Carnival Venezia Christmas Cruise, Who Will Love It and Who Won’t

Sailing out of Port Canaveral is easy. Especially when you fly in a day or two earlier. We use Mercado Transportation to get us from MCO to the Radisson Resort at the Port. Its about a 45 minute drive from the airport to the hotel. Which has been remodeled recently and about a 5min shuttle ride to the cruise terminal. For $6 they schedule your ride by your embarkation time and are pretty reliable and on time.

There is also a great restaurant right next door to the hotel with Pizza and Greek food and a onsite bar and restaurant that also work if you just feel like staying on the premise. The staff is super helpful and available but I will make 1 suggestion. If you can stay on the first floor DO SO! The elevators are a disaster here and not really located in a helpful location. On embarkation day the wait and walk to get the elevators can be exhausting.

Some day I will be able to catch a launch when staying here. This hotel is so close to the Space Center you can book launch specials!

This ship was GORGEOUS! As I mentioned earlier, it is 1 of the reasons we picked it. The Italian Design and Decor where fabulous. A Christmas Cruise on the Venezia was special, multiple Christmas trees decorated all over the ship. A gorgeous dining room decor with Christmas decoration and a Gondola were also something to see.

We made sure to enjoy all that the Venezia had to offer when it came to food. The Main Dining Room was a busy spot but the food was very solid. We enjoyed dishes like Emerils Crab Cakes, Bacon Carbonaro and one guest even raved about the vegan Spaghetti and Meatballs! We had 1 slow night in the MDR but that was also Christmas Eve so it came as no surprise as to how busy it was.

The Buffet was hit or miss. Some days the Roast Beef was trimmed and cut to order perfectly. The next day it would be fatty and chewy. Their play on Mexican food was horrible at the buffet and should be overlooked. On a bright note, the handmade sandwiches were pretty good. They had hot and cold sandwiches to order from Cubans to Steak and Cheese. There was something for everyone.

Our favorites were the specialty restaurants though. Chef David at Bonsai cooked us a hell of a meal, the food at Ill Vagio was well worth the extra cost and even the sushi the last night was delicious and I would highly recommend.

My biggest complaint about this ship is 2 things.

1 the layout. It is poorly designed. You fill fidn yourself having to make senseless trips up and down flights to get to where you need to be, or to avoid the overly smoked out casino. We have been on other ships that are far better designed which made getting around easier.

2- KIDS in the Hot Tubs! 23 to be exact. With no enforcement from the on-duty life guard it was miserable. Of course the lack of adult supervision was also an issue. The pools were way too small for such a large ship and we ended up spending most of our time on the Serenity Deck to avoid the bullshit.

This was a let down that we ended up turning into a highlight. Carnival cancelled our excursions, weather related is their excuse, I call BS. Anyway this could have ruined the whole day but we did not let it. All 7 of us packed up some bags and hit the bricks. From my last visit to Nassau until now they have made major improvements here. We did not find the vendors to be pushy or bullish as I remember them in the past. They have cleaned up the whole cruise port area and with 4 ships in town that day, it did not seem overhelming.

Nassau brought us to Greycliff for some Chocolates and Cigars before walking the colorful streets back to The Bearded Clam where the adults and kids enjoyed some cold drinks and fantastic appetizers like fried conch.,

Old San Juan is a very, very walkable city and before arriving we had no plans at all. Well with the exception of 2 things. Make sure we hit up Barrachina which is the Birthplace of the Pina Colada and a nice cigar. We accomplished those easily along with seeing some colorful streets, historic forts and meeting some great people along the way. My 2 cents, skip the food at Barrachina and stick with the drinks. So much other food to offer while walking the town.

Hands down this was our top spot. No question. From start to finish the whole experience was planned and executed perfectly. I booked a private driver with David’s Fun Tours using my connection with Viator. I did not want the run of the mill Carnival Excursions in the open air trucks bouncing along the mountain top roads. Our driver Jason picked us up at the ship, with cold waters ready and GMC Yukon to easily fit our whole party.

Jason had the AC cranking and a day of site seeing, shopping, snorkelling and Bananna Daquiries all ready to go for us. Jason was extremely professional and funny. He kept both the adults and the kids entertained for the whole 8 hours we were with him. We hit all the major sites and as we always do a stop at Star Jewelers to see Ohm and Priya for some shopping. You will get the best prices on the Island when shopping for Gold and Diamonds!

Too many photos of St. Thomas to add here so you can view the gallery below.

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