Carnival Venezia Day 5 – Belize

Belize is a great place for snorkeling, scuba diving and jungle excursions. But the city is a third-world mess and all of those activities involve expensive excursions and a 30-minute ferry shuttle ride to shore. We were not interested in doing any of those things so we stayed on the ship.

We had some minimal internet at breakfast (we were, after all, a mile from shore) and were able to catch up on messages and email. But I was not able to blog. It was a nice day and we decided to spend an hour wandering about the Venezia. It is pretty typical in what it offers but everything is done with style. We like this ship very much. I will try to show you why.

The atrium lobby is beautiful, with glass staircases and golden griffins. The pool may be the most beautiful that I have seen on any cruise ship – you feel like you are in the middle of an Italian plaza.

The interior staircases are decorated with scenes of Venice and paintings of people in masks. Very tasteful.

The Lido buffet is very attractive and there are a number of specialty grills available, including a Guy’s Burger.

The ship has a JavaBlue coffee cafe where, for a price, you can get some really good coffee. But the coffee in the buffet is pretty good too.

The Serenity adults-only area is beautiful.

If you want to be active, the ship has some very nice water slides, a basketball/pickleball court, minigolf, a ropes course and some exercise equipment. There is also a small pool at the stern which offers a nice view of the ocean.

Today was my 76th birthday. The ship apparently knew that and put Beef Wellington on the menu. Delicious. However, the rest of the meal was terrible. I started with a beef barley soup that was supposed to have beef and ham. There was none. And very little barley. It was like a bland potato soup. Blah. The salad arrived with no dressing at all. We had to request some. And the desserts were blah also. The worst meal we have had on board. But saved by the terrific Beef Wellington. Marlene had swordfish which she said was quite good.

The day was also spoiled by the air disaster in DC. Terrible news.

We attended the show after dinner – Color My World. Very colorful production. Very good voices. A treat.

Marlene also got a photo op with TJ, the Cruise Director.

We went to the casino after the show. I lost $60 (but still up $100 for the cruise). Marlene didn’t play – she is still smarting from her losses earlier in the trip.