Ports of Call from Carnival Venezia: Princess Cays, Grand Turk, Amber Cove, San Juan, Miami, Nassau, Freeport

January and February 2024

Princess Cays on Carnival Venezia January 2024

Princess Cays, Bahamas: January 8AM - 4PM

Princess Cays is a tender port, and we received a printed paper with tender instructions the night before. The paper actually contained information about priority tender boarding for passengers with excursions. I presume they just used the same notice for platinum and diamond guests, too. After breakfast, we walked to the showroom boarding area, where boarding was already in process. We arrived on the island before 9AM.

Princess Cays January 2024

We walked to the right after getting off the tender boat, as we had heard this area is less crowded than the main side. It was definitely less crowded. In fact, we decided not to have lunch on the island after we saw how crowded and busy the main area was later in the day. The lines for lunch looked like utter chaos. Some in our group stayed; however, my husband and I returned to the ship.

Princess Cays January 2024 from the less visited side of the island

This was our first visit to Princess Cays. The water is beautiful; however, the island and beach area is much smaller than Half Moon Cay. If you just want to enjoy the beach and water, there are plenty of lounge chairs available on both sides of the port dock.

View from our pool chairs at Margaritaville in Grand Turk

Grand Turk, Turks and Caicos: 11AM - 6PM

We have been to Grand Turk several times, and you can find more information about this port by clicking on the label at the bottom of the post. We have previously done beach days at this port, as well as the Junkanoo Party Bus, Rum Mixology & Beach shore excursion. This time, we decided to just have margaritas at Margaritaville. 

Carnival Venezia at Amber Cove January 2024
Below: Amber Cove pricing - visible if you click on it to enlarge

Carnival Venezia Cruise: 10-day Eastern Caribbean and 9-day Bahamas from Manhattan

January and February 2024

There are literally hundreds of posts and comments about this new Carnival ship. I tried to focus this post on some of the less talked about things; however, it is still a bit lengthy. There is lots of info, if you are looking!

We added a second cruise to our original booking a bit after we had booked the first itinerary. The cabin we had for the first cruise was not available the second week, so we had to change rooms on our back-to-back cruise. You can find more info about B2B details near the end of this post.

Above: Manhattan pier 88 as Venezia is pulling away
Below: the walkway as we are boarding

Arrival and platinum check-in ~ Manhattan cruise terminal

We walked one mile to the cruise port from DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel New York Times Square West. This was pretty easy without many pedestrians until we got close to the port. Our check-in time was one of the earliest, 10AM - 10:30AM, and there were quite a few guests wheeling their luggage away from the port when we were trying to enter the port area. We felt a bit like fish swimming upstream.  😄

The check-in process and security screening went quickly, and then we took a seat in the general waiting area until boarding started. We did not hear any special groups board, like wedding parties; just handicap and diamond guests before platinum guests boarded. We were on board around 10:45 AM. Guests boarded later than this for our second cruise, because our B2B process had not been completed yet at 10:30 AM.

 

Balcony cabin 7209 on Carnival Venezia

Balcony cabin 7209 category 8G

We felt like this cabin should be listed as an obstructed view cabin with a lower price than an 8G balcony cabin. We would have chosen the cabin next door, #7215, if we had realized the information I am sharing here.

Balcony cabin category 8G #7209 on Carnival Venezia

The balcony in this cabin is about 1' shorter than the rest of the balconies because of the way it starts out since it is the first cabin. Also, since the bridge is on deck 8, we had an extreme overhead roof, and some obstructions from the navigation equipment. The overhead roof was not as much of a hinderance to us as the equipment. If you prefer sun, you will definitely not like this room.

Balcony cabin category 8G #7209 on Carnival Venezia

Carnival Elation 7 Day Eastern Caribbean Ports of Call: Grand Turk, Half Moon Cay, Nassau

January 2023

We have been to all of these ports more than once prior to this trip. We did not book any excursions this time, and you can find more information about any of these ports by clicking on labels of interest at the bottom of this post.

 Carnival Elation in Grand Turk January 2023 

Grand Turk, Turks and Caicos: 7:00 AM - 2:00 PM

You are supposed to have had COVID-19 vaccinations to disembark in Grand Turk. We received a letter the day before our arrival, saying that we needed to go to guest services to show our vaccination cards, if we wanted to go ashore. This information was then linked to our sail and sign cards that are scanned when disembarking. When we disembarked, people in the line next to ours were not being allowed off because they had not done this. This caused a brief holdup in that line while they were taken out of line to return to guest services or stay on the ship. Different passengers on shore told us they had not received the letter, and that they had not shown proof of their vaccination to anyone. They said they are vaccinated, so I am not sure if this had been taken care of by their travel agent, or another way, and they just did not recall it.

Carnival Elation in Grand Turk January 2023

Our experience in Grand Turk was peaceful, and we enjoyed it more than prior visits. We walked on the beach on both sides of the port, and not one person tried to rent us overpriced chairs or umbrellas. There is no charge to use lounge chairs at the cruise center or Margaritaville. You can find more information about this in my posts from February 2020 and 2022. The beach area to the right after you get ashore is less crowded; however, the swimming area on this side is also stonier, than the busier area on the left. You can read about the Junkanoo Party Bus, Rum Mixology & Beach shore excursion that we took last year in the February 2022 blog post.

Carnival Elation at Half Moon Cay January 2023

Carnival Sunshine Cruise: 4-day Bahama Cruise from Charleston, South Carolina

November - December 2019 Spa cabin 11001

Next to Alchemy Bar in Ocean Plaza on Carnival Sunshine

Pre-cruise

We previously sailed on Carnival Sunshine from New Orleans shortly after it had been refurbished in 2014. We had a balcony cabin near the back of the ship for that cruise. We had some water problems in our cabin then, as did others. I was not very interested in another cruise after some of the things that happened on that cruise; however, my feelings have changed since then. Our initial travel plans this trip were to visit Charleston, and we decided to extend our trip a few more days on the cruise ship, because the price was good. 

You can find more details about the Carnival Sunshine in my previous blog post. I am providing information here that is new or different since then.

View of bridge between Charleston and Mount Pleasant from Carnival Sunshine

Arrival and VIP check-in ~ Charleston cruise port

This was our first experience cruising from Charleston. I had read that check-in begins sometime around 10:00 or 11:00 AM, so we submitted a request for an Uber ride from our airport hotel shortly after 10:00 AM. The information online says that the drop-off address is 32 Washington Street, which is the address I used. Our Uber driver arrived right away, and we arrived at the port just after 10:30 AM. We were told it would be about five minutes before we could enter. I inquired whether we could walk in so our driver would not have to wait. There was one other vehicle waiting, and our driver said he would wait with us. About five minutes later, our driver drove us into the cruise port area, and dropped us and our luggage off.

Directions to VIP check-in were clear, and security was a breeze. We arrived at the check-in desk right away. We then stood at the desk for over five minutes, because there was some kind of issue with our check-in. I do not know what the problem was, and the agent was apparently unable to correct it. She finally just checked us in again, and then had to take a photo of my husband. My passport photo showed up on the screen, and his did not. We had a similar experience last time we cruised, and I do not understand what the problem is. We renewed our passports together, we always check-in together with the same credit card on the account, and we always have the correct documents when we arrive.

After we checked in, there is a VIP waiting area near the shuttle boarding area. There is only one restroom at this end of the building, and the line was quite long. I walked back to the other end of the building to use the restroom. There was also a line there; however, it was not as long as the VIP line. Soon after, we boarded a shuttle bus for a short ride over to the ship and boarded. We were on board before noon. We were the first ones to arrive at Red Frog Pub; however, the bartender did not know anything about the first beverage being free for the first guests. I do not know if Carnival did away with this, or if the bartender was just uninformed.

Interior spa cabin 11001 on Carnival Sunshine

Spa interior cabin 11001 4S

Our cabin was ready when we boarded. This was our 19th cruise, and our first time in a spa cabin. We chose this cabin because it looked like it was located in a quiet hallway, and because it is located near Serenity deck. The rate when we booked was not much more than a basic interior room.

Interior spa cabin 11001 on Carnival Sunshine

Carnival Conquest ports of call: Nassau, Half Moon Cay, Grand Turk, Amber Cove

February 2019, ports from 6-day cruise on Carnival Conquest

Docked in Nassau; view from front of ship overlooking serenity deck.

This is a brief post about our ports of call from Carnival Conquest. We have previously visited most of these ports, and we did not book any shore excursions this trip. Click on the labels at the bottom of this post for more information about places of interest. You can also find additional photos with information in the Carnival Conquest Facebook album, and information about the cruise in the cruise blog post.

View from our balcony, cabin 7405, while docked in Nassau.

Nassau, Bahamas: 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM

Nassau was our first port of call after one day at sea. Since this was a busy cruise with a port of call almost every day, and we will be returning to Nassau before the end of the year, we decided to enjoy the view and silence from serenity deck for most of the day. Later in the day, we got off the ship for a short time to look around. There were three ships docked during our visit, and it was easy to disembark and return to the ship. We observed an outdoor market with items for sale inside the port area, and the area outside the port was similar to other ports we have visited: shopping, dining, and vendors trying to sell excursions, and such. Returning to the ship, we noticed a sign for guests boarding Disney about bringing wine and alcohol on board. It said guests are allowed to bring one bottle of alcohol and wine on. Carnival guests are not allowed to do that at any of the ports of call. Carnival guests can bring one bottle of wine on only from the home port at the start of the cruise.