I can’t believe it’s been almost 18 months since my last cruise planning post. The next one was supposed to be Carnival Magic’s Southern Caribbean itinerary out of Miami 12 months ago. After having bookings canceled for August, November, December, January, February and April, my travel agent advised me not to book one for May. At that point I decided I wouldn’t book another prior to my already booked Mardi Gras cruise.

Booking

It’s crazy how things work out. I have had this booking number for three years. It was originally a 2019 Carnival Dream cruise. After sailing on the Dream twice in 2018, I decided I wanted to book some new ships. I changed my two 2019 Dream cruises to a 2020 Panorama cruise and a 2021 Mardi Gras cruise. That Panorama cruise, which had an additional day do to a COVID-19 scare, was the ship’s next to last cruise before Carnival’s pause in operations.

Originally I was to be on about the 53rd sailing of Mardi Gras. Now I’m on her 5th cruise. After enduring seven cancellations and switching to all-inclusive resorts for my vacations, something finally worked out in my favor.

Since I booked this cruise in 2019, I probably didn’t pay the inaugural season price. In June someone told me there was a price drop. I checked my room category and the “drop” was still 30% more than I paid.

After the shutdown the 10% discounted cards I buy from Allstate went to a 12% discount. I bought some and paid this cruise off at a 12% discount. At the time I didn’t realize I would have many cruises canceled and end up with a Future Cruise Credit with $600 onboard credit from each of them. Since this cruise was fully paid for, I was unable to apply any of those credits to it. But I did get the 12% off and I would take advantage of other pandemic sales for this cruise.

Covid-19 Testing

Less than a month before my cruise Carnival announced they would begin requiring a negative COVID-19 test result for all guests. For unvaccinated it needs to be a PCR test which is the more expensive but also the more accurate test. Vaccinated guests can provide an antigen test which is cheaper and can be done rapidly. The test must be completed within three days prior to the cruise. Being on a Saturday cruise, mine needs to be done Wednesday or later.

I have been through three antigen tests in Mexico already. They don’t bother me at all. But the testing was always done at the resort/hotel. The way Carnival is doing this is adding a great deal of stress to those cruising with them. Guests have to make sure they have a place to take the test, that it’s the right test, and that it’s within the right timeframe. I know there are people on my cruise who have plans to be in Cocoa Beach three days prior and the testing locations in that area are overwhelmed.

I will be traveling on Friday so I can take my test Wednesday or Thursday. The most popular testing locations are CVS/Walgreens. I finally found a difference between CVS/Walgreens. One of them schedules COVID tests two weeks out while the other only schedules them two days out. I wanted to get mine scheduled sooner so I scheduled mine through Walmart which takes appointments months in advance. I also opted to take the PCR test three days before my cruise. This decreases the likelihood me receiving a false positive and having to scramble to retest at the last minute. I got the first time slot Wednesday morning 9am at a Walmart neighborhood market just down the street from where I live. They say their PCR results are typically back the next day.

As the cruise got closer, I started to get nervous about putting all of my eggs in the Walmart basket. I scheduled a second test at CVS around lunchtime on Wednesday.

Since Walmart allows you to schedule tests months in advance, I went ahead and got on the schedule three days prior to my October Panorama cruise and my December Vista cruise as well.

Flights

As you may know I prefer to fly Spirit. My Magic cruise last august was out of Miami. Spirit doesn’t fly out of Miami so I booked American for that cruise. I still had my American Airlines credit from that trip so I used it on this flight to Orlando.

On my last couple of cruises I’ve arrived so late I really only had time to eat dinner and go to bed. I wanted to get in a little earlier this time so I booked one that arrived at 1:30. That flight has since been pushed back to a 2:40 arrival.

My return flight is still a 1:45 departure as originally scheduled. That should allow me plenty of time to have a relaxed debarkation and still get to the airport in plenty of time. Both flights are direct as I prefer.

Hotel

I wanted to choose a hotel that was close to the port. Radisson’s Resort at the Port definitely seemed to be the most popular location among people on my cruise.

I wanted a hotel with a bar and a place to eat dinner and breakfast. There are several restaurants in the area and the hotel has a nice looking Tiki Bar by the pool. There’s also a Florida Beer Company brewery a couple blocks away I wouldn’t mind checking out.

As a bonus, Resort at the Port offers a shuttle to the port for $6 per person. There’s a lot of conflicting information on the shuttle. I know people who say they have already booked the shuttle. I know people who say they were told to sign up at check-in. I called and was told to sign up at check-in. Uber is $10 so I’m just going to take a wait and see approach.

There is another grouping of about five hotels across the street from the brewery. In the end I think Resort at the Port was the best deal so I ended up booking with them for $127 after taxes and fees.

Onboard purchases

Early on in the shutdown Carnival offered specials on the Cheers beverage package and on cruise cash. I believe it was 20% off of each. I had three cruises booked at the time and was able to purchase $100 cruise cash for each of them for $80. I also bought the 20% off Cheers package for all of them. I used the 12% discounted gift cards so I actually got 32% off of the beverage package and the $100 in cruise cash for $68. I purchased the premium Wifi package as well with a 12% discount bring it down to around $90 for the cruise.

Specialty Dining

My goal is to try all of the food outlets that don’t exist on other ships. When they announced Chibang! would be included on it’s first cruises, I booked two nights there before it filled up. Chibang! is half Asian and half Mexican so two bookings will allow me to try both sides of the menu.

I planned to book Rudi’s Sea Grill and the Steakhouse on the ship with my onboard credit but I recently noticed that Rudi’s is selling out. The earliest available time to book online was 8pm on elegant night. I went ahead and booked 9pm on the second sea day. I could try to move it to an earlier time on the ship otherwise the late dining time will allow me to try another venue that afternoon.

I went ahead and locked in my preferred early dining time at the Steakhouse as well for the last sea day. I had to put Rudi’s and the Steakhouse on my credit card to make the reservations but I heard you can have that refunded and put them on onboard credit once on the ship. I should have $250 onboard credit along with my $100 cruise cash to cover onboard expenses.

Ports

This cruise was originally supposed to be San Juan, Amber Cove, and Grand Turk. Due to COVID-19, Grand Turk was changed to Nassau.

San Juan

San Juan is the only port I haven’t been to. I definitely want to get off of the ship and explore the city. I’m not booking any excursions. I’m just going to go out on my own.

Amber Cove

When I was in Amber Cove I was supposed to do the 27 waterfalls but the water level was so low they could only do 12. I canceled the excursion and toured Puerto Plata instead. The waterfalls are still on my list but now they aren’t doing all 27 due to COVID. They have a nice Amber Cove Cruise Port area but being on a new ship like Mardi Gras, I will probably just stay on the ship and enjoy my drink package this time.

Nassau

While this was not a popular change among cruisers, it didn’t bother me at all. I’ve been to both ports and I don’t think there’s anything left for me to see in Grand Turk. I’ve been to Nassau twice and feel like I have already seen everything there as well. I would like to return to John Watling’s Distillery and spend some time in the Red Turtle Tavern. Since my tour in 2018, I’ve been saying the pina colada sample they gave me was the best pina colada I’ve had. I’ve had many since then and would like to see if I still feel the same way. I also wanted to stop at a beach bar my first time I was in Nassau and I didn’t have time for it. Maybe I’ll make this stop into my own little barhop excursion.

Continue to Mardi Gras: Travel Day