Carnival Cruise Mardi Gras 2014

Carnival Cruise Lines "Mardi Gras" connection

And - a Carnival Cruise Mardi Gras! Or how about a double Carnival in 2014 - the best US Carnival in a perfect combination with the biggest and most fun cruise line in the world ever? Get your double Mardi Gras Carnival Day cruise fun provided by "The Fun Line" with the ever biggest fleet of only "Best Fun Ships".

The most fun fact of all is that the Carnival and Mardi Gras are totally related - the Carnival Mardi Gras cruise ship was the first Carnival Cruise Lines ship ever. Its original name was "RMS Empress of Canada" (built 1961, in service with Carnival from 1972 to 1993, then sold, resold and finally scrapped in 2003 - sad but true).

Carnival Mardi Gras 2014

The Mardi Gras Carnival (aka "Carnival season", the name literally means "Fat Tuesday" in French) is a Catholic festival celebrated in the countries of Anglican nations. The celebrations begin on Epiphany (or "the feast day" on January 6th) and culminate on the day before Ash Wednesday (called "Fat Tuesday" and "Mardi Gras Day" - positioned exactly 46 days before Easter). When is the Mardi Gras Carnival day? Because its timing is set according to Easter, it varies by year - between February 3 and March 9. Follows a list with the Mardi Gras dates in the next couple of years (all dates will be on Tuesdays, though - no matter the year):

The Mardi Gras Carnival dates are: in 2014 on March 4, in 2015 on February 17, in 2016 on February 9, in 2017 on February 28, in 2018 on February 13, in 2019 on March 5 and in 2020 on February 25.

You probably already know this, but what the heck: the Mardi Gras New Orleans is second only to the best ever and absolutely colorful-crazy Rio Carnival in Brazil. According to the Wikipedia Mardi Gras article, the Rio Carnival draws record numbers of day tourists in Brazil - 2,2 million for the Carnival Day in 2012, and more than 5 million people for the whole week (around 70% of all annual guests to Rio De Janeiro), with over 400,000 foreigners participating in the week-long day and night activities. The best Mardi Gras places to be in USA - big cities with well established traditions and grandiose celebrations on the most famous Tuesday of the year - are Mobile Alabama Mardi Gras and Mardi Gras Galveston Texas (in the region of Caribbean) and for the US West Coast - San Francisco and San Diego in California.

Mardi Gras Carnival - cruise inclusions

Basically, this is a Mardi Gras Carnival themed cruise vacation, on which if you're part of a group you can get amazing discount rates. Group booking ("Hosted Group Cruise"), besides great booking pricing, is also a travel agency's special, which generally offers:

included by the agency: at least one Private Group cocktail party, all gratuities (depending on ship/itinerary these can be up to $100 PP), a group departure, daily and nightly group gatherings, group dining (reserved tables), and, of course, your "Mask Party".
included by the ship (for the duration of the trip): all meals (excepting alternative restaurants), accommodations and entertainment, 24hr room-service.
not-included: optional are the group shore excursions (again at discount prices). Also not-included in the fares are: alcoholic beverages, gift shop purchases, spa services, gambling (casino/bingo), airfare, port charges, Government taxes, local transfers to the port of embarkation/disembarkation. Remember that for US citizens a passport or certified birth certificate is always required.
all sailings offer a special menu and all the Carnival-themed activities - good music, an exotic masquerade, a lot of booze options, good friends and super fun. As to CCL, whatever the ship, no matter the destination it sails - if it's a Fun Ship, it's always gonna be your absolutely best Carnival Mardi Gras cruise ship holiday vacation, ever!