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Just off Victory on 10/19...any questions?

Pellaz

By Pellaz,
in Carnival Cruise Lines

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Pellaz

Pellaz

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Finally got home earlier today and I'll work on a review with some pics on Tuesday (next off-day), but I figured if anyone has any specific questions about Victory I can help out. We did the Nassau - HMC - Grand Turk 5-day itinerary. (Really it's 6 days since we left on Monday and returned on Saturday.)

 

I'll note that Victory was upgraded to the "new" pizza station, called Pizza Pirate, and no longer has calzones, Caesar salads and garlic bread there. This was a recent change.

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Fighterone

Fighterone

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We were also on the same cruise. Looking forward to your review. I love reading other peoples reviews of things I've done.

Same here! Paul, looking forward to your review.

If I post one, it won't be for a few days as I had too much fun and am quite a bit under the weather. :eek:

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Pellaz

Pellaz

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My DH and I are doing that same itinerary on Victory so I'll be looking forward to your review and pics!

 

What cabin did you have? How was the MDR waitstaff and food? Did it feel "crowded" on board? Thanks in advance!

 

We had oceanview cabin 2-368. It was fine, sometimes a few odd noises probably from the galley above, but nothing too bad. I had accepted an upgrade from the Upgrade Fairy (okay, an upSELL) for $100 total from an interior, further back and one deck down, and was pleased that the A/C in the room worked fine this time.

 

We had Your Time Dining -- my first time trying it -- and my thoughts are mixed. We really enjoyed the flexibility of deciding when to eat, and also WHETHER to eat in the MDR, but service was sometimes slow, refills overlooked, etc. We opted not to eat in the MDR twice because we didn't feel like investing 2.5 hours in dinner. Then again, on the second-to-last night, we had good service finally.

 

The ship definitely felt crowded at times, particularly on our sea-day. Victory has no specialty restaurants, so choices are somewhat more limited.

 

The ship is also badly in need of some TLC, but I'll address that in my review.

 

What entertainment is on board? Shows, late night parties

 

The late-night shows involving shipboard performers were Vrooom! and Living In America -- both still include the Victory Show Band. There were other shows involving fellow guests as well. These are the 'older' shows on Carnival, which will be replaced with the newer shows with piped-in music when the ship goes in for drydock.

There were also comedians performing each night, and on a couple of nights there were Lido Deck parties. The onboard dance club was also pretty busy at night -- more so than on my last cruise, on Liberty.

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Pellaz

Pellaz

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Same here! Paul, looking forward to your review.

If I post one, it won't be for a few days as I had too much fun and am quite a bit under the weather. :eek:

 

I don't think I'm quite as sick as you but I was really dragging at work today. I was going to try to upload photos tonight but I think I'm going to retire early -- for me, anyway -- and get 'er done tomorrow. (You've already seen them on That Social Website, but I'll be posting them to my personal site as well.)

 

Photos, what was the cost of the elegant night and dining room photos

 

I'm not sure if the price varies, but my sister bought a photo of me being "menaced" by the pirate guy at dinner the first night and as I recall it was around $10. (I'd have thrown it in the trash; I was laughing and it looked like I have no teeth. :o )

 

Did you go to the comedy club? Did the ship seem crowded? How was embarkation/debarkation? Did you fly in? If so where did you stay? Any issues to report?

 

We did not go to the comedy club...my sister was feeling pretty worn out each night and I wasn't feeling much better. After we had two beach-days in a row, we were both pretty well scorched.

Embarkation was delayed until noon for ALL passengers (including wedding parties) due to the tragedy on the ship the day before, but my sister and I may have been the first Faster to the Fun guests to board, right after Diamond and Platinum guests.

I highly recommend FttF for several reasons, but one of the main ones on this itinerary is to get priority tendering at HMC and to get a better cabana location at HMC, since assignments are first-come, first-served and it's like a gold-rush at the Shore Excursions desk when we board. :) In this case, if I had arrived at ShoreEx five minutes later, I'd have been stuck with a cabana between #1 and #7. Blech.

 

We did not fly in, we drove in from Atlanta in two steps (stopping overnight at the Best Western in Baldwin, FL, just a bit west of Jacksonville). The night before the cruise we stayed at the La Quinta Miami Airport East, which offers a free shuttle to the Port of Miami and free parking for cruise guests for up to 7 days. Since it costs $20/day to park at the pier and the room was around $75, it's a no-brainer. The shuttle back to the hotel is $10/pp, which is quite reasonable.

The La Quinta also offers free shuttle service to/from MIA.

 

Debarkation was a breeze. We had FttF so we were luggage zone 1, first off the ship. We were off and through Customs by 8am, maybe 8:15 or so.

 

 

More to come tomorrow! I can also answer questions about the cabanas at Half Moon Cay, the snuba excursion at Grand Turk, and the Behind the Fun ship-tour, which I took on the last sea-day. Oh, and let's not forget the hammocks of death (or at least embarrassment) on the Serenity Deck. :)

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Fighterone

Fighterone

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We had oceanview cabin 2-368. It was fine, sometimes a few odd noises probably from the galley above, but nothing too bad. I had accepted an upgrade from the Upgrade Fairy (okay, an upSELL) for $100 total from an interior, further back and one deck down, and was pleased that the A/C in the room worked fine this time.

 

We had Your Time Dining -- my first time trying it -- and my thoughts are mixed. We really enjoyed the flexibility of deciding when to eat, and also WHETHER to eat in the MDR, but service was sometimes slow, refills overlooked, etc. We opted not to eat in the MDR twice because we didn't feel like investing 2.5 hours in dinner. Then again, on the second-to-last night, we had good service finally.

 

The ship definitely felt crowded at times, particularly on our sea-day. Victory has no specialty restaurants, so choices are somewhat more limited.

 

The ship is also badly in need of some TLC, but I'll address that in my review.

 

 

 

The late-night shows involving shipboard performers were Vrooom! and Living In America -- both still include the Victory Show Band. There were other shows involving fellow guests as well. These are the 'older' shows on Carnival, which will be replaced with the newer shows with piped-in music when the ship goes in for drydock.

There were also comedians performing each night, and on a couple of nights there were Lido Deck parties. The onboard dance club was also pretty busy at night -- more so than on my last cruise, on Liberty.

 

I don't think I'm quite as sick as you but I was really dragging at work today. I was going to try to upload photos tonight but I think I'm going to retire early -- for me, anyway -- and get 'er done tomorrow. (You've already seen them on That Social Website, but I'll be posting them to my personal site as well.)

 

Looking forward to reading you! Yes, I hear many of the gals in the group have the crud but not the famous smoker's bronchitis I still get after every cruise, just about.

 

I'm not sure if the price varies, but my sister bought a photo of me being "menaced" by the pirate guy at dinner the first night and as I recall it was around $10. (I'd have thrown it in the trash; I was laughing and it looked like I have no teeth. :o )

 

I love the picture of you standing up twirling your napkin while the waiters were dancing. Yep, your pictures look great.

 

We did not go to the comedy club...my sister was feeling pretty worn out each night and I wasn't feeling much better. After we had two beach-days in a row, we were both pretty well scorched.

Embarkation was delayed until noon for ALL passengers (including wedding parties) due to the tragedy on the ship the day before, but my sister and I may have been the first Faster to the Fun guests to board, right after Diamond and Platinum guests.

I highly recommend FttF for several reasons, but one of the main ones on this itinerary is to get priority tendering at HMC and to get a better cabana location at HMC, since assignments are first-come, first-served and it's like a gold-rush at the Shore Excursions desk when we board. :) In this case, if I had arrived at ShoreEx five minutes later, I'd have been stuck with a cabana between #1 and #7. Blech.

 

We did not fly in, we drove in from Atlanta in two steps (stopping overnight at the Best Western in Baldwin, FL, just a bit west of Jacksonville). The night before the cruise we stayed at the La Quinta Miami Airport East, which offers a free shuttle to the Port of Miami and free parking for cruise guests for up to 7 days. Since it costs $20/day to park at the pier and the room was around $75, it's a no-brainer. The shuttle back to the hotel is $10/pp, which is quite reasonable.

The La Quinta also offers free shuttle service to/from MIA.

 

Debarkation was a breeze. We had FttF so we were luggage zone 1, first off the ship. We were off and through Customs by 8am, maybe 8:15 or so.

 

 

 

More to come tomorrow! I can also answer questions about the cabanas at Half Moon Cay, the snuba excursion at Grand Turk, and the Behind the Fun ship-tour, which I took on the last sea-day. Oh, and let's not forget the hammocks of death (or at least embarrassment) on the Serenity Deck. :)

 

Missed you at debark, we had #2 and I got a wheelchair since the walk was more than I could take. The process was indeed a breeze. We were by 0800.

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djwood24

djwood24

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I was on the four day on 10/10 and the five day on 10/14

Crew was awesome...Pizza was great...Lido ..well food is typical of CCL...except the morning omelet stations!!

the four day had a somewhat "rough" crowd and I would not do that one again...maybe it is just me but I like to drink and party but the amount of rude people was overwhelming compared to the five day.

Did Chef`s table....it was worth the money!! If you have the money you should experience it!

MDR was ok...had two great waiters...but doing the btb was same menu again...not very pleasing to have the same choices...we did do a special request and they did make us Spaghetti Carbonara.......was awesome!!

did Luggage express and would do it again...well worth the $20 each to NOT deal with your luggage at all

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Pellaz

Pellaz

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looking forward to reading your review , will be on this ship in a few weeks, & out of curiosity what tragedy ?

 

As previously mentioned in threads here on CruiseCritic, a child drowned in Victory's midship pool on Sunday the 13th while the ship was on its way back to Miami.

 

Missed you at debark, we had #2 and I got a wheelchair since the walk was more than I could take. The process was indeed a breeze. We were by 0800.

 

We looked for you there. We had Zone #1 for debark and were outside and through Customs really fast. Unfortunately the Jet Transp. shuttle back to the hotel was another two hours of waiting outside in the morning sun. The hotel got a LOT of complaints about that, not just from us.

 

Gonna start working on the review shortly. I will probably start a new thread rather than posting it here.

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Pellaz

Pellaz

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How much did the behind the scene tour cost on this ship. I read that the price differs depending on how big the boat is. Going in January and it sounds great.

 

Thanks :)

 

The Behind the Fun tour on Victory costs $55. Even though Victory is a larger ship than, say, Carnival's Fantasy-class ships, it does NOT have a steakhouse, and so the tour costs $55, is shorter than the $95 tour, and doesn't include quite as many perks.

 

I highly recommend the tour. I've now taken it three times and I'd rate the tour on Victory as being slightly better than the $95 tour I took on Liberty, but not as good as the $55 tour I took on Imagination.

 

A lot comes down to the presenters and how clearly they speak. My suggestion to Carnival was for smaller groups, but multiple sessions, and if at all possible provide the speakers with a powered microphone since some areas "backstage" can be quite loud.

I'll have more on this specific tour in my review. I'm about to post the first part now. :)

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agc291

agc291

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Hubby and I will be doing the 4 night itinerary in December. Would love to hear your overall impressions about the ship. Thanks!:D

 

 

We did this 4 day itin on the Destiny a couple years back- had a great time. We also were on the Victory before that and loved the ship. So much so that we decided to do a 5 day on her next spring. You will enjoy her. She doesnt have the upgrades like the Breeze, Liberty but is a nice ship. Especially for a nice getaway!

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littlered87

littlered87

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oh wow thats really sad, & to the person who asked about the price of photos,

-embark,ports of call, dinner photos are $10 each and every night several photographers have backdrops set up including formal night, those are all $21.99 each (we spent $300 on photos last time and didnt even buy 1/4 of the pics we had taken :eek:

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