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Having sailed on Horizon and Vista we were familiar with the layout of this ship but the details are much prettier on the Venezia. - I will say Il Viaggio, the Italian specialty restaurant, is a true standout on the Venezia, the service and the food were far and away the best we had anywhere on the ship. - We didn't mind the enclosed Lido situation, in fact I got way more specialty coffees on the Venezia because we generally stay on the Lido level so it was easy for me to grab a coffee in the morning without having to go downstairs to where the coffee bar usually is. - The waterslide area was really disconnected from the rest of the ship, on the Horizon and Vista its an easy walk up the stairs from the Lido where you can grab a drink but on the Venezia you have to go through interior stairs/elevators to get there. Plus it was a real lackluster splash area for my 6 y/o, plus two of the slides were 51'+ which eliminated the ability for a lot of the 7 and under crowd from riding the slides. - Smoking is really limited to deck 5 forward, and deck 11 aft, which means the smoke is largely contained to those areas unless you're in the casino and even my husband who is a smoker was offended by the lack of ventilation in there. Its a problem on this ship for some reason. - Like other Vista class ships the site lines in the theater are terrible, I suggest going early if you want a decent seat/view. - After cruising on the Mardi Gras and Celebration is hate the old deli setup in the back of the buffet. Its a bottleneck that moves sooooooo slowly. Unfortunately, sometimes your kid just wants a sandwich for lunch and you have to endure. - I would definitely sail this ship again, if it was leaving from NYC. If I'm flying to Florida to get on a Carnival ship its going to be the Celebration or Mardi Gras.

We had table cloths in the main dining room on the Venezia for the Dr. Seuss breakfast. That's the only time.

The tips for the crew and I think you may have to pay for your own provisions to be brought on but they are super specific to you and your guests.

Just off the Venezia last week and there were definitely some flaws with this new process. 1. Our tags weren't delivered to our room until around 8pm the night before debarkation (when we didn't have them by 6pm I called GS and they promised all tags would be delivered by 8pm). We usually like to put the bags out before dinner and a fun last night on the ship. This meant we had to run back to the room to put the tags on and get the bags out. Not the end of the world but again this didn't happen "in the old days". 2. We were group 8 and had a disembark time of 8:20-8:45, we weren't called until 9:15. And while this might be a Venezia problem, they had us walk almost the entirety of deck 3 to get off the ship, it was somewhat comical passing the atrium knowing you still had a long way to go before they would let you access it. With the not so scenic walk around deck 3 and terminal back ups it took an extra 30 minutes to get to our bags. They had two escalators, a set of stairs (that was roped off???), and an elevator or two. The line for the elevator was pure insanity. We wanted to take the stairs as my 6 year old hates down escalators but I almost got clotheslined in the midsection by a black strap closing it off. WHY??? Got into our car that was up one elevator to the parking garage around 10am. Woof. I can not imagine what those in group 26 had to deal with.

From the Carnival website "*Please note: A 18% gratuity will automatically be added. There will be a $25 fee per person for cancellations made within 24 hours of your scheduled reservation."

The best espresso martini will be at a bar with an espresso machine for a fresh pull. It seems like 99% of the bars on the Venezia have an espresso machine. And if you have Cheers - always remember to ask for top shelf liquor, if you ask for a gin martini they likely are making it with the well stuff unless you specify.

I will be the lone vote (for now) for the Celebration. I've been on the Horizon three times and love the ship but found that it was hard to do everything on the Celebration in 7 days, having an 8 day trip would be great.

Some excursions - especially in Europe/Alaska can book up quickly so it is best to book them if they are a must do for you. And yes you can make all sorts of reservations, dining, spa, etc. before final payment. The dinner reservations aren't just a reservation they are upfront payment of the meal.

You can walk across the bike tour route, but its a pain, you'll definitely have to scurry across 6th Ave. Even if you get across it might be hard getting a cab, the bike tour really snarls up traffic that day. If taking a cab from your hotel you'll have to go uptown to go cross town and the Central Park transverse roads will be slammed with vehicular traffic. They are single lane roads in each direction. If you're not in a rush to get to the port note from the Bike Tour website: "After a Start wave is released, the line moves up. Please refer to access points for earlier waves. Sixth Ave will reopen to cars at 12:00 PM."

The official Bolt rules say that kids under 12 need to ride with someone over the age of 15. Otherwise they are totally ok with solo riders, they won't force anyone to pair up. As for the dining - all specialty restaurants that have a flat fee - the Steakhouse, Tepannyaki, etc should be included. Not the Chef's Table. They don't include the specialty restaurants that are a la carte - Sushi, Emeril's, Seafood Shack. From what I've been told you have to pay/book the spot for your kid if you want to reserve ahead and will be reimbursed on the ship.

Happy to see another wonderful report coming our way!

I just checked and if you book parking online for your departure date, for the lot at the cruise port it is only $315 for the duration of the cruise. That is way less than the posted $45/day rate that is out there.

It depends on where you are and your access to Metro North. If I wanted to save some money I would park at my local Metro North Station that has $4 daily long term parking and jump on the train to Grand Central Terminal and then take a cab over to the pier from there. If money wasn't an issue I would call up a local car service and make arrangements with them for transportation. They will also be able to plan a pick up for you at the end of the trip. Most of my local car services won't go into the city for less than $175 because they can't necessarily pick someone up for the fare back. We will be driving and parking at the pier for our upcoming trip, the parking cost was less than the daily rate when I booked in advance making it cheaper than taking a car service. If you don't mind driving that might be a good option.

Don't worry too much - spring break in NYC is much later in April, more aligning with Passover then Easter. I do know those dates align with the spring breaks of some of the districts in the suburbs around the city.

Wow this is tough to hear as I will be traveling with my 6 year old on that ship in the coming months. We are on an 11 night cruise so hopefully a longer cruise will mean a less crowded ship. I've sailed out of NYC 3 times before and have never had any issues with the passengers, though the last time was 2018. I have had issues with embarkation and disembarkation taking forever once but at this point I kind of come to expect that with such a small port. @matymil - how was the kids club? We've got lots of sea days so I know my kid will be looking forward to spending a ton of time in the club.