Victory 11/11 - 11/18

[safemonkey]

Wife and I were also on the Victory on sailing #2 post dry dock. I have just a few minutes for a quick review before I am off to NC for rest of the week. So I will respond more next Monday....

 

Anyway,

Getting on the ship was a breeze. We got to the port early just after 11:00, by 11:45 they opened the doors and we were on. Quick easy and painless. Luckily we didn't have the photographers around holding up the process to get pictures.

 

First night, they had to turn the boat around to head back towards Miami so a coast guard helicopter could pick up a medical emergency. We found out about it during the late seating dinner. They made an announcment requesting people not use flash photography to take pictures of the helocopter. The turn around to meet up with the helo got us into San Juan a little late. No big deal.

 

San Juan was okay, been there before, so we went to Barrichina (birth place of the Pina Colada) and had some drinks and dinner. Then off to Senor Frogs.

 

St. Thomas... well what a cluster "F" that was. We were supposed to be docked by 8:00, but around 7:00am they announced that the port was over booked. And our Captain negotiated a deal with the harbor master to allow us to tender in. The announcement was so pathetic like we should all bow down and thank the Captain for this great deal. What they didn't announce is that the HAL ship was scheduled to tender in, but they docked leaving us out to anchor. At the pier was 2 HAL ships when we got there. As they started tendering ppl from our ship to shore, RCL Mariner of the Seas cruised in for the last spot on the pier. Then later the Disney Magic also had to anchor and tender in. We had an excursion booked so luckily we managed to get off the ship just in time for the 12:00 excursion. There were people that didn't make it off until after 2:00. Back on by 5:00.

 

St. Maarten... We walked to Divi Little Resort. Very nice! Take the walk. We followed the directions of people that posted here. Don't pay for the cruise excursion.

 

The crew member overboard on Friday night has already been well covered.

 

Overall:

Pros -

-Dinner food was good.

-We had great table mates, and Gary our waiter kicked ass.

-Most of the crew was very friendly

-Ship was in great shape

-Sea side theater was a nice touch, however the sea life on the loop real got old. The occasional concerts, news, movies while laying around the pool was cool.

-Gym was decent. Wife and I both worked out. Some of the cardio equipment was so new it still had the styrofoam pellets stuck to it. The free weights were slightly lacking, however being a gym meathead that is the norm for me. Db up to 80lbs, I made do.

 

 

Cons -

-The buffet lines for breakfast and lunch were horrible. Not sure if its the layout or the lack of brain power of some of the guest that just stared at everything debating if they wanted it. But the lines were just bad. If you didn't load up on first round through forget about getting more. Eat breakfast and lunch in the dinning rooms.

-Only complaint for the dinners is with the beef. If you like med well or well you are set. I ordered 2-3 entrees every night, one of them always had beef. (just wanted to keep the hope alive) Ordered Med-rare... got well. Sent back, got the same. Next nights ordered rare... got med-well. I dealt with it. Don't get me wrong, I love me some cow!!!! I ate it, just prefer blood in my meat so I have something to dip my bread into!!!!

-Layout of the ship, you will get used to it.

-Other passengers... well you can't blame carnival for that.

 

 

So the nuts and bolts of the review... This was our first round with Carnival.... I will book them again. For the price, its a great deal.

 

 

Thats all I can think of right now.. I will add more when I get back.

[cathyoo]

so welcome to Carnival and thanks for the review. We had the opposite problem wanted meat Medium well and got it medium rare. Lots of blood.

[streaks23]

Thanks for the review - sailing the Victory 12/16 - very excited!

Thanks, again!

[RizzoLee]

What I keep wondering is why do they keep overbooking St. Thomas? We have 7 ships in port when we're on the Victory in January as well. Could be interesting! Why would HAL steal the slip? I mean, yeah, it's still Carnival, but I wondering if they would at least communicate to the Victory first?

[pacerzfan]

Thanks for the review, safemonkey