Carnival Victory Report (Sept 20 -27)

[hamey]

So first off I don't have pics like froggy's report but here is our cruise experience.

We arrived in San Juan on Saturday at approx 3pm. Took 2 taxis' to our hotel (Embassy Suites Casino). We had 8 in our group and they told us they could not take that many in one taxi. Trip was $8 per person. Our luggage (just my wife and I) was completely soaked (had to happen at Atlanta airport). We spent the afternoon at the hotel laundry trying to get our clothes dry. Some were actually ruined as the colors had bled onto other clothes. Enjoyed the free manager's reception cocktails at the hotel bar from 5:30-7:30 while we waited on the clothes dryer. I forgot about clothes, wife still mad about new skirt that was ruined.

Walked a few blocks down the road that night to a sports bar/restaurant called Brother Jimmy's. It was on the roof of a hotel but can't remember the name. Ate dinner, watched the first half of the Auburn game and enjoyed the nice breeze. Since the day had started at 3:30am we were beat and went back to the room for some rest (could not get the temp in the room cool enough but managed to sleep).

Ate breakfast at the hotel on Sunday morning then got our 2 taxis to OSJ. One taxi charged the group $24 and the other charged $40. Not sure why but we weren't going to put up much of a fight and end up like the Carnival cruisers in Antigua a few weeks back so we paid it and moved on. Arrived about 11:30 and were able to check all our bags with a Carnival porter. Half of our group went exploring OSJ. The other half was scared of the clouds and decided to see if they could get on the boat (I know it's a ship but I like to say boat ) They were able to get on, this was approx 12:30. The rest of us walked to the old fort but the rain began to fall and we hustled back to the boat. Could not locate many places to duck inside for a while so had to just walk from over hang to over hang to stay as dry as possible. For reference if you are at the dock and the boat is to your back the fort is forward and to the left about a 20 minute walk. If you walk into the ocean you've gone too far. Check in was a breeze since we had sent all our bags thru already. There was a duty free store on the first floor and one on the 2nd after you had been thru check in. People were buying liquor on the 2nd floor and putting it in their carry on and going thru with no problem. We bought half a case of water and diet coke and carried them on in our hands as we had even sent our carry on bags with the porters. No problems there either. Took it easy the rest of the day on the boat. Went to open seating dinner in the main dining room, had muster drill about 9:30. Took our life vests back to the room and immediately to the top deck but the boat was already moving out toward open water. Watched the last quarter of the Giants game on the big TV on the Lido deck then called it a night. My wife had lots of difficulty being on the top deck due to the wind blowing her hair in her face so would recommend rubber bands or bows or whatever you ladies need to keep from getting beat down by your own hair.

Monday-St. Thomas: Booked a trip with Air Force 1 Tours. Didn't do this until the Friday before we left. Received immediate email confirmation back. Met on the dock about 9....were pleasantly surprised when the famous Papa Bear himself showed up. Didn't think we'd get him after we'd waited so late to book. He took us on a 2 hour tour of the island and provided photo opportunities, stopped at a local fruit stand and bought us some things to try and gave us a great history of the island. You can tell Papa Bear is proud of his island. Stopped at the Botanical Gardens with some great views and of course the World Famous Banana Daquiri. Not crazy about bananas but it was great. Only 4 couples on this tour. The 2nd half of the tour was a 2.5 hour stop at a beach. There were 2 or 3 choices and the other 2 couples both wanted to go to Coki and we didn't have a preference so that's were we went. Beach was nice and water was great. Carried our own snorkel and fish would swim up and eat things out of your hand. According to PB this is perfectly legal. There were some vendors and some people renting chairs and umbrellas. We found a nice tree on the beach and laid our towels under there. Heard from some other people on the beach that some items might "come up missing" so we kept a close eye out when we were in the water. Saw a few people openingly smoking weed on the island. Sounds a little sketchy, I know, but actually was a beautiful beach and everyone just minded their own business. PB was waiting in the parking lot for us to leave. He didn't want us to pay until he brought us back to the boat, tour was $25 pp and well worth it. Had never considered booking a tour with someone not recommended by Carnival but ended up being glad we took the CCs advice. Ate a late lunch on the boat and relaxed until our late dinner. Our waiter was Made and Tatejana was his helper. Both were great. Watched the end of the Colts game on the Lido big screen and the saw a little karyoke in the R&B Sea Lounge.

Next stop Domica

[hamey]

So we booked a tour with Antours in Dominica for a trip to the Emerald Pool and then river tubing. Just river tubing was $50 pp and adding the Emerald Pool was an additional $7 pp. Our driver was apparently new because the lady we met at the boat dock had to explain to him where to take us and how long to stay at each before we left. We loaded the 4 of us into the taxi and then headed up the most windy road on the planet. By the time we reached the EP 2 of our group were car sick. Our guide pointed us to the path and told us we had 20 minutes. We walked to the EP and 3 of us got in and swam around and got under the waterfall. Water was very cold but nice. Enjoyed this part of the tour but could have used about 40 minutes to not feel rushed. Left the EP and made a stop by Mr. Nice's Fruit Stand. He joked around a lot and let us try some sugarcane and a few other things and basically just wanted tips for his entertainment. Felt a little uncomfortable as there were several locals around who very laughing and talking quietly. Not sure if they were just making fun of us or what but could have done without this 5 minute stop. When we reached the drop off for the river tubing there was no one else there and the driver didn't know what to do. He tried to make several calls and after 20 minutes of waiting he loaded us back into the taxi and drove down river. We finally found some other people from Antours and I think they had forgot about us. They took us back to the drop off and the 4 of us got onto our tubes with our 2 guides. Our main guide was great, very friendly and very concerned with our safety and keeping the group together. Enjoyed the tubing very much. I think it lasted about an hour or so but didn't have a watch so can't say for sure. Headed from there back to the boat for lunch and a little relaxing until formal dinner night.

Next stop Barbados

Oh and by the way we learned that it's Do-mi-neek-a....not Do-mi-ni-ca

[madeth313]

Hamey,

We were on the Victory as well from the 20th through the 27th. My friend and I had also booked Antours...we however did not book the river tubing. We had booked a land only tour (for $40). First, I found the Dominica port very overwhelming...when you walked to the street where all the tour guides were, it was very crowed and confusing...there was no organization. I did not notice this at any other port. Anyway, I saw the gentleman who was holding up the sign for Antours River Tubing and asked him about our tour. He pulled out the list and did not have our names (and I prepaid). Thankfully I had my receipt with me. Well, the woman whom seemed to be organizing the tours for Antours put us on a bus with a group of family and friends doing the same tour as you.

In one respect I was dissapointed as we were supposed to go to a different part of the island and do a hike. But, we did still get to drive through the botanical garden (which wasn't very big), we did get to go to the Emerald Pool, and we also were able to go river tubing, if we wanted. She also had rum punch avilable at the end of the river tubing.

I was just disappointed that I paid in advanced and they did not have my information...although they did accomdate the two of us.

I am looking forward to reading the rest of your experience. Thank you for sharing.

[oncruisecontrol]

Sorry to hear about your soaked luggage and clothes that 'bled' onto other items. When I pack colorful clothing that bleeds when wet or being washed, I always pack them in double ziplock bags. I've never had such a mishap with my luggage, but I had a favorite white top ruined when a colorful silk jacket I had on over the blouse bled as I stood in a downpour without an umbrella. Since then, I've been overly keen about putting items that bleed in close proximity to light-colored items if there is even a slight chance that the two could come into contact with water. Hope this tip is helpful for the future.

[hamey]

Oncruise - thanks for the tip. We actually saw some other people with all their luggage in clear bags inside their luggage and thought we'd remember that for next time.

We didn't have anything planned in Barbados and my wife loves the beach so we asked a lady in the visitors center about a nice beach to visit. She recommended Brown's Beach, I think. We went to the taxi line and had to wait until that filled a taxi before it left. The other 6 people in the taxi were dropped off in town. After that the driver asked us why we chose this particular beach and we told him it was recommended. He said that Malibu Beach was better so we said sure. It's at the Malibu production facility and the cost was $15 pp to have beach access with chairs, tour of the facility and 1 drink pp. The facility wasn't open that day so they gave us 2 drink tickets pp. The beach was not crowded at all. We put our 2 chairs right underneath a large shade tree on the beach and just pulled them out into the sun when we wanted. The water was nice and we enjoyed a very quiet, relaxing day at the beach. The cab ride was $8 pp each way I think. We ate a late lunch on the boat and then played some mini golf, it got very hot and we had to take another shower after that but the course was pretty good considering it was on a boat!

[froggy4]

Originally Posted by hamey

Oh and by the way we learned that it's Do-mi-neek-a....not Do-mi-ni-ca

We learned that also!

Thank you for sharing your experience. It's so nice to see all these Victory reviews. Even though we were all on the same cruise everyone did different things and its nice to see different perspectives.

[hamey]

In St. Lucia we had 6 from our group decide to go out together. We found a taxi at the boat dock and they took us on an island tour (about 2 hours) and then dropped us off at the beach for about 2-3 more hours. The tour was ok. Our driver was good, he knew a lot about the island and spoke loud enough and clear enough to understand everything he told us. At one stop for a picture opp there were several local vendors and the driver had warned us that they were pushy and he was right! We finally just had to snap our pictures and get back in the taxi to get away from it all. We also went by the local college and then stopped at another site where you could walk up to 900 ft above sea level and see the Pitons and much of the island. There were guys waiting at this spot to walk with you and give you some additional info about the island. They seemed very nice and informative. They obviously wanted tips for their service and we thought they were worth it. Our guide pointed out a local plant that would shrivel up when you touched it and then open back up 2-3 minutes later. Very neat. I can't remember the name of the beach they took us too but it was on the same side of the island as the boat and pretty crowded. Lots of ppl and lots of vendors. We rented chairs and umbrellas ($15-$20 per couple, I think). 3 of us eventually relented to a guy who would pull you around on a float behind his boat. He kept dropping the price and evenually got to $5 pp so we decided to give it a try. Very fun, kind of short but it was only $5. However when we paid him he wouldn't accept our old $5 bills, we had to find the "new" money for him to accept it. Felt like the ppl of St. Lucia were the most pushy of all islands, heard several times "Come on, you need to support the local economy", and "You have $, you're on a cruise boat". Went back to the boat late that afternoon for lunch and then had our 2nd formal night.

The next day in Antigua (An-tee-ga, not An-teeg-wa....we learned) we had not planned any excursions or tours so we found a local taxi and got the driver to recommend a nice relaxing beach. He drove us across the island to Long Bay Beach (I think that was the name). Ride was $6 pp each way. The beach was nice and the water was awesome. Some of the most clear we saw the entire trip. We snorkled and just enjoyed the water most of the day. Rented 4 chairs for $20. They told us the umbrellas would be $20 each but we found a nice shade tree and just pulled our chairs under there but I think that made the guy made and he made us carry the chairs ourselves. He came down later in the afternoon and told us where to return them when we were done. We didn't really like his attitude so we finally told him the chairs would be sitting right where they were when we left. Our driver was back at the time we had determined and drove us back to the boat. About a 20 minute drive and our driver gave us lots of good info about the island and scenery during our drive.

Next stop St. Kitts and our last full day

[Jeafl]

Thanks for the great review! We are also looking into Airforce1 tours. I'm glad you had a good experience with them.