steveknj

We didn't use the pools at all, but from what I can see, they were on the small side. But they never looked too crowded to me (and having swam at "public" pools, it's no worse than any of those). The usual issue with loungers being hogged, but that's nothing unusual. There was plenty of lounge chairs a deck or two up, and if you wanted to do down to 5, there's also plenty. There's also the "hidden" area on deck six that had one person on it. We preferred to sit out on the balcony.

NY is definitely an advantage for us, especially with flying being so iffy these days. I have yet to be on a cruise where the Lido hasn't been crowed. Maybe it's different on the upscale cruise lines, but on the more "family" oriented cruise lines, that's always been a problem, especially on sea days. In fact, I don't think this cruise was any worse than any others and in some respects, a bit better (mostly because they have this nice sitting area on deck 11, that if you wanted to avoid some of the pool area bottle necks, you could head up there. Maybe it's because I'm from the NY Metro and crowds like this don't bother me. It's just part of life. But I could imagine that someone from a rural area, might think it very crowded. But if that's the case, doing a mainstream cruise is probably not for them. One thing I forgot to mention, is that while they have a non-smoking casino, often times you still need to walk through the main casino to get places. That is also common on many ships I've been on. I wish they would design these ships so that either the main casino is smoke free or that you can avoid the casino altogether, but I get it's a marketing thing. If they get you to walk through the casino, perhaps you'll drop some money there. What is it about smoking and gambling anyway? Why are cruise lines reluctant to make their main casinos non-smoking, considering that more people do not smoke these days than do? I guess that's a different discussion.

We only went to the buffet a few times, but yes, they DO make you go through the whole line rather than just for what you want. For example, in the afternoons we enjoy coffee and sharing a piece of cake/pie. We had to wait on line starting at the salad bar, through the main course and finally to dessert. The line was never more than 5 minutes so it was not a big deal for us. But yes, that could definitely improve. The Marketplace is set up more traditional and I think this is one place that RCCL is better (If I recall, NCL is set up similar to how Carnival is).

No, which is good for me as I don't like raisins in French Toast. Thick fluffy piece of bread, soft on the inside, crispy on the outside, with a tiny piece of dried peach on top (easily brushed off).

I didn't notice pot smell on the balcony where I was, but I did notice it up around Lido, so that COULD have been coming from a cabin up on 11.

I wanted to write this review while things were still fresh in my mind. Background: My wife and I (and sometimes with our kids) have been cruising since 2007 (with one sort of cruise on a tiny Premier ship in I think 2000). We have sailed about 5 times on NCL, 2 times on RCCL and this was our third on Carnival and first since 2018 on the Horizon. Our last two cruises, both after the Pandemic, were on NCL (Getaway and Breakaway) both out of NY. We were kind of bored with both NCL ships and NCL in general seemed to go downhill. The food was lackluster (except if you ate in the specialty restaurants) and there were few options to eat and the staff was meh. So when we were ready for this year's cruise, we decided to try something different and then this ship popped into our radar. Italian style was something different which appeal to us, and after getting kind of bored during our last two cruises, we wanted something "fun". And since this went to 2 ports we hadn't been to Grand Turk (which was on our Horizon itinerary but we never got there) and St. Thomas, this appealed to us (the third port San Juan we had been to a couple of times and liked it). After reading the early reviews and watching some YouTube videos we became a bit nervous about this cruise. Between all the publicity about fights, and long lines and crowds, and talk of people being "low life" we were apprehensive. As it turned out we had mostly a very positive experience. I'm always of the thought that cruises are what you make of them and we were able to make a lot out of this cruise! Embarkation: Our previous cruises always left on a weekend so it was kind of strange for us to have to deal with Manhattan on a Tuesday. We live in NJ so se hopped on a Train (we usually take a bus, but we worried about traffic heading into the city), and from Penn Station got in a cab, which was a disaster as there was something going on and traffic was horrible, and the cab ride cost about $30, and I remember it being $20 other times. We got there about 11:45 for our 11:30 check in. No worries, breezed through security and check in, waited about 15 minutes until our station was called and was on the ship. So no major issues here. Went as expected once we got to the pier. We'd seen enough reviews to know to do La Strada (on deck 5) for lunch the first day and it was mostly empty. I'm sure Lido was crowded. Only glitch on Embarkation day was our ONE piece of luggage didn't make it to our room until around 7pm, so we went to dinner in our sweaty clothes. Not a huge deal really, but didn't like to have to wait. Cabin: We had cabin 7303, mid ship balcony. The cabin was fairly roomy but standard balcony cabin on most ships. Nice Italian decor all around the cabin including a nice mural on the wall behind the bed. Plenty of storage for 2 people. Loved that there were 4 USB ports and it meant we didn't even need to use my extra European adapter. Bathroom was small but I the shower was powerful and hot, and had no issues with the glass door as others have reported. There were two issues we found. One, the extra hangers in the closet clanged to the ship's movement. We took them off the bar after the first night, no issue. The second was the divider between balconies banged a bit on windy nights. I thought the beds themselves were comfortable and the pillows were great. We had our cabin done once a day, and got towel animals every day. Only got them 2x on NCL. Yeah, it's hokey but I always felt it was a nice touch. To each their own. Food: From all the reviews, I thought the food was going to be horrible. One thing I've always liked about Carnival is that there are so many options for lunch and indeed we did do a few of them. I know lots of folks complained about long lines and we never had that issue at all. We went to Guys burgers 2x and both times, we walked right up and got a burger (I think the first time there was ONE person ahead of us). They had two lines going, so maybe that's something new from the earlier cruises. We did the Chinese and pizza for lunch on other days, again no lines, and the food was fine (though the pizza was just OK, but I've spend most of my life eating NY pizza and well it's just not that). We did salads a couple of days and had some really good desserts. I didn't like the ice cream (Swirls) and we only had that one time. As for the MDR, we ate breakfast and most dinners there. The system where you make a "reservation" on the app worked well. There were stories about having to wait an hour or more to get a table and that never happened. We'd make our reservation as we left our rooms and by the time we got down there, our table was ready. The app always said under 10 minutes and that was correct every time. The food was good if not spectacular most times (great French Toast, and bagels and lox for breakfast, I also enjoyed some other dishes for dinner) but had two bad dinners, a veal marsala that tasted like a plate of salt (I tend not to like my food too salty) and a jerk pork that was just WAY too spicy. The service was generally good and I give credit to the waiters who took the time to call us by our names. I like that kind of personal thing.. We ate at the steakhouse one night and had a very good "cowboy" steak and excellent French Onion soup (I will say the steakhouse on NCL was slightly better). The one disappointment with the food venues was at the Marco Polo dining room where they had a pasta lunch every day. We didn't care for how the pasta was cooked and service was kinda slow. I will say, the food wasn't always as hot as I liked, but it was far from ice cold either. The last night, the service in the main dining room was VERY slow. I don't know if that was because they had a crowd that was too big to handle. We tend to be early eaters so that helped so we ate dinner between 5 and 5:30 every night. Entertainment: The usual assortment of trivia games (a major disappointment on NCL but great on this ship), Deal or No Deal, Bingo, Family Feud and standard cruise stage shows (not broadway productions like on NCL and RCCL). They were fine, and entertaining. But as we have found on our previous cruises, they really put the "Fun" in fun ships. MarQ, the CD was great and his staff was terrific. They take the time to try and meet everyone, and make sure everyone is having fun. They had two fun trivia parties, a Motown one and a 90s one that were a blast. Plus they had an Italian Fest (gelato eating contest?) and other activities. There was little boredom to be had. It's always been my favorite part of doing a Carnival Cruise. They had a couple of bands playing that were pretty good, and a string trio. We spent a lot of time in the Gondola Lounge listening to music. The comedians were fine. Nothing special, but again no issues getting into any of the shows unless you got their as the show was starting. Nothing worse than what we encountered on NCL. We usually like to watch karaoke but didn't this time because it was very loud in the lounge they held it in and the music that was being chosen wasn't our taste (mostly hip hop from what we could hear). The Ship: Others have mentioned that it's laid out like the Vista or Horizon and I liked the layout of the Horizon when we sailed her previously so we got used to it pretty fast. I know people complain about crowds on here, but really I didn't find it any worse than any of the other ships I've been on. There were few bottlenecks and there were parts of the ship that were quiet where you can find a seat and relax. I really liked on floor eleven above the main Lido pool there was a nice sitting area where we spent some time. We didn't notice anyone getting out of line, no fights nor did I hear of any happening. Even the kids on the ship were generally well behaved. Maybe we just got lucky, I don't know, but it was never a problem for us. Sure by the pool you couldn't get a lounge chair (but what ship doesn't have that problem?) but if you go up a couple of levels there were plenty. Debarkation: No major issues, except the usual "hurry up and wait". We had them handle our bags and didn't get off the ship until 9:30. NY needs to do something about the taxi situation though. They need a formal taxi stand because when we got to the stand across the street from the pier, it was a free for all. No taxi line, and you'd hail a cab and they wanted to charge you $40 cash for a ride to port authority bus terminal. It didn't used to be like that. We ended up walking to P.A. as it was a really nice morning. But that's not Carnival's fault. Overall Impression: We had a blast. I'm convinced that people like to complain. Nothing is perfect and there were certainly things we didn't like as described above, but it was certainly NOT worse than any cruise I've been on and certainly better than most. There was little to non of of the things that got me nervous about taking this cruise. Lines...not that long....crowds...manageable. Wait times....nothing excessive. I'd be happy to field any questions folks might have. I'll start out by saying...sorry, no, we didn't keep any of the dailys or food menus as we just used our phones.

So whoever is reading. I was thinking we could do an informal meetup. I'm not that familiar with the ship yet, but thought, based on videos I've watch that a good place to meet might be near the Pergola Bar on Deck 11. I was thinking 10:30am on Wednesday. What does everyone think?

And that's just it, you kind of proved what everyone has been saying. Are Apple iphones superior? Well that's your opinion, not necessarily a fact, you found the need, in a Carnival forum to throw that in there. Phones, like cruise lines are a personal choice. iPhones are no better than any flagship phone from any other company. It's personal preference. Maybe you like iOS better than Android? And that's it. Maybe there are things on Celebrity that people like better than Carnival, maybe there are things on Carnival you like better than Celebrity. There's no right answer. What works for you, doesn't work for me. It's why some people like blue, and others red. Find what you like and be happy about that. I've sailed on a few different lines and I like things and dislike things about all of them. People who think one thing is better than something else don't need to rub the other person's face in it. Enjoy what you like and be happy 🙂

Hooray for you! If we all reacted the same way to alcohol it would be much easier to control it. The idea of giving unlimited access to folks who are not used to drinking that much alcohol, in my opinion is a recipe for trouble. But there are people who can have 10 drinks in an hour and be perfectly fine, and there are others who are drunk after one drink. And once you are drunk, the "drink in moderation" goes out the window unless someone is there to stop you. And there are some who are "fun drunks" and some who are "nasty drunks". Just because you had someone a loaded gun doesn't mean they are going to shoot someone, but it certainly increases the odds.

People of course want to get their money's worth. Of course now you suddenly have a bunch of moderate drinkers who are drinking WAY more than they should. Wonder why so many fights start on these cruises? Exhibit number one. I've had the drinks package for "free" (cost just the service charge) on NCL for a few cruises. I know myself and there's no way I could ever drink enough to justify paying for a drink package because even with the "free" drink package, I didn't come close to 5.5 drinks. But others manage to do it easily.

For my recent cruise checkin was on a Tuesday and I have work the next day so staying up past midnight is not an option. We will check in at 11:30 which is fine by me. Means we don't have to get up early on cruise day, fight NY Traffic to get to the terminal early. We'll get in after rush hour and not worry about it. Still early enough to have a decent lunch that's not too close to dinner.

When I used it for my calculations, I actually added an extra drink or two just to see how close I would come to the break even point, even with an extra drink or two, I still was about $100 short of making it worth getting the drink package.

Is there a way for someone NOT going on a cruise to gift someone who IS going on a cruise a spa treatment? Would it be best to call Carnival and tell them the person, the cruise they are on and what you want to gift them? Or is it possible online?

This is awesome!! We decided not to take the drink package this go round and I used it to figure out what I usually drink on any given cruise, and turns out it's definitely not worth it for us.

A week from tomorrow!! Half packed, just last minute stuff at this point!!. Wish we had more activity here, and considering that it's a small group I don't think a formal meet and greet is something worth organizing, but if folks here are interested in an informal meetup, we can set a time and place and try and do so. What does everyone think?

Glad to see your recent review, since I know that there have been differences that I have noticed on NCL since the pandemic on two "more traditional" ships, the Breakaway and Getaway that we sailed on last year. Still had a wonderful time, but those ships felt understaffed (even though the ship on one of those cruises was half empty) and they seem to cut down on activities. For a cruise on the POA, I don't even NEED a lot of those things. A cabin, food and really not much more. By lacking customer service skills can you provide an example of where you saw that? I've seen that sort of thing happen on other ships as well, and trying to gauge if it is much worse than anything else I've seen.

Here here!! I knew coming here for this question would save me from having to call Carnival. Not that they aren't normally nice, just takes more time and effort!! I've only ever used the cards to pay off a cruise (as I believe CCL is the only line that allows for that), but figured I'd save a few buck on board as well. That's for all of your responses.

We just did our check-in for our late July cruise on the Venezia. We just bought a couple of Gift Cards at AARP and have the codes for them, but we were hoping that at check-in we'd be able to put those toward our on board account. We had two options to set up our onboard account, one was a credit card and one was a cash account. We weren't sure what we should do since we wanted to use the cards we bought for OBC. We did the Cash account option, but it didn't give us any option to put in gift cards. Is that the best way to do this? I am assuming that when we got on board (or at pier check-in perhaps) we could put the cards on our account? What is the normal process?

I don't believe that's the case, at least there's no indication of that from anything I've read here or the many YouTube videos I've watched.

We'll check in later this evening since I don't have my credentials here at work. Another step toward the cruise!

Do you need to cut off someone who's not drunk? That's not my intention. But what do you consider "drinking responsibly"? So lets say that each drink is $10. That's six per day per person, at the minimum to make it worth while, but many drink more than that. So, 6 drinks per day, if spaced out correctly is fine for most people. But 10? 20? That's where it gets sticky. Do non alcoholic drink 10 drinks a day at home, every day for 7 days? Now if you paid for each drink individually perhaps you think twice about that 7th drink? Or maybe even your 3rd drink? I admit, I'm not a big drinker and those drink packages are not worth it for me. I might have 1 or 2 drinks per day, tops. That's plenty for me. But to me, 7-8 drink a day is excessive and goes beyond drinking responsibly. Not everyone's body is the same, and some can hold that many, but many can't.

Fights can happen on any cruise. We were on a half empty cruise last spring on the NCL Getaway and my son was in one of the lounges where they have a rock band and toward the end of the show some drunk started a fight with another drunk right in front of him. He managed to avoid getting involved but the point is, people, and too much alcohol are going to lead to things like this. One problem with cruises (to me) is these unlimited drink packages, which make it WAY too easy for people to drink too much. If you have to pay for each drink, you might think twice about over indulging, but if you buy a package, and even the more conservative packages have something like a 15 drink limit per day, you are just going to keep drinking. There's a reason why they cut off drink sales at ballparks, they don't want drunken brawls. So, you want to get rid of fights? Stop "feeding" drunk people more alcohol.

The one thing I noticed with Carnival as compared to NCL and RCCL, which are the other two lines I've sailed is that the CD are much more engaged and visible, and it goes all the way down through the cruise director's staff. The very first cruise I took with them on the Dream, one of the fun squad staff was with us for our safety drill on the first day, and she was always smiling making jokes and such, and that's how the whole staff was. They just exude fun, and it puts people at ease and more ready for fun. I sailed NCL last summer 2x and I was bored. The staff was boring, the CD was boring, and there was little life on the ship. The two previous CCL cruises that was never the case. I remember singing myself hoarse at the parties (and I'm generally NOT a big party person). It was just so fun. We will be on the Venezia end of July and we wanted to do Carnival because we wanted to have fun and NOT be bored. The downside is sometimes it leads to drunken fights. I guess that happens on all cruise ships, but for some reason Carnival has that reputation. RCCL has a lot of activities to do, but less of a party atmosphere.

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.

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.