.  I tried to book about a month prior to sailing and all but one were sold out.

[cruiserbrianj]

If you want to dine at the steakhouse, Rudi's or chef's table do NOT wait until you are onboard or you'll be eating everything but those places.  Pre-purchase as soon as you can.  We were around a month out when we booked a steakhouse reservation and we could barely get in...and it was at 5:30 (way too early for us).  I would check periodically while on board and all were sold out the entire cruise. 

 

Along those same lines, if you want to ride BOLT, put several reservations in for different days (you can cancel) because that thing is shut down A LOT due to wind.

 

Finally, we really enjoyed the Summer Landing area....nice vibe there and great views.

[Pellaz]

On 4/14/2022 at 12:51 PM, cruiserbrianj said:

IAlong those same lines, if you want to ride BOLT, put several reservations in for different days (you can cancel) because that thing is shut down A LOT due to wind.

 

Strongly agree...and that goes for other similar rides like the SkyRide cycle thingy on Vista-class ships.  Book them early during your cruise!  When we were on Vista, I rode the SkyRide on the first day.  We had rain for much of the rest of the southbound journey...and wind on the northbound return, so a lot of folks who didn't get to try it out.  

[sunkey1]

On 4/8/2022 at 4:40 AM, Pellaz said:

Ironically, our service in the Cucina was impeccable, and we happily returned there on the second-to-last night...and tipped a bit extra since the service was great.   Our MDR service was so-so the first night, then excellent the second night (and we made note of our wait-staff), then we did the Cucina, and at some point we returned to the MDR and requested the same wait-staff on two subsequent nights.  

We never went to Chibang for dinner due to lackluster reviews -- I personally would have liked to try it -- but I made a point to go there for lunch just before closing on the final sea-day...and the stir-fry bowl a la Jiji's Asian Kitchen or Mongolian Wok was, not surprisingly, one of my best meals during the cruise, and with impeccable service.   

 

 

Agreed, we had such great service (and food) in Cucina that we returned a second time. We also really enjoyed our Chinese selections from Chibang, service there was great as well. Unlike many others who rave about Rudi's, we both found it "meh" in service and food. Food is such a subjective topic that what one loves another may hate.....  I also will say that we cruised on Mardi Gras in October, before ships were sailing full, so things may be drastically different now. We just sailed on the Magic in early April and it was probably one of our worst cruises ever, ship was run down and service was ridiculously slow just about everywhere.

[PittsburghGirlee]

P&A was just down right nasty for us.  Granted, I was on the 2nd sailing of MG. but still, it looked like dog food and did not taste good a tall.  Also, there were only about a total of 4 tables with 2 people in the dining area and 2 people at the bar.  Dinner took a little over an hour from start to finish.  We did not return.

 

I agree, dining room was Ho Hum at best.  Cucina was best, we went there 2 times, I luved the veal, service was awesome.  I only saw maybe 3 couples eating at Emerils all the times that I walked by.  I thought that maybe, it wont last.

 

I thought the pizza and sammies were great,  So must have everyone else, as it was always buys and closed early.

 

Oh that Sea Day brunch....Mmmmmmm - I had it every day that I could.  Steak n Eggs were 5 star all the way, although I've read they are no longer serving the filet.  Glad I got to enjoy it while it lasted.

 

BOLT was my hubs 15 seconds of fame, they only did 1 loop at the time for $15.00.  It was on his bucket list.  Me, I was in the kids sprinklers doing my thing :).

 

Like a previous poster stated.  Try as much as you can.  I know we did and checked allot of items off of our bucket list.  If it was good eats, we went back, if not, we passed and moved on to something else.

 

Enjoy!!

 

 

Edited April 21, 2022 by PittsburghGirlee