Carnival Mardi Gras April 22-29 Review

[Racegirl6]

Carnival Mardi Gras April 22-29, 2023, Eastern Caribbean Cruise Review. 

Part 1, Boarding and Cabin

My name is Jen, my husband is Tracy, we live in SC and have cruised on Carnival 6 times. We met up with Tracy’s 2 aunts to celebrate his 60^th birthday on the Carnival Mardi Gras. Our cruise ports of call were Nassau, Amber Cove and Grand Turk. We drove to Port Canaveral the morning of the cruise and parked in the GoPort parking lot. We have used this lot 2 previous times and the third time was just as good as the others. No problems. If you want to save on parking, give them a try. We paid 45.00 for the week because we booked many months in advance, it is 70+ Closer to the cruise date and it is based on how many are in the vehicle. The parking lot shuttle dropped us off in the shuttle drop off zone and our luggage was given to the porters. It was so easy. Next was check-in, again, very easy. Our check-in time was 12-12:30 we got there at 1:00 and breezed right through. The next boarding time was 1:30-2:00 so we got to go through the line and directly into the check-in area for the cruise. There was a line of people waiting for their boarding times, but we were asked to go through. We literally got through the check-in process and onto the ship in 15 minutes. Everything was working out for us so far.

Once we boarded the ship, we were asked to do our Muster Drill check in. All four of us were C6 in the casino, again, a very smooth, fast process. Rooms were ready when we finished muster, so we dropped off our carry-on’s before heading up to lunch on the Lido.

Our cabin was 11371 on deck 11, extended balcony in the middle of the ship. I really loved our cabin location, with one exception, the Bar De La Rosa smoking area was a few decks below us and it could get noisy later at night. I never once smelled smoke from the smoking area at all. In all of my research of the balcony cabins, two things were correct, the bathrooms are smaller than other ships, although, the shower with the glass door was nice. The other issue which is not horrible is that the width of the cabin is narrower than others and it’s a little squeeze to get through the wall and the bed to the balcony side of the room. Again, it isn’t awful, the rest of the room was very nice and the sofa is larger than others we have had. The extended balcony is so roomy and covered, we loved it, it had a lounger, 2 chairs and a table. Our cabin location was quiet and peaceful all week long.

 

 

 

[Racegirl6]

Part 2, Embarkation, lunch, ship exploration and dinner

After checking out the cabin, freshening up and dropping our carry-on bags off, it was time to go to the Lido for lunch. We opted for Blue Iguana. My husband had his favorite burrito and I had chicken and fish tacos. All were very good, we were waiting for this since November of 2021. Our aunts had some items from Street Eats as well as Blue Iguana. I didn’t care for the items at Street Eats and we never made it back to that area again. There are so many different food areas to try on the Mardi Gras.

My husband and I had the Cheers to You offer from the Carnival VIFP Club which only added 150.00 total for us to have Cheer’s for the week. It was so nice to be able to have drinks whenever we wanted and we were able to try so many different options. I started my cruise with a Pina Colada. The Red Frog Tiki Bar was extremely popular, which meant crowded, especially on embarkation day. We had one drink from there then moved on. The Sail Away Party was going on while we were there, but we did not participate. We decided to leave the Lido area and explore other areas of the ship.

The Mardi Gras is a huge ship, there is so much to do and see, I know there were so many things we could have done and never even got around to it. We first took a look around the Serenity Deck, there were lots of places to lounge in the sun, but the shaded areas were all taken. I try not to expose myself to the sun very much, so we moved along. We made it back inside and just looked around the various open areas then retired to our cabin for a nap, we had been up since 4:30AM so we needed a nap after the long drive and lunch.

After our nap it was time to get ready for dinner. We had several options since we all had My Time Dining. The MDR had a wait of 90-100 minutes, so we opted to go with the first available option. After about 10 minutes, our dinner notification came up at Cucina Del Capitano and we were all happy with that. I had only had Cucina once on the Magic and it was for lunch, so I was interested to see what dinner options were available. I thought maybe there would be more options, but what I was happy with what I chose, the veal marsala, I also had the Nonna Meatball for an appetizer. My dinner was delicious. Other options at our table were the pork chop and fish. Everyone enjoyed their selections, but this would be the only time we ate at Cucina. Again, the Mardi Gras has many meal options to choose from. We called it a night after dinner, we would have all day the next day to explore the ship and find what fun things there will be to do.

[Journey11]

Thank you for taking the time to write this review. I am enjoying reading it very much.⭐️

[Jeafl]

Thanks for sharing!  Looking forward to reading the rest.

 

[go fish 44]

How did you manage to get Cheers for $150.00 per week.  What level are you with VIFP?

[Racegirl6]

15 minutes ago, go fish 44 said:

How did you manage to get Cheers for $150.00 per week.  What level are you with VIFP?

I honestly have no clue, the offer was in my account, Cheers to You. We booked in September of 2022 and the deal expired on October 31, 2022. Luck of the draw I guess. We are Gold, we were 31 days in at the time I booked that cruise. The Cheers offer had been emailed to me since 2021, but when we cruised in November 2021, we couldn't use it because we had our daughter with us and that made 3 in a cabin. The Cheers to You promotion is for 2 guests in cabin only.

[Racegirl6]

 

Part 3, Sea Day and Elegant Night

I look forward to sea days on every cruise, especially the first one so you can get a feel for the ship and try the Sea Day Brunch. Carnival recently made changes to the brunch, so I was curious to see how that panned out. Well, I was disappointed in the steak and eggs option. I usually get this and really enjoy it, but the steak was changed and it is no longer a filet, it was a tough cut and I don’t even know what it was. Needless to say, we didn’t do the brunch again because our aunts weren’t thrilled with the selection. The buffet for breakfast was the usual selections Carnival ships have, but we thought everything was good, they even had eggs benedict on the buffet, I didn’t care for the salmon benedict, but the ham was really good. The French toast on the buffet was great as well as the omelet station and the coffee on Mardi Gras was good as well.

After breakfast, we went to the Limelight Lounge for a few trivia games which are one of my favorite things to do on sea days. We didn’t win anything but playing is always fun. We took a look at the shops onboard as well and our aunt bought a 10.00 watch which is really cute since she forgot hers at home.

We ate Guys Pig and Anchor for lunch and I was highly disappointed in it personally. The last time on the Magic in 2021 I felt exactly the same way. The beans were cold, the sides didn’t appeal to me because I can’t eat onions and the mac and cheese was not good. The pulled pork was really good, and the pretzel roll but the brisket was tough and not to my liking. We never tried this place for dinner, which may be different than the lunch buffet, but we found much better options at dinner time. The atmosphere in Summer Landing is fun and we stayed for Classic Rock Trivia, my husband and I both had perfect scores……along with 15 other people so we didn’t win that time either but it was fun. My suggestion to Carnival Fun Squad members is to make that game a little harder.

We retired to our cabin after lunch for quite time on the balcony and a nap, the lounger on the balcony is really nice to have so you can get away from the crowds and just relax. After nap time it was time to get ready for elegant night. I put in our reservation for the Palm Dining Room early and we had plenty of time to get ready before our table was ready. We never had a bad dinner in the Palm Dining Room, it was really pretty in there and the service was top notch. For my dinner, I chose the grilled shrimp for my main course, preceded by crab cakes and the West Indian Pumpkin Soup—one of my all time faves, for dessert I had the chocolate melting cake.

After dinner we tried to find a seat at the Brass Magnolia bar to hear a Beatles tribute band but couldn’t get a seat fortunately, the Fortune Teller Bar is right next to it so we sat there and had a few of their unique drinks. The Bog juice is really good by the way. After we got our drinks, we took them into the Piano Bar with Keith. That was a crazy entertaining show, I loved it. I have never been to the piano bars on Carnival yet, but I will definitely go again. I highly recommend it. We called it a night after that. We had a busy day planned for our early arrival into Nassau.

 

[LUVMYGSDOG]

Enjoying your review.  We will be cruising on Mardi Gras in January and can’t wait!

 

Kim

[Racegirl6]

6 minutes ago, LUVMYGSDOG said:

Enjoying your review.  We will be cruising on Mardi Gras in January and can’t wait!

 

Kim

Thank you, you will have a great time. There is so much to do on the Mardi Gras. 

[cruiserNC]

Enjoying your review!!!

[aml3679]

Hated the Pig & Anchor also

[pe4all]

Thanks for this detailed review so far. Glad you tried the piano bar.  We usually try to go on every ship.  Sometimes good performers, sometimes not so good. 

[Racegirl6]

11 hours ago, aml3679 said:

Hated the Pig & Anchor also

I just don't understand why it isn't good anymore, the first time we had it on the Magic in 2018 it was really good. Not anymore. Cold and yucky. There are so many better options on the Mardi Gras. Stay tuned, new restaurant being reviewed in my next chapter.

[Racegirl6]

Part 4, Nassau

Day 3 is our first port day, Nassau, Bahamas. When I first booked this cruise, San Juan was supposed to be our first stop, that changed in October. I don’t have a problem with Nassau like so many others do. I was just there a year ago with my daughter when we were on a different cruise line with her senior-year dance group trip. This time I had a couple different things to try, first, Ardastra Zoo and Gardens and the Pirates of Nassau Museum. I think if you are going to Nassau and you have been there before and didn’t know what to do, ask around, someone will give you a good idea. My friend from IL told me about Ardastra and the cute flamingo shows they have there. I love flamingos so we gave it a shot. Here is where Nassau gets interesting, there were no Carnival or outside excursions that included the zoo so we had to find transportation since our aunt didn’t want to walk the 30 minutes to get there. I researched ahead of time and found that we could take the Jitney, which is the public bus in Nassau, it costs 1.25 for each person and you get off the bus wherever you want. Take note here, you must know where to yell out “bus stop” so the driver will stop. We didn’t know that and missed the stop and had to ride around the island until we got back to the correct stop. The bus was packed with locals going to work and things like that. I felt a tad uncomfortable at first, but after my husband talked to a local lady, she told the bus driver where to stop to drop us off. There are very kind locals in Nassau. Before our stop, a couple got on the bus from the Breezes Resort, they were headed to the Pirate Museum, I started talking to them and told them we were going to the zoo and they decided to join us for that, then the pirate museum. They were from Canada and on their 10-year anniversary trip. I really enjoyed hanging out with them that day. The bus finally let us off where the zoo is, you do have to walk about 10 minutes up the street to get there by the way. The zoo is very pretty, it is small, but I was expecting that. They have some beautiful birds there including macaws, parrots, peacocks and of course the national bird of the Bahamas, the Caribbean Flamingo. There are other animals scattered around the zoo, nothing big, but it’s very cute and fun. The flamingo show was the highlight of every visitor there that day. It’s interactive, and we even got to stand with the flamingos. I loved it. I will be adding pictures at the end of all my reviews.

After the zoo, we got back on the bus and headed back towards the port and to the Pirate Museum. The museum is pretty cool and reminds me of a walk-through of Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean ride. I recommend this if you are looking for something to do close to the port. We at lunch at the restaurant that is part of the museum. After that, we went into the Straw Market for a little while, our aunts had never been to Nassau but enjoyed it. You do get spoken to by the ladies working there, but they are just selling their goods. I just politely say no thank you and move on. My daughter and I spent a good amount of time in there last year, so I really didn’t want or need anything.

That was the end of our time in Nassau, I do like going there, we just walk around and do our own thing. There is a lot to do there, so try and get off the ship and enjoy the beauty of it beyond the port area, which is nearing completion of the update, it looks great there.

I was due for a shower and nap after that busy day, but we sure had fun. Since we had a late lunch, we decided to have dinner around 7 at the new-to-Carnival restaurant, Chi’Bang. I put our reservation in and our table was ready in 10 minutes. The atmosphere is lovely in Chi’Bang, it’s red and black and very comfortable. I started the evening with the Mexican Margarita which was tasty. All of us ordered the spring rolls, then found out how delicious they were and ordered a lot more. For my entrée I had the beef with broccoli and a side of Jasmine Rice. My husband had the Kung pao Chicken which was very good and not too spicy. He ate a lot of spring rolls that night and we were full at the end of that dinner, but we had to do Friends and Harry Potter trivia after dinner, then we called it a night.

[Florings]

Loving your review.  We sail on Mardi Gras in September!

[Racegirl6]

Part 5, Sea Day 2

For our second sea day, we once again had breakfast at the buffet. I chose to get an omelet at the omelet station since the eggs on the buffet are not my favorite. Breakfast in the buffet is actually really good on the Mardi Gras and we would eat there daily. After breakfast, we went to the Limelight Lounge for another couple rounds of trivia. We really enjoyed several trivia games on this cruise. After that, my husband and I decided to walk around outside for a while then grabbed a clamshell near the Bolt Roller Coaster entrance. Bolt had not been running yet on our cruise, but we overheard a staff member saying it was due to be repaired while in port at Amber Cove the next day. More to come on Bolt in a couple of days. We decided to have lunch at Big Chicken this day, we had not been there before so we had to give it a try. Both of us had The Big Aristotle Chicken Sandwich which comes with bacon, muenster cheese and BBQ sauce, you can also get fried onions on it if you like but I can’t eat onions, so I said no thank you. We also got fries to go with our sandwiches. My husband got the potato salad and slaw and really liked both of them, and he said they were both very cold, so you knew they were being taken care of since they are on a side bar. I liked the fries so much I had to get one more order. The chicken sandwich was good, but I didn’t care for the cheese, so I took it off. This is a nice addition for lunch on the Mardi Gras. The rest of the afternoon we spent walking around, having a drink and going back to the cabin for rest. We decided to have dinner in the Palm Restaurant this evening, the wait was a bit long so we got ready then had a drink at the Grand View Bar before dinner. This bar is located by the Grand Central Stage on Deck 7. This bar was not crowded at all so we got to talk to the bartender a little bit and discuss drinks. She made one up for my husband, I don’t recall what it was but it was a play on and Alabama Slammer. He really liked it. I had the Carnival Cosmo and my aunt got a Twilight Zone. Our dinner table was ready so we headed to the Palm. I was not super thrilled with the menu selections this evening so I opted for the steak on the everyday grill menu. I thought it was really good, I ordered it medium rare so it would be a bit more tender. For my appetizers I opted for the meatballs, which were really good and the iceberg wedge salad.

After dinner, we decided it would be comedy night, I love the comedy shows on Carnival. First up was the rated R show with Jason Blanchard, he was so funny and we all really enjoyed it. The drinks are really good as well, try the rum punch. Russ nagel was the second show of the night, his set was the PG show, he is a dry humor comedian, different than Jason Blanchard, but still really good. After the shows we called it a night. Amber Cove was our next stop in the morning and we had a city tour planned.

[Racegirl6]

Part 6, Amber Cove and Hubby’s 60^th Birthday!!

The ship arrived in Amber Cove early in the morning. We had an excursion planned and we would meet up at 10:30. I booked this excursion through Shoreexcursioneer.com so we would have to walk out of the port area and onto the main road to meet the bus. We did the Puerta Plata City tour which included a lot more than what the Carnival excursion offered and a smaller price. We arrived the bus as everything worked out according to plan, we did have to wait for passengers from the Carnival Freedom to arrive before we took off. The tour would first take us to Macorix Rum Factory, we did a tour and tasting there, then were able to shop the different types of rum they had. We chose a pineapple rum to make drinks at home. Next stop on the tour was the Amber Museum and Cigar Factory, they were both in the same building. The Amber Museum was quite smaller than I was anticipating but it was still interesting. Amber is mined in Puerto Plata hence the name Amber Cove. Some of the samples of amber in the museum were used in the movie Jurassic Park. They had an entire jewelry store devoted to amber and the official stone of the Dominican Republic, Larimar, it is blue and very pretty. Just a note, if you want to buy a piece of Larimar jewelry, buy it at another gift shop or craft market, it is much cheaper. I got a Larimar necklace and set of earrings for 20.00 outside of the fort where we will go later. After the museum, we were led down the street to see the umbrella street and pink street, followed by the city square and cathedral. The next part of the tour was the Del Oro Chocolate Factory, where we learned how Dominican chocolate was made, we also sampled brownies and hot chocolate from their factory. It was delicious. The next stop was a quick one at the beach, where there are artisans selling crafts and cheaper Dominican jewelry. The beach was lovely. We were not there very long though. The last stop of the day was Fort San Filipe. We did a short tour and took some pictures. The views of the ocean were pretty. Our time was running short and it was time to head back to the port, we got stuck in a traffic jam and were getting a little worried about making it back in time, but our tour guide and driver got us out of there and onto a different route. We made it back with plenty of time to spare, even the Carnival tours were getting back at the same time. I was so glad to be back, ready to get on the ship, shower, and lie down. While we were walking on the dock, my husband and I noticed the Bolt was running tests. After I got back to our room, I looked it up on the app and saw there were time slots available for the next day so I signed us up. The Bolt was something we were really looking forward to. We signed up for an early dinner time and opted for the Palm Dining Room. It was my husband’s birthday so he chose surf and turf off the steakhouse selections of the menu. I had the ribs, salad and alligator beignets. We watched more comedy this night, had a few drinks and called it a night. Our excursion wore us out.

[Racegirl6]

Part 7, Grand Turk, Final Port Day

Our next port stop was Grand Turk, which turned out to be my favorite stop of the cruise. In 2018 we stopped in Grand Turk while on the Carnival Magic. We were with friends and decided not to do a shore excursion……big mistake. I know Grand Turk’s free beach is a favorite with many cruisers, but I just couldn’t see how. When we first got to the beach, most chairs were taken, so we found loungers closer to the entrance to the beach rather than near the water. Unfortunately, the locals who were selling their own excursions were very loud and were bickering with each other, ruining the beach for us. We moved to the pool at Margaritaville, but if you have been there before you’ll know it is mostly concrete with not a lot of shade, so it was very hot. I went in the pool for a bit but that was all there was to do unless you partied with everyone else. Our daughter, who was 13 at the time was not into the pool or the busy beach. Anyway, we are back in Grand Turk with an excursion booked and we were all excited about it. We snorkeled and swam with the stingrays. It was a gorgeous day, the snorkeling was refreshing and there were plenty of fish to be seen. The swimming with the stingrays was fun and the island they took us to was gorgeous. This was the Grand Turk I was looking for since that day in 2018. We had a Carnival sponsored excursion, but the only downside to it was we had to walk about 15 minutes to the boat, in the sand, along the free beach, which in my opinion was no better than it was in 2018. I recommend doing an excursion in Grand Turk, see the beautiful beaches and water away from the port for a nice day.

After our excursion, we went back to the ship because we had a 2:30 time slot for Bolt!! My husband and I were very excited to ride the first roller coaster at sea and it did not disappoint, although it is short for the 15.00 per person price tag, the backdrop of Grand Turk made it an even better experience.

After Bolt, we had our first and only Guy’s Burger Joint burger. We always enjoy Guy’s burgers on Carnival ships, and these were very good, even the fries. We found German Chocolate cake on the buffet and had a slice along with hazelnut gelato.

We didn’t do much after that, had dinner in the Palm Restaurant and called it a night. Being out in the sun all day made us tired.

[Racegirl6]

Part 8, Last Sea Day and Debarkation

Friday was our last sea day. We started with breakfast on the Lido, followed by a game of Wheely Big Trivia, in which you play in groups like Trivial Pursuit. We didn’t win but really had fun playing. We played a music trivia game after that, then found other things to do outside. Our day was pretty relaxing since the past couple were busy port days. For lunch, we opted for the Pizza for the first and only time, it was very good and I highly recommend it. After lunch we looked around the ship, spent some time outside and in the cabin then met our aunts in the Havana Bar to listen to karaoke, I even got up and sang a song, which is something I rarely do. The drinks in the Havana Bar are so good, I highly recommend the Cuban Iced Tea, it was my favorite, the mojito is really good there as well. For dinner, we had ChiBang for the second time. I loved the lettuce wrap appetizers, I forgot to mention those earlier. I also had the Kung Pao Chicken. Nothing was bad at ChiBang, it was great both times we ate there. We finished the night in the Mardi Gras Theater for the comedy, we saw Jason Blanchard first, then Steve White, both comedians we saw twice on this cruise and they were very funny. That would end our night and we had to finish packing for our departure in the morning ☹ We self-debarked and were off the ship and to our parking lot by 9:00 AM, it was a tad busy getting off the ship, and my husband’s passport renewal booklet had not come by the time we left so he had to use his birth certificate which took much longer than the passport line. So if you need to renew your passport and it is expiring sooner than 6 months out, send your renewal very early. It took us 13 weeks to get passports back this year. Another thing we learned, that saved a good half hour, was to talk to the person in the security line if you know you have used facial recognition in the past but you have not gotten your new passport back before your trip, my husband did this and they pulled him from the line and had him go to the passport line and scanned his face and he was cleared. Give it a try, it really helped speed things up.

I really have no complaints at all about the Mardi Gras, we loved everything about it. Our waiters, bartenders, room stewards and all staff were amazing. If you are on the fence about taking it, just do it, it is a much larger ship, but there is so much to do you will find something you love.

[Racegirl6]

First day around the ship.

[Racegirl6]

Ardastra Zoo and Gardens and Pirates of Nassau Museum.

[Racegirl6]

Port of Nassau, Atlantis

[Racegirl6]

Amber Cove, Puerto Plata City Tour. Amber Museum, Umbrella Street, Pink Street, beach and Fort San Filipe.

[Racegirl6]

Grand Turk, Gibbs Cay

[luvcruzing]

Great job on the review.  Thank you.