July 30th Victory! A pleasant surprise!

Just returned home to finally write a review of the Carnival Victory. This was our first time sailing with Carnival. We were a little hesitant to try Carnival, with our knowledge base being only people telling us it is a party cruise line with loud overbearing people. It was myself, my husband and two married friends we have known for over 30 years. We were pleasantly surprised and are actually going to sail Carnival again next year.

We started off at Walt Disney World and Universal for 4 nights and drove to Miami. The drive was very easy and took us about 3.5 hrs. We had booked one night at the Miami Sofitel Hotel. The hotel was about 15 minutes taxi ride from the cruise terminal. It was a business boutique type of hotel. Check in was smooth and the valet sent for the hotel shuttle for my husband at the Miami Airport car rental return. It had a restaurant for dinner which was okay. The room was okay, but I did experience three bites on my ankle while watching TV in bed. My husband did not have any issues, however I decided to sleep on top of the comforter for the rest of the night. We did not see anything, so I think maybe there just happen to be some type of bug in the bed that happened to bite me. We will try another hotel next time if we ever sail from Miami.;)

We got to the terminal around 10:30am and the check in process was very smooth, it was pretty empty at this time. As it became time to board, announcements began to tell people NOT to stand near the entrance to embark to make way for those groups being called. Of course, there are always those who do not listen. So one tip I would say is to try and go to the right boarding line. This line was not as crowded with people waiting to be called. We took our boarding pictures, and walked onto the ship. One thing that was different was there was no music or staff welcoming us compared to other cruise lines. The main atrium is beautiful in the old style of Las Vegas type of decorating.

We were shuttled to the buffet area. This was not a pleasant experience and was really our only complaint on this cruise. The buffet is not set-up to be user friendly or flowing, and was really congested and LONG. There was really no place to go to find shorter lines, and people were holding food waiting for tables to open up. This was not a good impression, but as the cruise continued the week, we made sure we did not go during prime times and had no further issues.

Our balcony cabins were 7345 and 7347. We enjoyed our cabin and balcony very much. It was more than enough room for us, plenty of storage and clean. It was very quiet. One tip is that it is difficult to go through the entire ship directly from one end to the other. Sometimes you need to go down walk a bit and then go back down to get to the show area. But on our 7th floor is was a direct long corridor so this was a level you could get to anywhere.

We had the anytime dining, and it really was anytime. We did not have to make any reservations, just drop in and we NEVER had to wait. We thought the food was good, and the wait staff was very attentive. We were so surprised by the wait staff singing and dancing each night. We had never had this on NCL and Holland so this was fun. We also had a magician come and entertain us at our table which we really liked.

The casino was a good size, and I played all trip on my $200 I won on my first night. It is quite smoky. I was in a Jeopardy type show which was fun. We saw the two production shows that were very good. The Married Couple show was absolutely hilarious and people were talking about it for the rest of the day! We enjoyed a three level 80's sing along in the atrium on the last night. The cruise director was very good on this ship.

Photo opportunities are all over the place! we took so many pictures formal and informal.

We went on the Key West Trolley excursion which was very informative. In Cozumel we did the Salsa and Salsa excursion and this one as so much fun. Both excursions were well run and worth the money.

All staff were friendly and addressed us by name when appropriate. We did the self disembark and had purchased the Carnival transportation to the Ft. Lauderdale airport and this went very smoothly.

I can recommend the Victory without hesitation!

Thanks for your in depth review of the Victory. Also your pre cruise experience at your hotel. I am looking forward to a quick getaway on Victory in October. :)

Did it on another cruise ship but would highly recommend it. Had an absolute blast.

Thanks for the review! Do you know if the dining room was open for lunch on the day you boarded?

Our 2 balcony cabins are in the same area so good to know you liked them and it was quiet.

Can't wait for our cruise!!!

Unfortunately the dining room is not open for lunch on boarding day. I wish it was.

The lido buffet will be open, as well as the grill for burgers/hot dogs, and the deli and pizza area will be open too. Also a Chinese food station? not sure on that one, but believe it is on the opposite side of the ship from the deli.