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

[TravelBluebird]

1 hour ago, Haljo1935 said:

@TravelBluebird first, excited to hear how embarkation went - hoping it was smooth for you.

2nd, when you get out exploring,  any pictures and/or info you can give regarding deck 2 aft - the strange dark rectangular shapes outside of 2476 & 2497 is appreciated. We haven't been able to get any info from Carnival when we called in. What type of railing do those balconies have?

Thanks!!

 

I will see if I can find that out; not sure if we can get access//can see that area from the aft part of the ship, but I’ll try!

 

We board in about 3 hours! 

[TravelBluebird]

Update from people that I’m in a cruise group with—the line at Helix Terminal E (where Venezia is  departing) is LONG. Very long. And everyone has all their luggage with them…evidently you can’t just drop it off and stay in line.

 

We debated leaving earlier than planned, but decided maybe the line will be shorter later? Opinions welcome. We currently have our cab scheduled for 11, but could move it up.

[Essiesmom]

She’s waiting for you…

[TravelBluebird]

We are on board! 

Very easy boarding process;  Taxi was 11EU to terminal. Long line at the terminal was only 20 minutes. Helix terminal is very beautiful, with shops, liquor, coffee.  

 

We grabbed Guys Burgers and Fries (our tradition) for lunch, then we explored the ship and took video tours for everyone.

 

Our first video tour is of the Terrazza Cabana Room and Carnivale area—it took forever to load, but it is up!  Of course YT approved my live video request right after I would have done the live. Sigh. Anyway, I have tours of the Lido, Deck 5 (lots of bars and restaurant!s) and Deck 4 coming, hopefully another 1 or 2 later tonight!

 

I’ll also have photos right here and more about how today went this evening. This is a lovely ship! Definitely a more upscale feel than most Carnival ships. We were surprised to find La Strada Grill—an Italian Barbecue place—on deck 5, open for lunch today!

 

Here is the tour—room and Carnivale area:

 

https://youtu.be/uwoyjPWRWBA

[ninjacat123]

42 minutes ago, TravelBluebird said:

We are on board! 

Very easy boarding process;  Taxi was 11EU to terminal. Long line at the terminal was only 20 minutes. Helix terminal is very beautiful, with shops, liquor, coffee.  

 

We grabbed Guys Burgers and Fries (our tradition) for lunch, then we explored the ship and took video tours for everyone.

 

Our first video tour is of the Terrazza Cabana Room and Carnivale area—it took forever to load, but it is up!  Of course YT approved my live video request right after I would have done the live. Sigh. Anyway, I have tours of the Lido, Deck 5 (lots of bars and restaurant!s) and Deck 4 coming, hopefully another 1 or 2 later tonight!

 

I’ll also have photos right here and more about how today went this evening. This is a lovely ship! Definitely a more upscale feel than most Carnival ships. We were surprised to find La Strada Grill—an Italian Barbecue place—on deck 5, open for lunch today!

 

Here is the tour—room and Carnivale area:

 

https://youtu.be/uwoyjPWRWBA

Great video!!

[Usuallyrightagain]

Thank you for the video! Found another of a standard balcony cabin too, both look nice. I'm a little worried as they seem to have less storage than the RC ship we sailed on previously. For 4 of us in a cabin I'm thinking it's going to be a giant squeeze...

 

[firefly333]

9 minutes ago, Usuallyrightagain said:

Thank you for the video! Found another of a standard balcony cabin too, both look nice. I'm a little worried as they seem to have less storage than the RC ship we sailed on previously. For 4 of us in a cabin I'm thinking it's going to be a giant squeeze...

 

St Greg seems to have a standard balcony and posted some pictures already. Should be lots of views soon. I was counting his hangers in his closets. Usually to me carnival has more closet space than rcl. Counters tops look nicer to me. 

[kwokpot]

42 minutes ago, Usuallyrightagain said:

Thank you for the video! Found another of a standard balcony cabin too, both look nice. I'm a little worried as they seem to have less storage than the RC ship we sailed on previously. For 4 of us in a cabin I'm thinking it's going to be a giant squeeze...

 

These cabins definitely have less storage than any Carnival ship. There's no under counter drawer or shelf storage in the main cabin. 

[luvs2beachit]

Love the video! Great tour and narration!  Looking forward to more!

[balcony bound]

6 hours ago, TravelBluebird said:

We are on board! 

Very easy boarding process;  Taxi was 11EU to terminal. Long line at the terminal was only 20 minutes. Helix terminal is very beautiful, with shops, liquor, coffee.  

 

We grabbed Guys Burgers and Fries (our tradition) for lunch, then we explored the ship and took video tours for everyone.

 

Our first video tour is of the Terrazza Cabana Room and Carnivale area—it took forever to load, but it is up!  Of course YT approved my live video request right after I would have done the live. Sigh. Anyway, I have tours of the Lido, Deck 5 (lots of bars and restaurant!s) and Deck 4 coming, hopefully another 1 or 2 later tonight!

 

I’ll also have photos right here and more about how today went this evening. This is a lovely ship! Definitely a more upscale feel than most Carnival ships. We were surprised to find La Strada Grill—an Italian Barbecue place—on deck 5, open for lunch today!

 

Here is the tour—room and Carnivale area:

 

https://youtu.be/uwoyjPWRWBA

Thanks for this!  I'm on the fence for this area, we love the Havana cabanas but not sure how I feel booking this area - appreciate your tour and I'll wait and see how you like it🙃

[TravelBluebird]

16 hours ago, Usuallyrightagain said:

Thank you for the video! Found another of a standard balcony cabin too, both look nice. I'm a little worried as they seem to have less storage than the RC ship we sailed on previously. For 4 of us in a cabin I'm thinking it's going to be a giant squeeze...

 

 I agree on a little less storage-less room to store things in bathroom and very few drawers.  We made it work but was a little tight

[TravelBluebird]

I don’t understand it, but I can’t access Cruise Critic on May iPad right now—the page just hangs up and stays there.  So I’m on my phone which is NOT ideal as it’s SLOW typing.

 

Also tried to upload videos on dinner at MDR and the Terraza included breakfast this morning. I’ll try a few photos instead.

 

one of best MDR dinners we’ve had in awhile!  Our favorites were the poblano soup —perfect seasoning AND the right temperature and the delicious Pollo Arrosto—the half roast chicken with roasted broccoli and potatoes.  This is a new menu item.  Again, well seasoned, hot, perfectly cooked, not dry.

Liked the Your Time Dining room with Gondola! Only a 10 minute wait for dinner via app at 6:30. Could hear well—enough broken up areas in MDR.  Good windows out to sea.  We’ll done Carnival!

 

Dinner photos in next post—aww heck they just called medical response team to room over loudspeaker. Hope they are OK.

 

 

Edited May 30, 2023 by TravelBluebird

[TravelBluebird]

Dinner photos:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 30, 2023 by TravelBluebird

[TravelBluebird]

This is the life.  I love my cabana room:  My view right now:

[TravelBluebird]

Also another video ship tour for you on YouTube—this one is on Deck 5 lots of restaurants and bars and shops—can see some of the layout. 
 

I’m trying to post 1 video a day—have to upload over night and it takes several hours.

 

Tonight we eat at il Viaggio!  Video tonight May be of that plus I’ll put images and review here

 

The Deck 5 Video Ship Tour:

 

https://youtu.be/VG7h8O4pqQI  

Edited May 30, 2023 by TravelBluebird

[latebloomer56]

6 minutes ago, TravelBluebird said:

I don’t understand it, but I can’t access Cruise Critic on May iPad right now—the page just hangs up and stays there.  So I’m on my phone which is NOT ideal as it’s SLOW typing.

 

Also tried to upload videos on dinner at MDR and the Terraza included breakfast this morning. I’ll try a few photos instead.

 

one of best MDR dinners we’ve had in awhile!  Our favorites were the mushroom soup—perfect seasoning AND the right temperature and the delicious Pollo Arrosto—the half roast chicken with roasted broccoli and potatoes.  This is a new menu item.  Again, well seasoned, hot, perfectly cooked, not dry.

Liked the Your Time Dining room with Gondola! Only a 10 minute wait for dinner via app at 6:30. Could hear well—enough broken up areas in MDR.  Good windows out to sea.  We’ll done Carnival!

 

Dinner photos in next post—aww heck they just called medical response team to room over loudspeaker. Hope they are OK.

 

 

What if you don't have the app? Do you know if we can call? Got stuck with this dining option though on early dining wait list. If YTD is so popular wonder why six months out no set dining open. But do love your dining room.

Thanks for the live review, glad you like your cabin. Let us know if it get noisy at night open to the public.

[TravelBluebird]

47 minutes ago, latebloomer56 said:

Thanks for the live review, glad you like your cabin. Let us know if it get noisy at night open to the public.

@latebloomer56 No noise at all last night!  The Latin live music was loud inside the  Carnivale  lounge but did not hear it at all in the room.  Same for the 7 piece band in Gondola Lounge.

[TravelBluebird]

49 minutes ago, latebloomer56 said:

What if you don't have the app? Do you know if we can call? Got stuck with this dining option though on early dining wait list. If YTD is so popular wonder why six months out no set dining open. But do love your dining room.

Thanks for the live review, glad you like your cabin. Let us know if it get noisy at night open to the public.

I believe if you don’t have the app you can go to the restaurant to put your name in and wait there.  I highly recommend the free app—no internet purchase needed—if at all possible.

 

If you don’t get off the list see the M’aitre D first day he may be able to accommodate you.

[TravelBluebird]

Breakfast in the Carnivale area for Terrazza guests was fantastic—we are not huge breakfast people, so a small bite and a nice espresso and we are done!

 

We can get our espresso coffees right at the breakfast bar—they are $$ so not included (for what we pay extra for these rooms it would nice if the espressos WERE included, but I digress) but SO convenient t get espressso a few steps from our room, and no Java Blue line!  We had the homemade granola (yummy!) with yogurt and the fresh squeezed orange juice (included).  Also on offer were fruit, pastries, cereal.  This is a great perk that we will use nearly every day.

 

It was not crowded out on the deck but rainy so we had it under the little covered area.

 

 

[TravelBluebird]

Christine Duffy was a surprise guest at the Wave Morning show this morning which was nice. And she did a Fireside Chat with Emeril today too; it was great to hear that he is an active participant in working with the chefs and kitchen staff, not just a figurehead as the Chief Culinary Officer of Carnival. I have some video excerpts that I’ll share at a later date.  

 

About the cooking class? It was a raffle to take the class with Emeril. There were 40 spots. It was $200 a person, all proceeds to go to St. Jude’s.  The $$ went to the charity whether or not you were selected for the cooking class. We felt a little bit like bad people because we would have paid it for the charity if we TOOK the class, but didn’t want to donate the $400 if we were not selected. So no cooking class for us,

 

And I got to meet MarQ this afternoon. Really enjoying him; great cruise director! Good energy without being crazy in your face, and a really nice person to boot, too.

 

 

Edited May 30, 2023 by TravelBluebird

[latebloomer56]

3 hours ago, TravelBluebird said:

I believe if you don’t have the app you can go to the restaurant to put your name in and wait there.  I highly recommend the free app—no internet purchase needed—if at all possible.

 

If you don’t get off the list see the M’aitre D first day he may be able to accommodate you.

App won't work for us on our phones.

Thanks we will check first day. If we need to wait I assume there is a bar near by, if not and to long a wait (can't stand to long) plenty of other places. We have never gone hungry on any cruise, but would love at least one MDR dinner.

[latebloomer56]

3 hours ago, TravelBluebird said:

@latebloomer56 No noise at all last night!  The Latin live music was loud inside the  Carnivale  lounge but did not hear it at all in the room.  Same for the 7 piece band in Gondola Lounge.

That's awesome news, enjoy your beautiful balcony.

[allinwonderland]

4 hours ago, TravelBluebird said:

We can get our espresso coffees right at the breakfast bar—they are $$ so not included (for what we pay extra for these rooms it would nice if the espressos WERE included, but I digress) but SO convenient t get espressso a few steps from our room, and no Java Blue line!  We had the homemade granola (yummy!) with yogurt and the fresh squeezed orange juice (included).  Also on offer were fruit, pastries, cereal.  This is a great perk that we will use nearly every day.

 

I always get a drink package so no skin in the game on having to pay for the coffee drinks, but I agree - if this continental breakfast perk is supposed to make up for not having a pool like the Havana area on any other class of ship, why make you pay extra for the espresso drinks? They could've easily just not put in an espresso bar (and the staff required to make them) also. And it's not like the other stuff they're giving you is all that expensive, it's just the convenience of having it so close to the rooms (which, again, might actually entice me to try this category of room, should I ever book onto a "Fun Italian Style!" ship)

[TravelBluebird]

We are in Malaga!  Been having an awful time still connecting to Cruise. Ritz-Carlton on the ship.  No problem at all on cellular.  This is a quick update on today—when I get back to the ship I will try to fill you in on our il Viaggio experience last night. 

 

We visited Alcambra this morning and the  asylum.  What views!  Quite the climb.

 

Then we went to the whimsical Javier Calleja     Art exhibit.  Having tapas now then Cathedral and a Museum.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 31, 2023 by TravelBluebird

[TravelBluebird]

Couple more!  
 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 31, 2023 by TravelBluebird