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From its tongue-in-cheek title to its choice of soca artistes, Mai Tai Carnival Fiesta All Inclusive will remain an all inclusive party that offers no pretensions. It’s unashamedly a brain-ejecting excuse to attend a carnival fete, drink alcohol, eat food (full with sugar) and spread your hands and let go!

It’s a sell that delivers, but not without distracting problems!

Adapted from an alcoholic cocktail based on rum. Curacao liqueur and lime juice and mildly associated with Polynesian style garnishes, Mai Tai focuses on the ever necessary partnership between soca, alcohol, food, euphoria & socialising all at one event. This fusion of these elements creates something called "vibe" and it is not an easy creation.

Brought all together at the lovely La Soledad estate which remains a top notch intimate venue, the promising set up for Mai Tai Carnival All Inclusive was ideally what the doctor ordered on the Sunday before the Carnival Week. However, it is, just like last year, let down by a woeful lack of chemistry between the elements aforementioned above!

Not to focus on the negative side of of this event but it is deemed pertinent to hence throw the nail over on its head for what is to come later maybe? Its the second year in a row and the first 60% of this party ... just strictly seems to be boring ... its like what are we doing here? The five elements are not coming together ... a strong and harsh feeling of deja vu was returning ...

Even so, Mai Tai always seems to turn this around and with the presence of the scantily clad Mai Tai girls serving the diabetes alcoholic shots to both males and females, the blending of corn soup and cupcakes (Cupcakes By Elyse), and Dei Musicale's ability to entertain the masses pumping old and new soca through the speakers ... it all just seemed inevitable.

Inevitbale it was! Performing at Mai Tai was the superb Kes who performed without any breaks or mishaps and perhaps utilising antics that he has worked on and enhanced over the years! As always bringing a lovely lady on the stage, this year unlucky maybe to acquire a female from Jamaica, whose waistline was clearly not enough for Kes however providing specific and direct entertainment to the masses as he sang a majority of his 2013 hits and some from 2012 as well.

Second to perform was the proclaimed Viking of Soca, Bunji Garlin who this year by public demand and reactions has the best groovy song for the year with Differentology. Instructing the crowd not to sing his song as he had a complaint from a paying customer saying he paid hundreds of dollars to hear the crowd sing Bunji's song, Mr. Alvarez decided to instruct the crowd kindly to let him sing his classic tune! Using some of his repotoire of songs Bunji's solo stage performance has definitely improved and has enhanced with flare and energy that no member of the crowd was not involved with his performance!

It’s all the people that was on the stage that’s the problem ... I do not think people paid money to see so many unnecessary people on the stage ... like seriously ... Caesar ... Do something about that ...

At this point, one can safely say the party was unmissable ... only at this point! Dull, awkward and bafflingly charisma-free at the start, Mai Tai turns into a wild, a fire blazing can of stag during Bunji's performance, flag waving, unsympathetic drip of euphoric serum to awake the masses!

Next to any other all inclusive, Mai Tai can improve and would always get better ... because there is always room for improvement!

Verdict:
All well and perfect for harmless, brain-dead fun, but when it comes to the serious business of all inclusives, there are better options. Caesar's reputation and wonderful crowd keeps it from collapsing into farce but, overall, Mai Tai is too derivative and disposable to warrant serious scrutiny.

-Scorn Juice

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