The 8th and final day of this 8-day Eastern Caribbean Cruise on Carnival Cruise Line’s Mardi Gras is here and it’s the second of two consecutive sea days as we head back to Port Canaveral. It’s also the most depressing day of the cruise, as reality sets in when you have to drag out the suitcases and start packing.
As I wandered around the ship in the morning, Grand Central was abuzz with guests learning how to become skilled in the art of towel-animal making.
Each one of these little critters was waiting each day on my bed and when I returned to my stateroom later in the day, my room attendant pulled out all the stops by having one of each laid out along with a thank you note.
I use the final day report to give my overall thoughts on all aspects of the cruise, so that will come in just a bit, but before I do, some quick highlights of the final day onboard. Weatherwise, in the middle of the night we started to encounter swells that had the ship rocking a bit but by early afternoon we were back to smooth sailing.
The cruise director had his debarkation talk in the morning and it replayed on the stateroom TVs throughout the day. We’re scheduled to arrive in port around 6 am, and debarkation is scheduled to begin around 8 am with those opting for self-debarkation being one of the first off the ship. Keep reading to see how that worked out!
If you’re not going to carry your bags off the ship yourself, luggage tags could be picked up at Guest Services or at other areas around the ship. The tags don’t correspond to decks or muster stations, they are just numbered based on how early or late you want to get off. Tagged luggage is left outside your room between 8 pm – 10:30 pm and will be placed inside the terminal where you pick it up after passing through customs.
I did pop over to Guy’s Burgers for one last burger just to keep my cholesterol in check.
Before dinner, I hit up the casino to make one final donation, and, well… I never saw $50 go so fast. I don’t have luck in any casino and I didn’t have any here, so the house won!
I was undecided about where to go for dinner and during conversation over a cocktail, a couple told me they both just had the Osso Buco at Cucina del Capitano, the ship’s Italian restaurant and it was delicious. I already ate there twice and both times the food was average at best, but I was curious, so off I went.
The Osso Buco comes with a $25 upcharge, so I had high expectations for a restaurant that didn’t get high marks from me so far, so let’s dive in.
I started out with Mussels and Clams, which I had previously and were good, with a well seasoned broth.
Next, I tried the Arancini, which was hot and crispy and had perfectly cooked rice and plenty of cheesy goodness holding it all together.
The Osso Buco was billed as “gently braised veal shanks, pinto grigio, gremolata and parmesan polenta.” The dish featured two good size shanks and an immense amount of polenta! The veal was exceptionally tender and packed with flavor thanks to the sauce. There could have been way less sauce, but it didn’t take away from the dish. In fact, when combined with the polenta made for some great flavor there as well.
Was it worth the $25 upcharge? Yes, but if you’re not willing to spend that in one of the ship’s complimentary restaurants, I’d recommend the beef short rib which I had on the first night.
Finally, to end the last meal of the cruise, I went with the Baba Napoletano, which was nothing to rave about.
Now let’s go for a quick recap of this 8-day Eastern Caribbean cruise on Carnival’s Mardi Gras!
The Ship: Mardi Gras was the first in the Excel class of ships in the Carnival Fleet and the first to depart from the over-the-top, often dated, always weird decor Carnival ships are known for. She served as the blueprint for Carnival Celebration with is an exact duplicate, except for the name changes for certain onboard venues. The third in this class, Carnival Jubilee, will be making her debut later this year and will sail from Galveston, TX.
As I mentioned several times, the ship is designed so it never feels crowded – even on sea days. Navigating around the ship is easy thanks to its layout and the wayfinder screens that are all around the ship to help you get to where you’re going.
The only negative as far as design is concerned, is a carryover complaint from Carnival Celebration, and it’s the Grand Central area. This area replaces the atrium area on other ships and serves as a performance venue throughout the day and night. It has the absolute WORST layout for viewing a show. Unless you’re seated on the main floor, sight lines are horrible, seating is limited, and the amount of people standing to watch a show makes you scratch your head wondering who came up with this idea.
Hopefully, this changes as the Excel class and further new ship designs come to fruition.
So here we go, the final thoughts on this cruise:
The Stateroom: I was a little apprehensive about living in an inside stateroom for 8 days, but as time went on, it grew on me. The stateroom had the same layout as a balcony or ocean-view stateroom sans views to the outside.
Larger guests may find the toilet area in the bathroom to be very tight, the shower was large enough for two average size people to be in it at the same time. I didn’t try it, so I’ll leave that up to you!
Storage both in the bathroom and the stateroom was aplenty! Two full closets, plenty of drawer space, and lots of room for toiletries in the bathroom made the room very functional. Plus, with the beds on Mardi Gras and Carnival Celebration, your suitcases fit effortlessly right underneath saving you from taking up precious closet space.
The temp in the room was chilly except for one night when the AC went out, but it was fixed the next day and I didn’t have issues a second time. As far as noise was concerned, even though the room bordered a crew work area, I didn’t experience any added noise from there or other staterooms.
The Food: Each daily review touches on the food I had that night and I typically avoid the main dining room and dine at specialty restaurants. Food overall was average, with the best meals coming from Rudi’s Seagrill and Bonsai Teppanyaki. If you were only going to pick one specialty restaurant to dine at, Teppanyaki is the best value for only $38 per person and you won’t be disappointed with food quality or portions.
The buffet selections for lunch and dinner were very limited with an average of only 12 choices, including sides, and none of the offerings that I tried were anything more than average. But with Guy’s Burger Joint and his BBQ restaurant, along with Seafood Shack, Blue Iguana for tacos and burritos, Big Chicken, and the Street Eats food outlets, you’re best eating in those spots rather than relying on the buffet for most meals as the food is better by expanding beyond the buffet.
If I had to put stars on the various restaurants, the would be:
- Main Dining Room (Free) – did not experience
- Cucina del Capitano (Free) – ***
- Rudi’s Seagrill ($48 pp) – *****
- Fahrenheit 555 ($48 pp) – did not experience
- Bonsai Teppanyaki ($38 pp) – *****
- Emeril’s Bistro 1396 (ala carte) – did not experience, ala carte pricing would be more than cheapest speciality per person charge for dinner
- Guy’s Burger Joint (Free) – ***
- Big Chicken (Free) – ***
- Guys Pig & Anchor Smokehouse | Brewhouse (Free and ala carte) – ** (lunch)
Fellow Passengers: Since this was a longer cruise, 8 days, there weren’t many families with children onboard. If I had to guess the average age, I’d say it was around 50, with more middle age passengers as well as a good number of 65+ guests.
There were no fights, no unruly passengers, and over the course of 8 days I never smelled weed once!
Entertainment: This is where Carnival shines. There is NEVER a moment when there isn’t something to do. On each daily report, you can see a copy of the daily planner which is packed with activities for people of all ages to enjoy. In addition to production shows and plenty of live music all around the ship, the game shows Family Feud and Deal Or No Deal are presented.
Embarkation: Smooth as silk! The new terminal that was built to accommodate Mardi Gras makes things so easy! Once you enter the parking garage you drop your luggage off then proceed to park and head inside. Check-in is done quickly and all electronically making boarding fast and stress-free. I was parked and on the ship in less than a half hour. This was so much better than the experience at PortMiami boarding the Carnival Celebration.
The only hiccup I had, was that my room key was not outside my stateroom, so I did have to wait in line at Guest Services to get a key.
Disembarkation: Once again, a fantastically smooth process! I did self-debarkation where I carried my own luggage off the ship. We arrived at Port Canaveral around 6 am, and while we were told that debarkation would begin at 8 am, we were cleared shortly after 7 am. I headed down to the gangway and was off the ship, through customs (which is all facial recognition), and in my car at 7:20 am.
Since you pay for parking when you arrive, there was no line getting out of the parking garage.
Value: As I mentioned several times, I was given a free interior stateroom as part of a last-minute casino offer, I paid the solo rate of $100 per person, which was given back in the form of $100 in onboard credit. I only had to pay the $144 in port fees and taxes.
Here’s what this cruise cost me at the end of the day:
- Cruise Rate – $0 ($100 charge was refunded as onboard credit)
- Port Fees & Taxes – $144
- Premium WiFi – $149 (which was actually less on Mardi Gras than Carnival Celebration and for one additional day)
- Bottomless Bubbles Non-Alcoholic Beverage Pacakge – $76
- Gratuities, Special Dining Charges – $647
- Port Parking – $163
The total for this cruise came to $1179. In comparison, my April 7-day Western Caribbean cruise on Carnival Celebration came to $3176 for a balcony stateroom and all the above except I had the CHEERS! package for drinks.
Given the discount, this was a great value. I did spend more in the casino which is not included in the above and I did not dine in specialty restaurants, the total would have been a couple hundred less.
Would I do an inside stateroom again? If it were presented as a deal like this, yes. But more than likely not on any of Carnival’s older ships where space is at a premium. I work from the ship, so having a quiet area to work from is important plus having “outside time” without having to fight for a lounger or chair is important since I would not have a balcony and I do spend a lot of time outdoors.
Thanks for following along on what was a fantastic 50th cruise!
Fun Times for Day 8:
The Fun Times for May 20, 2023, can also be downloaded as a PDF by clicking here.