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

[TravelBluebird]

After lunch we visited the. Athexrzl and Roman Theater then walked the charming streets.  Back on board 4:30.  13,500 Steps and that was with Taxi to and from the ship.  
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 31, 2023 by TravelBluebird

[Hogladyrider]

@TravelBluebird...absolutely FABULOUS pictures.

 

I have a new bionic knee, and still would not be able to do all that walking, good for you!

[TravelBluebird]

We have enjoyed the MDR this trip.  We have been leaning heavily into the new Italian dishes and all have been quite good.  And hot.  Tonight we tried the caress salad, alligator beignets, meat lasagne and rolled eggplant.  Plus the apple crumble.  Most of these have fancy Italian names you can read in the menu.

 

BTS I have been able to post all day today on cellular—I have a horrible time posting on Carnival internet for some reason which I haven’t been able to solve.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 31, 2023 by TravelBluebird

[TravelBluebird]

One minor dinner mix up—both us and our dining companions were brought the pineapple instead of the apple desert. We all dislike pineapple.  The correct desserts were brought.

 

 Chill evening tonight—6:30am wake up call for our Gibraltar tour— private van with 3 other couples.

[TravelBluebird]

Our current view of the sunset below!  
 

Just prior our room steward knocked on our cabin door and delivered some swag!  Two   Carnival inaugural tote bags, a photo of our route on a map and a nice letter.  Sweet!

 

And I knew that somehow on this trip I’d end up with another  Carnival  tote bag 😂

 

Some earlier excitement—both hot tubs in the Carnivale area overflowed and flooded the area.

 

sail away next!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 31, 2023 by TravelBluebird

[happycruiser220]

On 5/30/2023 at 8:16 AM, 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.

That's weird.  I was able to pick MTD back in March.

[phoneman69]

are paper menus readily available for all meals? not a big order off the phone person

[latebloomer56]

1 hour ago, happycruiser220 said:

That's weird.  I was able to pick MTD back in March.

I have been having TA call every couple weeks still nothing. Couldn't find anything on my booking as well to make a change on my own.

[happycruiser220]

20 minutes ago, phoneman69 said:

are paper menus readily available for all meals? not a big order off the phone person

Yes they are. When I cruised on Magic 2x last year, I saw passengers who had requested the physical menu.

[happycruiser220]

12 minutes ago, latebloomer56 said:

I have been having TA call every couple weeks still nothing. Couldn't find anything on my booking as well to make a change on my own.

Maybe because I booked with CC directly? I didn't use a PVP or TA. It's usually under my bookings if you scroll down. 

[latebloomer56]

2 hours ago, happycruiser220 said:

Maybe because I booked with CC directly? I didn't use a PVP or TA. It's usually under my bookings if you scroll down. 

I am lucky I don't ever pay my TA in our booking it shows the dining MTD  the one we need to book each day. Did this only once on another line we had to call daily for a time, then they went to a different system thankfully we go our early back on that trip when we boarded. I will keep having this checked and will go to the dining area once we board. Though I think the Grand Canal is a beautiful dining room.

Thanks

[Haljo1935]

On 5/29/2023 at 1:01 AM, TravelBluebird said:

 

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! 

Based on a close-up aft picture comparing to the deck plan, it looks those rectangular things on the deck plan are metal panels (or similar) that obscure the view and block part of the balcony.

The balconies for those cabins (2476, 2497) are huge so it may be ok as it looks like you still have usable space in front of the panels? Of course, if they're loud mechanics of some kind, that would not be good. Or if they block most of the view from the cabin.

Maybe occupants will post pictures...

Edited June 1, 2023 by Haljo1935
Typo

[Haljo1935]

12 hours ago, TravelBluebird said:

Our current view of the sunset below!  

 

Stunning - you do seem to have a primo spot!!

Thanks for sharing your adventure with us.

[latebloomer56]

4 hours ago, Haljo1935 said:

Based on a close-up aft picture comparing to the deck plan, it looks those rectangular things on the deck plan are metal panels (or similar) that obscure the view and block part of the balcony.

The balconies for those cabins (2476, 2497) are huge so it may be ok as it looks like you still have usable space in front of the panels? Of course, if they're loud mechanics of some kind, that would not be good. Or if they block most of the view from the cabin.

Maybe occupants will post pictures...

Saw a video on you tube, these look like sheltered balconies. In front of your balcony is a flat open area so not looking directly down into the water. Video showed crew members cleaning this area.

[Hogladyrider]

I'd say it is those large white metal protrusions you can see in the photo above of Venezia..they appear to match the diagram above.

[TravelBluebird]

15 hours ago, phoneman69 said:

are paper menus readily available for all meals? not a big order off the phone person

Yes our dining companions last night asked for paper menus and they were brought right out!

[TravelBluebird]

Gibraltar was—amazing!  Back to Taft in a moment.  Right now we are passing Africa—Morocco to be precise_in the Straits of Gibraltar!

[TravelBluebird]

Photos of the Straits from right now: 

 

 

Edited June 1, 2023 by TravelBluebird

[phoneman69]

6 hours ago, TravelBluebird said:

Yes our dining companions last night asked for paper menus and they were brought right out!

thank you for the update. Like to leave phone in safe if at all possible

[TravelBluebird]

Well I hope I’ve fixed my connection problem on my iPad. I was about to give up and then tried Chrome (instead of Safari) and that seems to be working.

 

Gibraltar was amazing—one of my favorite ports. So much history and so geographically important. Plus monkeys, fortresses, a cave, a famous airport runway and views and views!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited June 1, 2023 by TravelBluebird

[TravelBluebird]

Some views of the Rock and Russ relaxing in our hammock after sail away

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited June 1, 2023 by TravelBluebird

[TravelBluebird]

Even though we had a frightfully early morning, we saw the 6:45 PG comedy show (Spike Davis, very funny!). Grabbed dinner after (10 minute wait; more on meals tomorrow; all have been good) then headed to see a singer from England, a Classical/Pop Soprano (good; music was way too loud though) and ended the night with MarQ and the Fun Squad at the White Hot Nights party.

 

Now that i seem to have a reliable connection again, we’ll catch up tomorrow! Although I did get an error message once on Chrome saying the bot captcha couldn’t load, so I hope that doesn’t become an issue. Also while my connection was out I posted another walking tour video, this one of the casino and some more shops and the branded Venezia merchandise.  I don’t know why the YouTub links show up so huge!

 

And I leave you with a couple more stunning places from today:

 

 

Edited June 1, 2023 by TravelBluebird

[TravelBluebird]

Good morning from Lisbon, Portugal! Beautiful sail in; photos to follow. 

 

Also to clarify that there IS regular coffee service in the Terrazza Carnivale breakfast area—it was on a table the first day so I missed it.

[TravelBluebird]

Breaking news!

 

Christine Duffy has announced this morning that Jay Leno is going to be the first ever GodFather of a Carnival ship!

 

He will be part of the ceremonies in New York and there will also be a special comedy show for Carnival guests, which will be live streamed!

 

In keeping with the Italian Fun Style theme, he is the grandson of Italian immigrants.

 

 

[TravelBluebird]

Photos from our sail-in to Lisbon Portugal!