Completely Disappointing waste of thousands of dollars!

Item: Mardi Gras
Rating: 2.2
Author: mama75

Mardi Gras Cruise Review to Caribbean - Southern

mama75

Contributor Level: Purser

Cruises: 4-6 cruises

Review: 1

Helpful Votes: 12

Overall rating:

2.2 out of 5

Verified Review

8 Night Southern Caribbean (Port Canaveral Roundtrip)

Sail date: June 08, 2024

Ship: Mardi Gras

Cabin type: Balcony

Cabin number: 12230

Traveled as: Family (older children)

Reviewed: 5 months ago

Review summary

Overall very disappointed. We were so excited as we had sailed with Carnival in the past. In talking with others on the cruise, it was a common theme that Carnival has cut many corners in order to maximize profits and it shows. My advice to anyone looking to take a cruise is to avoid Carnival at all cost.

Embarkation

3 out of 5

Average

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

1 out of 5

Poor quality of food, limited options at both buffet and in restaurants.

Onboard Activities

1 out of 5

Pools were filthy! The water was so cloudy you could barely see your limbs. It was disgusting.

Entertainment

1 out of 5

You are not able to reserve ANYTHING so you must wait in line with mobs of people, often not even able to get in. Comedy clubs were always full and never had enough space.

Children's Programs

All adults in our party

Service and Staff

2 out of 5

This was the most impersonal cruise I have ever been on. Rarely saw room stewards as they are barely around, wait staff is different every time you go to the main dining room.

Ship Quality

1 out of 5

The ship layout is a disaster! All shared spaces only lead to overcrowded, disorganized walkways. The walkways literally go through bars, making it difficult to get through. There is no deck on this boat where you can walk around the ship on one level like on other ships. All walkways run through some type of shared space or lead to steps.

Cabin / Stateroom

3 out of 5

Typical size cruise cabin. Nothing special. Bed was very hard. Balcony was dirty.

Ship tip

Don’t! Just don’t. Pick another cruise line.

Thumbs up

Ports of call

Port Canaveral, Florida

3 out of 5

Stayed overnight, loved the beaches

Thumbs Up 0

Oranjestad, Aruba

3 out of 5

No excursions just went to the beach.

Thumbs Up 0

Willemstad, Curacao

3 out of 5

Loved the roar and private beach however tour was VERY expensive for what we got.

Thumbs Up 0

Grand Turk Island

3 out of 5

Best day of the trip. Loved the snorkeling and private beach excursion, but again so expensive for barely 4 hours.

Thumbs Up 0

Disembarkation

2 out of 5

Average

9 Comments

Cruisers4Lyfe 4 months ago

Thanks for sharing

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Gwbigdog 5 months ago

Oops sorry thanks

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irondalepics 5 months ago

We just made Platinum on our b2b on the Mardi Gras…so excited, right? It took us since 2005 to get there. But 14 days in February on that ship did me in for sure. Way too many kids and crazy adults. We disembarked and headed to Fort Lauderdale to board the Celebrity Ascent the next day….. Culture shock and totally blown away. From the time we walked into the port from the time we disembarked it was AMAZING! We knew within an hour we were done with Carnival especially the Mardi Gras! The Ascent and staff were the best! Food was delicious everywhere even the buffet! Never cared for buffets on Carnival but we ate often on the Ascent..all 3 meals. MDRs (4 of them) are yummy and beautiful! VERY few kids! And when you saw them they were with their parents or very well behaved. No taking over the hot tubs or pools! So many beautiful places to sit and relax! Give one of the edge class of Celebrity a try….and it was not anymore than a 7 day on the MG.

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javawoody 5 months ago

Interesting??

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lsbs 5 months ago

Did not experience any of this while sailing on the Mardi Gras. Hope that your next selection of cruise lines is to your liking.

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sopha 5 months ago

Limited options of food??? Seriously??? That ship has sooo many options we couldn't try everything we wanted to. Different waitstaff everything night? Obviously you had YTD, which means they seat you where a table is available.

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cruising2004 5 months ago

Definitely not the experience we have had sailing on the Mardi Gras. Sorry you were so disappointed.

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HeavySeas 5 months ago

Thanks for sharing your cruise experience

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sfcvan 5 months ago

It was your choice to go on a ship with a capacity of 6k, and now you complain about long lines and no reservations. If you sailed Carnival before, you would know that they don't have reservations for their shows. I'm glad you will not sail Carnival again, which will lessen my chances of sailing with a person who believes that they are privileged and think everything centers around them. We have enough of those people, and we wonder why other countries look down on Americans.

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Other reviews of this sailing

Good trip but carnival has changed

Definitely a must!

If service and food gets any worse, this just might be my last cruise. I’ll just fly to the ports and stay a while.