Victory Review - Eastern Caribbean

[gert]

Review of our first Carnival cruise:

 

Ship: Victory, sail date: June 12th, 2005

 

First, a few things you should know about our travel group:

 

those traveling in our group:

My husband (42 years old), myself (41), our daughter (15), my parents (dad 78 and in a wheelchair, mom 71 and has more energy than most of us), and my brother whose single and looking (39).

 

We have cruised on Royal Caribbean in the past. My husband and I have cruised 5 times prior to this (all on RCCL). I have also had the pleasure of cruising on Cunard.

All of us have been lucky enough to travel most of the world including Europe and South America, not to mention most of the USA.

 

With the exception of my daughter who is still in school we are all college graduates.

 

Embarkation: Smooth enough. We were traveling with my dad who was in a wheelchair. Carnival was very nice about accommodating us all while we checked in. Got to the pier at about 11 am and had lunch on board at about 1 pm.

 

The Ship: As I mentioned earlier, we have been on many ships before (you can check my profile for more info). We all agreed that the Victory was not well distributed. For instance, our cabins were on the Empress Deck 7 Port Side toward the aft. To get to our dinner table at the Atlantic Dining Room we had to go to deck 5 (only deck other than the Lido Deck) that will allow you to travel from one end of the ship to the other, then down to deck 3 and walk back to the middle of the ship. We found the décor was neither elegant nor was it shabby, just not our particular taste. It was just nice. The dining rooms were not as elegant as in previous cruises.

 

Our Cabins: 7370, 7388 & 7392 all on Empress Deck 7 Port Side. Great Cabins, spacious, nicely arranged. Enough room for all our stuff and we did bring stuff. Ladies you know what I mean. Never been in a cabin with so much storage facilities. Our beds, the best anywhere and we have stayed in some pretty nice hotels during our travels. I don’t know where they bought these from but I found it better than our king size Beautyrest back home. Comforter was also great, the cabins were incredibly comfortable.

 

Handicap Facilities: We have traveled with my dad and his wheelchair on only one other ship. RCCL’s Explorer of the Seas. We found that ship easier to navigate with the wheelchair. Getting to our dinner table was not easy. Crossing the length of the ship was not easy. Navigating through the Mediterranean Restaurant was almost impossible.

 

The Crew: Absolutely SUPERB! We had the best service possible. These folks truly went out of their way to be gracious, helpful, kind and considerate. Could not say enough about them. Our waiter, Gregory and his assistant Martin are beautiful people inside and out. Our cabin steward did not really introduce himself and we did not see him much, but our cabins were spotless, everything we could possibly need was provided. The folks working behind the purser’s desk were incredible. When it came to customer service they were the best we have ever encountered. We unexpectedly had a minor emergency back home and had to deal with the purser’s desk during our first sea day and if anyone would like further details I will be happy to provide it.

 

Excursions: We did not book any excursions with the ship. Instead, we:

 

San Juan - walked out to the pier and negotiated a tour of San Juan with one of many cab/tour guides just outside. They gave us a 2-hour tour of San Juan for $10 per person. Dropped us off in a nice enough restaurant (suggested by our driver) and we walked back to the pier.

 

St. Thomas - we had pre-arranged a tour with Sunny Liston (checkout his website) for $20 per person. It was awesome, highly recommend it – so much FUN and completely accommodating.

 

St. Maarten – walked out to the pier, found the taxi stand (to your right) and decided to go shopping in Marigot (the French side) $5 each to get there. Too much traffic so the cab driver had to take a longer route and we got to see a great deal more for our money. St. Maarten was nice, nothing I haven’t seen before, great flea market. A mini-van private cab took us back to the pier for $6 each instead the customary $5. I wish we would have gone to the beach instead. Next time.

 

Pax: Everyone we met, talked to, encountered in one way or another were very nice, sociable and kind – true party people who came on board to have a good time. With one exemption. There was one (only one) lady who was totally put out and visibly disturbed because of having to move her dining chair to allow my dad’s wheelchair to get through the dining room. What can you do?

 

Attire: Extremely casual. Jeans and shorts everyday, throughout the day and night, dress suggestions just do not apply here. It was basically wear what you like when you like. Most people participated at the first formal considerably less participated at the second. Shirt and shoes are absolutely not required at the Mediterranean Restaurant on the Lido Deck. We have never seen anything like it. I understand if you are sitting and having lunch out by the pool, near the pool or in your cabin, but honestly, at an indoor restaurant. I don’t care how casual it is, gentlemen please wear a shirt, and ladies please use a cover up over your bathing suit and don’t forget your shoes.

 

Evening Shows: OUTSTANDING! Do not miss any of them. These folks are real professionals in this arena. We are theater people. We as a family enjoy all kinds of entertainment and get to the theater as often as possible. The shows on this ship were so much better than any other cruise ship show we have ever seen. Cheers to the Victory Dancers and entire entertainment crew. The Cruise Director, Dana was one of the best we have experienced.

 

Will we cruise with Carnival again? Probably not in the near future, we enjoy the elegance of the other ships we have sailed and it is part of the experience. But when we do set sail on Carnival again and we probably will, we will pack accordingly. After all, our family motto is when in Rome . . .

 

Gert

 

If I have forgotten anything in particular, please ask.

 

Our pics are posted at: http://community.webshots.com/user/live2travel

[wantacruise]

Hello,

We were on the Victory the week before you and did the western iten. We had a fabulous time and experienced great service as well!!! I do have to agree with you about the navigating the ship, however. We were on Riveria deck and would literally have to stop and think about where we were going and figure out exactly how to get there since deck 3 and 4 were blocked by the galley,etc. We would go to the Promenade deck to go just about anywhere!! The only exception was the aft portion of Lido--we could just zip up the elevator right by our room and there we were!!

[gert]

Did you also witness passengers getting bumped and no doubt bruised by those seahorses at the bottom of each staircase?

 

I was warned of them by an earlier post and was careful, but some of the kids running around . . . ouch!!!

[kelz66]

Did you also witness passengers getting bumped and no doubt bruised by those seahorses at the bottom of each staircase?

 

I was warned of them by an earlier post and was careful, but some of the kids running around . . . ouch!!!

 

I had no problem getting around. You are right about the lay out. But once you knew where you were going it was not hard to get there.

 

I had a fabulous time. The crew was great and everything was wonderful.

 

We had the late seating in the Atlantic dinning room , and everyone that I saw participated in both formal nights.

 

As for lunch in the Mediterainian ...being so close to the pool area (one on each side) you are gonna have people running in out of the sun to grab lunch.

 

I found nothing wrong with it. It's a cruise, people are going to be in bathing suits, espacially in the middle of the day.

[Chan_T]

Thanks for the review!

[gert]

Thanks for the review!

 

You're more than welcomed. It is amazing how these tiny bits of information help.

[pacerzfan]

Thanks for the review Gert, it was very informative.

[Donna n Francis]

Thank You so much for sharing your cruise review and those wonderful pictures too....I will be on the Carnival Victory in 153 days along with my two sisters :D :) :cool:. They have never cruised before! Are they getting excited yet?...I think our whole town knows that they are going on a cruise!:p

 

I know what you mean about trying to find the entrance to some of the rooms....my DH and I just got off the Voyageur of the Seas in May and what a time we had trying to find the entrance to Studio B...somehow we kept ending up at the back of the room that had no entrance, but it didn't take long before we knew the ship inside out:D.

 

Kindest regards, Donna

[KruznKel]

Great review gert appreciated it.. glad you had a good time.. pics were fantastic as well..:)

[gert]

I can't believe I forgot one thing.

 

The Victory has changed it's itinerary. Instead of going to St. Maarten first then St. Thomas it has been switched.

 

So it goes: San Juan, St. Thomas then St. Maarten.

 

We had a pre-arranged tour with Sunny Liston in St. Thomas, called him from San Juan (to his cell-which he kindly provides) and he already knew about the change. No problems there.