Carnival Venezia April 15 2024

[jeff1718]

This should be a new and interesting experience.  Sailed on a Costa ship many years ago.  Interesting to see how Carnival will incorporate Italian sailing.

[Oceansaway17]

yes I agree how they will Carnivalize it just like how Disney is going to Mousesize the ship they just bought.  Must be interesting to work in a shipyard.

[nwcruiselover]

You should probably post this under Carnival Venezia roll calls.

[jeff1718]

On 12/13/2022 at 5:50 PM, nwcruiselover said:

You should probably post this under Carnival Venezia roll calls.

It does show up under the Venezia Roll Calls

 

[delacruz]

My husband Paul and I just booked this cruise! We were looking for a sailing with a stop at Turks & Caicos, which along with HMC and Amber Cove are the few ports we've not yet visited. This ship and itinerary checked all the boxes for us. Looking forward to chatting between now and then!

[broadwaybaby123]

Good morning everyone!

 

Just booked this cruise for next year!  This will NOT be my first cruise, this will be my 28th cruise.  I've cruised across all lines, but this will be my first time on Carnival in about 5 years.  I've done the itinerary before, with the exception of Amber Cove.  Does anyone know if they allow GoPros on the zipline?

 

My niece has no idea, but she's booked on this cruise with us.  She's 10 years old (will be 11 by the time the cruise rolls around).  She's only been on 2 cruises (Bliss and Oasis) and is about to go on her third (Anthem).  This will be a first for both of us, as neither of us have been on a cruise on (in essence) a brand-new ship (my understanding is that Costa is signing the Venezia to Carnival and it's currently being refitted).  My parents are coming with us, and as a family, we have a YouTube channel dedicated to cruising, so you bet the Venezia will be on there!

[ETski]

My husband and I just booked this cruise. Sounds like a great itinerary. We have done all the ports except Amber Cove. 

[delacruz]

On 2/4/2023 at 9:36 AM, broadwaybaby123 said:

Good morning everyone!

 

Just booked this cruise for next year!  This will NOT be my first cruise, this will be my 28th cruise.  I've cruised across all lines, but this will be my first time on Carnival in about 5 years.  I've done the itinerary before, with the exception of Amber Cove.  Does anyone know if they allow GoPros on the zipline?

 

My niece has no idea, but she's booked on this cruise with us.  She's 10 years old (will be 11 by the time the cruise rolls around).  She's only been on 2 cruises (Bliss and Oasis) and is about to go on her third (Anthem).  This will be a first for both of us, as neither of us have been on a cruise on (in essence) a brand-new ship (my understanding is that Costa is signing the Venezia to Carnival and it's currently being refitted).  My parents are coming with us, and as a family, we have a YouTube channel dedicated to cruising, so you bet the Venezia will be on there!

 

We have ~the same number of cruises under our belts as you, but this will only be our 2nd Carnival Cruise - the first was the Carnival Pride in 2009. There were things we liked about that cruise (always being able to drive to port is a big plus, and much more so with so many major flight glitches the past couple of years), but there was a huge group of Baltimore Ravens fans onboard, and at times it felt we were at a really bad frat party. After years of Royal Caribbean, as much as I've enjoyed all the sailings, it's starting to feel like the 'same old' thing, and we're looking forward to so much that will be different and new to us on this ship.

 

That's wonderful about your niece's intro to cruising. I love seeing multi-generational family groups on cruises and miss out on that - we have some family members that are afraid they will be seasick and some that don't enjoy cruising or visiting the same warmer climates that we do, so we haven't been able to organize a family sailing.

 

18 hours ago, ETski said:

My husband and I just booked this cruise. Sounds like a great itinerary. We have done all the ports except Amber Cove. 

 

'Welcome Aboard'!

 

We never get bored going to St Thomas and San Juan and are really looking forward to the 3 new ports for us - T&C, HMC, and Amber Cove.

 

[delacruz]

A handy bit of information if you are 50+ and a member of AARP. (and if you are 50+ but NOT a member of AARP the annual membership is usually $16/yr, but currently on sale for $12/yr:

 

AARP sells Carnival Cruise Gift Cards that can be purchased at a 10% discount. They come in $500 and $100 value, so they cost $450 and $90 respectively. As opposed to some other cruise lines that only let you use gift cards for your initial down payment and nothing else, or only OBC, there does not seem to be any limitation to what you can use this on. 

 

We splurged a bit on this sailing with a wraparound Premium Vista balcony in the Terrazzo Carnivale section, and plan to purchase the Cheers Beverage packages (celebrating a big birthday and a retirement), so getting 10% off makes a nice balance.

[KaiBlue]

DH and I just booked this cruise a few days ago on a whim!  Looking forward to the different decor on this ship - seems to be quite elegant.  Half Moon Cay is the only port that we haven't been to on this itinerary but my daughter has been there and loved it.  We love a good beach day. 

 

We also use discounted gift cards but through Allstate Rewards.  The cards are not available at all times (they seem to come and go) but joining the program is free and it's easy to accumulate points.

 

[dferreira7]

Hi all, Two retired teachers here who love to cruise and camp. This will be our second time on this ship as we have a week booked in 2023. Looking forward to having NY as a year round port.

Dan and Donna

[delacruz]

@KaiBlue - At first glance I thought the decor was a bit over the top, but it has grown on me. Our only previous Carnival cruise was on the Pride, and I thought it was rather dark in the interior spaces - the Venezia looks much more interesting

 

 

@dferreira7-  Dan & Donna - looking forward to getting a first hand report on the ship from you for your 2023 sailing!

 

 

[naugcruise]

Just booked with my wife, two sisters and their husbands. Been to all these ports before. HMC is one of our favorites. We do nothing that day but sit on the beach and watch the world go by. 

[tatiana156]

Booked Carnival Venezia as ship intrigued us. Looks like a museum. Looking forward to seeing the ship in real. 

[ETski]

Have been watch the videos on the crossing of the Venezia. Can’t wait to cruise Carnival Italian “style”. Always so much fun exploring a new ship. 

[nycfa]

Just booked this today.  It will be cruise number 16 for us.  We haven't been to three of the ports.  We LOVE lots of sea days.  

[tweety33]

Hi fellow cruisers!

 My husband & I booked this cruise last week. Very excited, still lots of research to do now. Cruise #19 for us.

 We got our flight down booked, still deciding which to take home.

Not familiar with EWR Newark airport. They have the best price & times. Can we make a 12:25pm flight? We self disembark. Anyone with experience there? Best way to get to EWR & cost?

I look forward to chatting with you all for the next 7 mo.

Karen

[tweety33]

Boy this is a quiet roll call. Less than 6 months to go now. Woooowhoooo!!

 

[delacruz]

14 hours ago, tweety33 said:

Boy this is a quiet roll call. Less than 6 months to go now. Woooowhoooo!!

 

Yes, it is quiet here! I pop over periodically to see if there's something new and aside from your couple of posts not much. I've been meaning to post here to 'wake things up'-lol-but I always get sidetracked. There are actually 2 pages for our sailing on a certain social media platform and although not 'hopping' has much more frequent activity.

 

Today we are going to book our specialty dining. The availability seems to be wide open, but we know we will be booking them, so may as well get them done so we don't get disappointed later if our preferred dates and times get full. This cruise is for my husband's 70th birthday, his retirement, and our anniversary, so we have a lot of celebrating to do!

 

Our next step is to plan our day at Amber Cove. We wouldn't mind spending some time at the pool in port but prefer a beach day. Does anyone have recommendations? We have read that it is best to take a ship excursion rather than venture out on our own at this port. In our 'younger years' we would have ignored the advice and book our own excursion - always saved $$ and had more personal experiences, but except for some exceptions we have lately been booking ship excursions - takes the worry out of getting back in time. 

 

These are our plans so far:

- St Thomas - we have been to this port probably more than any other port, and although we have enjoyed beaches and sightseeing there (Sapphire, Coki, Magen and on St John Cinnamon Bay & Trunk Bay), wanted something different. Our last time in STT we had planned to take the ferry to Honeymoon Beach (we were on a Celebrity Cruise at Crown Bay cruise terminal (an easy walk to the ferry to Water Island where the beach is) but when we realized how small the ferries were and how infrequent the schedule was, we bowed out. And on that cruise we took an AMAZING catamaran excursion from St Kitts to Nevis, that included snorkeling, a Nevis beach, and then essentially our catamaran turned into a party boat on the way back that was so much fun, so we picked the Kontiki Party Boat excursion to combine the fun with the beach we wanted to visit.

- San Juan, and specifically OLD San Juan is one of our favorite places and we have taken many cruises out of that port, always spending time before and/or after the cruise in town. We will do our routine of having Mallorcas and Puerto Rican coffee at our pick of our favorite breakfast cafes, walk down Paseo de La Princesa, then mosey around till we're ready for our traditional Pina Colada at Barrachinas. Some shopping and more wandering, and maybe lunch before heading back. May sound boring to some but for me and Paul, it is one of our 'happy places'.

- Amber Cove I think we lean towards a beach or beach All-Inclusive excursion. Haven't focused on picking one yet. Open to recommendations!

- Grand Turk I think we'll head over to Jack's Shack for an early but relaxing beach day.

- Half Moon Cay - another beach day. Still contemplating doing the Sting Ray Adventure - we did a snorkel with Sharks and Rays in Belize and it was too disorganized and crowded to really experience it, but will likely just make it our last beach day. Although Paul is retiring and looking forward to some R&R, with me still working and taking off 2 full weeks, I'll need the rest before I have to hit the ground running. Disappointed we can't rent an umbrella - we like the sun, but have to be careful, and the clamshells seem like they'll get too hot. We even considered splurging on a cabana, but even though we're treating ourselves well on this trip, that seems a bit 'overboard'.

 

Hope to see more activity here soon. In exactly 6 months from tomorrow we will be boarding this beautiful ship. 6 months from today many of you will be exploring NYC - my hometown - and having a great Sunday! (We are taking an early Amtrak in the day of - with enough cushion to take a later Amtrak or drive in case of any major issue, so we feel OK with that decision to not leave our fur-babies the extra day).

 

 

[tweety33]

Delacruz,  hi, enjoyed reading your plans, ill respond tomorrow when I have more time, but I just wanna say quickly if your boarding in 6 mo  to the day your gonna miss the ship🤔.

 You are on April 15th?

[nycfa]

I think this thread will become more busy after final payment in January as people are firmly committed to go.

 

We are planning a laid back relaxed vacation.  No real plans other then sleeping in and beach days.  We just did NE and Canada on MSC this fall and thats pretty much what we did but swap beach days for walking around the ports (and DH getting a beer in each port LOL).

 

 

[tweety33]

I still like this site better then the other 2 you mentioned, yet I think most use them now adays.

Thats awesome you have so much to be celebrating  delacruz.

 

Because we have been to all these islands several times we don't plan on excursions this time around, mostly just walk around port, pools & there beaches, and towns where close, same as Nycfa is. 

 

Nycfa; we were on MSC Meraviglia also, in April this year, Port Canaveral to NY. I miss the drink pkg already. The drink pkg on Carnival is just to expensive.

 

 Delacruz; We were in Dom. Rep. this year at Tiano bay (was our favorite port area) and had a good day walking into Puerto Plata. Was nervous at first, but we felt very safe.  Got lots of fun photos.  So this time we will stay in the port at Amber Cove since we never docked there. Looks like a good pool day, lazy river etc.

 

Your plan in San Juan sounds good, not boring at all.  We will just walk around. I had seen others in the past mention Barrachinas for pina coladas. If you say it's really that good & worth it, we may go find that place. Always a fan of finding a good tasting cup of coffee that I haven't had. I just looked up what Mallorcas is, Oh my, that sounds delicious. Which coffee shop do you reccommend?

In the past we went to the rain forest. Did a segway tour. Island tours. & walking out on our own.

 

Grand turk we have rented golf carts a few times to explore on our own, this time we will stay in the port and enjoy what it has to offer.

 

We love the sun but have to be careful also & can only take so much of it. Or I'd look like a lobster & more visits to the dermatologist.

 

Holidays just around the corner, then I agree we will have a lot more excitement & chatter going on here once the new year starts to the final countdown... Wooowhoooo!!!!

 

[delacruz]

On 11/4/2023 at 1:34 PM, tweety33 said:

Delacruz,  hi, enjoyed reading your plans, ill respond tomorrow when I have more time, but I just wanna say quickly if your boarding in 6 mo  to the day your gonna miss the ship🤔.

 You are on April 15th?

Yipes - I can't even blame how I get wonked out from changing the clocks back because it was the day before! I had my calendar open to Nov 14 to enter an appointment, and hey - Nov 4 or Nov 14 was enough to confuse me....lol! Yes, I WILL be boarding on April 15 with the rest of you! 🥴

 

On 11/4/2023 at 2:45 PM, nycfa said:

I think this thread will become more busy after final payment in January as people are firmly committed to go.

 

We are planning a laid back relaxed vacation.  No real plans other then sleeping in and beach days.  We just did NE and Canada on MSC this fall and thats pretty much what we did but swap beach days for walking around the ports (and DH getting a beer in each port LOL).

 

 

Actually a lot of my OCD planning is to spend the time I'm not on cruises imagining I'm on one! And I usually feel that once we've decided on what we're doing, we're much more relaxed during the trip. Yesterday we booked our specialty dinners (we've gotten used to on RCCL and X that if we don't book far enough ahead our preferences aren't always available, but so far everything is wide open). And part of booking ahead is that everything is pre-paid and we don't rack up a bill once on board. 

 

We also did decide on an excursion for Amber Cove. We're doing the Dominican Culture - cooking, coffee and casa typica. We did similar excursions in Dominica and Costa Maya and they were wonderful experiences. We were interested in a beach, but this does end with an hour at a beach, and with 11 days of R&R we'll get enough beach/pool time.

14 hours ago, tweety33 said:

I still like this site better then the other 2 you mentioned, yet I think most use them now adays.

Thats awesome you have so much to be celebrating  delacruz.

 

Because we have been to all these islands several times we don't plan on excursions this time around, mostly just walk around port, pools & there beaches, and towns where close, same as Nycfa is. 

 

Nycfa; we were on MSC Meraviglia also, in April this year, Port Canaveral to NY. I miss the drink pkg already. The drink pkg on Carnival is just to expensive.

 

 Delacruz; We were in Dom. Rep. this year at Tiano bay (was our favorite port area) and had a good day walking into Puerto Plata. Was nervous at first, but we felt very safe.  Got lots of fun photos.  So this time we will stay in the port at Amber Cove since we never docked there. Looks like a good pool day, lazy river etc.

 

Your plan in San Juan sounds good, not boring at all.  We will just walk around. I had seen others in the past mention Barrachinas for pina coladas. If you say it's really that good & worth it, we may go find that place. Always a fan of finding a good tasting cup of coffee that I haven't had. I just looked up what Mallorcas is, Oh my, that sounds delicious. Which coffee shop do you reccommend?

In the past we went to the rain forest. Did a segway tour. Island tours. & walking out on our own.

 

Grand turk we have rented golf carts a few times to explore on our own, this time we will stay in the port and enjoy what it has to offer.

 

We love the sun but have to be careful also & can only take so much of it. Or I'd look like a lobster & more visits to the dermatologist.

 

Holidays just around the corner, then I agree we will have a lot more excitement & chatter going on here once the new year starts to the final countdown... Wooowhoooo!!!!

 

 

I've always gravitated here at CC. I've learned so much here and made some great friends and met shipmates. I still can't believe that we survived our first cruise without knowing this resource was available!

 

We had DR as a cruise stop many moons ago when Samana was the only cruise port and it was tender only. We took a boat to Cayo Leventado and had a lovely island day, and post-Covid before cruising started up again we spent a week in Punta Cana, but never left the resort, so haven't really seen much of the island yet.

 

Although one other bar in San Juan claims they originated the Pina Colada, Barrachina's churns them out, but they ARE good. It is somewhat of a tourist trap, but we've found their food and drink to be authentic. We've spent a lot of time there - for a longer visit we did a flamenco dinner/dance, and have enjoyed our couple of meals there. The courtyard is lovely, although really pretty at night but we'll be long gone. We especially have appreciated that they will hold luggage for those trips we took out of SJ with a long day before the flight home. A couple of our favorite cafes for breakfast are Cafeteria Mallorca (it is no frills, but a lot of locals eat there), La Bombanera (much nicer since they renovated),and Caficultura. We still have Cafe Manolin and Chocobar Cortes on our list to try.

 

We somehow have never made it to the rain forest - weather and/or cancelled excursions.

 

Funny, as Royal Caribbean and Celebrity 'regulars' we think the price of the drink package on Carnival is wonderful! We have been very spoiled because with our loyalty status, we get enough free drinks that we don't do the packages. We calculated what we expect to drink, and we think we'll mostly break even, (a couple of lattes, bottled water all day, occasional pool drink on sea days, a couple glasses of wine with dinner, cocktail or 2 later in evening)

Edited November 6, 2023 by delacruz

[ETski]

We are deciding on what specialty restaurants to do. Generally, we do at least one of two. We have done the Chef Table on the Pride last year. If you want a wonderful dining experience do it. We will be celebrating our Anniversary our second day on board. Think we will may book he steak house. Never have done it but hear it is one of the best Steak Houses of all the lines. We cruise Royal, Celebrity, NCL and Holland. We are constantly ask which line we like best. Our answer is the one were on now. They all have things we like. We love Comedy Shows and that why we like Carnival. We have booked two excursions, Fast Cat to Honeymoon Beach/Water Island. This will be our third time doing this. In Amber Cove Cooking,Coffee and Casa. PR we will walk around and get a Pina Colada. HMC and Grand Turk will be beach day. We are doing late dining, we did try anytime on the Pride and it just didn't work out for us. 

[delacruz]

On 11/13/2023 at 10:37 AM, ETski said:

We are deciding on what specialty restaurants to do. Generally, we do at least one of two. We have done the Chef Table on the Pride last year. If you want a wonderful dining experience do it. We will be celebrating our Anniversary our second day on board. Think we will may book he steak house. Never have done it but hear it is one of the best Steak Houses of all the lines. We cruise Royal, Celebrity, NCL and Holland. We are constantly ask which line we like best. Our answer is the one were on now. They all have things we like. We love Comedy Shows and that why we like Carnival. We have booked two excursions, Fast Cat to Honeymoon Beach/Water Island. This will be our third time doing this. In Amber Cove Cooking,Coffee and Casa. PR we will walk around and get a Pina Colada. HMC and Grand Turk will be beach day. We are doing late dining, we did try anytime on the Pride and it just didn't work out for us. 

 

I know things change, but we categorized our dinner many moons ago at David's Steakhouse on the Carnival Pride as one of our top 5 food experiences to date! So, we're hoping Fahrenheit 555 lives up to its predecessor! But that was since our Chef's Table experiences - several on Royal and Celebrity ships took the lead for our best meals! I am certain the Carnival Chef's Table will also be excellent, but after the previous experiences, the environment of being in the galley seems odd, although I can see it. Since this is Paul's retirement from being a CHEF he'll want to stay out of the kitchen....lol! We'll plan for it next time. 

 

When the Venezia started sailing, I saw a lot of negative reviews of Il Viaggio, but since then they've all been excellent. Don't know if they've worked out the kinks or if the early reviewers were used to a different type of 'italian' restaurant? Generally, many of the early reviews for most things Venezia were mixed. I chalked it up to it being a different ship than the usual Carnival experience.

 

Although Bonsai Teppanyaki gets great reviews, it's not our favorite type of experience, so we booked the Steakhouse 2x, and Il Viaggio 1x - for our 3 celebrations - bday, anniv, retirement. (although not on the exact nights that the birthday and anniversary falls, but the whole trip will be a celebration!

 

ETSki, I assume you are on the other social media site, since I saw someone list those excursions. Maybe we'll see you on Water Island, because we'll be Kontiki party boating our way there, and definitely will see you on the same Amber Cove excursion!

 

I agree with you about 'whichever ship we're on is our favorite'. It was nice building up the loyalty ladder on RCCL for the perks and reciprocity on Celebrity, but are starting to expand our horizons.

 

We've been lucky to have had mostly very good experiences for Anytime/My Time Dining since the very beginning of it being offered. We love the flexibility of picking the time that works for us on any given day.