Review: Carnival Victory Southern 1-2-2011

[dutchiegirl6]

This is the review that I submitted in the 'reviews' section. We had a great time on this cruise and the ports of call are wonderful. If you have any questions please ask. Hopefully I will be uploading some pictures to go with the review soon. :)

 

 

I'll start off by giving a little background on our group. We were a group of 7: my parents (in their 50s), my sister, brother-in-law, my boyfriend, a good family friend and myself (all in our upper 20s or low 30s). We have been on 5 cruises and we are generally very easy going and like to have a good time.

 

In a nutshell:

 

Overall, we were happy with the ship even though it wasn't our favorite of the ones we've been on. Dining staff was excellent. Food was good, and the Basa fish dish on the 2nd formal night was excellent. The ports of call are really the highlight of this cruise even though we were disappointed that Dominica was removed from the itinerary. Our best excursions were the Mt. Liamuiga volcano hike with David from Poinciana Tours in St. Kitts and a catamaran sail, snorkel and lunch cruise with Silver Moon in Barbados. We would very likely do this cruise again. There are a lot of Puerto Ricans on board, and we thought it brought a nice flair and a change to the ‘usual’ cruise clientele. We did not appreciate all of the screaming kids in the hall though. (However, the first week in January is probably not the best time to cruise if kids bother you.) We have always cruised around the Christmas/New Year holidays and have never had huge complaints about unruly children before.

 

 

The SHIP:

Good: I thought the ship was in pretty good condition, and we all agreed that the decorations were very tasteful and not gaudy like some other ships we've been on. I shared my OV stateroom (1537) with my boyfriend and it was set up nicely. I like having the TV in the corner because it makes the vanity area much more open. We didn't have a problem with noise in the hallways like my parents did. Our room steward did a fairly good job. He wasn't the best we'd ever had, but overall he was good and kept our room clean. We had the Atlantic Dining Room late seating table 172, and our wait staff was excellent. Komang and Putu were fantastic and made our dining experience fun every night. They were also in charge of a large party who had one 'adults' table and one 'kids' table, and we felt they handled it well. The kids would get a little disruptive from time to time, but that wasn't a fault of the waiters. The food was good. One absolutely excellent dish we had was a Basa fish dish on the second formal night. The small print on the menu said it won awards for cruising cuisine, and we could definitely tell why. Very tasty! We also liked the Punchliner Comedy Club in the evenings, especially Roman. One exception, Al Romerez (sp?) was absolute crap. The sail-away party was the best (and largest) we'd had on any cruise, perhaps because a large percentage of the cruise passengers were from San Juan. Those PR really like to party and dance. We also love dancing and had a great time at the sail-away party.

 

The not-so-good: I felt like the buffet area was not set up well. I think Carnival has corrected this problem with the newer ships by offering more stations, but it often felt congested with long lines all the time. My parents' balcony stateroom (6351) was right over the casino band and they had trouble with noise most nights. They also had trouble (as did our family friend on level 7) with unruly and noisy children running in the halls at all hours of the night. (The kids are not a fault of the ship, just something they felt was worth mentioning.) One thing that isn't really a complaint, just more of an observation, was that the carpeting in the stairways didn't have the numbers of each new level on the floor in a different color. I never thought about this before until it was missing. We often take the stairs instead of the elevator and it was easy to loose track of what level we were on. Those 'carpet reminders' on the newer ships are convenient. Also, we found out that the Carnival Victory does not allow you to buy the future cruise certificates that we could get on our other cruises. This seems really strange that the offer wouldn’t be fleet-wide.

 

 

PORTS OF CALL:

 

San Juan: We arrived in San Juan on December 30th before our cruise on Jan 2nd. The first 2 nights we stayed at Casablanca Hotel in Old San Juan. We thought it was nice, and a typical European-style hotel. One word of caution: they have no elevators and we were on the 5th floor. The employees helped take our luggage to our room though. We mostly hung around OSJ for the days prior to the cruise with no formal excursions. It is a great part of town to walk around and soak up the ambiance. The night before our cruise, we switched to the San Juan Beach Hotel because there were no vacancies in OSJ. It is undergoing major renovations at the moment. My parents had a nice, re-done room on the 3rd floor with an ocean view balcony. The rest of us had standard, old rooms that were definitely falling into disrepair. But, it was still manageable for one night. We arrived at the port at 11:30am to check in. There were no lines and it wasn’t too congested with disembarking passengers. They started letting us on the ship at 12:15pm. We went to the Aft Lido for some drinks (had a great waiter Su) and explored the ship a little bit. We dropped off our hand luggage in one stateroom even though they weren’t done cleaning yet. The room steward said it was ok for us to drop it off. We went off the ship and enjoyed the rest of the afternoon in OSJ.

 

St. Thomas: Slept in and had a nice breakfast in the MDR. Then, we took a taxi to Secret Harbor Beach. We have been there before and it is a nice, secluded place. There is a resort there, but not too many cruise passengers know about it. The restaurant, the Blue Moon, is pretty nice with a decent menu. We snorkeled right off the beach and had a nice, relaxing day. We even had some iguanas patrolling the beach. The taxis were $10 pp each way.

 

Barbados: We booked a catamaran cruise with Silver Moon. It was a fantastic day. They limit the number of passengers to 24 on their biggest cat, and we never felt crowded or rushed. Nick and Marlo were great, and were always prompt with drinks. First, we sailed to a spot where we could snorkel with sea turtles. This was really neat! We also saw a lot of fish and even some sting rays underneath us. Then we sailed to a ship wreck to snorkel again. On the way they passed out fresh banana bread for a snack. The snorkeling was ok, but it definitely wasn’t as great as the sea turtles. After this, we sailed to a nice, quiet beach cove and anchored for lunch. Lunch was good and very filling. They had salads, chicken, macaroni and cheese, flying fish, rice, etc. After lunch we got off the cat and swam to the nearby beach. Nick pulled out the blender and made very good pina coladas on the way back to the ship. We were also offered carrot cake on the return trip. The excursion was $92 pp, but we felt it was worth it. We saw some of the catamarans booked through the ship and they were shoving 50-60 or more people on the same size boat. Some of them looked like there was standing room only.

 

St. Lucia: We booked an island tour with Cosol. We have done this tour before, but he has made some changes since we had been with him 3 years ago. It was a nice tour and they really highlight their ‘mobile bar.’ We were never short on drinks. We took a water taxi from Soufriere to Jalousie beach between the Pitons. Very nice beach and not very crowded. The water taxi was a nice boat ride and we could see the beautiful coastline. Our driver “Bumpy” was very good. Cosol’s tour is $65 pp.

 

St. Kitts: We booked the Mt. Liamuiga hike with David from Poinciana Tours. We cannot say enough good things about this experience! From the reviews we read, it seemed like this hike was only for experienced hikers, so only my boyfriend and I dared to do it. It was strenuous for sure, but the rest of our group could have probably made it ok, with the exception of my mother who has had a hip replacement. David will take small groups, unlike other tour operators. At first it was just the 2 of us with David, but we picked up another older couple from England who really wanted to do a hike. We all had a great time. David really took his time and we stayed together at the pace of the slowest person. No one was ever left behind. He was also very helpful in telling us where to place hands and feet in trickier sections and helped us up some steeper bits. Our weather was great, no rain and it was clear when we got to the top. The trail is a lot of climbing on rocks and tree roots, but we found it to be fun and exciting. We had plenty of time to soak in the fantastic views with a picnic lunch at the top. We also had plenty of time along the whole hike for pictures. Along with providing water for us at the beginning of the hike, David brought fresh lemonade, coconut, a local pound type cake, and fresh raisin bread for us to eat at the top. The best picnic I’ve had in a long time! We took our time coming down and no one in our group ever fell down. David was also very knowledgeable about the trees and plants and would explain them to us on the way. When we got to the bottom we still had some time before we had to be to the ship, so David took us on a small island tour. David offers all kinds of tours, but I think the volcano hike was perfect for us. He said many other tour operators won’t do the hike unless there are a minimum number of people and it can get to be too many people that you cannot enjoy the beautiful forest as much. He said some operators take groups of 60-70 people and if you can’t keep up, you get left behind. He also said if you book through Thenford Grey, that most likely you will have David as your guide anyway.

 

St. Maarten: By the time we got to this port, we were exhausted (and a little sore after the hike) so we took it easy in the morning. Slept in a bit and had a nice breakfast in the MDR. We took a water taxi to Phillipsburg and did some shopping and rented chairs and umbrellas on the beach. A nice, relaxing day. Note: this is the place to buy your liquor on this cruise! Walk along the second street (behind the boulevard) and check out prices in a few different stores before you buy. We got some fantastic prices. For example, 1 Liter of Cointreau was $19. The duty free store right off the water taxi has cheaper prices than I saw on most islands, but they were still more expensive than the other liquor stores further in town. Also, if you are inclined, we saw the store owners ‘help’ their customers fill empty water bottles with their recently purchased liquor so they could drink it on the beach, boat, etc.

[CALIBLUGIRL03]

I hope you don't mind me picking your brain since I will be taking the same cruise Feb. 27th and I was wondering the following:

 

1. What time did you disembarke? My flight leaves @ 11:15am that day.

2. How far is the airport from the cruise terminal?

3. Can you leave your wine in the checked bags or do you have to carry it on?

4. What nights were elegant nights and how dressed up should we get?

5. For two people how much luggage would you recommend? I was thinging 2 carry ons and a medium suitcase & purse for me / backpack for him.

6. What kind of clothes did you bring?

7. Cash....should I bring it with me or wait to use the ATM on the ship?

8. Drinks....did you smuggle?? :)

 

 

So sorry for all the questions but it's my first trip ever!!!

[dutchiegirl6]

I hope you don't mind me picking your brain since I will be taking the same cruise Feb. 27th and I was wondering the following:

 

1. What time did you disembarke? My flight leaves @ 11:15am that day.

2. How far is the airport from the cruise terminal?

3. Can you leave your wine in the checked bags or do you have to carry it on?

4. What nights were elegant nights and how dressed up should we get?

5. For two people how much luggage would you recommend? I was thinging 2 carry ons and a medium suitcase & purse for me / backpack for him.

6. What kind of clothes did you bring?

7. Cash....should I bring it with me or wait to use the ATM on the ship?

8. Drinks....did you smuggle?? :)

 

 

So sorry for all the questions but it's my first trip ever!!!

 

1. Our flights were 1:30pm and later, so we didn't disembark till group 21 at about 10am. Going through customs was a breeze. Taxis were abundant. It takes maybe 30 minutes to get to the airport. If you have an 'early' flight (which you do) you can get into the first zones called off the ship. They called the first zones right around 9am or a little before.

 

2. About 20-30 min.

 

3. We had wine in our checked bags, and it was no problem. I personally had 2 bottles of wine.

 

4. I think the elegant nights were Tuesday and Thursday nights. There was a full gamut of clothing from full formal gowns and tux's to nice pants, shirt and tie for men and sundresses or pant-suits for women. We were in the middle of the spectrum. I had a nice dress, but I wouldn't call it formal. My bf wore a full suit. There were lots of PR girls VERY dressed up for what looked like their "quinceaneras". Lots of makeup, formal gowns, up-dos, and tiaras.

 

5. Sounds like that amt of luggage is fine. We had one medium suitcase, a garment bag, and a small roll-on carry on, plus a purse for me.

 

6. We brought all kinds of clothes. A pair of jeans, hiking clothes (for our volcano hike), nice pants, dress, sundresses, swimwear, a sweater or two (for the cold AC), t-shirts, tank-tops, and some casual stuff to wear in the MDR.

 

7. I brought $300 in cash with me. My boyfriend used the ship's ATM. The fee for the ATM is $6, which was too steep for me. My boyfriend's bank refunds ATM fees, so it wasn't a big deal for him.

 

8. We didn't smuggle, but we did bring wine. We had gotten 'future cruise certificates' from a previous cruise so we had $100 in free on-board credit. We spent it primarily on drinks and formal pictures.

 

Hope this helps! You will have a great time!

[CALIBLUGIRL03]

Thank you so much for the details and up to date information. We are getting so exited for this trip. One last question? We don't really plan on buying a bunch of stuff but we are curious about the customs paperwork and what we need to claim. Thanks again!!

[Dirkgun]

Thanks for doing this review. I love reviews.... especially the Victory (my all time favorite so far) Sounds like you had a great time. I know the same reports of Puerto Ricans being loud and crazy all hours of the night really happen that first week of January.... from the research I have done it seems that the Puerto Rican culture really celebrates Christmas different. They reall celebrate Three Kings Day (jan 5th) and the loud partying is one of those customs of going from cabin to cabin to find a different party.:cool::eek: Please do post some pictures... I miss the scenery.

[spideyfam]

Thank you for the review. Glad you had a great time.

[dutchiegirl6]

Thank you so much for the details and up to date information. We are getting so exited for this trip. One last question? We don't really plan on buying a bunch of stuff but we are curious about the customs paperwork and what we need to claim. Thanks again!!

 

We don't really buy much either. Alcohol was the only thing we bought on this trip. I believe you're allowed 1L per person, but you are allowed more if you get anything in St. Thomas (a US Virgin Island). The customs guy barely looked at any of our forms.

[westmich]

Wow! Thanks for the great review!

 

You don't happen to know anything about the rooms with queen size beds, do you? We will have one of those, and I wonder if it is the same size as the one with two twins...? In that case, we will have more space!:)

[jigger]

So you would recomend cosol tours in St. Lucia ?

[dutchiegirl6]

So you would recomend cosol tours in St. Lucia ?

 

Yes, I would recommend Cosol. I think our whole group was a little bigger than our group 3 years ago, so he must be getting more business. There were only 10 or fewer people per van, but the vans all stopped at the same places. It was our 2nd time so some of the things we had seen before, but still a nice time. There's definitely plenty to drink: beer, rum punch, water, soda, etc. We also get lots of nice food. We get to have bananas ripe off the trees, local fruits and johnny cakes for 'breakfast' and local warm bread and cheese for 'lunch.' Also, the beach he takes you to is amazing.

[TortieGal]

I hope you don't mind me picking your brain since I will be taking the same cruise Feb. 27th and I was wondering the following:

 

1. What time did you disembarke? My flight leaves @ 11:15am that day.

2. How far is the airport from the cruise terminal?

3. Can you leave your wine in the checked bags or do you have to carry it on?

4. What nights were elegant nights and how dressed up should we get?

5. For two people how much luggage would you recommend? I was thinging 2 carry ons and a medium suitcase & purse for me / backpack for him.

6. What kind of clothes did you bring?

7. Cash....should I bring it with me or wait to use the ATM on the ship?

8. Drinks....did you smuggle?? :)

 

 

So sorry for all the questions but it's my first trip ever!!!

 

In regards to your flight, make sure you get off the ship ASAP. The San Juan airport tends to be a bit of a nightmare so you are going to need to get there as soon as you can. Plus there are 2 lines that you need to wait on. The first one is an agriculture inspection or something (I can't remember exactly) and then you head to check in.

 

We were Zone 1 and they didn't call us until about 9.

[agc291]

Also, we found out that the Carnival Victory does not allow you to buy the future cruise certificates that we could get on our other cruises. This seems really strange that the offer wouldn’t be fleet-wide.

 

 

We are sailing the Victory in March and I wanted to get a future cruise certificate as well. I read on the Carnival forum in the looking for carnival assistance area that if you call Carnival they can get you one of these since it is not offered on this ship.

[KMYork]

Any chance you noticed the price of Jonny Walker Blue?

[dutchiegirl6]

I didn't check the prices of the Blue Label. In general, we found prices to be cheaper on St. Maarten than the other islands. Lots of people were buying alcohol there, many in cases (if they lived in Puerto Rico). Sorry I can't help more.

[KMYork]

Thanks anyway. By the way...Loved your review!

[BOOGALOO509]

Many thanks for your review. My wife and I are from the UK and have just booked this cruise for March 2012 although we will be doing it from Barbados to Barbados. I have 2 questions I hope you can help me with, both money related.

 

I understand there are actually several different currencies used in the various ports of call, I.E. US$ in Puerto Rico, East Caribbean $ on some islands and the Barbadian $ in Barbados. Did you take the relevant currency for each port of call or were you able to use US$ in each location? Secondly, did you use cash in each location or were you able to use credit cards?

 

I am sure I will have additional questions as we get more into the details of the cruise however please accept my thanks for any help you can provide.

 

Regards.

 

John

[agc291]

Since no one has answered, I will do the best I can. From what I have read ( we are doing this cruise in March 2011) the US $ is widely accepted. Just make sure you have smaller bills. Also have read that they mostly give you change in thei local currency so make sure you know the exchange rates so that they do not jip you! I have also seen that some places take credit cards but most places do prefer that you use cash. Hope this helped!

[Dirkgun]

Many thanks for your review. My wife and I are from the UK and have just booked this cruise for March 2012 although we will be doing it from Barbados to Barbados. I have 2 questions I hope you can help me with, both money related.

 

I understand there are actually several different currencies used in the various ports of call, I.E. US$ in Puerto Rico, East Caribbean $ on some islands and the Barbadian $ in Barbados. Did you take the relevant currency for each port of call or were you able to use US$ in each location? Secondly, did you use cash in each location or were you able to use credit cards?

 

I am sure I will have additional questions as we get more into the details of the cruise however please accept my thanks for any help you can provide.

 

Regards.

 

John

 

I have been in the southern Carribean 3 times and I have yet to find anyone that does not take US $$ like the previous poster said just take some smaller bills also 1's 5's so you don't find that they are having to make change. The local vendors or cabbies etc do enough business with cruise passengers and other tourists they "can" make change in US $$ they just "will" give you local money if you will let them. Fine in coin form for souvenirs but a little more costly in bigger amounts for you. LOL

[Julitta]

1. What time did you disembarke? My flight leaves @ 11:15am that day.

 

On the last night they will inundate you with disembarkation instructions. You will be allowed off the ship early if you show them your itinerary. They may "encourage" you to pay for a Carnival airport transfer.

 

Regarding drink smuggling, we barely drink and didn't try to smuggle anything, but (Jan. 9th sailing) the security didn't seem that tight. They do scan your bags coming back on but one day we forgot some bottled water in our backpack and they didn't even open the pack. We also didn't see anyone get searched for anything and we got off the ship at each port. As always, you're taking your chances.

[Mary Ellen]

Thank you for sharing your experience with us.

[T&Dcruisers]

We are sailing the Victory in March .

We're on that cruise too!!

[bluzchick]

Just getting ready to start my review....we sailed the same dates

The kids were sooooooooooo loud, some until 3 in the morning.

If we cruise again it will be when school is in session ;)

 

We smuggled--funny thing is we didnt hardly drink any of it! Hubby carried on beer and champage left over from our stay in PR! I got stopped with my 2 bottles of wine(which they let me carry on..hubby walked faster when they stopped me so as far as they knew both bottles were for me..and hubby didn't get stopped at all, carrying his brown paper bag with the beer on top!!)

[stefanny28]

I really enjoyed your review.

 

I was looking at a January cruise, either the Victory Jan 1st out of San Juan or the Miracle Dec 28 out of FLL.

 

I really need some advice from you guys who have been on the ship:

The main thing that I am worried about is the loud kids in the hall way until 3:00 AM. Did it happen alot during your cruise? Should I get a cabin on deck 9 where there are less cabins to start with or should I just book the Miracle since it will leave from FLL therefore less chance of loud PR families (sorry guys, nothing agains PR, only LOUD passengers...)

 

Thanks

[Dirkgun]

I really enjoyed your review.

 

I was looking at a January cruise, either the Victory Jan 1st out of San Juan or the Miracle Dec 28 out of FLL.

 

I really need some advice from you guys who have been on the ship:

The main thing that I am worried about is the loud kids in the hall way until 3:00 AM. Did it happen alot during your cruise? Should I get a cabin on deck 9 where there are less cabins to start with or should I just book the Miracle since it will leave from FLL therefore less chance of loud PR families (sorry guys, nothing agains PR, only LOUD passengers...)

Thanks

 

Hi not trying to Hijack the thread here.... A lot of reviews that you hear about the "loud PR kids and passengers" happen the early part of January. I can't remember the threads name but someone explained the happenings as kind of part of their (Puerto Ricans) culture to really go all out celebrating 3 Kings Day (jan 6th) really part of their Christmas holidays still. I guess traditionally they would go from house to house making noise or singing until the family lets them in (late at night) and then they feast and party then go and do it all again at other houses. On the ship it seems there are some unruly peolple that do the running up and down the halls finding other PR families to party with them. I have gone in later January and early feb out of San Juan and never encountered this problem. I hope this helps with your Dilema. I know the people should not be doing it to the detriment of others... however there is a time that it seems to happen more. I would tell you to do the Victory you will love this cruise. :D

[stefanny28]

Thanks Dirkgun;

I realized now that Jan 6th is a day that will be loud and unruly on the ship but unfortunately , that is also the only week that we will be able to travel.

I looked at the cruise just the week before and the price is almost double the cruise on Jan 2nd.

I guess I will just have to endure one night out of 7 for the amount of $ that we can save.

As long as people don't carry on that loud celebration the whole week long???? can anyone tell me if it is the case ?

 

Thanks