Carnival Mardi Gras — The Original Excel Still Holds Up
Five years after launch, the original Excel-class ship still feels like the most ambitious thing Carnival has ever built. A few of those ambitions paid off; one or two didn't.
Reviewed across a 7-night Eastern Caribbean sailing out of Port Canaveral in late 2025, with cabin nights in a standard balcony and an Excel Suite. Five years after launch, the original Excel-class ship still feels like the most ambitious thing Carnival has ever built. The six themed neighborhoods, the BOLT roller coaster, and the most ambitious Carnival dining lineup to date are still present and largely working. A few of those ambitions paid off; one or two — the buffet flow and the embarkation experience — did not.
Themed neighborhoods, mostly working
The six themed zones — Grand Central, French Quarter, La Piazza, Lido, Summer Landing, and the Ultimate Playground — were Carnival's first serious attempt at neighborhood design. Three of them work very well: French Quarter (the New Orleans-themed dining and bar zone, with the strongest cocktail program on any Carnival ship), La Piazza (the Italian-themed zone with the Cucina del Capitano kitchen), and Summer Landing (the family-friendly outdoor pool deck aft, with the Watering Hole bar and a lap pool that stays usable through the day). The Ultimate Playground works for families with active kids; Grand Central's three-story atrium is a good gathering space without much programming; Lido is the standard pool deck with the standard sea-day crowd.
The BOLT roller coaster on the top deck is exactly what it advertises — a short, intense ride with a long line on sea days. Worth doing once for the novelty; not the reason to book this ship. The line moves fastest first thing in the morning.
Cabins by tier
Cabin tiers, plainly
Interior cabins on Excel-class ships are 158 sq ft and well suited to two adults who plan to be in the cabin only for sleep. Balcony cabins at 188 sq ft plus a 35 sq ft balcony are the sweet-spot recommendation for couples. Cloud 9 Spa cabins include thermal suite access and are worth the upcharge for travelers who plan to use the spa twice or more. Excel Aft Suites carry one of the leading balcony-to-square-footage ratios in the mainstream fleet — they go fast and rarely show up in last-minute upgrade auctions.
The editorial team reviewed two categories: a standard balcony on deck 9 mid-ship and an Excel Suite on deck 16 aft. The standard balcony is functional and a meaningful step up from older Carnival hulls. The Excel Suite category includes priority embarkation, a private sun deck (the Loft 19 area), and a noticeably faster room-service turnaround — the single strongest upgrade decision available on this ship for travelers who can afford it.
Dining program
Rudi's Seagrill is Carnival's only genuinely great restaurant and the headline of the dining lineup. The seafood tower at the cover charge is one of the better deals in mainstream cruising and the kitchen executes a salt-baked branzino that holds up against most land-based seafood houses. Don't skip it. Emeril's Bistro 1396 is solid for a casual Creole lunch. ChiBang! (the Chinese-Mexican fusion concept) is divisive but the dim-sum sampler is genuinely good.
The main dining room is uneven. Steak nights are reliable; chicken and pasta nights are not. The Lido buffet works at lunch and breakfast is chaotic — go to Java Blue Café or book a Sea Day Brunch table in the main dining room instead. Big Chicken (Shaquille O'Neal's chicken sandwich concept) on the Lido is the surprise hit of the casual venues and worth a single lunch.
Entertainment
Carnival's stage productions are intentionally lighter than the major lines — the Center Stage shows on Mardi Gras (currently Soulbound and Vibe) are competent without being memorable. The strength of the entertainment program is the Punchliner comedy club (the strongest in mass-market cruising), the deck-party programming (loud, fun, and well-staffed), and the music venues — Heroes Tribute Lounge runs a focused tribute concept that works well, and Piano Bar 88 is the most fun late-night room on the ship.
Service
Service across the Mardi Gras is friendly and efficient without rising to the polish of Disney or Celebrity. Cabin stewards are visible and competent, dining-room servers are appropriately paced (slightly faster than the line average), and the bar staff at the Alchemy Bar and Piano Bar 88 are consistently the standouts. Where service falls short is the casual venues — the Lido grill stations and the buffet during peak windows — where the line still relies on volume rather than table-side attention.
Itinerary and value
Mardi Gras sails year-round 7-night Eastern and Western Caribbean rotations from Port Canaveral, with stops at Half Moon Cay (Carnival's private island and one of the leading private-island days in the segment), Amber Cove, Grand Turk, Cozumel, and Costa Maya depending on the rotation. Half Moon Cay alone justifies the booking; the cabanas are the strongest in the segment and book out the moment they open.
What it costs, honestly
Standard balcony pricing on a 7-night Mardi Gras Caribbean run lands around $99-$149 per person per night — among the lowest in the segment for a current-generation ship. The all-in price after gratuities (typically $16-$18 per person per night), port taxes (usually 18-25% of the base fare), and a two-device Wi-Fi package adds 35-55% on top of the base fare. Drink packages start at roughly $65-$85 per person per day before service charge — the math works for travelers averaging 5-7 alcoholic drinks per day and not before. Specialty dining covers run $35-$65 per person per restaurant and the better venues book out within the first 48 hours of the booking window — first-night reservations in particular are quiet and easy to land.
Embarkation and disembarkation
Getting to the ship
Port Canaveral is the easiest mainstream embarkation in the country: short security lines, a single-terminal layout, and a 45-minute drive from Orlando International. Travelers flying in the morning of embarkation should plan a hard cutoff at MCO no later than 10 a.m. arrival to clear baggage and the shared shuttle. Pre-night Cocoa Beach hotels run $180-$260 in season and are the simplest hedge against weather delays.
Port Canaveral remains the easiest mainstream embarkation in the country, and the Carnival terminal moves well. Plan on 30-45 minutes from curb to ship on a peak Saturday with FTTF priority, and 60-75 minutes without. Excel Suites and Diamond/Platinum Carnival loyalty tiers board first via a separate lane.
Verdict
Who this ship is for
Recommended for: families, first-timers, value-focused Caribbean cruisers, and groups that want a current-generation ship at older-ship pricing. It is a poor pick for travelers who want a quiet, low-density seascape week, who plan to spend afternoons reading uninterrupted on a balcony, or who are sensitive to crowd density on the main pool deck during a sea day. A smaller premium-segment ship — typically a Celebrity Edge-class or a luxury operator — is the better answer in those cases.
How this ship was reviewed
My Cruise Checklist reviews are written by editorial staff who book and sail every reviewed ship at standard public rates. The editorial team does not accept hosted media sailings, comped cabin upgrades, or revenue-share arrangements with cruise lines or travel agencies. Cabin nights are rotated across at least two distinct categories on every reviewed ship — typically a mid-tier balcony plus either a standard interior or a premium-suite category — so the review reflects more than a single price tier. Where a ship offers a meaningful ship-within-a-ship product (Royal Caribbean Suite Neighborhood, Norwegian Haven, MSC Yacht Club, Disney Concierge, Celebrity Retreat), the editorial team books at least one night in that category to allow a credible side-by-side read against the standard-cabin experience.
Numeric scores are assigned across seven dimensions (overall, dining, cabins, entertainment, value, service, itinerary) on a 1.0 to 5.0 scale, with one decimal of precision. A score of 4.0 means the dimension materially exceeds mainstream-segment expectations; a 3.0 is competent and unremarkable; anything below 3.0 is flagged as a concern in the body copy. Scores are anchored to the ship's segment (mainstream, premium, or luxury) rather than the entire industry, so a 4.5 on Carnival is not directly comparable to a 4.5 on Seabourn. Dining and entertainment scores are weighted toward the venues a typical traveler will actually use across a sailing week rather than the single most expensive specialty restaurant or the headline production show in isolation.
Reviews are revisited and republished on a rolling 18-to-24-month cadence, or sooner when a ship goes through a major dry-dock refurbishment, a class-wide menu reset, or a meaningful change in itinerary deployment. Travelers are encouraged to cross-check the published date at the top of every review against the current sailing date before relying on specific pricing or venue references. Reader-submitted corrections are reviewed by the editorial team within a week and, when verified, applied with an updated published date and a short changelog note at the foot of the article.
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