Carnival Victory Review!! June 5-13, 2010

[Disneyna]

Saturday, June 5th

Our journey to the Carnival Victory started off with us taking the first flight of the day out of DFW at 5:15 am on US Airways to Charlotte and connecting onto San Juan. With the early flight no one got any sleep, but everyone is excited to start out journey. We arrived at DFW at 3:20 am to find a crowd of people at the US Airways counter with no one working yet. The flight to Charlotte was smooth sailing and when we got to the restrooms in the terminal we met this cheerful bathroom attendant Valerie. She sang the entire “You are my Sunshine” song and when someone would walk in she would say “Welcome to Valerie’s Happy Restroom! Everybody has a seat and is a VIP b/c everyone is happy when they pee.” It was hilarious, especially to those of us that hadn’t slept for almost 36 hours!!

 

 

Arrival in San Juan: Baggage claim ended up being a very short walk from the plane and the luggage was coming out right as we walked up to the belt. Finding a taxi to your hotel/pier is amazingly easy. You just step outside and to your immediate right is a taxi stand and many people standing in line. The line goes very quickly and we were on a taxi within 5 minutes and on our way to the Sheraton OSJ.

 

 

Sheraton OSJ: The lobby of the Sheraton is a little small and finding a porter to help with your luggage might be difficult at times, but we didn’t have any trouble. The check-in crew was extremely nice and helpful, provided maps, and told us we could store our luggage in a special hospitality suite on the 2nd floor until we wanted to get on the ship on Sunday. The rooms are very spacious and the beds are so comfortable! The rooftop pool is pretty tiny, but the view of the pier is breathtaking. The casino was bustling and there was even a wedding taking place on the grand staircase of the hotel. After settling in we walked next door to Senor Frogs for dinner and drinks and had a blast. I had a yard drink of Pina Colada that was fantastic, the food was really good and so was the service. They are very playful and the music was really fun. We even wore balloon hats! After dinner we headed to the room to pass out, we were in bed and sleeping by 9pm.

 

 

 

 

 

[Disneyna]

Sunday, June 6th Bacardi Tour and The Victory!

After waking up, we went up to the pool to try out our new snorkel gear and our new Kodak Playsport waterproof camcorder. (Both worked great!) We got a porter to bring our luggage to the hospitality suite and headed to lunch at the Chicago Burger Company (that is in front of the Sheraton) with a great view of the Victory. Food is very good there! After lunch we immediately headed across the street to the water taxi area. Tickets were $.50/one way/p/p. The taxi to Catano is on the left side and runs every 30 minutes on the weekends. The trip is around 8 minutes to the island and after arriving you walk about 2 blocks to the right to a yellow parking garage where taxi drivers are yelling “Bacardi, Bacardi!” and are waiting for guests. The ride is around 10 minutes and was $3/p/p each way. After arriving you get your 2 drink tickets and your tram/tour ticket (all free) and wait for your color of your tram ticket to be called. The tour is free and very informative. Our tour guide was very energetic and the free drinks at the end were great! After doing a little shopping at the gift shop, we headed back to the taxis (that are waiting) and took the water taxi back to the pier near the Victory. Note: If you should need to buy ANYTHING for the trip (toiletries, sodas, water, sunscreen, etc.) go to the CVS Store next to Senor Frogs. It’s a huge store, with self checkout! We got our luggage from the hospitality suite around 4:30 and walked with our luggage across the street to the cruise terminal. Our parents had a suite so they had VIP check in and my sister and I (we had an interior room 6299) headed to the regular line, where we figured we would be waiting for a long time. Wrong! We got our embarkation picture taken immediately and walked right up to the Carnival workers, got our Sail and Signs, got through security, and were on the boat within 7 minutes. Amazing. Yes, they are collecting alcohol. We had purchased 2 bottles of flavored Bacardi bottles and they tagged them and took them before we got on the ship. We were in room 6299 which is the dead center of the ship. We really liked the layout of this room b/c it seemed bigger than the standard interior room. We ate a meal on the lido, did the muster drill, got a DOD at the sail away party, and finally fell asleep around 2am.

 

 

 

 

 

[geauxbugs]

Love your review so far!!!!! Great pics!!

[boaterette]

Nice review so far. Thanks for posting.

[Disneyna]

Monday, June 7- St. Thomas

 

We chose to do Magens Bay Beach and Paradise Point as we have visited St. Thomas once before. We were off the ship by 10:30 and walked to the taxi stand (middle of the shopping area) and grabbed a taxi to the beach. Beware that they will wait to fill up the vans so you could be waiting a while. The ride to and from the beach was $8/pp/each way. Entrance fees to get onto the beach are $4/pp. The beach is beautiful and a lot of fun to snorkel in. Wasn’t very crowded either like we read in a lot of reviews. However, there was only one other ship in port that day. Taxis are always waiting so we grabbed a taxi around 1:00 to head to Paradise Point. Just to ride the tram up to Paradise Point and back is $21/pp. If you are planning to drink a Bushwacker drink when you are up top, I recommend you purchase the “Limon” package for $28 and get the ride and a large Bushwacker drink. It saves you $1.50. It was a very hot day that day so after a great drink and lunch at the point we decided to head back to the ship. Once we got back on the ship, we went up to deck 10 to watch the runners. There were many people late coming back to the ship and they were running pretty fast!! This port seemed to have the most late-comers. So grab a drink and watch! It's so much fun :D

 

 

 

 

[pokergirl34]

After lunch we immediately headed across the street to the water taxi area. Tickets were $.50/one way/p/p. The taxi to Catano is on the left side and runs every 30 minutes on the weekends. The trip is around 8 minutes to the island and after arriving you walk about 2 blocks to the right to a yellow parking garage where taxi drivers are yelling “Bacardi, Bacardi!” and are waiting for guests. The ride is around 10 minutes and was $3/p/p each way. After arriving you get your 2 drink tickets and your tram/tour ticket (all free) and wait for your color of your tram ticket to be called. The tour is free and very informative. Our tour guide was very energetic and the free drinks at the end were great! After doing a little shopping at the gift shop, we headed back to the taxis (that are waiting) and took the water taxi back to the pier near the Victory.

 

Thanks for the information on how to get to the Bacardi factory! This is on my "maybe" list for embarkation day for us. May I ask what you did with your luggage? I am wondering if we can check our luggage with the pier porters then go to the factory...or maybe we can check in with the ship entirely, then debark and go on the factory tour... Any insight for me?

 

Thanks! Can't wait to read the rest!

[crusing48/51]

Really good review! Keep it coming please. Thanks for taking the time to write one.

[islandwannabee]

Loving your review!! Thanks for taking the time, it is appreciated.

 

Cindy

[chachi]

Can't wait to hear the rest. I will be on Victory in a few days!

[Disneyna]

Tuesday, June 8 –Dominica

 

We pre-purchased the Emerald Pool and Beach Pleasures excursions on Carnival’s website about a month before cruising. We had read a lot of negative things about the island on Cruise Critic, especially that it was not safe and that if you wanted to skip an island to relax this would be the one to do. So, needless to say we were a little nervous about this stop! We decided we wanted to see for ourselves though, so just to be safe we booked through Carnival. This island is very non-commercialized and very beautiful. Our meet time was 10:30 am and we rode a 15 passenger mini-air conditioned bus. Our tour guide and bus driver were knowledgable and friendly. The rumors you’ve heard about how crappy the roads are and how this island sucks are all wrong. It’s beautiful! If you are looking for natural beauty, clear water, safe, and friendly people, then this island is for you.

 

The Emerald Pool is AMAZING! Be sure before booking this excursion that you can walk up and down lots of stairs on rocky pavement (sometimes with out railings). The explanation on the website leads you to believe it is a “leisurely” 15min walk to get to the pool. Well there was nothing leisurely about it!! Lots of stairs and all up hill on the walk back to the van. The pool is very cold, but your body adjusts fairly quickly. Also, be sure to wear some durable closed toe water-proof sandals. It’s very rocky at the bottom of the pool and we were thankful we had ours on. After the hike back up to the mini-bus we headed to Mero Beach. Here you get a chair, umbrella, and complimentary soda, fruit juice, rum punch, or beer. Rum punch here is STRONG!!! The black sand and water here are gorgeous. We spent around an hour at this beach and headed back to the ship. Also remember if you do this excursion, be sure to eat a large breakfast as there is no food offered and no where to buy any. Plus! If you happen to come across a soda there called "Quench" get it! It was awesome! And we weren't able to finish it by the time it was time to get back on the ship and no worries you can walk right on with it!

 

 

 

 

[Disneyna]

Wednesday, June 9—Barbados

 

Since my sister and I had an interior room we had no idea what the weather was doing until we turned on the Lido deck on the TV and it was very cloudy, dark, and lightly raining. Jacky and I went up to the lido for our breakfast and came back to the room to gather our things and head off the ship to do the Carnival: 5 Star Catamaran and Turtle Snorkel. Luckily, we bad bought $.79 cent ponchos from Academy Sporting Goods store and had put them in our suitcases because boy did we ever need them. The walk down the pier to the terminal is a nice little walk and about halfway down the pier the sky dropped out. No warning, no sprinkling, no thunder. Just a torrential downpour with about 40 mph winds. It was SO INTENSE!! :eek: When we found the Carnival excursion lady she informed us that our tour had to be cancelled due to inclement weather. BUMMER!!!! However, she did have spots open for the “Flavor of Barbados” tour for $49.99 so we all signed up to do that later in the afternoon. Note: You do get a full refund from Carnival if your excursion is cancelled due to weather. We ended of doing some shopping at the terminal and heard someone say that a tropical depression was heading through the area. We sure hoped this wouldn’t ruin the rest of our cruise! We went back to the ship (well walked very fast though the storm back to the ship) had some hot chocolate, and relaxed before we had to be back at the terminal at 12:30.

 

Our tour guide was “Tony, Tony” and he really shared a lot of information about the island and was very friendly and funny. We first stopped at the 4 Square Rum Factory. Now, it is still POURING raining at this point so this tour was a little interesting since most of the historical pieces were outside. However, the tour was great and at the end everyone takes a shot of their special rum and their spiced rum. Both very good. Next we headed to the Sunberry Plantation Home. If you like antiques, and older homes with history, then you will love this. It’s over 300 years old. It was a little boring, but on the upside, you get free rum punch!! Finally, we headed to the Reggie Medford Mahogany wood carving workshop/studio. He does some amazing things with trees and was pretty interesting. After being dropped back off at the terminal and midway through the walk back to the ship the sky fell out again and we were soaked! Everyone looked like a drowned rat going through security on the ship, the guards couldn’t stop laughing. HAHA! While we certainly wished we could have done the turtle excursion, we made the best of it and didn’t let the tropical depression ruin our day!!

 

 

 

 

 

[Disneyna]

Thursday, June 10 –St. Lucia

 

We were having a difficult time deciding what to do in St. Lucia. While looking on this web site and all the reviews we decided to book outside of Carnival and book Cosol tours. We sent him an e-mail asking if there was room on the tour and he wrote back within 24 hours.

 

This was a very early day and the weather was BEAUTIFUL!! :DThe ship docked at 8 and we had to be off the boat and at our meeting location at 8:20 so the tour could leave promptly at 8:30. We met Cosol and he split the large group into different vans. Our drivers name was “Yellow Bird,” who happened to be Cosol’s brother. He was amazing. First, we stopped for a photo opp of a rock formation in the water that looked like a high heeled shoe. On all the photo stops he lets everyone get out if they want to take pictures or video. Next, we stopped at a local fruit stand on the way to the banana plantation to get a bundle of bananas for each of us to try. The bananas were sweet and extremely tasty. Next stop, drink stop!! A blue van follows the tour and it is called the drink van. It is stocked FULL of Piton beer, coke, Diet Coke, bottled water, and RUM PUNCH! :D Cosol doesn’t want you to go thirsty! All of this is free (included in the price you paid for the tour). Next, Is the eating stop. At the food stop he had this HUGE spread of food for all to eat. Fresh pineapple, mango, watermelon, Johnny cakes, breadfruit balls, piton fish, banana bread, coconut candy, coconut fudge, and banana ketchup. You are also able to buy this banana ketchup at this stop. Make sure and buy some to use at home! We did, it’s fantastic!! I think it was $4.

 

We went through a fishing village, Soufriere, stopped at a local stand and got to try some coconut cookies. From here, we stopped at a botanical garden with a beautiful waterfall. Since we had spent a lot of time at the Emerald Pool in Dominica, we decided to spend our time here walking around the gardens. Next, after a little travel and another drink stop, we jumped on a speed boat (aka water taxi) to sneak onto Jalousie beach. The snorkeling was really great there. If you get there early enough you can get a chair to put your belongings on. When you get back to the vans he offers 160 proof rum. Intense stuff!!!! After the beach and the rum we went to a drive through volcano that was bubbling and didn’t smell very good! On the way back to the ship he stopped at a bakery stand and picked up St. Lucia bread and special cheese. It was sooo good. Our last stop was a lookout point where you got an amazing view of the Carnival Victory.

 

We highly recommend this tour. For $65/pp we got free drinks, food, and a lot of sight seeing done. We made it back to the marketplace by the ship in plenty of time to do some shopping before hopping back on the ship. Make sure and have some $1 bills with you in case you need to go to the restroom. Most restrooms on this island cost $1 to use. You pay for the tour at the end.

 

 

[chachi]

I hope the weather got better for you the rest of the week. That had to be disappointing.

[JerseyshoreBruce]

Very nice review.....Thanks!

[Disneyna]

Friday, June 11 St. Kitts

Another gorgeous day! We had signed up online on the Carnival website for the Sky Safari Zip Lining excursion for the 1:30 Slot. We ate our usual buffet breakfast, and got off the ship to meet the tour around 12:45. First thing they do is make you fill out a waiver form, and then you get weighed!! After 6 days on the ship eating everything under the sun, you have to get weighed!! I want to say the weight limit was something like 250 or so lbs. They take you in a van off to the location that is just beautiful. You get all suited up in a harness and suit and then you do a practice run on a small line so you know how to get into the braking position. NOTE: You can bring small things along with you on this excursion and we wish we had known this ahead of time. The suit they give you has a small pouch on the back so you are able to put a camera, money, small bag, etc inside there. After everyone does the small line you get into the back of a pick up and ride to the top of the mountain where you start the lines. They look very intimidating!!!! There are 5 lines total and the views are just gorgeous. It was a perfect day and you could see forever. The next line starts a few steps from where the other one ended so there isn’t much walking between the lines, which was nice b/c the trolleys you take with you are kind of heavy! The last line is a double line where you can race someone, which was pretty fun! We were in a group of 10 and had 2 guides. Our guides were very professional, but also made sure you were having a good time. They were extremely safety conscious and we never felt like we were in any danger. We always felt very safe and secure.

When we got back to the marketplace we did some shopping (great souvenir shopping here), and my dad and I got our pictures taken with some monkeys!

Pictures to come!

 

Thank you all for the kind words. Reviews really helped us plan our awesome vacation. We want to help!

[Disneyna]

Saturday, June 12—St. Maarten

 

We had been here once before so we chose to do Bernard’s Tours b/c he did the things we wanted to see most: Orient Beach and Maho Beach to see the planes. We met Bernard at 9AM at the information center desk on the walk off the pier. There were only 8 or 10 people on this tour and we took a large air-conditioned van and Bernard was our driver and tour guide. We stopped first at a souvenir stand that is off the beaten path and got some cheap souvenirs and then made our way to Orient Beach. We love this beach, the water is so blue and crystal clear. We rented 2 chairs for $20 and you get a free drink. Just our parents got the chairs b/c my sister and I were planning on spending our time in the water and walking along the beach checking things out. If you don’t like to see the naked people then when you get off the van walk left! That is the clothed side of the beach. The part of the beach on the right is a “clothing optional” beach b/c of the nudist resort right behind it. :eek: You will see some things you wish you hadn’t!!! We spent around 2 hours at the beach and you can also get free soda, water, and rum punch from Bernard from his van.

 

 

After the beach we headed to the Marigot Marketplace. There are a ton of tables with people selling local crafts and souvenirs, (bags galore!) and lots of restaurants. We were all starting to get a little hungry so Bernard showed us his favorite French bakery. The food there is fantastic. We split an amazing ham sandwich and 2 gorgeous deserts. The prices were in Euros so it was interesting to see how much cheaper it was in the American Dollar.

 

Next we headed to my favorite place. Maho Beach and the Sun Set Beach Bar! We ran out to the middle of the beach and saw some planes take off as well as around 5 land. It’s a really cool and amazing experience. We bought t-shirts in the gift shop, and watched the planes until we had to leave to head back to the ship. I can’t wait to go back there one day and spend the whole day at Maho Beach. The water is beautiful and the bar is great! To see some of the landings/takeoffs just go to youtube and type Maho Beach, there are a lot of great videos posted on there.

 

We asked to get dropped off at Barefoot Bay beach which is accessable to the ship by water taxi so we could do our shopping before getting back on the boat. (My favorite liquor store is there. J) We took the water taxi back to the ship $3/pp and got back on the boat around 4:30.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Disneyna]

Sunday, June 13 Debarkation

 

Early day again. Had our normal breakfast on the lido and were in group 3 to get off the ship along with our parents who were in group 1. Finding your luggage is pretty easy down in the large building. As we walked down the pier my sister started feeling very ill and by the time we arrived at the airport she was very sick to her stomach. Our flight was at 2:45 pm and we are so glad we got to the airport first thing. That airport is crazy and the lines are long. During the flight to Charlotte my mom began to feel very sick to her stomach. At first we thought that it might have been something they ate, but they didn’t eat the same thing, or at the same place that morning or the night before! At the airport in Charlotte, my dad and I started to get very sick. The flight from Charlotte to DFW was the worst flight of our lives. We all had fevers and were very stomach sick. My sister and parents ended up staying with me in my 1 bedroom apt in Dallas that night b/c we were all so sick. We didn’t wake up until 6pm Monday evening and couldn’t eat solid food for about 4 days. Turns out we all got the Norovirus on the ship at some point. This was the sickest we all have ever been and I never ever want to have to go through that again. I really wish people would stay in their cabins if they aren’t feeling well and not go out and touch everything. We used hand sanitizer ALL THE TIME, but it doesn’t catch everything.

 

[Disneyna]

Summary:

We had an amazing vacation minus the last day coming home. The Victory is a beautiful ship and you get to see some awesome places. You will be VERY TIRED on this cruise. I’m 28 and my sister is 24 and we were in bed by midnight or 1 every night b/c you are doing so much and getting up so early every morning. The food was okay, and we ate In the Main Dining Room all but 2 nights. We were so tired those two nights to get dressed up and the menu those nights didn’t look good to us anyway. The mini-chocolate buffet was offered one of the days during the lunch and we caught it right when we got back on the boat after one of our excursions. There was also a 11:00 pm Mexican Buffet that was REALLY GOOD! Try to get there right when it’s beginning to get the best selection. They also had out all these beautiful chocolate cakes and desserts, it was so good! Yes, there are a LOT of Puerto Ricans on this cruise, but we didn’t encounter anyone that was rude, or that cut in line or anything of that sort. Spanish is spoken a LOT on this ship but all the shows are done in English. Brad was our Cruise Director. He’s good, and pretty funny, but the poor guy can’t read and speak on the microphone very well. That was getting very frustrating during the muster drill. You will not regret taking this cruise. Yes, it can be very expensive with our flight to San Juan from Dallas approx: $640, Cruise aprox: $800 and excursions everyday + souvenirs and any drinking that you do on the ship. That’s why we opted to buy as many of the Carnival excursions as we could before hand on their web site so we could pay those off before the cruise even started. Also, before we even left, we put away enough cash to cover Cosol and Bernard’s tour so we wouldn’t spend that money during the trip! It was a great plan. My advice is to get out and see all the things that these islands have to offer. Great trip! Fire away with any questions :D

[StrangeBrew]

Great Review , we are going in Oct on this cruise , you mentioned the Bacardi Tour , my question is this .

 

We arrive around 2 pm the day of the cruise , do you think we would have time after boarding the ship to make it over to the tour , we may just walk over to the fort and then hit CVS for sodas and such.

 

Sorry to hear about your after cruise experience ships revenge .

[Disneyna]

Great Review , we are going in Oct on this cruise , you mentioned the Bacardi Tour , my question is this .

 

We arrive around 2 pm the day of the cruise , do you think we would have time after boarding the ship to make it over to the tour , we may just walk over to the fort and then hit CVS for sodas and such.

 

Sorry to hear about your after cruise experience ships revenge .

I think you will have plenty of time to do the tour and get snacks/sodas from the CVS. I think boarding time was 8:30 pm if you hadn't checked in yet on the boat.

 

You are going to have a blast!

[sunset785]

Thank you so much for your review! DH and I are looking at this ship for next summer. I would like to do a balcony room, but you mentioned you were in an interior. Would you have rather done a window or balcony and would you think it would be worth it for this itinerary? I know it's port-intensive so I was wondering because I don't know how much time we would actually spend in the room.

 

Also, what type of crowd was on this ship? Young/ families/ older? Thanks!

[TortieGal]

Thanks for the information on how to get to the Bacardi factory! This is on my "maybe" list for embarkation day for us. May I ask what you did with your luggage? I am wondering if we can check our luggage with the pier porters then go to the factory...or maybe we can check in with the ship entirely, then debark and go on the factory tour... Any insight for me?

 

Thanks! Can't wait to read the rest!

 

This is basically what we did. With such a late departure, and having flown in the day before, we treated San Juan like another port.

 

We go to the pier around 10:45 and gave our bags to the porters. From there, we checked in and then went off exploring. Took the free trolley over to the outlet stores. Others in our group went to the forts. From there we headed back to the ship to have lunch and drop off our purchases. We then went back out to do the Bacardi tour. Ferry is a short walk from the ship. I believe the last tour is at 3:45 which is the one we were on.

 

Rooms weren't expected to open until 2:30 so a couple of us walked around with things we didn't want to hand off to the porters. I had a small bag in which I carried my DVD player and documents. Friend had her laptop. We just didn't trust this items getting banged around.

 

Before getting back on the ship for good, we did make a stop at CVS.

[TortieGal]

Great Review , we are going in Oct on this cruise , you mentioned the Bacardi Tour , my question is this .

 

We arrive around 2 pm the day of the cruise , do you think we would have time after boarding the ship to make it over to the tour , we may just walk over to the fort and then hit CVS for sodas and such.

 

Sorry to hear about your after cruise experience ships revenge .

 

Just going to chime in with my 2 cents... :)

 

Since you're arriving the day of, it might be cutting it a little too close to make the Bacardi tour. As I mentioned above, we were on the last tour and I believe it was 3:45 (last tours are earlier on Sunday). We caught a ferry about 3 and finally got to Bacardi about 3:30.

 

If it's something you really want to do (it's fun to try the different Bacardi flavors), I would probably just hand off your bags and then check in after the tour and CVS.

[NYGoose82]

Great review!! Your trip sounded amazing and its awesome that you got the most out of each port. Sorry to hear that you got so sick.

[nicnayl]

Thanks for the great review! Do you happen to remember what night and what time the past guest party was?