Carnival Venezia

[byanks7]

So many great YouTube videos on this beautiful ship! Can someone on the ship post videos of the breakfast buffet and the lunch buffet? Thank you

[ObstructedView2]

28 minutes ago, byanks7 said:

So many great YouTube videos on this beautiful ship! Can someone on the ship post videos of the breakfast buffet and the lunch buffet? Thank you

 

Hi @byanks7🙂

 

There are currently three active 'live' Venezia reviews happening right now. I'll drop them below. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

🍹

[Incognito1]

Failed to live up to the hype.  And not by just a little.  Great while the president was on board.  Got progressively worse.  I feel really cheated on it. 

 

Didn't get a survey after the cruise -- guess they didn't want to hear about all that was wrong.

[shof515]

can you explain what went wrong? unfortunately it is normal for the first few cruises of a new ship to be not 10000% perfect and not live up to exceptions of a good cruise

 

i was on the inaugural cruise to Bermuda and the only thing that i don't like is the lido buffet area with the crowds. guys burger always had a long slow moving line that never ended. this is a more of a carnival problem as i sailed on other cruise lines with a better buffet layout that does a better job of managing crowds

[Mira28]

39 minutes ago, Incognito1 said:

Failed to live up to the hype.  And not by just a little.  Great while the president was on board.  Got progressively worse.  I feel really cheated on it. 

 

Didn't get a survey after the cruise -- guess they didn't want to hear about all that was wrong.

 Yes, I wonder if you can give us a sense of what went wrong. Many reviews do seem to be negative. I'd be very interested in hearing about what happened. 

[Incognito1]

Well, first off, the ship was not like the video.  A lot had been changed, presumably to add more seating.  It felt very much bait-and-switch.  The nice clamshells were few and far between.  Greatest concentration was in an area that required status wristbands.  The wax figures had been removed for seating.  Dining room seemed to have been compacted.

 

Next, Emeril Lagasse was indeed on the ship.  However, to see him, you had to enter a raffle where, if you won, you had the privilege of donating $200 to secure your spot.  I'm a supporter of St. Jude Children's Hospital, but this was the wrong way to go about it.

 

He obviously didn't have a lot to do with the food, because after the first couple of days, it was abysmal.  The menu was boring, at best, with nothing really special even on formal/captain's night.  Ran out of normal pepperoni after day 2 and used this horrible stuff instead.  Cheese seemed to be of a much lesser quality after day 2.  Fish in the fish tacos resulted in regurgitation -- think they switched to tilapia rather than cod.  Produce was just sad.  On and on.  Food was not good.  Guys and the Taco Bar were okay, but they were open weird hours.  Same with buffet.  Confusing and disappointing to find that the only thing open was the sandwich shop, with ONE guy handling everyone who was hungry in the afternoon.

 

Entertainment in the main theater was like a high school talent show.  The PG comedians, however, were really good in the smaller venues.  But some of the R+ ones seemed to try to disguise their lack of talent by throwing in as many F-bombs as possible.

 

Inside stateroom was very large and nicely appointed.  Our attendant was nice, but did not understand enough English and there was a communication barrier.  We found this to be the case with the wait staff as well.  Most service personnel were from Indonesia.  Service was overall decent; however, we are used to Filipino staff and there is a distinct difference in attitude of service and general friendliness.

 

There wasn't a huge amount of things to do if you didn't like Trivia.  We did enjoy the musicians; especially the South American ones in the restricted lounge (we could still listen from outside), and the girl with the guitar (should be a major star!).  Not a fan of the ship's musicians, though, and they consistently disappointed.

 

There were a few bratty teens that people called security about; they lied to security, and security did nothing but "warn" them, which meant they doubled their negative behavior once security was gone.

 

So much more that wasn't up to standards, but probably no one has read all this anyway.  This was our third cruise in 2 months (40 days on the water out of 60) and we found ourselves wishing we had flown.  Carnival loyalists on the cruise said this was abnormal and we should give other ships a try.  It's been a long time since we were on Carnival and only chose this because of the hype.

Edited June 25, 2023 by Incognito1

[Mira28]

A lot of issues! The food and entertainment things really are what would bother me the most.

What's being said about the ship is a big concern, since I think many were (and still are) looking forward to a new ship leaving from NYC. I am booked on Venezia for February, so I hope things improve. I wonder if that is likely. It would be a shame if such a beautiful ship is marred by all the poor aspects you and others have reported.

[notscb]

1 hour ago, Mira28 said:

I think many were (and still are) looking forward to a new ship leaving from NYC

I am one of those folks, especially since my first cruise in '09 was on the Triumph out of NYC and was such a great experience.

 

I was also disappointed that this ship was getting re-deployed over winter as we were looking at taking a bahamas cruise in March, and NYC would have just been way more convenient.

 

I hope that they work out some of these kinks/bugs as the crew become acclimated to the ship and the routine- especially food wise. Cruises aren't known for 5 star dining, but acceptable dining would be good enough.

[steveknj]

I think a lot of new ships have issues early on and for all intents and purposes this is a new ship (yeah, I know it was deployed as a Costa ship in China for a bit).   Some of the things that were mentioned, such as the wax figures were removed in the dry dock.   A lot of the bloggers and reviewers who were on the Transatlantic wondered how they would handle the crowds on the Lido deck, especially the lack of space near the pool.    As for entertainment, on the couple of Carnival cruises I've taken the daily "to do" stuff was always pretty good, but their nightime entertainment, except for the comedy shows, were always a step below RCCL and NCL, but I know that going in.  I can tell you that I was on NCL last summer and was mostly bored during the sea days as their daily entertainment seemed to be reduced.   Service issues concern me and food issues might be something worked out after awhile.   I'll be on the July 25th sailing so hopefully by then.

[mets07]

1 hour ago, steveknj said:

I'll be on the July 25th sailing so hopefully by then.

Please let us know what you experience. Enjoy your cruise!

[steveknj]

6 minutes ago, mets07 said:

Please let us know what you experience. Enjoy your cruise!

 

Thanks.  I don't write lengthy reviews or blog while sailing (don't usually get internet on board), but I will definitely relay my experiences after the cruise.

[artvlay]

I understand with a new operation of any kind that things get worked out but there seems to be numerous issues with things like ship design which should be a no brainer for an industry leader. I anxiously wait for Steveknj's review.

[Haljo1935]

We're on B2B Sept and still looking to those ahead of us for updates. Hopefully each sailing is better than the one before. 🙂