Carnival Victory or Carnival Dream

[evajean]

Looking to take a cruise this July. First vacation without kids in 4 years. We've done most of the Eastern and Western Caribbean. Just wondering which of these two cruises you would recommend and why.

 

Carnival Victory - departs San Juan, Puerto Rico

St. Thomas

Barbados

St. Lucia

St. Kitts

St. Maarten

 

Carnival Dream - departs Cape Canaveral

Nassau

St. Thomas

St. Maarten

 

We've done Nassau before and would probably stay on the ship. Would love to do the full Southern Caribbean but airfare to Puerto Rico is $450. Almost $200 more per person than flying to Orlando. Is the cruise worth the extra airfare?

 

Any information would be greatly appreciated!

 

Thanks

 

Eva

[firefly333]

I would rather do Dream than Victory. How do the prices compare.

 

I wouldnt want to pay that airfare to San Juan, so Im guessing the prices are lower going out of San Juan.

[gsm1cox]

Besides the cost the ships are entirely different. The dream has a great waterworks and is so much larger, newer ship. But the victory has a better port schedule.

I would take the Dream, the kids will enjoy it much better. And Nassau you can go to the new straw market and buy your wife an fake designer hand bag, stroll around a bit and back on the ship for lunch and the kids can enjoy the waterworks slides without and lines.

[lulu78]

My vote goes for the Dream..hands down !!

 

We were on the Victory (different itenarary though) in 2008 .... it was not the best experience :cool: ... I mean it's been a while so things may have changed from when we were on it, but the level of service was so bad, we called it the training crew cruise....dinner was never shorter than 2 hours, and the staff just was not friendly and we just didn't feel that ''special'' cruise experience as we have had in other cruises. I give my cruises a little smiley face to sort of express how I felt with it, and well...just look at my signature line below.

 

But like I said, the Victory may have changed since then, and their itenarary is much better than the Dream's. We were just on that same itenarary on the Dream this past month...and I have to say althought the ship was fabulous, I think they could have used just one more port of call.

[wentworth]

My vote is for the Victory. We've done this cruise twice and would do again!! Ports are beautiful. The only draw back is the airfare, but the

cost of the cruise was very reasonable. We had great service on board.

 

We do cruise in Feb or March. Have never cruised in the summer. I'd

spend the extra especially since you are cruising with no children.

[marshabear]

we sailed the Victory in Feb 2011....had a great time-no issues on board....

 

if ports are more important than the ship, I say go with this one...however, if the ship is your destination, then maybe the Dream would be better since it is newer....

 

IMO, the ports in the southern caribbean are far better than the eastern ones....

 

 

 

Marsha

[kclvt]

I am looking at the same 2 ships/itineraries as these but for March of 2013. I too was concerned with the price of air fare but the price of the cruise is so much more cheaper. The stop in Nassau is only like a 1/2 day - also too many sea days on the Dream but not enough on Victory. The ports that the Victory stop at have 4 of my favorite islands. So I don't know - looks more like Victory - but.......we have never sailed Carnival before - only RCCL and Celebrity. Any suggestions? (oh we will be taking my 42 year old step son - his 46 year old wife and our 31 year old son and his 30 year old girlfriend and my ?? year old husband and me),........

[PROCRUISE]

Besides the cost the ships are entirely different. The dream has a great waterworks and is so much larger, newer ship. But the victory has a better port schedule.

I would take the Dream, the kids will enjoy it much better. And Nassau you can go to the new straw market and buy your wife an fake designer hand bag, stroll around a bit and back on the ship for lunch and the kids can enjoy the waterworks slides without and lines.

 

This answer makes sense and get a cove balcony too.

[Sir Cruise-a-Lot]

My wife and I sailed the Victory this past Feb. and had a great cruise. All the ports offer fun things to do and there are 5 stops as you know. I haven’t sailed on the Dream but the Victory is plenty big enough and was in fantastic condition. Yes the air fare is high right now and might be that way for some time but if you can swing it you will love the Victory.

[iceleven]

I would recommend The Victory. The ports are awesome and the ship was great. In fact we found the food and service much better on the Victory than our more recent Dream cruise. Bigger is NOT better. We found the Dream more crowded, as well.

 

I would recommend checking out one of the typical on-line airfare brokers and work with a variety of dates that might be available to you. Flights to Puerto Rico vary depending on the month and will always be higher during holidays. You might find that adding up the cost of the cruise and the airfare might not be all that much different than the Dream. Besides San Juan is a heck of a lot more interesting than Port Canaveral.

[lulu78]

hhhmmm :) .... Im glad to see I was outvoted on this one, lol....that means the Victory has improved greatly since I was last on her :)

 

As I said in my previous post, the ports of call on this Victory itenarary are definitely far better than the Dream's itenarary...although as others have posted the Dream is new and super big compared to the Victory, but since you are traveling as a couple, I tend to think that the waterworks (which is awesome) are of no big huge interest to you right now, hehehehe ;):p

 

Anyways, I think you guys will have a fantastic time on whichever ship you decide to go on.

 

Enjoy eachother !!!!!!!

[sassy1ja]

If money isn't too much an issue i'd take the Southern. I was not impressed with the Dream and can't wait to hit St Lucia and St Kitts on our cruise next year. I really can't stand the Nassau stop. I have not been to St Kitts but did go to St Lucia for my HM and feel it's such a beautiful island. Have you priced out both with the taxes? I was originall doing an Eastern 7 day out of Miami because the cruise rate was cheaper but then found the port taxes for FTL was actually slightly cheaper for a southern 8 day and decided the total difference in price was not as bad as I had originally thought.

[MIZZ_K]

Besides the cost the ships are entirely different. The dream has a great waterworks and is so much larger, newer ship. But the victory has a better port schedule.

I would take the Dream, the kids will enjoy it much better. And Nassau you can go to the new straw market and buy your wife an fake designer hand bag, stroll around a bit and back on the ship for lunch and the kids can enjoy the waterworks slides without and lines.

The op said this is the first vacation in 4 years without the kids.

[cowgirlamy]

I would vote for the Victory. Was on the Victory this past summer and had a blast. Great itinerary and the ship was just fine.

[sassy1ja]

The op said this is the first vacation in 4 years without the kids.

 

With out the kids I would vote against the Dream, too crowded and too many families with kids around. (no offense great for those with kids but not for us)

[Prairie_Gal]

When you add the cheaper airfare + more expensive cruise, compared to more expensive airfare + cheaper cruise it probably comes in very close to the same. I say do the Victory. Better ports and less kids. With the Dream you are really only getting two ports. But then I cruise for the ports more than the ship.

[S.S.Oceanlover]

Looking to take a cruise this July. First vacation without kids in 4 years. We've done most of the Eastern and Western Caribbean. Just wondering which of these two cruises you would recommend and why.

 

Carnival Victory - departs San Juan, Puerto Rico

St. Thomas

Barbados

St. Lucia

St. Kitts

St. Maarten

 

Carnival Dream - departs Cape Canaveral

Nassau

St. Thomas

St. Maarten

 

We've done Nassau before and would probably stay on the ship. Would love to do the full Southern Caribbean but airfare to Puerto Rico is $450. Almost $200 more per person than flying to Orlando. Is the cruise worth the extra airfare?

 

Any information would be greatly appreciated!

 

Thanks

 

Eva

 

If you've done the eastern I'm guessing you have been to St Thomas and St Maarten as well.

 

Also if you do the Victory it goes to St Thomas and St Maarten so you won't be missing anything by sailing the Victory.

 

I'm contemplating doing the Victory as well. While the airfare is more from Philly $450pp I can get an inside cabin on the Lido deck for a little more than $400pp so it balances out pretty much.

 

Airfare is more but the cruise is sheaper, at least for us in September.

 

I can also drive down to Baltimore and fly for about $315pp.

 

Bill

[Lyncoya]

Looking to take a cruise this July. First vacation without kids in 4 years. We've done most of the Eastern and Western Caribbean. Just wondering which of these two cruises you would recommend and why.

 

Carnival Victory - departs San Juan, Puerto Rico

St. Thomas

Barbados

St. Lucia

St. Kitts

St. Maarten

 

Carnival Dream - departs Cape Canaveral

Nassau

St. Thomas

St. Maarten

 

We've done Nassau before and would probably stay on the ship. Would love to do the full Southern Caribbean but airfare to Puerto Rico is $450. Almost $200 more per person than flying to Orlando. Is the cruise worth the extra airfare?

 

Any information would be greatly appreciated!

 

Thanks

 

Eva

 

I've never been on the Dream, but I just got off the Victory this Sunday. The ship is beautiful and the ports are EVEN MORE beautiful. I would chose the Victory in a heartbeat. The airfare was more than worth it, in my opinion. I have a review in my signature.

 

I guess it comes down to which is more important to you. The ship, or the itinerary?

 

have fun no matter what you decide. :)

[WendyVF]

We're strugging with the same choice for our October cruise. For us the cost is close to the same since the Victory is cheaper than the Dream and makes up for the additional airfare. We were on the Dream during Spring Break and there were 1400 children on board. I can only imagine that it will be the same in July. The kids didn't really both us but it made for a really full ship.

Since you're going without kids, I'd say go for the Victory!

[nytonowhere]

From someone who has been on both ships i would pick the Victory the Dream was just too crowded for me. I also LOVE the itinerary i would go for a 3rd time in a second!

[sempronialou]

I'd say Victory, but that's because we are going in July on the Victory this summer. We've done the Eastern and Western, so we wanted to to experience the Southern. We can only cruise in the summer, so this itinerary was perfect. Given the cost the cruise which I think is pretty good (depending on what dates you're looking at), I think it all balances out with the flight. I think the cost of the flight is worth it. I don't think you'd regret it.

[agc291]

I have not been on the Dream but we were on the Victory at the end of March. Guests and staff were friendly, never felt over crowded, food was great, each stop was AMAZING. I would definitely go for the Victory, we are actually considering doing the Victory again next spring.