After 4 attempts to cruise on the Mardi Gras, I finally got onboard. To say the least, it was well worth the wait. The ship is absolutely beautiful inside and out. We had a handicap cabin on deck 14 with a balcony. The room had several surprises that I loved. To get into the cabin you scanned your card and the door opened automatically. I push my mom in her wheel chair and that makes it so nice when coming into the room. A very large bathroom, my only complaint on the entire cruise was I felt the toilet was way to small and low for a handicap bathroom. Getting out on the balcony was the next huge surprise. You push a button and the door automatically slides open and automatically drops a ramp down for the wheelchair to roll over making getting onto the balcony so easy. A very well thought out cabin.

Every place we ate was very good. The service was some of the best ever on my many Carnival cruises. An exceptional waiter in the main dinning room was Henri and his staff. He went way beyond expectations every night to ensure our group of 10 were happy and having a great time. He went so far as to cut my 91 year old mothers steaks and chicken every night. A fantastic man. On August 7th, we celebrated my moms 91st birthday at the steakhouse. Just a fantastic meal and service. We had a great time here as well, the Cowboy Steak was perfect as well as everything else at the meal. The Mardi Gras is the perfect ship to push a handicapped person around because there are no bumps or dips anywhere on the ship, just very smooth walkways everywhere. The casino is huge with lots and lots of slot machines to play and a semi secluded smoking area so you know where not to go to smell their stench. The atrium area was very nice and always a lot going on there. With over 20 places to eat onboard the choices seemed endless. The Bonsai Teppanyaki place was by far my personal favorite. With 10 of us , we had our own private table and had a blast with the little kids, both celebrating their birthdays. The entire place, all three tables, sang happy birthday at the very beginning and set the fun mood for the entire night. Our chef was fantastic making us laugh the entire time he cooked. He noticed one of the kids wasn't eating, so he went to the back and got some eggs and scrambled them for her. She ate them up in no time and was so happy. They go way above and beyond to make everyone happy. The food was absolutely delicious. My mom has a seafood allergy so he cooked her food before everyone else, which was great. Guys Burgers and Guys BBQ were perfect as always, so good. The Panini place next to the pizza place was another huge winner. Wow, that food was awesome. The casino area and pools were the only areas where you noticed a large amount of people, the rest of the ship was very peaceful most of the time. One huge thing that I really liked was the crew has their own set of elevators for getting luggage to and from the cabins. No more having several elevators closed off. We had 4 cabins all together so we were able to open the doors between the balconies and that was a great thing for the kids so they could come by to see their Great Grandma whenever they wanted to. This was by far a perfect cruise on an incredible ship, so much so, that my mom and I am are already booked for the October 9th cruise on the Mardi Gras. I can't wait.

I did the Save The Sea Turtles excursion and it was so rewarding helping to find the turtles that could not get to the surface on their own. XIO was our tour guide and she was awesome, so loves her job. You slowly dig down until you feel something in the sand. Once you uncover the turtle you put them in a bucket. My group of three, found 9 turtles and our entire group saved 52 Green Sea Turtles. With the Frigate birds hovering above us, we were not able to release the turtles into the ocean but was very understandable. This was the most rewarding excursion EVER!!!! I loved every minute of it. Sure we got dirty, yes we sweated but was well worth the time and an absolute blast. When in Cozumel, this is the excursion to do. Read more