REVIEW: Carnival Victry 2/7/10 -2/14/10 Southern Caribbean

[Dirkgun]

Thanks to everyone for the great comments. I will post more as soon as I get a chance to. I have had some requests for more San Juan and fort pics so here are a few more....

 

Cemetary just below El Morro

 

 

Fountain on the walk up to El Morro

 

 

Lighthouse on El Morro

 

 

This picture was preserved down in one of the dungeos cells... they think it was a captain that was recording his ship very neat.

 

 

This is the soldiers sleeping quarters. This pic is from San Cristobal

 

 

looking out across the Great Lawn in front of El Morro. There are always hundreds of kites flying here on the weekends and lots of kids and families having fun.... great place to enjoy an afternoon.

 

[Dirkgun]

DW looking out over the coastline. What a gorgeous panorama.

 

 

Cannon in San Cristobal

 

cannon ball pile on San Cristobal

 

 

Mom and Dad on the same pile

 

 

These Iguanas were all over the San Cristobal fort

 

DS is about 6'1" ... these were not built for tall people. from inside of El Morro.

 

 

Tomorrow more review to come.....

Edited February 25, 2010 by Dirkgun

[Brangwen]

Great review! I want oranges now. :D

[Carolin]

Thank you sooo much on the orange vendor location. That is definitely one of my stops. Awesome review. I'm looking forward to more.

[Dirkgun]

St Thomas - This morning we woke up and we were docked in St Thomas. It is the prototypical Caribbean port that you think of when you think of the Caribbean, very picturesque hillside homes with every kind of boat imaginable anchored in the harbor, water just a gorgeous blue.

 

This morning we had arranged with a guy named John (he is the head of the sttaasc@islands.vi or St Thomas Taxi Association . He had a lady named Lorelia pick us up and be with us all day. We looked at the usual tour operators that did the tours that we wanted but this way we were able to kind of freelance our own time frame. We chose to go to Coki Beach first before the bulk of the people got there. We were picked up at 9:30 am and went directly to Coki… we were literally one of the first people there…. Almost before any of the beach vendors were ready. We definitely could pick our spot…. We went there to do some snorkeling and it is a great place to do that… it is right by Coral World, so if you go to either end of the beach there are formations that keep the interesting fish around. The rest of the beach is a beach lovers paradise. White soft sand and great calm water, also the vendors while there are not overly aggressive they will listen when you say no thank you.

 

 

Did I forget to tell you about the "Wild Chickens"?? LOL

 

 

 

[Dirkgun]

So far I am very happy with my new camera purchase.... I bought the new Canon powershot D10 underwater camera. It is good for up to 33 ft down and shock proff up to 5ft (even freeze proof but that did not get tested here lol).

 

 

 

 

 

After a couple of hours there we had her (our Driver) come back and pick us up and take us back to the ship to change and get some lunch then meet us again for a two hour island tour. Then we had her drop us off for some shopping. So the only thing that really changed from people like Papa bear or Sonny Liston is that we went to the beach first and got to come back and get lunch before the tour etc. The price was the same $30 per person… well worth it. Tonight we had our muster drill that we postponed for Super Bowl the night before. It was pretty painless… no life jackets anymore and they only did the drill English before the released us. I thought I heard them repeating it in Spanish but did not require us to stay if we did not want to. Then up on deck for sail away… I love that part of the day, saying goodbye to a port and watching other ships passengers wave to you etc.

This is Magens bay from the Drakes Seat overlook ... wow talk about pretty. I guess it costs $4 per person to get on the beach there but from the looks of it if you are a beach lover... it might be worth it, look at that water.

 

Drakes actual seat...

 

DW DM and DD on the Seat.

[SoonerOne]

I love your port picture in St. Thomas, I've seen lots of similar pictures, can't wait to take one of my own!:D

[Dirkgun]

these are some more St Thomas pics. Magens bay a little more zoomed in....

 

 

our driver showing us the overlook.

 

 

 

A flower up at the Great house Botanical gardens (where you can get the original Banana Daquiri... very good)

 

 

Sail away.....

 

 

 

 

[Dirkgun]

More leaving St Thomas. Our favorite place for sail away was the top deck... not as far out to the railing but a better view and a lot less crowded.

 

 

 

Sunset is such a neat time... and so very different when you don't have mountains on every side of you like I do at home in Utah.

 

 

 

Tonight we had dinner in the MDR. We were assigned to the Pacific Dining Room upstairs. We were right out at the back of the room in fact right next to the windows... kind of a neat view, but hard to see the waiters dancing unless you get up and move, which was more than ok... it made dinner settle a little to make room for dessert. I don't remember what we all had this night... I know we took pictures of all the meals, but that is another thread for sure.... I can tell you other than a couple of times that the service was a bit slow ( now not too slow just a lot of people to take care of) it was a great time and every meal was excellent.

 

Our head waitress and her assistant they were fun and very good.

 

 

I love the towel animals after a fun day....

 

 

Up next .... Dominica

[sailingawaysoon]

Loving your pictures and review! Can't wait to see more (it's getting me thru my day at work...haha)...Thanks for sharing!

[Dirkgun]

Dominica - Today we docked at 10:00 am so we were able to sleep in a bit then get up go to the MDR for breakfast. That was a nice change from the buffet.... not that the buffet was bad just a few different options love that pineapple juice yum!! and far better service...lol (I am not a good server) Today we went with Antours for an Island tour. When we got off the ship I did not see them right away so I went searching to find them (it is quite congested there with all the tour operators) they were there the whole time I just missed them. So while I was looking around for them the rest of our party got to look around and try their hand at calypso music.... I don't know if they will be called back or not but they had fun lol.

 

 

 

 

Here we are getting started in our van

 

 

Our Driver and our tour guide both of whom were awesome.

 

[Dirkgun]

Our tour first headed across the Island to the Carib Indian territory. It is a very pretty drive.. long but pretty. It is a gorgeous island. My DD kept saying she expected King Kong to come out of the rain forest (if you have seen the recent king kong you know what I mean) it is very lush lets say. At the Carib Indian village they take you on a short hike and tour through what was a typical village... very interesting. and some great views.

 

our indian tour guide

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Very nice rugged coastline on the eastern or Atlantic side of the Island.

[Dirkgun]

The village has ladies that weave these incredible baskets then they sell them to tourists they also have other crafts the sell. My dad's foot was kind of bothering him so he just stayed there at the village center. When we got back he had been learning to weave baskets and trying to learn some folk songs they were singing... he is a shy flower...lol :rolleyes:

 

 

 

 

This is a member of the pine family from the cone they used it to brush their teeth...

 

 

 

 

Next we head to the Emerald pool...

[HAULNTA]

Thank you for the fabulous review. The pics are the perfect size for CC. What host site are you using and what size?

Waiting for more:)

[Dirkgun]

The Emerald pool is a waterfall and pool that is supposed to medicinal benefits... I don't know about the benefits other than the absolutely fantastic walk through the rain forest on the way to the pool... just spectacular.

 

 

 

This face was somehow grown into this tree... obviously with some help but still pretty funny.

 

 

 

The walk down to the pool is pretty easy at first then you get to a viewing platform that has a real nice view. If you want to go to the falls you then proceed down a relatively easy descent to the falls I think we counted just about 103 stairs... some are like a stair case some are more spread out. Well worth the time though. Some people swim here... it is fairly cold but refreshing. DW even found some wild life in the water... a crayfish and freshwater crab.

 

 

 

[Dirkgun]

 

 

 

This picture is from the viewing platform above the falls.

 

 

 

 

Then after we were done at the Emerald pool we were headed back to the ship but first a stop at Mr. Nice's fruit stand. Our outstanding tour guides let us stay a little longer than they were supposed to because we were wanting to look at things and they were flexible (can't say enough good about them). So we pull up to Mr Nice but he has closed for the day... a little disapointing but then he comes out of his building and says that he has just closed. He did not get the name Mr. Nice by accident.... he asked us what we would like to try and went and cut it up for us. we tried Sugar Cane, coconut, cocnut candy plain and with powdered cocoa (tasted like an almond joy with dark chocolate) Pineapple, bananas and he brought it out to us in our van he is quite an entertaining showman.... good times.

 

 

[Dirkgun]

Tonight is also the first "Cruise Elegant" night so after sail away we went and got a little rest since we have the late dinner seating. Then we got up and got ready for dinner.

 

Myself and DM

 

DF and DM

 

DW and DD

 

 

 

DW and DS

 

 

 

another perfect day on the Victory... we had the best weather the entire cruise.

 

[goodtoglow]

Awesome review and I love the pictures! Can't wait for the rest!

[Dirkgun]

Thank you for the fabulous review. The pics are the perfect size for CC. What host site are you using and what size?

Waiting for more:)

 

I am using photo bucket dot com and I believe most of them are set to the 15 inch screen size... I think some have been the large size (640 x 480) I know my screen is a 15 inch screen and some of them I have to scroll a little sideways to see the entire opicture. Thanks for the comment though.

[Dirkgun]

Awesome review and I love the pictures! Can't wait for the rest!

 

Thank you... so how is your Olympic Experience going? We loved it when they were here.... "SLC 2002" we were able to volunteer and had a great time.

[LBumb]

great review and photos

[Jeans*Fanatic]

YAY!!!! Another Victory Cruise Review!!!!!!! Love the pictures!!

[doxie2cruise]

Love the review, great pictures. Can't wait to take my cruise. Doxie:cool:

[Mypapaya]

Fantastic! Keep those pics coming!:p

[boowaaccaa]

Great pics---we did this trip a few months ago and loved it!