Interesting article about cruisehive poll

[GatorCruiser]

https://www.yahoo.com/news/cruise-passenger-poll-names-port-100547322.html

Thoughts? 

[twangster]

I think the same thing when I see Royal named "Best ______________"

How much did it cost?

[GatorCruiser]

Anyone on here that’s been aboard Mardi Gras care to comment on its superiority to Wonder or Prima?

[jabberwk]

I don't care what the poll says, I'll never set foot on a Carnival cruise. Ever.

[Mike n Ky]

5 hours ago, GatorCruiser said:

Anyone on here that’s been aboard Mardi Gras care to comment on its superiority to Wonder or Prima?

We did Carnival before being introduced to Royal...have never gone back. We will begin mixing our sailings once we have Plus achieved, not far from it, and looking forward to cruising on Celebrity.

[twangster]

10 hours ago, GatorCruiser said:

Anyone on here that’s been aboard Mardi Gras care to comment on its superiority to Wonder or Prima?

I have sailed Mardi Gras.  For Carnival cruisers it is a huge difference compared to any ship prior.  In that sense there is no question it's the best Carnival ship and a fan favorite I'm sure.  

I was fortunate to sail her at reduced capacity.  I ran into a number of frequent cruisers who all sailed multiple lines like me on that restart cruise.  A recurring sentiment was "beautiful ship, can't imagine her at full capacity".  I'm not sure I'd go back now that she is at capacity but there are thousands of Carnival cruisers who probably haven't sailed her yet.  Even at 60% capacity Terminal 3 was chaos for embarkation.  I think Carnival makes embarkation chaos just so it can sell Faster To Fun passes. 

Bolt was okay but expensive for the very short ride.  One and done.  I did it to experience it but only once.

Carnival in general has better comfort food like Guys Burger for the "heart attack in a bun" effect but Shaq's Chicken was pretty good.  Buffet was not better or worse than Royal.    

It was hard to get into the comedy venues and most bars had no available seating for hours.  That was at 60% capacity.  I can't imagine trying to get a seat at Alchemy Bar with the ship at full capacity.  

As far as ports go, I do like Port Canaveral.  It's a port you can visit without going on a cruise.  There are restaurants, bars and some touristy things that locals and tourists can visit any day of the week.  Port of Miami and Port Everglades are both ports that you would never visit when in the area unless you are going on a cruise.  Neither have bars or restaurants.  Unless you have business there, you don't go to Port of Miami or Port Everglades.  Port Everglades is a secure maritime facility so you can't just visit there.  Tampa and Jacksonville are small cruise ports that are limited in scope so it would be hard for either to garner enough momentum to win awards for anything even in fake polls.     

It was interesting that Royal brought Odyssey to Port Canaveral during the shutdown when she first came over to the US.  Mardi Gras and Odyssey both sailed into Port Canaveral on the same day.  More crowds came to see Mardi Gras or enough got tired and left by the time Odyssey pulled in hours later.  From that perspective there was more local interest in Mardi Gras probably because MG is a game changer for Carnival but maybe that suggests there are more Carnival cruisers in the area.  

Perhaps this poll source just tends to have more Carnival followers so that is how the votes landed.  I don't follow them normally.