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

[mfs2k]

As a life long New Yorker who has sailed numerous Carnival cruises out of NYC in the past 40 years, I often joke: “The problem with cruising from NYC is the ship is full of New Yorkers,”

[pe4all]

Thank you for your review.  We have sailed out of NY numerous times - NCL and CCL.  We did sail Magic last time, and were surprised at the number of teens causing trouble - running wildly around the ship at all hours, totally blocking stairways so you literally had to climb over them, etc.  By the end of the cruise security was posted outside the clubs to try to control the issues.  Unfortunately some parents seem to think they (parents) are on vacation and let their kids run wild and do not supervise them.  We will try Venezia in the future and hopefully will sail when there won't be as many issues as you saw.  BTW - thank you for stepping in and helping the girl you saw on the ground.  Many probably would just turn and walk away.

[Butterbean1000]

I'm a southerner that lived in NY for 5 long cold years.  I can say there is definitely a culture clash.  My school aged children were taught to say yes m'am, no m'am, etc.  After a while they stopped saying this and started with saying yeah and no because the other kids laughed and made fun of them.  Their whole attitude changed.   We couldn't get back south fast enough. 

 

But I digress, we're booked on the Venezia in '25 when she'll be in Port Canaveral.  The hubs is excited about this ship.  I'm a little apprehensive because I have seen such mixed reactions.  If the ship was sailing from other than NYC, would you sail her again?

[mjkacmom]

38 minutes ago, Butterbean1000 said:

I'm a southerner that lived in NY for 5 long cold years.  I can say there is definitely a culture clash.  My school aged children were taught to say yes m'am, no m'am, etc.  After a while they stopped saying this and started with saying yeah and no because the other kids laughed and made fun of them.  Their whole attitude changed.   We couldn't get back south fast enough. 

 

But I digress, we're booked on the Venezia in '25 when she'll be in Port Canaveral.  The hubs is excited about this ship.  I'm a little apprehensive because I have seen such mixed reactions.  If the ship was sailing from other than NYC, would you sail her again?

My young adult kids are very polite, but saying sir and ma’am here can be considered rude and sarcastic. My 21 year old daughter was chastised by a healthcare worker in SC for not saying yes or no m’am, my daughter told her she was not being rude, and didn’t want to get in the habit of saying it because when she came home to the nyc metro area it wouldn’t be considered polite. She has a pretty strong NJ accent so it was pretty obvious where she was from. I was surprised an adult would criticize another adult regarding cultural manners.

[Butterbean1000]

17 minutes ago, mjkacmom said:

My young adult kids are very polite, but saying sir and ma’am here can be considered rude and sarcastic. My 21 year old daughter was chastised by a healthcare worker in SC for not saying yes or no m’am, my daughter told her she was not being rude, and didn’t want to get in the habit of saying it because when she came home to the nyc metro area it wouldn’t be considered polite. She has a pretty strong NJ accent so it was pretty obvious where she was from. I was surprised an adult would criticize another adult regarding cultural manners.

My children were 2, 4 and 7. I don't  know how that could have been taken as sarcastic. Actually,  adults commented on how polite my childrwn were. I would have been ok with yes instead of yeah.  I would agree with you that one adult chastising another was out of line.  I was just raised with showing respect for elders and that is what I was trying to teach my children.  Again, different cultures.

[AFS1970]

Thanks for the review. I have one posted from the Venezia from last September and had a different experience, but it was a different itinerary and a different time of the school year. I did notice that the port was disorganized at best but found some tips here on CC that helped a little bit. I only had one minor interaction with security but found them very good, then again it was all adults (by age at least) involved. 

[Drazil65]

Never sailed out of NYC port and I am from there (grew up outside the city but grandparents lived in Brooklyn so spent a lot of time in the city and am very comfortable when in the city), that said, we would probably never choose to sail from there for many reasons.  We have had many invites to join family on cruises from there over the years and have declined every time.  Also, for the record, we are not interested in sailing on the Venezia so this would not even be on our radar regardless of port.  

 

 running wildly around the ship at all hours, totally blocking stairways so you literally had to climb over them, etc.  By the end of the cruise security was posted outside the clubs to try to control the issues.  Unfortunately some parents seem to think they (parents) are on vacation and let their kids run wild and do not supervise them.  

 

First, I guess addressing the teens (mostly preteen to mid teen age range I would say from our observations) running wild on the ships, we sail both CCL (mostly) and RCCL (occasionally) for 20 plus years.  So a lot of observation time and also DS was in this age group at one time so closer observation with the kids he interacted with.  Have observed this behavior (running wild, unsupervised and rude) on just about every cruise we have sailed on in some manner (lido pool, on deck movie time, arcade, running through halls, pushing and shoving on sports deck and sitting on stairways etc.).  This has happened on both cruise lines (we also sailed NCL one time 10 yrs ago, same).  The pounding on cabin doors around midnight is a constant it seems and especially if you have the "sleep/snooze" sign on door.  We do not like or think this behavior is appropriate and absolutely do not condone it, we place the blame solidly on the parents, period.  DS was not allowed to run wild and certainly was not out and about after we were back in the cabin (truthfully he had to be in cabin by 10:00 and was checked on), he did not hang with the kids that acted out like this (in life in general, never been his crowd not even in college now).  

 

This account of what happened to that young girl is horrible (and sad) and we believe some action should be taken by way of consequences to the parents (banned from CCL), if they can prove etc. (another conversation totally). 

 

That being said, I am not going to lie, one of my questions after reading about the incident was "why was a 13 yr old (with some special needs it appears) girl around a group of teens that obviously were not a good fit for hanging out or being around?".  To be clear, this was not to blame her parents/whomever (I am sure I would have been the worst helicopter mom especially for a girl child if I had one), its hard for me to process what situation would lead me to let my 13 yr old (girl) end up in a place where she was that vulnerable on a cruise ship full of strangers. It's like letting your kids roam around a small city basically, probably worse since security is practically non existent on a cruise ship. 

 

According to the OP, the mother had stated that these same kids had already been bullying her daughter (and apparently her 9 year old was also being bullied as well?). I cannot for the life of me figure out how the 13 year old is even allowed near this group of teens unattended and alone long enough for her to end up on ground unresponsive, cant lie, it baffles me. 

 

  My school aged children were taught to say yes m'am, no m'am, etc. 

 

So, you are right in that growing in NY we were not required to say "yes, m'am and no m'am but we were taught to address all adults (outside our family) as Mr. (last name)  and Ms/Mrs. (last name).  Being that I grew up in NY and DH is from Midwest (Columbus, OH) and we moved to NC when DS was almost 4 (he is 21 now so def raised in the south), I can attest to the fact that those words do not make the kid a "good or polite" kid. It is all the "other words" that are spoken AFTER the "M'am" in the south that you should pay attention to, none of them would come out of DS mouth...

 

We have a good mix of regional cultures in our home obviously, and we did not raise our son to say "m'am, as that was not the part of being in the south that we felt would be a benefit to him in the future.  He was raised with manners and to be respectful and polite to all people including his peers.  We are lucky that we travel often and live in a smaller, tourist town that has a population made up of all regions of the country but truthfully probably more residents from the north than anyone else.  DS has been exposed and knows how to interact and respect all cultures and people and that should serve him well as he enters law school next year and begins his career.  

 

With all that being said, I do agree that NY is way too cold!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mjkacmom]

34 minutes ago, Butterbean1000 said:

My children were 2, 4 and 7. I don't  know how that could have been taken as sarcastic. Actually,  adults commented on how polite my childrwn were. I would have been ok with yes instead of yeah.  I would agree with you that one adult chastising another was out of line.  I was just raised with showing respect for elders and that is what I was trying to teach my children.  Again, different cultures.

We do teach our children manners without the sir and m’am, please and thank you so much, may I be excused, thank you for dinner, literally every pleasantry besides sir and m’am (which is very rare and many times those who say it are doing so to be brats). I was pretty shocked when my daughter told me this (especially since the woman was looking at her medical chart so knew her age). I guess it was a “bless your heart” moment.

[Travelling2Some]

My cousins were raised in the South and would run into trouble with saying "sir" and "ma'am" when they came to visit us in New York.  It was definitely taken as sarcasm by many adults here who suspected they were being smart mouths.  Not being familiar with this Southern custom, it was sometimes taken as overly exaggerated deference (hence, sarcasm).  I remember advising them that they should knock it off.  They returned the favor by finding my accent hilarious.

[Butterbean1000]

2 hours ago, mjkacmom said:

We do teach our children manners without the sir and m’am, please and thank you so much, may I be excused, thank you for dinner, literally every pleasantry besides sir and m’am (which is very rare and many times those who say it are doing so to be brats). I was pretty shocked when my daughter told me this (especially since the woman was looking at her medical chart so knew her age). I guess it was a “bless your heart” moment.

This is all I'm going to say about this because I'm really interested in the Venezia. People down here would not consider children saying yes m'am and no m'am as being a brat. Again, different cultures, and upbringing.

Edited January 22 by Butterbean1000

[mjkacmom]

2 minutes ago, Butterbean1000 said:

This is all I'm going to say about this because I'm really interested in the Venezia. People down here would not consider children saying m'am yesand no m'am as being a brat. Again, different cultures, and upbringing.

I know enough about the south to know this, and if I heard children with southern accents saying it I wouldn’t be offended, the same way someone in the south shouldn’t be offended if children from the north didn’t say it. It’s different cultures, not different upbringings, children up here are taught to be polite. Same with using miss “first name” in the south vs. Mrs. “last name” in the north.

[RoperDK]

I am surprised about all of the differing opinions on the "sir or ma'am" usage.  I grew up in Miami, spent 23 years in the Air Force traveling all over the world, and have now settled in Alabama.  We were taught and we taught our children, who have now taught their children to say sir and ma'am along with please and thank you, etc.  I can't imagine how being polite would be construed as sarcastic and I have never come across that in all of my travels.  Perhaps it is a generational thing, as I am in my sixties.  I have seen kids be sarcastic using sir and ma'am, but the tone in their voice gives that away.  Here in the south people can tell the difference between a heartfelt or sarcastic "bless your heart".  I don't expect anyone to say please, thank you, sir or ma'am around my family though.  Those things don't bother me and frankly, I haven't seen too much overly bad behavior on my cruises.         

[edspec]

Conjecture on my part.  I like to give my autistic DS as much independence as possible so I'll set up situations for him to act on his own.  Granted, I'm always sitting w/in sight but I would prefer if I felt confident to let him do things w/o my constant vigilance, I'm sure he must get sick of it.  Could be that mom was giving her daughter some autonomy and felt comfortable since she was on a ship in a closed environment.  It could also be that she didn't learn about previous bullying until after the incident the OP described.  

[KKB]

Interesting POVs here.

We have sailed nearly 40 cruises over 20 years across most mainstream lines, over most months of the year. Our children have sailed 5 cruises with us on various lines, from when they were children to young adults. Most in the Caribbean until the last couple years since we retired.

 

Now, we have only done Carnival 1x to Hawaii (this year).

Only 5 RCCL cruises (2 with the kids)--and the last one with the kids was out of NYC (2018).

 

We have NOT ONCE seen widespread out of control children or teens.

 

I thought this was a one off for OP but your comments suggest otherwise.

As with MSC, I should have paid attention to the reviews...

Venezia out of NYC has been cancelled for me; it probably was going to be cancelled anyway, but this sealed the deal.

(after MSC I realize I have no tolerance for widespread rude passenger behavior...perhaps the 30 years of teaching under my belt)

 

 

Edited January 22 by KKB

[matymil]

4 hours ago, Butterbean1000 said:

I'm a southerner that lived in NY for 5 long cold years.  I can say there is definitely a culture clash.  My school aged children were taught to say yes m'am, no m'am, etc.  After a while they stopped saying this and started with saying yeah and no because the other kids laughed and made fun of them.  Their whole attitude changed.   We couldn't get back south fast enough. 

 

But I digress, we're booked on the Venezia in '25 when she'll be in Port Canaveral.  The hubs is excited about this ship.  I'm a little apprehensive because I have seen such mixed reactions.  If the ship was sailing from other than NYC, would you sail her again?

Probably not. It's our least favorite ship but that's just our opinion. Again it's absolutely gorgeous but logistically you can tell it just wasn't meant for our market or for a crowded ship tbh. 

[matymil]

28 minutes ago, KKB said:

Interesting POVs here.

We have sailed nearly 40 cruises over 20 years across most mainstream lines, over most months of the year. Our children have sailed 5 cruises with us on various lines, from when they were children to young adults. Most in the Caribbean until the last couple years since we retired.

 

Now, we have only done Carnival 1x to Hawaii (this year).

Only 5 RCCL cruises (2 with the kids)--and the last one with the kids was out of NYC (2018).

 

We have NOT ONCE seen widespread out of control children or teens.

 

I thought this was a one off for OP but your comments suggest otherwise.

As with MSC, I should have paid attention to the reviews...

Venezia out of NYC has been cancelled for me; it probably was going to be cancelled anyway, but this sealed the deal.

(after MSC I realize I have no tolerance for widespread rude passenger behavior...perhaps the 30 years of teaching under my belt)

 

 

This was a three off by the OP dating back to 2017. Maybe I just keep getting unlucky but either way we don't want to risk our son being around that behavior. 

[matymil]

50 minutes ago, edspec said:

Conjecture on my part.  I like to give my autistic DS as much independence as possible so I'll set up situations for him to act on his own.  Granted, I'm always sitting w/in sight but I would prefer if I felt confident to let him do things w/o my constant vigilance, I'm sure he must get sick of it.  Could be that mom was giving her daughter some autonomy and felt comfortable since she was on a ship in a closed environment.  It could also be that she didn't learn about previous bullying until after the incident the OP described.  

She told me that her daughter was with a friend that she trusted. I don't know the details but the fact that I came across this situation and somehow was not surprised, should tell someone all they need to know 

[matymil]

7 hours ago, pe4all said:

Thank you for your review.  We have sailed out of NY numerous times - NCL and CCL.  We did sail Magic last time, and were surprised at the number of teens causing trouble - running wildly around the ship at all hours, totally blocking stairways so you literally had to climb over them, etc.  By the end of the cruise security was posted outside the clubs to try to control the issues.  Unfortunately some parents seem to think they (parents) are on vacation and let their kids run wild and do not supervise them.  We will try Venezia in the future and hopefully will sail when there won't be as many issues as you saw.  BTW - thank you for stepping in and helping the girl you saw on the ground.  Many probably would just turn and walk away.

I appreciate it but I'd hope any decent human would have done the same but again...it's NYC. When did you go on the Magic last. When we went last July it was a disaster. Day one, we got into the hot tub after a group of teens. We found a pile of nuts and bolts sitting off to the side. I picked up a handful and asked one of teens that were standing close "yo man?! What's up with these" and shocker the teen said he had no idea. I gave the parts to a Carnival worker who just shook her head and said "I love kids" The hot tub was shutdown for a couple of days after this for repairs and again....this was day one lol

[Butterbean1000]

6 minutes ago, matymil said:

Probably not. It's our least favorite ship but that's just our opinion. Again it's absolutely gorgeous but logistically you can tell it just wasn't meant for our market or for a crowded ship tbh. 

Thank you.  I'm gathering all the info and reviews I can.  I think being prepared will help with expectations.  Anyway,  we'll be on a cruise going to some of our favorite ports, we'll have fun.

[matymil]

7 minutes ago, Butterbean1000 said:

Thank you.  I'm gathering all the info and reviews I can.  I think being prepared will help with expectations.  Anyway,  we'll be on a cruise going to some of our favorite ports, we'll have fun.

Yeah I know this seems like a mostly negative review but overall we still had a good time and our son had the time of his life so that's really all that matters. Plus I wasn't at work so that's a win 

[princess76021]

@matymil th a I you for Your viewpoint. 

Glad you made the best of things.

Hugs from Texas

[Butterbean1000]

1 hour ago, edspec said:

Conjecture on my part.  I like to give my autistic DS as much independence as possible so I'll set up situations for him to act on his own.  Granted, I'm always sitting w/in sight but I would prefer if I felt confident to let him do things w/o my constant vigilance, I'm sure he must get sick of it.  Could be that mom was giving her daughter some autonomy and felt comfortable since she was on a ship in a closed environment.  It could also be that she didn't learn about previous bullying until after the incident the OP described.  

My grandson is on the spectrum, high functioning.  He had moments when he was young with bullying.  My daughter and SIL were good at telling him what he could expect and how to handle these situations.  He is now a sophomore in college living on his own.  Heck, my kids experienced bullying, too.  Bullies are found everywhere,  even on cruise ships

[fair-winds39]

Sailed on Venezia in October 2023 from NY. Had cruised from NY in early 90’s a couple of times, with no issues, but this past October sealed the deal for us….never again from the Manhattan Port for us.

[pe4all]

2 hours ago, matymil said:

I appreciate it but I'd hope any decent human would have done the same but again...it's NYC. When did you go on the Magic last. When we went last July it was a disaster. Day one, we got into the hot tub after a group of teens. We found a pile of nuts and bolts sitting off to the side. I picked up a handful and asked one of teens that were standing close "yo man?! What's up with these" and shocker the teen said he had no idea. I gave the parts to a Carnival worker who just shook her head and said "I love kids" The hot tub was shutdown for a couple of days after this for repairs and again....this was day one lol

We went on Magic out of NYC June 2022.  It was my Diamond cruise, so I have definitely been on many CCL cruises. I always cruise with my special needs dd35-also Diamond.  NY is our home port and we definitely want to try again - but not when school is out - lol.  As a teacher  for 37 years I can now cruise when most kids are in school as I am retired and not hampered by having to book during school vacations.

[ShortCruising]

Wow! Thanks for this review. My husband and I were toying with the idea of cruising Carnival out of NYC. We live in the Midwest so it’s the only port within single-day driving distance. We’ve cruised out of Bayonne, NJ once on RCI and are going again this summer. We loved the entire experience—port, ship, and clientele. So interesting considering that the two ports are so close to one another.

 

We have 3 kids (12, 6 and 2) with the oldest being on the spectrum. We will definitely strike the CCL/NYC combo off our list. He wouldn’t know how to handle witnessing that behavior let alone, god forbid, being part of it. For now, he’s still afraid to stray out of eyesight to grab an ice cream. 

I do wonder if it’s just a result of an unfortunate mix of sailing, cruise line and clientele. Although I have seen many people complain about kids on CCL and I’ve never had those experiences. (Ok, one group of teens did loudly tease my husband about looking like Jesus, but he is one of those long haired freaky people…) Might also be that we have a sky-high tolerance for teenage nonsense as two high school teachers. A lot of mischief is another Tuesday for us except that we can ignore it on a ship (within reason)! Violent behavior is a whole other level of unacceptable though. I feel for the mother and the child. I know I wouldn’t have been able to get my child to leave the stateroom if he even just saw that happen.