What a great video! We love it! Mind if we use it? Reply #ChooseFun and @carnival in the comments if that’s okay. Thanks! Full terms and conditions here: bit.ly/choosefunterms

This was Super Informative! Great Job, Thanks!

I agree with you on the Blue Iguana. I love the Tacos and Breakfast Burrito

I already knew Shaqs Big Chicken would get your #1 spot. I have heard nothing but positive feedback. I think we will do 2 speciality dining. Bonsai Teppenyaki ( another vlogger raved about it & Rudis due to both of your reviews) my first Carnival ever so I am excited about Guy's Burgers 🍔 I glad to see you have it highly rated . 😀

Thank you, thank you, thank you for your insight on the food venues aboard the Mardi Gras ship! I am patiently waiting for our opportunity to join in on the fun coming this November! Cruiser for life!

Excellent review. Well structured and I feel like I know where to go when I book my cruise on the Marci Gras!!

Mmmm so many great places to try 👌🏾

We had a wonderful food experience on Mardi Gras! And Shack's big chicken is where we ate the most. I actually gained 10 lbs! Thank you for your review, I watched it before we sailed!

Great review. I thoroughly enjoyed you vlog series from the Mardi Gras. Glad to see your channel growing

Hi Zach! Really good video my Friend! ~ Jason

Enjoyed the video! Normally I'm a Royal Caribbean cruiser but I booked Mardi Gras to see what it's like to sail with Carnival. I am really bummed about the Chibang - I was looking forward to eating there. I appreciate your honest reviews, even though it has made me a bit nervous. I still want to give Mardi Gras a go. One thing you mentioned about Royal Main Dining, most people attend the Main Dining every night. Miss one night and they're calling you questioning what they did wrong, where did you eat for dinner and why. All the questions are super creepy but I did miss our head waiter and his assistant. Food is exceptionally tasty ans well prepared and if it's not to your standard, they replace it, no questions asked. Definitely never encountered cold food.

If you can pull yourself away from the burritos, try the huevos rancheros on the side of Blue Iguana. Fresh fried eggs on a freshly made tortilla, black beans, avocado, tomato, cheese, salsa…it’s amazing. I like it better than their burrito.

Everyone is raving about Shaq’s.

Cucina del capitán was free when I went into this summer. Breakfast in palm restaurant is good, service is slow tho. If you like sushi, try the restaurant, it’s top tier.

Just got off the mardi gras and 100% agree with you on chi bang. Thank goodness it was free, I feel bad for those who have to pay after the inaugural season. I'd be soooo upset if I had to pay for this restaurant. It was just awful.

Oct 22, 2022 Me & my Wife will be flying to Port Canaveral in Orlando, FL for the Carnival Mardi Gras 8 day Eastern Caribbean cruise. This will only be our 3rd cruise. It's so lovely, we both can't wait.. 😎🛳️🌴🥥 From Fort Worth Tx

have Rudy's booked for our august 28th cruise. super happy to hear you loved it!

Great restaurant review! "Shebang it up!" Cracked me up. "Meatballs" means they have a giant pot of meatballs and you were allowed to have ONE from that giant pot. 😆 ChiBang definitely received mixed reviews. Others missing JiJi as well. Is suggest they rethink this for Celebration. Have a bigger JiJi's and perhaps a Blue Iguana sit down Mexican restaurant. Finally had a chance to watch this and so glad I did. Am revamping my food spreadsheet. Now that I'm doing the Elation right before Mardi Gras I can get my fill of Guys Burgers there, and maybe knock out other duplicates. This was great. Thanks for posting!

I really enjoyed the dining room also. Take care Zach !

I have a 2 week on the Mardi Gras and 2025!! Now I know what to eat!

Holland America may not be your style, but they also have a restaurant from Chef Rudi called Sel de Mer. It is amazing, as is all of the food on Holland.

WOW! Excellent review! My brother and his wife are going on the Mardi Gras in June! I shared this with them!

Big chicken and bonsai sushi were my favorites on mardi gras

My wife and l are not much into specialty dining onboard cruise ships; however, we may do an exception for the Mardi Gras... Thanks for your review!

Awesome Video, I just found your channel and you left me with a great first impression! There is so much to eat on the Mardi Gras I think when I get the opportunity to sail her its gonna have to be a back to back

I’m on the Mardi Gras right now. Chi bang is so amazing we ate there two nights in a row!!!

We were disappointed in the MDR on the Mardi Gras. The Maitre D kept calling our waiter up to sing or dance or be introduced while our food sat on trays getting cold. The 2nd night we never got dessert because the waiters were all off dancing. The Maitre D was annoying with his constant announcements while we were trying to enjoy our dinner. The food was lackluster, my steak was so tough I could not eat it, and the portions were small and not great presentation. That being said, while he was actually serving us, not off dancing, our waiter and his staff were excellent. We never went back after the 2nd night. We tried all the other restaurants and some of them were fabulous. We loved Bonsai Teppanyaki and Rudi's and the steak house. Emerils was amazing and Shaq's Chicken and Street Eats were so good. Pretty much everywhere we ate, including room service, was better than the MDR.

love the video and the in depth review of food

This was a fun and informative video. I want to try Shaq's sooooooo bad! 🤤

Wonderful Review

Loved this review. We just got off our 7 day Caribbean cruise on Mardi Gras. Loved the ship the restaurant options were plentiful. Sad to say I had a terrible experience in the main dining room. We finally had the Italian restaurant on our last night and had the pistachio pasta dish and we absolutely loved it. Wish we ate there more often. We stayed away from the Market place for COVID and sanitation reasons. Loved Shaqs chicken spot the potato salad was delicious. Guys is always a plus. The buffalo shrimp were really good for $7 at the seafood market on lido. The Mac and cheese at pig and anchor was good but the rest was subpar. Breakfast and brunch everyday in the main dining room was delicious never missed a beat.

It will be interesting to see if the food quality/taste improve as the new crew settles down and becomes more experienced. I agree that guy's burger/Blue iguana were very good while guy's smokehouse was disappointing. I tried these 3 restaurants pre covid on the Vista.

Totally agree with the food and breakfast on the lido...to me it was not up to par with other carnival ship, I was disappointed in the Pig and Anchor...the service was not the greatest, and you could tell that my sides had been nuked

Great info , Thanks

Best food review ever 👍

Great video! I’m hungry now… 61 days until Mardi Gras for me.

Listen everyone from 12-2pm Cucina del Capitano has make your own pasta for FREE the LASAGNA is wonderful

Excellent review! We are booked B2B for Dec 10/17, 2022.

i’m so excited my family is going this month!

I enjoyed your honest opinion on the food and services on board the cruise ships you keep it real

I’m going on the Radiance in December, and I KNOW imma be eating at the Big Chicken every single day. 😩👌🏼

I waited for #1 to like the video, lol. I just got back from the Mardi Gras (12/10-17) and this video is really accurate. The only thing I disagree on is the 'Street Eats' score, those 3 snack places were magical. My wife and I went to the fry place daily and I loved the steamed options and grill place. I also did not get a chance to eat everywhere, this boat was awesome!

Just want to say you can pre book speciality restaurants and still use on board credit. Same is true for shore excursions, etc. anything you buy in advance from the fun shops it allows you to apply on board credit on the check out screen

Superb vid.

Bonsai Teppanyaki needs to be booked beforehand as well. Super hard to get into as its a hibachi experience with little table room. But worth it ❤️

You forgot to mention that Rudy's is an additional specialty cost dining restaurant. Believe it or not a lot of people going to think that's complimentary and included with your cruise.

I have been on six cruises in the last few months all my favorite was hot in the main dining room

TY for this information. This is VERY HELPFUL. We're leaving on 4/30

Great Review

Awesome!!!

I am going on this boat in December and I have been on the original boat to

Awesome info wife and I will be on the Mardi Gras in may 2022.but I find hard that the lido buffet wasn’t that good and rated so low.but I will find that out on my own when I get there thanks again

You’re adorable! I can’t wait to go on a cruise. Thanks for sharing. Love your channel!

Yep-shaqs big chicken is the greatest on that ship. I ate it every day last year and when we go on the Mardi Gras this Saturday I will again eat here every day. Blows chick filet out of the water!

Thanks for the great videos...They should have just keep.JiJis and maybe added some more menu items or experience.

Thanks for the food update brother

Great Video! My wife and I are going on the Mardi Gras this March, and watching this makes it much more exciting! Do you know if the specialty restaurants such as (Cucina Del Capitano) will still be complementary dining?

Cucina del Capitano was not an option for breakfast on the March 19th sailing on Mardi Gras I just returned from. Looked out every morning for it while getting my Java Blue coffee. Their dinner offering was delicious! Great video!

That’ll be my first stop… Shaq big chcken

Great review :)

We are getting the Jubilee in Galveston. I'm hoping a few of the premium restaurants will be free for the first year, but it doesn't sound like it.

Yeah i loved Shaq Big Chicken.

Thank You! My husband was hoping for good food.

Just got off the Mardi Gras The Guys pig and anchor was the worse BBQ place I've ever had with carnival and the best for me was Rudi, the second best was Shaq chicken

Shaq's Big Chicken was my favorite too omg

good detailed review. Glad I watched this. I can't sail on Carnival. The food is just too unhealthy. I would need an angioplasty after the cruise.

The apple cheesecake was awesome

great review!! are you allowed to order more than 1 portion of any entree at the pay restaurants

Hey Zach I made reservations last week for Rudi's and Bonsai and they allowed me to use onboard credit to pay the fee. FINALLY!

Yeah man, I usually gain 10-13 pounds on every cruise. Usually water weight. I’ll be on the Mardi Gras August 13th. Can’t wait!!

Thanks for the video but we disagree on Guy’s burger which is nothing but tasteless grease. Love Cucina.

Sorry about Chibangs....reminds me of the song: "She bangs, she bangs, oh, baby When she moves, she moves I go crazy 'Cause she looks like a flower But she stings like a bee Like every girl in history...."

My favorite Street Eats where the lobster tacos

Weird, I thought you made it to Emerils, but then again I watched so many vlogs its easy to confuse them

@17:25 Carnival freedom it's sun king steakhouse

Thank you for the info, very helpful! Did you happen to know if there are any vegan options?

Capitano is family style but if you are eating by yourself they minimize the pottions

Just rewatched the video as I'm now 18 days out. I did make the spreadsheet so I'm fully ready and still i wont be able to get it all in. Also CCL has made a good change since you posted this video. You can use your OBC in advance now from the website. I don't know for sure if it works with specialty dinning, but it does with several things like excursions.

How could you miss the New Orleans place?

Great review! We are going to 2 weeks, is Chibang really that bad? We really wanted to try it...

And this is why I gain so much weight regardless of how much I walk on a cruise!

There no longer serve breakfast at La Cucina - which is a very sad disappointment as it was my favorite place for breakfast

were you able to get any video or pictures of those cakes in lido?

Hi Zach I know it’s been a while since you cruised the Mardi Gras but do you happen to remember if the wonderful potato salad you mentioned at shaq’s was self serve? Like you I’m trying to stay away from the buffet type eateries.

I guess I'll cancel out Chibang!

Everyone should try the food venues and not skip because someone doesn't like it. Try everything atleast once.

Is the chi bang included or extra

Can you share your spreadsheet?

Umm..any clues as to chefs table?

Are you saying rudis was free?

I actually rated main dining room a zero. Food was just awful.

19…19!

So finally only the restaurants you have to pay extra is the best food ?.?

I think you're cute and I was beyond impressed w a meal plan spreadsheet 😭✌

I wish you had dined in the main dining room more than once, your experience was an exception l think...very disappointing and very average food. It's easy to see that the servers there are overwhelmed, so just do not expect a dining experience like the one from the Fantasy for instance. And l too, was very eager to eat at Shaq's, and did so three times. Once for breakfast and l don't what kind of biscuits those are supposed to be but don't expect a fluffy southern buttermilk style biscuit. These are more like wheat crackers. So for me, it was just ok, but maybe l was expecting too much there. For most of your review l agree which is why l hit the thumbs up. But one thing you didn't mention and maybe you didn't try, was the cole slaw in the Pig and Anchor...the worst. Guy had better check up on that item because it would be hard to believe he thinks that is good as it is being served now. Now I know what you're thinking, big deal, it's just cole slaw... Well in the south, we love our cole slaw and what they serve there and call cole slaw ain't worth...nothing. Thanks for your review.

Have you tried Bonsai Teppanyaki? Didn't see that reviewed here

Did you get a chance to eat any of Emeril's Cajun food?

Pig and Anchor is disgusting. I’m a Texan 🤠 so I know my BBQ. I don’t know how they cook their meet, but they aren’t smoking it. You should be able to smell the meat cooking. Carnival needs to discontinue Pig and Anchor .

If it ain’t like thePanda Express, it ai ‘t Chinese food

It looks like a hybrid egg drop/chicken noodle soup. It definitely does not look good or authentic.