Willdra’s Valiant Venezia Review

[willdra]

Venezia Day 5~St. Thomas

 

My alarm was set for 9:30 but I jumped up at 8:30 cuz my stomach was participating in a beat boxing competition without my knowledge or permission. Disrespectful. W got up right after me. This was our first port day so it was up and at ‘em. We had our bags packed already. All we had to do was handle our hygiene, then head out. Our excursion meet up time was at 11:30, so we were early. I wanted to get to Tomodoro before they stopped serving breakfast. If I was gonna go to Lido for breakfast, I might as well make the best of it.

 

When we got up there, I told W I was going to get my arepa and huevos rancheros. He said “ok but you’re going the wrong way”. Mind your business W. Maybe I wanted to take the extra steps and walk all around the ship looking crazy. You don’t know my life man. Let Lucy live.

 

When I got there not one soul was waiting. I walked right up not believing this good luck. Look at God, clearing the way for me to get fatty foods. W was still in the omelet line when I returned, so I grabbed his bag and found a table nearby. I got coffee then W came back. I saw his French toast and my fomo made me get up and get 2 slices. 1 was crunchy and hard praise the Lordt (less calories for me to consume) and the other was just right.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[willdra]

Even with taking our time chewing every bite, swallowing, taking long sips of coffee, and gazing aimlessly into the netherworld, we still had over an hour before we had to leave to meet our tour. We decided to spend that time on Deck 11 chilling in the shade listening to light Caribbean tunes while catching a breeze. I also got caught up on my notes. I write a lot during the cruise and I accomplish this by taking tons of notes throughout the day, as much as I can. So I always have something to do while we are waiting for the next activity.

 

 

 

 

[willdra]

At 11 we walked forward got an elevator. We did not wait and there was no one in it when it arrived. We picked up one solo passenger on the way. This was unusual. The directions on the tickets said to meet our tour right outside of the ship on the pier. We walked down and asked one of the Carnival Reps by the gate. She pointed us back towards midship where the tours were gathering. Since we exited forward we never even looked back that way. We walked back there, checked in, and got our wristbands. I also got yelled at by some man whose hair looked like matted dog and wolf fur, for standing ON the red line to get my hat out of my bag. Sheesh, chill Professor Lupin, it can’t possibly be that serious. Especially since there were others clearly way over that red line. 

 

We lined up, and loaded into a safari around 11:20. There were 5 people on each row, and it was a little cozy.  We set out at 11:28. Our driver’s name was Fever. He was not hot. When Fever started talking, so did this lady in the front. We couldn’t really hear him at all. Then everyone else started talking too. What? Why! We don’t want to hear y'all. I would like to hear the driver, especially when he gives us drop off and pickup instructions. Sometimes people don’t have the good sense that God gave some crushed up Roku remotes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[willdra]

We left Havensight and stopped at the lookout point for quick photos. Of course people were acting like that was our destination, and not getting back on the bus, like we were supposed to. Oh, I forgot, that’s cuz they weren’t listening to the directions.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[willdra]

After Fever got the stragglers back on the bus, we arrived at Megan’s Bay at 12. We had 3 hours there which was generous. The lady in the front was still talking when we got there. Giving nonstop, unsolicited, incorrect, opinions. She could be heard saying “last time I was here, I came early. We are here late this time. It’s going to hard to find chairs and umbrellas”.

Miss lady. Can we just wait and see? We had to strain to hear directions over her talking. She was in the front. We were in the middle. This should not have been an issue. Le sigh. If you would close your mouth and open your ears you could hear.

 

W and I heard what we needed to hear, so we were good. We walked over towards the big stack of lounge chairs and umbrellas. Low and behold, a nice young lady rolled up and asked if we wanted one. Why yes. As a matter of fact we would like 2 chairs and an umbrella please. She had a mobile Clover machine so I used Apple Pay. The sign said $20 but that’s per chair. It was $40 then I added a $6 tip. They print out a long receipt and give you a piece of tape to stick it to your chair. Then you are good to go. Now what was Miss know it all saying about not getting chairs and umbrellas? Huhhhh??

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[willdra]

We got setup, took a few pictures, then W went to his happy place in the water. At around 1pm, I decided it was time to fill my hand with something grand. I dug out W’s wallet and got some cash, then went to the bar. I snapped a few pics along the way, since the place had changed a lot from the last time we were there. I settled on a rum punch which was $10. They are heavy with the rum and light with the punch, so beware. I was not mad. I needed that type of rum to punch ratio in my life.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[willdra]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[willdra]

It started to sprinkle around 1:27. The umbrellas were enough to keep us dry. I brought my own umbrella too in case it got outta hand. It didn’t. The ground never even got wet.

 

W kept getting comments on his Bengals hat the whole day. He acts like he’s indifferent but he low key loves it. He can talk about sports (especially football) for hours. He is usually relatively quiet, so I’m always surprised when someone comes up to him randomly and continues a conversation they were having at a bar somewhere about sports. Like what? W said more than 3 words to strangers? Shocking!

 

A little while later, W emerged from the water and got me another drink and I was officially good to go. I sat there trying to sync my photos and notes with my iPad so that I could work on them during down times. I was also texting with AC who you may remember from W’s 50th birthday cruise on the Dream, and our 1st Horizon cruise. She’s from St. Thomas so every time we come here I always send her pics. She said I had her daydreaming about the beach, while she was back in GA at work. Mission accomplished.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[willdra]

3 hours seemed like a long time when our driver first said it. I’m here to tell you it goes by too fast. When we got back to the safari, people were sitting in different seats from before. The guy next to me was nice. He was on his first cruise, and it was cool to hear that excitement in his voice. He was trying to get ship pictures, but it was hard, cuz this time we couldn’t stop. Fever just slowed down. I told him to hold his phone up, and just keep snapping. That’s what I do. You’re bound to get something you can use. He laughed at first, but I told him to try it with me. So we both just started clicking the buttons on our phones. Then after a few minutes we looked. He was like “wow that worked!”. Sometimes I’m surprised at the good shots that I get just by blindly clicking. You can always delete the trash and the riffraff.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[willdra]

We got dropped off at Havensight Mall. W wanted to shop some. I was looking for some specific things that I did not find but it was ok I didn’t have my hopes up. We wandered around there for a little while then got back onboard.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[willdra]

I wasn’t starving, but I caved to W’s peer pressure, and went to GBJ. After I got a burger, I went to the toppings bar. They only had toppings on one side, so the people who went on the other side first, kept going around the wrong way. One guy was like “oh that side was empty so we came this way”. I said “well it’s the wrong way, so you gotta wait until we are done now”. How are you gonna go the wrong way, then expect me to wait for you? Not how this works. He said something else, but I didn’t hear him over the sound of me dressing my burger and ignoring him. I finished up then met W at a table.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[willdra]

After we ate I went back to the cabin and took a nap. W wanted to go and take pictures. He arrived right before sail away and took a short nap too.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[willdra]

We showered and went to dinner at 7:43. The Silent White Party was at 9, so we wanted to be done with dinner and out there to get a good seat. Everyone looked good in their white. This is one night I wanted the photographer to pull up but I didn’t see one. At all.

 

I think our servers and the galley understood the assignment. As soon as we sat down, they were helping us. I ordered the Shrimp Cocktail, Fried Mississippi Catfish, and Tiramisu. W got the same but he also had the Smoked Poblano and Corn Soup. It was all delicious and the Catfish was everything that I needed it to be! It was so good I couldn’t stop eating it. I’d been doing well with stopping when I felt full, but that catfish was bussin bussin. I ate all of it. Oops. I would have to dance it off at the party!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[willdra]

We got to Lido around 8:40. They wouldn’t let us checkout the headphones until 9 on the dot. We found seats on 11, so we could see, then we waited. While we waited, an Asian group slid in behind us and started playing a very loud game. Errrrr maybe just maybe this isn’t the right time and place for that. When they called time to get headphones, I gave W my card and he went to collect them for us. He was further back in the line than I thought. It took him a good 10 minutes before I could even see him.

 

While I was focused on finding W, this guy jumped in the pool and splashed a lady that was sitting on the side. She jumped up and said “Oh $#&@!”  I thought he was about to catch dem hands, but she just moved to another side. Then he was all “What’s going on out here? What is everyone doing with the headphones?” Everyone ignored him cuz 1. Jerk and b. Funtimes. Read it. After I got a good look at him I realized he was the same guy with the black eye that sat by us at the 80’s Rock N Glow Party. Figures. Now I know how he got that shiner. I could also see plenty more in his future. No crystal ball necessary.

 

 

On another note I think he woke up the ladies that were sitting over by us. They were dressed in their white and everything, but they didn’t have headphones on. It’s kind of boring to just watch people dancing and singing to music you can’t hear. So one of them was all the way asleep. Head in chest, audible breathing. Her friend kept nudging her, but she only woke up after dude splashed in the pool. For some reason, that was her sign that maybe this was not an outdoor slumber party, where everyone wore white. It only lasted about 30 minutes tho, then Bertha Mae and the Gang told us goodnight. They couldn't hang.

 

I don't know about y'all, but I always think it's so precious when mature humans randomly greet us, or tell us goodnight. It's like all of a sudden, for a minute or three, we're family. I wonder if I'm gonna be like that when I get that age. I sure do hope so.  

 

The party lasted until 11 which was pretty long. W and I turned our headphones in around 10:55 so we wouldn’t have to stand in the crazy lines. There were a lot of people out there, so we knew it would take a while for everyone to give the headphones back. The Silent Party is still one of my favorite activities on the ship. We had so much fun. I was completely drenched when we were done, from dancing (not silently) out on deck.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[willdra]

When we got back to the cabin, I know we smelled like outside. The good thing was, both of us smelled like outside together. It’s only bad when one person does and the other doesn’t. I also had another issue. All that jumping up and down at my big age was going to have my calves cramping up something fierce in the night if I didn’t stretch them out. So I had to immediately commence to stretching my legs. Grown up problems. 

 

We got ready to go to bed afterwards. San Juan was coming up and it was an earlier start than this day.

 

Before I fell asleep I said a prayer asking God to forgive me for putting that chair between me and that lady that was “dancing” wildly by us. She was flailing her arms all crazy, and she kept getting closer and closer to me. I started to get concerned that she was gonna put my eye out with her rhythmless movements, so I placed the chair between us to protect myself. That was not dancing. It looked like she was in cardiac arrest, or possibly choking on a small bird. As I was praying, I thought about it and I paused. Then I felt worse. Maybe she needed medical assistance, and I thought she was trying to dance. I asked the Lord to change my prayer. I then prayed that she received the help she needed whether it was dance lessons or a doctor. Amen.

 

 

 

 

[Jeafl]

8 hours ago, willdra said:

When we got back to the cabin, I know we smelled like outside. The good thing was, both of us smelled like outside together. It’s only bad when one person does and the other doesn’t. I also had another issue. All that jumping up and down at my big age was going to have my calves cramping up something fierce in the night if I didn’t stretch them out. So I had to immediately commence to stretching my legs. Grown up problems. 

 

We got ready to go to bed afterwards. San Juan was coming up and it was an earlier start than this day.

 

Before I fell asleep I said a prayer asking God to forgive me for putting that chair between me and that lady that was “dancing” wildly by us. She was flailing her arms all crazy, and she kept getting closer and closer to me. I started to get concerned that she was gonna put my eye out with her rhythmless movements, so I placed the chair between us to protect myself. That was not dancing. It looked like she was in cardiac arrest, or possibly choking on a small bird. As I was praying, I thought about it and I paused. Then I felt worse. Maybe she needed medical assistance, and I thought she was trying to dance. I asked the Lord to change my prayer. I then prayed that she received the help she needed whether it was dance lessons or a doctor. Amen.

 

 

 

 

OMG!  I snort laughed out loud at work reading about your dancing "neighbor"! Please warn us next time so that I can act with a little more decorum while I am at work reading this when I should be working.

 

Also, you are so photogenic!  I cannot take a decent picture for the life of me.  I either looked like I am being stabbed in the back or like I've been out all night drinking Mad Dog.

Edited Wednesday at 01:21 PM by Jeafl
spelling

[cellfree]

11 hours ago, willdra said:

We left Havensight and stopped at the lookout point for quick photos. Of course people were acting like that was our destination, and not getting back on the bus, like we were supposed to. Oh, I forgot, that’s cuz they weren’t listening to the directions.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

While W may have been getting comments on his Bengals hat all day long, you Willdra are ”rocking” the Ball Cap!

[Knights on the Beach]

I see Funtimes is still acting like you can't get specialty coffee until 8:00. 🤨

[mkcurran]

On 6/26/2024 at 6:17 AM, Jeafl said:

OMG!  I snort laughed out loud at work reading about your dancing "neighbor"! Please warn us next time so that I can act with a little more decorum while I am at work reading this when I should be working.

 

Also, you are so photogenic!  I cannot take a decent picture for the life of me.  I either looked like I am being stabbed in the back or like I've been out all night drinking Mad Dog.

You should know better than to read anything by Willdra when you are supposed to not laugh out loud. 😆😆🤷‍♀️

[Jeafl]

35 minutes ago, mkcurran said:

You should know better than to read anything by Willdra when you are supposed to not laugh out loud. 😆😆🤷‍♀️

Lesson learned 🤣

 

[SailingRNC]

On 6/20/2024 at 11:20 PM, willdra said:

calcium deficiencies and court appearances. 

LOL !!

[Jamman54]

On 6/26/2024 at 1:25 PM, Knights on the Beach said:

I see Funtimes is still acting like you can't get specialty coffee until 8:00. 🤨

Not acceptable!! 😎

[willdra]

On 6/21/2024 at 10:39 AM, Knights on the Beach said:

 

Love that sling bag! I feel like this can be fixed? I mean, I can't sew but I'd ask my husband to fix it. 😂

 

On 6/21/2024 at 11:04 AM, Essiesmom said:

Try taking it to a shoe repair place.  Sometimes they can repair odd things.  EM

 

On 6/21/2024 at 5:16 PM, RoperDK said:

This!  I once took a horse bridle to a shoe repair place where a piece of leather had snapped in two and they fixed it right up.  They were very curious about what had happened and I told them that it had been a wild ride for sure! 🤣

 

On 6/21/2024 at 6:43 PM, TrqoisWtrs said:

Hey there, loving your review, will be on Venezia for NYE…loving all the interior pics.👍🏻

 

So I still have my Carnival sling, all shiny and new, straps intact 😁, would be glad to pop it in the mail.  It’s just been sitting in the closet.  Let me know. 🛳️

 

 

 

On 6/22/2024 at 8:07 AM, PayneAS said:

I would find a tailor/seamstress/etc and fix that! It doesn't look unfixable. If they don't have their own shop, you can often find them near/in a drycleaners.

 

 

Thanks so much for the tips cruise cousins! I took my bag baby to our dry cleaners and they are patching it up as I'm typing this. It should be fixed and out of the intensive care unit tomorrow or Saturday! Y'all are the bestest. ♥️♥️♥️

[willdra]

On 6/21/2024 at 2:23 PM, mikayla73 said:

I haven't started reading yet, but I'm so glad to see this! I love reading your reviews!

 

Thank you for reading them! ♥️

[willdra]

On 6/21/2024 at 4:34 PM, Megan_Strick said:

Yay yay yay! Wildra is back!

 

I appreciate the enthusiasm! 😆