Welcome back to Byte Size Cruises! If this is your first time joining us, we are glad to have you here. We are a travel agency out of Philadelphia, PA and we specialize in ALL things cruises! If you enjoy cruise vacations or if you are looking to learn more about cruising, you are in the right place. Our goal here is to share the best and most up to date information so you can go on an amazing cruise vacation and fall in love with cruising like we did!
Today we are talking about our favorite topic; food on cruise ships! Recently, the Byte Size team was on the Carnival Venezia. Here is our review of all the food included in the price of your cruise fare. If you want to check out this post on our YouTube channel, click here.
Carnival has a lot of included food options on the Venezia, which we loved. One of the issues we did run into is that all of the included food areas are very close in location on the ship. Compared to the Jubilee, where the included food options are spread out on the ship, this created a lot of high traffic areas and congestion.
Let's get into each of the included food options:
The Lido Marketplace
This is the buffet option on the Carnival Venezia. The buffet is very nice (as is most of the Carnival buffets). When you go in, you have your food stations in the middle and all the seating is on the outside. We love this configuration because it gives you a little breather from the crowds of people. The buffet does get crowded however we never had a hard time getting to the food here. They had a huge selection as well as specialty themes that changed daily.
The Marco Polo Restaurant
This is the main dining room on the Carnival Venezia. We ate several different meals here and each meal was good! We especially liked the sea day brunch because they have a ton of options and it's a great day to sleep in and take your time getting to your first meal of the day.
Our experience overall with the service and food was excellent. Now, remember to mind your expectations here. In the included food options you most likely aren't going to get the best steak you've ever had in your life. Don't expect the included restaurants to be as good or inventive as the specialty dining options. When you go into a meal here with this in mind, we think you'll have an amazing experience and enjoy the food.
Guys Burger Joint
This is an included option on the Venezia for a unique and fast food experience. Here, you can choose one of their varieties of burgers or create your own. They also have tons of fixing options so you can create a burger exactly to your liking. All said and done, the burgers are good, fries are good, and this is a great place to hit up for lunch or dinner by the pool.
The Estrada Grill
This is a great little place up on deck 5 on the Venezia. This place is nothing fancy; it's a little buffet area that is often quiet and a great place to grab something to eat on your first day. This restaurant is only open on sea days and you just grab a metal tray and put your food on it cafeteria style. This is a great little hideaway spot if you want to avoid the crowds.
Tomoro
This is the Mexican restaurant on the Venezia (a bit like the Blue Iguana if you've been on other Carnival cruises.) They serve breakfast, lunch, and dinner here and you can get all sorts of tacos, burritos, snacks, etc. We did not eat a full meal here but we did grab a bunch of snacks and everything we had was delicious.
Pizzaria del Capitano
This is the pizza restaurant on board! Every time we went to Pizzeria del Capitano it was about a 20 to 25 minute wait and at the end of the day, it's pizza. It's not bad at all, it's not the most amazing pizza in the world, but it's pizza. If you're craving pizza on this ship, you'll enjoy what you get here. It's a great late night snack or quick bite to eat depending on the wait time.
Last but not least...
The Deli
Our biggest and only challenge with the deli is the location. It is located near the center of the buffet and it just gets incredibly congested with crowds of people. They serve soups and sandwiches here and the food was fine, no complaints there. Again, our only issue was the location and dealing with the crowds.
That is our rundown of all the included food options on the Carnival Venezia! Have you cruised on this ship before? Which of the included food options did you enjoy the most? We would love to hear from you!