The Venezia ship docks in New York City’s Manhattan Cruise Terminal at Pier 88. We strategically came to New York a few days before we left on our cruise to explore the sites with our kids who had never been before as well as to be sure with all the crazy flight cancelations that we didn’t miss our cruise. Staying a few blocks away was perfect and we were able to walk to the cruise terminal. We walked down 48th street and across 12th street where we were able to leave our luggage, we were able to place them on cart and could see them being taken over to the ship.
This ship is unlike most of Carnival’s other ships it was originally meant to be for the Chinese Market as part of the Costa Line. The new Vista Class ship is unique in many ways and unlike many other Carnival cruise line ships. With a double occupancy of 4,090 and a max capacity at 5,260. Our sailing was just two people shy of max capacity. The 2,045 staterooms offer a large variety of options for your family. We stayed in a Deluxe Ocean View room, we actually had two rooms for our family of 5. Our room was spacious and had a double bathroom, one with a bathtub sink combo and the other with a sink, shower and toilet. This was nice that more than one person can get getting ready at once. We had a large closet area and several drawers. The Desk area had a chair and several types of plugs, there was also a few shelves along the mirror for storage.
The Ship from top down:
On Deck 15 forward is the Adults only Serenity area. It was a nice area although we found this space small for the amount of people onboard. With two spa’s and a bar we found a lot of empty chairs with no one around. If you want a space here I would get there early in the morning.
On Deck 14 aft has the top section of the mini golf course and the entrance to the ropes course. My kids loved both of these items. We always like mini golf. 9 holes nothing over the top themed but still a fun time. The ropes course was closed several times when we tried to go due to high wind and the hours during port days were slim. We did manage to do the course a few times and it made for some fun views. No swimwear was allowed and had to have closed toe shoes.
On Deck 12 aft has the remaining mini golf holes, there is some outdoor fitness equipment which was different, a jogging track, the warehouse which is the arcade, mid ship is where the waterworks slides are located and some chairs. The fitness center and cloud 9 spa is located at the front of the ship. I felt like the outdoor fitness equipment on the back of the ship was kind of a wasted space and this area could have been utilized in some other way.
On Deck 11 aft has the sports court and some seating where the smoking section was here. Midship is where the kids clubs are located for camp ocean and Dr. Seuss Bookville, mid ship has an open area that looks onto the lido pool deck and has a bar and game area where there are some ping pong tables, phose ball and bocce ball. There are also seating areas on both sides; one side is more like a library that has books and games available. The other side is more like a lounge area. I do have to say these areas are still very loud because they use the stage right below on the Lido deck for a lot of activities. There are stairs on both the front and back side of the pool to get down to the Lido deck.
On Deck 10 Lido Deck aft there is another smaller pool with two spa’s and some chairs and stairs that go up to deck 11. The bar back here was pretty good. The Pizzeria Del Capitano which is included always had a very very long line especially at night. The Seafood Shack on the other side. Moving toward the mid-ship is the Lido Marketplace. There were several different areas but they seemed to repeat and in the back there was a section that was open a bit later where you could get fries and hot sandwiches. We found this a few days in. I will say the food was decent but there were a few things that were different from other Carnival ships. Guys Burger and Tomodoro were located near the pool and on the opposite side was the Rococo Bar and the Javablue Cafe. This area was much smaller than I expected and felt very crowded. They did do most of the parties on this section of the ship. For this large ship I wish this area were bigger.
On Decks 9 thru 6 are staterooms of all different kinds.
On Deck 5 this deck was interesting; there was an outside area that went all the way around the ship, except the back of the ship is where the private Havana suites are located so that is blocked off and you can’t get to the very back of the ship. There were some really nice outdoor seating areas which were really nice. The aft of the ship has the Carnevale Bar and lounge which is where the karaoke was held. The Gondola Lounge has a bar and were trivia and in the evening has musical entertainment. The Pixels Photo Gallery was along the side. Mid ship the Frizzante Bar and entrance to the Il Viaggio upcharge restaurant. Just outside of this area was another very small restaurant La Stada Grill, I only ever saw it open once and they were getting ready to close so I am not sure what the hours were for this location. There is also the Amari Bar next to the Bonsai Sushi and Fahrenheit 555 Steakhouse, both charged restaurants. The Bonsai Teppanyaki and Piano Bar 88 are located near the Fun Shops. All the way to the front of the ship is the Teatro Rosso upper level.
On Deck 4 starting at the back has the Canal Grande Restaurant main dining area. To Mid ship was the Limelight Lounge which was where both the comedy shows and the nightclub were located. The hallway to get here are only on one side of the ship and they got very congested near show times and the line would stretch into the casino. I did find it odd that this area did not have a dedicated bar and staff had to go over to the Heroes bar to fill drink orders. Just down from there was a small Art Gallery and the Heroes Tribute bar where, if you are looking for sports events will be one of the only places on the ship to find the big game. This bar was also a lot smaller than I would have expected for such a large ship; it was always crowed. The Casino is also located mid-ship and has a small Non-Smoking section off to the side. Moving forward there were a few more shops and the Atrium. This area was breathtaking and very picturesque. A few more shops as you head into the main floor of the Thearto Rosso. The theater area was nice but I didn’t love sitting on the second level. There were several poles that caused an obstructed view of the show. We participated in several rounds of Bingo and the one complaint I had was there were no tables or anywhere to set things so playing was a bit difficult. There were drink holders on the sides of the chairs and I just don’t think this was the best idea as nightly we would see broken wine glasses because they were too tall for the holders. They fit cans and standard cups ok but anything else we saw several accidents with beverages.
On Deck 3 the remaining area of the Canal Grande Restaurant main dining area. Then to the forward area was the Marco Polo Restaurant which was another part of the Main Dining area. The Atrium bar had plenty of seating around, however and I hope this got corrected after our sailing they never had more than 2 or 3 bartenders at once this was the biggest main bar area of the ship the lines for drinks were always 3 to 5 people back. I tried to avoid this bar whenever possible. Guest Service and the adventure center is located near the atrium. All the way forward at the very front of the ship on this deck is where Circle C and Club 02 were located for kids and teens. My kids really enjoyed the time they spent at the kids clubs.
On Decks 1 and 2 are staterooms of all different kinds.
Overall thought of this ship were it was very pretty and had some beautiful artwork and sculptures around the ship. I found several of the common areas very small for the amount of people on board. You could find some peaceful spots if you looked but the Lido deck seemed to be very small for the size ship. The retractable roof was nice as we did run into some rain and they closed it a few times. I did find that this meant that the upper levels that had the remaining deck chairs felt cut off from anything that was happening down below. The layout was a bit odd if you are used to other Carnival style ships; this one is definitely not as open and was more segmented. If you were on deck 12 near the waterworks area you had to either go forward thru stateroom or mid way back to go down a level, and the pool was two levels down.
The back of the ship was slightly more open and there were more stairs to access different floors. We did find it difficult to find tables in the Lido Market a lot of the time and we were generally up pretty early not during the rush. There were a lot of specialty dining locations on this ship which is nice if that is something you are willing to pay for. I wish they would have had some sort of free pizza/deli or snack area on deck 4 or 5, if you wanted anything to eat you had to go all the way up to the Lido deck. One of the other things that kind of made me laugh a bit was the elevators, people were very confused by them. You would select your floor and it would tell you which elevator number that was approaching that was also going to that floor. Most elevator banks also had centered signs that would show you which elevator was going to which floors.
The entertainment on board was amazing, the shows were great. There was a string trio and a small band that played around the ship, both of which were very good to listen to. The piano bar was fun, there were light crowds a few of the nights I stopped in but it was a fun experience. Karaoke always seemed busy. The comedy shows were always full shows, even the kid friendly ones. The deck parties were popular and I went to several of them, they did seem tight on space. We enjoyed our time on the Venezia.
