Tag Archives: Mardi Gras

Party Grass… Day Oh – part 2

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Day O… Late night.

This will be just a quick update. Actually… it isn’t late night. Sr. Patron and I had quite an evening together, so I’m writing this the morning after… errrr… the late morning after.

One thing this ship has is lots of “watering holes.” There are four decks full of them… front to back you can hardly walk twenty paces without running into another bar. Each has a little different flair, but no matter what, they are there to sell you booze.

Entertainment at the watering holes abounds too. There were bands at the Pig & Anchor, the Brass Magnolia, and the Havana Bar… a guitar guy at the Fortune Teller… and as usual, my favorite place was the Piano Bar. Stevie D is the best I’ve seen in the piano bar since the resumption of cruising after the Cootie Bug infestation. I should mention here that the Pig & Anchor is also a food place, but I’ll talk about food stuff later… I’m on a diet.

So… it was late night in the Piano Bar. I suspect the word is out that Stevie is a great entertainer. I got there a little after his opening time of 9 PM and the place was already packed. As all the good ones are, Stevie is far more than just a piano player. He gets everyone into the full, top of your lungs, bam-bam-bam, sing-along. And of course, there are few late night “naughty” ditties. Everyone has fun throughout the night. Then it was off to pizza and then bed.

Before I head off to the late morning brunch… and a Bloody Mary… I should mention the Piano Bar facility. Simply put, it sucks. It is constructed and furnished in the style of a nice little cocktail lounge where the piano player provides background… make that elevator music while everyone chats over martinis. There are only six “barrel chairs” around the ground level piano. (There’s room for two more, but they have been removed for Cootie Bug protocols.)

Starting with all the Vista class ships, the “beards in the boardroom” at Carnival have clearly lost sight of what previously gave them the best piano bars on the high seas.  Last night was standing room only. Had this piano bar been like those on previous ships… especially the Dream and Conquest class ships… lots more people would have been able to join in on the fun. AND… Carnival would surely have sold more booze.

That’s it for Day Oh… Day-yay-yay-yay oh

It’s time to head off for that Bloody Mary. I hear the Pig & Anchor has a great one.

Kokomo Man

Live From the Party Grass

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It’s Day 0…. Day-oh… Day-yay-yay-oh.

Hi everybody. It’s been a long time since I’ve done a “live from.” I’m coming out of cub-reporter retirement to report from Carnival’s newest darling, the Party Grass. Ok it’s the Mardi Gras, but who wants to remember the correct spelling.

For those who have never read my musings… and babblings before, I always start my cruises as “Day 0” because it’s a seven-day cruise and the day you board really isn’t a whole day. Besides I get to start the cruise getting everyone to sing the Banana Boat Song with me. So, everybody together now… Day-oh… Day-yay-yay-oh.

As I have always promised, I’ll be bringing you the good, the bad, and the ugly of this cruise. I should add that there is rarely any ugly… if there was, I wouldn’t have done so many cruises. Just the same, I’ll tell it like I see it so you can get a feel for this cruise in general and this ship in particular.

The Party Grass is Carnivals newest darling. I love cruising on the “darlings” because Carnival staffs the ship with the best of the best. I did the US inaugural on the Breeze and July 4 return to cruising on the Horizon. Everyone of the staff… in all areas of the ship… were stellar on both of those cruises. I hope this is the same way.

At the risk of stating the obvious, this ship is big. On the July 4 Horizon cruise out of Miami, the Party Grass had not yet had its maiden cruise. So, even though the Party Grass is based in Port Canaveral, Carnival fired her up and paraded her up and down the Miami cruise port channel… just to show her off. Standing on the Horizon, it was clear that the Party Grass was big. Then when on the 50 Year Celebration cruise, I was on the Glory and we parked next to the Party Grass. Yeah… it’s big. 

The Conquest class Glory takes on a bit less than 3000 passengers. The Party Grass takes on a population equal to more than half of the small towns in the world.

Boarding was simple and efficient. Of course, now that I’m Diamond, boarding is always easy. I sure am glad I didn’t have to stand in line with the massive hoards of people. I did some checking, and this ship holds about 5200 passengers at double occupancy. That means around 2600 cabins… WOW! And, since there appears to be a lot of kids, I suspect there will be over 6000 passengers on the ship. I sure am glad I didn’t have to stand in line with the hoards.

I should mention that if you haven’t cruised in a while, they no longer give you your “sail & sign” card when you process in. Instead, your cards will be waiting for you at your cabin. Until you get to your cabin, you use the boarding paperwork to buy drinks… perhaps a frozen concoction to help you hang on.

Per usual practice, the big doors to all the cabins are shut with big signs saying, “Cabins will be ready at 1:30.” Throughout the morning the Cruise Director, Lee, also announced the cabins won’t be ready for a while, so everyone should go to their mustard station, and then to the Lido deck for some food and liquid refreshment. About every 30 minutes there was another announcement about going to mustard stations. So, the hoards slog their carry on all over the ship looking for booze, food, and of course mustard.

Psssssst! Don’t tell anybody I told you, but in reality, most of the cabins are ready way before 1:30. Chances are if you go to your cabin, you can get in and drop off all that carry on stuff. Just open those big doors yourself, find your cabin and get rid of all the stuff… and booze you’ve smuggled on board. As I mentioned, your sail & sign cards will be at your cabin, so you do chance it that they won’t be there if you go to your cabin early. In my six cruises since “return to cruising” there has only been one time the cards weren’t there… and I always board early.

That’s all for now. This is the Party Grass and it’s time to get this party started.

More later.

Kokomo Man – Cub Reporter.