Carnival Venezia Tips - Average Cruiser

The Carnival Venezia is Carnival’s newest Fun Italian Style ship. While there are a lot of features of the Carnival Venezia that are the same as what you would expect on other Carnival Cruise Ships, there are some differences. Read on for tips to help you make the most of your limited time on board the Carnival Venezia:

1. Eat Italian food

The main dining room menu every night includes several dishes that are Italian. These range from the Caesar salad and lasagna that you would expect on every Carnival menu, to more dishes like antipasti and polenta that have a distinctly Italian feel.

While Carnival now charges for a third entrée, there is no reason not to try multiple appetizers. You can have your familiar favorite plus try some of the Italian dishes as well!

2. Go to the Festa Italiana

The Festa Italiano is an Italian street festival held one evening on Lido. The decorate Lido in Italian colors and have some Italian games, crafts, food and entertainment. They also had waiters come around with samples of Italian foods.

I would recommend getting there early if you want a good seat and to just chill out and watch the whole thing, but that is not necessary. It started while we were at dinner so we just showed up after we got finished eating, found a spot to watch and enjoyed the party for a little while.

Tip for the Carnival Venezia’s Festa Italiana: The food is just a sample. Do not skip dinner, don’t even skip dessert. It is literally just waiters walking around with a plate with two things on it. Do not plan on eating much!

Check out the guide for the Festa Italiana here.

3. Play bocce ball

I love that Carnival added bocce ball to the games offered on this cruise ship. The bocce ball court is on deck 11 above the Lido pool, where you can also find ping pong, foosball and Chinese checkers.

While it may not be the most authentic bocce ball set ever, it is a lot of fun…and also really popular. There are some tables around to sit and wait if it’s busy when you want to play.

4. Sit on the couches / balconies above Lido

One feature that I really love about the Carnival Venezia is how much shaded seating there is. The entire area around the Lido is covered seating instead of open decks. While this has it’s disadvantages, it is also really cool to be able to sit in the shade but still be adjacent to the fun. These seating areas are also great places to just sit to enjoy a coffee before you move on to your next activity!

5. Explore deck 5

The exterior areas of deck 5 are really cool. There is TONS of seating out there, but the most popular are the private sets of lounge chairs. One of my top tips for the Carnival Venezia is to make the most of the private loungers on deck 5 early in your cruise. After a couple of days, people start to discover them and it can be challenging to find a seat!

Also on the exterior of deck 5 are tables and chairs, couches, a couple of clamshells, one of the smoking areas for the Carnival Venezia and La Strada Grill (open for lunch on sea days).

The only downside to this deck is that it is NOT a full promenade deck because the aft portion belongs to the Terrazza guests. When you make it to the back, there is a locked gate only accessible to Terrazza guests so unless you are in one of those rooms, you cannot walk laps on this deck.

6. Check out the hidden decks

No tips about any Carnival ship would be complete without a mention of hidden or secret decks and the Venezia is no different. There are three forward facing decks on the Carnival Venezia. Deck 5 is not hidden and is very easy to get to and know about. From the exterior deck on 5, you can take the set of stairs up to decks 6 and 7.

You can also access the hidden decks from deck 7. If you go all the way forward, there are two hallways leading to doors that lead to outside. If you go outside on these hidden or secret decks on deck 7, you are right under the bridge and can basically get the same views as the captain!

7. Enjoy Serenity

If you are over 21, the Serenity deck on the Carnival Venezia is a great place to spend your time. It includes two large whirlpools, a bar, a few tables, some clamshells and couches, plus plenty of comfy, padded loungers. This is great place to get a few of the ocean from high up on the front of the ship. (There is glass, so it’s not a great place for pictures.)

The best thing about the chairs on Serenity? Some of them have umbrellas for shade! Plus the beach umbrellas are a really fun décor choice on this ship.

8. Check out the Specialty Dining

Specialty dining is a little different on the Venezia compared to other cruise ships. The Italian restaurant has a completely different menu than the other Italian restaurants in Carnival’s fleet.

The Carnival Venezia also has a Teppenyaki Japanese restaurant, a Bonsai Sushi restaurant and of course a steakhouse.

The food in the main dining room on Venezia is good and is even a little different than the food on the rest of the fleet, but sometimes you just want something a little different!

9. Lounge on or above Lido in bad weather

One nice thing about the Carnival Venezia is that you can really stay out of the rain or bad weather. There are some Carnival ships that it can be a challenge to dodge bad weather and almost impossible to find anywhere to sit that is covered if it is raining, but that is not a problem on the Venezia!

The Venezia has a cover for it’s main Lido pool that they will extend if it rains. Plus all the seating above Lido is completely covered and a great place to sit when the weather is not so great!

10. Eat Asian food at the seafood shack

This is my top tip for the Carnival Venezia: check out the Asian food at the seafood shack. It is only available for lunch on sea days. It is really good, but more importantly it is one of those places that has almost no line on the first sea day, but after people start to discover it the lines get really long.

Plan for some Asian on your first sea day and then you can enjoy the rest of the places for lunch on the later days when the line for the Asian is too long!

11. Check out La Strada Grill

La Strada Grill is located outside on deck 5. It is open for lunch on sea days. The menu is Mediterranean street food mixed with barbecue, which is a really odd combination, but mostly works. It moves pretty quickly and the restaurant is so far away from the rest of the food that it doesn’t generally keep a long line.

12. Locate the gondola in the Grand Canal

We did not have the Grand Canal restaurant as our assigned dining venue, but even if you don’t, you have to go take a look at it. There is a whole gondola in there!

The Grand Canal is the restaurant for breakfast, brunch and afternoon tea so when you go to one of those meals, make sure you head to the center of the restaurant to find the gondola!