AFS1970

After reading my last post, I realized that organizing a group to play a game here on CC or on [that other social media site] might just stretch the definition of strangers just a bit.

If the host was walking around with 'hundreds of dollars" handing out money than something other than LCR being played. Normally each player starts with an equal stake, often as little as $3. I played for$20s once, but since that was a $60 buy in nobody was all that interested in continuing to play for that much. As for private gaming, which Carnival is well within their rights to ban, I know that in my state the definition hinges on if they players know each other and if the house takes a cut. As long as random strangers are not let into the game and the winner doesn't have to pay a vig, it is a friendly game and not regulated. However, Carnival doesn't flag their ships in my home state so your mileage may vary.

The semantics of Casino versus Casino operations or Money versus large sums of money is immaterial. Some things from this story that are a little puzzling, like who told what to who. JH says it is his job to tell the ship crew, which is fair enough. But then some are saying another passenger complained. I guess maybe the Karen in question complained online to JH instead of either going to nearby crew or even (shudder) interacting with fellow passengers and just asking if they could make room. JH is quoted in this thread (I assume from social media) saying that he wouldn't have reported quarters, but another poster here reports being shut down by security for the same stakes (I think on a different line). So, is it just reporting that is his job or is it evaluating the money involved before reporting that is his job? I get the loss of money angle, just say this is because if you are going to lose money it should be losing to them not to other passengers. I am probably reading too much into this but what other violations that he sees in pictures is he bound to report? Kids in the hot tubs? Chair Hogs? The once popular rum runners? I don't ever remember seeing about someone getting in trouble for another violation via this route, but maybe someone has. Either way, it wouldn't be CC if we didn't make long threads out of speculation.

After a bit of research, it seems that when in international waters, cruise ships fall under the gambling laws of the country they are flagged in. The equipment may be under CLIA, which is an industry association and bases their regulations on Nevada & New Jersey (USA) regulations. Given some of the countries that ships are flagged in and the voluntary nature of industry associations, I would still say the regulations are somewhat mailable. But again, cruise line can make whatever rules they want, it is up to us to vote with our wallets if we don't like the rules.

My first time playing LCR was at a Where's George convention, so of course money changed hands. I have since played on my most recent cruise. Not being on [that social media site] I didn't see John Heald's post or the discussion around it. Last fall on the Venezia we had a group that played three scheduled LCR games, organized on that same site. We played on the big tables outside the closed Amari bar so taking table space from anyone was not an issue. Late at night I saw various groups playing cards and dominos in the Lido and the Marketplace, but never saw this during dining hours. As for the gambling angle, we can't forget that cruise lines are businesses. They exist to make money and do not have to allow any competition on board. Banning gambling outside of the casino is their right. I do wish they wouldn't claim there were "regulations" as the casinos open only in international waters specifically because they are free of regulations. Just like the drink packages are not applied when sailing in certain states, due to liquor laws. This isn't about "large" amounts of money or else the game for quarters would not have been shut down. This isn't even about public spaces or the wi-fi would not block online gambling which is inherently a private activity. To me this is no different than (although a bit more disappointing) than not allowing me to set up a table selling t-shirts or jewelry on the Lido Deck. Just don't blow smoke up my back side and tell me that they are enforcing anything other than their own bottom line (which is OK) based on the whims of a cruise Karen (which is not OK).

To quote the Kinks: Part of my childhood died, just died!

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.

We did the same trip in September but with a Saturday morning departure. We are also in CT but closer to NYC than you. My initial thought was to take MNRR and a taxi but decided the night before that due to weather and ease to just Uber right from home to the port. It was only about a 45-minute trip for us. One trick I learned here on CC was to take the Uber to a building across the street from the pier entrance, so the Uber didn't get caught up in the long driveway.

Sorry, yes this is when taking a taxi or uber to the port. Instead of entering the drop off area via a ramp a couple of blocks up, we used the address of a building across the street from the crosswalk. This kept us from getting stuck in traffic. Then we just walked across the street with our bags and checked them with the porters. This brings up another issue, the predatory gypsy cabs when you get off the ship. In NYC Uber& Lyft are considered taxis and are under all the same regulations. One of those is that drivers are not allowed to approach potential customers. almost as soon as we got out of the port building there were dozens of drivers walking up to us asking if we needed a cab or uber. These are for the most part unlicensed cars and they will likely charge you way more than they should. There is no way to complain about them as they are not licensed, they will often raise the price from what you agreed to while you are in the car. They are at the cruise terminals, the airports and the bus terminal. If you want a regular taxi, there is a taxi stand across the street. I believe you can get an uber to come into the port although we walked across the street and up the block a bit so we would be out of the crowd.

I ordered water, got the 8 pack of the bigger bottles for myself and a 12 pack of the smaller bottles for my wife. I like the bigger bottles when in port because I mix drink powder into them.

Hopefully I can get DW to finish her part this afternoon. I hemmed and hawed at doing this review. I thought keeping the few notes I did would take away from the cruise. It didn't, but I also went with a more free form format so I didn't need detailed notes. I figured that if I forgot anything before writing than it wasn't that important. A couple of additional notes, the smoke from the main casino was strong. It flowed out to the elevators, it even flowed up the glass tower to the deck above. Sometimes it was too strong to walk through other times it was just enough to be annoying. They need to figure out better ventilation. Also I thought the duty free shop had a terrible selection. There were very few bottles that I can't get locally. The prices were OK, but nothing that made me buy it.

Wow, folks stopped replying to the thread, I guess my writing skills got worse...lol. so here is my final wrap up, which I am sure will be followed by DW doing the same. I waited a week to let the memories organize. First of all, embarkation was a breeze. The port seemed well organized and we walked right on, a little earlier than expected. It is an older port, not much as far as amenities but what do you really need? From the first view of the ship, to the last the Venezia is probably the prettiest ship I have ever seen. The decor is well thought out, and the ship is kept very clean. There are lots of venues on the ship that are open to whatever hallway they are in, so the ship feels like there is more open space than there really is. This can sometimes make the crowds spill out into the hallways. I noticed this a lot while people were watching sports at Heroes. Amari had the same set up in the middle of an Intersection but rarely seemed to impact walking around. The only bar that seemed closed off was the Piano bar. The use of the app vs the printed fun times was inconsistent. We got the paper on day one then not again until we asked. The app had everything listed together which was fine. I didn't like having to check my phone so much on vacation. There was always so.ething going on but I didn't get any sense of variety. Lots of Trivia, lots of music but a couple of groups. That being said, all the music I heard was good. The port stops were OK. St. John didn't thrill me. Halifax is a city, although I noticed one that doesn't seem to cater that much to the cruiselines. Sydney was a quaint small city with a lot of charm. The shore excursions mostly seemed to be things where they take you fairly far from the port. The food was OK on the ship. The buffet seemed like the star of the show, which I found odd. Maybe I am too set in a bygone image of cruising but the food in the MDR just didn't thrill me. Towards the end of the cruise I noticed the menus were often very close to each other. Fahrenheit 555 was very good, and I liked that the sides were individual and not for the table, which is often the way steakhouses serve them. Bonsai Tepanaki was good, the chef was funny. This meal included things that are sometimes optional in other similar restaurants. The main theater was nice, again very beautiful decor. I am not sure why when constructing a new ship there is so much obstructed view seating, but I am not a marine architect. There were long lines for most shows and if the doors open a half hour before showtime, I would plan on getting on line at least a half hour before that. We had MTD, but for those with set times, I can see this being an issue. Room service was nearly nonexistent. The app had a menu that only included pizzas, no drink section I could find. I would have liked to order a pot of tea in the morning and sat on the balcony with it, but that never happened. Not a deal breaker but definitely a head scratcher. The cabin was dmall but nice. The bathroom was OK. The fridge was nice and cold, we had ordered bottled water before hand and kept a supply inside. I asked for ice for a therapy cuff and it was always full except for the last day. The dressing table was nice but filled up quickly between DW and I. Lots of shelf space near the sink. The shower door never really closed tight so water got everywhere, but the shower was big enough for me , so I learned to adapt. There was not much water pressure, bit we were up on Deck 14. Elevation may have been the problem, but it made it seem difficult to rinse my hair. Joey the cruise director was great. I know he was just covering for vacation but I didn't feel like I missed anything with MarQ not being there. We don't cruise enough to be fans of any single cruise director. Disembarking was mostly easy. We picked a fairly late group because we didn't need to rush to the airport. We had a bit of a wait in the buffet after breakfast. I thought the luggage pen when we got off was poorly organized and had little to no security. I walked in found our bags omewhat separated (within our group number), we got them together and left. Nobody checked to see if what we had taken was actually ours. Good thing most cruisers are honest. I was surprised at the nearly non existing customs check. We walked down one lane, a Carnival employee scanned our cards one last time and said goodbye. We saw all the lanes and booths for custo.es, most were unmanned. There were a couple of officers walking back and forth but we were directed to walk through an empty lane and then we were out on the street. The only snafu was once on the sidewalk where they are trying to do both embarkation and Disembarkation at the same time. It was raining and there was a long line for the single crosswalk. Even though the port are covers several blocks, most of the crosswalks are finced off. The Taxi stand is across the street. There was one very rude baggage handler who yelled at everyone to move and said we had to walk up to peir 90 for cars and rides. On the way there I saw him yelling at tour guides and bus passengers waiting at their busses. Got to peir 90 and had no way across the street After navigating a brief language barrier with the traffic control staff, found out we needed to go right back to peir 88 and wait where we were to cross the street, like we had planned. Minor hiccup, not a huge problem. Over all, this was a good cruise. There is very little I could say negative about the trip. We enjoyed it. We are not frequent cruisers, and I don't know as this trip changed that either way. In some ways it was too regimented and in other ways it seemed like it wasn't organized enough. I will end with one last rainy picture.

When you take a deal like this and it is at "casino rate" do they expect you to play a certain amount in the casino?

I just got home from a cruise on this ship. I am in the process of a review with DW, that was mostly live. Overall everything was positive. As for the ice buckets that was weird. I needed ice for a cryo-cuff for my knee, the steward made sure it was filled every day for me.

We just got off the Venezia. I did not notice slippery floors in the buffet, but I know I may have caused one. I noticed the ship moving quite a bit and one day while bring DW a cup of tea, noticed I was spilling as I walked. There was staff right behind me cleaning as fast as they could. I didn't encounter long lines at the buffet, and even when there was a line everyone was polite to each other.

The last two sea days were relatively uneventful. Played LCR a couple of times, one once. I went to Spsons Trivia which was interesting. The host had a thick accent and even made fun of herself for mispronounced character names. She also said she has never seen the Simpsons and didn't even really know what it was. Finally found a hot tub that was hot. And the other people inside were saying they were glad it wasn't as hot as the ones on Serenity. Had Tepanaki for dinner, which was interesting because it was a specialty restaurant but it was on elegant night. We still dressed for elegant night and had some more pictures taken. We went to Epic Rock, which was really good. This time we stood in line and got in and got good seats right away. Friday morning was the Green Eggs and Ham breakfast, which even without kids was fun. Having grown up reading Dr. Seuss, and being a lifelong fan, this was a must do. The event while clearly themed for kids was mostly adults. There was one gentleman who wore his big red bow tie, stripped top hat amd white gloves. The food was good, mostly standard breakfast items, with kid friendly Seuss inspired names. I had the name sake Green Eggs and Ham, DW had the Fruit Loops crusted French toast. They brought us a stack of red and white pancakes in various sizes that kind of looked like they came from a book. The waiters seemed to have fun and some of the production show cast were involved as well. Last day was spent going between LCR, hiding ducks with DW, listening to some of the musical acts and sadly packing. We picked up our printed photos. Once luggage was set it was time to rest. I did have to run down to Pixels and get our printed photos.

Glad to see we aren't the only ones up taking pics at 0-dark-30.

I saw that money while I was walking around hiding ducks. I didn't know the monkey liked ducks or I would have given him one.

Last port of call was Sydney, another smallish town. This was the only day we booked an excursion. When we got our tickets, for the historical walking tour it said the meeting time was at 1:30PM. That gave us a couple of hours to shop and wander around in port. The historic area is small and looked like most of it would be on our tour, so we mostly stuck around the port area and kind of relaxed. We saw the local ducks a couple of statues. Then we met Dylan the costumed tour guide. I can't say enough about how much we enjoyed this tour. We got a lot of history of both the town and some of the inhabitants. We stopped at 3 historic buildings that all had their own tour guides, most of whom were quite good. Although this wasn't specifically a ghost tour or a true crime tour, there were bits of both thrown in at some buildings. On the way back we walked passed a local pub and almost went in for lunch. We decided to stop at a gift shop and head back on board instead. I am glad we did. While eating in the buffet overlooking the port, I noticed some local police cars arriving and the officers talking with port security (and maybe ship security too). Later on in the Luke warm hot tub I met the passenger who was brought back by the police, after an incident at that same local pub. Tonight was the Italian Street Party which was fun. DW did a fair amount of dancing. I got there late since I was in the warm tub. It was kind of fun, then we left to go see the comedy show. Then the only really negative thing about this cruise happened. We tried to see the late night comedy show. I didn't realize you have to line up well before doors open if you want a seat. Of course the level 5 doors were closed, so we went to level 4, and were told to go upstairs where there were "plenty.of seats". That turned out to be at the very least an exaggeration. There were two tables available, one behind a column and one so far back you couldn't see the stage. We decided to leave. I did have some choice words for the person who sent us upstairs. I wasn't as kind as I should have been but then some other passengers decided to jump to his defense and escalate the issue. This lead to me calling security. They settled the matter quickly and calmly. But there was no point in trying to see the show after that. Then the next bizarre thing happened. DW went to the casino, I was there briefly but got bored. I decided to try the piano bar, which I had heard mixed reviews of. I walked in and an older gentleman stood up and told me it was a private event, but he would let me in for $10. I turned and walked out. He then said he was just joking. I could see the bartender laughing so I guess this was going on all night. After the other incident, I was in no mood for his foolishness and just left. Over all these were the only people I met on the cruise that were not friendly or polite.

Before posting about today, I will post about yesterday in Halifax. Been 30 years since we have been there, and boy has the city changed. We got off the ship and took the hop on / hop off bus for a loop to get our bearings. Had every intention of getting back on, but after a bit of a wild goose chase to find a store my brother told me about, it was almost time for the one tour we had booked. We did walk around a little bit, took a selfie in front of a restaurant we ate at on our honeymoon, which was unfortunately closed. I noticed that despite being a cruise destination with multiple ships in port, many restaurants did not open until 5:00 PM. We did get to walk through a tent city though, so that was fun. So we went to Alexander Keith's brewery tour. This got high ratings on both the Carnival site and Trip Advisor. We booked directly with the brewery, because it was almost half the price and I wanted to pick my tour time. I have to say it was a very good tour, lots of local history. Some interesting artifacts on display, and of course the beer samples. They actually gave much more beer than I expected. DW had wanted to go somewhere for Digby Scollops, we asked here on CC and were told a few restaurants. The one we tried was called The Bicycle Thief. Now this is where I will say I was kind of misled. Yes they had one dish with the Digby Scollops on the menu and it was very good, but it was the only dish with that ingredient. So not sure I would call it the place to go. The restaurant was a lot nicer than I expected, good menu, fast service, and close to the pier. As it was 80's night, we went to listen to the rock band, then the glow party and then back to the rock band. It was a good night. The party was good and Joey the covering cruise director ran a good show. If anything it was too short. I thought the rock band was pretty good. Really all the music on board has been pretty good. Even the DJ who was doing mostly music that wasn't really my style, was good, and since then I have seen him in a number of shows with Joey and he really keeps the mood & energy going.

A quick note about the elevators, they do seem better after the luggage fiasco. Just goes to show that freight elevators might be a good idea. I agree that there are still a ton of people who jump onto a random elevator and seem upset or at least confused that it isn't going to their floor. With the increasing number of cruisers in scooters, I can see this being more of a problem for them than it is for me. I don't know if I will ever grow to like these elevators, but I can agree to tolerate them.

Not a whole lot to add from what DW said, other than I was kind of impressed to see the number of people who did dress up. Especially some of the younger couples, since I am often told that dressing for dinner is an old man's game. As for the kilt, there is always the chance that it will be over the top in an environment requiring more continental dress, but I figured carnivale almost requires something over the top. I did have to laugh at running into others who were kilted, some of whom are in the group my wife is in over at [that other site] and yet this never came up. I too thought that Saint John was a bit of a let down, but part of that was the limited useful time in Port. We got in around 4:30 estimated that we could get off at 7:30 but most of the tourist sites didn't open until around 9:30 or 10. The last bus back to the port was at 1:00 with 2:30 being the all aboard time. So you were left with about 4 hours of useful time. There were definitely some areas on the tour that were not the best. I saw quite a few boarded up buildings. The actual tourist sites seemed safe enough though. The weather was overcast but held out. Tonight was our anniversary, so we went to Fahrenheit 555 (which I keep wanting to call 451). Food was excellent, atmosphere was a nice mix of classic steakhouse and Venice. Not a full negative but the table next to us continued a trend I noticed in the MDR, that of people who have no boundaries and no concept of dinner conversation. TMI! Just before we left the ship this morning, I thought I heard rain. It turned out to be staff washing the ship above our balcony. So the run off water ran right onto our balcony. When we came back in the afternoon, the chairs had dried but the table and the deck were still wet. I can't complain about cleaning, as the ship overall has been spotless.

Enjoying the first sea day, buffet breakfast was good. Again, and this may be when we go, the lines have been fairlyfast moving. I saw multiple buffet sections so the idea of waiting through the entire line just to grab something seems to be overstated. A couple of times someone has politely asked to read for something they forgot, and nobody got upset or started a fight over it. Last night we got sunset on the balcony and today DW got up for sunrise. I slept through that photoshoot. We had a couple of group events today, playing LCR and a Dirty Duck Swap. Other than this event, I have not seen that many rubber ducks around the ship. Just got back from Afternoon Tea. My review of this event is mixed. All the food was good, but the service was slow and erratic. The tea got cold waiting for them to brink milk or cream. There was no rhyme or reason to the route servers took to get around tables. Some dishes came by twice while others never came at all. There were two big tables for Veterans and they had many of the same complaints. Lastly there was a bit of bait and switch with the tea. The even is free, they put a pot of hot water at the table. The server co.es by with a box of tea, you pick the one you want and he charges $2.75 per "premium" tea bag. After you say yes someone comes by with the standard tea bags. The price isn't going.to kill me, but the event seems unorganized at best. Oh, and we got our first towels animal.

Glad to see the updates. We are here also. I decided to try my hand at a live review also.

Just a bit out of order with the pics, since we just set up a shared album. So sail away on our cabin balcony was nice. We chatted with neighbors on both sides. I have to say everyone we have met on this cruise has been super friendly. I have noticed that there is a general sense of helpfulness among passengers, helping to find rooms or venues and helping with the elevators. So the elevator situation did improve, but the wait times are still long. After some down time we went to dinner. This was my first time trying the MTD and it worked well. Checked in for a table from the cabin, it said 40-50 minutes wait, I would estimate it was under 30. Staff was friendly, and the ordering was easy. The only hiccup was drinks at dinner, I am pretty sure the guy who brought us bread was the drink steward also, but he had a thick accent and I think I missed the part where he asked what we wanted to drink. So it was water only with dinner which wasn't as bad as it could have been. Fortunately/unfortunately the food wasn't very spicy. I have read that on many cruiselines the MDR food has been going downhill. While the food was OK, both DW & I thought the buffet was better. I had the soup which despite having Poblano in the name had very little heat. We both had the Shrimp cocktail, which were small and had very mild cocktail sauce. DW had the salmon which she said was good but didn't taste like the spices mentioned in the description. I had the Sweet & Sour shrimp, which mostly tasted like the fryer oil. The fried rice was surprisingly good. Desert was the highpoint for DW. She had the melting chocolate cake that we had heard so much about. She loved it. It was also a sign that her taste buds are returning to normal 4 years after chemotherapy robbed her of the ability to enjoy most chocolate. I had the ice cream which was good, I also had the cheese plate that was just so-so.