Celebrating Mardi Gras – A Preview

Premier Custom Travel was one of a handful of travel agencies nationwide to be invited to sail on Carnival Cruise Line’s brand new ship Mardi Gras. Starting this Saturday through August 21st, PCT’s Chris Grum will be onboard this amazing new ship, sharing photos, videos, and daily updates through our new blog series “Celebrating Mardi Gras.” In today’s post, he previews the upcoming cruise.

The invitation to experience Mardi Gras was unexpected but welcomed. In the middle of the Cruise360 conference, I received an email with the great news. Only a select number of travel advisors would be able to be onboard, and I was lucky enough to snag one of those spots. Any chance to see a new ship is thrilling, and even more so when it belongs to one of your top-selling cruise lines. We also have a group sailing on Mardi Gras for Thanksgiving 2022, and this will be a great opportunity to not only preview the ship for those who have already booked but also to hopefully convince more folks to join us.

THE ITINERARY

This cruise will be the third sailing for this brand new ship. Here is the schedule:

Date | Port | Arrive | Depart
Saturday, August 14th | Port Canaveral, Florida | | 4:00pm
Sunday, August 15th | Fun Day at Sea | |
Monday, August 16th | Fun Day at Sea | |
Tuesday, August 17th | San Juan, Puerto Rico | 7:00am | 4:00pm
Wednesday, August 18th | Amber Cove, Dominican Republic | 9:00am | 6:00pm
Thursday, August 19th | Fun Day at Sea | |
Friday, August 20th | Nassau, The Bahamas | 7:00am | 3:00pm
Saturday, August 21st | Port Canaveral, Florida | 7:00am |

Speaking of “The Itinerary” – we are hoping to be able to do a live version of our same-named show from the ship during the voyage. Internet permitting, we will be live on Tuesday, August 17th at 6pm CT on Facebook. The show will also be available on-demand after the broadcast on both Facebook and PCT-TV (YouTube).

MY PLANS

Since I will be back on this ship next year, I’m likely going to skip the shore excursions this time around and focus exclusively on experiencing everything onboard the ship. This is Carnival’s largest ship by far and while there are a lot of the familiar brand features (Guy’s Burger Joint, Alchemy Bar, etc.) there are also a lot of new experiences to enjoy. Mardi Gras has several new dining concepts onboard, including restaurants by renowned chefs Emeril Lagasse and Rudi Sodamin. There are also new experiences onboard, like Carnival Kitchen and the first-at-sea roller coaster Bolt!

STORMY WEATHER

As this cruise is during the height of hurricane season, I will be keeping an eye on the tropics. The graphic above is the current status as of 7am CT this morning. The first storm, 94L, doesn’t appear to be an issue at this time. My cruise sails from central Florida, which is outside of the cone of uncertainty at this time. Should the storm turn more northerly, it might affect my voyage. The other concern is the affect these systems might have on our destinations.

This is a good time to address the topic of sailing during hurricane season. I know plenty of people who avoid this time of the year for cruise travel, but I’m not convinced that is the best course of action. For one thing, the season pretty much covers all of the summer and most of the fall. Your cruising options are quite limited if you take away that half of the year. Furthermore, it is actually pretty rare that cruises are adversely affected by a storm. Usually the system affects the destinations more than the embarkation/debarkation port. When a storm does threaten a cruise destination, the ship typically avoids that area and may even sail an alternate itinerary or visit a different port instead. Ships will sail around a storm to avoid the heavier seas or any danger. I personally have done this once when a hurricane was in the Gulf of Mexico. While the waters were a bit more active than normal, I would not call it rough or extreme in any way. The only change to our itinerary was our arrival and departure time from Mexico.

MARDI GRAS – BY THE NUMBERS

Shipyard: Meyer Turku Shipyard, Turku, Finland
Inaugural cruise: July 31, 2021
Godmother: Kimberly Jimenez, represented the Dominican Republic during the 2021 Miss Universe broadcast was awarded the “Spirit of Carnival” award for embodying the company’s values of fun, friendship, diversity and inclusion.
Country of registry: The Bahamas

Size/Capacity
Gross tonnage: 180,800
Length: 1130
Beam: 137 feet
Maximum Draft: 28 feet
Cruising Speed: 17 knots
Occupancy based on 2 guests per stateroom: 5282 (2641 staterooms)
Full guest occupancy: 6631
Passenger decks: 15
Space Ratio: 34:1

Crew
Total officers and crew: 1735
Officers: International
Hotel and cruise staff: International

Accommodations
2641 Total Guest Staterooms (including 82 accessible staterooms)
2 Carnival Excel Presidential Suites
12 Carnival Excel Aft Suites
12 Carnival Excel Corner Suites
6 Carnival Excel Suites
2 Havana Cabana Corner Suites
4 Havana Cabana Suites
6 Cloud 9 Spa Suites
131 Ocean Suites
6 Family Harbor Ocean View Suites
8 Havana Extended Cabana Staterooms
44 Havana Cabana Staterooms
8 Cloud 9 Spa Forward-View Extended Balcony Staterooms
48 Cloud 9 Spa Balcony Staterooms
12 Cloud 9 Spa Cove Balcony Staterooms
34 Aft-View Extended Balcony Staterooms
48 Forward-View Extended Balcony Staterooms
80 Extended Balcony Staterooms
1050 Standard Balcony Staterooms
23 Junior Balcony Staterooms
112 Cove Balcony Staterooms
4 Cloud 9 Spa Ocean View Staterooms
41 Family Harbor Ocean View Staterooms
130 Ocean View Staterooms
40 Havana Interior Staterooms
43 Cloud 9 Spa Interior Staterooms
41 Premium Interior Staterooms
22 Family Harbor Interior Staterooms
672 Interior Staterooms
All staterooms feature: telephone, 110 AC power outlets, USB outlets, individual climate control, Carnival Comfort Bed Collection, hair dryer, safe, non-stocked mini bar unit and flat-screen TV

WHAT DO YOU WANT TO SEE?

Is there a feature of the ship you’d like me to spotlight? Have a question about this ship or cruises in general? Drop me a line and I’ll be happy to feature your question or request in a future blog post.

My next update will be posted on the evening of embarkation on Saturday, August 14th.