Mardi Gras Cruise Reviews

Despite Carnivals mixed reviews online I wanted try carnival for myself, because I believe in having your own experience. So I booked a fairly new ship, Mardi Gras, well I just came back from my very first carnival cruise and I’m horrified, first they gave us a handicap room aft balcony with one king bed, room 12505, the room attendant said I was listed as solo traveler yet my twin sister was there with me to celebrate our birthday, so he had to separate the bed into two twins, we noticed, the phone didn’t work in the handicap room which is a really big hazard, we also noticed that room smelled disgustingly like sewage, however, something bigger was at hand. We found out that the room was heavily infested with roaches. They were coming out of the walls, headboards and the beds. I felt so violated and bewildered because we took a nap in that bed after sail away party, so I still feel extremely nasty and violated. I went to the front desk and had my sister on FaceTime with me while I was at guest services showing them coming from the headboards, the beds and everywhere else; It was a crazy infestation, I am sure staff had knew about it because the room tenant had to separate the beds. Furthermore, we spent about 4K for this birthday cruise and this experience was completely unacceptable. Guest services put us in an emergency room, which felt like a coffin with no windows for the first night. The next morning, I had to go downstairs and wait in line, only for them to put us in a dirty standard balcony room which was a downgrade from the aft balcony, they also told us that they would bring our luggage to the room, so we literally waited for hours and I had to go down to guest services hours later to remind them to bring our luggage, by this time our day at the Bahamas was gone and we could no longer go ashore because we wouldn't have enough time to shower, get dressed and get out to do what we planned to do in the Bahamas. Guest services proposed a compensation package of $150 apiece. I told them that was extremely unacceptable and then they told us that that was the best they could do was a measly $360, this was a slap on the face for having such a nightmare of a trip, having to endure deplorable disease carrying insects, then spend our first night in a coffin of a cabin with no windows paranoid, afraid to even sleep or get comfortable because of what we just experienced, then having to move again to a downgraded balcony with a stained desk and filthy couch which we endured the entire trip yet they came to spot clean during our last cruise day. The front desk withheld details of compensation for hours only to find out that the the proposed compensation was not only unfair but an insult to injury, a slap in the face if you will and after talking to people of other races on the ship that endured issues, I feel like our race had, something to do with such a lowball offer. Management failed to even connect with us until l asked to speak to them, literally they were walking back-and-forth while I was at the front desk, they were just looking at me, not speaking, not offering any apologies, not even reiterating even a basic mission statement or how dedicated carnival should have been to ensure customer satisfaction, until I brought up the fact that no one of leadership even took the initiative to apologize for the bad experience. Collin at the front desk was the only staff member that was deeply empathetic and sweet about the situation. Other things to note, we were in three rooms total 12505, the coffin cabin with no windows 15377, lastly to dirty cabin 14396. That was a lot of moving, and to note, 3 attendants knocked on the door and entered immediately, they didn’t even wait a second for us to respond, they just walked in on us while we were getting dressed, or using the bathroom several times. We had to call maintenance for failed air conditioning system, in which they had to leave a card in order for it to run. Also, when they came to clean the balcony our curtain was open to the sea and we were getting dressed, fully exposed. We did get notification that they were coming to clean the balcony, however, on other cruises lines they would also knock on our door to let us know that they were entering the balcony so that there would be no mishaps. There are some good highlights to this cruise however it’s definitely been overshadowed by this traumatizing experience. I have video footage of the ordeal that I didn’t release while on the cruise because I did not want other people to be paranoid about what was going on. Now back want to get in contact with headquarters but when I dialed the number, it’s just an automated system instructing me to fill out some form online. I want to talk to a real genuine person who understands and can correct this horrific experience.

Overall, The Mardi Gras is an excellent ship and it’s an awesome experience for both adults and children. It just needs better improvements with the lunch and dinner buffet.

Mardi gras was a vibe! I enjoyed my time on the islands but there were not many fun things to do on the cruise.