Victory Cruise under the Super-Moon

I took a cruise to Key West and Cozumel, four days, on Carnival Victory, departing June 20 from Miami. My two sons (17 and 15) and I (Dad, age 57) shared Cabin 1311 an Oceanview on Deck 1. We were celebrating my older son’s high school graduation.

I didn’t find out about the “super moon” phenomenon until after the cruise, but I noticed the full moon throughout the cruise and remember getting the impression that it was exceptionally bright. The peak of the brightest full moon of the year was on Sunday, the last night of the trip.

Before sailing, I had read a lot of reviews, both on CC and elsewhere, and in retrospect I wish I hadn’t. These reviews were, for the most part, negative. During the cruise, I kept asking myself who were all these grumpy people who write all these negative reviews, because the only people I encountered were people enjoying themselves.

I structured this review in my mind while cruising, and it always came out as a rebuttal to the reviews I have read. Although some will undoubtedly criticize this approach, to me it makes sense, since I could give you a lot of facts, but those facts are widely known already, so telling you to ignore the naysayers may be the best contribution I can make. Does this make me one of the endless “Carnival Cheerleaders?” Well, this was only my second cruise, and my second on Carnival. If I had not expected to enjoy my Carnival cruise, I wouldn’t have booked it. Not sure if that makes me a cheerleader or just a logical thinker.

Another quandary is what to compare things to. For example, if I compare the pizza on board to the best pizza I have ever had, or to my favorite pizzeria in my town that I frequent regularly, the pizza on the ship will, almost by definition, not measure up. However, I personally like to try new things and get satisfaction from trying new experiences, so if I enjoyed the pizza, I will rate it high. I think that is a fairer criterion.

The biggest surprise was in terms of space. A recurring theme of Victory’s reviews is that it is overcrowded, with long lines and lengthy wait times. Let me say right off the bat that I did not find that to be the case. We were able to get into every show that we tried to attend, including the comedy and production shows. The longest wait for an elevator was a few minutes, with a few seconds being more typical. There were some waits for the buffets; the longest I encountered was about fifteen minutes for the late-night Mexican buffet, and it was worth the wait. Seating in the Lido restaurant was always available, with (as others have noted) the upper seating level being largely unused.

The open decks were not particularly crowded either. The main party area, between the movie screen and the waterslide, was crowded, and the chair hogs were a minor annoyance, but you could always get two deck chairs together in this area. This is a party area, after all, and it wouldn’t make for much of a party if it was deserted. This area is also fairly loud, but not unbearably so. The people there seemed to like it. If you wanted a less crowded and quieter deck area, the open decks on Deck 10 aft of the movie screen were nearly deserted and you can’t really hear the DJ from back there. (One day I was back there and got covered with soot from the funnel.) Also, the huge outside decks under the lifeboats were nearly empty the first couple days, then people started to discover them, but they were never crowded. I didn’t use Serenity, but the one time I looked at it, deck chairs and day beds were available, while the clamshells appeared all occupied.

To conclude my introductory comments, I would like to say something about the décor of the lobby and promenade area. Upon boarding, my initial impression was that it was very dark to the point of being dreary. However, at night, the area really does feel magical, giving the impression of being underwater. Since these areas are mainly used at night, I will consider it a worthwhile tradeoff.

In future installments, I will go into more detail on particular aspects of the cruise. I won't be talking much about the ports or pre/post-cruise because that really has nothing to do with the ship. Let me know if you have questions and prefer not to wait until I (maybe) get to it.

Great start! I think people come on Cruise Critic to complain. Period. Yes, there are plenty of positives, but some people just take great pleasure in complaining. It is refreshing to see someone who can see the good, the bad and the ugly and still come out smiling! Carry on!! :)

It is nice to hear the good side of thing.......I so agree with how people compare to what are their favorites. I have found things I like and things that were not maybe to my taste on every cruise we have been on........and we cruise a few times a year. I alway look at reviews before I go and look forward to reading more on your trip in the days to come. Thanks for posting......

Subbing. We will be on Victory B2B in October. Can't wait to hear more!

Wonderful! Can't wait to hear more as I am sailing on The Victory in a little over a week. How were the comedians? Did you find the aft pool to be less crowded?

Thanks,

Caro

Looking forward to hearing the rest of your review. I leave in 61 days for my b2b on Victory and this will help pass the time.

Thanks for taking the time to post!! Getting ready for my own Victory cruise very soon!!

Great start and I look forward to the rest of the "installments".

Keith

Looking forward to this, I couldn't be looking at this exact cruise for September. Can you give some timings of shows etc?

Thanks for the report!

Looking forward to this, I couldn't be looking at this exact cruise for September. Can you give some timings of shows etc?

Night 1 (Miami)

Welcome Aboard Show. It was one show for all dinner seatings, so must have been about 8pm.

Night 2 (Key West)

Livin' In America. After dinner for both seatings.

Night 3 (Cozumel)

No show. Mexican buffet at 11:30.

Night 4 (Sea)

Vroom. Before dinner (7pm) for late dinner seating and after dinner (8:30?) for early seating.

Love these kind of reviews!! Totally agree, pizza isn't as good as our favorite place, but hey we're on vacation and pizza is still pizza, yummy!!

Looking forward to our b2b on the Victory in December!! We have awesome trips every time.

Took some first timers, all ladies, on the Destiny last December. My friend & I, (we are seasoned cruisers) were a little nervous with the reviews we were reading. Had an awesome time! Dining room was beautiful, service was great, everyone loved their trips and they all want to go again!!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Looking forward to the rest as we sail in 70 days

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

I am cruising on this same ship in roughly sixty days. To say that reading the posted reviews has been a challenge is putting it lightly. There are so many negative reviews and I have adjusted my expectations.

Reading your initial comments - I was able to breath a sigh of relief.

Yes, I know Victory is an older ship and has not had the 2.0 upgrades but the itinerary, price and dates worked.

Thankfully, my spouse and I try to make the best of life and I think we will have fun and enjoy ourselves.

It definitely helps reading positive comments - thank you.

Looking forward to more! We sail just less than a year from now to Cozumel and Key West.

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

Can't wait for your pics...

Great start.....I've never had a bad cruise either. I guess I could complain that my room steward smiled too much and was too friendly my last cruise.

We were on the same cruise (and the one after). Yes, the ship is a little worn...but the staff was fabulous and we had a great time :).

Wonderful! Can't wait to hear more as I am sailing on The Victory in a little over a week. How were the comedians? Did you find the aft pool to be less crowded?

 

Thanks,

Caro

Sorry for the slow response -- it's been a crazy week. I only saw one of the comedians (don't remember the name -- claimed to have been on Leno a dozen times) and he was very funny in the adults-only show and a little awkward in the family show, but he made it work.

As far as the Sirens pool vs. the two mid-ships pools.... All the pools varied minute-to-minute as to how many people they had. Semi-crowded one minute, then not-so-much. I have a picture (as soon as I figure out how to post pictures) of the King of the Seas pool at 10:30 on the sea day (nice weather) with only two people in it.

It's hard to compare the Sirens pool because you have to walk through the buffet to get to it from the other pools, so there is no vantage point to see both at the same time. However, I would speculate that the biggest difference there is not the number of people, but that it's much quieter -- a good place to escape the DJ music if you so desire. (Not that there was anything wrong with the DJ music -- I liked it for the most part.)

Late one night it started raining and as I scampered for cover on Deck 10 towards the aft stairs there was an alarm going off. One dad with his kids in the vicinity was quite concerned that there was something amiss with the ship. Turned out it was the retractable roof over the Sirens pool being closed.

This is excellent info. I definitely want to be in the quieter area of the ship during sea day! So thanks :)

 

It's hard to compare the Sirens pool because you have to walk through the buffet to get to it from the other pools, so there is no vantage point to see both at the same time. However, I would speculate that the biggest difference there is not the number of people, but that it's much quieter -- a good place to escape the DJ music if you so desire. (Not that there was anything wrong with the DJ music -- I liked it for the most part.)

 

Late one night it started raining and as I scampered for cover on Deck 10 towards the aft stairs there was an alarm going off. One dad with his kids in the vicinity was quite concerned that there was something amiss with the ship. Turned out it was the retractable roof over the Sirens pool being closed.

Thanks for sharing :)

Subbing and looking forward to the rest. We are doing this cruise in 31 days! Yay!

OK, Let's try adding a few pictures.

And here is the deck area around the pools on our sea day about 10:30am (weather beautiful). Note that more than half the deck chairs are empty. Most of those have towels on them (hogs), but I think you can find plenty that don't.

Originally I thought this pic was the King of The Seas Pool (furthest forward, Deck 10) about the same time, but looking at it now, I think it might be the aft Sirens Pool, since that white structure on the right appears to be the retractable roof mechanism and the shadows indicate a more enclosed area.

Also, here is a picture, taken about the same time on sea day, of the area of Deck 10 aft of the movie screen. I hate to be insensitive, but I'm just having trouble mustering sympathy for those people who can't find a deck chair.

When I last sailed on the Victory I don't ever remember having difficulty finding a chair to lounge near the pool (if I wanted to). I neevr had a prolem on the Destiny last summer (which had a similar set up on lido). I am shocked however, to see the main pool area so empty on a sea day! Maybe everyone was out late the night before :)

Dd you have time to enjoy the serenity area?

Thanks for posting the pics!

Caro

One more comment about the open decks. The whirlpools really didn't have much motion to them. If you sat right in front of a jet you got the stream, but otherwise it was more of a hot tub (and not very hot).

I didn't think much of it until we docked next to Carnival Paradise in Cozumel. Looking down on their open deck, their whirlpools were really whirling. Not sure what the difference is.