What is the Festa Italiana on the Carnival Venezia?
Before boarding the Carnival Venezia, I saw that the Festa Italiana was one of the Fun Italian Style features on this new ship. But the details about what this party was were scant.
The event itself lasted from 8:00-10:00 and was located on the Lido. This was a great space for this event because there is a stage, a small dance floor, plus balconies around where you could look down on the events. There was also a nearby galley to stage waiters for the advertised Italian street food.
What will you find to do at the Festa Italiana?
We were a little late because we had late dining, but all we seem to have missed was the kids gelato eating contest. We started by walking around the balconies to see if we could find a good spot to catch all the action.
Pro Tip: If you want a good spot to watch the Festa Italiana on the Carnival Venezia, get there before it starts!
The entertainment crew had a couple of games set up. The crew encouraged us to try out the orange tossing game with fluffy orange balls over near the bocce ball court.
We were also told there were crafts and pizza making…but that’s not exactly how that went.
The “pizza” was a paper circle and there were stickers and strips of paper you could attach to make it look like a pizza. There was also bracelet making, but that might just because that is the hot craft of the moment. These two things were set up at a table together and there were plenty of kids and teens crowded around this activity.
All the stations they had set up on deck 11 were definitely for kids. So if you are taking kids to this party – check out what is up there.
We do not have kids, so we kept walking.
What is there to watch at the Festa Italiana?
Someone walked away and we managed to snag a spot right above the stage in time to enjoy the music and watch the dancing. The dance instructors for the cruise came out and tried to encourage others to join them. A few people joined in the dancing, but it was mostly just traditional Italian-themed music while we all waited around to see what would happen next.
Next was the gelato eating contest.
It was a pretty traditional eating contest. They did two rounds so about 8 people total were able to participate. The two winners got the very coveted Carnival whale tail medallion.
Our cruise director came out and said some words about the events and the activities that there were. The best part of that was he was dressed in traditional Venetian costume, which just looked fun.
What about the advertised Italian street foods?
And then the waiters started coming around with little plates of food. The plates were really the best part. They were real plates and they were very fun.
If they told us what type of food it was, I missed it. I felt like a needed a napkin or a fork or something. One of the two items was a little too soft to be finger foods. The second item was more cookie like. They were both…traditional.
I’m not sure what I was expecting from the foods. I think I was expecting like a little buffet where you grabbed what you wanted from a selection. The waiters walking around was probably faster, but I did have to go downstairs to get the food. There were not a ton of waiters and they never made it to our section of the balcony. They were really just concentrated on the lido itself.
After the food was the magician and then more dancing and music. There were a couple of other little stations set up on Lido. There was a jester and a few other photo-opp kind of things that we walked around and just took a look at. It was pretty crowded so it was kind of hard to certain areas.
We were not there the entire two hours that the event lasted so this is not everything that they did, but that’s the idea of it. Some crafts, some music with dancing, some entertainment from the crew and fellow cruisers. And some samples of food.
But the decorations were nice. I enjoyed all the Italian colors that were hung all day.
Overall impressions of Carnival Venezia’s Festa Italiana:
It was a fun activity to stop by in the same way it’s fun to stop by the Captain’s Toast on formal night or stop by some of the deck competitions during the day. We didn’t feel the need to stay the whole time.
And don’t expect much food. It’s just a sample.
What to read next:
What to do on the Carnival Venezia on a sea day
How does the Carnival Venezia compare to other Carnival ships?
