Victory Review 9/12/13 Key West, Cozumel

[Racegirl6]

This is my first review and I'm not posting pics because I really didn't take a timeline of shots. This cruise was for our 10 year anniversary, my DH and I cruised once before on our honeymoon and our DD9 was with us.

 

We flew in on Wednesday, September 11 into Ft. Lauderdale. Our flight was delayed about an hour so we did not arrive until around 7 PM, we rented a car for the evening, and stayed at the LaQuinta Miami East hotel. The hotel was fine for an overnight stay, although getting into it was almost impossible and there was really nothing around it to choose from for dinner. We ordered pizza in the room, it was awful, I don't even remember the name. It was delayed and cold. My husband was in a fowl mood from all of this. Bring on the morning.

 

We returned our car from Thrifty in at the Miami Airport, it took a little time but not bad. Thrifty has a free shuttle to Port of Miami which proved to be very handy.

 

We arrived at the port around 10:45 AM, the porter took our bags, we took a few pictures and checked in. We had our passports and ID's ready, and the clerk thanked us for having it all correct. We went thru security very quickly and were on to the next step of getting our sail and sign cards. Check in was a breeze. We were asked to be seated and wait for our boarding number to be called. We waited no longer than 15 minutes and were on the ship. I'm glad we didn't purchase FTTF, we boarded right after them. We were on the ship by 12:00. That was an awesome check in experience.

 

We decided to explore the ship since we were only allowed on the lobby and lido decks. We spent a lot of time outside on the upper decks taking pictures. It was hot and humid out there, so we looked around inside too. We decided to eat lunch on the lido deck. We all had the deli and loved it. My DD had the turkey sandwich, I had the corned beef pastrami sandwich, and DH had the turkey wrap. It was just enough since we had a big breakfast. We did sample some desserts also, including the wonderful chocolate chip cookies. After lunch we were able to go to our cabin. We were on the Verandah deck # 8257 with a balcony. I LOVED IT!!!!! This cabin is across from the stairs and elevator and we could hear noise at odd times. I really liked being able to walk up the stairs right to the lido deck, and with our DD loving to swim and slide it was perfect. We hung out for a while in the cabin, then DD and I decided to walk around while DH napped. DD wanted to see the shops, arcade and various things on the Promenade deck. We just looked at the arcade, but never let her play anything, it seemed like a big money pit. The shops weren't open anyway, but she likes to look. We got stuck on deck 3 trying to figure out how to go outside, but that never worked. All the doors say crew only. We found out later that was our muster station near the lifeboats. We could never quite figure out the layout of deck 4 near the dining rooms. You have to go up to 5 and back down to 4 to get around because of the galley. I got frustrated and went back to our cabin. It was almost time for the safety briefing so we exited the cabin and went to the lobby deck to wait.

 

To be continued....

[TwinPrincessMermaids]

A lot of the ships have the "You Can't Get There From Here" layout especially with decks 3-5.

 

I also got completely lost trying to get outside because I wasn't expecting to have to go through the dining to get outside, and go around, or around the stairs either. I have been made fun of for years over that. Add some dramamine to it, and it's basically hopeless!

 

We started going down to deck two, going all the way forward or aft, and then coming back up one or two stairs levels. At least that way, you could walk the ENTIRE length of the ship without being stuck on the crowded promenade level or being funneled through the smokey casino either. That had its caveats too since sometimes you had to dodge people and house keeping carts.

 

I think Carnival is famous for this confusing layout. It took me my 3 cruises to figure it out...

[Anyislandwilldo]

Once you arrived at the terminal for the car return, do you recall how long it took to check in, grab the shuttle and then get over to the port? Thanks in advance.

[Racegirl6]

I'd say 20 minutes to return the car, 20 minutes on the shuttle waiting for it to load. I'd say one hour total from car return to port.

[CruzLover80]

Great post! We did the Victory in April for our wedding and loved it. CCL is notorious for that dining room layout which is the most confusing ever. I don't care how many ships I go on, I can never figure it out, LOL. I think they do it that way so we can work up our appetite going up and down the stairs, over and around hallways....

[Racegirl6]

Our luggage was at our door when we returned from exploring. First we had to go to the safety briefing before we could put things away. The briefing went quickly, but it was hot and sweaty on deck 3. After that, we decided to go to the Lido Deck for the first sail away party. Our DD was ready to swim and slide. I enjoyed the music, swimming and the hot tub. I really liked the sun deck on the Victory. We bumped into a couple who were on our flight from St. Louis the day before. We ran into that group several times and they were on our flight home. We met a lot of folks that day and enjoyed talking to all of them. We stayed out on the deck until about 7, then it was time to get ready for our late seating for dinner. Our table was in the Pacific upper dining room and we had a table for 3. I was kind of hoping for a big table with others to chat with, but having our own table was nice too. Our wait staff introduced themselves, Vladimir was one and I couldn't pronounce the other, it was something like Ioanian. They were both friendly. Dinner was not that memorable the first night, I had the roasted beef brisket, it was OK, but tough. DD had pork steak which was good and DH had the salmon which he thought was a bit wet. He didn't have great things to say about any of the fish he ate. Service was choppy, if we ordered 2 appetizers and Did ordered one, her meal came when our salads did. It happened to me on elegant night, the finished their meals while I was still waiting for mine because I ordered mushrooms. I did not like that at all. We all had the melting cake for dessert. DH liked it the most. We retired to our cabin after dinner, unpacked, DD fell asleep and we enjoyed our balcony. It was a long but very fun day.

 

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