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So disappointing 

Riga

First let  me give full disclosure-- I'm not a cruiser. Cruising isn't for me, im too restless.

That being said -- here's my takes 

The good-- man the staff here are so wonderful. We haven't had a bad interaction on our 9 day stay. Jennifer, Olivia, Igor,Vlad, Jefferson. Excellent human beings and bar tenders. Our room was well taken care of by Lloyd. The whole cruise, staff wise, just awesome. I appreciate it, and all of you for your hard work. I know it's not always easy putting on a smiling face day after day

The ship is also beautiful. Very well decorated and designed. Big rooms and we were comfortable during our stay.

The food we also found to be quite good, and the faranheight steak house was excellent.  Lots of options throughout the day as well.

The not so good-

Forget about swimming. The pools are so small it makes it nearly impossible. Hot tubs are always full and the ship seemed a little full for its size

At the risk of sounding spoiled, the ship is kind of boring. Unless you want to play trivia for 10 hours a day or see the same shows, the entertainment was pretty underwhelming. Good performances from the entertainment on board, just not enough of it.

The biggest piss off for me, and maybe this is cruise standard is the amount of time we're allowed off the ship. We went 60 miles from one spot to the next and they had to get us back on at 330. I've been told this is because they want us to get onto international waters so they can get us in the casino... I needed the stops to enjoy my cruise and would have had a much better time if we were actually given a chance to enjoy the stops.

Realizing we need to be on international waters for the sake of the cruise line made me feel like a number and not a patron. 

Hope this helps. I don't think I'd do a cruise again but many many people thoroughly enjoyed it. So it could just be my personality type

Great Staff, Average experience 

The ship was not the best . It was kept clean I will say that . But the casino is in the middle of the ship and the smoke travels all over . It’s ridiculous. And to get to the main dining room you have to walk thru it or go up a floor and then back down . It was just a stupid location. The elevators take so long . 

The food isn’t very good at all . The canal restaurant is where we ate . The food wasn’t good. We ate at the steakhouse one night . It wasn’t worth it. The food was just ok . The hibachi grill we ate at was very good . The hot tubs are very crowded and the serenity deck could use a couple of more hot tubs . The shows were ok . The comedian was excellent. And the cruise director mark q was the best ever. . The cabin steward was great but the bed was the worst I ever slept on.

Very Smokey cruise

We decided on this cruise as it was out of NYC and we didn't need to fly.  We weren't on Carnival for a long time but we knew it was a party crowd.

The Good

The ship is beautiful and easy to get around.

There are many free food options.  Guy's burgers were the best we have had on cruises.  The deli sandwiches were excellent plus Mexican taco bar.

Dining Room Food  It was generally good.  There were some hits and some misses.

Carnival App  It was excellent to use for dining.  You go on it to the dinning option make a reservation and they would notify you when your table was ready.

Steak House is expensive but worth it.  It was the best one we have experienced on any cruise line.

We had Terrazzo balcony room with a large balcony though the room was small - no couch or chair.  The Terrazzo area is restricted area in the back of the ship that had 2 hot tubs, bar, seating area, heaters. It offered continental breakfast. It was great and never crowded.

Staff was excellent.

The Bad

Smoke from the casino which spread past the casino was terrible. 

Dinning Room - No table clothes, only knife and fork given so if you had a salad you better hold onto your fork, no tea or coffee offered.  You had to ask for it. You ordered off your phone.  If you wanted a menu, you had to ask for it.  It felt like  you were at a diner, not a nice restaurant.

Marco Polo Dining Room was very unimpressive, low ceiling and compartmental rooms.  Very unappealing.

Activities - Limited unless you like trivia contests and Karaoke

TV  extremely limited stations and limited free movies

Pool area very small such a large ship

We have sailed on Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, Princess, Holland America, Norwegian, and Cunard.  We will think twice before booking another Carnival Cruise though the price and convenience is sailing out of NYC is worth it.  No city like NYC to sail out of.

Something Different

The elevators.  Instead of selecting up or down, you enter your floor and are told what elevator to take/ wait for.  Biggest difference is that you have no idea where the elevator is or whether it is coming up or down for you.  Takes some getting use to.   Ship had 3 elevator cores versus many big ships with 2 elevator cores.

OK cruise but probably won't go on Carnival again

I got sick about a week into my ten day trip. I called the medical clinic to report that I had a cough and fever and exhaustion. The person who answered told me that they didn’t need to know that, but I could come down for medical care if I wanted. Surprising, given how concerned other cruise lines are when someone is sick. Anyway, I didn’t want medical care—I just wanted to lie in bed and die. (Ok, slight exaggeration…but I definitely had no interest in getting up.) I assumed I had the flu based on my experience with the flu many years ago. The next day I felt ok enough to go down to the medical clinic to tell them in person that I was very sick and asked if they wanted me to take a Covid test. The medical receptionist said that I could buy a test if I wanted one. I must have looked at him with some confusion since he repeated that they could sell me a test and did I want to buy one. I said no, went back to my room and slept for the next two days, declining to have my room cleaned since I didn’t want to infect my cabin attendant and barely eating since room service food options were pizza, chicken wings, Philly cheesesteaks etc. The only things I could imagine eating were applesauce and dry cheerios, which weren’t on offer.

Cruise ended yesterday. I took a Covid test when I got home. I have Covid. I hope I didn’t infect anyone else.

Other than that, the cruise was good. I went on a couple of wonderful snorkeling excursions, the on-ship entertainment was usual standard for cruise ships and the food was fine. Our large, aft-facing balcony was lovely.

I won’t be taking a Carnival Cruise again. I’ll stick with the cruise lines that try to track contagious illnesses and isolate their sick passengers.

They Don’t Isolate—or track—Covid Infectictions

Venezia was expected to be a new ship, hence excellent in every respect.

Instead, it somewhat disappointed me. It was the first Carnival ship in my cruising history that does not have a spacious inside atrium with panoramic elevators and large open space. Instead it has the "Piazza San Marco" place that is quite compact and spans just 3 decks high, something like a big burrow inside the ship. The music there is always very loud. I hate live music, preferring high-quality music recordings played on high-quality equipment to roaming musicians. I couldn't stay long in that San Marco place because the violin players, the guitarist and the guy with "carribean" shiny saucepan and the drumsticks were just loud beyond being pleasant. Piano player was better though. 

Too few hot tubs! For a ship of this capacity there must be thrice as more. Hot tubs were always crowded with big belly guys with no chance of squeezing in. 

Water in the swimming pools was uninvitingly chilly for a cruise sailing from NY mid winter. Seen other ships with pools of pleasant temperature that was really enjoyable.

Almost all balconies are recessed, meaning that if you lean over the railing, you see not ocean waves right below, but the promenade deck canopy and the promenade deck itself - together they are quite wide. All balconies should be listed as having "obstructed view". Lots of people on the promenade deck as it has couches, chairs, cabanas, tables etc. Besides, the entire promenade deck is a designated smoking area... even in high winds it is unbearable for a non-smoker to stay there for long due to obnoxious tobacco smell everywhere! Needless to say, all these parties are very loud, so good luck trying to relax on the balcony to the comforting sounds of the ocean.

For me the most disappointing thing was that a good part of the promenade deck was privileged! The entire aft is off limits to anyone except for the suite stateroom guests! There are lounge chairs, umbrellas, hot tubs there... huge outdoor space, where I've observed just about a dozen people during the entire cruise! Absolutely ridiculous, given how crowded other outdoor spaces are! Like a flashback to good old Titanic times when 3rd class passengers were cordoned off from 2nd class, and the 1st class was above the two. I felt REALLY discriminated.

Some other things relate not to the ship but to the cruise in general. There are no proactive membership perks anymore.  You have to ASK for them! If you don't know it (as in my case), you don't get any! Gone are chocolates delivered to the cabin every day just because you are a loyal gold member, no more appreciation event, no more free cocktails for the members... just because you are NOT INFORMED! They will inform you about balcony washing and hundreds of other things, but be silent about anything you can get from them as a loyal customer! Quite an unpleasant experience compared to my previous cruises =( They just don't value you anymore. At the same time, crew members shared their stories how they are underpaid because many guests claim the gratuities back after the cruise under a pretext... and guess what? The Carnival website has detailed instructions on how to do it!!!

Not as good as expected

The Venezia is a beautiful ship.  The food in the MDR is eh... specialty restaurants were very good.  entertainment was fun.  I will not travel on this ship again due to the smokiness from this casino.  The smoke is unavoidable as you must walk through to get to certain parts of the ship.  The smoke drifts out to other areas of the ship as well.  I was lucky to have brought an inhaler with me.  The very small nonsmoking casino is a joke.  It is so small and attached to the smoking casino.  

Our waiter, we were told, had a fever on day 4 and we never saw him again/  We did in fact come home testing positive for covid. 

The entertainment was fun.  We enjoyed the comedians piano bar and trivia by the pool.  There was a great 9 piece band in the gondola lounge  They were very good,  violinists in Rotunda bar, and Ben, a guitarist from Ireland that we made a point to go see.

 smokey casino fills the rest of the ship. Gross!

Truth be told, we chose this cruise because Carnival gave us a ridiculously good deal on it (probably due to it originating in New York in the winter, which turned out to have some mild weather issues). But the Venezia proved to be a charming ship with some sophisticated design features that we really enjoyed. Some features, like the luxurious Italian decoration and theming (including a Venetian gondola boat in the dining room), and unique dining and drink options, are welcome. Others, such as the small pool decks and pools, the limited sunbathing areas, and the practically nonexistent "sports bar" spaces, may make this ship a "pass" for cruisers looking for the classic Carnival "party 'til you drop" experience. But if you're after a relaxing cruise on a stylish, upscale ship, you'll find a lot to like here.

As background: the Venezia is a Vista class ship that was formerly operated by Costa, a Carnival subsidiary, for the 
Asian market, but was transferred to the North American market due to low cruising demand in China. The orientation towards the Chinese market goes a long way to explaining why the ship has such limited pool and sunbathing space - in Asian cultures, sunbathing is not "a thing" as it is in the U.S. Therefore, the Venezia's main pool is small, and you don't get the huge surrounding decks of sun lounges as you'll find on other Carnival ships, and the sail-away party is a lot more subdued. On the other hand, the Venezia's Lido pool is covered, so you can swim in inclement or cold conditions (such as the ones we encountered on our cruise), and the pool area looks more like a center court at an upscale mall than a Lido swimming deck. Some might not appreciate it; as we don't usually spend much time at the Lido pool, it didn't bother us. If you're looking for something to do, check out the second floor of the Lido surrounding the pool, which is enclosed for weather and includes a small library, a Bocce ball court, and some handy areas to snooze. 

Due to high winds, we didn't check out the on-deck sports activities, but the Venezia includes a water park and a ropes course, along with the standard Carnival stuff (basketball courts, miniature golf, etc.). 

In addition to the usual Carnival extra cost food and drink venues (highly-recommended Teppenaki, 555 Steakhouse) the Venezia has some unique options, including "Il Viaggio," an Italian-themed restaurant. We didn't eat there, but it's been getting good notices. The Venezia's version of the Alchemy bar is called "Amari," and offers a similar experience, and the "Frizzante" bar offers coffee drinks and some "fizzy" drinks, such as an excellent Limoncello mojito. If you are a gelato lover, be sure to check out Java Blue, which offers some handmade treats (and at three bucks a scoop, it's a bargain). Even the standard Carnival fare has an Italian twist, such as Tomodoro, the Venezia's equivalent of the Blue Iguana, which offers Italian options alongside the usual tacos and burritos. Other venues offer Italian sandwiches. Food quality was very good overall.

The main dining rooms have standard Carnival fare, but the "your time" dining option, the Canal Grande, has a Venetian gondola boat as its' centerpiece. Food and service in the main dining room was solid but not remarkable. The Lido buffet is also standard Carnival fare, including two "Swirls" stations.

Overall, for a pair of mellow cruisers who are after relaxation and some pampering, the Venezia proved it to be a good choice - better, in fact, than some of the other Carnival ships we've sailed (including the Sunrise, which is a literal party barge). If that's what you're after, you won't be disappointed.

A great cruise on a charming ship...but it's not the "classic" Carnival party-ship experience

Before proceeding to the review, I want to give you an idea of my experience, as I find knowing the cruise "experience level" of the reviewer is helpful to give weight to the contents of the review.

Loyalty Statuses:

Carnival Gold

NCL Platinum

MSC Black

DCL Gold

Royal Caribbean Emerald

On to the review.  I am a frequent cruiser, and love sailing from New York.  Being from New England, I love the convenience of taking the train down to New York and sailing away to warmer weather.  However, sailing from New York is not for the faint of heart.  Embarkation is essentially a cattle call, with the wonderful staff in New York screaming at you the entire way (often times screaming conflicting information).

Once you make your way through embarkation (which was over within 40 minutes) you will step aboard the beautiful Carnival Venezia.  This is a beautiful ship; so much so that you wonder why Carnival more broadly doesn't borrow more from the interior design of their Costa ships.

The atrium is a breath of fresh air, and the lido deck, while a bit small, is a wonderful departure from Carnival's usual offering.  Greenery and hidden nooks and crannies abound on this ship; so while access to pools and hot tubs are a but limited, if you are looking for a place to sunbathe, read, or work, you will find seating plentiful on the lido, deck 11, and deck 5.

Food was a bit higher quality than normal Carnival offerings, though lacking in some areas.  For example, at dinner, there is no choice for bread, and they do not offer the rotating dipping/spread options that are offered on other Carnival vessels.  The layout of the buffet is horrendous, with long lingering lines that are unavoidable.  In the main dining room, avoid the Peppered Beef, unless you want a fun picture for those back home.  It is the only Asian inspired meal I have ever had that incorporated crinkle cut fries and liquid nacho cheese.

We partook in the Chef's Table, which I highly recommend for anyone who wants a unique dining experience; but, take my word for it, don't eat past breakfast if you do, as it is eight full courses of food, and you will not leave hungry!

The staff on this ship was wonderful, very very friendly, and always willing to help!  I will make a note to management on this ship, that I think the waiters in the main dining room(s) are a bit overworked, and you should consider assigning less tables to each so they can provide a bit higher level of service. 

The rooms are very clean and nicely appointed.

If you are a fan of the casino, I would say it is a bit small for the ship, mainly focused on slot machine players.  If you are a fan of hand-shuffled games, there was one black jack table available, and it was a minimum $100 bet on our sailing.  There is a non-smoking casino available, but note that not all table games are available in there.  The ever popular "Fun21" only has one table on this ship, and it is in the smoking casino, though oddly enough not every table in the smoking section of the casino allows smoking.

The last thing I want to address in my review is a pretty small thing, but I wanted to give some recommendations as it was such a bad experience.  DO NOT RENT A CLAMSHELL ON HALFMOON CAY.  They do not assign them by numbers for guests who have pre-reserved them, and you have to essentially sprint to an unclaimed clamshell and stand there until someone comes to assist you.  The clamshells are also in very poor condition.  My alternative recommendation is to rent an umbrella.  They staff will set them up essentially wherever you want, so you have a much better experience in my opinion.

The shows were of very good caliber in my opinion, slightly better than other Carnival ships I've been on, and the string trio in the atrium is not to be missed!

Debarkation is a complete joke, as usual.  I really wish Carnival would work with local port authorities to streamline the taxi situation when debarking in New York.  If you think there will be staged debarkation when selecting your luggage tags, think again.

We waited for all the self-assist passengers to disembark, and assumed they would call 2-4 luggage groups at a time; boy were we wrong.  They called 4 luggage groups, and then 10 minutes later essentially called all remaining luggage groups, just creating a giant line to disembark.  Then again we had conflicting directions shouted at us once back on land (have your passports ready versus put those passports away, you don't need them!).

Overall I would definitely recommend the Carnival Venezia, it was a wonderful cruise, just prepare yourself for some chaotic boarding and disembarking.

Carnival Venezia January 2024 New York to Bahamas

Having previously sailed on the ship for its 4 Day US Inaugural to Bermuda and a 6 Day cruise to Canada/New England. I figured I would share some updated thoughts on the ship after being in service for 8 months. 

Embarkation: We arrived just prior to our scheduled window of 10:00am, made it through security and had no issues. After that however, there was a delay of clearing off prior pax, so we did not get on the ship till probably 11:30am-12:00pm, which was fine for us but it backed up everyone else. 

Ship: Didn’t encounter any major issues overall since we had already been on this ship prior. Some lines here and there were still long but moved fairly quickly. Didn’t encounter any rude guest from my standpoint, seemed like a good crowd.

Stateroom Service: Our room stewart was good, the room was stocked in the beginning but towards the middle/end we had to ask to get more toilet paper. Ice was always kept topped off as well. Room was always kept cleaned, there was once or twice where he wanted to clean while we were still in the room, maybe it’s because we didn’t have the privacy sign on the door but that would be our only “complaint”. 

Food (Not MDR) - 

Tomodoro: Had a burrito for lunch towards the end, tasted fine but the burrito wrap itself got soggy and fell apart rather quickly. 

SeaDay Brunch: Did this three times in total, first two sea days were good, quality was great and so was service. The third time, service was rather slow and some sides were forgotten at our table or just took a very long time to come out. 

Guy's Burgers: Always good, no complaints.

La Strada Grill: Not sure at what point they started to do a rotating menu, don’t believe that was the case in September on the Canada/New England cruise. I could be wrong but was disappointed that I didn't get my favorite sandwich. 

JavaBlue Cafe: Got some biscuits from here, they were tasty, maybe one was a bit on the drier side but still worth the money. Did not get any of the coffees or other drinks.

Chinese Food: Still a favorite among the food options, located at the Seafood Shack on sea days in case you don’t know, highly recommended! 

Food (MDR) - Menus changed over to the new ones and surprisingly I enjoyed the new dishes. I think the last night was really the only night we didn’t like the choices but overall food was good. 

Service on the other hand was spotty, part of our table staff were sent to cover other tables. One night steaks came out to the wrong people (in our party) and weren’t cooked the way they were ordered. There was also one night where the food didn’t come out at all and had to be re-requested. Seems like a staffing issue, not blaming the table staff.

Food (Buffet) - Only had breakfast from here and the quality is just so so. Fine for a quick bite but I wish Carnival would improve the quality and choices for breakfast. Can’t comment on lunch or dinner food. Midnight snack buffet is good as well, nothing to go crazy over but a good alternative than just pizza.

Shoutout to the deli/pizza staff, they do a great job tending to the long lines that form at both of these venues, another areas that could use more staff. 

Entertainment: Family Feud, Deal or No Deal were great to watch as usual. Comedians can be hit or miss; went to the first two that were on board for the first half. Of the two, the first wasn’t that good, the second one was much better. Did not get to see their replacements for the second half of the cruise. 

Cruise Director: MarQ is still a charismatic and really fun cruise director all around. Knows how to have a good time and is always smiling. Made for a great host at the Love & Marriage show (always go to that if you can, one of my favorite shows to watch).

HMC: Stop was canceled.

Nassau: Went to Margaritaville, highly recommend this place. Lots of pool side activities to do, there is beach access, food and drinks were very good. Bathrooms were clean, you could also go inside the hotel and use most of those amenities as well.

Freeport: Not much here, just walked around and did a little shopping.

Disembarkation: Much smoother than our first go around. Only had to wait about an hour once we left the room. Sat around the lido then made our way down to the theater and were only there for not even ten minutes before we were called to get off. 

Final Thoughts: Overall, the ship is still a great addition to the fleet. Did see a lot of improvements in some areas but in others the ship still faces challenges. We made the best of it and I would sail the ship again but hope to see other options from NYC at some point in the future.

Third Times the Charm 

I was super excited to hear about the Venezia as a new ship with an Italian theme to it. The decor was about it. It wasn't a bad cruise. There was very small pool on the lido deck.  Plus side was the four different "shop" type restaurants/bars that were there. We were able to watch college playoff game on Lido deck.  Very limited seating.  Nit happy that the popcorn that used to be given for free for the dive in movies was a 4.72 charge.  The Heros bar..while nice is not set up if you want to watch football.  TV screens are too low and you can see. Nice atmosphere there. Food service at the dining room is a little slow but they are really trying to do their best. Room is standard.  If you happen to like to use the hot tub on cruises the cruise they are packed.  And on the one I was on, it was full of kids.  The disembarking and embarking were my most frustrating part of the trip followed secondly by shore excursions by carnival. Very disorganized. Bartenders are very good on ship and so were the baristas. Casino SUPER smokey with little bar service.

Don't expect an Italian themed cruise

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