Carnival Victory 5.16-5.23 review with pictures

[Lovelytee706]

I cruised on the Carnival Victory from May 16 – 23, 2010. This was my first cruise, and it was great!! It was my celebration cruise from graduating from college the day before, and also to celebrate my mother's birthday. Each island got better and better as we sailed along. I traveled with my family, my best friend, and my brother’s girlfriend. It rained every day, but the rain did not interfere with our daily activities. It probably lasted no more than 20 minutes, and it was on and off.

This is my first cruise review, so bare with me!!!

 

Day 1- San Juan, PR

We arrived in San Juan and stood in a very long line to check onto the boat. After we handed in our luggage, we walked through the streets of San Juan for a little while. We didn’t really do much, except take a few pictures and enjoy the sights and sounds of San Juan. After we got back on the boat, we unpacked our bags and walked around the boat to become familiar with it. I went to the Sail away party that occurred on the top deck at 11 that night.

 

 

 

 

Day 2- St. Thomas, VI

Our first port! We got off the boat around 11am and walked around the downtown area. We did a little shopping before we headed back to begin our excursion for the day, Parasailing. We booked this through Carnival. (On Carnival’s website it states that Parasailing is $75, but when we got to the Excursion desk on the boat they charged us $90 for some reason.) The Parasailing was great! We had our group of 6, and another couple came along with us. The guides were very friendly and even let my best friend drive the boat back to the dock. When we were finished our excursion, the instructors offered us a memory card of our Parasailing for $30. It included over 100 pictures and videos of us up in the air. It was well worth the money, as it is very hard to take pictures on your own camera while riding in the boat.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Lovelytee706]

St. Thomas continued... (sorry the pictures are so big, it's hard to resize them)

 

 

 

 

 

Day 3- Dominica

On this day, we had a pre-booked excursion with Antours. We did the River Tubing/ Emerald Pool/ Fruit Tasting excursion that cost $47. We learned a lot about the island on our drive up to the river. We got to see a lot of the fruit that was grown there, and saw many children on their way to school. The excursion lasted about 4 hours (including driving to and from the port). The river tubing experience was quite scary, yet fun at the same time. I ran into a few rocks and trees a few times, but the guides were right there to assist me. The fruit tasting was great also. The fruit was so fresh and sweet! After the excursion, we ate at a local restaurant downtown, and the food was delicious.

This night was the first Captain’s ball.

[Lovelytee706]

Dominica cont'd..

 

 

 

At the fruit tasting stand...

me and my brother eating mangos lol

 

 

Some curry chicken and rice I had at a local restaurant.

 

 

At the 1st Captain's Ball

 

[finoky]

Loving your pictures so far.:)

[Lovelytee706]

Day 4- Barbados

This day was our beach day. We went to the Boatyard for about 3 hours and had a blast jet skiing. It costs $3 roundtrip to get to the Boatyard, and entrance into the beach is $10, which includes a complimentary drink, and beach chair and umbrella. We saw an independent company on the beach that charged us $35 for 30-45 minutes of riding. There were a few companies on the beach offering jet skis, but me and my family went around until we found the best offer. We also played a friendly game of beach volleyball with some French people that we saw on the beach. You can get a volleyball on the beach, but you have to give them a $20 deposit which will be refunded when you return the ball. After we left the Boatyard, we walked around the island and ate at one of the restaurants before heading back to the boat.

Jet skiing!!

 

Some money we won that night at the casino

[ticka1]

Love your review and pictures! Looks like you and your group had a blast on the ship and on the exercursions!

[Lovelytee706]

Day 5- St. Lucia (one of my favorite islands)

We did a zip lining excursion that was pre-booked with an independent company. It cost $85 per person. The excursion lasted about 4 hours and included 11 zip lines. The rainforest was very, very, hot…probably one of the hottest days we had. The employees as the zip lining company were very friendly and helpful during the entire experience. Our driver was also friendly and told us a lot of jokes and information about the island. He drove us through his village and showed us where he lived. He even gave us a bottle of honey that he stated was really good. I thought this was very nice of him to do this because he bought the honey himself. After the excursion we bought a few souvenirs and headed back to the boat.

 

 

[Lovelytee706]

Day 6- St. Kitts

We booked the St. Kitts Scenic Rail tour through Carnival. Just like in St. Thomas with our Parasailing excursion that was booked through Carnival, our rail tour was also priced differently on the boat. Online the excursion is priced at $80, but we had to pay $99 for some reason. The staff at the front desk is unaware of the price differences on the website and on the boat. The rail tour was very beautiful. There is a choir on board that sang a few different songs throughout the tour. You also were served unlimited complimentary alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks. The banana daiquiri was very good! The tour lasted about 2 hours. We got back to the port very early.

After the excursion we went into a few of the souvenir shops. The vendors on St. Kitts offered the best prices. In a few of the stores, the price that was listed on the item was not the actual price of the item. For example, my mother bought 1 bag for $6, and the vendor wanted to sell more and offered her 2 bags for $8! We also got t-shirts for very great deals, 3 for $10 and key chains for $1 each. We also took pictures with a guy who had monkeys of his own (there are a lot of monkeys on the island). The guy wanted to charge us 3 pictures for $10, but we told him to make a deal for 5 pics for $10.

This night was the second Captain’s ball.

A black sand beach in St. Kitts

[Lovelytee706]

And finally...

 

Day 7- St. Maarten – My FAVORITE island!

This was our last port of the cruise L. We had a pre-booked excursion to go on an ATV tour that costs $69 for single riders. This excursion was great. The tour lasted about 2 ½ hours. We drove around both the French and Dutch side of the island, and stopped at Orient Beach for about an hour. You ride through mud, up and down the mountains, and 2 beaches, and through the local towns. We saw many great sites during our ride.The people on this island were very patient and friendly as we drove through the streets. Our tour guide stopped several times so we could take pictures along the way. When we got to Orient Beach, we did not get into the water, and instead grabbed some lunch. Just to note, one side of Orient beach is a "nude beach".

 

Us riding up one of the mountains

 

 

 

This was soooo much fun!!

[Lovelytee706]

St. Maarten cont'd...

 

 

 

Riding through the French side of the island..

 

 

 

And that completes my review. Thank you for taking the time to read this. I have many more pictures that I would like to share (inside the boat, shows, and other views of the islands) but of course I cannot add everything. If anyone has any questions on any of the excursions or the islands, feel free to ask me and I'd be more than willing to answer what I can.

 

Thanks!!

[alreadypacked]

Wonderful review & beautiful pictures! Thanks. :)

[JerseyshoreBruce]

Loved your review.......great pictures and a beautiful family!

[nicnayl]

Awesome review and pictures. They are making me even more excited for my cruise in July! Thanks for taking the time to share:D

[missymac]

Love your review and pics. Looks like you and your family did it all, and had a ball. :)

 

Thanks for sharing! Congratulations on your graduation too.

[Momto2PrncChrmgs]

Thanks for the review, sounds like a wonderful trip!

[Lovelytee706]

Thank you everyone.

Nicnayl- enjoy your cruise in July!

[BabyJacks17]

Awesome Review! Thanks for sharing! All your pictures came out beautifully :-) I'd love to see pics of inside of the ship if you ever have time to share!

[kenrod]

Thanks a bunch for your review! I enjoyed it very much.

 

It looks like you all had an awesome time. What an itinerary for your first cruise!!!

[SoonerOne]

Thanks for taking the time to write your review and share your pictures. Looks like you and your family had a great time! Beautiful family, btw.:)

[C Cruise Dude]

I cruised on the Carnival Victory from May 16 – 23, 2010. This was my first cruise, and it was great!! It was my celebration cruise from graduating from college the day before, and also to celebrate my mother's birthday. Each island got better and better as we sailed along. I traveled with my family, my best friend, and my brother’s girlfriend. It rained every day, but the rain did not interfere with our daily activities. It probably lasted no more than 20 minutes, and it was on and off.

This is my first cruise review, so bare with me!!!

 

Day 1- San Juan, PR

We arrived in San Juan and stood in a very long line to check onto the boat. After we handed in our luggage, we walked through the streets of San Juan for a little while. We didn’t really do much, except take a few pictures and enjoy the sights and sounds of San Juan. After we got back on the boat, we unpacked our bags and walked around the boat to become familiar with it. I went to the Sail away party that occurred on the top deck at 11 that night.

 

 

 

 

Day 2- St. Thomas, VI

Our first port! We got off the boat around 11am and walked around the downtown area. We did a little shopping before we headed back to begin our excursion for the day, Parasailing. We booked this through Carnival. (On Carnival’s website it states that Parasailing is $75, but when we got to the Excursion desk on the boat they charged us $90 for some reason.) The Parasailing was great! We had our group of 6, and another couple came along with us. The guides were very friendly and even let my best friend drive the boat back to the dock. When we were finished our excursion, the instructors offered us a memory card of our Parasailing for $30. It included over 100 pictures and videos of us up in the air. It was well worth the money, as it is very hard to take pictures on your own camera while riding in the boat.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thank's for the review and pictures. Any video?

[duchessuta]

We were on this same cruise and also did the Scenic Rail Tour in St. Kitts. We LOVED it! I think it was our favorite tour because it was so relaxing and such a great way to see the island...especially the undeveloped parts. And the banana daquiris were really good! :D

 

Great review. I will definitely do this cruise again!

[MIZZ_K]

Great review and pics, makes me wish it were September already.

[crusing48/51]

Enjoyed your review and pictures very much. Thank you for taking the time to post. Will be on the Victory in September, so your review helps pass the time until it's our turn!

[michiganirish]

thank you for taking the time to post- this review was wonderful -even for a first timer;) - i've done this route twice - thanks for the trip down memory lane

[Crazy4Cruisin225]

Thanks for the review and pics. What a great way to celebrate your graduation!! Now I'm even more excited for September!!