10/14/23
Day 1
I was so excited to be asked to attend this FAM cruise on the Carnival Venezia for my travel agency! The Carnival Venezia is new to the Carnival family. It was previously owned by Costa, Carnival’s sister line. The ship is currently sailing from its homeport in NYC. I have so many clients that look for a cruise that sails from NYC so they don’t have to fly to a port prior to the cruise. I’ll be detailing my embarkation day, starting with my transportation to the port.
In researching my transportation options, and thanks to a Facebook group, I was able to find Trans-Bridge Lines. This bus travels roundtrip from the Lehigh Valley International Airport to the Manhattan Pier (which is Pier 88, and exactly where the Venezia is docked).
We arrived at the Lehigh Valley Airport at 8:50 a.m. They ask you to arrive 30 minutes prior to the scheduled departure time. Our scheduled departure time was 9:25 a.m. The bus arrived at 9:10 a.m.
This was sent to me in the mail for parking purposes:
Roundtrip for an adult was $118.40, and for a senior it’s $64.20! Parking at the airport is free for the first 3 days, then $5 per day thereafter. To me, this was TOTALLY worth it. I did not want to drive into the city, and I did not want to pay to park in the city for 9 days. You can see the time schedule attached as well.
It’s important to note that the cruise line will provide luggage tags during online check in that must be printed out at home and attached to whatever baggage you want the porters to take at the port and get onto the ship for you. These are your checked bags.
When the bus arrived to pick us up, he loaded our luggage, and checked our names off of his list. NOTE! There are other buses that go from this location to other places. So make sure you look at the website closely when you are booking so you are booking the correct bus.
I usually only ever take a checked suitcase along with me on a cruise, besides my backpack. However, for this cruise, I decided to take a 12 pack of soda, a bottle of wine, and my fan, so that all went in a rolling carry-on suitcase! Whatever cruise line you are going on, be sure you check the policies for what beverages you can carry on, etc.
We left the airport at 9:25 a.m., right on time. We were due to arrive at the Manhattan Pier at 12:10 p.m. We did not stop at the Clinton stop for some reason, there was no traffic prior to entering the city at all, and we were in Manhattan by 11:05 a.m.! It rained the entire drive, and it was still raining when we arrived. During my online check in, I selected 12:00-12:30 p.m. time slot for getting onto the ship. I didn’t know what this meant for us when we got to the terminal.
There was a lottttttt of traffic IN the actual city. There was some kind of marathon going on near the piers, and Comic Con was going on at Javits. We arrived at Pier 88 at 11:40 a.m. After our bus pulled into a spot, one of the porters (maybe a head porter if there is such a thing???) got onboard before we got off and proceeded to shout instructions to us. They were already getting the luggage out of the bottom of the bus while he was talking. Basically, any of the pieces of luggage that had the luggage tag attached to them, were automatically put on a cart to go directly to the ship. Anything that didn’t have a tag on it was put in a separate area. He reminded us to make sure we had our boarding pass and identification (passport, driver’s license), and that they were not in any checked luggage. He also mentioned tips, saying that they are separate from the bus driver, and they appreciate tips as well.
Once inside the terminal, it took us about 30 minutes until we were entering the ship. There were so many staff members working, and they were all friendly and helpful. There were different lines for everything…security, check-in desk, boarding, and everyone was great at directing.
The chaos just entering the ship on Deck 3, Piazza San Marco:
Once on the ship, we went directly to the elevators. I was happy to see a “Lunch Express” elevator that went directly to Deck 5 or 10 only. Embarkation day is always crazy. Many people have luggage with them, and cabins are not ready until later in the afternoon, so it feels extra busy and crowded. In this express elevator, they had a staff member controlling it. I don’t recall ever seeing this on any other cruise I have been on, but it was nice!
It took foreverrrrrr for us to find a seat. We walked all over the buffet area. Most people find a table and camp out there until the rooms are ready at 1:30 p.m., even though these signs are on the tables:
There were many good choices on the Italian themed buffet. (Each day would be a different theme.) We didn’t know at this point that there were actually 4 different buffet lines. And we also didn’t know that the lines served different food (2 served one menu, and the other 2 served a different menu). One thing I can tell you with absolute certainty is that the desserts at the buffet were AMAZING! SO GOOD. And several different choices. It was so crowded, I was not able to get any videos on this day of the buffet! I was lucky to get a pic of this menu!
All of this was very good!
The staterooms were ready at this point, so we went to our muster station first on the way. The muster drill is very different now from pre-Covid times. You just have to go before sailaway and check in, and then watch a short demonstration. He basically taught us how to put on the life jackets, and what sounds to listen for.
We were in stateroom 3207, an Ocean View. We didn’t get to choose our stateroom, it was assigned to us, as we were part of a travel agent group.
This is what the hallway looks like. Luggage that was checked with the porters prior to entering the ship was being delivered. It’s put in the hallway just outside of your stateroom.
Our Sail & Sign cards were in an envelope in the mailbox on our door. These function as the stateroom key, and is the cashless on board program for all money transactions. Anything extra that you purchase on the ship can be charged with this card and go on your shipboard account. This is paid then with the credit card that you put on file during online check in.
Here is a video tour of our stateroom:
Things I LOVED about this cabin!
- Location—It was on the same deck as the main dining room and the atrium bar. It was just one deck down from the theater and the casino. It was close to the elevators. On port days and debarkation, we were very close to the exit deck, which ranged from deck 0-3.
- Split bathroom—One bathroom had a large sink, a stand up shower and a toilet, while the other had a shower/tub combo and a small sink.
- It was spacious! I never felt cramped. The sofa was a good size.
- Storage—There were two closets, as well as drawers and lots of shelves within the bathrooms.
We had preordered bottled water and beer. We did this on the app, and it was in our room upon arrival. I ordered two 12 packs of water ($19.90), and a 4 pack of Miller Lite ($24.00). I had looked at pricing ahead of time and this was cheaper than ordering it once onboard from the bar. Since we had a beverage cooler, I liked this option. I like to have bottled water on port days and in the stateroom. Water is available at the buffet and on deck 10 but it’s not bottled.
Each day, you are given a copy of Fun Times, which lists all of the activities going on on the ship for the day. There’s information about dining, shows, music, etc. This is all available on the app as well.
We took a little nap before heading out. We wanted to go up to deck 10, the Lido deck, for the Sail Away Party. On the way, I had to take this pic of the lobby! SO festive for Halloween.
The Sail Away Party was next to the pool area on the deck, however the roof was not open because of the weather. It was raining and cool. We had the privilege of having DJ Cue! He is actually my favorite DJ I’ve ever had on a cruise! He played such a variety and some 90s oldies that I love. We also got to meet the cruise director at this time.
We had late dinner (7:45 p.m.), so we were able to go outside and wait to pass the Statue of Liberty. It was raining, and gloomy and gray. We started moving at 5:20 p.m. and were passing the Statue of Liberty at 5:55 p.m.
We were actually starving around 6:00 p.m. We had such an early start in the morning. We stopped at the deli for a bite to eat. The deli is located by the buffet on deck 10.
My friend Chrissy got the BLT and fries. (She got this almost every day after as well!). They put SO MUCH BACON on these sandwiches! She thoroughly enjoyed this.
I got a hot dog and fries. The hot dog was eh, and I only ate a few bites. But the fries were good!
After our snack, we went back to the room to unpack some more and get ready for dinner. While we were in the cabin, our stateroom attendant, Suazo stopped by to introduce himself and drop off our excursion tickets for later in the week. I asked him for some more hangers and he gladly brought me some.
We went to dinner right on time and were led to our table. There is always a long line on the first night until you know where your table will be located.
Tonight’s menu:
The menu can be accessed with a QR code, or within the app, or you can ask for a paper menu.
Dinner started with some bread. This had cranberrries in it and I didn’t love it.
We met our wait staff…I Made, Edi, and I don’t even know the other one’s name! He was the bread/beverage guy, and he didn’t really have a personality or talk to us. When I Made came to take our order, he told us to give our entire order at once. They take the orders on a phone type device now and it has our picture there. It also shows up in the app under our account as to what we ordered every night for dinner!
I started off with the Mixed Greens (tomato, cucumber, red onions, carrots, balsamic dressing), and it was really good. I figured I better fit in as many vegetables as I could this week!
I also got the Pappa Al Pomodoro (tomato soup with Tuscan bread). This was good! But there was no bread with it??
For my main course, I ordered Pollo Arrosto Con Salsiccia (half-roasted chicken with sausage, herb-sauteed potatoes, broccoli). This was DELICIOUS! It had such good flavor.
Chrissy ordered the Grilled Salmon (lemon pepper marinade, sauteed vegetables, buttered potatoes).
For dessert, I ordered the Carnival Chocolate Melting Cake. It was yummy! It’s served HOT!
Chrissy got the Tiramisu (mascarpone, espresso, savoiardi biscuit). She liked this!
I also wanted to note that this ship’s motto is “Fun Italian Style.” And on each menu for dinner, the Italian dishes were noted with an Italian flag next to the dish.
After dinner, we went to the Welcome Aboard show in the theater. The cruise director was hosting. He told us there were 4,123 passengers on board, and 380 of those were children under the age of 18. We also got a small glimpse of the performers for the week while they put on a little show for us.
That’s a wrap for Day 1! It was a long day, and we were tired.
Up next…Day 2!