This morning we arrived in Venice, what an amazing city to sail into. The ship cruises right past St Marks square. To get a good view while coming into port you need to be on deck or balcony at least 45min before arrival time. You want to be on the right hand side of the boat as it sails in and the left side as it leaves. Our balcony being on the right side was perfect for the arrival, for the departure we were up on deck 11 with the masses crowded on the railings.
It's hard to know when booking a cabin to work out which side of the boat its best to be on. Of course it's less important for the aft balconies and the corner ones like ours wrap around a little but still one side is definitely better than the other. For media cruises I would definitely recommend the right (starboard) side of the ship. Perfect location for Monaco, for Livorno and Rome it doesn't matter cause you're only looking at an industrial port, it was the best side for naples (although there are a number of possible places where the ship can dock), for Croatia either sides provided a good view (not of old town as cruise shops dock at main port on other side of old town). For Venice starboard is best cause you can then stumble out of bed in your robe and watch the city from your balcony. Not sure about sicily as that's tomorrow port.
While I'm on cabin recommendations, I believe that our cabin (6501) is the best on the ship. The corner aft balconies are only on decks 6,7 and 8. Our balcony extends along the back the most and wraps around slightly. On deck 7, the balcony does not go as far along the back but wraps further around the side. For deck 8 its like ours but smaller. So best balconies imho are 6501 (starboard) or the equivalent on the port side - but starboard best for port views.
Our excursion was at 845am so we had to meet in the lounge at 815am. I have been really impressed with the organisation of the excursions. You enter one side of the theatre and get handed a red numbered sticker depending on what excursion you're on. The number of the sticker indicates the group that will you will leave the theatre with and stay together for the excursion. The timings of the departures are all staggered and once buses are ready on dock, each group is called out, you then file out the other side of the theatre and off the boat. This way the queues to get off never seem big or take very long.
Our excursion today was Murano (famous for glass blowing), St. George's island (directly opposite St. Mark's Square and a gondola ride. The gondola rides are very expensive if booked separately, private prices quoted (negoiated by Carnival supposedly with discount) was 100 euro for a 30min ride for 2 people.
We hopped on a private boat from the ship and 50 min later arrived at Murano. Murano was interesting, they gave us a demo of blowing a glass and decorating it with colour and beads. The prices for large pieces are extortionate! Everything is handmade and looks very impressive (and prices include guaranteed safe delivery anywhere in the world). Some tumblers were tempting (360 euros for a set of 6) but I'd be too scared to ever use them! We bought a couple of smaller items from other shops on the island. I would recommend definitely shopping around as the place we did the tour with was the most expensive.
After Murano, we got back on the boat, 30 min later were on St. George's island with great views across the lagoon. After a small stop there we crossed the lagin and went for a 30min gondola ride. At the end of the excursion you had the option of staying in Venice and then catching a water taxi back to the ship later. We'd been to St. Mark's Square before so just headed back to the boat. Had tacos for lunch at the Blue Iguana canteen and then enjoyed a quiter water park while most people were still off the boat.
The boat left at 7pm and gave us an amazing view of the city on the way out (while sipping back our cocktails :)
For dinner we went to the Red Frog pub and had some Carribean "tapas". Each dish costs $3.33 and two each is more than enough. The guy that comes on later for live music is very good and we chilled our listening to the music and playing cards.
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