What a 3-Day Cruise on the Carnival Firenze Feels Like

Carnival fun Italian style. What does that actually mean? We took a three day sailing aboard the Carnival Firenze out of Long Beach to find out, and we did it from an aft facing Terrazza balcony, which came with a set of perks we had never tried before on Carnival.

This was our third time on the Firenze and our first time ever booking Terrazza, which is the Firenze and Venezia version of what Havana is on the other Carnival ships. Short version: we would do it again. Longer version, including the embarkation morning that went sideways before we even reached the terminal, is below.

Embarkation Day Did Not Start Well

We got two pieces of bad news before we even arrived. First, we might be parking off site, several miles away, with a shuttle back and forth. Second, the normal gangway that runs from the dome across to the ship’s Deck 3 atrium was malfunctioning, so everyone was being taken off at ground level. That delayed debarkation, which in turn delayed embarkation, which was backing up the parking structure.

Then we hit traffic. There was a large event setting up in the Queen Mary parking lot with a temporary amphitheater, which turned out to be a concert called Zombie Apocalypse starting at 4:00. Not the season we would have picked for that theme, but the stage certainly fit it.

It worked out. We parked in the structure on level three, no off site shuttle needed. And in more than twenty cruises out of Long Beach, we had never boarded the way we did that day: across at ground level, along the crew walkway and over the little bridge, then up to the atrium. Honestly, it was not much longer than normal and it was a genuinely interesting experience. The one thing we were truly grateful for was that we were not selected for the old in person muster drill, which we had drawn on our previous Carnival Radiance sailing and did not miss even slightly.

Of course, that did not mean everyone else had checked in. At 4:30 we were still in Long Beach, with the crew announcing they were waiting on over a thousand people to complete their muster station check in.

The Terrazza Experience

You get a wristband with your cards that says Terrazza, and that opens up the exclusive space at the back of the ship on Deck 5, plus the Moda lounge.

The Terrazza sail away party was, hand on heart, the best sail away party we have ever been to. The DJ was excellent, the view was ours, the bar service behind us was attentive, seating was plentiful, and there was none of the crush you get up on the main deck. It felt like an 80s party without all the people. Our bartender Raymart looked after us all weekend, and he has a baby girl on the way, so congratulations again, Raymart.

One oddity: the heating elements out there were switched on in roughly 75 degree weather. We had to move seats because the one behind us was far too hot. We never did figure out why.

The Terrazza balcony cabins on Deck 5 are worth understanding before you book. Those are more patio style than traditional balconies, a shared balcony space rather than your own, so they are much more social. If that is what you want, that is a genuine plus. You are also a few steps from the hot tubs and the lounge. If you want privacy, book higher, like we did, and accept the trade offs we get into below.

Breakfast in the Moda Lounge

Because we were in a Terrazza suite, we could come down to the Moda lounge for the Terrazza breakfast, in an area blocked off to everyone else.

Christina expected a continental setup, some pastries laid out on a table. It was not that at all. You order from a small menu, tell the server, and they bring it to your table. Tony had a vegetable omelette and pork sausage, Christina had lox and bagel with a cinnamon danish. Juices are self serve at the station: apple, orange, and a passion fruit guava that tastes a bit like a POG, though not quite like fresh POG.

It was genuinely good, and worth noting that it is the same lox and bagel you would get in the dining room anyway, without the dining room. The contrast mattered later in the trip: when we walked up to the Lido Marketplace buffet at 10:00 a.m. on our Ensenada day, it was pure chaos, with a giant line at every single station.

The Sea Day

Our sea day landed on Military Appreciation Day and America’s 250th birthday celebration at sea, so the large American flag was up and there were events on the Lido deck through the afternoon.

The Diamond party at noon was held in the steakhouse, which led us to believe lunch was coming. It was not. It was appetizers and drinks, and unusually there was no introduction of the captain or senior officers, which lines normally do. A few crew came around and introduced themselves, which was nice, and it was a perfectly pleasant hour, just not what we expected.

Most of the day we spent back in the Terrazza area in a little alcove next to one of the two hot tubs, Christina napping under a blue shade, Tony with a drink and a view. Southern California gave us June gloom in the morning, that low overcast that usually burns off by afternoon, and it did. At 2:20 on a sea day the space was still relatively empty. One small gripe: nobody was working the back area for drink orders, so we had to walk up to the bar ourselves, which was surprising for a sea day but not remotely a hardship.

Christina Swept the Trivia

We went into 80s movie trivia in the Moda lounge feeling a little cocky, and the very first question was “be afraid, be very afraid.” We looked at each other, drew a total blank, and got it wrong. It was The Fly.

We still won, with 11 points out of 20. Not because we were good, but because everybody else was worse. Best of the worst. The prize was a Choose Fun and Carnival Firenze medal on a fun Italian style lanyard, our first of those, and the host was impressed enough with Christina that he handed Tony one as well, despite Tony contributing exactly one answer: Lambda Lambda Lambda, Revenge of the Nerds.

The next day Christina went back for 80s TV trivia and won properly, 19 out of 20, missing only one that neither of us knew. It pays to be old and to have watched a lot of television in your youth. For the record, she is also close to unbeatable on Star Wars and Seinfeld, if you would like to come aboard and try.

Where We Ate

Bonsai Sushi was the standout, and we went on our first night. A tempura roll with avocado for Tony, the same without for Christina, because this California girl maintains avocado is icky. We added shrimp tempura and miso salmon, and the wasabi is served shaped as a flower, which is a lovely touch even if Christina immediately destroyed hers. The whole meal came to about $44 for the two of us, which, as people who live in Los Angeles and know what sushi costs, felt like real value.

It was formal night on our sea day and we skipped the dining room entirely. There was no lobster on the menu, so we could not see the benefit, and we had already done Bonsai the night before. We went to the buffet instead, and we are entirely at peace with that. This was a chilling kind of cruise.

The buffet food is good, average Carnival buffet food, which is not an insult. We also had pizza and the fake Shaq’s chicken up on the Lido deck on boarding day.

What We Would Flag About the Firenze

One thing we noticed this time that we had missed on previous sailings: the casino has no dedicated bar. You either flag down a bar waiter or go somewhere else entirely to get a drink, and the service was very slow. We lost all our money before our drink arrived, and then had to sit there and wait for it anyway. The non smoking casino is very small with a limited selection of games, and we ended up back in the smoking section.

On comedy, there were two comedians on board. We liked one much more than the other, and Tony left the first show early to go get pizza. Comedy is subjective, and we generally like the comedy on Carnival ships, so take that as one data point rather than a verdict.

And then the cabin. We loved the Terrazza balcony itself, which is big and covered and genuinely private with a beautiful wake view. But Deck 9 sits directly below the Lido deck, so there is chair scraping overhead, and the room had a jarring vibration at night that felt like small earthquakes. We are Southern Californians, so that was literally our first thought every time. It woke us up several nights running, and we are not people who are easily bothered by motion. If we booked Terrazza again, and we would, we would go further forward or pick a regular balcony on the side.

There was also a 5:00 a.m. bing bong over the room intercom one morning, which as any cruiser knows is usually followed by something you do not want to hear. It was followed by nothing at all. Somebody hit the wrong button, moved on with their day, and left the whole deck awake.

Ensenada, Where We Did Absolutely Nothing

We woke up in Ensenada to a beautiful day with no other ships in port and, for the first time in a while, the flag up. We still do not know the rhyme or reason for when they raise it.

We got off the ship purely to take exterior photos and look for sea lions. We heard them earlier in the morning and of course they went quiet the moment we got over there. Then we got straight back on. We had planned to do more, and we simply decided against it. We have been to Ensenada a lot lately, and it is a lovely walk into town but it is not necessary.

What surprised us is that nobody else seemed to get off either. At 1:00 the ship felt exactly like a sea day. The main pool area was packed. We ran into people coming back aboard who had done the same thing we did, and our friends on board, who happened to be on this sailing entirely by coincidence and were taking their very first cruise, also got off and came straight back.

Father’s Day at Sea

Our last day was Father’s Day, and Carnival handed out slices of a large chocolate cake along with a little chocolate cowboy figure, which Tony immediately gave to Christina. They also gave out a card making kit and a sheet of questions to ask your dad, which we took home for the kids to fill in. If you have your children with you, there is more to that celebration than we got, but it was a nice touch either way.

The Fastest Debarkation We Have Ever Had

We were told the night before that the gangway had been fixed and then broken again, so we were bracing for the whole rigmarole of elevators and the crew entrance a second time. It had in fact been fixed.

We did self assist. We left our room at almost exactly 7:00 a.m., walked to the elevator, and never stopped walking again until we reached the passport machine. Across the Long Beach gangway, into the dome, down the ramps, straight to the passport line. We were on the freeway 26 minutes later, before 7:30. That is the fastest debarkation we have ever had on any ship.

The only thing left to navigate was Monday morning traffic, and the crews taking down the zombie apocalypse stage in the Queen Mary parking lot.

Our Verdict on a 3-Day Firenze Getaway

This was a vacation cruise rather than a do everything cruise, and we went in knowing that. Christina finished a good chunk of a crocheted shawl. Tony got from 74 percent to 77 percent of a very large book. Neither of us regrets a minute of it.

The Firenze is an absolutely beautiful ship, and the Terrazza experience is the thing that made this weekend feel bigger than three days. Out of every Carnival ship we have sailed, this was our first time doing Terrazza or Havana, and we genuinely did not know what we were missing. We would do it again without hesitating. We would just pick a different cabin position.