Nice surprise for upcoming cruise & a Q

[Toofarfromthesea]

In about a week we sail on Victory II's Montreal to Boston itinerary.

Yesterday I got an email offering me a (paid) upgrade from my booked AA class cabin to one of the two owner's suites for a grand a person.  I originally wanted the owner's suite but they were sold out when I booked.  So now I have it, for less money than I would have had to pay if I got it originally.  Needless to say, I'm pumped.  This is the first such upgrade offer I've ever gotten in my limited cruise career.

Has anyone sailed in the owner's suite on Victoria II?  I'm curious if the comments I've read about tiny showers applies to the OS or does it have a bigger bathroom/shower.

Thanks

[califsealion]

Congrats on the upgrade and hope you will come back and report on the trip!

[Toofarfromthesea]

On 10/11/2019 at 7:13 PM, califsealion said:

Congrats on the upgrade and hope you will come back and report on the trip!

 

Been back a week or so.  The trip was great, but we had 2 days of rough weather once we got out in the open, and the boat didn't handle it well, and wasn't really rigged to deal with turbulence.  Example:  tabletops were shiny and slippery with no lip and the bottom of the lamps were also slippery, so lamps would just slide off the tables.  Crew said a lot of crockery was smashed in the galley.

The food was very good, for the most part.  Some of the best I've had on any cruise.  You had a choice of the dining room, or the Grill, which was more buffet style.  Just coffee, cookies, and bar snacks available between set (and narrow) mealtimes.  AQ had hotdogs, ice cream, and popcorn always available.  V2 also had no room service.

I hate to say it, but the cruise director was the worst CD I've ever encountered.  He was loud, borderline rude at times, and just generally obnoxious.   To the point where his deficiencies were a regular topic of conversation among the passengers.  The other 2 members of the entertainment staff were delightful, and the rest of the crew was pretty top notch.  They were also very excited as this was the last cruise of the season and they would soon be going home after a 5 month absence.

The upgraded cabin was lovely.  Lots of space - had a small table with 4 chairs, a couch (pull-out sleeper type) and a large private balcony across the front of the ship shared with the other of the 2 owners suites.  Had a nice fully stocked mini frig, stocked with small airline size bottles of scotch (Chivas 12 yo), Jack Daniels, Courvoisier, gin, rum, and beers and sodas (no snacks, although we did have a plate of fresh fruit they kept replenished)  When our steward Patrick showed it to us I commented that it was impressive but wouldn't do me any good becauwe I was a wine drinker.  He said I could have a bottle of wine in the room and what would I like.  I told him a Malbec, and for the rest of the cruise I had wine in my room, as they would leave a new bottle when the old one was empty.  We also, by virtue of being in one of the 2 owners' suites, were invited to a small gathering with the Captain for cocktails and then dinner at the Captain's table.

Probably my biggest disappointment was the excursion model.  I loved the AQ hop-on hop-off model.  The circuit would take between an hour and an hour and a half and you could control how long your overall excursion would take by which stops you hopped off at and how much time you spent at each stop.  On this cruise the excursions were fixed and ran at least 4 hours and a couple were all day.  And for us that was just too long.  We did the first one in Quebec City, and after a couple of hours on an uncomfortable buses, with periodic stops consisting of 10 minutes of getting off the bus, 20 minutes at the stop, and ten 10 minutes reboarding the bus I couldn't wait to get back to the boat and hated the fact that I had to endure 2 more hours of that.  It was the only excursion we did because I don't go on vacation to feel miserable.  OTOH, most people went on the other excursions and seemed to enjoy them, so this is a YMMV situation.  IAC, when we cruise we are more about the boat experience than the ports, so it wasn't that big an issue for us.

But what was REALLY objectionable to me is how the people who did not go on the all day excursion were treated.  They gave us a 'light lunch' consisting of a couple of little mini sandwiches filled with a piece of lettuce, a slice of tomato, and one little piece of ham, a handful of chips, and a little salad.  No choices or selection at all - one size fits all.  Now I certainly wouldn't expect full dining room service or anything like that, but we paid a pretty penny for the cruise and they could have at least put out a small buffet spread with bread, coldcuts, maybe a soup, and let people have some choices. This was a major major fail, in my book.

Overall it was a great time, however.  Once we all got off the Captain and a skeleton crew were taking the boat to Florida to go into drydock to be updated more into the AQ mode.  It will be interesting to read reviews after those changes are made.

If anyone has any questions I'd be happy to take a crack at them.

[califsealion]

I'm not surprised the little ship didn't handle the open water well!  I'd be worried about that.  I'd definitely consider the little ships in the Great Lakes, though.  That they don't offer a better lunch for people not wanting to do an all-day excursion, that is a bit disappointing.  As they are likely catering to an older crowd, I'd imagine several people would stay behind rather than being away from the ship all day.

 

I appreciate your review!  I think my mom and I have decided not to use this line, mostly because we really like the hop on/hop off option on AQSC, but there is a chance my mom is done with travel anyways.

[LDVinNC]

I enjoyed the review.  We will be traveling on the Victory I (sadly not in an Owners' Suite) next summer on the Great Lakes itinerary.  We had originally booked Pearl Seas for this itinerary but we got a huge discount on Victory due to water levels preventing our June/July Mighty Mississippi trip on the AQ from going north of Memphis.  We diverted over to the Tennessee and Ohio, ending up in Cincinnati.  Anyway, I believe the excursions are not included on the 2020 sailings, so we will likely stay on the boat in some ports.  We too love the hop-on, hop-off system on the AQSC and are not fans of long bus tours.  I hope the lunches are better than you experienced.