Venezia 9/16-9/23 Live (Kind of, Sort of)

[TxTeach79]

2 hours ago, Riles34 said:

I loved these elevators! You choose the floor you want to go to on a tablet outside the elevator and then it tells you what elevator you will take. Most of the time it will go right to your floor and they have minimal people if any at all riding with you. It is very simple but something different than what most are used too....people don't like change! Wish they had these on the Celebration! I have never walked so many stairs in a week cruise until that ship, the elevators were awful!

 

Same! I first used these in Vegas at The D, and @HelloItsMeB has them in her skyscraper office downtown. They're game changers for me personally. As long as people understand how to use them (there's the caveat) they make getting to your floor much easier, faster, and limit the stops. 

[Alrana Eris]

So last night was elegant (formerly called formal) night. We were apparently the belles of the ball, since DH dressed formally, more on that in a bit. I loved my new dress although it was too long and lead to me tripping on it. We went to the MDR.

 

The MDR food was as good as before, but still lacked seasoning. Even a little salt & pepper would help out most of the dishes. I had the Spanakopita, although it was called "Greek Spinach Pie" on the menue which cause a very brief confusion when I asked for spinach pie and the waiter was looking on the menu for the exact name. Either way it was good. The side dish was an India dish with chickpeas & potatoes,  it was very good and was the first thing that was actually well seasoned that we had in the MDR. DH had the filet which came with some sort of wine sauce. He said it tasted OK but the consistency or texture was off. Of course I had the CMC again. DH had the souffle which he liked. 

 

Being elegant night, there were a lot of photo sets. I love taking these cruise pics. DH puts up with it, although he seems to like some of the set themes.DH is a fan of formal night and always calls it that, formal wear for him always includes his kilt, including 30 years ago when we got married. This year we were able to add Carnevale masks for extra flair. Interestingly enough DH was one of 4 people we saw in kilts last night, and I know of at least one more. The photo shoots were fun, although they all seem to have a format that includes the scripted like "kissy kissy" which is driving me crazy. I wouldn't mind never hearing that again. 

 

Then we got changed, explored a bit, hid some ducks and ran into a mother & daughter we met at another even and played cards with them for a bit.

 

Today was Saint John, a short port stop. We had planned to do the big pink bus tour. I was underwhelmed with this stop. The bus was old but that is part of the charm. We went through some neighborhoods that were not the best, saw a lot of boarded up buildings in between the historic sites. The shopping was fun at the Port, I liked the container shops and we went to an interesting set of souvenir shops across the street. Then back on the ship for lunch.  There was some issue with customs and we left port a few hours late. Now off to our anniversary dinner at the Steak House.

[Cherries Jubilee]

I love elegant night too. I don’t always get super dressy but it’s always more than a regular night. 

[AFS1970]

Not a whole lot to add from what DW said, other than I was kind of impressed to see the number of people who did dress up. Especially some of the younger couples, since I am often told that dressing for dinner is an old man's game. As for the kilt, there is always the chance that it will be over the top in an environment requiring more continental dress, but I figured carnivale almost requires something over the top. I did have to laugh at running into others who were kilted, some of whom are in the group my wife is in over at [that other site] and yet this never came up.

 

I too thought that Saint John was a bit of a let down,  but part of that was the limited useful time in Port. We got in around 4:30 estimated that we could get off at 7:30 but most of the tourist sites didn't open until around 9:30 or 10. The last bus back to the port was at 1:00 with 2:30 being the all aboard time. So you were left with about 4 hours of useful time. 

 

There were definitely some areas on the tour that were not the best. I saw quite a few boarded up buildings.  The actual tourist sites seemed safe enough though. The weather was overcast but held out.

 

Tonight was our anniversary,  so we went to Fahrenheit 555 (which I keep wanting to call 451). Food was excellent, atmosphere was a nice mix of classic steakhouse and Venice. Not a full negative but the table next to us continued a trend I noticed in the MDR, that of people who have no boundaries and no concept of dinner conversation. TMI!

 

Just before we left the ship this morning, I thought I heard rain. It turned out to be staff washing the ship above our balcony. So the run off water ran right onto our balcony. When we came back in the afternoon,  the chairs had dried but the table and the deck were still wet. I can't  complain about cleaning, as the ship overall has been spotless.

[princess76021]

You guys looked fantastic!!

 

Hugs from Texas!!

[Haljo1935]

15 hours ago, edrussell said:

Happy to hear that we left the ship in good shape for you.  We just disembarked her on the previous cruise.  Looking forward to reading the rest of your review.  You will get used to the elevators, and when you do I bet you will come to appreciate them.  We initially didn't like them at all, but got so used to them by the end of the cruise.

 

I like the elevators; can't say the same for the people who don't know how to use them and jump right in...hopefully they learn.

[AFS1970]

A quick note about the elevators, they do seem better after the luggage fiasco. Just goes to show that freight elevators might be a good idea. I agree that there are still a ton of people who jump onto a random elevator and seem upset or at least confused that it isn't going to their floor. With the increasing number of cruisers in scooters, I can see this being more of a problem for them than it is for me. I don't know if I will ever grow to like these elevators, but I can agree to tolerate them. 

[Haljo1935]

18 hours ago, TxTeach79 said:

 

Same! I first used these in Vegas at The D, and @HelloItsMeB has them in her skyscraper office downtown. They're game changers for me personally. As long as people understand how to use them (there's the caveat) they make getting to your floor much easier, faster, and limit the stops. 

We just got off one where the riders definitely did not understand the operations - 10 people hopped in without pushing once. Ugh...

[TxTeach79]

45 minutes ago, Haljo1935 said:

We just got off one where the riders definitely did not understand the operations - 10 people hopped in without pushing once. Ugh...

 

Yep, that's why we didn't get them on XL class... Le sigh

[AFS1970]

Before posting about today, I will post about yesterday in Halifax. Been 30 years since we have been there, and boy has the city changed. We got off the ship and took the hop on / hop off bus for a loop to get our bearings. Had every intention of getting back on, but after a bit of a wild goose chase to find a store my brother told me about, it was almost time for the one tour we had booked. We did walk around a little bit, took a selfie in front of a restaurant we ate at on our honeymoon,  which was unfortunately closed. I noticed that despite being a cruise destination with multiple ships in port,  many restaurants did not open until 5:00 PM. We did get to walk through a tent city though, so that was fun.

 

So we went to Alexander Keith's brewery tour. This got high ratings on both the Carnival site and Trip Advisor. We booked directly with the brewery, because it was almost half the price and I wanted to pick my tour time. I have to say it was a very good tour, lots of local history. Some interesting artifacts on display, and of course the beer samples. They actually gave much more beer than I expected. 

 

DW had wanted to go somewhere for Digby Scollops, we asked here on CC and were told a few restaurants. The one we tried was called The Bicycle Thief. Now this is where I will say I was kind of misled. Yes they had one dish with the Digby Scollops on the menu and it was very good, but it was the only dish with that ingredient.  So not sure I would call it the place to go. The restaurant was a lot nicer than I expected, good menu, fast service, and close to the pier. 

 

As it was 80's night, we went to listen to the rock band, then the glow party and then back to the rock band. It was a good night. The party was good and Joey the covering cruise director ran a good show. If anything it was too short. I thought the rock band was pretty good. Really all the music on board has been pretty good. Even the DJ who was doing mostly music that wasn't really my style, was good, and since then I have seen him in a number of shows with Joey and he really keeps the mood & energy going.

 

 

[Cherries Jubilee]

Those scallops look amazing! 

[Alrana Eris]

Halifax was one of the reasons we booked this trip, our honeymoon was a tour of Nova Scotia and we had an overnight stop in Halifax that we enjoyed. I know things change, but the city didn't thrill me the way I expected it to. Coming into port I got to see a lighthouse right off our balcony.  Being the day after our anniversary,  it was Talk Like A Pirate Day, although that wasn't as big a thing as I thought it would be on a cruise.

 

First the positive, we at least got to take a picture in front of the Five Fisherman. 30 years ago I loved their food. There are ghost stories about the building that was a former funeral home. Like a lot of Halifax it has some Titanic connections. Next were the views from the hills, even the somewhat frightening sense of vertigo when the bus stopped at the citadel. 

 

The Bicycle Thief was amazing, nice atmosphere, I wanted Digby Scollops because I  generally don't find them outside of this area. They had fast service because they know passengers have to get back on the ship. The dish was a Risotto with peas, prosciutto and of course the scallops. I am not a big veggie eater and don't like peas but tried it and liked it. DH said the main flavor was peas but I still liked it so will ignore that.

 

Now the Negative, the bus tour, the HO-HO bus was once again using "vintage" double decker busses that were not made to accommodate either tall or wide people. If you didn't hit your head on the ceiling, you will hit your knees on the seat in front of you. The tour guide was pretty good, but at times it seemed like she was just learning the script. The full loop took about 90 minutes which made me feel like we used up too much port time. Oh and the brewery tour, I put up with these because DH is a craft beer fan and for some reason likes to learn the same boring facts about beer production over and over again. I rarely to never drink beer so even the free samples are no consolation.

 

DH's brother told him about a Scottish store in Halifax. However he couldn't remember the name.or exact location. It was behind a Marriott, in a pedestrian mall, near the convention center. Well after walking around Argyle street and seeing all the closed restaurants,  and being denied the restroom at the convention center, and getting little to no help from Google, we found d the place, in an enclosed mall, next door to a different Marriott and several blocks from the convention center. Nice store though, and DH got some.things for himself and some gifts. The staff was helpful and even pointed out that they had another store AT THE CRUISE TERMINAL! Wild goose chase does not even begin to describe this part of our adventure.

 

Back on the ship, it was 80's night and this was my time to shine! I loved the glow party. It was totally awesome! I wore my denim jacked which is covered in patches, it is a recreation of one I had starting in the 80's and shows bands I have seen as well as a few movies, it is like my pop culture resume and Joey was impressed.

 

 

[AFS1970]

Last port of call was Sydney, another smallish town. This was the only day we booked an excursion.  When we got our tickets, for the historical walking tour it said the meeting time was at 1:30PM. That gave us a couple of hours to shop and wander around in port. The historic area is small and looked like most of it would be on our tour, so we mostly stuck around the port area and kind of relaxed. We saw the local ducks a couple of statues. Then we met Dylan the costumed tour guide.

 

I can't  say enough about how much we enjoyed this tour. We got a lot of history of both the town and some of the inhabitants.  We stopped at 3 historic buildings that all had their own tour guides, most of whom were quite good. Although this wasn't specifically a ghost tour or a true crime tour, there were bits of both thrown in at some buildings.

 

On the way back we walked passed a local pub and almost went in for lunch. We decided to stop at a gift shop and head back on board instead.  I am glad we did. While eating in the buffet overlooking the port, I noticed some local police cars arriving and the officers talking with port security (and maybe ship security too). Later on in the Luke warm hot tub I met the passenger who was brought back by the police, after an incident at that same local pub.

 

Tonight was the Italian Street Party which was fun. DW did a fair amount of dancing. I got there late since I was in the warm tub. It was kind of fun, then we left to go see the comedy show.

 

 

Then the only really negative thing about this cruise happened. We tried to see the late night comedy show. I didn't realize you have to line up well before doors open if you want a seat. Of course the level 5 doors were closed, so we went to level 4, and were told to go upstairs where there were "plenty.of seats". That turned out to be at the very least an exaggeration.  There were two tables available,  one behind a column and one so far back you couldn't see the stage. We decided to leave. I did have some choice words for the person who sent us upstairs.  I wasn't as kind as I should have been but then some other passengers decided to jump to his defense and escalate the issue. This lead to me calling security. They settled the matter quickly and calmly. But there was no point  in trying to see the show after that.

 

Then the next bizarre thing happened. DW went to the casino, I was there briefly but got bored. I decided to try the piano bar, which I had heard mixed reviews of. I walked in and an older gentleman stood up and told me it was a private event, but he would let me in for $10. I turned and walked out. He then said he was just joking. I could see the bartender laughing so I guess this was going on all night. After the other incident, I was in no mood for his foolishness and just left. Over all these were the only people I met on the cruise that were not friendly or polite.

 

 

[AFS1970]

The last two sea days were relatively uneventful. Played LCR a couple of times, one once. I went to Spsons Trivia which was interesting.  The host had a thick accent and even made fun of herself for mispronounced character names. She also said she has never seen the Simpsons and didn't even really know what it was. 

 

Finally found a hot tub that was hot. And the other people inside were saying they were glad it wasn't as hot as the ones on Serenity. Had Tepanaki for dinner, which was interesting because it was a specialty restaurant but it was on elegant night. We still dressed for elegant night and had some more pictures taken. 

 

We went to Epic Rock, which was really good. This time we stood in line and got in and got good seats right away. 

 

Friday morning was the Green Eggs and Ham breakfast,  which even without kids was fun. Having grown up reading Dr. Seuss, and being a lifelong fan, this was a must do. The event while clearly themed for kids was mostly adults. There was one gentleman who wore his big red bow tie, stripped top hat amd white gloves. The food was good, mostly standard breakfast items, with kid friendly Seuss inspired names. I had the name sake Green Eggs and Ham, DW had the Fruit Loops crusted French toast. They brought us a stack of red and white pancakes in various sizes that kind of looked like they came from a book. The waiters seemed to have fun and some of the production show cast were involved as well. 

 

Last day was spent going between LCR, hiding ducks with DW, listening to some of the musical acts and sadly packing. We picked up our printed photos. Once luggage was set it was time to rest. I did have to run down to Pixels and get our printed photos. 

Edited September 23, 2023 by AFS1970

[Alrana Eris]

Wow, where to begin. I haven't posted as much as I planned, so here is the not quite live part,  as I finish up.

 

The walking tour of Sydney was really fun. We both like history and many of our vacations are to historic places. Dylan was a great tour guide, he is young but talked about growing up in Sydney and hearing most of these stories as a kid. I really liked the macabre elements he wove into his tour, just enough to be interesting but not enough to overpower a bright daylight tour. He demonstrated how small Sydney was by saying he could see our ship from his house. The tour ended with tea and oat cakes at the historical society, this reception included a couple of similar tour groups. The tea was served in China tea cups, which was a nice touch.

 

Easy walk back to the port with time for shopping along the way. The port was a decent mix of gift shops and some others. We brought home some fudge and of course some oat cakes. We ate a late lunch at the buffet,  which ended up being our go to spot on the ship. We had planned on the MDR more but plans change.

 

I  went to the casino while DH went to the hot tub. I thought it was too cold for that. I (not so) secretly think he was doing it to justify bringing swim suits, more than enjoying it in the cooler climate. 

 

The main fun of the evening was the Italian Street party. I love a good street fair,  and this was as close as you can get on a ship. There was music, dancing, arts and crafts. There were rumors of food but maybe we left before that. Not going to rehash DH's remark on the comedy show other than to say maybe we should have stayed at the street party. I made a bracelet out of beads, and a paper pizza. There were name tags with a kind of hokey chart to pick your Italian nickname.

 

Next two days were sea.days and will be in another post.

 

 

[AFS1970]

Wow, folks stopped replying to the thread, I guess my writing skills got worse...lol. so here is my final wrap up, which I am sure will be followed by DW doing the same. I waited a week to let the memories organize.

 

First of all, embarkation was a breeze. The port seemed well organized and we walked right on, a little earlier than expected. It is an older port, not much as far as amenities but what do you really need? From the first view of the ship, to the last the Venezia is probably the prettiest ship I have ever seen. The decor is well thought out, and the ship is kept very clean. 

 

There are lots of venues on the ship that are open to whatever hallway they are in, so the ship feels like there is more open space than there really is. This can sometimes make the crowds spill out into the hallways. I noticed this a lot while people were watching sports at Heroes. Amari had the same set up in the middle of an Intersection but rarely seemed to impact walking around. The only bar that seemed closed off was the Piano bar.

 

The use of the app vs the printed fun times was inconsistent.  We got the paper on day one then not again until we asked. The app had everything listed together which was fine. I didn't like having to check my phone so much on vacation. There was always so.ething going on but I didn't get any sense of variety. Lots of Trivia, lots of music but a couple of groups. That being said, all the music I heard was good.

 

The port stops were OK. St. John didn't  thrill me. Halifax is a city, although I  noticed one that doesn't seem to cater that much to the cruiselines. Sydney was a quaint small city with a lot of charm. The shore excursions mostly seemed to be things where they take you fairly far from the port.

 

The food was OK on the ship. The buffet seemed like the star of the show, which I found odd. Maybe I am too set in a bygone image of cruising but the food in the MDR just didn't thrill me. Towards the end of the cruise I noticed the menus were often very close to each other. Fahrenheit 555 was very good, and I liked that the sides were individual and not for the table, which is often the way steakhouses serve them. Bonsai Tepanaki was good, the chef was funny. This meal included things that are sometimes optional in other similar restaurants. 

 

The main theater was nice,   again very beautiful decor. I am not sure why when constructing a new ship there is so much obstructed view seating, but I am not a marine architect. There were long lines for most shows and if the doors open a half hour before showtime, I would plan on getting on line at least a half hour before that. We had MTD, but for those with set times, I can see this being an issue. 

 

Room service was nearly nonexistent.  The app had a menu that only included pizzas, no drink section I could find. I would have liked to order a pot of tea in the morning and sat on the balcony with it, but that never happened. Not a deal breaker but definitely a head scratcher. 

 

The cabin was dmall but nice. The bathroom was OK. The fridge was nice and cold, we had ordered bottled water before hand and kept a supply inside. I asked for ice for a therapy cuff and it was always full except for the last day. The dressing table was nice but filled up quickly between DW and I. Lots of shelf space near the sink. The shower door never really closed tight so water got everywhere, but the shower was big enough for me , so I learned to adapt. There was not much water pressure,  bit we were up on Deck 14. Elevation may have been the problem, but it made it seem difficult to rinse my hair.

 

Joey the cruise director was great. I know he was just covering for vacation but I didn't feel like I missed anything with MarQ not being there. We don't cruise enough to be fans of any single cruise director.

 

Disembarking was mostly easy. We picked a fairly late group because we didn't need to rush to the airport. We had a bit of a wait in the buffet after breakfast. I thought the luggage pen when we got off was poorly organized and had little to no security. I walked in found our bags omewhat separated (within our group number), we got them together and left. Nobody checked to see if what we had taken was actually ours. Good thing most cruisers are honest.

 

I was surprised at the nearly non existing customs check. We walked down one lane, a Carnival employee scanned our cards one last time and said goodbye. We saw all the lanes and booths for custo.es, most were unmanned. There were a couple of officers walking back and forth but we were directed to walk through an empty lane and then we were out on the street.

 

The only snafu was once on the sidewalk where they are trying to do both embarkation and Disembarkation at the same time. It was raining and there was a long line for the single crosswalk. Even though the port are covers several blocks, most of the crosswalks are finced off. The Taxi stand is across the street. There was one very rude baggage handler who yelled at everyone to move and said we had to walk up to peir 90 for cars and rides. On the way there I saw him yelling at tour guides and bus passengers waiting at their busses. Got to peir 90 and had no way across the street

 After navigating a brief language barrier with the traffic control staff, found out we needed to go right back to peir 88 and wait where we were to cross the street, like we had planned. Minor hiccup, not a huge problem.

 

Over all, this was a good cruise. There is very little I could say negative about the trip. We enjoyed it. We are not frequent cruisers, and I don't know as this trip changed that either way. In some ways it was too regimented and in other ways it seemed like it wasn't organized enough. I will end with one last rainy picture. 

 

 

[pcvtmom]

Nice job with the review! Thanks so much for taking the time to share your trip with us. 

[princess76021]

I thanked you in the beginning but this deserves a hoo-rah!!!  It was great. 

hugs from texas

[Jeafl]

Great review!  I enjoyed hearing about your trip.

[Crusin Karen]

Thanks for the great review. 👍👍👏

[edrussell]

Fantastic review!  Your observations are very similar to mine about the ship.

[Cherries Jubilee]

Thank you so much for your review! I was very excited to follow along!

[fair-winds39]

Thank you. We enjoyed following along. Glad you enjoyed your cruise.

[tweety33]

Thank you, I appreciate your review!

[AFS1970]

Hopefully I can get DW to finish her part this afternoon. I hemmed and hawed at doing this review. I thought keeping the few notes I did would take away from the cruise. It didn't,  but I also went with a more free form format so I didn't need detailed notes. I figured that if I forgot anything before writing than it wasn't that important.

 

A couple of additional notes, the smoke from the main casino was strong. It flowed out to the elevators,  it even flowed up the glass tower to the deck above. Sometimes it was too strong to walk through other times it was just enough to be annoying. They need to figure out better ventilation.

 

Also I thought the duty free shop had a terrible selection. There were very few bottles that I can't get locally. The prices were OK, but nothing that made me buy it.