Carnival Venezia is a Venice-class cruise operated by Carnival Cruise Line, a subsidiary of Carnival Corporation & plc. Originally intended to serve the Chinese market, she debuted as Costa Venezia for sister brand Costa Cruises in Shanghai on 18 May 2019.
At 135,225 gross tonnage (GT) and with a capacity of 4,208 passengers, she became the largest ship commissioned for the Costa fleet upon her delivery.
In March 2023, she was officially renamed Carnival Venezia during her pre-delivery renovation and debuted for Carnival the following May as the lead vessel for the new sub.
On 1 November 2017, Costa Cruises announced that the first of the two vessels built specifically for the Chinese market would be named Costa Venezia.
The announcement came at the coin ceremony for the ship at the Fincantieri shipyard in Monfalcone.
On 22 June 2022, Carnival Corporation announced that Costa Venezia and sister ship Costa Firenze would be transferred to Costa’s sister brand, Carnival Cruise Line, in 2023 and 2024, respectively, under a new sub-brand, “Costa by Carnival” operating as “Carnival Fun Italian Style”.
Both ships would be renamed with the Carnival prefix, painted in a hybrid Costa and Carnival livery, and staffed and operated by Carnival.
It was a project aimed at boosting Carnival’s capacity in the American market during its recovery following the COVID-19 pandemic and came after Carnival had sold numerous older vessels in its fleet while Costa faced operational challenges in its core markets, including Europe and China.
The ship left the shipyard in late-May and commenced operations on 29 May 2023 with her inaugural voyage, a two-week transatlantic crossing from Barcelona to New York, after which she was christened by her godfather, American comedian Jay Leno, on 14 June 2023.
Carnival Venezia sails year-round from her homeport in Manhattan to the Caribbean and from December 2024, she operates week-long Caribbean voyages from Port Canaveral on a seasonal basis.
The ship spans 12 passenger decks, accommodating up to 4,090. 1,061 Length in Feet, 1,424 Onboard
Crew it has a total of 15 decks.
Deck 3: The social hub featuring the Grand Central Atrium, Piazza San Marco, and the lower level of the main Canal Grande Restaurant.
Deck 4: Home to the Venezia Casino, Dreams Studio, and the multi-level Teatro Rosso.
Deck 5 (The Piazza): Features the interactive Bonsai Teppanyaki, Fahrenheit 555 Steakhouse, Bonsai Sushi, and the elevated Il Viaggio.
Deck 12: Features the Cloud 9 Spa, Fitness Center, and a 9-hole mini-golf course.
Deck 14: Features the sprawling Carnival WaterWorks aqua park and a high-ropes course.
Carnival Venezia’s deck plan includes an adults-only spot: the Serenity Deck on Deck 15. It’s a large area with sunbeds, loungers and clamshells. There’s no charge, but it fills up fast, especially on sea days, when towels are clipped into place early, even if the actual chair occupants don’t return till much later.
As you tour the Carnival Venezia ship, you’ll find the outdoor sports facilities and activities on decks 11 through 14. These include a running track, pickle ball and basketball court, ropes course, waterpark, mini golf and gym, and an arcade.
The double-deck lido area is like an Italian piazza, surrounded by cafes, bars and restaurants, including a new venue Tomodoro (Mexican/Italian); Guy’s Burger Joint and the buffet. It’s enclosed with a sunroof (or Magrodome), which opens and shuts depending on the weather.
Main Dining: The two primary complimentary restaurants are the Canal Grande and Marco Polo restaurants.
Cabin category’s include: Interior, Oceanview, Balcony, Suite, or Terrazza.
The “best” deck on the Carnival Venezia depends on your travel style. However, Deck 5 is widely considered the overall favorite due to its exclusive Terrazza staterooms, and Deck 6 or 7 Midship are ideal for quick, quiet access to dining and entertainment.
The cruisers on Carnival Venezia, we met and spoke to mentioned Decks 5, 6 and 7 as best decks on the ship, which is close to many amenities and activities.
The Carnival Venezia is a highly rated, elegant ship praised for its beautiful, Italian-inspired decor, specialty restaurants, and engaging entertainment.
Each room includes, dedicated stateroom attendant, Soft, cozy linens, Plenty of closet and drawer space, In-room safe for valuables, Television and Stateroom climate control.
Sails To: Bahamas, Bermuda, Canada/New England, Caribbean. Sails From: Manhattan, New York City, NY; Port Canaveral (Orlando), Fl; Miami, FL. Duration: 2 – 5 Days, 6 – 9 Days, 10+ Days.
It was our 1st time sailing on Carnival Venezia, in May 17-28 2026, for 11 days Caribbean Sailing.
So I will share my experiences, about the ship, food, entertainment, and people I met on the ship who have cruised on Carnival Venezia, many times who shared their experiences and why they keep coming back.
Carnival Venezia Ship: It is an elegant ship, not too big easy to navigate through the ship. It took me 4 hours to figure out where everything is on the ship. If I needed help I asked the staff who directed me to my destination to where I needed to go. So this was a very good thing. I did make notes before I went on the cruise to get familiar with the layout and what was on each deck and that was very helpful for me.
It was very clean all the 11 days I was on it. Staff was working around the clock to make this happen day in and day out.
As I was taking my morning walks on the Deck 12, the floor was wet, and I saw the workers standing and immediately moping the wet floor on a regular basis, so nobody slips or falls or have any other accidents.
Sometimes once the announcements were made over the speaker you might not hear them you had to go outside your room to hear what was being said. I was a little concerned about that, I had my room service guy talk to guest services, once he spoke with them, that was handled very fast and we had no issues with this matter.
Food and Dining: Deck 10 Lido Marketplace, is the Buffett which is free and has all kinds of foods, during, breakfast, Lunch and Dinner. I ate many times at the buffet, the food was very fresh, well cooked, and I mostly eat fish, fresh fruits, vegetables, pasta options, many dessert options which included cakes, Swirl Ice cream , Vanilla , Chocolate and strawberry flavors, which were pretty good, I tried all three, I liked the chocolate flavor best.
Food was different on a daily basis there were Ice Tea and Lemonade drink options also included free of charge , or you could drink filtered water, which I drank on a daily basis, I took my own bottle which I filled up an daily basis and carried it in my backpack , to keep me dehydrated .
I also want to give a shout out to the Christian from Italy Executive chef, for taking time to prepare certain dishes, we could eat, due to our religious observance and to certain allergies.
The Executive Chef Christian, came out of few occasions to find out if our food was correctly prepared and that we were having a good culinary experience. I would say that was very highly appreciated on the Executive Chefs side, as he had to oversee hundreds of meals for guests during dinner, and make time to come to ask us if everything was fine. That was a class act on his side.
I also like to give a shootout to some people in dinning. Andrius from Lithuania and Tarriq from Bosnia, maître d’ who were in charge Canal Grande restaurant dining room. Both these guys were wonderful always happy social, greeting you every time, you came for breakfast and dinner.
I want to thank our head waiter who took care of us for 11 days, while were cruising, Reymark from the Philippines, he was the best, he had the appetizers, ready , with our salads, and main dish, as soon as we finished one course, he would bring the next. To get us out in half hour, so we can get ready for our night show.
Also I like to thank Remuth from India, who bought us our bread and lemonade when requested. Allan from Indonesia took care of us during breakfast, wonderful personality, always asking if you need anything else and going above and beyond.
I also wanted to thank the front office staff who would book your seat nightly and check you in every time you came for breakfast and dinner.
I wanted to thank Anastasia from Belarus, in charge of booking tables, every night she would give us the same table, looking right into the ocean, she would tell us if we were 15 mins late the table will be given to someone else. We were never late and had the same table every night for the 11 days of cruising we did.
Mariella from Philipines and Erika from Colombia, will greet us at the opening of the dining room and check us in, and grab our hands and lead us to our table, always smiling, happy, and social. Willing to help.
I have traveled on many cruises, and dined on many places, this was the best service, and I had from executive chef, to maître d’s, waiters, food servers, front staff , never seen anything like this. I would go as far to say Carnival for us is king of food and service, for now.
Shows and Nightlife: Teatro Rosso: The ship’s main, multi-deck theater—inspired by dramatic Venetian design—hosts Playlist Productions, which are full-scale, musical stage shows.
We also participated in Captain Claudio Cupisti, Formal captains’ cocktail party, with his senior officers, where we took pictures with the Captian and his senior staff.
We also attended on many occasions, Park West Gallery art auctions, seeing art by masters like Picasso, Salvador Dali, Peter Marx, and many more artists, from around the world.
William Earp –Jones Principal Art Auctioneer for Part West Gallery from South Africa, and his staff did a wonderful job. What I enjoyed most was the talks about Picasso, a 45 minute talk, about him and his art works.
Also Peter Marx artist, world renowned Artist, From New York. Which to me was a learning experience, as William our host mentioned, that Peter Marx, was one of the people alongside Lee Iacocca, former chairman of Chrysler, to raise $150 Million dollars to restore and repair the statue of liberty.
Mr William also spoke about many upcoming artists, there style of art, painting and creativity. I really enjoyed this so much. As living in New York, you have so much museums one goes and see’s so much.
First-timer or lifelong collector, Park West’s cruise ship art auctions are built for all, and our selection showcases it. Each voyage brings a freshly curated lineup of originals, limited editions, and works across every style, medium, and price point.
So in conclusion, it was our first Carnival Cruise, I will say the following. It was a good experience, we enjoyed our time, met very interesting people, Cruise ship, had a vintage look to it.
The Staff was very nice, had a pleasure of speaking with Captain Claudio Cupisti, during formal night a wonderful man who has been in this kind of work for over 42 years.
The Food was the best we ate, fresh daily different options daily, breakfast many choices daily, Sea day brunches, were my favorite, especially the 7 layer Chocolate cake melts in your mouth.
Many activities, shopping experiences, Spa’s specialty bars and so much more.
After this great experience, I look forward to doing another Carnival cruise, and having a wonderful experience on another ship. I am truly a big fan of Carnival.
To learn more about Carnival or to do any bookings click here.
See more coverage of Carnival Venezia in our World Liberty TV, Travel and Tourism channels by clicking here.
