cruisecamp

I am going on the Victory in April.... is there anything I should know before I go there? Do they have hairdryers in the room? Has anyone done the optional times seating for dinner? Do you have to wait in line to eat then ?

We are also going in April (13-17)! There are new hairdryers in all updated rooms. We have not done anytime seating before but are going to try it on this cruise. From what I've read depending on how busy the dining room is when you get there, you may have wait a short time for a seat but I wouldn't think it would be a long wait.

We are flying into FLL the night before our cruise out of Miami. We have a certificate for a free room at a Marriott category 1-5 hotel and can only find this option in these 2 Miami hotels vs. any in the FLL area. Our plans are to use Uber from FLL airport to a hotel and next day using Uber again to the port. Has anyone stayed at either of these hotels? Is either near any CVS, Walgreens, Publix etc? Thoughts or suggestions are appreciated!

Any recent updates on the Victory renovations? We are cruising on this ship in April. Thanks!!

We are are flying into FLL at 9 pm and thinking of using Uber to get to our hotel in Miami. We have not used Uber before.....are drivers readily available in the evening and any concerns about using Uber late at night?

Cruisecamp, our flight arrived 12:55 PM, were on ship around 2:30 or 2:45, by the time we got on shuttle and through lines to board etc. Not real fast but typical.

Thanks for the info! Do you happen to know the name of the Maitre D on the Conquest??

Got home Saturday night from a great cruise on the Carnival Conquest. Myself and 3 lady friends left our hubby's at home and did our semi-annual "girls cruise". We had individual cabins. My cabin was category 1A on deck 2 and it was awesome for one person. It had 2 port hole windows and was set up like a standard balcony cabin, however, probably a foot or two shorter due to the curve of the ship. It perfectly accommodated the single bed, sofa, dressing table/vanity, 3 closets and standard bathroom.

 

We all purchased our air from Albany, NY to Ft. Lauderdale through Carnival's Fly2Fun. We had our choice of flights and it all worked out well. All flights were on time. Of course there were lines during embarkation. I'm platinum and my friends are not so I chose to wait in line with them so we could all board together. It was late enough that our rooms were ready when we boarded.

 

We had a quick lunch at the Fish and Chips place, explored the ship a little, then went to muster drill. For some reason the drill took longer than usual and the other side of the ship was "released" before we were so we spent a lot of time standing around. Whole drill lasted well over a half hour.

 

Dinners in the main dining room were always good. I could nit-pick a little but in life nothing is perfect and we just rolled with the flow. The American Table menu and table settings were fine with us. The food was very good - service was good. You could see the waiters are expected to do more so sometimes there were slight glitches. No worries. The melting cake was as good as ever. The one dessert I missed and wish they would bring back is the "bitter and blanc". They did have a chocolate/banana bread pudding that possibly replaced bitter and blanc, but I didn't care for it. They served lobster tails on the first elegant night and shrimp cocktail was available every night.

 

We had breakfast at the Sea Day Brunch a couple of times and also in the dining room on port days. Guys Burger Joint was as good as ever.

 

The hot tubs were nice and hot, the pools were full and I spent one afternoon relaxing in one and it was nice. The sun was very hot; of course it felt nice to be warm for a change however, I did have to move into the shade more than once. Many chairs spent the afternoon with just a towel saving them.

 

Shows were mostly good. Enjoyed the piano bar, especially since it is now smoke free. The Piano Bar Man, Tommy G, was excellent.

 

The shops were closed for the first two days for renovation or whatever. When they finally opened after the first port day, they were noticeably short of merchandise. Seems like all they had was high end clothes, purses, jewelry. Very few casual t-shirts and trinkets and souvenir type items. We later learned that several pallets of merchandise was left back in Ft. Lauderdale due to Customs hold up or something like that.

 

Casino was good to me this trip. I hope Carnival was watching me - I never get a casino offer and hopefully that will change.

 

Embarkation was as expected with long lines in Customs. We used "Luggage Express" which is so worth the $20 to not see our luggage until we were back in Albany. No finding luggage in the warehouse, no dragging luggage to the busses.

 

Good to be home but anticipating another "girls cruise" in year or two.

What time did you arrive and how long did you wait to board the ship in FLL?

My own experience and in talking with some of the Maitre'Ds amounts to the same conclusion. In most cases, they prefer the email because they generally do not get any information about bookings and rely on software to help them setup the dining rooms.

 

The software they use is pretty simple. It helps them seat people of about the same age together but in its simplicity, it can easily split up families/groups that span ages, last names and cabins. This is why you will see a table of 6 or 8 with everyone being in the same sort of age group or in the case of people with kids, if you have 2 adults and a 10 year old, you will likely see them at a table for 6 with another pair of adults and similar age child. Trouble is the software only sorts the people by age/cabin/number of children. It doesn't actually fill up the tables on the chart, this is a manual process because the Maitre'D also has to take into consideration the wait staff and make sure that the tables are distributed equally as well as keep enough tables to spare for making changes.

 

That said, if they get emails in advance, it makes it easier to setup the tables unless by some chance they get clobbered with requests. So it can be hit or miss whether or not you get a response. It is also possible that your request will happen but you don't get a response. Typically the tables are set 2 days before a cruise, so if you set sail on Saturday, you may want to email on Tuesday/Wednesday prior. Too far in advance is not a good idea. Basically, the 3d and 4th night into a cruise, they will be more likely to respond. I would not email more than 2 weeks in advance of a cruise.

 

Also, be brief. If you write a 3 page email to explain why you want a table for 2 you may as well not send it. Just a list of here's who I'm traveling with, here's their cabin numbers, can we all sit together near a window? Is all they need. They don't need to know who's related to who, just # of people, cabin numbers and where would you like to sit. You have to bear in mind that English is not the primary language of many Maitre'Ds, this is why being brief is best.

 

But the bottom line is that anything they can do to limit the number of change requests they have to try to accommodate at the first night's dinner or when they open the doors at 1:30 on the first day, the better.

 

All that said, there are some Maitre'Ds that are less accommodating. Knowing who the Maitre'D is when you email can help a lot since you might be able to find reviews on them.

 

The policy you cite is correct and there are several Maitre'Ds that would like Carnival to block external email to those addresses. I think the majority would protest that because it does help them to know your requests in advance so long as they don't get hundreds of them.

Where can I find the email address to email a Maitre'D?

Great review so far!! I love reading about your trip because we are sailing on the Victory this Sunday!!

Wondering what were the types of food available for lunch at Jalousie Beach?

Are there places to order from right on the beach?

Some of the dividers "stuck" in the closed position when you wanted to close it. Others did not and banged against the cabiin wall if it was windy during the night. So, short answer, bring the bungees. Also, on this cruise our room door would stay open to the balcony, first time that ever happened.

Libtrek

P.S. small table and 2 chairs on balcony. dumb us, didn't realize until last day that chairs recline. duh

Thanks for the tip on the chair recline--don't know if I would have known that either!:) Would you mind me asking what were the numbers of the 6 rooms your family had all together? Did you have good weather?

Bands stopped anywhere from midnight to 1:30 a.m. Not all of them were as bad as the Latino who had heavy bass which vibrated in the room. Room stewart will open balconies and yes, all six in a row. Dividers did flip over some of the room doors but we managed. Loved sharing sailaways and cocktails with family on the long "verandah".

Libtrek

Did you need any bungee cords to keep the doors or dividers open?

Thanks for your help with all the info!:)

 

3. Never take room 6363 or close by room. We forgot band was underneath. The floor vibrated and the noise was awful at night. Our bad but Carnival did compensate us a bit. We had 6 rooms in a row for family so we could open balcony so didn't get upgraded. We're debating if it's just better to book early and take best available and not be together.

 

If anyone has specific questions, post em before I forget the answers. LOL

Libtrek

We have rooms booked near this one. What time did the band stop, did they play every night? We tend to stay up late at night so are hoping that this won't be too much of a problem. We have 4 rooms in a row so don't think we can switch at this point.

Who did you have to ask to get the balcony dividers opened? Were you able to have all the dividers opened so that all of six of your balconies connected?

Thanks!!

The christmas & new years cruise on the victory didn't have this luck. We are looking for passengers that just got off Sunday to let us know about last week.

I am boarding this sunday for 2 weeks I'll have my second weeks roll call fill you in soon.

Would very much appreciate hearing about your experience!! Recent passengers posts about this have been few and there are a lot of us that are wondering about this. Have a great trip!