x lindsay x

Meanwhile I'm over here shouting at my computer "CARLOS SAINZ!!!". My brother jokes that the only people who will talk to me about F1 on a cruise ship are the staff members, he's not wrong, and this further illustrates his point.

It is their occupation. Turf wars and all. And glad to hear that you didn't buy wine at a bodega, because what they sell is "wine product" you can ONLY buy wine in NY at a liquor store or wine shop. You can also buy little Fireball shots at the bodega but they are half proof of the real stuff #workarounds.

Excuse me, is this all we get to see of "Giuseppe"? I feel robbed.

Are the balcony light people the same as the TV on all the time people?

I loved the mobile trivia, and didn't play on the Venezia until my last day. 10/10 would play again. I also think way more people participated because it was just happening around the pool at a busy time instead of having to schlepp down to an indoor space somewhere. I think we had around 300 people in our game.

Just off a spring break Venezia cruise and the lack of bar staff was noticeable when it came to servers coming around to take your order (as stacey mentioned above), you'd always have to go to the bar for a drink. But the longest I waited was maybe 5-10 minutes for a drink, I think I waited 15 for a coffee one morning.

I spent 11 days on the Venezia in April and those extra seats in Frizzante were RARELY used, mainly overflow from the bar on formal night. Frizzante was our before dinner drinks spot as they always had room, and maybe the friendliest bartenders on the ship. Il Viaggio is criminally never full, I found the food, and service to be far superior to the Steakhouse.

Don't worry by day 9 you'll realize that half the ship still has no idea how to use the elevators despite the helpful videos.

For $100 I will leave work midday to come pick you up and take you to Margaritaville. That rate is insane. Just use a cab (make sure they turn the meter on) or take the M60 bus to the N train which will take you to Times Square. The second option is under $3 and there are elevators at both train stops you'd be using. You can use your phone to tap into public transportation in NYC now which makes it 100x easier for everyone. So sorry to hear about your dad passing away. You've mentioned him quite a few times in your reports about his love of diving and your trips to Cozumel which I always found so interesting. If you haven't left yet and have a reusable drink cup from ANY Margaritaville resort in the world they will refill it at the Times Square location. In April, I was in Grand Turk and they hadn't gotten in a shipment of refillable items in since December and I was the only person smart enough to pack my refillable clock from about 10 years ago. I got into a conversation with the woman at the bar about them and she confirmed that they will refill any of their reusable cups at any Margaritaville location. #lifehack?

Unfortunately, predators don't care how your kid was raised - see the note about making sure your drink is always attended. Bad stuff can happen to good kids.

Can some post which of these cabins won't be subject to getting hosed down from above on a daily basis. My brother had a cove on the Venezia and loved it but the window rinsers from the dining room above would soak the balcony daily. Do rooms not below the DR experience this as well?

The Carnival cribs are true mini cribs - they do not come down, they become part of your room furniture. A pack and play will actually take up more of a footprint so you'll have to weigh the benefit of being able to take it down vs. something smaller that will be in the room the entire cruise. We haven't done bumpers but our LO was 3 when we put them in the sofa bed on a ship for the first time, they were already in a toddler bed at home so we didn't have an roll off issues. If your granddaughter is used to a crib at home I would not recommend trying out a bed on a cruise.

My sensitive skin 6 year old kid has never once complained about the temperature of the decks when going up to ride the slides. If you're riding the slides your feet will be wet and so will the ground you're walking on. No need for footwear.

As someone who used to live 7 minutes from LGA I want to caution you to using it for a same day arrival. While LGA has really become a lovely airport over the past few years it is the only local airport with only two runways, EWR has 3 and JFK has 4, so if there is a weather delay it can get BAD at LGA. As for cabs there is a flat rate from JFK to Manhattan. LGA is metered, and cabs at EWR don't have to take you out of NJ because it can be hard for them to get a fare back across the river so its ideal to take public transport or arrange a car service. Anecdotally, friends who live on the west side of Manhattan always use EWR because its the easiest from the part of the island.

Having sailed on Horizon and Vista we were familiar with the layout of this ship but the details are much prettier on the Venezia. - I will say Il Viaggio, the Italian specialty restaurant, is a true standout on the Venezia, the service and the food were far and away the best we had anywhere on the ship. - We didn't mind the enclosed Lido situation, in fact I got way more specialty coffees on the Venezia because we generally stay on the Lido level so it was easy for me to grab a coffee in the morning without having to go downstairs to where the coffee bar usually is. - The waterslide area was really disconnected from the rest of the ship, on the Horizon and Vista its an easy walk up the stairs from the Lido where you can grab a drink but on the Venezia you have to go through interior stairs/elevators to get there. Plus it was a real lackluster splash area for my 6 y/o, plus two of the slides were 51'+ which eliminated the ability for a lot of the 7 and under crowd from riding the slides. - Smoking is really limited to deck 5 forward, and deck 11 aft, which means the smoke is largely contained to those areas unless you're in the casino and even my husband who is a smoker was offended by the lack of ventilation in there. Its a problem on this ship for some reason. - Like other Vista class ships the site lines in the theater are terrible, I suggest going early if you want a decent seat/view. - After cruising on the Mardi Gras and Celebration is hate the old deli setup in the back of the buffet. Its a bottleneck that moves sooooooo slowly. Unfortunately, sometimes your kid just wants a sandwich for lunch and you have to endure. - I would definitely sail this ship again, if it was leaving from NYC. If I'm flying to Florida to get on a Carnival ship its going to be the Celebration or Mardi Gras.

We had table cloths in the main dining room on the Venezia for the Dr. Seuss breakfast. That's the only time.

The tips for the crew and I think you may have to pay for your own provisions to be brought on but they are super specific to you and your guests.

Just off the Venezia last week and there were definitely some flaws with this new process. 1. Our tags weren't delivered to our room until around 8pm the night before debarkation (when we didn't have them by 6pm I called GS and they promised all tags would be delivered by 8pm). We usually like to put the bags out before dinner and a fun last night on the ship. This meant we had to run back to the room to put the tags on and get the bags out. Not the end of the world but again this didn't happen "in the old days". 2. We were group 8 and had a disembark time of 8:20-8:45, we weren't called until 9:15. And while this might be a Venezia problem, they had us walk almost the entirety of deck 3 to get off the ship, it was somewhat comical passing the atrium knowing you still had a long way to go before they would let you access it. With the not so scenic walk around deck 3 and terminal back ups it took an extra 30 minutes to get to our bags. They had two escalators, a set of stairs (that was roped off???), and an elevator or two. The line for the elevator was pure insanity. We wanted to take the stairs as my 6 year old hates down escalators but I almost got clotheslined in the midsection by a black strap closing it off. WHY??? Got into our car that was up one elevator to the parking garage around 10am. Woof. I can not imagine what those in group 26 had to deal with.

From the Carnival website "*Please note: A 18% gratuity will automatically be added. There will be a $25 fee per person for cancellations made within 24 hours of your scheduled reservation."

The best espresso martini will be at a bar with an espresso machine for a fresh pull. It seems like 99% of the bars on the Venezia have an espresso machine. And if you have Cheers - always remember to ask for top shelf liquor, if you ask for a gin martini they likely are making it with the well stuff unless you specify.

I will be the lone vote (for now) for the Celebration. I've been on the Horizon three times and love the ship but found that it was hard to do everything on the Celebration in 7 days, having an 8 day trip would be great.

Some excursions - especially in Europe/Alaska can book up quickly so it is best to book them if they are a must do for you. And yes you can make all sorts of reservations, dining, spa, etc. before final payment. The dinner reservations aren't just a reservation they are upfront payment of the meal.

You can walk across the bike tour route, but its a pain, you'll definitely have to scurry across 6th Ave. Even if you get across it might be hard getting a cab, the bike tour really snarls up traffic that day. If taking a cab from your hotel you'll have to go uptown to go cross town and the Central Park transverse roads will be slammed with vehicular traffic. They are single lane roads in each direction. If you're not in a rush to get to the port note from the Bike Tour website: "After a Start wave is released, the line moves up. Please refer to access points for earlier waves. Sixth Ave will reopen to cars at 12:00 PM."

The official Bolt rules say that kids under 12 need to ride with someone over the age of 15. Otherwise they are totally ok with solo riders, they won't force anyone to pair up. As for the dining - all specialty restaurants that have a flat fee - the Steakhouse, Tepannyaki, etc should be included. Not the Chef's Table. They don't include the specialty restaurants that are a la carte - Sushi, Emeril's, Seafood Shack. From what I've been told you have to pay/book the spot for your kid if you want to reserve ahead and will be reimbursed on the ship.

Happy to see another wonderful report coming our way!