 Today the Mardi Gras from Carnival Cruise Line made her way home to Port Canaveral Florida. Early this morning she arrived to a large crowd at Jetty Park and a large contingent of media and Carnival Executives on the roof of the garage. Every ships new arrival comes with pomp and circumstance but this has extra meaning. See, the Mardi Gras was scheduled to premier in the Summer of 2020 in Europe but due to COVID, the shut down and shipyard delays, she was a little late. But she is now in Port Canaveral at the brand new Terminal 3 awaiting for the cruise restart. Mardi Gras will sail 7 Night Eastern and Western Caribbean itineraries. The Eastern will visit San Juan PR, Amber Cover DR and Grand Turk and the Western will visit Cozumel, Costa Maya and Mahogany Bay Roatan Honduras. She is the first in the XL Class of ships so she has some new dining and entertainment venues, stateroom options and exciting new outdoor deck fun. Mardi Gras will be broken up into five different zones, Grand Central, The French Quarter, Summer Landing, The Ultimate Playground and Lido. From dining to entertainment, each zone offers a different experience for guest. New venues like the Big Chicken from Shaquille O'Neil, Emirils Bistro 1396 from Emeril Lagasse plus new activities like BOLT, the first Rollercoaster at sea. Another first will be the first cruise ship in North America powered by Liquified Natural Gas (LNG). Plus so much more. So you can see why there is so much excitement surrounding this ship. As of now, we do not know for sure when the first cruise will take place as we are still awaiting the plans from Carnival. Due to capacity and uncertainty of the cruise restart date, the available sailings to book start October 16, 2021 but we could see earlier sailings open for booking. For more info, don't hesitate to contact me through email or phone. Mike Miller |