Fresh off the Venezia: The Good, The Bad, The NYC

[matymil]

Ive had afew days to process our cruise on the Carnival Venezia and I wanted to give my honest thoughts of the whole experience. It seems like the Venezia and departure port of NYC are pretty polarizing amongst cruisers these days so just remember that this is my honest opinion of my experiences. We may not have the same opinion but it doesnt mean that either are wrong 🙂 Quick background; I was on the Venezia sailing leaving on 1/5/24 (HMC/Nassau/Freeport) out of NYC with my wife and 5 year old son. This is my 14th cruise, all with Carnival, 4th out of NYC and 1st on the Venezia.

 

The Good:

The ship: It is absolutely gorgeous. It looks nothing like any other Carnival but at the same time still seems very familiar because it is essentially a Vista ship. The attention to detail is nothing like any other ship in the fleet that's for sure. 

Nassau: I cant believe it but Nassau is actually a port worth getting off and exploring now. We had been to Nassau a bunch like most cruisers and like most cruisers we knew that unless you were doing an excursion, you really didn't need to get off the ship. After our excursion we came back and explored the new port area and honestly it is 1000% better. We didnt even get harassed after we left the gated port area. Its honestly like night and day.

The food: Did not have a bad meal on board. Everything from the MDR, lido, guys, etc was all great. La Strata was a great surprise. It takes the place of Guys BBQ on deck 5 outside. Very good quality all the way around (aside from the late-night snacks which basically the same on all ships)

MarQ: We sailed with him before, but it was back in 2016 when he was part of the Vista fun squad with Cookie, Nono and Matt Mitcham. You can see a blend of Cookie and Matt Mitcham with his energy and quick wit. Everyone in our group and everyone else we talked to all seemed to love him. He is easily our favorite Carnival CD now. 

 

The Bad: 

The staff: Another thing i can't believe because in all of our sailings we've always had awesome staff across the board with very few exceptions. Aside from the fun squad and our room steward it seemed like most of the staff did not want to be there. We never had the same MDR wait staff twice which was weird, i heard multiple people say that they think they may have been training? Some of the MDR staff seemed downright rude. I was used to long waits but afew of the nights our dinner took almost 2 hours which is tough with a 5 year old, plus our friends with us had an 18 month old. We talked to some of the staff and afew of them openly told us that they weren't happy. The casino pitboss openly told my friend "its the worst ship ive ever been on, my contract is done at the end of this cruise and im never coming back". The rest of the staff weren't necessarily rude but I always come off of a Carnival cruise with afew names of staff that I remember so I can praise them in the email survey. Aside from MarQ and afew fun squad members, I could not tell you one name of a staff member. This could very well be because of the clientele that deal with on a regular basis but either way it was the worst service weve ever had from Carnival by far. Not only did the other people in our group share the same opinion but others we talked to on the ship did as well. 

The layout: After we got settled in and we quickly started to realize that this ship was not designed for us. At first it was little things like there not being any laundry rooms (I was told its more custom for people to send away for laundry in Asian culture, which was the market this ship was meant for). Then we began to notice things like how crowded places like the MDR and lido seemed because of the design. Most lido decks have three tiers, this one has two but it also has a large stage that takes away several rows of deck chairs. Because its only two tiers, the screen is much lower. Not to mention that the second deck of the lido is very sectioned off (same with the MDR). You'll see lots of nice looking marble pillars but when youre trying to watch the screen, it makes it very hard to see and seating at a huge premium. The layout in the gym is also by far the worst I've ever seen. You can tell that the machines are European but if the weight area had more than one person in it, it felt crowded. I even went at off hours and it was still a mess. 

HMC: Got cancelled because of the rough seas. It is what it is but i can't wait for the pier to be built 🙂 

 

The NYC:

I'm probably going to offend NYC locals but my wife and I agreed that this is the last cruise we ever take out of NYC, no matter the time of year or the price. My last cruise out of NYC was last July and to say that was a disaster is an understatement. About a week after I got back from that cruise, Carnival announced the new curfew and cited the behavior of the kids on the Magic (sailing out of NYC) as being a main reason. 

First issue: we had was getting into the building. For some reason there was a delay getting us on board and we ended up having to wait outside in the cold, in a 5-block line for over an hour. 

Second issue: 30 seconds after boarding, we encountered our first (of many) extremely rude people. A lady who filming the atrium bumped into our 5-year-old son without saying anything and then proceeded to give my wife an instant attitude, which lead to a very heated argument. Granted my wife did not handle it the best but we had just got done waiting for almost 2 hours to get on board at this point and my wife gets very defensive when it comes to our son. Our friends saw the same woman later in the cruise with her arm in a sling so may she tried the wrong one🤷‍♂️

Third issue: The day that HMC got cancelled, we were up early so we decided to go to the back pool. We found 3 open lounge chairs next to three other chairs that had towels on them. We only took two chairs because my son did not need one. After about 20 mins he wanted to go to the splash pad so my wife took him and left her bag on the open chair. At this point, the open chair to my right was taken now. About another 25 mins past (45ish minutes after we took the chairs) and I hear this nasty lady yell "HEY!!!! YOU TOOK OUR CHAIRS!!!" I looked around, looked to my side and said "me?!?" She yelled back "YEAH!!!! We had 4 chairs saved and now we only have 3!" And this point a lady she was with starts chirping to. Side note; it was extremely windy and items weird blowing around the area including shirts, a flip-flop and.....(wait for it) the almost empty can of sunblock that the woman used to reserve the 4th chair for at least 45 mins. At no point did i move anything for any chair which I told the woman but that did not stop her from yelling so i responded by taking my bag, my other stuff and getting up. I said to her "You know what! Take both chairs because I dont want to sit next to someone like you anyway." I went off to the side, got dressed and texted my wife to not come back to the pool. As i walked back by the scene of the crime a group of people sitting on the other side stopped me and said "Hey! We saw the entire thing. You did nothing wrong. If you want, you can have one of our seats." To which i replied "Thank you but i have to meet with my wife and its not worth it" The lady heard and saw all of this so i really hope her made her feel fantastic. 

Final straw: Im gonna keep this one as brief as possible because it wasnt my kid in the center of this issue but this is the main reason we arent sailing NYC again because I dont want him around this behavior. I was taking my son to play mini golf when a group of about 15-20 kids came running towards us yelling about how they just beat some girl up. Me and my 5-year-old walked up on a lifeless girl, with her glasses on the ground, laying on the deck (about 13 years old ish) who wasn't responding to me. I ran and got security. When I got back to her, she was sitting up and crying. At this point security had said that they saw her messing around before and were basically blaming her which made her cry even harder but it wasnt my kid, wasnt my business and figured that it was under control. About 20 mins later im with my son in the arcade and the same group of kids come in and they start talking about how they are gonna beat up some other kid so i decide to go to guest services. While waiting i find out that i am standing behind the mother of the daugther who is talking to guest services. I take her off to the side and explain what i saw and give her my information if she needs someone to write a statement. At this point shes in tears and tells me that her daughter is autistic, and she has been getting bullied by these kids for the whole cruise. She told me that even her 9 year old was complaining about getting bullied. After that this is not an environment that i want my kid around. I know you get bad kids on every ship but I don't care what anyone says, there is a huge difference when it comes to sailing out of NYC.

Thats pretty about it. Thanks if you made it this far 🙂 

[shof515]

2 hours ago, matymil said:

 

 At first it was little things like there not being any laundry rooms (I was told its more custom for people to send away for laundry in Asian culture, which was the market this ship was meant for).

 

not having laundry room is the new normal for new ships. All new builds like the Excel class ships do not have laundry room. Laundry rooms require lots of maintenance for the ships crew and that is usually where carnival can squeeze in a few additional cabins

[Haljo1935]

1 hour ago, shof515 said:

 

not having laundry room is the new normal for new ships. All new builds like the Excel class ships do not have laundry room. Laundry rooms require lots of maintenance for the ships crew and that is usually where carnival can squeeze in a few additional cabins

Last time we had self laundry was on Princess pre-covid. Missed it one time then very quickly appreciated not doing it ourselves and have happily turned that task over to the ship crew. Just like letting them cook for us and clean our cabin, we let them do our laundry and enjoy more vacation. 

Edited January 21 by Haljo1935
Typo

[edspec]

Thank-you @matymil I have an autistic adult son so understand the mom's tears.  I don't think the gangs of kids are solely a NY thing, read of some similiar actions on ships leaving from Florida.  That said I would be cautious about booking  a cruise from NY unless I was on Cunard or Princess where there is less likelyhood of roaming adolescents.  Unfortunately you can't count on the traditional few/no kid's weeks since there are a lot more homeschoolers and since Covid attendance at traditional  schools is way down. 

 

Carnival needs to take  these gangs more seriously, best solution is to kick the family off at the next port and put them on the No Sail list.   

 

I don't like to do laundry but I appreciate laundry rooms on ships.  Sometimes it's just easier to do a load of clothes and it makes packing easier.  DS is very fussy about his clothes so  goes through at least two clothing changes per day which equates to a lot of luggage.  If I can keep up with the pajamas and socks I can get through the week w/ a carry-on.

 

Thank-you for your balanced review.

 

[jonsmom]

5 hours ago, matymil said:

Ive had afew days to process our cruise on the Carnival Venezia and I wanted to give my honest thoughts of the whole experience. It seems like the Venezia and departure port of NYC are pretty polarizing amongst cruisers these days so just remember that this is my honest opinion of my experiences. We may not have the same opinion but it doesnt mean that either are wrong 🙂 Quick background; I was on the Venezia sailing leaving on 1/5/24 (HMC/Nassau/Freeport) out of NYC with my wife and 5 year old son. This is my 14th cruise, all with Carnival, 4th out of NYC and 1st on the Venezia.

 

The Good:

The ship: It is absolutely gorgeous. It looks nothing like any other Carnival but at the same time still seems very familiar because it is essentially a Vista ship. The attention to detail is nothing like any other ship in the fleet that's for sure. 

Nassau: I cant believe it but Nassau is actually a port worth getting off and exploring now. We had been to Nassau a bunch like most cruisers and like most cruisers we knew that unless you were doing an excursion, you really didn't need to get off the ship. After our excursion we came back and explored the new port area and honestly it is 1000% better. We didnt even get harassed after we left the gated port area. Its honestly like night and day.

The food: Did not have a bad meal on board. Everything from the MDR, lido, guys, etc was all great. La Strata was a great surprise. It takes the place of Guys BBQ on deck 5 outside. Very good quality all the way around (aside from the late-night snacks which basically the same on all ships)

MarQ: We sailed with him before, but it was back in 2016 when he was part of the Vista fun squad with Cookie, Nono and Matt Mitcham. You can see a blend of Cookie and Matt Mitcham with his energy and quick wit. Everyone in our group and everyone else we talked to all seemed to love him. He is easily our favorite Carnival CD now. 

 

The Bad: 

The staff: Another thing i can't believe because in all of our sailings we've always had awesome staff across the board with very few exceptions. Aside from the fun squad and our room steward it seemed like most of the staff did not want to be there. We never had the same MDR wait staff twice which was weird, i heard multiple people say that they think they may have been training? Some of the MDR staff seemed downright rude. I was used to long waits but afew of the nights our dinner took almost 2 hours which is tough with a 5 year old, plus our friends with us had an 18 month old. We talked to some of the staff and afew of them openly told us that they weren't happy. The casino pitboss openly told my friend "its the worst ship ive ever been on, my contract is done at the end of this cruise and im never coming back". The rest of the staff weren't necessarily rude but I always come off of a Carnival cruise with afew names of staff that I remember so I can praise them in the email survey. Aside from MarQ and afew fun squad members, I could not tell you one name of a staff member. This could very well be because of the clientele that deal with on a regular basis but either way it was the worst service weve ever had from Carnival by far. Not only did the other people in our group share the same opinion but others we talked to on the ship did as well. 

The layout: After we got settled in and we quickly started to realize that this ship was not designed for us. At first it was little things like there not being any laundry rooms (I was told its more custom for people to send away for laundry in Asian culture, which was the market this ship was meant for). Then we began to notice things like how crowded places like the MDR and lido seemed because of the design. Most lido decks have three tiers, this one has two but it also has a large stage that takes away several rows of deck chairs. Because its only two tiers, the screen is much lower. Not to mention that the second deck of the lido is very sectioned off (same with the MDR). You'll see lots of nice looking marble pillars but when youre trying to watch the screen, it makes it very hard to see and seating at a huge premium. The layout in the gym is also by far the worst I've ever seen. You can tell that the machines are European but if the weight area had more than one person in it, it felt crowded. I even went at off hours and it was still a mess. 

HMC: Got cancelled because of the rough seas. It is what it is but i can't wait for the pier to be built 🙂 

 

The NYC:

I'm probably going to offend NYC locals but my wife and I agreed that this is the last cruise we ever take out of NYC, no matter the time of year or the price. My last cruise out of NYC was last July and to say that was a disaster is an understatement. About a week after I got back from that cruise, Carnival announced the new curfew and cited the behavior of the kids on the Magic (sailing out of NYC) as being a main reason. 

First issue: we had was getting into the building. For some reason there was a delay getting us on board and we ended up having to wait outside in the cold, in a 5-block line for over an hour. 

Second issue: 30 seconds after boarding, we encountered our first (of many) extremely rude people. A lady who filming the atrium bumped into our 5-year-old son without saying anything and then proceeded to give my wife an instant attitude, which lead to a very heated argument. Granted my wife did not handle it the best but we had just got done waiting for almost 2 hours to get on board at this point and my wife gets very defensive when it comes to our son. Our friends saw the same woman later in the cruise with her arm in a sling so may she tried the wrong one🤷‍♂️

Third issue: The day that HMC got cancelled, we were up early so we decided to go to the back pool. We found 3 open lounge chairs next to three other chairs that had towels on them. We only took two chairs because my son did not need one. After about 20 mins he wanted to go to the splash pad so my wife took him and left her bag on the open chair. At this point, the open chair to my right was taken now. About another 25 mins past (45ish minutes after we took the chairs) and I hear this nasty lady yell "HEY!!!! YOU TOOK OUR CHAIRS!!!" I looked around, looked to my side and said "me?!?" She yelled back "YEAH!!!! We had 4 chairs saved and now we only have 3!" And this point a lady she was with starts chirping to. Side note; it was extremely windy and items weird blowing around the area including shirts, a flip-flop and.....(wait for it) the almost empty can of sunblock that the woman used to reserve the 4th chair for at least 45 mins. At no point did i move anything for any chair which I told the woman but that did not stop her from yelling so i responded by taking my bag, my other stuff and getting up. I said to her "You know what! Take both chairs because I dont want to sit next to someone like you anyway." I went off to the side, got dressed and texted my wife to not come back to the pool. As i walked back by the scene of the crime a group of people sitting on the other side stopped me and said "Hey! We saw the entire thing. You did nothing wrong. If you want, you can have one of our seats." To which i replied "Thank you but i have to meet with my wife and its not worth it" The lady heard and saw all of this so i really hope her made her feel fantastic. 

Final straw: Im gonna keep this one as brief as possible because it wasnt my kid in the center of this issue but this is the main reason we arent sailing NYC again because I dont want him around this behavior. I was taking my son to play mini golf when a group of about 15-20 kids came running towards us yelling about how they just beat some girl up. Me and my 5-year-old walked up on a lifeless girl, with her glasses on the ground, laying on the deck (about 13 years old ish) who wasn't responding to me. I ran and got security. When I got back to her, she was sitting up and crying. At this point security had said that they saw her messing around before and were basically blaming her which made her cry even harder but it wasnt my kid, wasnt my business and figured that it was under control. About 20 mins later im with my son in the arcade and the same group of kids come in and they start talking about how they are gonna beat up some other kid so i decide to go to guest services. While waiting i find out that i am standing behind the mother of the daugther who is talking to guest services. I take her off to the side and explain what i saw and give her my information if she needs someone to write a statement. At this point shes in tears and tells me that her daughter is autistic, and she has been getting bullied by these kids for the whole cruise. She told me that even her 9 year old was complaining about getting bullied. After that this is not an environment that i want my kid around. I know you get bad kids on every ship but I don't care what anyone says, there is a huge difference when it comes to sailing out of NYC.

Thats pretty about it. Thanks if you made it this far 🙂 

There is a huge difference sailing out of NYC - we did it in 2005 and my husband will NEVER do it again.  

[Crusin Karen]

I was on this cruise. I’m sorry you had such bad experiences. I admit there were a “few things” with fellow pax but nothing like you experienced and I live 20 minutes from Manhattan port (but in New Jersey!) and this is my home port so having not sailed from other ports in many years idk if this is a “NY” thing. I was lucky because I found the crew exceptional, especially my room steward. Only complaint is the MDR-I cruise solo and twice I was seated at a 2 person table in basically a “walk way” (YTD Grand Canal) and virtually ignored. I have 3 more cruises booked on her and I will go to MDR first thing and make sure this will not happen again. Thank you for sharing your experiences. Terrible what that girl and her family went thru. 😡

[KKB]

@matymil Thanks for the report.

I wouldn't blame it on NYC by any means.

We sailed RCCL out of NYC & saw none of this.

But clearly enough issues to give one pause

[matymil]

18 minutes ago, KKB said:

@matymil Thanks for the report.

I wouldn't blame it on NYC by any means.

We sailed RCCL out of NYC & saw none of this.

But clearly enough issues to give one pause

It's a combo of the Carnival customer base & NYC. Out of the 14 Carnival cruises I've been on, I've only had major problems when sailing out of NYC 

[mjkacmom]

I’ve sailed out of NYC 4 times on NCL, never had any issues at all with other passengers. Been to NYC dozens of times, no issues. My young adult kids having been going to manhattan since 16 or so, they go often, again no issues.

[LatinaInTexas]

Wow what a disappointing and troublesome cruise. Sure any cruise can be like this but when it's your cruise it really hits home. While I haven't seen or experienced any alarming issues on my cruises it doesn't mean it doesn't happen.

I had really wanted to sail this ship for a while but there have been so many mixed reviews, more than any other Carnival ship.

Ultimately my next cruise is with NCL which will be my second time sailing them and I am about to book my third time with them. Only small worry is it will be sailing out of New York which is outside of my comfort zone.

Hope your next vacation/cruise is a happy time for your family.

 

 

[matymil]

5 minutes ago, mjkacmom said:

I’ve sailed out of NYC 4 times on NCL, never had any issues at all with other passengers. Been to NYC dozens of times, no issues. My young adult kids having been going to manhattan since 16 or so, they go often, again no issues.

How many Carnival cruises out of NYC have you been on though?

[matymil]

1 minute ago, LatinaInTexas said:

Wow what a disappointing and troublesome cruise. Sure any cruise can be like this but when it's your cruise it really hits home. While I haven't seen or experienced any alarming issues on my cruises it doesn't mean it doesn't happen.

I had really wanted to sail this ship for a while but there have been so many mixed reviews, more than any other Carnival ship.

Ultimately my next cruise is with NCL which will be my second time sailing them and I am about to book my third time with them. Only small worry is it will be sailing out of New York which is outside of my comfort zone.

Hope your next vacation/cruise is a happy time for your family.

 

 

Our son still had an absolute blast which is the most important thing 🙂

[Jeni99]

My heart just broke for that girl and the family! Thank you for sharing the good and the bad. I hope the mom gets actin against those kids!!! 

[mjkacmom]

36 minutes ago, matymil said:

How many Carnival cruises out of NYC have you been on though?

Zero, which makes me wonder if it’s the port or the cruise line. I love driving a short distance to cruise ports, my husband will retire in a few years, empty nest, I’m hoping we can take last minute cruises having a fire sale and we have no loyalty to any line. 

[stobe1]

We, also, have written off sailing from NYC ever again. We sailed Sunrise out of NY in 2019 and swore never again. But then we gave it another chance this past summer on Venezia since we had a sweetheart deal that was basically a free cruise that we couldn't refuse and really swore never, ever again. No matter how good the deal is. 

 

The port chaos, the city madness and the rudeness of the fellow passengers made us decide never again.

Edited January 21 by stobe1

[KKB]

2 hours ago, matymil said:

It's a combo of the Carnival customer base & NYC. Out of the 14 Carnival cruises I've been on, I've only had major problems when sailing out of NYC 

Good to know. I have the Venezia booked for May out of NYC.

It was looking like I would have to cancel, and this makes my decision easier.

 

I will say, MSC has passenger issues across the line, it appears.

( I can attest that behaviors were similar on my Caribbean & Europe cruises on them last year...cross MSC off the list)

Edited January 21 by KKB

[Travelling2Some]

2 hours ago, matymil said:

It's a combo of the Carnival customer base & NYC. Out of the 14 Carnival cruises I've been on, I've only had major problems when sailing out of NYC 

I think you are correct.  I also think your itinerary was a factor.  I think Canada and Bermuda sailings attract a less rowdy crowd.  I am a native New Yorker and have sailed out of NY many times but always on other lines or longer itineraries.  I doubt if there would be the same type of people on a 14 day southern Caribbean or a transatlantic.

[JCrewz]

Thank you Matymill.

 

I'm doing a B2B in February as a solo cruiser.  I'm from Texas so I'm used to the rowdy Galveston port cruises.  I've been to NYC a number of times and hoping for the best.  I enjoyed your thoughts.

 

We've all experienced some really entitled chair hogs on cruises.  No matter how unreasonable their chair saving expectations are, my wife and I don't confront them since so many of them can be very aggressive and confrontational.  I know more management by Carnival is the ultimate answer, but implied rules of etiquette have really disappeared.  And, yes, I know that implied rules of behavior involves a subjective standard.

 

Still, it sounds like some lines were clearly crossed on your cruise.  But, I hope you and your family keep cruising with some line.  You seem like a wonderful cruisemate.

[matymil]

3 hours ago, Jeni99 said:

My heart just broke for that girl and the family! Thank you for sharing the good and the bad. I hope the mom gets actin against those kids!!! 

I know she was talking to the head of security for sure. 

[matymil]

1 hour ago, Travelling2Some said:

I think you are correct.  I also think your itinerary was a factor.  I think Canada and Bermuda sailings attract a less rowdy crowd.  I am a native New Yorker and have sailed out of NY many times but always on other lines or longer itineraries.  I doubt if there would be the same type of people on a 14 day southern Caribbean or a transatlantic.

Funny you say that. Out of the 4 cruises, the only one I had without issue was to Canada 

[Travelling2Some]

To be totally honest (and probably get myself in trouble with those who recognize themselves?!!!) we have numerous demographics in NYC that could be off-putting to folks from other parts of the country, who tend to be more polite/reserved.  This makes it hard to generalize about exactly who the problem is.  Some obnoxious NYers are entitled and affluent (but unlikely to sail Carnival).  Then you've got hotheads with a chip on their shoulders who are ready to fight because of any imagined slight (geeze!). Then your have your typical assertive NYer - think Carrie from the sitcom "King of Queens" who views yelling at people at the pool as normal give and take. (You are welcome to yell back, she expects it.) There are other groups in the mix too.   It gets complicated.  We just stay off cheap, short cruises to the Bahamas, lol.

[Elaine5715]

17 minutes ago, Travelling2Some said:

To be totally honest (and probably get myself in trouble with those who recognize themselves?!!!) we have numerous demographics in NYC that could be off-putting to folks from other parts of the country, who tend to be more polite/reserved.  This makes it hard to generalize about exactly who the problem is.  Some obnoxious NYers are entitled and affluent (but unlikely to sail Carnival).  Then you've got hotheads with a chip on their shoulders who are ready to fight because of any imagined slight (geeze!). Then your have your typical assertive NYer - think Carrie from the sitcom "King of Queens" who views yelling at people at the pool as normal give and take. (You are welcome to yell back, she expects it.) There are other groups in the mix too.   It gets complicated.  We just stay off cheap, short cruises to the Bahamas, lol.

Is it possible given the decriminalization of some types of behavior that assaults aren't viewed the same as in other parts of the country?  

[Travelling2Some]

1 hour ago, JCrewz said:

. . . implied rules of etiquette have really disappeared.  And, yes, I know that implied rules of behavior involves a subjective standard

On a recent cruise we observed a lady trying to "hold" the table next to us in the buffet by merely leaving a coffee cup on the table.  She was Japanese speaking and, having traveled in Asia ourselves we knew that, in her view, any object left should be sufficient to indicate that the table was occupied.  Of course the staff kept trying to clear away the coffee cup and nobody recognized that they should not sit there.  I hope she did not go home thinking that Americans are horribly rude.  Conversely, I am told that people from Britain think it is rude for one person to hold a table while the other(s) get their food.

[Travelling2Some]

10 minutes ago, Elaine5715 said:

Is it possible given the decriminalization of some types of behavior that assaults aren't viewed the same as in other parts of the country?  

Assault seems to be the knee jerk first response of those who have not been socialized normally.  The police are now not allowed to intervene so they are further emboldened.  One of my kids, when she was about 6 and trying to figure out how the world worked observed that "The police are like parents for the big people".  I thought that was very astute of her. 

[MaryZ]

We sail out of NYC all the time.  I was on this same cruise but it was a Ultra casino cruise.  I was surprised to see so many kids as school is in session here in NY    We were on from New Years eve so things were a little different from that cruise.  We saw much more security out and about on the January 6-14, 2024 cruise. 

I would never bring my grandchildren on a Carnival cruise.  Period.  Especially out of NY.
We always sail on Royal from Bayonne with them.   It's a totally different environment and the Oasis class ships are much more awesome for kids than carnival anyway.

Our first cruises back in the early 90's with our kids were on Carnival. 

We don't spend time up by the pool, so our experience with all that on a ship is totally different.    We had no issues with staff not being friendly. 

Try Royal.  Try NCL  much better for families out of NY.