Coming off one Carnival Cruise Line trip onboard the new Mardi Gras to embark on Panorama just a week later makes for a fascinating exercise in comparing the two ships, as well as a commemoration of the segment’s return to service in both Florida and California, respectively.
The 2021-launched Mardi Gras is the latest and greatest from the line, but the 2019-launched Panorama is certainly holding its own. In fact, Panorama is still essentially new, having only been in service for three months before the pandemic temporarily shut it and the rest of the fleet down.
Recognizing that less than two years separate the pair of ships, I was surprised to see how far Mardi Gras had already surpassed Panorama. From a macro perspective, there’s no question that the new Bolt roller coaster is a marked improvement over the preceding SkyRide suspended cycling route, though both are fun.
And there are more dining venues on Mardi Gras, with exclusive newcomers (at least for now) including Emeril’s Bistro 1396, Rudi’s Seagrill and Shaq’s Big Chicken, among others. Down to the minutia, each vessel comes equipped with welcome USB charging ports in cabins, but only Mardi Gras has them also conveniently positioned at nightstands.
Evening phone-charging challenges notwithstanding, Panorama accommodations spoiled me, especially experiencing the Latin-inspired Havana rooms for the first time — one area where the older ship might win out. Guests in Havana rooms have exclusive access to one of the best spots on the ship, as the ship-within-a-ship space’s pool and whirlpools overlook the scenic wake.
On Mardi Gras, the stern pool is much busier since it is publicly accessible. The Havana deck amenities have sadly relocated and shrunk. And, unfortunately, standard bathrooms onboard Mardi Gras are smaller overall than on Panorama, with only showers seeing a slight increase in size.
Regarding capacity, both ships are currently sailing with fewer guests. However, Panorama is the least crowded at about 50% capacity, and it shows. I’ve never seen a Carnival central pool so relatively deserted at midday. If physical distancing is your clients’ thing, now is the time to hop onboard.
Perhaps another selling point, as only 5% of said capacities can be filled with unvaccinated people, children under 12 are few and far between, so Carnival cruising for the time being is predominantly for adults.
Tighter by comparison, a quieter main dining room sat us inches away from other tables, likely to gather us into serving stations for greater efficiency. Mostly vaccinated travelers (the remaining 95%) were seemingly not concerned to be near maskless diners for the length of brunch, but it was curious given the contrasting enforcement of “sipping and covering” in popular entertainment venues such as the Limelight Lounge, where The Punchliner Comedy Club is hosted.
On both Panorama and Mardi Gras, face coverings are otherwise only required in elevators, shops, the casino and while embarking and disembarking at the port of departure, but seldom anywhere else. From California, more passengers elected to wear them at all times indoors than guests from Florida did.
Carnival continues to bring ships back online across the nation, and now half of the U.S. fleet — with 11 vessels from seven homeports — is in operation, the most recent being Carnival Dream from Texas and Carnival Glory from Louisiana.
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