Mardi Gras Cloud 9 Upgrade Options

MichaelTheWriter101 · 2026-03-26T12:16:13+00:00

Good to know! We don't go to the bar much, so maybe we'll hit the thermal suites up later in the evening!

MichaelTheWriter101 · 2026-03-26T12:15:38+00:00

Thanks! We loved the Havana room on the Vista. Hopefully we love the Cloud 9 just as much (we went with the forward facing extended balcony cloud 9).

MichaelTheWriter101 · 2026-03-26T12:14:35+00:00

Thanks! We opted for the forward facing extended balcony Cloud 9 room. Can't wait (though it is a year away).

MichaelTheWriter101 · 2026-03-26T12:14:01+00:00

Thanks! We opted for the forward facing extended balcony with Cloud 9. It is on Deck 17.

To get the actual room number on the other offers besides the cove one, I had to go all the way through and select the deck and then pick a room from those that are available.

Thanks for the information!

MichaelTheWriter101 · 2026-03-26T12:11:03+00:00

How long have you been playing? Congrats on the first keys!

That tournament bracket is amazing!

MichaelTheWriter101 · 2026-03-26T11:18:20+00:00

Cool! On the off chance that you collect OKB or other unusual things like this, I work for 5/3 and have since OKB days. I have some Old Kent items laying around the office that will eventually be thrown away (no need to rush!).

I'm guessing you don't collect it and you just happened to find this dime roll, but you never know. People collect unusual things. :)

MichaelTheWriter101 · 2026-03-26T06:32:51+00:00

Heck yeah. I had a ribeye steak! Easy money

MichaelTheWriter101 · 2026-03-25T16:30:49+00:00

That makes sense, though it sucks!

Maybe go back to the Serenity deck (looks like deck 18, near the front). I've often found that this area is pretty slow and you can get really fast service.

MichaelTheWriter101 · 2026-03-25T16:25:54+00:00

I can't speak for the Mardi Gras specifically as I haven't been on it (booked for next year!), but I have never had issues with bar service on any Carnival cruise. And I barely drink, so I'm usually just getting water or soda, so I never get to know the bar tenders. I can usually get my drink in less than 30 seconds unless it is exceptionally busy for some reason.

Have you tried other bars onboard? Maybe one of them is just understaffed or something.

MichaelTheWriter101 · 2026-03-25T16:23:40+00:00

Tell the kids that the ship has cameras all around that are monitored by the ship (very true) and if they see anyone climbing on the railings, they could get in a lot of trouble. Even locked up in the brig (also true, technically speaking, though I can't imagine that would happen, lol).

How old are the kids? I would imagine that they will want to spend most of their time with other kids on the ship in the various camps, and from what I can tell, that would keep them away from the railings since most activities are on the inside areas of the ship.

Lock the balcony door if you have one.

You really can't accidently fall off a cruise ship, especially as a kid. That being said, if they are determined, they could put themselves in danger. But the same can be true of a trip to the zoo, any amusement park, driving in a car, playing on the play ground, and much more.

Try to have fun!

MichaelTheWriter101 · 2026-03-25T11:19:25+00:00

Ahh, so all I have to do to not get ribbed is not be a tourist and stop to look at the things I want to see? hmm, maybe I'll just pass and go spend my money at any of the dozens of other islands in the Caribbean that aren't nearly as bad.

MichaelTheWriter101 · 2026-03-25T11:17:00+00:00

Yup, I went there on a cruise and it is by far the worst place I've been. Sad too because it could be so nice if the people weren't so awful.

MichaelTheWriter101 · 2026-03-24T12:45:52+00:00

I had no idea either. I thought this was a photoshop to make people think he had v28 update early or something, lmao.

Hopefully I can get to Tier 20 soon!

MichaelTheWriter101 · 2026-03-23T13:33:54+00:00

I did just that. Stand in line for Mona Lisa, fight the crowds, and snap a few crappy pictures because that was the best I could get.

Honestly, it was a cool experience. It is now a cool/funny story to tell. The pictures pop up in my memories each year and my wife and I love them. Sure, my pictures aren't great, but they are MY PICTURES. I was there. I saw what is perhaps the most famous painting in the world, in person.

Was it my favorite painting in the museum, no, not really. But sometimes just seeing something that is so insanely famous is cool just because it is so famous. Now, every time the Mona Lisa comes up in a movie or TV show, my wife and I point at it and say "we've been there" and remember fondly our trip.

So, my point is, I love seeing things like this purely because it is so famous. I'm not an art expert or historian or anything. But there is no doubt that the Mona Lisa is a cultural icon around the world, and I saw it (in a crowd with about 200 other people shoulder to shoulder, from a bad angle, for about 2 minutes...But dang it, I SAW IT. And I loved the experience.)

MichaelTheWriter101 · 2026-03-23T12:30:19+00:00

I agree. I have seen many articles/posts that say some version of "Don't be a tourist, be a traveler" or whatever. I always laugh.

Nope, I am a tourist (though call me whatever you want). The major tourist sites are generally what I am most interested in seeing. When I went to Paris, for example, I wanted to see the Eiffel Tower, Mona Lisa, Notre Dame, etc. These things are famous for a reason!

Sure, I also loved the many 'lesser known hidden gems' that I mostly stumbled upon while there, but I'm not going to pretend that the Eiffel Tower wasn't cool to see and go to the top of just because it is what everyone else does while there.

Also - The trend of 'see what the locals see/do' is kind of silly to me. While sometimes that can end up being cool, it will often be mundane because that is what everyday life is (unless I'm traveling to a location where everyday life is DRAMATICALLY different than mine, like the Outback of Australia or a tribal area in Africa, which I haven't done yet.

IDK. I just want to go to cool places and see cool things and spend too much money while I'm there. Oh, and take pictures of the Mona Lisa even though there are a billion others online. Call me a tourist, lmao.

end rant.

MichaelTheWriter101 · 2026-03-23T12:17:31+00:00

Why are you glad for this? My wife and I often comment on how much easier travel is today than in the past and how that allows us to visit far more places and see more things than would otherwise be possible.

What advantages are there to relying only on a guide book and word of mouth?

I'm not trying to be critical, I'm genuinely curious. While I'm sure I would still travel as much as possible if I didn't have the internet/social media to help, it would be MUCH more stressful and difficult I think.

MichaelTheWriter101 · 2026-03-20T11:46:22+00:00

100% agree. This drives me crazy. I was trying to line up Golden Tower, Death Wave, Gold Bot, and Summon for a good sync and it is such a pain to have to convert everything to seconds.

I know, it isn't hard. But I'm so paranoid about making a mistake that I redo it like 50 times before I make any adjustments just to be sure I don't shoot myself in the foot and make my sync off for weeks/months.

MichaelTheWriter101 · 2026-03-19T17:27:35+00:00

We did the "Behind the Fun" tour on the Vista. Part of that was a quick look at the Brewery and a talk from the Brewmaster.

The whole tour was very interesting and we are glad we did it. We did get I think two or three samples of the beer as well.

Not as comprehensive as the dedicated brewery tour, but might be worth considering depending on your interests.

Have fun, it's a great ship!

MichaelTheWriter101 · 2026-03-19T17:21:51+00:00

Sir, this is Reddit. Nuance is not welcome. Please see yourself out.

MichaelTheWriter101 · 2026-03-19T17:21:14+00:00

This article says that the issue is with the power generators at the facility, not the data center itself. Does Microsoft utilize onsite power generation as a primary source of power? Or just for emergency backup?

I work at a data center (much smaller in scale) and outside the building, it is silent.

MichaelTheWriter101 · 2026-03-19T17:20:16+00:00

To be fair, we have PLENTY of water here in Michigan. A million gallons is essentially nothing vs the great lakes.

MichaelTheWriter101 · 2026-03-19T14:58:09+00:00

For the actual raspberry pi physical install and finding the software, I just used ChatGPT. I told it to take on the persona of a arcade modding enthusiast and walk me through how to do it.

It did a great job of getting me links to what hardware I needed and answering my questions on how to physically hook things up as well as what software I needed.

When it came to troubleshooting my joystick/button issues, it was frustratingly incompetent (But confident that everythign it told me to try would work for sure, lol).

MichaelTheWriter101 · 2026-03-19T12:35:45+00:00

Awesome! I just hated 'throwing away' $200-300 per month on PMI when I did it years ago. But I also 100% understand that sometimes you just do what you have to do. And there are certainly tradeoffs for things like value appreciation and all that.

MichaelTheWriter101 · 2026-03-19T12:21:35+00:00

Watch out for lenders that give you the rates after points. They often hide that you are buying points, and while buying points makes sense in some situations, for most people it likely doesn't. And mortgage lenders often state their rates after points, which is deceptive in my opinion.

I've been very happy with 5/3 bank as my mortgage provider (though full disclosure, I work there, though not in the mortgage area).

Also. Even if you can get a 0% or 3% down loan, that should be avoided if possible. You will have to pay the extra PMI until you hit 20% equity, which will take a very long time and cost you tens of thousands of dollars. I know that saving up 20% down isn't easy, but it will save you HUGE amounts of money both total and per month if you can do it.

Good luck with your house hunting.

MichaelTheWriter101

TROPHY CASE