Excellent vacation!

Carnival Venezia Cruise Review

Cruises: 7+ cruises
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 19

Overall rating:

4.4 out of 5
Carnival Venezia

12 Night Southern Caribbean: Carnival Journeys (New York Roundtrip)

Sail date: March 03, 2024

Ship: Carnival Venezia

Cabin type: Oceanview

Cabin number: 1218

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 7 months ago

Review summary

My favorite things were the straight back sun chairs that can accommodate a fully fused spine, guys burgers and fries, the serenity deck, pop corn for movie night, swirls ice cream, cold brew coffee made by Churi, and the amazing staff!

Embarkation

5 out of 5
Arrived on time and was on the ship within 15 minutes. The slowest part was the k9 bag checks. Very easy from parking to boarding.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

4 out of 5
I only used the buffet and found it to be hit or miss. There were some strange things like frog legs and escargot that didn’t seem very popular. I appreciated the vegetarian options and just wish there had been more. Guy’s burgers and fries are still perfectly delicious and my go to for lunch. The best part for me was the coffee bar on the lido deck. Churi made our cold brew with hazelnut every morning and it was great!

PIzzeria del Capitano

5 out of 5

Excellent pizza!

Lido Marketplace

4 out of 5

This was hit or miss for dinner. I appreciated the vegetarian options but wish there had been more variety. Breakfast was as to be expected. Some things were very greasy, especially the bacon.

Onboard Activities

5 out of 5
I did very little on this ship, mainly just relaxed and read. The pools are small but I did enjoy the one on the aft deck. I was happy to have found the onboard games and spent many hours playing some of those.

Serenity Adult-Only Retreat

5 out of 5

This is my go to place to relax and read a book, listen to music, or just nap in the sun. Except for some loud people once in a while it was great.

Service and Staff

5 out of 5
The service was excellent in all areas of the ship. Friendly service and always a smile.

Ship Quality

5 out of 5
I love this ship layout and the Italian design throughout. The ship was spotless with very attentive staff. The only negative of the ship is the size of the stateroom bathroom. Seems like the smallest I had seen on a carnival ship.

Cabin / Stateroom

3 out of 5
The cabin was spacious and had plenty of storage for clothes. Unfortunately the Bed was like sleeping on a plank. Having had 7 spine surgeries I immediately requested a mattress topper but that provided very little cushion. I slept on pillows several times. Our room had an adjoining door which offered zero noise buffer between us. The neighbors conversations were heard crystal clear throughout the entire trip.

Ship tip

Make sure you don’t book a room with an adjoining door! You will hear EVERYTHING.

Ports of call

New York, New York

4 out of 5
Arrived on time and on the ship in 15 minutes. Picking up passengers after disembarking is unorganized and no one seems to give great directions of where to go. Everyone getting picked up had to cross the street and wait on the corner. Then it was hard for the driver because there’s taxis parked all around that corner so it is hard to find a place to pullover.

Bridgetown, Barbados

3 out of 5
The pier walk is exceptionally long and the line for the pier busses is exceptionally long. Would be a difficult walk for many people. Spent the day at Browne’s Beach with excellent staff. They sell boat rides to see the turtles but you don’t have to do that. Just swim out to where you see the boats or out just past the floats and you will see turtles. Not much else to see from beach if you’re snorkeling.

Castries, St. Lucia

5 out of 5
This is a small port and easy to get to transportation. I did a private boat tour down to the Pitons and loved every minute of it.

Philipsburg, St. Maarten

5 out of 5
Easy beach day! Just hop on the water taxi for a very short ride to the beach. Excellent beachfront bars and restaurants to serve you at your beach chair. The water is to murky for snorkeling but I did have numerous turtles surface around me When I swam out deep.

Basseterre, St. Kitts

5 out of 5
My favorite cruise destination! Why don’t I live there?

Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas

5 out of 5
Went to Coki beach and was sad to find the vibrant corals from 2017 are gone. It used to be amazing snorkeling. You have to go left down the beach and snorkel up the coastline. I was stung a lot at this beach but it was nothing that left a mark. If you are into edibles the this beach is for you.

Disembarkation

5 out of 5
This was the easiest disembarkation I’ve ever had! Within minutes of docking MarQ announced that everyone that had all their bags ready had 15 minutes to hustle off before the general disembarkation began. We were up and dressed and out the door faster than a bolt of lightening and off the ship in 10 minutes…before 6:50!
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8 Comments

piper0076309250     7 months ago

The map for deck 1 is inaccurate! Room 1234 is actually room 1218! I booked 1218 thinking that was not a connecting room and was the last one down that side. It is a connecting room and there are four more rooms.

punkinpie     7 months ago

Hi I'm on 1214 in nov..looming at deck plan 1218 wasn't a connecting cabin...did they change that..this deck plan on shipmate not updated. Glad you enjoyed im doing same relaxing

Gwbigdog     7 months ago

Thanks for sharing

pwhalen     7 months ago

Thanks for the detailed review. Very helpful for those of us going on this ship in the future.

javawoody     7 months ago

Thanks for the detailed review

cruising2004     7 months ago

Glad you had a wonderful time! Thank you for your review.

sopha     7 months ago

The reason you had those things on the buffet is because it's the same offerings as the main dining room in the evening.

HeavySeas     7 months ago

Awesome......thanks for sharing and glad you enjoyed your cruise

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