First Review: Victory Feb. 3-8 family of 5!!

[meatloafsfan]

Really great review.

 

I love how your family seems to "ham it up" in a lot of the photos, makes them more interesting than the traditional "stand here and look straight at the camera and *fake* smile everyone!" (which I admit t being guilty of).

[beckyk329]

We had the same problem with the crew. I never complain but I actually went to guest services after one of the bar waiters by the pool 1st tried to get us to all order the same drink to make it easier and then never brought them back. When I saw him again he literally waived us off:eek: We had the drink plan so we ended up going to the bar ourselves and getting our drinks. I loved the cruise but I don't think I would sail on the Victory any time soon.

 

I wonder if it was the same guy?:confused:

[beckyk329]

Really great review.

 

I love how your family seems to "ham it up" in a lot of the photos, makes them more interesting than the traditional "stand here and look straight at the camera and *fake* smile everyone!" (which I admit t being guilty of).

 

Thank you! and yes those posed pics I'm not a fan of either. My kids almost look like they're in pain when they fake smile. But my goodness I think they're gorgeous and I get so happy when I can catch the real ones!

[beckyk329]

Your Lorenzo WTH? towel animal comments are cracking me up! :p My BF usually destroys them after I get a picture so there isn't a chance to reuse parts. I wonder what he would have done if you left a note? "What am I?"

 

LOL:D It really became quite a little joke for us... poor Lorenzo, need to go back to towel creation class:rolleyes:!

[cynt]

Thanks for your review. Love your family!

[beckyk329]

Thanks for your review. Love your family!

 

Thank you:D

 

Hopefully get our last day done today!

Edited February 20, 2014 by beckyk329

[beckyk329]

Like I said, we were in the first small wave off people of the ship. This beaches were pretty much deserted at this point!

 

 

Edited February 20, 2014 by beckyk329

[beckyk329]

Since it was so early in the morning, we decided to walk around the island. (well, as much as we could). It was a good 2 hour stroll, and we saw some very interesting things. I'm not sure if it's normal, but this island was covered in seaweed. It didn't bother us, but it gave the natural sea life a place to hide a bit. And some people smh... well we saw one not so sober lady swimming after a sting-ray:eek: She must have been to Grand Cayman and assumed they are all friendly and very accustomed to humans.

 

We saw reef sharks, rays, puffer fish, all sorts of marine life we thought best to stay clear of. There were also some sort of tubular jellies all over the place. Not sure what those were. But we had fun collecting seashells and looking at all the little hermit crabs on our walk. There was also at some point this awesome sandbar, were you could walk a good 1/2 mile into the water! That was pretty neat.

 

Well hello there!

 

 

 

Edited February 20, 2014 by beckyk329

[beckyk329]

This was nice:D

 

Those dark patches, is were all the scary critters were hiding, so we didn't linger too long!

 

 

 

Edited February 20, 2014 by beckyk329

[Dirkgun]

Glad to hear it! I think you're about the only one reading this review, but that's ok, I am enjoying reliving it:D

 

 

I am sure there are more reading it.... just not commenting. The Victory is my favorite ship so far. We sailed her out of San Juan 2 times (see reviews in signature) so we were on a different itinerary but still love the ship. Loving your pictures and your descriptions of things. I am glad to hear Grand Turk is a nice place. We have not been there, but want to go one day. Keep up the good work on the review. They are fun to write and relive the trip. It is also a great way down the road to come back and revisit the memories. :D

[beckyk329]

Kind of a bummer you can not walk all the way around. So at the end, instead of walking the beach back, we take the long road back. Which is actually significantly shorter than the beach walk as it cuts straight across the island, but of course is less scenic.

 

 

This was funny because this little "grave" is set up off the side of the little road we were walking on. While I was taking this pictures a group of ladies came around the corner and looked at us like we were insane! Taking random pictures of someone's tombstone, lol:eek: But I pointed and said "Black Beard" then the lost their stiff "omg this woman is crazy" look and laughed.. as we walked on I looked back and they were taking pictures:rolleyes:

 

 

 

[beckyk329]

So we get back to our origin, and it has definitely got more crowded, nothing bad though, no worries.

 

 

what a beautiful day!

 

 

We decide at this point to go grab some lunch. They had plenty of options and everything tasted wonderful after our long trek. No food pics again, so sorry. But I would like to mention that I think the definitely need more drink stations! The food lines are long but move fast because you just grab and go. They only had 2 drink stations set up, and because you have to stand there and fill your cup(s), the lines were long and slow, just to get water:( (they of course had tea and lemonade too)

[beckyk329]

After lunch, we soak up as much fun in the sun as possible. Unfortunately we know and it's on our minds what we're going home to:(

 

:cool:

 

My feet picture I almost forgot to take!!

 

 

[beckyk329]

"Look Mom, one hand!!"

 

 

 

and back to the ship, boo.

 

[beckyk329]

It was probably about 4ish when we got back onboard. And we were STARVING. We didn't want to go get a "meal" and ruin our last dinner onboard, so we decided a little snack was the best route. This was the first and only time we took advantage of room service this voyage.

 

 

Mom/Cat selfies again :rolleyes:

 

[Sarah@Sea]

LOL:D It really became quite a little joke for us... poor Lorenzo, need to go back to towel creation class:rolleyes:!

 

We didn't even get a towel animal every night on our RCL Freedom cruise, but it was me and my mom so no big complaint other than I'd had like an extra towel for my hair...I thought it was that the room steward might be new because even the ones we got were like bat, and easy ones...lol...but I heard there was a "linen shortage" but hey we'll use the animal for our bathroom towels.

[beckyk329]

So we head out to try and catch sail away. We stayed out there for almost an hour before we caved and gave up:confused:

 

 

 

 

[beckyk329]

At dinner we sat and joked about someone hiding out on the island being the reason we still hadn't left. We never did get an answer on that one, but I guess it doesn't matter.

 

That night at dinner we talked about how wonderful this trip had been and when are we going again, lol. Also it was a perfect ending to our dining room adventures for our son. We had only before been sat next to the smaller mermaids. Not tonight! It made dinner hard on him, poor little fella:o

 

 

 

 

And I know it's not in good taste to take pictures of your half eaten meal. But as a vegetarian, I have found what works for me and what doesn't. I like cooking with tempeh, seitan, and homemade burgers from mushrooms and beans. But I've never quite mastered tofu. It's just always been ok, nothing to write home about. But this was wonderful! So, try the tofu steak on the last night people!

 

[beckyk329]

After dinner we took the little ones to Camp Carnival. They were making their t-shirts that they color and have all their new friends sign, and my kids love this. Plus it gave us 3 older ones time to pack the room up and get everything organized and ready to go in the morning.

 

I woke up at 6am, got showered, got everyone else up and ready, we had a quick breakfast, and *ding* vacation was over:(

 

I had a wonderful time and would recommend this ship/itinerary to anyone! (regardless of the spotty service)

 

Thanks for reading my review. And sorry that all my pictures are so family oriented and not more on the informative side. I didn't have any plans to do this review so I didn't take the shots that people looking for info want. I'll try to make sure I do for future reviews. Because I did enjoy doing this and can't wait to come find it and read it in a year! If you've never done one, think about it ;)

 

Also any questions I would be happy to answer! Again thanks for reading:D

 

 

Awwww Lorenzo, <3

 

Edited February 21, 2014 by beckyk329

[AnyTime Cruiser]

I absolutely loved the review and pictures! Your children are phenomenal. They not only looked like they had a blast but also look like the most well behaved children I've EVER seen!

 

I've been to both Grand Turk and HMC on the Destiny. Love both ports. We didn't know about Jack's Shack and plan to check it out when we go back there (and we will!!! :D) We rented a clam shell on HMC and it was great - it's just my DH & I so I got to read while he drank and slept - lol :eek:

 

We're going on the Victory in November and I understand what you said about rude/lacking employees, but like you pretty much said - a vacation is what YOU make it. I absolutely love cruising and I'd be happy just to be on the ship "stuck" in my room for the whole thing - as long as I had room service :cool:

[nybumpkin]

I loved your review! Our first cruise was on Victory (VERY different itinerary - NYC to Canada), but we also managed 5 in a cabin just fine. We've been to Grand Turk four times; first time we stayed near the cruise port and really didn't enjoy it. Way too rocky to enjoy the swimming and the beach was crowded. All other times we've gone down to Jack's Shack; the beach is nicer (not nearly as many rocks in the water) and Jack and Janet have a really nice place. Our sons loved playing with Topher on the beach - made up for missing their own dog.

 

Loved your family photos - I think you'll look back on them with better memories than the "posed" photos. :)

[beckyk329]

I absolutely loved the review and pictures! Your children are phenomenal. They not only looked like they had a blast but also look like the most well behaved children I've EVER seen!

 

I've been to both Grand Turk and HMC on the Destiny. Love both ports. We didn't know about Jack's Shack and plan to check it out when we go back there (and we will!!! :D) We rented a clam shell on HMC and it was great - it's just my DH & I so I got to read while he drank and slept - lol :eek:

 

We're going on the Victory in November and I understand what you said about rude/lacking employees, but like you pretty much said - a vacation is what YOU make it. I absolutely love cruising and I'd be happy just to be on the ship "stuck" in my room for the whole thing - as long as I had room service :cool:

 

Thank you. What a wonderful thing for you to say! We think they're pretty great too;) and they are great kids, I'm not saying they're perfect angels, but I can count on them to be mature when the time calls.

 

And you nailed it. Imo HMC and Grand Turk are the where it's at! I haven't done a southern caribbean, (need to) but those are my top choices for now. I'm jealous would love to snag a trip with just those two ports:p

[beckyk329]

I loved your review! Our first cruise was on Victory (VERY different itinerary - NYC to Canada), but we also managed 5 in a cabin just fine. We've been to Grand Turk four times; first time we stayed near the cruise port and really didn't enjoy it. Way too rocky to enjoy the swimming and the beach was crowded. All other times we've gone down to Jack's Shack; the beach is nicer (not nearly as many rocks in the water) and Jack and Janet have a really nice place. Our sons loved playing with Topher on the beach - made up for missing their own dog.

 

Loved your family photos - I think you'll look back on them with better memories than the "posed" photos. :)

 

Thank you. :)

[itolduso]

Thank you. :)

 

Great review. loved all the family posts. It made it feel more like I was with you on the cruise.

[Pellaz]

Really loved the review!

 

We did a similar itinerary on Victory last October, except swapping HMC for LSC. Grand Turk is pretty awesome for a fun relaxing beach day, and I'll happily take CocoCay/LSC any day for snorkeling, or HMC for a perfect fine-sand beach day!

 

As far as the pool, I saw no signs anywhere stating that. And there were 3 other families that were there. Not many I know, but it was only children in the water and nobody said anything. The only adult only thing I've ever been aware of is the Serenity areas??:confused: I could be way off, apologies if we weren't supposed to be there...

 

You were in the right spot; the aft pool on Victory is NOT adults-only.

 

Liberty's aft pool and hot-tubs WERE adults-only in October 2012 and we really loved that, but it could have changed since then. Anyone know for sure?