Victory 10/14 review with pics

[Pellaz]

Day 2 -- Nassau departure and pilot-boat

 

I was in the room getting dressed up for dinner (and I hate dressing up...but it WAS cruise-elegant night) when we we began our sailaway from Nassau -- the first ship out of all the ships there to leave, so it was a comparatively short port-visit. Doesn't really seem fair....

 

I suddenly remembered that the pilot-boat would be racing out to pick up the port pilot and sure enough, it appeared right next to us. The next sequence of shots was taken from our stateroom window as pilot vessel Sea Wolf picked up the Nassau pilot from the gangway right beneath us. We were sailing at a pretty good clip by this point, so watching the pilot-boat bouncing along next to us was pretty amazing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

(continued...)

[Pellaz]

Day 2: Nassau departure and pilot-boat (continued)

 

 

Making the transfer as the pilot jumps over from the gangway, just out of view...

 

 

That guy is waving back at our ship....

 

 

Farewell, Sea Wolf!

 

Dinner was lobster-tails and prime rib for us....didn't get any food porn pics because I was distracted by the drunken antics of the rest of our party at dinner. The prime rib was quite good and my sister had three lobster tails...which sounds like a lot until you realize that they're only four or five ounces each. The chef de cuisine later told us during the Behind the Fun tour that they expect people to have two or three lobster tails...but the record number he'd ever seen someone order WAS a bit beyond the pale. More on that later with the tour.

 

We got there a little before 8pm and weren't out 'til close to 10:30. (!) Granted, we had 6 people in our party, but it just seemed to take forever. It didn't seem as if we were forgotten as much this time, just that our service was slow.

 

It was 10:30 by now and we went back to our stateroom to change out of our "fancy duds" (thank god). Our port-visit the next morning at Half Moon Cay started WAY early, at 7:30am, and we needed to be down there early since we had a cabana, so my sister retired fairly early. I don't need as much sleep as she does, so I went back upstairs and discovered that the aft pool doesn't close until 1am.

The pool was completely empty, probably because it looks a bit forbidding at night: There Are Four Lights* in the pool, but none of them actually work. Remember, on Victory the aft pool is open to anyone of all ages, it's open 'til 1am, and a child drowned in the midship pool just two days ago. Seems like a little maintenance might be in order, huh? Just sayin'.....

 

I swam some underwater laps (4 pool-lengths down and back before surfacing again), had some pizza, and went down to our room.

Half Moon Cay in just a few hours! Maybe THIS time we'd actually make it ashore!

 

 

--

* Star Trek: The Next Generation reference

[Pellaz]

Hoping to continue with this and finish it tomorrow. Heading out to a friends' bonfire in a bit, though.

Coming up: Half Moon Cay, Grand Turk, thoughts about the Behind the Fun tour and thoughts about the ship in general. :)

[swim13]

Looking forward to the rest of your review, I was hoping to find a Victory review because I don't know much about Carnival ships and I have never really seen any pictures of the ship. Great start!

[Pellaz]

Day 3 -- Half Moon Cay at last!

 

We woke up a lot earlier than I'd have preferred on vacation and skipped breakfast so we could head on down to Guest Services and be escorted to the first tender. Our port-stop at Half Moon Cay was scheduled for 7:30 with the last tender back to the ship at 2:45, so it's an early day indeed!

The reason, of course, is because we'd be heading south to Grand Turk the following day and it's a pretty long haul. Even leaving HMC pretty early at around 3pm, we don't get in to Grand Turk until 11am the next day, and of course from Grand Turk back to Miami it's a full extra day. Travelling at 22 knots, or a whopping 25.5 mph, it takes some time!

 

So we get down to Guest Services and get with a big group of people who presumably also have rented cabanas, villas, the Private Oasis, and (I think) Platinum, Diamond and Faster to the Fun guests, all of whom get priority tendering. A lady came out and escorted us over to the stairs and down we went...only to run into another big group of people already waiting at the foot of the stairway by the gangway on Deck 0. Not sure what THAT was all about, but everyone managed to board the first tender along with the crew and food supplies and off we went to glorious Half Moon Cay!

 

This was our second attempt to get to HMC, as the port-call on our last cruise in September 2012 had to be cancelled due to weather and waves. At the time we were dismayed, especially since it didn't seem that the seas were all THAT high...but after boarding the tender today we both agreed that it would have been...tricky...the last time.

 

But this particular Wednesday October 16th dawned nice and clear, with "slight" seas, and we were really happy to be on our way!

 

Once we got to the tender pier we went to the Shore Excursions kiosk -- the second one, as the first one just handles newly booked excursions -- and they collected the cabana ticket and told us to go right over to the waiting shuttle truck. As others have described, this is an open, but roofed passenger truck that runs along the service roadway "behind" the cabanas and food service areas. Really handy, especially if you're way out in Cabana #15 or something!

 

We boarded with just a couple of other cabana-renters and were the first out to the further cabanas. A woman from the ship's crew was just wiping down our cabana and cleaning it up when we got there, and the snacks and drinks hadn't gotten there yet; they arrived about a half-hour later. It was really nifty seeing HMC when it was almost empty!

 

Here's a look back at Carnival Victory taken from the shore. The ship actually swung at anchor several times before settling down. I asked the captain about this during the Behind the Fun tour and apparently one of the anchors might not have "taken" all the way (40-foot depth at the bow, but 400-ft depth at the stern). At times she was bow-on to us, starboard or port facing, etc. Later the ship stabilized in just about the same position you see here in the photo:

 

 

 

 

A bit later the supplies arrived for us at the cabana. Here's a list:

 

 

• 8 cans of soda, our choice. They initially brought 4 Cokes instead of Diet Cokes for me, but promptly swapped them out
  
• 2 of those large $4+ bottles of water
  
• fruit tray (pineapple, watermelon, other melon slices)
  
• Vegggie tray with ranch dip (carrots, celery, broccoli, cauliflower, etc.)
  
• BIG bag of tortilla chips
  
• Salsa and dip for the chips (placed in the fridge)
  
• 8 oranges, which is about 8 more than we wanted. (I wish they'd give people a choice on these)
  
• 4 blue floatie mats -- these worked well and normally run about $10 to rent
  
• 4 sets of snorkeling gear, normally around $15 each to rent (I brought my own snorkeling bag of gear, though)
  

 

 

Since it was just the two of us, I had already offered to some people to come by and grab some of our extra snacks and gear...and even with a few takers we still had way more than enough. It would be just about right for four people, though.

 

A word of warning: at around 1:30 some guys from the ship came by to collect the serving plates that the snacks were on, so if you rent a cabana at HMC try to finish your snacks kinda early, or have some containers to put stuff like the veggies and dips in.

 

My sister and I both hopped on some of those blue floatie mats and floated around for a while in paradise. In retrospect this is probably where I truly started my sunburn off. Word to the wise: that tropical sun is really intense!

 

I also did some snorkeling, but as others have observed, there are few fish to see right near the regular beach. One drawback of having Cabana #11 is that we were pretty far from the "snorkeling area" shown on the map, and I wasn't sure if it was truly worth a long swim to check it out. I also visited our neighbors, Lee in Cabana #9 and Josette and her hubby next door in #12. It turned out that Cindy had forgotten a souvenir drink-cup the previous night in the dining room, and Josette was nice enough to bring it to us there on HMC. Reallly nice of her!

 

A bit later I went to go scope out the shore-side barbecue that Carnival offers; on our cruise it was offered from 10:30am to 1:30pm. The grilled hamburger was actually really good, and there was a lot more than hot dogs and hamburgers offered; things like potato salad, etc. This was good news for my sister, since she can't have foods that easily choke her, like burgers and hot dogs, but she CAN have potato salads and similar items.

 

I got a few pics from the "busier" part of HMC while I was out and about....

 

This appears to be an old crow's nest mockup, near the Pirate Ship Bar:

 

 

 

Gotta get a pic of the cannon and the ship! The cannons are on the second floor of the Pirate Ship Bar, which was almost empty when I was there:

 

 

 

Here's the beach and Victory, taken from the top of the Pirate Ship Bar:

 

 

 

That ol' Victory is pretty as a picture!

 

 

Amazingly, none of my shots of the ship have ANY tenders visible. They were using the port-side gangway for tendering.

 

Here's a shot of the Private Oasis or Grand Cabana taken from the Pirate Ship bar. Note that the small slide which was recently damaged and removed doesn't appear to have been replaced yet.

 

 

 

(continued)

[Pellaz]

Day 3 -- Half Moon Cay continued.....

 

There are two cannons on the top deck of the Pirate Ship Bar, so here's the other one about to lob a 9-pound ball directly at Victory's bridge!

 

 

 

Here's a pic of our "home away from home:"

 

 

 

Remember when I mentioned the hammocks on the Serenity Deck on the ship? When we got to Half Moon Cay there were flat, rigid hammocks similar to those -- but without those treacherous unsecured mats on them -- but hey presto, look what they got replaced with, at around 2 pm:

 

 

 

Here's the crew replacing the hammock between Cabanas #11 and 12:

 

 

So now HMC has hammocks that are probably safer and don't tumble you out as quick, but look...somewhat flimsier.

 

 

Finally it was time to depart paradise, and we headed up to the service drive to walk back toward the tendering pier and, no doubt, a LONG line. Right on cue a shuttle truck showed up and the driver offered us a lift back. To our surprise, he took us the other way on a sightseeing tour of the island, going out near the lagoon where the sting-ray excursion is held, the Sea-doos (I didn't know they had those), and the crew-only areas. After we got back to the plaza and the pier, we almost felt like we should have paid for that ride.

 

I got a pic of this nice fountain in the plaza:

 

 

There was a long line to board the tenders as expected, so we took refuge in the shade near the bar in the plaza to wait until it died down. There was a "deejay" there playing mostly rap and hip-hop, whose 'mixing' consisted of randomly punching up a different song, along with occasionally tossing in some annoying sound-effects. Some other patrons near us wondered if Carnival was actually PAYING the guy to drive us off the island, because "nothing says 'nice, relaxing Caribbean vacation like loud rap and hip-hop." It was pure, unadulterated torture!

 

Eventually we'd had all we could stand and we got into the tender line. Our friend Lee from the roll call saw us and said she was waiting until the last minute to leave paradise....can't say I blamed her.

 

Eventually it was our turn to board and here's what we saw:

 

 

Just a subtle reminder that Holland America actually leases HMC, and Carnival's ships use it only when HAL ships aren't. (Of course, both lines are owned by Carnival PLC.)

 

 

(continued....)

[Pellaz]

Day 3 -- Half Moon Cay -- the ride home

 

 

Once we boarded the tender we sat...and waited...and waited. A crewman came up and told the skipper "You're the last tender!" so apparently everyone else on the island, including Lee and her fellow partiers, got swept up and boarded our tender....but it was really HOT on that top deck!

 

Finally we got under way, and here are a few more pics:

 

 

The famous blue and white "I Wish I could Stay Forever" sign is barely visible here. I'd have gotten a pic, but the service road we were shuttled on doesn't run by the sign.

 

Here we are pulling around the front of Victory. That anchor chain in front was already rattling as it was being winched in, so we were anchor's aweigh!

 

 

Bow-on to Victory:

 

A last look back at Half Moon Cay. I truly hope to return someday!

 

(continued...)

[Pellaz]

Day 3 -- The Wrap-up

 

After we got back from HMC we took a nap for about two hours....remember, we had a lot of time left in the day since we'd departed HMC at around 3:15pm. It had also been an early wake-up for us.

 

Here are a couple of "ship pics" from that afternoon and evening:

 

This is Deck 3 outside Guest Services. This deck looks somewhat retro to me; take the loungers out and it looks like it could have been taken anytime since the 1960s:

 

Hanging above are the life-boats; you can see their propellers (or 'screws' in maritime parlance).

 

 

Glass elevators in the Atrium lobby:

 

 

 

Ship's course and status board on the Promenade -- showing us well on the way south to Grand Turk:

 

 

 

After we woke up, we were debating skipping dinner in the dining room, since we were both not feeling up to another 2-hour ordeal. One factor was the night's menu, and to our surprise it wasn't available on the ship's interactive TV channels or at Guest Services. They told us to check at the dining room entrance, which made sense (even if it isn't all that convenient), and that we'd have to open the fire-doors to look. You wouldn't think that the dining room menu would be such a closely held state secret, but there it was.

 

We decided the menu was so-so and went to the Lido buffet to eat...and the one item on the dining room menu that had interested my sister was also available on the buffet! Win!

 

It was nice having "less-rich" food at that point in the cruise, and also I didn't want to be toooo over-full the next day since I'd be doing the snuba excursion. My sister the sun-worshipper was looking forward to grabbing a spot on the beach and relaxing in the sun.

 

That night, I put $10 in the "Cash Cube" game in the casino, trying to win $500 and an iPad...but to no avail. I will say that watching other people try the Cash Cube, Casino Vault and Cash Grab games is pretty entertaining and a lot cheaper than actually playing them! :)

 

Later I went swimming again in the dark, foreboding waters of the aft pool at night, and managed to give a business card for my radio show to Vedat, of the pool deck crew. Hope he can check us out sometime!

 

 

Coming up, later tomorrow: Grand Turk -- our second visit there!

Edited October 27, 2013 by Pellaz

[Fighterone]

Day 2: Nassau departure and pilot-boat (continued)

 

 

Dinner was lobster-tails and prime rib for us....didn't get any food porn pics because I was distracted by the drunken antics of the rest of our party at dinner. The prime rib was quite good and my sister had three lobster tails...which sounds like a lot until you realize that they're only four or five ounces each.

 

Hope you're not referring to me, LOL! :D Must be Aussiegrlfl and Mikey. It was a blast having dinner with you, Cindy, and the rest of the so called "drunken" bunch. Great memories! Thank you for posting this review, Pellaz!

Edited October 27, 2013 by Fighterone

[Fighterone]

Here is the video Bruce took while you were taking yours!

[Pellaz]

Hope you're not referring to me, LOL! :D Must be Aussiegrlfl and Mikey.

 

Yeah, it was those two. :D

 

It was a blast having dinner with you, Cindy, and the rest of the so called "drunken" bunch. Great memories! Thank you for posting this review, Pellaz!

 

It was a lot of fun. Wish we could have hooked up with y'all during the last two days!

[Pellaz]

Day 4 -- Grand Turk -- The Arrival

 

We were really looking forward to Grand Turk because it was our second visit there, and we both knew somewhat where to go.

 

My sister already knew not to go shopping for much there, since the selection of souvenir shops near the dock is small -- i.e., no cheap $5 t-shirts. It's basically a beach and relaxation port-stop. There is a lighthouse at the northern tip and a commemorative spot for astronaut John Glenn's recovery, which took place near Grand Turk, but.... Almost anyone who has ever toured the island, which is no more than five miles from top to bottom, will tell you that in a 4-wheeler or a jeep it doesn't take more than an hour or two to see all the sights.

 

Once again, Lady Luck was with us as far as the weather went and Thursday was nice and clear -- and hot! -- again. I was really starting to "feel the burn" on my forehead and my nose from the day before, and I was a little worried about my snuba excursion at Grand Turk, since I wouldn't have much protection (can't wear my trusty boonie hat underwater too easily.....)

I had priced sunblock and aloe lotion in the "Fun" Shops on the ship....$15 each. Ouch, not so "fun." Lesson: buy it beforehand.....

 

If this had been a "normal" summer here in the U.S. Southeast the sunburn wouldn't have been so bad for me; I spend about two weeks up in Tennessee swimming, snorkeling and freediving at a great swimming hole in the Ocoee River called Blue Hole and my skin would have been nicely "pre-seasoned." But this past summer was one of the coolest, cloudiest and rainiest in recent memory and my mountain getaway plans were foiled more often than not.

Oh, well. First-world problems, huh?

 

With a later arrival time of 11 am Cindy and I were able to sleep in a bit, then she got a quick breakfast on the Lido buffet before heading up on deck for arrival. As a side note, if you REALLY have to be on shore quickly, your time might be better spent going down and getting in line early at the gangway...or rather, all along the corridors on Deck 1, which is where the line overflows.

 

Here are some pics as we approach:

 

I think this is Governor's Beach. I thought that "leftover" wrecked ship looked odd the last time we were here, until I learned that it was left (or placed) there for snorkeling and coral purposes:

 

 

I knew from the Cruise Timetables website that Carnival Liberty was also scheduled to be at Grand Turk Thursday and I was hoping we would beat her there, so we could all get first choice of loungers and stuff on the beach, but alas, such was not the case and Liberty was already there when we arrived:

 

 

 

This is a view of the beach, with a "salina" (salt pan) in the background.

Margaritaville is just out of view to the right but those blue loungers on the beach at extreme right are theirs...and free to use. There are a couple of new bars/restaurants along the beach including a ship-shaped place visible right of center. I didn't have time after my excursion to really explore these, but I took a walk along the beach to see what was new. Jack's Shack, which I almost made it to, is just out of view on the left, so you can see the distance isn't too great.

 

Hello, Carnival Liberty, it's good to see you again! It's been about a year since I cruised with ya:

 

 

 

This next shot is looking north from the dock towards the capital city of the Turks & Caicos, Cockburn Town. (Before you start to grin and make a salty comment, it's pronounced "co-burn.") Maybe "city" is a bit grand, since the total population of the island of Grand Turk is about 3,000. With Liberty and Victory both in port, the population of the island briefly almost triples. The "commercial" dock, which blocks Governor's Beach from being beach-accessible from Jack's Shack is visible also.

 

 

 

After we pulled in we went down to the gangway and were off promptly!

--Not.

There was a HUGE line that extended up the stairs to Deck 1, then snaked along the corridors (somehow). We got in line at the "apparent" end. I was worried about my snuba excursion, since we were due to meet at 11:30, just a half-hour after docking, but the line moved fairly quickly -- despite the efforts of the photographers to slow people down coming down the gangway for "arrival" photos -- and we were walking down the dock toward the famous "Welcome To / Grand Turk" signs by around 11:20.

 

Cindy and I had agreed that after my snuba excursion, I would meet her near the flow-rider at Margaritaville -- it's a good, unique landmark, since there is only one flow-rider on Grand Turk and it's not far from the dock -- at 1pm, and then if my excursion wasn't done by then, every half hour after that. I showed her where the flow-rider was and then hightailed it back to the cruise terminal plaza, where all the excursions meet up. I made it there just in time, handed them my excursion ticket and began filling in the required release paperwork. It was so hot I was dripping sweat on the form! But soon the cool waters of the sea would solve that problem....

 

(continued....)

[Pellaz]

Day 4 -- Grand Turk -- Snuba Excursion

 

And now, a brief description of snuba. It stands for "surface nexus underwater breathing apparatus," which is a fancy, Scrabble-worthy way of saying that the air-tank floats above you on a raft and supplies air down to two swimmers below. The air-hose connects to a harness that you wear, and then you use a regulator to breathe similar to a regular scuba regulator.

It's relatively safe -- the minimum age per Carnival's website is only 8 -- but I'd recommend that anyone trying it be a good swimmer and have some prior experience snorkeling. Two of our party had none. This becomes significant later.

 

I had done the snuba excursion through Carnival in St. Thomas about a year before and really enjoyed it, so I was looking forward to Round 2.

 

After everyone's form was signed our guide, "Big John" from Oasis Divers, led us over to a 10-passenger van and then drove us over to the beach near the southern tip of Grand Turk. It's not that far from the cruise terminal but it was cool to see more of Grand Turk than last time, when we'd had a cabana at Margaritaville and stayed near it for the day. The area was deserted when we first got there, but during the excursion we saw several people who had walked down the beach from the cruise terminal in search of conch shells, etc. Our own belongings had been secured inside the excursion's equipment trailer, which made us feel better.

 

Upon arrival Big John introduced us to our safety diver, Jason, who was also one of his three sons, and gave us a good, concise safety and instructional briefing. Big John asked us if we had any prior experience snorkeling, and there were two people who had not. There were ten of us on the excursion, and John divided us into two groups of 6 and 4. One group would snuba first while the other group snorkeled in the area, then we'd swap out. Wisely, John put the two inexperienced snorkelers in the smaller group and had us snorkel first (I volunteered for the small group, which may have been a mistake).

 

Each group would have about 25 minutes doing each segment. We four were given snorkeling vests -- which I didn't need at all, being somewhat rotund and buoyant already -- and off we went to snorkel by the reef.

 

After the allotted time we swapped our snorkeling vests for harnesses, weights and regulators and we were finally snuba'ing!

 

The equipment worked great for me and this time, thanks to Big John's guidance, I was weighted almost perfectly. (At St. Thomas I hadn't had quite enough weights on the belt and kept floating up.)

 

Our group of four consisted of myself, a similarly large-sized guy who hadn't snorkeled before, and a good-looking couple from Jamaica whose female half also hadn't snorkeled before. The couple shared one air-raft while we two bigger guys shared the other. Big John had a very nice underwater camera with him and took a few shots of us while we were snuba'ing, but curiously never mentioned anything about photos being available for purchase afterward. (!)

 

After a little while it became obvious that the big guy sharing my air raft was having some major issues; he said he was having trouble breathing with the regulator. The lady from Jamaica had some less-major issues and kept having to go back up to their air-raft for support, so at times it was basically just me and the Jamaican guy hanging out underwater while Big John assisted the others. Eventually he sent my air-raft partner swimming back to shore with Jason assisting, but this took valuable time and our group wasn't able to go completely around the reef like the other group did. Still, it was a lot of fun and I want to do it again. (It would be really awesome to try it out at "my" swimming hole in Tennessee.)

 

Here are a few pics of underwater coral I took with my trusty, 4-year-old Pentax Optio W30 underwater camera. (All pics and videos in this review were taken with this camera.) While there aren't too many fish in these pics, there were a lot of fish visible when we snorkeled on the left side of the reef. Someone in the other snuba group apparently saw a moray, too.

 

 

 

 

That one shows how shallow the reef is. Big John told us not to swim over it, but I don't think any of us would have been so inclined.

 

 

 

(continued)

[Pellaz]

Day 4 -- Grand Turk -- post-excursion and lost sister, part deaux

 

We eventually went back to the beach and took off our stuff. I noticed this sign on the beach....

 

 

...so if you'd like to buy some beachfront property with a nice reef offshore, there's the number to call....

 

 

I'm not sure if the price includes the four wild horses we saw hanging around...here's one of them:

 

Wild horses, donkeys and (until recently) wild dogs have been an ongoing issue on Grand Turk for years.

 

 

John and Jason gave us all a cup of water and I took this pic of them giving the scuba "ok" sign. (Most people might automatically give a thumbs-up instead, but that means "ascend" to divers.)

 

 

All in all, it was a good excursion and I recommend it for anyone who wants a fun taste of scuba without having a certification. The price through Carnival was $99.99 and considering the preparation, gear, etc. plus the fact that gas

costs over $6 per gallon on Grand Turk, I figure it was money well-spent. I've booked a cruise for next October on Freedom and will probably do this excursion again when we get to Grand Turk.

 

After another quick ride back to the cruise terminal I set off to look for my sister. Remember I was supposed to meet her at 1pm at the flow-rider...silly me, thinking the excursion would last the 90 minutes Carnival had indicated. It was after 2 pm when we got back, and I went to look for her but she wasn't there. I waited for a while and when a lounger opened up near the flow-rider, deposited my stuff and went snorkeling with my own gear that I'd brought.

 

I snorkeled for a while -- not seeing too much, although I did see one long fish that was bigger than anything I'd seen while doing snuba or at Half Moon Cay -- and paid my respects to the sunken anchor and cannon that are out by the rope.

 

After a while I swam back in and started walking down the beach, determined to get to Jack's Shack (damnit). After walking past some of the new bars and getting close to Jack's I encountered a nice guy from Turkey I'd met before on our ship named Gonan who was heading back, and I realized I'd better start back, too, since it was starting to get late. The mysterious glories of Jack's Shack will have to wait until next October!

 

Heading back to the ship, here's a look back at the cruise terminal:

 

 

And here's a look at both ships docked. Really close together, or as some have said, "like a ship canyon."

 

 

 

Up on deck there's a thunderstorm brewing in the distance....it didn't rain on us then, but apparently it rained a bit later while we were at dinner. (This, and a bit of rain after leaving Miami, were the only time it rained the entire cruise.)

 

Note the mammatocumulus clouds in the foreground, there.....

 

(continued...)

[Pellaz]

Day 4 -- Leaving Grand Turk; we have a follower

 

As I mentioned before, Liberty arrived at Grand Turk before we did, and they were scheduled to leave after we were. Doesn't seem fair....

Our departure was delayed because two people were still obliviously shopping in the Dufry's shop by the dock and someone had to go and get them...gangway ready to be pulled back and everything...so Liberty began undocking right after we made our turn in place and headed out. Here's a sequence of shots from the fantail showing Liberty undocking and then turning in place to follow us out. The dredged-out portion of sea floor leading to the dock, or the "fairway," is really narrow which is why sometimes ships can't make port at Grand Turk due to wind. These shots illustrate how tightly Liberty had to turn.

 

Just pushed away from the dock on her thrusters.....

 

 

 

 

 

Ready to give chase, all the way back to Miami!

 

(continued...)

Edited October 27, 2013 by Pellaz

[Pellaz]

Day 4 -- Dinner, breasts, The Fish and crabs

 

Cindy and I both decided we were in the mood for a 'real' dinner that night...I was pretty ravenous, since I hadn't had much to eat or drink all day and was well-worn out from a lot of swimming. We went and asked for a two-top and got a small table instead of a booth this time, which may have helped a bit with our service because this time it was pretty good. Our waiter was "Heshbun" (I think) and he was the only one during the cruise who called us by name...nice!

I forget what we had now, but it was good, with one exception. My sister tried the frog legs, since they were the "Didja Ever" item of the night, and declared them to be Not Good. Oh, well. We learn by doing.

 

I mentioned amorous mermaids in the dining room before. These two look like they have eyes for each other. Not That There's Anything Wrong With That!

 

 

After dinner I wanted to show my sister the infamous giant fish aft. On the way we saw this shipbuilder's plaque, right outside the piano bar on Deck 5, Promenade:

 

 

--Which brings us to the infamous fish. This was my third cruise on Carnival, a line known far and wide for its sometimes...uh...garish and dated onboard decor. Victory is arguably the king of the fleet in this regard.

Others have documented the bright blue lions guarding the casino, the biting seahorses of doom, and the bright orange octopus guarding the entrance to the game arcade.... But probably the capper is The Fish.

 

Here's a look at The Fish from in front. It looks more like some sort of technicolor insect from this angle:

 

 

From the side, however, its maritime nature becomes obvious. And yeah, it's pretty garish. And about fifteen feet long.

 

 

 

Back in the room we were greeted by a pretty amazing crab:

 

 

Seen here also with the flash turned on*:

 

We were both pretty worn out again and we went to bed fairly early. Tomorrow was our sea-day, but unlike the rest of the ship, I had to be up early for the Behind the Fun tour, which started at 8:45. I went for a quick swim in the aft pool, came back and bedded down and was out like a light.

 

 

 

Coming later tonight: Sea-day, Behind the Fun tour comments, and (hopefully) the wrap-up and some thoughts on the ship itself.

 

 

----

* The crab kinda reminds me of an Invid shock-trooper from the Japanese anime show Robotech, but I digress.....

Edited October 27, 2013 by Pellaz

[agc291]

Maybe someone can confirm this for us and future shore excursions takers.

 

I had the same experience waiting in the dreaded line for Coz with a SCUBA excursion booked. We had a late arrival due to weather the night before and our excursion ended up being cancelled (Thanks for the heads up Carnival since we got there at 2 pm) I wouldnt have stood in that long line.

 

Anywho someone on CC mentioned to me that if you have a Carnival excursion booked you can be taken to the front of the line so that you do not miss your excursion. I believe they said you go down to Guest Services.

[2 cruzen]

I know you get priority debarking on tenders, but do you get to go to the front of the line at regular ports if you have FTTF?

Thanks

[Crusin Karen]

I have been on a lot of cruises, but we tend to go to the same old islands because we (now) only cruise out of Manhattan. So I don't have "much experience" but my 2 faves are HMC and GT. LOVE HMC, but GT is so easy. Get off, walk on the pier and look at the pretty flowers, then either relax on the beach or party at M'ville. No worries, mon! I still have some scars on my legs from the sea horses on the Victory. :eek::( But I just LOVED the ship! I am so loving reading this!

[agc291]

I know you get priority debarking on tenders, but do you get to go to the front of the line at regular ports if you have FTTF?

Thanks

 

 

No just tender ports.

[Pellaz]

Maybe someone can confirm this for us and future shore excursions takers.

 

I had the same experience waiting in the dreaded line for Coz with a SCUBA excursion booked. We had a late arrival due to weather the night before and our excursion ended up being cancelled (Thanks for the heads up Carnival since we got there at 2 pm) I wouldnt have stood in that long line.

 

Anywho someone on CC mentioned to me that if you have a Carnival excursion booked you can be taken to the front of the line so that you do not miss your excursion. I believe they said you go down to Guest Services.

 

Yeah, I'd been thinking the same thing. When I saw the huge line, I asked a Carnival employee about it and mentioned I had an early excursion. She said "Yeah, pretty much everyone does." :eek:

[Pellaz]

Day 5 -- Sea-Day and Behind the Fun tour

 

The first order of business for me today was to wake up in time for the Behind the Fun tour. Participants were to meet in the Library in the Atrium on Deck 4 at 8:45, with departure at around 9am. When I arrived I discovered that Don from our roll call and his wife were also on the tour; nice to see some familiar faces!

 

The price of the Behind the Fun tour is based on whether the ship has a steakhouse or not. Most of Carnival's larger ships have a steakhouse, but Victory is one of the ships that doesn't, so the tour was $55 instead of the $95 charged on ships with a steakhouse. (Aside from the specialty coffee shop, Victory has no specialty restaurants at all.)

The $55 tour is somewhat shorter with fewer stops -- for one thing, you don't see a steakhouse -- and you don't get quite as many Carnival goodies, and just a group photo with the Captain on the bridge instead of group and individual photos.

 

Our tour guide, as is usual for the tour, was the ship's training coordinator. She was from Jamaica and loud enough to understand clearly (my last BtF tour had a very soft-spoken Asian lady), although sometime her accent got in the way.

 

We visited the galley first, where Chef de Cuisine Panda told us, among other things, that he tries to feed the crew better even than the passengers: their menu has a 27-day rotation before it repeats. Pretty cool!

 

He also told us that they expect people to order two and three lobster tails when they're offered on the menu, but that even HE had to go into the dining room and speak to the person who ordered

16

lobster tails. (!)

 

So, now you know what number to beat in the future. Get to it, people!

 

Chef Panda was sometimes hard to understand due to his accent, but it was still a good visit, and some of us got to make decorations out of cut veggies and toothpicks.

 

We also visited:

 

• the main laundry, where the presenter was almost inadible due to background noise...but the automatic bedsheet ironer/presser/folding machine doesn't need much explanation,
  
• the main show lounge for a presentation by the stage manager and costume/dressing-room lady,
  
• the recycling center (i.e., the garbage room),
  
• forward crew lounge, where we had to cut through crew-quarters and be quiet since they were sleeping,
  
• staff mess, where we had cookies and water (the juice machine was out),
  
• the morgue and the brig (just the doors, not inside),
  
• meat storage, inckuding freezer, thawing room and prep area,
  
• soda and beer storage (always good for jokes),
  
• Engineering Control, where the presenter was apparently not the Chief Engineer and was difficult to understand due to his Italian accent,
  
• and finally the bridge, where our tour guide gave us the basics before Captain Aquilone arrived and answered some questions.
  

 

On this BtF particular tour, the bridge visit was the best part. I'd rank this one as slightly better -- in terms of knowledge gained -- than the one I did on Liberty ($95), but not quite as good as the one I did on Imagination ($55). The takeaway: you can never be sure what you'll get, but the tour is worth it for anyone who wants to see "behind the curtains" on how a floating city operates.

 

It was about noon when I got out of the tour, and I joined my sister on deck for a little sun (VERY little in my case). Here's a pic of the midships Lido Deck area, crowded as expected on a sea-day:

 

 

We found some loungers along the starboard side aft and relaxed away from the noise.

 

Later in the afternoon back in the room, what to my wondering eyes should appear but the customary post-BtF Tour chocolate-covered strawberries! I was surprised because in the past they had always been delivered to the stateroom in the evening...

 

 

When I took the tour on Liberty last year, the strawberries just had some chocolate poured around them. Nice to see them going the extra mile on Victory, here!

 

That night we opted out of eating in the dining room although I can't remember why, now. I took a couple of late-night pics of the now-quieter Lido Deck to show the blue backlighting....

 

 

 

 

Cindy and I saw a guy carrying a golf putter and we suddenly realized that we hadn't discovered the location of the miniature golf course yet, so we found it. We didn't play, but I got a pic of the mini-golf edition of the whale-tail funnel...

 

 

Our last-night towel animal was a heart, which may or may not mean something from our steward Herry. WE were happy with HIM, though; we never lacked for ice or service!

 

 

Since we had Faster to the Fun, someone had delivered two Zone 1 luggage tags for debark along with a letter, but we needed three more and I went down to Guest Services to get them. I was able to bypass the long line of people removing their automatic gratuities thanks to FttF, which was good.

 

We packed, which is a lot of ordeal to put into just two words, and got our checked luggage out in the hallway by around ten p.m., which may be a record for us. I went up to the aft pool and considered going swimming one last time, but ended up chatting with some fellow "metalheads" for a while and playing some tunes for them on my iPod.

 

Mindful of our early debark in the morning, I went back down to the room fairly early (for me) and hit the sack.

 

Coming up: debark, the drive home in two parts, and some closing thoughts about the ship and the cruise! Might be tomorrow night, but if not, then Tuesday since it's my regular day off.

 

Thanks for keeping up with this, y'all!

[pkrchkr]

Awesome review so far!!

As far as I know the record for lobster tails was 21 set by a Canadian from Nova Scotia.. on the Spirit.. and checked on the Breeze last year.. it stills stands.. great try at 16

Cheers

[Fighterone]

great review' Pellaz! Would you scan and post the picture you got at the BTFtour for us to see? It'd be nice to look at it.

[agc291]

Thanks so much for the review. I cant wait to be back on the Victory in 98 days :) and I am sooooo excited to do the behind the fun tour!!!