On our New Year's Cruise on Carnival Mardi Gras, we booked Cloud 9 Spa Staterooms. What differentiates a Cloud 9 Spa Stateroom from a regular stateroom is unlimited access to the Thermal Suites, proximity to the spa, Cloud 9 spa bathrobes and slippers, upgraded Elemis in-stateroom toiletries, as well as a number of redeemable spa benefits.

We've booked Spa staterooms before on Norwegian Cruise Line, so we've appreciated perks like these in the past and had a prior spa stateroom experience to compare to.

The Carnival Mardi Gras is a relatively new ship, and the staterooms felt fresh in decor, and for the most part well-maintained.

We spent Christmas Eve on the Navigator of the Seas at sea.  Rachel and I joined our parents for breakfast in the Sapphire Dining Room. It's a nice alternative to the craziness of the Windjammer. They section the dining room so that half is sit-down, order from the menu, and half is buffet, serve-yourself.  Even if you sit on the sit-down side, you can still get up and walk over to the buffet area.


Here is a navigational map of the ship located on each floor near the elevators/stairs. Now that the Navigator of the Seas has been to drydock, this has changed.

This morning was our first spa day (since it was a 17-day cruise, we determined that we should have two spa treatments - one at the beginning of the cruise, and one at the end). Rachel and I got deluxe treatments since that's what our discount was good for. I got the chocolate indulgence (50th anniversary special) for research purposes, and Rachel (who hates the smell of chocolate) went for the seaweed treatment.

When you first visit the spa, you fill out a questionairre in which you answer questions about your health and rate your stress levels. I told them about my asthma, but other than that, I gave them a big thumbs up. I rated my stress level extremely low (not so in my normal life, but hey, I'm on vacation!) and didn't claim to have problems with dry skin or breakouts or anything. I did this because I didn't want them to sell me anything, and I thought that having very few problems might help minimize the amount of products they could "prescribe" to me.

Both times we went to the spa, I lucked out with the good masseuse (either that, or Rachel is just much more critical than me). She was young and really great at making me feel comfortable. She was friendly, but didn't talk too much (and she told me that I have an athlete's body! I love this girl!), and massage-wise, she applied just the right amount of pressure.

The Chocolate Indulgence is.... well.... not the most relaxing experience. It involved being rubbed down twice with chocolate, and then I had to get up and shower to rinse it off. Two showers! It did seem great for my skin - it was so soft afterwards. But if you're looking for a relaxing 50 minutes, the Chocolate Indulgence is not for you. Yes, there are relaxing times - mostly at the end, after you're done being rubbed down with chocolate - but it's a lot of up and down and scrubbing. Also, the chocolate is really hard to get off. Imagine being a miniature person and standing underneath a chocolate fondue fountain. I would scrub and scrub, and I'd get an area clean, but the chocolate would keep re-appearing. My masseuse would come in and rub my back down for me to get it off, so unless you have incredible behind-the-back reach, I wouldn't recommend this for the super modest person, either.

Also, I bet the spa workers are swearing the person who invented the mess that is Chocolate Indulgence. I left the shower full of brown goop. It was clogging up the drain, which made the water rise to my ankles. All of the towers were covered in chocolate. I would hate to be the person who has to clean that up.

Another pro for my masseuse is that she was AWESOME at not trying to sell me ANYTHING!!!! She didn't even write out a card with "health tips" for me (Rachel got one). She didn't "prescribe" me to one product - didn't even mention the names of products she used on me (ummm... Hersheys? Godiva? I would welcome a prescription to any type of chocolate).

Despite the mess of the Chocolate Indulgence and the two chocolatey showers I had to take, this was definitely one of my best spa experiences ever. And at the time, it was my best cruise ship spa experience.

After being wrapped in chocolate and seaweed, it was time for some grub. Rachel and I were super pumped that they were offering a Pub Lunch upstairs in the steak house. We were really sick of the buffet lunch food at this point, and the burgers by the pool were getting way too repetitive. (We forgot to remind Dad about the Pub Lunch, and he was ridiculously disappointed that he missed it. Really, he was still complaining days later.)

Menu offerings were Fish & Chips, Bangers & Mash, Steak & Kidney Pie, Ploughman's Lunch, and Bread & Butter Pudding.

I wanted everything and wished that I could try it all on different days, but Rachel and I both went for the Fish & Chips.

Our second sea day consisted of another anticlimactic morning of sleeping in.  Also, we forgot to put out our Do Not Disturb sign and didn't flip the dead bolt, and based on a few awkward interactions with our cabin steward, we're fairly confident that he walked in on us while we were snoozing.

Johnny Rockets

Already sick of the Windjammer, we decided to eat lunch at Johnny Rockets. There's a $5.95 "dining fee" per person. I swear this used to be $4.95, and I think charging $6 for a burger is a little ridiculous. You do get to order whatever you want from the menu (Except milkshakes which are additional... and there is a Crown & Anchor Society credit which gives you buy one/get one shakes.  Also, soda is included for those with the soda or beverage package).