Carnival’s Mardi Gras
We love talking about cruise ships around here, being at one of the busiest cruise ports it makes a lot of sense. There’s always a lot of talk about Disney Cruise Lines, but today we want to talk about Carnival Cruise Line. There’s a new ship Carnival’s Mardi Gras sailing from Port Canaveral and the MSC Cruise Line sailing from Miami, and it’s very exciting stuff!
The Mardi Gras Ship set sail on it’s maiden voyage recently, while the MSC Meraviglia also set sail out of Miami. This is the first time MSC ships have set sail since the pandemic halted the industry.
Mardi Gras
The Mardi Gras Ship will be making stops in San Juan, Puerto Rico; Amber Cove, Dominican Republic; and Nassau, Bahamas. The ship was the first Carnival cruise line to leave Port Canaveral in 16 months.
The president of Carnival Cruise Lines Christine Duffy was recently interviewed saying, “Mardi Gras has been five years in the making so to finally welcome guests on board to experience this one-of-a-kind ship is something that we’ve been looking forward to for a very long time. Not only is Mardi Gras providing a truly unique vacation experience to our guests, it’s so gratifying to be able to play a role helping the local community by providing much-needed jobs and a boost to the economy.”
Mardi Gras will be making history with a roller coaster, the first ever on a cruise line. Another important feature of this new ship is that every guest must be fully vaccinated. Guests must be vaccinated 14 days in advance of their departure. For guests that have been granted an exception from being vaccinated, they must test negative. Plus all guests 12 years and older that are leaving out of Texas and Florida, must have travel insurance. Cruise lines are all taking steps to ensure the health and safety of guests and staff. It’s important to check with your cruise ship to see what their COVID measures and policies are before arrival.
MSC Meraviglia
Welcome to the MSC Merviglia, the first ship to set sail from Miami in 18 months. This is a unique ship that features a two-storey Mediterranean promenade. The Merviglia will have 3 and 4 night cruises to the Bahamas with a stop at Carnival’s private island, Ocean Cay.
In September, which is in 2 weeks, the ship will be introducing 7 day cruises. These cruises will be travelling to eastern and western Caribbean. The president of MSC Cruise USA, Rubén Rodríguez, was interviewed saying, “As of today, we once again have the pleasure of showcasing our word-class experiences to U.S. guests, offering them the cruise experience they know and love… It has been a long road, and we are delighted to see demand continue to increase as cruisers grow eager to get back to sea. We are confident that they will find the rich onboard experience that we’re known for, while feeling reassured that their health and safety is our highest priority.”
When it comes to COVID measures and policies on MSC Cruise lines that are leaving from the U.S. are not required to be vaccinated. However, unvaccinated guests must show a negative PCR test that was taken within 72 hours of departure. Just like Carnival, guests 12 years and older have to have travel insurance. Finally, it’s also required that all guests take a rapid antigen test at the pier before they board the ship. Once again, we advise everyone who is planning to take a cruise to check what the COVID policies and measures are. As we can see these two cruise lines mentioned in this blog have slightly different requirements for their guests.
Getting to Your Cruise Port
Now you need to make your way to your cruise port, often this involves some sort of ground transportation. At Port Canaveral Transportation this is our speciality. We offer our guests private luxury transportation to their cruise port from the airport or their hotel.
Not sure what kind of vehicle you might need? That’s ok, at Port Canaveral Transportation we offer our guests a wide variety of vehicles to choose from that can accommodate most group sizes. You’re able to make your reservation online at anytime, and you can contact us either by phone or email. We look forward to getting you safely to your cruise port soon!