Victory 5-day 8/18 review: The Awesome Aft Wrap Balcony!

We sailed Carnival Victory on 8/18 – the five-day cruise from NYC to Saint John and Halifax. This is a long review, so I'll post it in segments.

This was our eighth Carnival cruise and fourth on Victory; all of the Victory cruises have been Canada cruises. Since we live just two hours from NYC, this cruise gives us a chance to cruise without having to deal with flying and hotels. We sailed with our three sons, ages 17, 12 and 8. Even though we had done this cruise previously and knew the weather can be “iffy,” I was a bit worried that we would have lousy weather for most of the cruise; this summer here in Upstate NY has been very wet, as it has been in the Canadian Maritimes as well. We lucked out; the weather was virtually perfect. The only exception was a squall we sailed through on our first sea day – but that was a doozy! We did not plan any excursions in advance for either Saint John or Halifax and decided to play it by ear, depending on the weather.

Embarkation day – We arrived at the port around 11:15 and were aboard by 11:40. No lines for security, pictures, or registration; we just had to wait a few minutes to board. We went up to the Lido deck for lunch and a Fun Ship Special. The two younger boys discovered the large plastic chess set on the Lido deck aft and played a quick round of chess before lunch. Good thing they played then – I never saw the chess set without players during the rest of the cruise. At 1:30 we went down to our cabins – 8428 and 8424, Verandah deck aft. We entered our cabin and right away went to see … THE AWESOME AFT WRAP BALCONY. :cool: We booked this cabin to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary, and we’re definitely spoiled now. The balcony wraps around three sides, and we had five chairs and two tables. We made ourselves at home on the balcony for a while, then went up one deck to meet the folks from our roll call. Boat drill was at 4:30 and we were finished about 10 minutes before we sailed. We stayed on our balcony for sailaway and had beautiful views of lower Manhattan since we were on the port side. I didn’t think we’d be able to see the waterfalls “art,” but we had a good view of the falls on Governor’s Island and could see two of the other falls in the distance. We also had a great view of the Statue of Liberty from the aft side of the balcony. Since we had 6:00 dinner, we couldn’t be on deck for sailing under the bridge – but we’ve done that before. If you haven’t done it and have the time, go up to one of the highest decks – it looks like the funnel is going to touch the bridge.

We had dinner in the Pacific Dining Room (aft) – on our other three Victory cruises, we always had the Atlantic Dining Room (midships). The décor in both is about the same – I’m not a fan of the mermaids. For the first time on any of our cruises, we were seated at a table with another family. (On past cruises we’ve always had a four-top with an extra chair.) I’ve always read about people being matched very well with their tablemates, and our experience was no exception. Both husbands are engineers; both families had a teenage son who does Drama Club; and the other family was from the Philadelphia area (I grew up in a South Jersey suburb of Philly and went to college in Philly). We had wonderful servers, Amos and Edi. We also finished dinner much faster than we did on any past cruise, they were so prompt in bringing our courses. After dinner, we registered the youngest with Camp Carnival, the middle son with Circle C, and the oldest disappeared to Club O2. We then went to listen to the jazz trio in the Ionian Lounge and met Migda, a wonderful server. We went back every night.

Nice review, so far, Kathy:)

Will await further details...

After breakfast, the kids went off to their activities and DH and I played trivia, then went to the Promenade Deck for specialty coffee and some rounds of gin rummy. This is a favorite of ours on sea days; we don’t play cards very often at home because we just don’t find the time. (I know – we really should.) After lunch, we played “Super Trivia” – it’s a team competition over two days. We played it on Valor in February and had a great time. DH then went out to the balcony to read a book while I took youngest son to the pool. The weather was perfect, and the Lido deck was mobbed. You wouldn’t guess we were sailing to Canada! I was also a bit worried about the pool temperature – I remembered the 64-degree pools from last year, and the ship’s data on the TV said the pools were all 59 degrees! Not to worry – the TV was wrong and the pools must have been at least 70 degrees. It was very comfortable swimming. Son went down the waterslide once, but didn’t want to stand in line to go again.

After a while son was getting tired and wanted to get changed. I noticed the sky had clouded up and thought to myself, “okay – we’re sailing into the fog. So much for a fog-free cruise.” We went back to the cabins and I took a shower. When I came out, the sky was much darker and there was lightning all around. Very neat to watch from inside our cabin! As we sailed into the squall, the waves picked up (although I really didn’t notice much movement), the rain moved in – and then there was hail. Quarter-size hail. The size of hail that we could have used to fill our ice bucket. (DH tried opening the balcony door at one point and some of the hail flew into our cabin.) After about 20 minutes, the storm subsided – but not without wreaking havoc on the Lido deck. All of the outside decks were closed to passengers so the crew could clean up the mess, which included numerous broken lightbulbs.

This was “formal” night. DH and our sons wear tuxes and I wear a cocktail dress on formal nights because we don’t get much of a chance to dress up and we enjoy it. DH went to put on his tux shirt and… found he couldn’t even button it! It seems he packed an old tux shirt. I took the boys down to the captain’s party since we were all dressed, and DH paid a visit to Formalities – which had a perfect shirt in his size! This was our first cruise since “formal” night changed to “elegant” night (I think it changed right before our Valor cruise in February, but that was too early to tell a difference) and I was surprised at the number of tuxes and glitzy dresses I saw. While I saw some folks who took advantage of the relaxed dress code, overall I have to say that there was very little change from the old “formal” night dress.

We docked at Long Wharf around 7 a.m. It was chilly first thing in the morning, but it warmed up quickly, and it was sunny all day. We decided to walk to the Reversing Rapids; in our previous two trips to Saint John, we never made it there. It wasn’t a difficult walk, but it is between 1 ½ and 2 miles, partially uphill and partially along a busy industrial road. There are some nice viewing areas at the park. After that, we walked back along the Harbour Passage and had lunch at Grannan’s at Market Square. Good seafood, good kids’ menu, and Moose on tap – how can you go wrong?

Then we were in search of shoes. You see, I went shopping before the cruise and bought both youngest and middle sons new shoes since their old shoes were falling apart so badly that the bottoms were falling off. The morning of the cruise, I noticed that youngest was wearing his old, ratty shoes and I told him to change. After that I got distracted and it wasn’t until we were in New York that I realized he never changed his shoes. (I tried wrapping duct tape around them, but he’s a little too hard on his shoes and the duct tape surrendered.) So there we were in Saint John, trying to find shoes for an 8 YO. We walked through the mall area – nothing, A block away from City Market, we found a discount store that reminded me of a Woolworths, and there they were – canvas kids’ shoes for $4. We also found a huge bag of Canada mints there – oldest son’s favorite – as well as a cheap pair of ear buds to replace the latest set that oldest son managed to break. Everyone was happy for a grand sum of $7. Then we went back to the ship and sat out on our balcony watching people return to the ship. (No, it’s not nearly as humorous as watching people return to the ship in Cozumel.)

This was also the day for the past guests’ party. It was the same time as the captain’s party the night before – 5:15 for early dinner seating, 7:30 for late.

Again, our weather was picture perfect. Last year we went to Peggy’s Cove and saw very little except fog; this year, it was sunny and warm. (We should have gone to Peggy's Cove this year - in fact, we joked with the photography staff that they should hold onto the leftover Peggy's Cove photos so they could sell them to later cruisers who didn't have such nice weather.:p) Our youngest son has been devouring anything he can read about the Titanic, so we decided to visit the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic so he could see the Titanic display there. (We visited the museum four years ago, but since he was four at the time he didn’t remember it at all.) I was pleasantly surprised by just how interested he was in the rest of the museum – the Halifax Explosion of 1917, lighthouses, Nova Scotia shipwrecks, World War II, and the Age of Steam. We were there until lunchtime. Lunch was at Stayner’s Wharf; again, we’ve eaten there before and knew they’d have good seafood, a good kids’ menu, and Keith’s Ale on tap. After lunch it was back to the museum for a tour of the 1913 ship “Acadia,” some play time for our youngest at the playground by the museum, and a leisurely walk back to the ship along the boardwalk. I love Halifax – sometime I want to do a land tour of Nova Scotia.

Again we played trivia (the winning family was much too serious about these games – dad got into an argument with the social host on one question), had coffee and played gin rummy, and went to the second round Super Trivia. (Same family from earlier in the day won, and they were still much too serious – one of the kids was miffed that the plastic ship on a stick didn’t say what it was awarded for). More swimming; I went down the waterslide twice! That time we had a tough time finding a vacant deck chair, and we ended up spotting one the same time as another couple. Since we both wanted to use the pools and waterslide, we figured it was fair to share the chair for our stuff and if someone wanted to sit in the chair they could move stuff around. It worked fairly well, and other chairs opened up a little later. They were a nice couple – we got talking about bringing kids on cruises, since they have a grandchild they wanted to bring on a cruise and wondered about the best age to start. Then more time sitting out on the balcony, last dinner, more balcony time (we were hooked on that balcony), and a last visit to the Ionian Lounge.

Victory arrives early in New York. We sailed under the Verrazzano around 5:45 and docked around 7. We don’t do self-assist – it’s just too hard with 5 of us, and we’re not in a hurry anyway. Self-assist started around 7:30…but zoned debarkation didn’t start until after 9:00. Then they started calling zones in groups of five, very close together. We were Zone 16, and I think we were called 10-15 minutes after Zone 1-5. The result was that everyone bunched up together between decks 3-4. When you disembark in New York now, you stand in line for individual immigration/customs agents so they can run passports through the computer. It really didn’t take long, and they actually do passport stamps! We collected our luggage and were on the road around 10:00. (Then we sat in traffic on the NJ Turnpike, but that’s another story.)

There's more to go as for food, service, entertainment, etc. but I will have to continue later.

Wow, your weather was just like the weather I had on my cruise. :)

Wow, your weather was just like the weather I had on my cruise. :)

Imagine that!;) Hope you didn't have a problem with airlines after the rather-lengthy debarkation.

Again, our weather was picture perfect. Last year we went to Peggy’s Cove and saw very little except fog; this year, it was sunny and warm. (We should have gone to Peggy's Cove this year - in fact, we joked with the photography staff that they should hold onto the leftover Peggy's Cove photos so they could sell them to later cruisers who didn't have such nice weather.:p) Our youngest son has been devouring anything he can read about the Titanic, so we decided to visit the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic so he could see the Titanic display there. (We visited the museum four years ago, but since he was four at the time he didn’t remember it at all.) I was pleasantly surprised by just how interested he was in the rest of the museum – the Halifax Explosion of 1917, lighthouses, Nova Scotia shipwrecks, World War II, and the Age of Steam. We were there until lunchtime. Lunch was at Stayner’s Wharf; again, we’ve eaten there before and knew they’d have good seafood, a good kids’ menu, and Keith’s Ale on tap. After lunch it was back to the museum for a tour of the 1913 ship “Acadia,” some play time for our youngest at the playground by the museum, and a leisurely walk back to the ship along the boardwalk. I love Halifax – sometime I want to do a land tour of Nova Scotia.

Hi Kathy, I was in Halifax when you were there, the weather was perfect, I was there for ten days and watched the Victory pull in and out I'll try to attach a picture for you.I was at Saltys resturant when this was taken..small world after all...YOu may just recognize that Wrap around balcony...Halifax is a wonderful city and I have done a land tour as well and it was equally beautiful, but Halifax just has everything...glad you enjoyed your cruise..great review..

Imagine that!;) Hope you didn't have a problem with airlines after the rather-lengthy debarkation.

Smoothest debarkation I've been on since my first cruise (from a ship that carried 740 people). All went great - except the four hours I spent sitting, and playing games on my computer, in JFK. Someone should inform the managers/owners of JFK of a recent invention, known as air conditioning (or A/C for short).

Again we played trivia (the winning family was much too serious about these games – dad got into an argument with the social host on one question), had coffee and played gin rummy, and went to the second round Super Trivia. (Same family from earlier in the day won, and they were still much too serious – one of the kids was miffed that the plastic ship on a stick didn’t say what it was awarded for).

 

Ha! I was there for that with my family, the guy argued James Bond trivia. Great week of weather and the hail storm at sea was really pretty cool to see.

Ha! I was there for that with my family, the guy argued James Bond trivia. Great week of weather and the hail storm at sea was really pretty cool to see.

Ironically, he was right - sort of. There was a 1954 version of Casino Royale, pre-dating Dr. No which came out in 1962 - but it wasn't a major motion picture.

Great review:)

We entered our cabin and right away went to see … THE AWESOME AFT WRAP BALCONY. :cool:

When we went on the Destiny and had aft wrap balcony, that is the exact same thing we did...they are awesome.

Do you have any pictures of your cabin and balcony? We are going on the Victory in Oct 09 and have a aft wrap again...it will be hard to go back to any other kind of cabin.

When we went on the Destiny and had aft wrap balcony, that is the exact same thing we did...they are awesome.

 

Do you have any pictures of your cabin and balcony? We are going on the Victory in Oct 09 and have a aft wrap again...it will be hard to go back to any other kind of cabin.

I do...I'm going to try to get photos posted tonight or tomorrow.

Thank you for the review..We have been looking for a next cruise and I think weve found it..:)

Kelly

Great review! I'll be going on the same 5 day itinerary next August but on the Triumph out of N.Y. I was able to book those 2 1A "secret" inside cabins with those big windows (2444 & 2445)!!:D Thanks for all your info.:)

Hi Kathy, I was in Halifax when you were there, the weather was perfect, I was there for ten days and watched the Victory pull in and out I'll try to attach a picture for you.I was at Saltys resturant when this was taken..small world after all...YOu may just recognize that Wrap around balcony...Halifax is a wonderful city and I have done a land tour as well and it was equally beautiful, but Halifax just has everything...glad you enjoyed your cruise..great review..

Thank you for the picture! Halifax is wonderful.

Cabin: As you might gather, we really liked 8428. Aside from the AWESOME balcony, we thought the cabin was well laid out. The balcony door is directly aft and there are two windows on the diagonal. The bed is a queen size (it does not divide into twins), and there’s a love seat, table and chair near the windows. The TV is on a bureau near the balcony door, and against the wall there is a mirror/vanity. The bathroom layout is the same as any balcony cabin. We occasionally heard chairs scraping overhead, but it wasn’t frequent and not enough to be a noticeable bother. As for movement, there is more movement in this cabin than in a midships balcony cabin (we’ve had 8270 and 8364 on prior Victory cruises). It’s side-to-side movement; I would describe it as a “wobble.” It didn't bother either of us.

Food: Breakfast and lunch were the standard buffet fare, with no marked differences from prior cruises. There’s a fried chicken available at the burger/dog stand that is very good – really nice breading and not greasy at all. DH had wonderful omelets at the breakfast buffet.

We ate all our dinners in the dining room. As I noted above, we had great servers in the dining room. The first night Amos tried to talk me out of the NY Strip steak – he thought it was too tough. I ordered it anyway, and while it was tougher than I’ve had previously it was well flavored. Other nights I ordered the beef (filet mignon, prime rib and chateaubriand) and they were very good. The lobster and shrimp on formal night were very good; our youngest ordered it and I was pleased (and surprised) to see he ate the whole thing. I did notice that side dishes are much more uniform now (e.g., whether you ordered beef or fish you got creamed peas for a side) and they’ve eliminated the salad course. The salads are still available as an appetizer, and you’re still welcome to order more than one appetizer (so you can do an appetizer and salad if you’re so inclined) – but the menu layout certainly seemed designed to discourage the extra course. For desserts, I’m partial to the crème brulee – it was good but a little runnier than I’ve had it previously. Ditto the warm chocolate melting cake. I think both could have stood a few more minutes in the warmer. Halifax night was Baked Alaska – and we weren’t offered a dessert menu to make other choices. That’s the first time that’s happened to us – in the past Baked Alaska has been an option on the menu, but not THE dessert. It was good, but not great. We had cappucchino every night with our dessert.

Miscellaneous food: I had never tried the sushi on previous cruises, so I stood in line for sushi on Halifax night. It was okay, not great. At the past guest party they offered a mini Caprese salad – tomato, mozzarella chesses and basil/oil – that appetizer was fantastic! I was looking forward to having scones with tea at tea time on sea days, but tea time was so crowded we couldn’t find a seat (never had that happen before either). A new addition to the Coral Seas Café is gelato; I didn’t try any, but it looked very good and there was a line for it at times.

Service: All of our servers did a great job – Romeo our cabin steward, Amos and Edi in the dining room, and Migna in the Ionian Lounge. However, the award for above-and-beyond goes to a cabin steward on Deck 7, port side aft. You see, at sailaway DH was standing on our balcony facing aft when his glasses came loose from the strap around his neck and slid down the side onto the balcony below. Romeo helped DH find the steward for that cabin, who promised he’d look for the glasses. That night, the glasses were returned to our cabin – minus a lens that had disappeared. However, the steward advised he would search the balcony for the lens. The next day was the hailstorm, and we figured there was no way the lens would survive. However, after dinner that night, the lens was returned to our cabin, not much the worse for the wear. (There is a special e-mail going to Guest Relations to recognize that cabin steward.)

Entertainment: We did not go to any of the main shows; we’ve seen both “Living in America” and “Vrooom” on previous cruises, as well as Rand Woodbury, the magician. They’re all very good performances – we just had other things to do. Our favorite after-dinner spot was the Ionian Lounge, where the Chris Martell jazz trio performed every night except Wednesday – which was their night off, and that night they brought in the Victory Orchestra to play jazz. Both the trio and the orchestra were great. The only “downer” was that the orchestra was scheduled to perform Wednesday from 9:30 to 11:30 – but at 11:00 the bandleader announced that the lounge was being taken by a private party and we would all have to leave – immediately. And they weren’t kidding; a security guard came around to tell us to leave. (We were in the process of settling our account with Migna at the time and DH had finished his cigar, so it wasn’t really a problem – just a little strange. I can’t imagine what private party would be taking over the lounge at 11 p.m.) We tried the piano bar, but Wednesday was Peter’s night off. We ended up listening to the band at the casino bar a little (sorry, Karen).

Activities: The ship had the full range of typical Carnival activities – bingo, hairy chest, newlywed show (also a midnight “R” rated newlywed show), towel folding, galley tour, tea time on sea days, etc. A new addition was scrapbooking, sea days in the Atlantic Dining Room, for an extra charge. I was interested in trying it, but it conflicted with Super Trivia both times. During the day they had board games like “Yahtzee” and “Sorry” available at the tables along the Promenade deck; I liked the idea of bringing them out of the library where they’re only available for limited hours. A rare feature on this cruise was a Catholic Mass on the first sea day and an interdenominational service at 8 a.m. on Halifax day; a priest on vacation offered the services. (They even gave him his own Carnival name tag.) That was the first time since our initial 2004 cruise that I saw Mass being offered. The past guest party was before dinner on Wednesday, after departing Saint John, in the Adriatic Lounge.

Kids’ Activities: Our oldest was in Club O2, middle son was in Circle C, and youngest was in Camp Carnival 6-8. Starting with the youngest, Camp Carnival was a lot of fun. Since the Olympics were going on, they scheduled a series of Olympics-themed activities in addition to the regular Camp Carnival activities (son’s team was England). They also built a volcano and blew it up. Two nights there were late-night parties from 10-1; it was just the cost of regular babysitting. Middle son enjoyed his first experience with Circle C; again, they had some Olympics-themed activities (son’s team was Australia) like slide racing. He liked the separate area for Circle C and made some friends that he hung out with outside the club. Oldest son wasn’t quite as thrilled with Club O2 as he has been on other cruises; it gave him a place to hang out, but he didn’t pal around with other kids the way he’s done on other cruises.

Overall: I think we all agreed that of our four Victory cruises to Canada, this one was our favorite. Maybe it was a combination of great weather and experience, but the Awesome Aft Wrap Balcony certainly was the icing on the cake. It’s going to be hard going back to a regular balcony!

I hope to work on my pictures tonight and get them posted. If you have questions about Victory or the ports, please ask away!

Since we had 6:00 dinner, we couldn’t be on deck for sailing under the bridge – but we’ve done that before. If you haven’t done it and have the time, go up to one of the highest decks – it looks like the funnel is going to touch the bridge.the

I have also been on CV several times to Canada and love it! I am leaving this week and have, for the first time, the early seating. Some of my family have never experienced sail away from NYC, and I don't want them to miss it. Would you recall approx when the ship would have passed under the VN bridge? Thanks and thanks for the great review!

I have also been on CV several times to Canada and love it! I am leaving this week and have, for the first time, the early seating. Some of my family have never experienced sail away from NYC, and I don't want them to miss it. Would you recall approx when the ship would have passed under the VN bridge? Thanks and thanks for the great review!

I was on the same cruise and had late dinner. I remember looking at my watch and realizing that I would have missed both the Statue of Liberty and the bridge if I had early dinner. If I recall right, we passed under the bridge at about 6:30pm.

I submitted my review. I'm just waiting for CC to post it (it is ten pages long - too long to post in a thread). Once CC posts it, I'll start a new thread and post a link to it.

Okay, my review just got published, but I'm not going to provide a link from this thread. I'll create a different thread. Then you can compare the two different points of view - this one from the aft port corner - mine from the midship starboard side. :)

The main difference - I was on deck when the hail came down.