I do not recommend Carnival. Being a new ship did not improve the overall experience. Biggest disappointment is that the food is barely edible.
Embarkation
5 out of 5
No issues- moved right through the line.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
2 out of 5
Food was AWFUL for the most part. The only things I found delicious was salad bar by Serenity pool; at main dining room, the rolls, oatmeal, strawberry chilled soup, chocolate melting cake, French onion soup were great. They managed to ruin everything else. Steak and prime rib loaded with gristle- couldn’t even chew it. Terrible selections. Such a difference between Carnival and Royal Caribbean…I thought maybe since Mardi Gras was a new ship, things would be different than the past Carnival cruises we’ve been on…NOPE! That was the last chance I will give them. I’ll never cruise with Carnival again. I have one scheduled in May with Carnival, and I’m canceling it.
Onboard Activities
3 out of 5
The Serenity pool was entirely too small! We were packed in like sardines. They should extend the pool to the other end by the bar and take out that ridiculous seating/eating area that was barely used. This is an adults only pool, where we can escape the craziness of the family pool, and it was wayyyy too small. The water was freezing cold at the end of August.
Entertainment
5 out of 5
The comedy shows and stage shows were excellent!! Percy Crews 2 and Chris Wiles were EXCELLENT- so hilarious!
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
Krishna and Aldi were great servers at main dining room table 561. They were sooo sweet and gave us great service. We had a great time at dinner because of them! (Even though the food was terrible).
Ship Quality
3 out of 5
The common areas appeared clean, however, MANY passengers ended up with Covid. Gloves at the buffet should have been provided, and the machines at the casino should have been consistently disinfected.
Cabin / Stateroom
3 out of 5
Our room steward was great. The room was small for a “suite”. The beds were HORRIBLE! Mattresses super uncomfortable. I had the sofa bed and it was concave in both directions and I was sleeping on metal. Called to have them replace the mattress, and they brought a mattress topper. Helped with sleeping on metal, but it didn’t help the extreme sagging of the mattress. My friend/roommate said her regular bed sagged so much that she was practically on the floor. Our hips and backs were affected. We had to call the front desk THREE times because the weather stripping on the balcony sliding door kept coming loose at the bottom and cause a super loud whistling that kept me up for three nights! (My bed was right next to the balcony. Service basically put a bandaid on it, cause it kept happening, until finally the service manager came and had someone fix it correctly. We couldn’t enjoy the balcony because we were right over smoking area- it was awful! The only positive thing about this small “suite” was that the shower was bigger- it was so much better than the tiny showers in the regular cabins. Unfortunately that one positive thing was not enough to make our cabin experience enjoyable. It was awful.
Ship tip
Don’t do it. Yes Carnival is cheaper than most other cruise lines , but you ABSOLUTELY get what you pay for! I highly recommend you spend a few more dollars and cruise on Royal Caribbean or better!
It was too hot- record breaking temperature, so we walked to Walgreens and went right back on the ship into a pool. I’ve been there several times though- it’s one of my least favorite stops cause it’s so rundown and no beach close to port.
No floats available for “lazy river”, and we were off the ship fairly early. 97% of people did not have floats- people who had them kept them the whole day. “Lazy river” was a poor excuse of a lazy river. Very small and didn’t flow- everyone just standing or playing in it. Very disappointed in Amber Cove, as it didn’t come anywhere close to the hype. $200 for 4 chairs, umbrella, and 2 uncomfortable stone chairs that sits partially in the water. Water slides and zip line were included.
Don’t agree to “chairs, umbrella and Wi-Fi for $40” unless you find out where they are taking you. We literally walked for about two cruise ship lengths to a run down area with graffitied horrible chairs on top of one another with no Wi-Fi. Guy said he “paid the bill yesterday and he was a Christian and wouldn’t lie”. He refused to give us our money back so we could go where we were scammed out of going- right near the pier, so we had to sit in the run down area a mile away from the ship and we were just furious the rest of the day! These guys were swindlers- they were called “The Beach Boyz”.
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