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!!! Carnival Victory !!! ^_^ The Ultimate Review and Complete Pictorial Guide!!!

gambee

By gambee,
in Carnival Cruise Lines

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gambee

gambee

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Thank you so much for your review!! You ( you are a cutie!) and your family seem like wonderful people and your uncle is hysterical!

 

We just returned from the same cruise in reverse and your review gave us lots of tips. I made it up to the Grand Turk portion before leaving. We had a great time and really enjoyed ourselves! Half Moon Cay is to die for and we picked this ship just because of the itinerary. Thanks again! ;)

 

Glad you gathered good tips from the cruise, I cant wait until I make it to HMC again. Thank you for posting :)

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gambee

gambee

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I have enjoyed this review more than any other that I have seen. We are a group of friends and family booked on the Victory for Feb. 2017 out of San Juan. I am not particularly in love with this ship, but the only option we have for San Juan to the Southern Caribbean on Carnival.

Some of the group are 1st timers and I have created our private group on Facebook. What I am wondering is if I can use this picture of the ship for my cover photo on the group page.

It is the best that I have found.

Let me know,

Thanks

 

Feel free to use the pictures, just please give me credit. I hope you have a great cruise :)

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gambee

gambee

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Also.....is there a way that I can just look at your pictures without all the commentary? I like to keep looking back, but cannot figure out how to just look at the pictures.

 

In my signature you will find my blog, the review is there without the comments.

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gambee

gambee

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Gambee, in one picture I saw a picture of the Cruise Director's Dedication Box. Do you know what that is, and what they do with it? I've never noticed anything like that, and was just curious!

 

To be quite honest, I have no clue. Sorry.

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CruzinScotty

CruzinScotty

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Gambee,

 

I finally finished your FANTASTIC review!

 

Like many, I have no plans to go on the Victory. But I love reading reviews of any ship when you have a great reviewer. That is definitely you!

 

I did learn a lot and found the MDR menu's and food pictures very helpful. It's been 2 years since I had the old menus and am on a 5 day Sunshine cruise later this month. I'm guessing the 5 day menus will be the same so it got me back on track after the new menus on the Liberty last year (which we enjoyed BTW).

 

You said you might have a better idea about your November cruise soon? Do you know yet? Hoping it's a go for you since I know you'll have fun on any cruise.

 

I look forward to reading the rest of your reviews when I get back from my next cruise.

 

Happy sailing. :D

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  • 2 weeks later...
ch27088

ch27088

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The water was very comfortable, a little on the warm side. I am not sure why it was so cold on the Dream. Was it late october?

 

 

 

It was early October and I was shocked that the water was so cold as well. It was the only time I tried getting into any of the pools on the ship! Oh well, I'll try again next year.

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tncruisergurl

tncruisergurl

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Budgeting

 

 

Wifi

 

I usually get some kind of internet plan to stay in touch with family, and blog a little. Let it be said that I was really excited about the new internet plan that Carnival is offering aboard some of their ships. This is by far the best value out of any cruise line I have been on. And let me add something, every time I mention getting internet aboard a cruise, I get bashed over it. I am not sure what the big deal is, we all travel with different intents, and lifestyles. I enjoy being connected as does mom and the others in our group. It is just part of the fun. I am sure others enjoy being disconnected, and that is good too. Just be yourself :)

 

11755141_10152907601666513_5804397998654760538_n_zpswxy62bd3.jpg

 

 

Gratuities

 

Gratuities aboard a Carnival ship will run you $12 per person per day. That goes along the lines with the rest of the industry, although maybe on the low side. I usually tip more on drinks and food, as I know how hard the crew works at making the cruise a perfect vacation for everyone. We prepaid ours in advance, this is the first time I do so.

 

 

Shore Excursions

 

One of the reasons why this itinerary interested me, was that all the ports had possible free shore excursions. Mainly the option to hit a free beach in each port is a good deal for us. I was still considering doing a separate shore excursion, but I left that decision to be made on board. The main problem with that is that I did not want to go alone on a shore excursion, and spending the set price for 5 just adds up.

 

 

Trip Insurance

 

When I buy trip insurance for my cruises I go to Insure My Trip and shop around for a travel insurance. Here is the thing though. The last time when we were on MSC Divina my mom slipped on the pool deck, and landed really hard on her wrist. We had insurance for that cruise, but we did not use it (for more on that, read that MSC Divina review). Anyway, after that incident, I learned that most travel insurance companies deny claims if you have any sort of alcohol in your system. And since I rarely drink at home, I tend to drink a lot on cruises. That is why on this cruise I did not purchase any travel insurance.

 

 

Miami Parking

 

For Miami parking we use Premire Cruise Parking. Be careful there are two premier companies, and while this one is just ok, the other one is horrible. We had used this one in the past with good results, so there was no reason not to use them again and save a few bucks. The only issue here is that they claim that they only take 4 people in their shuttle. While I am not sure if this is completely true, we had no plans on finding out that day. So I decided to drop them off with all the luggage, and then I would go on my own later on.

 

 

 

 

 

I'm confused. I'll b on a 5 day in October. Is it $18 for the entire cruise or $18 plus $5 per day?

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gambee

gambee

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I'm confused. I'll b on a 5 day in October. Is it $18 for the entire cruise or $18 plus $5 per day?

 

I think you're talking about the social one that is $18 for the entire cruise or $5 a day. Keep in mind that option only works with a few social apps. I got the one with full internet access, but no voip.

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gambee

gambee

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Hi Gambee..first let me congratulate you on the awesome review.

 

Can you tell me if you purchased the internet package once on board or at the port? Also how much was it?

 

Thanks

 

I posted the prices, I think it was 40, can't recall. I purchased it soon after I lost cell signal (a few miles from Miami).

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absolutonrox

absolutonrox

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It appears as though I'm a bit late to this party, but WOW! What an incredible review! Your pictures and stories (and family!) are wonderful. DW and I just booked our first B2B (only 9 total days, but still B2B!) on Victory in January. Different itineraries, but you have given me quite a lot to look forward to.

 

We recently did an almost identical itinerary on Pride to your Victory cruise (few more sea days leaving from Baltimore). It seemed like you weren't a huge fan of Grand Turk. If you ever make it back, I recommend an excursion (we booked through Carnival, plenty of private though as well) to "The Wall". It's great snorkeling/scuba to an area where the sea floor just abruptly drops straight down something like 700' in the area the take you too (there is a much bigger drop a few hundred yards out according to our boat captain from the excursion). It was really breath taking to see.

 

Also if you have not been to RCCL's CoCo Cay, I highly recommend that as well. We liked it a little better than HMC. Not that we didn't love HMC (we'd go back again in a heartbeat) we just liked CoCo Cay a tad bit more. To us it seemed a bit less (for lack of a better term) "commercial". HMC had nicer sand for sure (at CoCo Cay it was a bit rough until you got out into the water). We loved that at CoCo Cay you could walk out like 100 yds into the ocean, and still only be chest deep in water.

 

Thanks again for your wonderfully informative and unbiased review. I can't imagine how much effort you put in to it. This was my first Gambee review, but rest assured I'll be going back and reading all your others as well :D

 

Mark

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Mallutts

Mallutts

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Stateroom Selection

 

Those who know me, know that I am a balcony loyalist, or at least I try to. The private outside space is something that I really cherish and enjoy. So I would at the very least try to get a nice balcony for us to enjoy. The only thing is that one balcony would have to do, since the others in the group rather save the extra cost. Nonetheless, I manage to find a balcony that could fit all of us in it. To make things even better, both rooms were close to each other making it really convenient to go from one room to the other.

 

As you can see, the balcony of room 6424 is about double the length of the average balcony. The caveats with taking this room are the crew stairs running through behind it, and the awkward layout of the room. But I would much rather have the large balcony than a normal shaped room. You can't win them all.

 

So glad you stayed in room 6424 and did this review! We are booked on the Victory for 5/5/16 and we will be in the room right next door 6432. So neat!

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skidawg79

skidawg79

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So what do I think of Grand Turk? Well, I am not sure if it was because there were two ships in port, but quite honestly I felt it was way too crowded for my personal taste. It must of been because there were two ships, because it did not feel like this in Half Moon Cay. But that said, the pool area is loud and busy. Not my idea of a peaceful retreat. I am sure many enjoy this, but it is not my thing. Inside the Margaritaville the theme carries.

 

 

 

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If you go past Margaritaville and walk up the beach a little bit, there are one or two very nice little beach bars that are MUCH less crowded and a lot of fun. When we were in Grand turk last time, we did a sting ray excursion and then walked up to one of the other bars past the main port area. Was a lot of fun. You might enjoy that a little more next time!

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skidawg79

skidawg79

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I told them that I was going to walk over to Jack’s to meet Topher. I really no plans short of that. They decided to join me. The walk there is about 10 minutes, but it was a somewhat rough walk when compared to HMC. The sand is very soft and you keep sinking. I suggest you take your sandals off and walk by the water's edge.

 

Haha...sorry should have kept reading! Love the review!

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CruisinCrow Great Review Rare

CruisinCrow

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I have 44 more pages to read but it's bedtime [emoji853]. Can someone please tell me how to "save my place" so I can finish reading tomorrow? Thank you!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

 

I don't think you can do it in Cruise Critic but you can always bookmark the page you stopped on in your browser. Or you can copy the URL of the page somewhere to reference later.

 

For example, the URL for this page is http://www.boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2247456&page=51 You can tell from the last part of the URL that you're on Page 51.

Edited by CruisinCrow
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