Ever since returning from my 7-day Western Caribbean Cruise on the Carnival Celebration a few weeks ago, Carnival has been sending along some great offers to get me back on board. Some of them weren’t exactly “great” as ever since the restart after COVID-19 Carnival’s pricing has increased quite a bit. To be fair, it’s not just Carnival that has raised rates significantly, it’s all the cruise lines trying to recoup the billions they lost during the shutdown.
One of the offers I kept a sharp eye on was the Casino Last Minute Offer: Free Room deal. This deal offers a free inside stateroom at $50 per person / $100 solo, plus taxes and fees. The $50 / $100 per person is refunded as onboard credit, so yes, the room is free.
I kept checking, almost obsessively, to see what cruises were available with this offer and I must say, you have to be quick. They change almost hourly and are for cruises that leave in just a few days, so they truly are last minute. Last week, a 7-day Western Caribbean Cruise on Mardi Gras came up a few times, but I wasn’t quick enough to grab it. Today’s 8-day Eastern Caribbean Cruise showed up once before and I couldn’t book it fast enough, but my persistence paid off and the next time it appeared, I booked it. That was Thursday and the cruise was departing Saturday!
Now, let’s talk a little bit about these casino offers. If you play, you will get offers for free rooms, suites, drink packages, free play, etc. The more you drop in the casino the better your offer will be. I’m not a gambler, so I obviously didn’t get one of the more lucrative deals that would include a suite and free drinks along with other perks. But I guess I did spend enough in the casino to warrant a free inside room!
What’s the cost of this 8-day cruise? How about $244.89 less the $100 onboard credit, which takes the cost to just $144.89 – less than $20 a night!
Now, of course, there will be additional expenses such as the daily gratuity that is automatically added on, a drink package or individual drinks purchased, specialty dining charges, shopping, and of course… the casino. But the total cost of this 8-day cruise will be significantly less than last month’s 7-day Carnival Celebration cruise which came out to a whopping $3176.
It’s been a while since I’ve been on an Eastern Caribbean cruise, as I’ve been on Westerns ever since the restart, so the itinerary is a very welcome change. Eastern Caribbean cruises are a bit more expensive than Western but are definitely worth the extra cost as Eastern ports offer a better overall experience than the Western ones.
For this trip, we will be visiting Gran Turk, Turks & Caicos; Amber Cove, Dominican Republic; San Juan Puerto Rico; and St. Thomas, USVI, and we’ll have a total of three sea days.
Mardi Gras, the only ship in the Carnival fleet that does not have the “Carnival” prefix, was the first ship in the line’s Excel class and gets her name from Carnival’s first ship that sailed for the line in 1972. Today’s Mardi Gras had her launch pushed back several times after originally being scheduled to make her debut in August 2020. Mardi Gras was hit with both shipyard delays and the COVID-19 shutdown which forced Carnival to change her inaugural sailing dates SIX times. It wasn’t until July 31, 2021, that Mardi Gras sailed with her first passengers from Port Canaveral.
Built to accommodate 5,282 passengers, Mardi Gras was the template for the second Excel-class ship, Carnival Celebration, and the soon-to-be-launched Carnival Jubilee. Mardi Gras and Celebration are identical, right down to the carpeting. Everything, including the location of the self-serve ice cream machines, is the same. Only the names of some bars and venues are different, otherwise, the ships are the same – definitely made getting around the ship a lot easier!
So let’s get to it…
I made the drive from Delray Beach up to Port Canaveral for my assigned boarding time of 2 pm. Mardi Gras docks at the new Terminal 3 which was constructed specifically to accommodate Mardi Gras. You pay for parking as soon as you enter the garage, and for this trip, it was a total of $164. Baggage gets dropped off in the lower level of the garage and you then proceed up to find a parking spot.
Even though my boarding time was 2 pm, I arrived at 1:30 pm and was let right into the terminal where there was no line. A quick pass through security, and I was on the ship by 1:45 pm. When boarding the Carnival Celebration in Miami last month, there were signs everywhere warning about marijuana and drug dogs. They were noticeably absent here and so far I haven’t smelled weed once.
Yet.
I went up to deck 12 to check out my room and unfortunately, my stateroom key was not outside the door where it was supposed to be. So off to Guest Services, I went. Of course, there was a long line. I wasn’t too thrilled that I had to wait in line to get my key, but… after 50 (yes, 50) minutes, I had my key and it was off to check out my home for the next eight days.
The last time I had an inside stateroom was on my first cruise in 1994 on Royal Caribbean’s Sovereign of the Seas and it’s only fitting that I’d be spending my 50th cruise in an inside. The room itself is bright, with light faux wood and the same decor as my balcony stateroom on Carnival Celebration had, right down to the carpeting!
The bed can be configured either as two twins or one king and has reading lights and USB ports on either side of the bed. The room has a mini fridge, a small desk/makeup area with 4 additional USB ports, the room’s 3 power outlets, a large flat-screen TV, and under-bed storage for suitcases. The closet and storage space is more than adequate.
The bathroom, like the one in my stateroom on Carnival Celebration, is tight. There are plenty of places to store all your toiletries and the shower is huge for a cruise ship shower, however, those of larger size will find the bathroom to be 
a bit of a challenge.
Video Walk Thru of Mardi Gras 12272
Check out the video below were I walk you through interior stateroom 12272 on the Mardi Gras:
After the usual sail away activities on the Lido deck, it was off to my stateroom to get ready for the evening ahead. The first stop was to the ship’s casino. Like the casino on the Carnival Celebration, there is a smoking and non-smoking area, but let’s be honest… smoke doesn’t abide by invisible barriers. Upon arrival, there were no available slot machines as many were camping out right after sailing away to be sure they got their favorite game.
Once the casino opened for business, there were quite a few machines out of service and many of them remained out for most of the night. I jokingly said, “Those were paying off too much.” The machines are placed very close together and the aisles between them are tight. Some of the seats in the casino have seen better days, like this one:
Before heading off to dinner, I stopped at the ship’s atrium which is home to Grand Central, a multi-level showroom with large LED screens that serve as a backdrop for the musical performances that take place here. During the day, the screens are raised and giant floor-to-ceiling windows give great views of the sea. Tonight there was a steel drum performer, a band playing Zac Brown and Jimmy Buffet tunes, and a “teaser” of the music and singers that will perform four shows in the Mardi Gras Theatre during this cruise.
I was critical of this area on Carnival Celebration due to its sight lines, and my opinion has not changed. If you’re going to see a show here, get there early to get the best seats which are on the main floor on deck 6.
For the first night’s dinner, I decided to hit up the ship’s Italian restaurant, Cucina del Capitano, which my group didn’t give high marks to last month on Carnival Celebration, so I wanted to try it on Mardi Gras to see if it could redeem itself. The menu is the same except for the featured pasta.
The Cucina del Capitano menu can be downloaded as a PDF by clicking here.
I started off with the Cured Tuna and the Caprese Salad. The tuna was quite disappointing, especially when the “grilled crostini” was actually croutons. The entire dish lacked flavor. The Caprese Salad was quite unimaginative. Literally three slices of tomato and three slices of mozzarella that wasn’t even homemade.
For my main course, I chose Short Ribs and some Penne Pasta. Since it’s very hard to mess up pasta, I’ll say that the penne was typical with some melted cheese on top and a light tomato sauce. The short ribs were the best part of the meal. Perfectly cooked, fork tender, and the wine sauce added a nice finishing touch to the dish.
For dessert, I went with the Lemon Frozen Torte, which was a nice way to end the meal. The frozen lemon was smooth, tart, and presented on a layer of light poppy seed cake.
Overall, I think Mardi Gras’ Italian captain would be hard-pressed to compare this version of Italian food to what he would get back home. I previously called this Olive Garden of the Sea and once again, it gets the moniker.
After dinner, I decided to try my luck at the casino where I managed to play for quite a while on just $50 which turned into $175 by the time I left an hour later. Plenty of jackpots were being won, as they were calling out the “hand pays” when they happened, so there were plenty walking away with a couple grand on their first night at sea.
This morning I woke up WAY later than I normally do, mainly because living in the inside cabin, you don’t really have any indication as to what time it is since the room is pitch black! That combined with a very comfortable room temperature, made for a nice sleep.
We’re currently sailing towards our first port-of-call, Grand Turk. I’m beginning to get a craving for one of those deliciously greasy Guy’s Burgers and some ice cream, which I have already had way too much of and I’ve only been onboard for 24 hours!
Fun Times for Day 1:
The Fun Times for May 13, 2023 can also be downloaded as a PDF by clicking here.