AryMay's January Photo Review of the Victory

[shortstuf1255]

Love your review so far. I went on this cruise back in Sept and it was the best one I have taken and I would do it again if it wasn't for the flying.

[AZPam]

Have never sailed Carnival before and will be on the Victory in May. Still trying to find the little tidbits of info that will help. Love your review and keep it coming!

[gelo7]

Loving your review.

[AryMay]

Love your review so far. I went on this cruise back in Sept and it was the best one I have taken and I would do it again if it wasn't for the flying.

 

That pretty much sums up my opinion as well. The cruise was wonderful (although I would prefer another sea day)...but flying to San Juan was expensive and too time consuming.

 

If time and money weren't an issue I would look for a 10 day southern Caribbean cruise that leaves out of Florida. My cousin just did one on Norwegian that visited some of the same ports but yet had four sea days. Now that would be perfect....

[aawachman]

We are also from Minnesota. We leave February 26th on the victory. We have never cruised before!!! Any good pointers??? Ps your review is AWEESOME!!

[AryMay]

We are also from Minnesota. We leave February 26th on the victory. We have never cruised before!!! Any good pointers??? Ps your review is AWEESOME!!

 

Have never sailed Carnival before and will be on the Victory in May. Still trying to find the little tidbits of info that will help. Love your review and keep it coming!

 

I have a few that I will try and get posted tomorrow.

[AryMay]

Sorry for the delay in the review...I just got discs with the photos from the other two couples we traveled with so have been trying to sort through probably close to 2000 pictures!! :eek:

 

Hopefully I will be able to get on with this review tomorrow. In the meantime...here are some photos of the door decorations and the birthday stuff we put in our friend's cabin.

 

 

 

 

Are you wondering why you haven't seen any photos of the friends yet? They booked their air through Carnival and had to fly down the day off the cruise. It was after 8:00 pm before they even boarded the ship on Sunday night. More about that later...

[ed_k_tx]

Very much enjoying your review and pics. We're going next month and really looking forward to this cruise.

Keep it coming.

[AryMay]

I apologize for the gap in posting…too much going on at work and then we went away for the weekend.

 

Picking up where I left off…

 

After dropping off our carry-on bags and decorating our friends’ cabin we got back off the ship to do a little exploring in Old San Juan. Getting off the ship was easy…except they routed you sort of a weird way that took you round-about and involved a lot of walking just to get out of the terminal.

 

This pirate ship was docked right next to the Victory. For a fee you could go onboard and get a tour.

 

 

We looked around trying to find where the free trolley stopped. There was a tourist info booth across the street from the ship, but…no one was there. We did find a brochure on the trolley routes and debated what to do. There was a stop nearby, but since we hadn’t seen ANY trolleys yet we didn’t want to waste our time just waiting.

 

Instead we just started walking in the direction of the fort which we could see (San Cristobal). I had imagined that it would be a long walk and we were surprised to find out just how close it was…but it was an uphill walk to get there. Once we figured out where the entrance was we paid our $3 admission fee and went in.

 

 

 

It amazed me that there were so few people in the fort on a Sunday afternoon. The weather was beautiful and we just took our time wandering around checking out pretty much all of the fort.

 

 

Bob was taking his time enjoying all of the displays so I sat on these benches and called all of our kids back home...mostly just to make them jealous since Minnesota was having freezing rain and snow all day!

 

 

[AryMay]

Some more from inside the fort...

 

 

 

 

 

 

There was a great view of the Victory from on top of the fort...

 

[AryMay]

Down the coast we could see the other fort (El Morro) and started walking that way.

 

 

The traffic was horrendous…it would have scared me to death to drive here.

 

 

As we walked it was interesting to see the walls that surrounded most of the city. What a contrast to see the centuries old wall right next to an outdoor basketball court!

 

 

After walking part of the way we decided it was going to take too much time and too much energy to make it all the way to the fort AND then walk around inside so we backtracked and started meandering our way back towards the ship. Occasionally we would stop and go in a shop, but mostly we just walked ...enjoying the warm weather and being a part of a different culture.

 

 

The doorways of the buildings fascinated me as we walked the narrow blue cobblestone streets of the city.

 

 

[kinabina]

Love your review. Keep it coming :)

[travel281]

Great review.

[AryMay]

Back on the ship, we found our luggage waiting outside our cabin when we returned. Unpacking was pretty easy…there is plenty of storage space and after five cruises we pretty much know where we want things to go. I had brought along some cheap, wire hangers and was glad to have them…there are never enough in the closets. Once emptied, the luggage was stashed under the bed.

 

It felt good to be settled in for the week, but our friends were still on their way. The four of them had booked their flights through Carnival and were en route to San Juan. They left Minneapolis around 7 am and the last I had heard from them they had a layover in Charlotte. At that time Kim had texted me that the flight was running late due to mechanical problems. The flight had been scheduled to arrive around 5:30 at SJU so we calculated that by the time they collected their luggage and waited on the Carnival bus to fill up it would be at least 6:30 before they arrived at the ship. With the delay now we were guessing possibly 7:00 pm.

 

Around that time we went down to the lobby to wait for their arrival. We waited…and waited…and waited. Everyone was supposed to be onboard by 8:30 pm and I was starting to get worried. At 8:00 I went to guest services to see if they could give me any information about their flight or what might happen if they were late. I stood in line for about 10 minutes before I was able to inquire about them. The guy behind the counter checked his computer and said “your friends are already onboard”. What?!?! As I was trying to figure out how they had gotten past us in the lobby Bob came running over and said “they are here!” They must have checked in at almost the same time the guy checked.

 

Open seating in the MDR was scheduled until 8:30 pm so we quickly dropped off their stuff in the cabin in order to make it to dinner on time. Knowing they would need magnetic strip cards to operate the cabin safe, Kim had brought key cards from a hotel but they didn’t work. I’m not sure why these were different, but perhaps they had become de-magnetized? I had an old Walmart gift card that Jim & Kim were able to use. I’m not sure but I think Lowell & Nancy shared their safe during the week since they did not want to use a credit card to lock their safe. They had adjoining cabins which made it easy for them to go back and forth.

 

Feeling very relieved that they had finally arrived, we made our way to dinner in the Pacific Dining room.

[AryMay]

Nancy had recently been placed on a gluten free diet. She had contacted Carnival in advance to let them know and their only reply was “talk to your waitstaff in the dining room.”

 

The rest of us placed our orders and the waiter told Nancy…please wait…the hostess will be over to talk to you about your order. Our food came, and still no one had come to talk to Nancy. I imagine that the fact that it was open seating, and that we had come in so late, things were a bit confused. Finally the hostess did come over, but due to the fact that we were already finished with our appetizers and most likely the stress from a long day of travel, Nancy was very upset. The hostess, Katarina, spent a long time with Nancy explaining the process and getting her order. By the time her food arrived, Nancy was feeling much better. Katarina told her that each evening a hostess would come to our table in the MDR and help Nancy order her meal for the following night. She would explain which foods were gluten free. If Nancy wished to order something else on the menu that was not gluten free the chef would make it for her special if possible. I think much of the confusion this first night could have been avoided if Carnival would have explained more fully ahead of time how Nancy’s diet was to be taken care of.

 

Crème brule was on the dessert menu and luckily it was gluten free. We all ordered it and the guys thought it was so delicious they ordered a second…and then a third serving! The waiter we had was a fun guy and kept teasing us that they were out of crème brule…but then brought more and more until we were so stuffed no one could take another bite.

 

By the time dinner was over there was very little time until the muster drill which was scheduled for 9:30 pm. Being so soon after the Costa Concordia disaster in Italy I thought people would take this more seriously, but it took forever to get all of the stragglers there. People also continued to talk throughout the briefing which made it hard to hear and understand the directions.

 

Once the safety drill was over our group of six headed to the “secret door” on deck 6 for sail away. Bob and I had first discovered this on our first Victory cruise in 2005. There were a few others who also knew about the access to the front of the ship (must be Cruise Critic people!) but for the most part it was just our group. Sailing away in the dark was a new and strange experience. It was interesting to see the lights of the fort as we sailed past…but made for terrible photos.

 

There was no show in the main lounge that first night so we walked around the ship a bit before calling it a night. The other four (who had been up since 3:30 am!) stayed up a bit later and went to the Superstar Live Karaoke.

[AryMay]

Monday, January 23 - St. Thomas

 

 

Welcome to beautiful St. Thomas!

 

 

 

There were three or four other ships in port with us in St. Thomas.

 

 

Today’s plan…scuba diving at Coki Beach for all but Kim and I. Lowell & Nancy had just completed the classroom and pool portion of diving certification but this would be their first open water dive…Jim was diving for the first time ever. Bob is a master scuba diver (with many different kinds of certifications) and would be joining the others on their “discovery dive.”

 

I had taken care of the arrangements for everything we did at the ports for this cruise. Knowing that everyone would be tired after traveling, I scheduled the dives for 10:30 am. This gave us time to have a leisurely breakfast in the MDR before heading to the beach. As we exited the ship, a guy was there coordinating taxi service. He showed us an open air taxi that was headed to Coki Beach and we waited until it filled up.

 

 

The cost of the taxi was $9/per person. Others that were with us were simply taking an island tour and the driver would point out things of interest as we drove through the island. When we arrived at Coki Beach we got off and the others continued on with the tour.

 

 

[AryMay]

The four divers quickly found Peter from the Coki Beach Dive Club and started filling out the paper work.

 

 

Kim and I planned to spend the day doing a little lounging on the beach and some snorkeling. We had our own snorkel gear, but spent $5 each to rent chairs. Umbrellas were available for $10 each but after seeing that shade was available we decided it wasn’t necessary.

 

We were at the end of Coki Beach near Coral World and the snorkeling wasn’t too bad. There were a lot of fish…but not a huge variety of types. With several cruise ships in port that day, the beach was pretty crowded.

 

 

The divers spent some time going through the basics and then suited up for the dive.

 

 

 

 

[AryMay]

The scuba dive...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When we were ready to head back to the ship, there were taxis waiting. We hadn’t had anything to eat since breakfast so we grabbed a bite to eat at the buffet. Bob, Kim and I then got back off the ship and did a little shopping in the stores by the pier. My only purchase was a small, over the shoulder purse that I used in the evenings on the ship to hold a few things…my other small camera, my S & S card, a comb, etc.

[AryMay]

A tip for staying in touch with those at home...

 

 

For those of you who aren’t familiar with Carnival’s website…they have a section called “FUNville”. It requires registration…a separate registration even from the regular Carnival website. The site has all sorts of “stuff” like videos, blogs, games, etc…nothing much worth spending time on in my opinion. BUT…they also have forums where you can post comments. AND…you can access this site using the computers at the internet café while onboard any of the Carnival ships for free. Accessing any other site requires the purchase of internet packages which are NOT cheap.

 

Before leaving home, I started a thread on the “Currently Onboard” forum. My family and friends were also able to register for the site and post on this thread. By doing so it gave me a way to keep in touch with those at home…for free. When I first attempted to use the ship’s computers, the internet was so incredibly slow I never did make it all the way to the forums page. (Getting there requires quite a few “clicks”…) I found out, however, that I could also access the FUNville page via my iPad from my cabin. It was still a very slow process, but I could be doing something else at the same time I was waiting for a page to load. Through trial and error I found that getting on the site was easiest early in the morning. In the evening…you might as well forget even trying. My adult kids mostly just posted stupid comments to me but it was enough to set my mind at ease that all was well at home.

 

Before the cruise I checked with Sprint and found out that using my cell phone in San Juan or St. Thomas is no different than here at home since they are both US territories. I took advantage of this while in San Juan to talk to my kids both at the beginning of the cruise and at the end. Our flight home was delayed by several hours so it was nice to let them know without worrying about roaming charges. My husband’s iPhone is with Verizon and, although he never used it, they said there would be charges in all ports using their service.

[AryMay]

One more tip while I am thinking about it...

 

In the morning there are four omelet stations...two at the outside buffet by the main pool on the lido deck...and two more outside by the aft pool. I got a tip from the dining room hostess, Katarina, that although there may be a long line waiting by the main pool, the omelet stations in the back rarely have a line. She was correct!

 

The omelet line by the pizza station was usually nonexistent. I don't think a lot of people realized that they were even making omelets. So...before you stand in line for 20 minutes waiting for your omelet...check the stations at the back!

 

[HolySpearit]

Awesome! headed out on the Victory in November and from Mpls too! :) Looking forward to the rest of your review!

[gapearl]

Loving your review so far!

[kapcruiser]

Thanks for the review..heading there in May.

[pcvtmom]

We took this cruise last summer. Great review! It brings back really nice memories.

[aawachman]

We leave in 6 days. Can't wait!!!!!!!!!!! Your review is great!!!!