Mardis Gras spring break “Live”

[Thenagers]

I am going to try and do a “Live”. Never done one before so here it goes! Left NC yesterday for Charleston. My daughter did a college tour at C Of C . We are staying 1 night at the Courtyard On Calhoun St. easy walk everywhere downtown. We had dinner at 82 Queen. Yummy shrimp and grits and fried green tomatoes. Also had the she crab soup. We have been to Charleston many times so we didn’t do a lot of touring but my daughter did shop on King St. unique store we don’t have in Raleigh. If you have been to Charleston before it is a fun area. I’m including food pictures.

[Thenagers]

Today we are sleeping in and driving to Daytona for our Pre cruise night. It is nice we could break this up and get the college visit done. She loved it by the way. We are staying in Daytona instead of Cocoa beach because we have to pick up my husband at the Daytona airport. He was on a business trip. Next stop Daytona. 

[ninjacat123]

32 minutes ago, Thenagers said:

I am going to try and do a “Live”. Never done one before so here it goes! Left NC yesterday for Charleston. My daughter did a college tour at C Of C . We are staying 1 night at the Courtyard On Calhoun St. easy walk everywhere downtown. We had dinner at 82 Queen. Yummy shrimp and grits and fried green tomatoes. Also had the she crab soup. We have been to Charleston many times so we didn’t do a lot of touring but my daughter did shop on King St. unique store we don’t have in Raleigh. If you have been to Charleston before it is a fun area. I’m including food pictures.

Love 82 Queen!  We usually sit out in the garden area. My oldest DD graduated from CofC last year.  Beautiful school!! Great start to your review!!

Edited March 31, 2023 by ninjacat123

[luverly]

My mom and I will be on this sailing too.   Coming from the Charlotte area.  First time on Mardi Gras for us,  she was on Celebration in Dec and loved it! 

[LuvCruiSun]

Looking forward to your review! I’ll be on Mardi Gras April 29. Have a great time!

[kelkel2]

Have a great time!! I can’t wait to read more. 

[we b cruzin]

2 hours ago, LuvCruiSun said:

Looking forward to your review! I’ll be on Mardi Gras April 29. Have a great time!

We are on the same sailing. We can't wait!

 

Looking forward to reading this review!

[Thenagers]

Easy drive down 95 to Daytona. A little over 5 hours from Charleston and we stopped for gas/food on the south side of Jacksonville. Staying at the Residence Inn by the Speedway. Husband is titanium Elit with Marriott so we got upgraded to a  2 Bedroom. It will be nice to spread out for a bit and reorganize our luggage. Dirty stuff staying in car. Currently lounging by the pool. 

Edited March 31, 2023 by Thenagers

[Thenagers]

A little about us. We are taking this trip with some neighbors. We all have teens and we have all cruised together several times pre Covid. This is the 1st time without out college age son. We are using Casino offers for our cabins. We booked my husband in his “free” interior across the hall and my daughter and her friend will share. I have a “free” balcony that we upgraded to an Ocean Suite. I love to gamble so it is nice to finally get something for $ lost! Lol I will try to get pictures of the cabins before they get too messy. We have 10:30-11 check.in tomorrow. I could have gotten 10 but I know they don’t really start boarding until 11ish so didn’t want to just sit in the boarding area with 100s of people. We got faster to fun for the interior so I’ll let you know how it works. 

[Thenagers]

As far as the hotels go. Not sure I would stay here again. Property I’d really old and dated and I am a little annoyed about the obvious food remnants in the freezer. Otherwise pretty clean. 

[candasun]

4 hours ago, we b cruzin said:

We are on the same sailing. We can't wait!

 

Looking forward to reading this review!

We are on this one as well. First time on Mardi Gras for us.

[Thenagers]

Walked to a sports bar across the street from the hotel named Hooligans . No pics of food but typical bar fair. Buffalo shrimp stood out. Early night tonight. Need to rest up for tomorrow!

Edited April 1, 2023 by Thenagers

[thomasale]

Looking forward to this review as we sail on her Apr 29...Did you stop at Buc-ee's on the way down?

 

[Thenagers]

2 hours ago, thomasale said:

Looking forward to this review as we sail on her Apr 29...Did you stop at Buc-ee's on the way down?

 

We did not this time! My son love the brisket sandwiches but I didn’t bother since he wasn’t traveling with us this time. It definitely is an experience but I just chose stops based on gas and bathroom needs.

[My6Dogs]

Will be following this!

We will be on board 4-22! Can't wait!

 

[Jamman54]

We'll be following along. Have a great cruise! 😎

[SenatorsFan]

I'll follow, too!

[Guest BasicSailor]

Hay, let's get this live review on the ball. Are we gonna have to get Jimbo or Jamin, even St Greg to give you some tips 😇

[Thenagers]

Well yesterday was jam packed. We left Daytona for our 10:30 appointment anround 9:10am  and the traffic the last 2 miles into the port was bad. We still made our 10:30 appointment although it didn’t matter. We breezed through all the checkpoints and boarded shortly after 11 with the faster to fun group. Quickly did our muster and went to our cabin to drop off stuff. The 12 floor ocean suite was ready but the interior with faster to fun wasn’t. We were able to get the keys from the steward and went straight to guest services to get en extra room key made for my husband and daughter since they were switching cabins. They lines at both priority and regular were crazy long at guest services after 1:30! As far as priory luggage. It didn’t work well for any of our bags. Suite or Faster to fun. Our friends who didn’t have it got it around the same time. 3:30idh? We grabbed some chicken at Shaqs for lunch and some pizza on 8 and neither  line bad. But the lines at the bars were bad all afternoon. We finally went upstairs to our Lodt 19 Cabana around 3:45 to do sail away and they brought us our champagne/bottled water and gave us great bar service. Stayed there until 5 and then got cleaned up for dinner. The 6 adults in our group went to Cucina. We all loved the food. It was a quick click on the app around 5:30 and our table was ready in 5 minutes? After dinner we went to the casino and I burned through all my Funplay. Fun 1st day. 

[Thenagers]

7 hours ago, BasicSailor said:

Hay, let's get this live review on the ball. Are we gonna have to get Jimbo or Jamin, even St Greg to give you some tips 😇

Sorry The craziness of embarking and navigating everything through me off. One of my companions left their phone on a table and had to track it down and another’s teen had to call AT andT for cell phone issues. I was not gettingany emails/service and such and had to log out and re sign in to get connected. Definitely hoping today is more relaxing! 

Edited April 2, 2023 by Thenagers

[pcvtmom]

Hey, take your time and ENJOY your vacation! We're along for the ride.  First days tend to be SO hectic, I don't know how anybody has time to write a review. 😉

[Thenagers]

Got up early and hit the walking track on 18. Super narrow and constantly had to slide over for the joggers. Definitely got more difficult as it got closer to 8. Can’t imagine it is usable at all when all the activities open up there. Did 2 miles and hit Shaqs. Chicken was good but biscuit a little dry. Love the fries and the honey sauce. Have 9 am reservation on Bolt. Made that as soon as I boarded yesterday. 

[Chelle621]

On 3/31/2023 at 8:05 AM, Thenagers said:

I am going to try and do a “Live”. Never done one before so here it goes! Left NC yesterday for Charleston. My daughter did a college tour at C Of C . We are staying 1 night at the Courtyard On Calhoun St. easy walk everywhere downtown. We had dinner at 82 Queen. Yummy shrimp and grits and fried green tomatoes. Also had the she crab soup. We have been to Charleston many times so we didn’t do a lot of touring but my daughter did shop on King St. unique store we don’t have in Raleigh. If you have been to Charleston before it is a fun area. I’m including food pictures.

 

Looking forward to your live!!! I will be boarding her April 15th 😀

[Guest BasicSailor]

3 hours ago, Thenagers said:

Sorry The craziness of embarking and navigating everything through me off. One of my companions left their phone on a table and had to track it down and another’s teen had to call AT andT for cell phone issues. I was not gettingany emails/service and such and had to log out and re sign in to get connected. Definitely hoping today is more relaxing! 

No need to apologize to me 😉 I was more or less just hoping nothing happen to you or your crew. Sounds like a rough day for sure. Chin up and smile you're on a cruise ship for sure🙃

[IntrepidFromDC]

1 hour ago, Thenagers said:

Got up early and hit the walking track on 18. Super narrow and constantly had to slide over for the joggers. Definitely got more difficult as it got closer to 8. Can’t imagine it is usable at all when all the activities open up there. Did 2 miles and hit Shaqs. Chicken was good but biscuit a little dry. Love the fries and the honey sauce. Have 9 am reservation on Bolt. Made that as soon as I boarded yesterday. 

I experienced the hockey puck biscuits over a year ago on Mardi Gras, January 2022.  Surprised they haven't improved.  The chicken sandwiches and chicken tenders are awesome though.  And Shaq sauce is pretty good but I don't care for the others, I get sauce from Blue Iguana and dip my tenders in that for a yummier experience.  Have fun today!