Not for vegetarians

Carnival Venezia Cruise Review to Transatlantic

Cruises: 7+ cruises
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 32

Overall rating:

3.3 out of 5
Carnival Venezia

15 Night Transatlantic: Carnival Journeys (Barcelona To New York)

Sail date: May 29, 2023

Ship: Carnival Venezia

Cabin type: Balcony

Cabin number: 6484

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 1 year ago

Review summary

We embarked on a transatlantic cruise from Barcelona to NYC with high hopes, as it was the ship’s inaugural voyage. However, we were let down in several areas. Below is our evaluation of the ship, rooms, services, and food: Ship: The ship was average when compared to other Carnival vessels. We found the layout to be somewhat confusing and the lighting was dim. The adults-only Serenity area was small and lacked a pool. Room: We were satisfied with our balcony room in terms of size, bedding, and housekeeping. Service: The staff provided exceptional service in the dining room, on the Lido deck, and in housekeeping. Food: This was the most disappointing aspect of our 15-day cruise. Vegetarian options were limited in both the Lido deck buffet and the dining room. The Indian vegetarian dish served in the dining room was unappetizing, bland, repetitive, and of poor quality. The rice they served was extremely poor quality rice. We had difficulty finding suitable vegetarian lunch options at the Lido deck buffet. The Italian dishes were dry, tasteless, and lacked authenticity. Overall, the menu seemed to discourage vegetarian diners. We made a simple request for plain rice to the head chef on the Lido deck, but our complaint was ignored. The ship management was completely absent from the floor specially on the Lido deck.

Embarkation

5 out of 5

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

1 out of 5

Onboard Activities

3 out of 5

Entertainment

2 out of 5

Service and Staff

4 out of 5

Ship Quality

1 out of 5

Cabin / Stateroom

4 out of 5
Nice size cabin. Very comfortable bedding. Very clean and always cleaned on time.

Ship tip

We felt that this cruise is not for vegetarians. The available vegetarian options were tasteless, dry and bland. There was a lack of commonsense in vegetarian selections. The vegetarian enchiladas were dry and without enchilada sauce. Most of the Italian vegetarian choices were dry with very little tomato sauce and did not taste at all like Italian food. Indian dinner at dining room was not edible, tasteless, repetitive and bland. The rice they served is very poor quality rice.

Ports of call

Barcelona, Spain

5 out of 5

Malaga, Spain

5 out of 5

Gibraltar (U.K.)

5 out of 5

Lisbon, Portugal

4 out of 5

Ponta Delgada, Azores

5 out of 5

Halifax, Nova Scotia

2 out of 5

New York, New York

3 out of 5

Disembarkation

5 out of 5
Was this review helpful? 32

9 Comments

maryred    1 year ago

Just to let you know this was not the ship's true Inaugural sailing. The transatlantic voyage was the shakedown cruise and those always have problems. An Inaugural sailing happens after the christening (or in this case re-christening) which happened on June 14th after your crossing.

Gwbigdog    1 year ago

Thanks for sharing

javawoody    1 year ago

Thanks for the info

BeeKimball    1 year ago

I'm sorry you had such a lack of vegetarian options, I can't imagine how frustrating that must have been. Appreciate your comments.

cruising2004    1 year ago

Thank you for sharing your cruising experience. Sorry about the food.

tavo6    1 year ago

Thanks for your review

Sogmoore    1 year ago

Well vegetarian meal was lacking. My wife had a better experience but on other ships. Thanks for sharing

LizP46676677    1 year ago

They’ve been serving the same vegetarian Indian dish for at least the last 5 years. Very sad they don’t update that

AuntPinkie    1 year ago

Appreciate your feedback. Sorry this cruise didn’t meet your expectations.

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