Review of Carnival Venezia Compared to Royal Caribbean

[Destaw71835]

15 hours ago, jimbo5544 said:

I always cancel a cruise when new menu’s are announced.  You know what they say once a fight always a fight..  For the record, I can show you a youtube from every line of a fight on board….including Disney.

👍

[retltrcrr]

I would like to comment on the decor being made from plastics.  Could you imagine the weight issue if everything was real marble, wood or tile?  The fuel consumption would be so high the ship would be refueling between islands, lol.  No ship holds its beauty once thousands of people roam her every day of her life.  I have always been happy with the food on any and all cruise lines I've sailed because it's convenient, abundant, varied and I didn't have to cook it. Waiting in line, where else do I have to be?  Chat it up with the people around you.   I know I'm easy to please without expectations.  Also why does the temperature outside have anything to do with what one eats?  I eat chili when its 104 outside.  I'll be on the Venezia late Sept for 15 days and am fine with all the negative reviews as I've seen plenty of positive as well.  I'm a Holland America loyalist and haven't sailed Carnival in years (though I'll make platinum on the Venezia) but why compare.  Every line is different for a reason or there would only be one.  We should be thankful we have options and go with what attracts you whether its the ship or the itinerary.  Me, I go for the ports, scenery, adventure.  The ship is just a way to get there. 

[LPut714]

On 7/26/2023 at 6:15 PM, Bound4Bermuda said:

I was on the July 17-25 sailing of Carnival Venezia--my first Carnival cruise--with stops in Dominican Republic, Grand Turk, and Half Moon Cay. I've sailed Royal Caribbean a few times, most recently last year on Oasis but also on smaller ships such as Brilliance. (And Princess once a long time ago but won't factor that in.) Since reviews on Venezia are only just getting started and I, like many others, was desperately looking for info on how the two lines compare, thought I'd throw in my 2 cents. I might be a little nitpicky here, but I'm not writing any letters to corporate or anything--just between us.

 

The NY/NJ Cruising Market

Now, you might be thinking it's not really fair to compare Oasis (a much larger class of ship) and Venezia. But for locals such as myself, these two ships are direct competition at this time: Carnival Venezia out of NY or Royal Oasis of the Seas out of NJ. To be fair, the $2,000 price difference mentioned in my TL;DR at the bottom was not only for the larger class of ship but also one extra day (total for 3 people in one balcony room). Your pricing may vary, of course. To be even fairer, I will compare Venezia to my experience on the smaller ships, when more applicable.

The Ship Decor/Building Materials

You've probably seen the pictures. Venezia looks very nice. However, if you look too closely, you'll notice how fake everything looks. It's like it has "builder's grade" materials throughout. All of the marble, wood, brass, and glass is just plastic. For a ship that's only a month out of drydock, it's very apparent that Carnival had a budget for specific items, and everything else was exactly as it was from when it sat vacant since 2019 or 2020--cracks, rust spots, and broken things be damned. All throughout the ship, you'll notice pieces of the gold floorboard molding missing, laying on the ground, or not making it to the corner. The little plastic covers that are on the room key scanner were off or kept falling off many room doors as you walk through the halls. The most annoying was that my shower door would not close at all. If we were docked, you could get the top to rest on itself and only the bottom half was open like a half inch, but moving, forget about it--swinging all over the place and soaking the entire bathroom. I was also irrationally bothered by the seats in the theater. The outside ring of seats faced across the auditorium rather than toward the stage. I suppose they fit more in that way. But again, super nitpicky, but if you start looking at the rows they weren't carefully laid out and seemed haphazardly installed. So, just looking at the ship it was hard to consider this a "new" build, and if it looks rough one month in, I can't imagine how it will look after a few years' of use. Again, not something I would normally even pick up on, but once you start noticing one thing that's off or broken, more was jumping out.

 

The Lido Deck

If you like to lounge on the lido deck by the pool, the Venezia is not for you. Hell, if you like to go into the pool, the Venezia is not for you. We avoided the lido at all costs. It was just a mob of people with nowhere to move. (The day we were waiting for our tender to Half Moon Cay, we managed to jump in the pool for a few minutes just to say we did it since most people were already off the ship.) There was only a handful of loungers, surrounded by enclosed seating areas to the side and the deck above that had tables/chairs and patio furniture upstairs. It was a very strange layout, and I don't think the patio furniture was used. They definitely could have made better use of the space. However, I'm going to let you in on the biggest secret of Venezia that somehow only a few other people other than myself seemed to have found. Get yourself a private "cabana" nook with loungers on deck 5--the best spot was port, forward. Royal for sure would have charged to rent those spaces--but here it was just open, and not a soul around!

 

The Lido Buffet

We only ate lunch here once and a couple of breakfasts. The layout is terrible. You have to wait in long lines without even knowing what's there. Royal's buffet setup is SO MUCH LESS HECTIC--the stations are in circles so you can wander around to see what they have and jump in and out to just grab the one thing you want without having to wait on an entire line. Not to mention, the food in the buffet of Carnival was atrocious. I don't think I ever had anything bad on Royal. The best lunch option for me on Venezia was just going to the La Strada Grill for the salads and sandwiches. My teenager liked Guy's, but I wasn't a fan of the greasy sheet-pan baked burgers.

 

The Dining Room

As with the buffet, the food in the dining room left a lot to be desired. Overall, the poor quality of food is the #1 reason why my husband and kid don't want to go back to Carnival. While on Royal it came down to having to select which of many yummy options you wanted, here it was like what's the least worst option. I've never had so much beef braised in wine in my life in one week, which might have been okay if this was a snowy Alaskan cruise, but who wants pot roast on a 95-degree day in the Caribbean. All of the descriptions of the food were just strange; if you thought you knew what you were getting, you were wrong. Like, a description of what sounded like eggplant rollatini to me ended up being an inedible tough undercooked grilled eggplant specked with feta and smoked provolone. But, then conversely I rolled the dice on a mahi mahi with sweet tomato relish and a hash of okra, pumpkin, and jalapenos--and that actually ended up being the best thing I had all week. I don't think my husband had one thing he liked.

 

The Entertainment

Okay, here it is definitely not fair to compare Oasis's entertainment--such as the diving and trapeze extravaganza that is Aqua 80, but they also have Cats on the negative side. But the entertainment is very similar to what you'd find on the smaller Royal ships. We saw a production show and went to the piano bar pretty much every night--and had a blast with both. Everyone was very talented and engaging. (Special shout out to Misso in the piano bar!) I'm going to give some bonus points here to Carnival also specifically for MarQ the cruise director, who was very funny and outgoing. And, I can now see what people mean about the "fun ship" as all of these cruiselines have the same games, activities, and shows--even down to both having Quest and Love & Marriage. But I do see what people mean about the fun squad REALLY trying to get people to have a good time. I also liked that they had the comedy shows day and night to give us something to do on sea days (since you couldn't get to the pool, lol.) They also had a few different parties that seemed to be more fun/organized than on Royal with MarQ leading crowd dance moves, etc. So for as much as my family wouldn't cruise Carnival for the food, I would consider Carnival again just for the entertainment.

Private Islands

But for all of us in my family, it's Royal's Coco Cay a million times over Carnival's Half Moon Cay! I was super disappointed because I read reviews that Carnival's island is always rated #1, but whoever does the rankings must go when there's no one there or something. Indeed, HMC had white powder sand and tranquil turquoise waters, compared to Royal's somewhat rocky ground, but that's where the advantage ends. First, the tender off rather than a dock was annoying. We are normally early risers, but we got tender group 41(!) so even though they started bringing people over at 10:15, we didn't get on the island until nearly 1:00. Of course, there were no chairs and people were all crowded on top of each other laying towels in the sand, but we managed to walk all the way down the crescent and found one at the very end--and I think it was because we got there so late that others already started returning to the boat. However, it was better being way far down because it was quieter and actually had room in the water. They were packed in closer up to where you get on the island. Royal's island also has a very large pool, and that's where the DJ and "party people" are at. So the beach is very tranquil; Carnival's beach was just blaring with the DJ there in the middle. No shade, unlike the palm trees all over Royal's beach. I don't even have to tell you how terrible the buffet was compared to Royal's; I still think about Coco Cay's cheesesteaks with shaved steak and perfectly chewy fresh-baked rolls. But, anyway, back HMC...knowing what I do now, having an "excursion" gets you on the tender earlier, so if I had to do it over again, I would totally pay for a clamshell to get 2 chairs and a early tender ticket. 

 

Security/Passengers

I'm feeling a little uneasy commenting on the clientele of each of these cruiselines, but I know this question comes up a lot. I didn't witness any altercations--then again, I was never on the lido or in the nightclub. As to be expected, there did seem to be a demographic and socioeconomic difference between the average passengers of Carnival out of NYC and Royal out of NJ--but no judgment on that, just like "census facts" here. Everyone I met was very nice and friendly. I did smell pot the first 2 days but saw the drug-sniffing dog all around the ship. In fact, we saw him pointed outside a room with security calling it in that had a "Happy 50th Anniversary Grandma and Grandpa" sign, so we got a good chuckle out of that. But that dog was a very good boy and a hard worker, because there was no discernable pot smell for the rest of the trip.

 

TL;DR (i.e., the "too long, didn't read" summary that's popular online): My husband and teenager say they will never go on Carnival again. But as the person who paid $2,000 less on Carnival over Royal, the quality difference was to be expected, and the lines have more in common than not. We'll either go back to Royal or maybe try some other line in the future.

I don't believe it was a  total refit when Carnival took over so prob some of the areas are aged. I know they did do some additions.

Heading out in a month-figuring prob won't get a pool side lounger but with 3 sea ports lots of water time. 

[mizLORInj]

OP, thank you for sharing your experience.   Trying out Venezia soon.   

 

I love HMC sand/water, but agree that tendering is a big waste of precious time.   Coco Cay's beaches are not as nice, but docking there is great.   I must've missed cheesesteaks the times I was there !  Will look better next time.  Love the watershows on the Oasis, etc. ships.   Carnival used to have great production shows.   

 

Happy cruising!

 

[jimbo5544]

13 minutes ago, mizLORInj said:

OP, thank you for sharing your experience.   Trying out Venezia soon.   

 

I love HMC sand/water, but agree that tendering is a big waste of precious time.   Coco Cay's beaches are not as nice, but docking there is great.   I must've missed cheesesteaks the times I was there !  Will look better next time.  Love the watershows on the Oasis, etc. ships.   Carnival used to have great production shows.   

 

Happy cruising!

 

Not to degrade the issue, but HMC, tender or not rocks over coco cay, not even close.

[Stick93]

2 hours ago, jimbo5544 said:

Not to degrade the issue, but HMC, tender or not rocks over coco cay, not even close.

Royal is making serious bank of their investment in Coco Cay despite the reviews of the Carnival faithful. It’s a destination they are selling as the stop on their cruises. It’s a Cash cow for the investors. It’s so successful they are adding it as a stop to celebrity ships as well and advertising it as the premier port of call. They are expanding the island with more premium and upgrade ($$$$) areas. 
 

I’ve been to both and the HMC is not the experience for families CC is. There is much more to do in CC with more food options and the drink package and wifi is extended to the island. The tender is a waste of time and is very slow at best even in the smaller ships. 

Carnival should duplicate the concept with a dock and more family and age different entertainment and areas. 

 

[BlerkOne]

2 hours ago, Stick93 said:

Carnival should duplicate the concept with a dock and more family and age different entertainment and areas. 

 

Carnival is going to add to HMC, and is also building a new port on Grand Bahama that I imagine will equal or surpass anything Royal has planned for Coco Cay.

[Stick93]

4 hours ago, BlerkOne said:

Carnival is going to add to HMC, and is also building a new port on Grand Bahama that I imagine will equal or surpass anything Royal has planned for Coco Cay.

I like your enthusiasm for the Company -

 

Carnival isn’t into game changing investments. History has shown Carnival have not built anything that surpassed the innovation of Royal. Royal has plans to transform the area next to the dock in Nassau which prob will be finished and earning revenue before carnival gets anything going. Carnival has too much debt and dead weight to invest like that. Also Carnivals product is different. They are don’t seem to want the bells and whistles. They like Grand Turks which is a nice place to stop as well and better than HMC. That is what HMC and Grand Bahamas will prob look like. 

[Stick93]

I would also throw in NCL as well - off topic.

They have also not produced a game changer and their private island is a tender point as well right next to CoCo Cay. Their product is their product and they have many loyal customers as well. I personally believe with the Royals press they are getting for their biggest ships of the seas and the prices people are willing to shell out for there ICON massive product its helping to fuel higher fares across the board and more people are trying to cruise on all the lines to be part of the scene. Carnival isn’t doing this and Shaq as a fun officer is not getting the press ICON of the seas is getting. 

[jimbo5544]

7 hours ago, Stick93 said:

Royal is making serious bank of their investment in Coco Cay despite the reviews of the Carnival faithful. It’s a destination they are selling as the stop on their cruises. It’s a Cash cow for the investors. It’s so successful they are adding it as a stop to celebrity ships as well and advertising it as the premier port of call. They are expanding the island with more premium and upgrade ($$$$) areas. 
 

I’ve been to both and the HMC is not the experience for families CC is. There is much more to do in CC with more food options and the drink package and wifi is extended to the island. The tender is a waste of time and is very slow at best even in the smaller ships. 

Carnival should duplicate the concept with a dock and more family and age different entertainment and areas. 

 

Been to both as well.  Am amusement part on a Carib island is the worst idea in a decade, perhaps in cruising history.  CC is a just a Castaway cay want to be.  The beach SUCKS compared compared to hmc, If we put it up to a vote (even on rccl threads) hmc would win.  We can agree to disagree on this.

[Stick93]

1 hour ago, jimbo5544 said:

Been to both as well.  Am amusement part on a Carib island is the worst idea in a decade, perhaps in cruising history.  CC is a just a Castaway cay want to be.  The beach SUCKS compared compared to hmc, If we put it up to a vote (even on rccl threads) hmc would win.  We can agree to disagree on this.

All opinion based by loyalists - Follow the money trail.  CC  is raking in cash and increasing bookings along two lines now. They are dedicating a brand new ship (utopia) to just CC and Bahamas and feel they will make back ten fold. Money doesn’t care about opinions and feelings it flows to the bank. Carnival should follow and duplicate because HMC makes them very little return and can only accept one ship a day at most. 

[Stick93]

1 hour ago, jimbo5544 said:

Been to both as well.  Am amusement part on a Carib island is the worst idea in a decade, perhaps in cruising history.  CC is a just a Castaway cay want to be.  The beach SUCKS compared compared to hmc, If we put it up to a vote (even on rccl threads) hmc would win.  We can agree to disagree on this.

Voting on which is better doesn’t account for economics. Maybe one would be voted better or not. However one of the islands is being maximized for every revenue source it can produce with upgradable experience gimmicks that all add to Royals bottom line.  The other is there just there and maybe very pretty and lovely but is not making the revenue close to CC.  

[jimbo5544]

8 minutes ago, Stick93 said:

Voting on which is better doesn’t account for economics. Maybe one would be voted better or not. However one of the islands is being maximized for every revenue source it can produce with upgradable experience gimmicks that all add to Royals bottom line.  The other is there just there and maybe very pretty and lovely but is not making the revenue close to CC.  

All that is THEIR problem.  I could care less.  Being the biggest, the most glamour, the wow means absolutely nothing to me.  mega of the seas are eyesores.  But that is just me.  Moving on.

[Stick93]

5 minutes ago, jimbo5544 said:

All that is THEIR problem.  I could care less.  Being the biggest, the most glamour, the wow means absolutely nothing to me.  mega of the seas are eyesores.  But that is just me.  Moving on.

Eye sores make eye doctors money.

Making money is the goal - none of these lines love us more than we love them. They love our money and making it leave our pockets to them. 

 

[BlerkOne]

6 hours ago, Stick93 said:

I like your enthusiasm for the Company -

 

Carnival isn’t into game changing investments. History has shown Carnival have not built anything that surpassed the innovation of Royal. Royal has plans to transform the area next to the dock in Nassau which prob will be finished and earning revenue before carnival gets anything going. Carnival has too much debt and dead weight to invest like that. Also Carnivals product is different. They are don’t seem to want the bells and whistles. They like Grand Turks which is a nice place to stop as well and better than HMC. That is what HMC and Grand Bahamas will prob look like. 

You are probably wrong about Grand Bahama which is set to open before the end of next year. Carnival will be putting another 90 million into HMC.

 

There is simply no reason for the leading cruise line, Carnival, to be on the bleeding edge. They tried with Paradise - a ship ahead of its time.

 

As for debt, Carnival Corp is the entity with debt, not Carnival, and it is getting paid down ahead of schedule. Orders for new ships are on hold which will allow for an even faster reduction in debt. Meanwhile Royal has several ships in the works which will only increase their massive debt and lead to lower prices for their cruises and lower profits.

[BlerkOne]

6 hours ago, Stick93 said:

I would also throw in NCL as well - off topic.

 

Why stop with NCL? MSC is tossing in another $100 million into Ocean Cay. Royal needs to step up.

[firefly333]

11 hours ago, BlerkOne said:

Carnival is going to add to HMC, and is also building a new port on Grand Bahama that I imagine will equal or surpass anything Royal has planned for Coco Cay.

Rcl is already building yet another area, adults only for coco cay. If I had a complaint it's too big. I walked to the farthest beach during spring break and wouldnt again. Someone said there was a buffet with soft serve and I never saw it but I was tired of walking. I went to one of the snack shacks and ate the funnel cake I'd heard so much about. Mmm steaming hot and so good. Even the chicken sandwich was crispy and fresh from cooking not sitting around.  There was also a walk up bar that served drinks.

 

As long as carnival doesnt let you use your cheers on private islands, in my book it's not as good. 

 

I'm also not a fan of Bahamas raising port fees. My 8 day on harmony next year is being hit twice, goes to nassau and coco cay from texas. Prices have doubled since I booked so obviously I wasnt wrong saying book this asap when it was released. I knew any cruise from Texas going to coco cay would only go up and urged people to book it early. 

 

If I were to book direct my 8 day from texas would be the highest priced cruise, coco cay is that popular. I'm paying 1k, now the price for the cheapest 8 day harmony is about $1300 pp!! Inside. $1700 pp balconys. Plus tax that's well into $3500 for my inside balcony. 

 

Personally I could skip it, but booked it knowing it was going to be popular. .. doesnt matter how many carnival cheerleaders say their island better. Both are popular imo. Lol now idk what I'm going to decide. I plan on moving to florida where coco cay is a dime a dozen, I cancelled xmas 2024, but still booked 8 days to coco cay oct 12 2024, cancel ... fly back? Wait to move?

 

If all the stuff at coco cay wasnt in high demand, Labadee would be equally popular for rcl.

 

Me I'm not supposed to be in the sun, skin cancer .. so I wouldn't mind cancelling, but nothing i can book today nearly as cheap. I do appreciate rcl let's me have free drinks on private islands. Just not my thing, i wanted different ports out of texas. It's like Disneyland any more. Just too much, too much. I cant book mardi gras either for 1k that's I've seen, so cant even replace it with a newer carnival ship I'd like. 

[Stick93]

47 minutes ago, BlerkOne said:

Why stop with NCL? MSC is tossing in another $100 million into Ocean Cay. Royal needs to step up.

Everybody is playing catch-up to the greatest investment and return in recent cruise history. 
 

Carnival and the others may be adding large investments to their private islands and ports but they’ve done a very poor job in advertising that. 

[Stick93]

56 minutes ago, BlerkOne said:

You are probably wrong about Grand Bahama which is set to open before the end of next year. Carnival will be putting another 90 million into HMC.

 

There is simply no reason for the leading cruise line, Carnival, to be on the bleeding edge. They tried with Paradise - a ship ahead of its time.

 

As for debt, Carnival Corp is the entity with debt, not Carnival, and it is getting paid down ahead of schedule. Orders for new ships are on hold which will allow for an even faster reduction in debt. Meanwhile Royal has several ships in the works which will only increase their massive debt and lead to lower prices for their cruises and lower profits.

People like new ships with all the glitz and glamour that go along with it. The new ship starting with the Mardi Gras are excellent additions for carnival. However, the majority of their ships from the sunshine class to the spirit class and conquest class are all over 20 year Old. Carnival also has never been the greatest company at keeping up with modernizing their ships. The last time Carnival paused between the  dream class and the vista class the other cruise lines made very big leaps with their new ships. I’m not sure that pausing new ships in the long run will be a great strategy as it takes many years to develop and build the newest and greatest.
Carnival corp as a parent company with debt, good or bad - it’s still debt and as you say is in the forefront of the general mind of the suits of how they want to invest money going forward. If they don’t believe it’s a good idea to keep a modern newish fleet and Royal does -  I guess time will tell how it works out for both of them.

[BlerkOne]

7 minutes ago, Stick93 said:

Some People like new ships with all the glitz and glamour that go along with it.

FIFY.

 

Many people have not forgotten why they like cruising in the first place and don't need or even want all the gimmicks and shopping malls.

[Stick93]

Just now, BlerkOne said:

FIFY.

 

Many people have not forgotten why they like cruising in the first place and don't need or even want all the gimmicks and shopping malls.

Many are too new to remember the last drink they had. 

[BlerkOne]

23 minutes ago, Stick93 said:

Everybody is playing catch-up to the greatest investment and return in recent cruise history. 
 

Carnival and the others may be adding large investments to their private islands and ports but they’ve done a very poor job in advertising that. 

People will catch onto the scam that holds them and their money hostage.

 

HMC is a Holland America property, anyway..

[BlerkOne]

1 minute ago, Stick93 said:

Many are too new to remember the last drink they had. 

or too drunk to care what ship they are on.

[Stick93]

Just now, BlerkOne said:

or too drunk to care what ship they are on.

Correct but I don't think that the Carnival Liberty (just to pick one) captures the elegance of yesteryears cruises. Nice, new, big and options is what moat people are looking for. If The older ships were so desired they would build more of them. 

[BlerkOne]

2 hours ago, Stick93 said:

Correct but I don't think that the Carnival Liberty (just to pick one) captures the elegance of yesteryears cruises. Nice, new, big and options is what moat people are looking for. If The older ships were so desired they would build more of them. 

The new big ships carry more people so more money for the cruise line. Most people are looking at price.