Finding this video was a blessing!! Thank you!! I was about to book this sailing for 8/27. I just wanted a quick solo getaway for a few days. The port is only a 2 hour drive from my house. The behavior you described had me clutching my invisible pearsl!!! I was in the supermarket and I was trying to keep my jaw off of the floor.😮😮 This is a NO for me. I was just on a 4 night sailing on The MSC Seashore out of port Canaveral and it was NOTHING like this. I've been on 12 cruises and thank God this was never my experience. My last Carnival cruise was the inaugural sailing of the Celebration out of Miami and it was amazing!! I have a 4 nighter booked on the Utopia in March for my birthday and a 5 nighter out of NY on Virgins Mermaiden sailing on the Brilliant Lady I pray they are nothing like this. I've done 2, 7 night sailings out of Jersey on Anthem and Oasis and they were fantastic!! The Brilliant Lady will be my 1st time cruising from NY and going to Bermuda. Virgin has a higher price point. So hopefully that will keep the riff raff away!!

My brother I just wanted let you know you are my girlfriend and I's favorite cruise reviewer, you strike a great balance of experience and "your average guy" when it comes to review which we really like. We find Alot of cruise reviewers on youtube are either snobby or just big cry baby losers who I'd never have a beer with. Your opinions seem like those of a regular everyday guy who is just looking for a nice time without anything fussy. Thanks for another upload! EDIT as a couple in their late 20s its INSANE to me that WEED is an issue or considered drugs by anyone in the year of our lord 2024 let people smoke if they want.

Went on the cruise right after you returned on 6/10, and I 1000% agree about the service aspect of the crew, it was the worst we have seen in the 7 cruises that we went on. I also agree about Mark Q, totally disconnected and made you could feel the lack of energy on the boat. We also had issues with the boat being super hot.

We were on a 10 day on the Venezia last month and had a totally different experience. We had no complaints. Every member of the crew we met were very friendly and enthusiastic and never saw any of them just standing around. I agree the food was excellent. Our cruise director at that time was Jacky Tang and he was amazing! Had such a great time that the Venezia is now my favorite ship! I do appreciate your opinion though.

Your experience is very believable considering you were on a short sailing from NY. I am blessed to cruise about once a month as well (mostly NCL) and live in NYC. All of my 5 day trips from NY have noticeably more fights, rambunctious guests, etc. versus longer sailings. I tried Venezia for the first time this past January, on a 9-day sailing to Bahamas, and while the guests are definitely more rowdy than other lines, in my experience, it was an awesome trip! No real crazy stories except a drunk women who passed out in the aft pool around 1pm one day, and a guy who hit a security guard upon returning to the ship from a boozy beach excursion... again at like 2 pm. Other than that, it was a really fun cruise and most guests and crew were friendly and harmless. I booked an 11-day in November and I'm excited to get back onboard. I know the length of sailing will directly impact the onboard experience. There are some things I don't enjoy about Carnival, like drink package not working on first day, cramped theatre, smoky/cramped casino layout (and no bar in the casino), etc., but it's not the end of the world.

I was worried it was going to be like that. We are going July 4-8, hopefully not the same. Thanks for your input. We love carnival too

We got on the ship the day you got off. It was our first cruise. We had a good time overall because the ports were amazing but definitely thought the ship has some issues. Luckily we were with other people who have cruised many times and said a lot of things about the cruise were not normal. The food was not good at all and the MDR was SO slow. Took us one hour one night just to get a cup of soup and then another 30 after that for our main. Will be trying Royal Caribbean next time or a larger Carnival cruise ship out of Florida but we wanted to try sailing out of New York because we are from PA and travel would be easy to NYC by train.

I'm currently on the cruise that followed yours and I did not notice any of the staff laziness issues you're bringing up.

Hi John. I just finished watching your recent Venezia review and you were excellent providing both negative and positive facts. This helps me out knowing what to expect when I go in August. I'm still very skeptical about it but I don't want to cxl because I already made the final payment and do not want to lose some of my money.

I sailed on Venezia two weeks ago. I give it an A+. My only pet peeve was guests saving seats in the theater.

Did an 8 day last year and a 7 day Venezia cruise this spring, and it was great! Embarkation was hectic. People didn’t know where to go, and any one of the half dozen Carnival employees could have helped out just by directing people instead of just standing around chatting amongst themselves.

Going on Venezia July 24th for an 8 day. Been on 19 cruises, all Caribbean. Departure ports for me have been Miami, Fort Lauderale, NY and Bayonne NJ, all on various cruise lines. I have sailed on Carnival many times before and had all good cruises, some of them surprisingly good. I am from NJ and the trend I have noticed is that all of my sailings from NY or NJ seems to attract that crowd. All of my sailings from the NY and NJ ports have had more passenger behavior issues than others. Just what I have noticed on my cruises.

I am on 4 day on the 4th and I have sailed the Venezia twice this year, a 9 day and 10 day. The first sailing was excellent-the 2nd sailing was good but not as good as the 1st. I would agree from my last sailing about the crew…..they seem defeated for sure. I found that they seem to perk up once I was just nice and polite, which leads me to think it’s the passengers that are wearing them down. That said, I also sailed VV this year, a 5 day and my first time on that line….It was awful. Fights, idiots everywhere high on the devil’s lettuce, grown adults playing knock knock ditch em at 1 AM, lazy staff (the staff standing around on phones made me chuckle because that was rampant on my VV cruise). It was everything everyone complains about Carnival. So, that said….shorter cruises, no matter the line, can be problematic. I am hoping my Bermuda cruise goes better than yours. I think if you did a longer cruise on Venezia you would like it, I hope you give her another chance.

After the livestream I sure was looking forward to this. You rock because you generally go into everything with a positive attitude. So when you give a thumbs down it is a very big indicator to 🚫⚠️ avoid at all costs. 3 or 4 day cruise, NYC, Carnival. All are a bad combination of factors for a soothing cruise.

Oh my goodness. I'm hoping we will have a completely different experience next March on a 7 day sailing from Port Canaveral. 😢

My family and i did 8 days cruise on the canival venezia and it was great June 18th -- 26th

Sounds like a cruise from hell. Granted I never had any interest in short cruises. I would still love to see and experience the Venezia, just on a longer cruise! Thanks for sharing!

I can't believe MarQ was described as low energy. We were on the Venezia last June (2023) and he was terrific, lots of energy, seemed like he was everywhere. I tried to go to any event he ran. Did you see the Venezia Rock Band? They were really good when we were on the ship.

I appreciate your honest opinion and I agree with you 👍🏼

We are doing the 8 day and the 4 day leaving this Wednesday. Hope we have a better experience. Fingers crossed!

This makes me very nervous for our 4 day cruise in August. Do you think being cooped up because of the weather played a part in all the shenanigans?

I think a 7 day or longer would be different. Carnival seems to have a real issue with their short sailings as far as fights and drugs. That definitely would not be my demographic. Closer to my mid 40’s. I would be traumatized if I ever saw a fight on a cruise ship. Also I could barely take the smell of a cigarette lead alone drugs. The only good thing is the food was good. Going on the Carnival Celebration in a week. Glad I chose a longer sailing! Great video and review as always! 💙

Just couldn’t pull the trigger to book Carnival. Now I know I am beyond the Carnival drama. I’ll stick with MSC, NCL, Princess.

Confused about the dog search area you spoke about. It that done with your checked bags that you leave with the porters? Or done after you drop them off with your carry on bags you bring with you to check in in the lines? Seems like that is why it takes so long to board..

Hey John!! Im trying to keep this byte sized. 😂 I've sailed aboard several lines, twice with Carnival. Not to disparage on the brand. The ships were amazing! The crew? Top notch! The food? Meh, but totally not bad. (Seeing as how i didn't have to cook or clean up 😊) but the passengers totally put me off cruising with them again. 😢 I have run into rude guests on other lines, but the passengers on Carnival take not just the cake, they'll take the whole darned pie! And are very vocal if you try to stop them. Just not the line for me. Just got off the Eurodam (another carnival owned ship. LOVED IT!!!) Won't book another whale tail.

I'm an avid Carnival fan, and, I did an April cruise on the Venezia. I really enjoyed myself, but I purposely took an 11 day cruise, keeping in mind that the 5 day cruises I've been on were filled with drink package warriors and rowdy people. Never again less than 7 days, prefer 9 or more.

We have only been on a five day cruise . It was in October and it was fun but after that, just 7 days

Also as a management person in the hospitality industry it sounds like this ship lacks any strong leadership in that department. Its up to them to make sure the staff are staying busy, and doing what is expected from guests. But at the same time they may be defeated from dealing with NYC/Philly human trash.

Think of me as a very old man. I'm a lot like my grand father who died age 95, 30 years ago. Very, very old school. I need to make sure that I am never, ever, ever on a cruise like this.

Ugh. I’m booked on the Venezia for a 10 day in October. I’m concerned. I’d heard a lot of negative things about the cruises last year, but I hoped it had improved. I’ve never had a problem on NCL out of NYC, but this sounds pretty bad.

I can book this cruise 10 nights for about a 1000 for an inside! Or I can fly to FL for the celebration for around 1300 for 7 nights! Never been on a Carnival cruise! Only NCL and Royal! Which u think is best? I live about 90 mins from NYC

Unfortunately, a lot of people feel more comfortable around that behavior, not less. Some people are really intimidated by the "fanciness" of cruising. I really think they look at Carnival as a bunch of maniacs getting drunk and they actually see that as a positive. Not sure how Carnival can deal with countermarketing that

Thanks for the secret trick on the drug dog baggage check. Time to make sure to transfer it smoke from luggage to socks or pants pockets AFTER check-in

I bet these were 1st time cruiser, short cheap cruise.