Carnival Victory, CTN review

[figs]

Hey all!! Just got off the Carnival Victory's Cruise to Nowhere outta Norfolk. Good times, a few negatives. We had a blast, overall!!

 

The good:

Great waiter

Great comedian/nes

Ship was CLEAN, CLEAN, CLEAN

VERY friendly staff

Passengers were all in good moods and were very kind

 

1.) The Victory is a lovely ship---I really liked the decor. Last cruise was the Miracle, which I thought was a little gaudy, but it wasn't a big deal. Victory is much more subdued in greens and blues, and less gaudy/neon/Vegasy. Hard to believe it's the same designer! Lots of nice medium-sized nooks and crannies to hang out in---for the CTN, only the bingo and shows were held in the big theatre. Everything else was in the small lounges.

 

2.) Food was just fine. There were only two dinners, so nothing really stood out. I had Chateaubriand and Cornish game hen for my dinners---the beef was good, but a bit tough (felt a bit old, like it was reheated or something--the Bearnaise sauce had dried onto it), the Cornish game hen was cooked perfectly and the BBQ sauce on it was lovely. We had some trouble with the ass't waiter remembering to come back around for after-dinner coffee orders both nights. He didn't say much, might have been new. Pizza was amazing, better than ever.

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The bad:

1.) Randomly out of important items. They ran out of iced tea at dinner and on the buffet past after the first night--on a cruise full of southerners!! They were also out of pineapple juice (but just at breakfast in the dining room both mornings, as they had it at the bars!) and strawberry jam (also ship-wide).

2.) Elevators were S-L-O-W, as in you had at least a 5 min wait, no matter the time of day, and the doors took about a minute to fully open or close. Very noticeably slow. I have no idea what was wrong with them, but my roomie enjoyed pretending to be Indiana Jones in slow-mo by sliding slowly sideways through them while they creaked open and closed. ;)

3.) Said it above, but some of the food seemed over-heated/dried/nuked. Any of the cakes were more like dry biscuits with icing, the Lido hamburger buns were like little crunchy hockey-puck crackers, the sauces on the beef and the eggs benedict had solidified into a baked-on crust, with no liquid left. Food was not all like this on other Carnival cruises my group had experienced, so it's not the norm. Hopefully, it's just a CTN thing. The food was GOOD, just occasionally a little dried out. Hehe.

4.) Didn't like the up-then-down layout with Decks 3&4 around the dining rooms. Just a personal preference---it was a hassle. :)

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The ugly:

1.) They were "welding" or "repairing" something down on the lower decks, 1-3 were the worst for it. Our friends were in the 12xx's range of cabins, and their whole area smelled like burning plastic for a day and a half (of the two day cruise!). It made your eyes water! However, the atrium let the smell into the upper decks, and some of the other stairwells, too. It wasn't awful, but it definitely could gag you if you didn't see it comin'. But, definitely, yuck!

2.) Embarkation! The escalator AND the elevator for the previous's cruise DEbarkation had broken (or that was the story they gave us), so they were late getting them off. Then they weren't paying attention to what they were doing with us, so they'd let a group up the elevator to the entrance, AND let a group up the stairs, and there wasn't enough room at the top for both--so we were all crushed on this platform bridge. And because the stairs let out AHEAD of the elevator, masses of people were "jumping" in line ahead of people who had already been waiting for 30min, and there was some ill-will for a lot of people about the whole thing.

 

All of this made our in-processing excruciatingly slow as they tried to clear the back-log. I think we arrived at the building at 12:30pm or so, and did not get onboard until around 3 or 3:30pm. Because of this, we were late leaving port, and everyone was rushing to get things done before dinner. For example, we left port around 5:30 (instead of 4:30), and the spa "free massages" drawing started at 5:15, and they didn't shorten their sales pitch--so everyone who wanted to participate missed sailaway, and nearly missed dinner! Just little stuff like that got screwed up. Stuff breaks, but it was a negative, so I'll put it down here. Heh.

3.) The casino stole all my money. I shall hate it forever. ;)

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No, really, overall it was a lovely cruise. Very relaxing, not at all as "wild partying" as I'd been told to expect on a 2 day cruise. I LOVED going out of Norfolk, as it's a really pretty area, very easy to get to, with very simple parking. The issues I had with horrifically rude passengers on the Miracle were totally non-existent on this cruise. Everyone was very nice, held doors for each other, let the handicapped through, the kind of stuff you hope to see when a bunch of people are in tight spaces together.

 

Even though the weather wasn't great, we had a great time. Probably will go on a CTN again next year, if they continue offering Norfolk as a port. Or (*drool*) if they start doing 'em outta Baltimore! Although another ship might not have so awesome of a sing-along piano bar. Hrmmm......:D

[seashell36]

Thanks for the review. We have been considering a CTN, but were afraid it would be more of a big 2 day party. Glad you enjoyed it. I will definitely keep an eye on where they are offered from next year. Norfolk is closer but we have friends in Baltimore.

[TrinaLC]

It really wasn't a big party cruise at all. Lots of extended families and I think church groups actually.

 

I agree that the food was pretty poor. As I said in my review, there are not enough choices as compared to other lines/newer ships. And the dining room fare was not great. I had the same poor excuse for eggs benedict. Also, my husband ordered scrambled eggs in the dining room and was asked if he wanted "real" scrambled eggs! Like anyone would chose the powdered variety?!

 

But the pizza as always was fabulous - if you got it before 11 am; after that the lines were ridiculous.

[lovestocruise@yahoo.com]

And I thought I was the only one that had a problem with the food on the Lido deck. I have to agree with everything that has been said. We just came back on 10-4 from a 7 day New England/Canada cruise. The trip was great, no complaints except for the buffet..someone likened it to a high school cafeteria line and I felt the same way. In the morning the eggs and potatoes were luke warm and the melons were the same. What should have been hot were cold and what should have been cold was warm. Yuk...the lines were unbelievable. Even at sea days only one of the grills was open...the other opened at 1pm which meant the line for the grill went all the way back into the dining room. Very poorly set up. Desserts left alot to be desired. Very little choice.

 

The cabin was great...the dining room food was great as was our waitress/waiter. As a matter of fact I am going on a 3 day Baja cruise in Jan of 09 and our waitress, Bela, will be on that ship as well and I have requested to our TA that she request sitting at Bela's stationfor our group of 15.