I recently had the privilege of cruising with Carnival to New England aboard the Venezia. This is a former Costas ship converted to an Italian themed ship. While it was nicely decorated I did have a list of pros and cons. Let's focus on the Casino located on the 4th floor. There is a large size smoking casino along with a small non- smoking casino. While there are a lot of games, the casino was packed on sea days and not enough machines to meet the demand. Twice I wanted to play and could not find free machines. There was a good mix of popular games and some table games. Sadly, there were no poker tournaments for the duration of the cruise. While the staff was friendly this section was short staffed and not many waiters taking drink orders. Drinks are not initially free, players may earn them upon reaching a certain number of player points. Other rewards could include free spa services, dinners, etc. Players can insert cash into the machines or charge to their rooms. The roo...