A search is underway for a male passenger overboard the Mardi Gras cruise ship, operated by Carnival Cruise Line. It occurred as the Carnival flagship was sailing back to Florida to end its seven-night Caribbean cruise.

Carnival Mardi Gras Overboard

The U.S. Coast Guard is searching for a man overboard Carnival’s Mardi Gras cruise ship. The cruise line confirmed on Saturday morning that the crew reported that an adult man went overboard in the early hours of Saturday morning.

According to passengers onboard, it occurred at approximately 1:00 AM, 55 miles off Port Canaveral, Florida.

At the time, the ship was heading back towards Port Canaveral, Florida, to end its seven-night Eastern Caribbean voyage, which included calls at Nassau in The Bahamas, Amber Cove in the Dominican Republic, and Grand Turk in the Turks and Caicos Islands.

Cruise Hive reached out to Carnival Cruise Line and received the following statement: “The crew of Carnival Mardi Gras reported to the U.S. Coast Guard that an adult male guest jumped overboard early Saturday morning during the ship’s return to Port Canaveral.”

The cruise line continued with, “The ship’s crew participated in search and rescue efforts until the ship was released by the U.S. Coast Guard, which continues the search. The Carnival Care Team is supporting the guest’s family. Mardi Gras has arrived to Port Canaveral and will be sailing its next itinerary. Our thoughts and prayers are with the guest and his family.”

Mardi Gras was initially involved in the search but was later released from its efforts by the U.S. Coast Guard. The Coast Guest continues to search the area at this time.

The Carnival Elation was also involved in the search effort early on and was also released. The fantasy-class vessel has already arrived back in Port Canaveral.

April 16 Departure Delayed

Due to the late arrival into Port Canaveral on Saturday morning, the following April 16 will be delayed by one hour. The cruise line sent an update to impacted guests saying, “The ship arrived into Port Canaveral later than scheduled this morning and this will impact your embarkation today.”

The cruise line continues with, “Please delay your Arrival Appointment by 1 hour (for example, 10:00 AM – 10:30 AM appointment will become 11:00 AM – 11:30 AM). Guests who arrive prior to their new time will be asked to return at their assigned time.”

The ship will sail a seven-day Western Caribbean itinerary with calls to Cozumel, Costa Maya, and Mahogany Bay. The ship is 180,800 gross tons with a guest capacity of 5,282 at double occupancy, along with 1,735 crew members.

There have been other overboard situations recently from Carnival cruise ships. The most recent was from the Carnival Horizon in March 2022, when a guest jumped off the vessel while sailing near the Turks and Caicos Islands. Also, in February 2022, a guest went overboard the Carnival Valor cruise ship while heading back to New Orleans.

This is developing news and Cruise Hive will update the post accordingly with any additional facts.

Carnival Cruise Line’s new flagship and the largest vessel in the fleet, Mardi Gras, has received another award, this one based directly on ratings from cruisers. This is one more accolade for the new vessel, which has been winning a wide range of awards from different sources.

Best New Cruise Ship Based on Ratings

This latest award – “Best New Cruise Ship of 2021” from Cruiseline.com’s 2022 Member Choice Awards – is a culmination of more than 4,000 rankings from the website’s members, based on community-generated reviews. The reviews used to calculate the winning tally were posted from the industry restart in June 2021 through the end of the year.

Mardi Gras debuted on July 31, 2021 with her inaugural sailing from Port Canaveral. The ship is now offering 7-night Caribbean itineraries, with both Eastern and Western ports of call on different sailings.

In the past eight months, the ship has been honored at a variety of maiden visits to popular ports throughout the Caribbean, including Amber Cove in the Dominican Republic, Nassau in The Bahamas, and Costa Maya in Mexico.

Several of the ship’s initial visits have had even more significance, such as Mardi Gras being the first cruise ship to visit San Juan, Puerto Rico since the global industry shutdown, and being the first ship in the Carnival Cruise Line fleet to return to Nassau.

Other Best Ship Awards

Mardi Gras has also won several other “Best Cruise Ship” acknowledgements, including best new ship of the year in Cruise Hive’s own Cruise Ship Awards 2021.

The Excel-class vessel was also awarded the title of “Best New Cruise Ship” for 2021 in USA Today’s 10 Best Readers’ Choice Awards, and in 2020, Mardi Gras was named “Most Anticipated New Cruise Ship” by Cruise Hive.

While the entire ship is stunning and well-deserving of its Best Ship honors, other parts of Mardi Gras are also award-winning and attracting plenty of attention from cruisers, engineers, culinary experts, and more.

The ship’s hottest and most innovative attraction, BOLT, the first roller coaster at sea, received the “Best of What’s New” engineering award from Popular Science Magazine, “Best Cruise Ship Feature” of 2021 in Cruise Hive’s awards, and “Most Innovative New Ship Attraction” from The Points Guy Awards.

The popular eatery Guy’s Burger Joint has been winning awards for years, including several mentions in different years of Cruise Hive’s awards, beginning with 2015. On Mardi Gras, Guy’s Burger Joint is located on the port side of deck 17, near the Red Frog Tiki Bar.

More Awards Sure to Come

With Mardi Gras now sailing, the 181,808-gross-ton ship is sure to receive even more acknowledgements. Up to 5,282 passengers (double occupancy) or as many as 6,500 passengers (fully booked) may recognize the ship’s 2,000 international crew members for their excellent service, or choose Shaq’s Big Chicken as a great new dining venue.

Perhaps the innovative Grand Central atrium, with its LED screens, intimate seating, and stunning live performances will receive design or entertainment awards, or the ship’s brand new livery could be recognized as a great updated hull feature.

The entire Excel-class of ships, which Mardi Gras leads and will soon be joined by her sister ships, Carnival Celebration in November 2022 – which has already been recognized as the Most Anticipated New Ship for 2022 – and Carnival Jubilee in 2023, could be recognized for their LNG technology or other onboard innovations.

Whatever is to come, it is certain that Mardi Gras, her sister ships, and Carnival Cruise Line will continue to be award-winning and popular for millions of cruisers worldwide.

Carnival Sensation has arrived at her final port of call right on schedule, as the ship arrived today at the ship-breaking yard in Aliaga, Turkey. It will now be several days or weeks before the next step in scrapping the ship begins, but her long journeys on open water have ended. The ship was also beached on April 5.

Carnival Sensation Beached for Scrapping

The Fantasy-class vessel was sold for scrap earlier this year, after it was announced that she would not return to service as planned.

Instead, the ship’s scheduled itineraries from Mobile, Alabama were reassigned to Carnival Ecstasy, and while Carnival Sensation did continue to host crew members transitioning in and out of quarantine periods, she would not welcome passengers again.

When she debuted in 1993, the ship had cost $250 million to build and was welcomed into the fleet with great fanfare.

The ship weighs in at 70,367 gross tons, and her 10 decks featured accommodations for 2,056 passengers at double occupancy, and up to 2,634 guests when fully booked, with 920 international crew members providing truly sensational service.

Carnival Sensation left the U.S. from her holding position in The Bahamas on March 18, sailing across the Atlantic Ocean for the final time on her way to the ship-breaking facility.

The ship was scheduled to arrive at the yard on April 4, which she has done exactly as expected, completing her 29 years of service with punctuality and distinction.

It may be just hours or it could be several days before the ship’s transponder is deactivated as the shipyard officially takes possession and the cruise ship ceases to be an active vessel. She has already been beached on April 5, one of the final steps before scrapping begins.

Next Steps

The ship will now rest at anchor at the shipyard while the remaining crew members leave the vessel and additional supplies and materials are offloaded. At this time the scrapping process will begin with some interior dismantling, though the hull will remain temporarily intact.

When a space becomes available for the ship to be safely beached, she will be brought onto the shore and stabilized for safe cutting that will divide the hull into sections for removal and recycling. As the hull is opened, larger equipment and interior materials will continue to be removed.

Carnival Cruise Line specifically selected the Aliaga yard for this process because of its higher safety standards and stronger commitment to environmentally-responsible techniques.

Not only will this protect local workers – ship breaking is a dangerous profession and injuries are common at many yards – but it will also ensure the ship poses as little risk to immediate the environment and habitats as possible.

The overall process of breaking up a ship can take several months from the time the ship arrives at the yard until the last bits of metal are removed, the hull is dismantled, and the vessel ceases to exist.

Former Fantasy-Class Vessels

Carnival Sensation is now undergoing the same fate as her Fantasy-class sisters have in recent months. Carnival Fantasy, Carnival Inspiration, and Carnival Imagination were all similarly scrapped at the Aliaga yard, on Turkey’s west coast on the Aegean Sea.

Carnival Fantasy was the first to arrive at the yard, officially anchoring in Aliaga Bay on July 29, 2020. Carnival Inspiration quickly followed, with her transponder going silent on August 3, 2020. Carnival Imagination joined her sisters the next month, officially becoming silent on September 14, 2020.

Another sister ship, Carnival Fascination, was also scrapped in February 2022, but that work was done at the Gadani yard in Pakistan as the ship had been sold to different operators before ultimately being scrapped.

Only three of the eight Fantasy-class ships remain in service today. Carnival Ecstasy, however, will retire in October, after a final sailing from Mobile, Alabama, on October 10.

That last voyage will be a 5-day Western Caribbean itinerary, visiting Cozumel and Progreso, Mexico. It is not yet known whether the ship will be scrapped or could be sold to another company.

The last two Fantasy-class vessels are planned to remain in service. Carnival Paradise is sailing 4- and 5-day Western Caribbean itineraries from Tampa, Florida, while Carnival Elation is offering 4- and 5-day sailings from Jacksonville, Florida, to The Bahamas.

Resurrecting Ships

The Fantasy-class vessels have long been beloved by Carnival cruisers who enjoy smaller, more intimate ships and the open, multi-story atrium designs of the ships. Yet though five of the eight sister ships have already retired, they may not be gone for good.

Carnival’s upcoming Excel-class ship, Carnival Celebration, is integrating different aspects of retired Fun Ships into its décor and artistic elements.

While the line has not yet released many details about these commemorative highlights, it is possible that some nods to the popular Fantasy-class ships will be found aboard the cruise line’s newest vessel when she debuts in November.

In that way, and in the hearts and memories of the millions of passengers who sailed aboard her, Carnival Sensation and all her retired sister ships will never be forgotten.

Carnival Cruise Line has sent out a communication to guests on upcoming sailings that cruise gratuities will increase on departures on or after May 1, 2022. It is the first time the cruise line has raised the gratuity guidelines since December 1, 2018. 

The amount the gratuity guideline is raised by is 51 cents per person per day. The raise will be a welcome break for the thousands of crew members that work hard every day to provide the excellent service they are known for. 

Carnival Cruise Line Increases Gratuity Rate

Carnival Cruise Line’s Chief Operating Officer Neil Palomba announced in a letter to guests that gratuity rates onboard the Carnival cruise ships will be raised by 51 cents per person per day, effective from May 1, 2022. 

Palomba said, “Effective with all cruises departing on or after May 1, 2022, we are making adjustments to our recommended onboard gratuity guidelines.”

For Standard Staterooms, the new rate will be $14.50 per person, per day and for Suites, the new gratuity rate will be $16.50 per person, per day.

The previous amounts were $13.99 per person per day for Standard Staterooms, and $15.99 per person, per day for suites. The gratuities are automatically added to the guest account if not pre-paid, ensuring crew members who might not always be as visible are equally well rewarded for their hard work. 

Palomba continues to say, “Our shipboard team members work hard to provide exceptional and friendly service, so we hope you will agree that this slight increase is well deserved. Guests may pre-pay their gratuities at the current rates, and save on other onboard services, by accessing My Cruise Manager using the reserve now button below.“

Gratuities are assessed based on all guests onboard, except for children under two years. The gratuities apply regardless of the dining options selected.

At the same time, an additional 18% service charge is added for beverage purchases and the cover charge for Chef’s Table, Bonsai Teppanyaki and Bonsai Sushi.

Why Increase Gratuities?

Many guests will be wondering why the increase in tips is necessary at this time. The reasoning can be found in the recent economic turmoil that has been felt worldwide. Since December 1, 2018, the gratuity rate has remained the same; however, since then, inflation has devalued the salaries of those working onboard.

With that, since March 2020, thousands of crew members were forced to remain at home for months on end, living off their hard-earned savings. A slight increase of $0.51 goes a long way for the hardworking crew members onboard. 

As Neil Palombo mentioned, guests can adjust their gratuity charge at guest services, making it more or less.

For ultimate comfort, the easiest way to deal with gratuities is to pre-pay everything before the start of the voyage, so there is no need to think about it afterward. 

Carnival Cruise Line is not the first cruise line to raise the gratuities recently. On March 2, Norwegian Cruise Line announced the same, raising their gratuities to $16 and $20 per person per day.

Not Just Gratuities?

With costs rising for the cruise lines as well, Carnival is raising the prices for WIFI, beverages packages, and specialty dining.

In a message to travel advisors the cruise line said the following: “Although we’ve done our best to minimize the impact of rising costs, we will be implementing nominal changes to some of our onboard services while still providing your clients the best vacation value, on land or at sea. Please encourage your clients to reserve pre-cruise (on My Cruise Manager) before May 1 to save on these categories.“

Before the new pricing is introduced on May 1, guests can lock in beverage purchases and save up to 15% on the old price or 20% on the latest prices. Wifi savings can be 25% on the old pricing and 32% on the latest pricing. Guests also can save up to 20% on specialty dining prices.