LIVE! Venezia Maiden Voyage 5/29 - Let’s Cruise!

[ninjacat123]

That's a lot of sea days!!  Looking forward to your review!!😄

[SenatorsFan]

I'm looking forward to following along also. Bon Voyage! 🥂🙂

[TravelBluebird]

10 hours ago, IntrepidFromDC said:

I'm looking forward to meeting you,  Denise and Russ! I'm on the train from Nice to Beziers right now, glad this one has wifi because it's over 4 hours.

 We are looking forward to meeting you as well! Your photos in Paris were fantastic; haven’t been to France in awhile and it made me want to go back! Great to have wifi on the train; we rarely buy wifi on planes but with 8 hours from IAD to BCN in Economy Plus, we aren’t going to be able to sleep much so will probably get it!  

[TravelBluebird]

7 hours ago, jimbri said:

Looking forward to your review.

 @jimbri Thanks for reading along!

[TravelBluebird]

6 hours ago, pe4all said:

Interested in seeing how the live reviewers like Venezia.  Haven't booked her yet, but will in future as (for now) she will be at my home port.

 

I honestly don’t know what to expect! if we like the ship we are very interested in booking additional itineraries on her, both out of NY and Port Canaveral later.

[TravelBluebird]

6 hours ago, EllieinNJ said:

Hi.  We are on the Pride leaving Barcelona a day before you.  We will be on the Venezia in February so looking forward to your trip report.

 

I have good friends who will be on the Pride in September!  Are you in Barcelona now?

[TravelBluebird]

5 hours ago, phoneman69 said:

Excited to hear your perspective on the Venezia. We are family cruising with the Grand Kids on June 19th on Venezia out of NY. Her first 8 day sailing. Can't wait to see you live tour videos.

 

There are a fair number of kids on this sailing, for a TransAtlantic! We are hoping to take our GrandKids on a Carnival cruise this coming Spring.  And how exciting to be on the first 8 day from New York!  Thanks for following along here and also on YouTube for my videos!

[TravelBluebird]

5 hours ago, pcvtmom said:

I'm excited to follow along with your LIVE trip report! Safe travels and smooth sailing!

 

@pcvtmom Great to have you along, and thank you!

[TravelBluebird]

5 hours ago, ninjacat123 said:

That's a lot of sea days!!  Looking forward to your review!!😄

 

Right? LOL well I always think I don’t get enough time on a ship to do everything I want to, so here’s my chance!

[TravelBluebird]

3 hours ago, SenatorsFan said:

I'm looking forward to following along also. Bon Voyage! 🥂🙂

 

Thank you for coming along, @SenatorsFan 

[phoneman69]

7 minutes ago, TravelBluebird said:

 

There are a fair number of kids on this sailing, for a TransAtlantic! We are hoping to take our GrandKids on a Carnival cruise this coming Spring.  And how exciting to be on the first 8 day from New York!  Thanks for following along here and also on YouTube for my videos!

Will be watching

[CarnivalShips480]

Following along, it will be fun to see how things are on Venezia.

[cruise4family]

Looking forward to your opinions and comments on the Venezia.  I have a number of cruises already booked on her from NY.

[EllieinNJ]

2 hours ago, TravelBluebird said:

 

I have good friends who will be on the Pride in September!  Are you in Barcelona now?

We are leaving tomorrow.

[nwcruiselover]

Following along.  DH and I will also be on the 5/29/23 TA on Venezia.  If we see you we’ll say hello.

[Qextor]

I'm following as well.  We've booked the Venezia for a late January cruise, a 10 day one.  Half the cruise is port days, the other half sea days. I'm really excited as I got an excellent deal on a Terrazza Cabana - always wanted to try a Cabana, but the prices had been a little much.  Thanks for reviewing.

Edited May 24, 2023 by Qextor

[TravelBluebird]

I’l be back a little later tonight—off to my Grandson’s birthday dinner!   One of the reasons we didn’t leave earlier for Europe.

 

In the meantime, I just got up my Youtube preview video It’s a little boring—just me talking—since I don’t have any videos yet, but just in case you’re interested in what I’m planning video-wise:

 

 

[nwcruiselover]

53 minutes ago, TravelBluebird said:

I’l be back a little later tonight—off to my Grandson’s birthday dinner!   One of the reasons we didn’t leave earlier for Europe.

 

In the meantime, I just got up my Youtube preview video It’s a little boring—just me talking—since I don’t have any videos yet, but just in case you’re interested in what I’m planning video-wise:

 

 

We’ll be looking for you.  DH and I are also in a Terrazza Cabana.

[Cherries Jubilee]

Carnival is usually good at keeping the sea days busy. 

[TravelBluebird]

1 hour ago, nwcruiselover said:

We’ll be looking for you.  DH and I are also in a Terrazza Cabana.

 

We’re back! And that’s excellent! We intend to do sail away in the Terrazza Carnivale area, so hopefully we’ll see you there!

[TravelBluebird]

Whew, we are back from Grandson’s Birthday Dinner! A fine time was had by all. This is our last chance to be all together for awhile since 2 days after our Venezia trip they leave to visit other Grandmother in Mexico, also for 3 weeks. Then 2 weeks after that, I head to a conference in Seattle, and then to visit my daughter in Japan!! So this is going to be a weird summer.  

 

Now I just have to tell my son from Chattanooga all the pet and housesitting instructions when he arrives in a bit tonight, and we are home free to get on that plane tomorrow!  Instructions a tad more complicated than usual because we have a new kitten.  Indulge me as I share some birthday photos (parents have OKed the share) and 1 photo of our new Norwegian Forest Cat, Loki Maximon.

 

And since this is an extremely weird world we live in, please note that the large sombrero on his head is a birthday tradition at this completely Mexican-American owned restaurant, and Grandson has Mexican heritage. I hate that I even need to point this out, but I do not want to be canceled. Sigh.

 

 

 

 

Edited May 25, 2023 by TravelBluebird

[TravelBluebird]

18 minutes ago, Cherries Jubilee said:

Carnival is usually good at keeping the sea days busy. 

 

This is true! I was on a Viking Ocean Cruise once and we had 2 unexpected sea days due to ports that were canceled (European cruise in Winter; sunning out by pool was not an optioon), and there wasn’t much to do, but I was comparing it to Carnival!

[TravelBluebird]

We are checked in for our flight; someone else we know couldn’t check in because they did not have a return flight, but we were OK.

 

Also checked in to hotel! We are crossing our fingers for our rooms to be ready earlier than 3pm, but we don’t really expect that since all the hotels are so booked up this week.

[princess76021]

On 5/23/2023 at 5:19 PM, TravelBluebird said:

In 2 days we take off for Barcelona, where on Monday we will board the Carnival Venezia for its maiden TransAtlantic voyage to it’s New York home port! Well, its maiden voyage as a Carnival branded ship, since as many of you know the ship was originally a Costa ship for the Asian market, which didn’t work out so well because of the pandemic.

 

I am fully packed as of 5 minutes ago! Have a little extra with us this time—we always just take 2 24” roller cases and a small under-the-seat carry on each for our cruises, but we just couldn’t figure out what the weather would be like in the North Atlantic as we cruised from the Azores to Halifax, plus while in European cities we like to be more dressy than shorts and a t-shirt. That, plus taking a bit extra equipment for my new video hobby ended us up with 1 larger carry-on case that we are checking, plus a camera bag. We feel so overpacked! I know others on this trip that literally have packed 1 carry on or backpack for the entire trip PLUS extra time in Barcelona. I salute them. I can never be them.

 

Ports of call are Barcelona (embarkation), Malaga, Gibraltar, Lisbon, Ponta Delgada, Halifax, and New York (debarkation).

 

For those that have followed my LIVES! before you know that I’ll share the good, the bad and the ugly. That said, I realize that this is a maiden voyage for this ship, and for me that is a bit like preview week for theater. I’d LIKE everything t go smoothly, but if it doesn’t, there’s a little grace as all the kinks get worked out.

 

I’m a little nervous about the sea days. There are 9 sea days on this voyage! I hate to say it, but if the internet is bad on the sea days I may go a little crazy. I hope there is enough Internet at least for posting my LIVE! updates and for uploading at least a few short videos.

 

For blogging and photos, stay right here on Cruise Critic! For videos and I’m hoping some LIVE broadcasts (embarkation, ship tour, Q and A), here’s my YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/@cruisingwithdee  I’m a small channel and not compensated in any way for the videos (yep, even though YouTube is running ads on them) plus I have received no compensation etc from Carnival for this trip, so all opinions can be as free as possible!

 

For those new to my LIVES! on Cruise Critic, we are Denise and Russ Van Patten from Knoxville, Tennessee. We are avid cruisers! My husband is now retired and I work for myself, and I’m on the board of a non-profit, so can arrange my schedule for cruising. I have included a photo of us so if YOU are on the Venezia for this trip, please say hello!

 

Also, please let me know what questions you have about the Venezia, what you’d like to see photos//videos of. With all those sea days I’ll have plenty of time to find the answers for you. And, if you are on the Venezia, I like my LIVES! to be interactive, so please chime in!

 

Welcome to my LIVE! Y’all here on Cruise Critic are the best.

 

Thank you for taking us along!!

Hugs from texas!!!

[TravelBluebird]

52 minutes ago, princess76021 said:

Thank you for taking us along!!

Hugs from texas!!!

 

You are so welcome! Hugs back from Tennessee!