Just off the victory - 1/25 - part i!!

[onceagain]

We got home late last night from our Victory cruise. I'll try to give you a summary, may end up being a two-parter! First, let me preface by saying I am 59, DH is 63. We went with a group of family/friends, 24 of us ages 7-70's. This is our 14th cruise, 3rd on Carnival. We're from MN.

Embarkation: Our flight got into San Juan at 2:30pm the day of our cruise, so we got to the cruise terminal around 3:30, we had purchased transfers from Carnival. Embarkation went quite smoothly, we had all filled out our Fun Passes, so we went through pretty quickly, we had asked for early seating and got it.

Room: We got an OV cabin on the Riviera Deck, midship, room 1337. We had booked this specific room, no guarantee rooms for us. It was a really nice, large cabin. We had six cabins in a row, a few others spread around with balcony and 1A cabins. I'm amazed at how much bigger Carnival cabins are than other cruise lines. We had an adjoining room with my DS and her DH. We used that door very little and it didn't interfer at all with the layout of the cabin.

1st Day on ship: We just kind of roamed around the deck and got a little to eat, knowing that our dinner was at 6:00. We ate in the Pacific Dining Room (which was the same room assigned to us), food was good, don't remember what we had though. We went to the "show" that night with Karl with the K cruise director, it was kind of boring, but o.k. One of our two suitcases came quite quickly, but we had to wait a while for the second one. When we got it, the tag had been torn off of it (I had reinforced it with packing tape) and it was laying outside our room with the wheel busted off and laying next to the bag!!! Not very happy at this point. Both wheels were intact when we brought it to their transfer truck at the airport. When we opened the suitcase, the metal bar around the case had been completely bent in to the middle of the suitcase and one of the metal bars on the bottom was also very dented in. We went to the Pursers desk to report it right away, then had to go get the bag for them to see. They told us they could only give us a $50 onboard credit, then the supervisor retracted the offer saying they would give us a letter to send to Miami asking for a refund, that they couldn't give us anything - guidelines you know. To make a VERY long 4-day story short, after talking to supervisor, after supervisor, after supervisor, they finally agreed to give us $50 OBC. Whoppie! But at least we got something! It's now in the trash at home! Our DS's luggage handle was broken (the one you use to pull the suitcase) but he didn't notice it until halfway through the trip and they wouldn't do anything, saying he could have done it himself on the ship!!!

2nd Day - St. Thomas: 12 of us from our group took the Best of St. Thomas tour - about 3 1/2 hours long. We saw some really beautiful sights and went to the "Guest House," it was a past "hideaway" of celebrities and was absolutely gorgeous, beautiful flowers, views, landscape, loved it! We also stopped at a place with lots of great little shops, and snack bar with fabulous views of Megan's Bay. We all enjoyed this tour very much, it was in an open air bus. We've been to Megans Bay and Trunk Bay so decided to just take it easy this day.

3rd Day - Dominica: Some of us went on tours (they said they were good), some of us decided to stay on the ship because we'd been there several times and wanted a "sea day." Some from our group got off the ship and went down to the area where they sell their crafts, etc. They came back saying a lot of the people were very rude and one women selling her things, told our group they were all "idiots" because they wouldn't buy anything from her. Not too impressed here, but the island is beautiful if you go on a tour. Our DS and DN took a tour, (with 4 little exercise men symbol) and had fun, but they said it was definitely strenuous, not for the unfit. They had to go through rivers holding on to ropes so they wouldn't get swept away, get pulled through a hole in a rock to get to a swimming place, then put down through the hole again to get out.

4th Day - Barbados: We had gone to the Boatyard before and loved it, so did it again, 19 of us. I got a tip here on CC that if you contact them before you go, they will pick you up at the ship. I did that and they were wonderful, picked us up, took us to the Boatyard, the $15 fee included trip to and from the ship, a chair with umbrella, and a drink ticket! Plus they had an area all set aside and saved for us. The kids (ages 7-21) loved the water trampolines and climbing mountain! Someone on CC said the music is so loud - I didn't notice that it was loud at all, just fun. The bathroom facilities are very nice. DGD and DN got their hair braided here. There are some guys walking around with their jewelry to sell, but if you said no thanks - it was no problem, they were all very nice. This was a wonderful day - if you are looking for a great beach with fun things to do, this might be the place for you. Also, because I had emailed back and forth several times, they gave me my admission for free! Can't beat that.

Barbados: We always take ship excursions but we'd heard so much about Cosol Tours, we decided to try it - all 24 of us! It was absolutely fabulous - don't miss it. Our driver Adrienne was wonderful, very informative and very funny. All the stops - banana fields, where Adrianne got us some very sweet bananas to eat, then brought back a huge bunch for us to eat along the way, the waterfall/botanical garden, volcano, stop for bathroom ($1.00) and tons of food and drinks, then the beautiful Jalouise Resort. It was a great beach and the trip by boat there was fun. No one had mentioned this before on CC, but I'll tell ya, they tell you if you don't have water shoes or flip flops on, to take your shoes off and leave them in the van because you have to walk through sand and rocks to get to the boat, then walk into the water to get into the boat. Wish someone had mentioned this before because we had just worn our athletic shoes and didn't want to get them wet, so we made our way across the rocks. If you sit on the lounge chairs at the resort you are charged $20, we were told this about 10 times, so we found a big rock to sit on and some chairs by a little shop. Along the way, Adrienne stopped and bought us bags of HUGE sugar/coconut cookies that were wonderful! The whole day was fabulous, it was about a 6-7 hour trip. The owner, Nearis (sp) (Cosol is his nickname) met us at each stop to be sure everyone and everything was doing o.k. He was very nice and funny. The trip was very organized and they were very conscientious about time! The 24 of us were in 2 vans, very clean, and fairly new. We weren't crammed in at all, we had lots of room.

 

O.K., I'm going to take a break and I'll get back to you later this afternoon with more island info, food talk, cruise director talk, show talk, ship talk, etc.

[padre]

3rd Day - Dominica: Some from our group got off the ship and went down to the area where they sell their crafts, etc. They came back saying a lot of the people were very rude and one women selling her things, told our group they were all "idiots" because they wouldn't buy anything from her.

 

I am surprised that the people in Dominica were rude. I have been twice and have found that the people there are more friendly than any other island I have visited.

[onceagain]

Oops - I blew it - still asleep when I wrote Part I. Where I list Barbados - the second time - I meant St. Lucia!!! :rolleyes: I didn't get off in Dominica this time, but 10 from our group said the same thing! Maybe we just went on a bad day.

[kbalthaser66]

Hello, you mentioned in your day at Barbados that you contacted them prior to your departure about the Boatyard tour. Who did you contact? Do you have website or email address. We are going on this cruise in 20 days and I would like to contact them prior to our arrival and see what the tour is all about.

 

Kristin

[Frenchsnowhite]

Hello, you mentioned in your day at Barbados that you contacted them prior to your departure about the Boatyard tour. Who did you contact? Do you have website or email address. We are going on this cruise in 20 days and I would like to contact them prior to our arrival and see what the tour is all about.

 

Kristin

 

http://www.theboatyard.com/home.html

[Frenchsnowhite]

Would you have the website to the tour in St.Lucia?

[phinfan63]

Would you have the website to the tour in St.Lucia?

 

http://cosol-tours.com/

[Frenchsnowhite]

Wow! 6 hours tour:eek: This seems forever to me:eek:

 

Not sure I could hold up that much time in a mini van even to see a beautifull island:o

[onceagain]

I'm back - thanks everyone who provided the websites to those asking for them. Now on to more:

the ship: I thought the ship was in great condition, they were constantly painting, cleaning, etc. Once we went into our room and a guy was hanging outside our window chaulking the window - so...be sure you close those drapes before you do something you don't want anyone else to see!

I really dislike this type of ship, where you have to go up then go back down, etc. to get to the dining room. After a few mistakes we finally caught on, but it's confusing. I liked the decor, lots of blue and green. The lobby was very small compared to the Destiny and Valor, you could only see up two stories of pretty stairways but still pretty.

Dining Room: We were in the Pacific Dining Room at the back of the ship. Our three round tables of eight, were way in the back along the windows. It was nice to see the islands as we left, but we couldn't see what was going on in the middle of the dining room with the shows, waiters dancing on tables, etc., we love that part, but it was fine. We had two different waiters, one of the waiters was great, very fast with food. The other one was also great, but very slow, he had two of our tables. Most nights when our table was eating dessert, our group at the other two tables hadn't even received their starters. So, that was kind of a bummer, but no big deal. The food was good, not great, but good. The prime rib I had the last night was very good, very medium rare and delicious. The lobster was also great, and they now serve it with 3 huge shrimp, also delicious. I love the fruit soups so got those most nights, yum! One night none of us could decide what to get, so some of us got the Spring Chicken and it was really delicious. Caesar salad is always good as is the shrimp cocktail. The shrimp with panko breading looked great. DH had a steak one of the first nights, he said it had a lot of grizzle. DS had the flat iron steak, she said it was tough. Crab cake starter wasn't very good - lots of filler in it. Most of the desserts were great, lots of us had the melting cake throughout the week, sometimes it came almost like a regular cake with very little "liquid" in the middle, other times, it came and was like chocolate syrup, no cake at all, but still always good.

Room Steward: He was fine, there were a couple things that he'd forget, like the breakfast menu for room service and a few other things, but generally pretty good. Our room was always done when we got back to it and he was very nice.

Room Service: This was very dissapointing. We only ordered twice for breakfast when we had an excursion. Both times they came on time, but they forgot things. The second time they brought us a kind of cereal that we didn't order and no milk for it. I called and it came 35 minutes later as we were rushing out the door. DD had an even worse time, one day she didn't get it at all, and others in our group had similar experiences. We'd never had a problem other times we'd cruised.

The shops: I bought some jewelry that was 50% off but that was about it. On one of the last days, they had a $5.00 t-shirt sale, I didn't go because there was a huge group of people waiting to get into the store. Someone from our group went and they said people made a mad dash, and people were grabbing things from each other. Generally I've seen these sales in the aisles outside the shops, this one was inside so there wasn't much room.

Cruise Director: Karl with a K was fabulous! We all agreed that he was probably our favorite cruise director ever, and some of us have cruised many, many times. He was very funny, participated in everything, and was everywhere on the ship. We had several conversations with him and he was just great! He apparently loves his job.

Food other than dining room: The only time I ate at the buffet was on our last day for breakfast, and I had an omlete that was good. We ate in the dining room on days we didn't have room service for breakfast. For lunch we had sandwiches from the deli - turkey on white roll (good), reuben a couple times (delicious), and DH had a corned beef several times. We had hamburgers and fries twice, they were fine. Pizza twice, once it was burned and second time it was good. One night, I think Thursday, they closed the back area of the ship on levels 9 and 10, so they moved the pizza near the main pool. They kept burning the pizza's and throwing them away. So, the buffet was closed, the deli was closed, the asian food was closed, no onefrom the crew knew how to work the popcorn machine, and the pizza was coming out burned. People were pretty upset.

Large screen on Lido: The screen is very cool. We watched the inauguration on the big screen along with many hundreds of other people. Everyone was clapping and cheering during the swearing in. I have a picture of Obama getting sworn in on the big screen with the Carnival tail above the screen - kind of neat. We didn't watch much else, I know there were movies in the evening, some watched, not a lot though.

The shows: We all thought the shows were great. The comedian from Cuba was wonderful, it sounded like he was getting off the ship that week though. The juggler was very good and very funny, the comedian that night was just o.k. The magician was a little weird but his act was great and I don't even like magicians. The main shows with the dancers and singers were wonderful - great, great shows. The talent show the last night was fun - don't miss it - Karl with a K was so funny! You'll have to wait to see!

Games, etc: We played Name that Tune, watched the "Newlywed Game", a few other things too, they were all fun.

Peoples clothing: People dressed very casually on casual night, many, many men in shorts, a few men in t-shirts. On elegant night, most people really dressed up, many long gowns, etc., but a few dressed a little more casually. It seems pretty much anything goes.

The crew: We found all of the crew to be very friendly, always saying hi, etc.

The itinerary: We loved the itinerary, we'd seen all islands except Antigua but it was fun to see them again. We were all exhausted! Six ports is a lot - but worth it. If possible try to give yourself one "sea day" or maybe take an excursion that is only a few hours long one day. I kept trying to find time to take a nap, I think I got in about 10 minutes two days, that's it. So glad I took Monday off of work so I could come down a little!

Antigua: Our DD and her family, DN and her family, our DS all went to Dickenson's Bay and they all had a great time. We took a Best of Antigua excursion through the ship, it was good, but not sure it was worth the $59 pp. They took us to two mountain tops for views - but told us we only had 8 minutes at each. Then went to Nelson's Dockyard for 45 minutes. It was o.k. and nice to see the island because we'd never been there before.

St. Kitt's: We did the St. Kitt's Scenic Railroad and so glad we did. It was wonderful. The train was very comfortable. We were in the last car, our drive said it was the best car to be in because you can really smell the diesel in the first couple cars - I think there was a total of 5 cars. Everyone stayed on top of our car and it looked like that was true of other cars also, there is air-conditioning below. We saw a lot of little villages and lots of people waving, children running towards the train and waving at us. Beautiful scenery and wonderful views of cliffs with huge waves hitting them, also some black sand beaches. They gave us drinks several times and there were 3 people who sang twice. It was a great excursion. I had heard that there is a lot of movement on the train, I didn't notice any. If we looked at the car in front of ours it was moving like crazy, so I'm sure ours was too - but we didn't feel it.

 

Overall we liked the cruise. I had read a lot of negative things about the Victory before getting on it and assumed they were all complainers, but I have to agree, this was not our best Carnival cruise, just little issues (not even considering the luggage issue). Being with 24 of our friends and family was wonderful, I know having all of them helped make this trip even better.

 

If you have questions, fire away.

[onceagain]

The Cosol tour was long, but we made a lot of stops along the way where we got out and walked around, ate, swam, etc. The time just flew by - it was worth every minute. Check out the St Lucia port area and see all the posts about Cosol's tour - I don't think I've ever seen a bad one - only people raving about it.

[onceagain]

Sorry, double post.

[onceagain]

I forgot to mention a few things. The Victory was absolutely freezing, people came to the shows with blankets wrapped around them, I saw several people with winter coats with fur hoods on. They sold A LOT of sweatshirts and shawls because people weren't prepared for wearing really warm clothing every night. The showroom was the coldest but the entire ship was very cold, dining room was also very cold. I'm not talking chilly, or even cold, I'm talking freezing! We asked someone about it and they said the show room needs to be kept cold for the dancers - that was the only answer we got! If you are going on the Victory - bring lots of long pants and many sweaters, jackets, etc. I'm from MN so I know cold, and believe me, the Victory is cold!! Also want to warn you about debarkation. Our flight wasn't until 4:00 PM, so we weren't real concerned about getting off the ship. We had to leave our rooms by 9:00 AM so went up to Lido to have some breakfast. Most of us sat outside near the pizza and sat there until 1:30. At that point we thought it was better to sit on the ship instead of the airport. Soon we began getting very concerned about catching our flight. At that point they had only called number 12 - we were number 30! We decided to make our way down to deck 3 where you get off the ship. The doors to outside were closed and there was a HUGE line of people waiting to get off. We finally asked someone when we could leave because our flight was now in about 2 hours. They asked if we were all there, we were, so they let us all leave the ship. We stood in immigration until 2:45, then got on the buses. We got to the airport about 3:00, ran to the counter, then ran to security, then all the way through the airport to our gate, we got there about 3:30, fortunately they were late getting it loaded. Some from our group were on the bus behind us and their driver wouldn't leave until it was full (though others from our group left with only 10 people on their bus in front of ours). On the way to the airport their bus made a detour and dropped off a Carnival worker at his home, then they went to the airport. When they finally got to the check-in counter, our "people" were told it was too late to check in and they would have to make other arrangements, they told the airline person that they were part of a group of 24 people, so they finally said they would let them through, they made it to the gate at exactly 4:00. When we got to Mpls/St Paul one of their suitcases never made it from San Juan! So, not a wonderful ending to our cruise.

[Payd]

Oops - I blew it - still asleep when I wrote Part I. Where I list Barbados - the second time - I meant St. Lucia!!! :rolleyes: I didn't get off in Dominica this time, but 10 from our group said the same thing! Maybe we just went on a bad day.

 

I must be a bit sleepy too. I had to go back twice because I thought it said Barbados by Cosol's name - I thought it was St. Lucia.

 

Phew. Bedtime!

[Payd]

Wow! 6 hours tour:eek: This seems forever to me:eek:

 

Not sure I could hold up that much time in a mini van even to see a beautifull island:o

 

We had a blast. 10 in our minivan (3 couples - one couple had their teenage daughters along, and a mom and daughter team), and we loved it.

 

There were lots of stops along the way, and for the driving parts the 10 of us hit it off and talked lots.

 

We had so much fun that if we take our kids to St. Lucia - we'll do the tour again.

[Frenchsnowhite]

Onceagain, thanks for this review, we are sailing the Victory in 2 months and we cannot wait!:D

 

Do you have pictures that maybe you could post here???:)

[vkramer]

Yes!!!

 

It is nice to have another current review of this itinerary. I am sailing this itinerary March 1st and want to know what to expect. I sailed out of San Juan last year on Princess and had a blast, although I enjoy Carnival cruises better.

 

Thanks again.

 

Vicki

[NCTribeFan]

I'm also doing Cosol's tour - all the others I'm booking independently as well. Going with Papa Bear in St Thomas again. That is the only port I've been to, so since they're all new, I'm going to see the islands! No "just beach" days for me. I'm not going all that way and then not seeing as much as possible. Been doing a lot of research. Yes, I know it will be exhausting, which is why I'm staying two post-cruise days at the Marriott Stellaris.

 

For people asking, you can find links and reviews of just about any independent tour if you go to the separate Ports of Call boards for those ports.

 

I'm always cold when other people aren't, but I'll be damned if I'm packing winter clothes! It's going to be difficult enough to take the clothes I'll need for a 7-night cruise, with excursions planned for each day, dress for dinner (we dress every night, not just formal night; I refuse to wear scruffy clothes in the dining room), plus clothing for 1-1/2 day pre-cruise and 2-1/2 days post cruise in PR!

 

Anyway, I'm not going to pay to check more than 1 suitcase each. No way.

 

I always get up early and have breakfast in the buffet restaurants. I actually prefer the omelettes to sitting in the dining room waiting and waiting and waiting for breakfast. And when I'm going to be doing a full-day excursion, I want to be sure I have a good-sized breakfast. Coffee and danish won't do it for me.

 

Not interested in the CD, either. In fact, I can't remember who was the CD on the cruise I took last month! I don't go to the "activities" and just don't pay much attention. The less noticeable they are, the better, to me. I know a lot of people really seem to get into the CD and rant about how awful someone is or rave about how great another one is. I honestly just don't notice them unless their on-board announcements are really annoying! :o

 

Would also like to see pics! I just love looking at pics of cruises I have booked.

[Cigar Dude]

Post your pics, please! :)

[ducku2]

great review, thanks! we leave in 10 days. does anyone know what type of sandwiches can be ordered from room service?