Our Carnival Venezia B2B - 21 days of "Fun Italian Style" (with pics) - 9/23/23

[TNVolnteerCruiser]

17 minutes ago, Jamman54 said:

Patti has made it over to Jack’s Shack. We spent time here last January because we wanted to see how the new owners ran things. They had made a lot of improvements, but our experience there was not good, mainly due to the inattentiveness of the bar staff. Many reviews on Trip Advisor were also negative for the same reasons. When we see the reviews improve we will try them again. For now, it’s just pictures…..

 

 

 

 

 It’s been a while since we were there but their water is so beautiful! Thanks to you and Patti for this review!

 

 

[Jamman54]

Patti checks out the shops in the Grand Turk Cruise Center…..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To be continued…..

[Jamman54]

Here are a few more shops in the Grand Turk Cruise Center…..

 

 

 

 

 

 

Patti heads over to the right side of the pier. Here is the Friendship 7 exhibit…..

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nearby you can get a massage or your hair braided…..

 

 

 

To be continued…..

[Destiny0315]

17 minutes ago, Jamman54 said:

Nearby you can get a massage or your hair braided…..

I could be wrong but I think your hair braiding days have passed Jeff. If I were you I would opt for the massage. 😉

[Jamman54]

Patti continues to explore the area to the right of the cruise ship pier. Here are a couple of views of the Venezia docked in Grand Turk…..

 

 

 

 

There are a lot of chairs on this side, but they are mostly empty because the beach is so rocky over here…..

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here are a few views of the whale exhibit…..

 

 

 

 

To be continued…..

[Jamman54]

Patti goes over and checks out the Beached Whale Bar & Grille…..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is the Beached Whale Gift Shop.....

 

 

There are restrooms right nearby……

 

 

 

Patti makes her way back to the Grand Turk Cruise Center…..

 

 

To be continued……

[Jamman54]

Patti checks out the Craft Market…..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Patti makes it back to the pool where there is some kind of dance contest going on…..

 

 

Here are a few views inside the Margaritaville Restaurant…..

 

 

 

 

 

To be continued…..

[Jamman54]

Patti heads back to our cabana. As she passes Cabana # 3, she spots Cruise Critic member Rhonda and her husband Keith out on the porch…..

 

 

 

Once Patti is back at our cabana, we order a late lunch, another bucket of Turks Head for me, and a large Malibu bay breeze for her. Patti has the turkey club sandwich……

 

 

I had an order of the buffalo chicken wings, and Jimmy’s Jammin’ Jambalaya…..

 

 

 

We spent the rest of the afternoon taking dips in the pool, drinking, relaxing on our deck, and even more drinking. A little after 5pm we decided to pack up and head back to the ship. Our bill for the food and drinks was $150 + tip.

 

We were one of the last ones to leave. Goodbye Grand Turk vacation home, until next time……

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To be continued……

[Jamman54]

You can rent one of these little cabanas for about $200…..

 

 

Before I forget, Here are Patti’s flora & fauna pictures taken throughout the day…..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To be continued…..

[Jamman54]

We are heading back to board the Carnival Venezia……

 

 

 

 

 

We are back on board by 5:30pm. Back at our cabin we find today’s towel animal. I think Edy needs to take a class or buy the book…..

 

 

From our balcony we can see that all the beaches are completely empty…..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To be continued…..

[Jamman54]

We sailed at 6:30pm, just as the sun was setting in the west…..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Around 7pm I made my way to the Heroes Tribute Bar to get a seat for tonight’s Giant’s / Seahawk’s game. I got a great seat right at the bar, so I’m not moving. Patti went up to the Lido Marketplace to get some dinner. When she finished eating, she went to the Deli and got me a grilled ham & cheese with fries and brought it down to me. Thanks Babe! Patti then went back to the cabin for the night, but as she passed through the Piazza San Marco she got this picture of Music & Magic performing there…..

 

 

I was chugging down the double rum and Pepsi’s as my Giants were getting their butts kicked. The final score was 24 to 3, but I had left in the middle of the 4^th quarter, as I couldn’t take it anymore. Lol. Back to the cabin for the night.

 

Coming up next: We’re heading south to Aruba, but first, another Fun Day at Sea!

[Jamman54]

Day # 11  -  10/03/23  -  Fun Day at Sea  # 5.

 

We were up at 7am to a hot and sunny day. The seas are fairly calm. Here are the views from our balcony as the Venezia makes her way to Aruba…..

 

 

 

 

Here are today’s Fun Times…..

 

 

 

 

While Patti showered I made my way up to the Java Blue Café for my morning coffee. Rich and the gang were up there as well, so we hung out talking for a while. Feeling hungry, I made my way over to Tomodoro for a breakfast burrito……

 

 

 

 

I took it over to RoCoco and ordered a Thirsty Frog Wheat to go along with it…..

 

 

After finishing, I made my way back to the cabin to work on pictures, while Patti gathered the laundry to send out this morning.

 

To be continued…..

[Jamman54]

Around 10:30 we went down to the non-smoking casino annex to gamble for a while. Patti played video poker for about an hour losing a little bit, then decided to walk around for a while.  I played blackjack a little longer winning back what I lost the other day.

 

I then went back to the Burano Pool Bar and had a couple of beers, and grabbed some Asian food from the Seafood Shack. I then went to meet Patti at the Teatro Rosso for another afternoon game of Deal or no Deal…..

 

 

Rich and the gang are here watching as well…..

 

 

The first contestant Gina picked Case # 3…..

 

 

 

She had a favorable board all the way and took the bankers offer of $450…..

 

 

 

The second contestant Tracey played it down to the last three cases, and then took the bankers offer of $195…..

 

 

 

 

We didn’t break even today, as we only won a $30 in casino fun play. We went back to the cabin to relax for the afternoon, where we found today’s towel animal. Really Edy?

 

 

To be continued…..

[Jamman54]

Tonight we are having dinner at the Fahrenheit 555 Steakhouse…..

 

 

Here is our table…..

 

 

Here are the menus…..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We decided to enjoy a bottle of Moscato with our dinner…..

 

 

Here we are at the Fahrenheit 555 Steakhouse…..

 

 

 

To be continued…..

[Jamman54]

Here are our bread plates…..

 

 

The amuse bouche was a teeny tiny cheeseburger…..

 

 

The Chefs here are very hard at work…..

 

 

 

 

We both had the shrimp cocktail to start….

 

 

Patti also had the baked onion soup, and I had the risotto…..

 

 

 

For her main Patti had the lobster tails and a baked potato…..

 

 

 

I had a 14oz New York strip steak with mashed potatoes and mushrooms…..

 

 

For dessert we both chose the apple tart…..

 

 

Though it took two hours we really enjoyed our meal here tonight. Knowing that we would be drinking a lot tomorrow, and the fact that we were in a food coma, we decided to head back to the cabin to relax and watch television.

 

Coming up next:  Our day in Aruba. It’s one happy island!!

[MistyRo76]

26 minutes ago, Jamman54 said:

We didn’t break even today, as we only won a $30 in casino fun play. We went back to the cabin to relax for the afternoon, where we found today’s towel animal. Really Edy?

 

 

To be continued…..

I’m sensing a theme here….🤣🤣🤣

[Jamman54]

28 minutes ago, MistyRo76 said:

I’m sensing a theme here….🤣🤣🤣

I just started noticing that they are about the same every day! 

[Princess Cruiser27]

Another great read and food porn. What was Edy drunk on Rum and Pepsi when he made the Towel Animal? 🤣 🤣

 

 

 

 

 

[Jamman54]

Day # 12  -  10/04/23  -  Oranjestad, Aruba  (9am – 10pm).

  

We were up at 6:30am to a warm, partly sunny day. The seas are calm. Here are our views forward and aft from our balcony…..

 

 

 

We can see Aruba in the distance……

 

 

Here are today’s Fun Times…..

 

 

 

 

I made my way up to the Java Blue Café for my morning coffee. While there I met another Cruise Critic member, Gail Fulton, which is also her posting name. We’ll have her picture later. I head back to the cabin to pack our beach bags for today. From our balcony we could see that the Aruba Pilot has been dropped off….

 

 

Here are some views as we are sailing into Aruba….

 

 

 

 

To be continued…..

[Jamman54]

We are approaching the Cruise Terminal in Oranjestad, Aruba…..

 

 

 

The Venezia is getting a water cannon salute…..

 

 

 

 

We are sailing past the Church of Scientology’s Freewinds, which spends most of its time here in Aruba…..

 

 

 

 

 

We are now docking at the Cruise Terminal here in Oranjestad, Aruba. Captain Crescenzo has gotten us here an hour early…..

 

 

 

To be continued…..

[Jamman54]

Welcome to Aruba! Today we will be heading over to the Barcelo Aruba. We have an all-inclusive day pass for $89 /pp. This is our go to place when we come to Aruba…..

 

 

We head down to the Lobby Bar to wait for the ship to clear. Once the announcement by Joey was made, we were one of the first to get off the ship. Once we went through the terminal and outside, we could see where the ship excursions would be meeting up……

 

 

 

We grab a taxi to take us over to the Barcelo Aruba which is located on Palm Beach. Here are the taxi rates…..

 

 

Here are a few views as we left the port area…..

 

 

 

 

Fifteen minutes later we have arrived at the Barcelo Aruba. Our taxi fare was $16 + tip…..

 

 

After checking in and getting our wristbands, the first order of business is to try and get some chairs by the pool……

 

 

We stop by the towel hut to get our towels…..

 

 

Now the difficult hunt for chairs can begin. Those people staying at the hotel get up early and claim their spots, so by the time the Day Pass people show up, pickings are slim. As an aside, there are plenty of chairs available on the beach, but we want to be by the pool. We were having no luck, so Patti went over to the smoking section, grabbed two chairs, and moved them by the pool. You go girl!!

 

To be continued…..

[Jamman54]

We put our bags and towels on our chairs, and made our way to get some breakfast. They have an awesome breakfast buffet. Patti documents all of the offerings……

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To be continued…..

[Jamman54]

Are you still hungry? There’s so much more…..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To be continued…..

[Jamman54]

It’s so hard to decide what you want to eat. Here are Patti’s plates…..

 

 

  

Here are my plates…….

 

 

 

Our bellies full from our great breakfast, we head outside. Right outside the door there is a rock garden where all these critters live. This is for you Megan!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To be continued…..

[Mrhubbabubba]

Really enjoying this review and all the pics you guys take. Such a fun experience! Sailing out of New York is definitely on my short list of next cruises to plan.