Victory Review Jan 9th ~ 16th 2005

HI Everyone,

First let me introduce myself, my name is Lisa and I travel quite frequently with my husband and seven year old daughter. We have travelled mostly to FLorida ( I am a Disney freak ) the caribbean and throughout the United States. I have not been outside of my own province. I basically don't consider ourselves picky people. We adjust to any situation quickly.

I chose a Carnival cruise basically because of the price and the idea of a fun ship. And the relaxed atmosphere I have heard so much about.

We travelled from Buffalo to Orlando on Jan 8th and drove to Miami without a hotel reservation. I was unsuccessful with Priceline.

We chose The Wyndham Hotel near the Airport, for a rate of $92.00

That evening we found a liquor store and purchased a 60 oz. of Vodka and Rum both plastic bottles and plastic lids. I inserted them into large ziploc bags and wrapped them into my clothes. And of course said my parayers that they would arrive with my luggage the day.... LOL

Sunday Jan. 9th

We arrived at the Port with our rental car and dropped of our luggage, then proceeded to Hertz a few blocks away to return the car. The Hertz shuttle drove us back to the port right at the Carnival door at around 11:00 Am

Check in was quick & easy, the rep did not even look at the fun pass. Being Canadian we surrendered our passports to Carnival. We proceeded upstairs to receive some more CArnival info and took a seat waiting for the line ups to form for entry onto the ship.

Once onto the ship, we proceeded right to The Upper deck to at least find our cabin and see if we had been upgraded from the Cat. 6B Quaranteed...

Imagine my face when we were upgraded to cabin 6392 with a balcony !!!

The Carnival Fairy had come! Our room was ready...So we quickly changed into our swim clothes and headed for the bar & pool.

At the sail away I stood next to a couple who turned out to be Todd and his family from Cruise critic.. ( by the way Todd it was a pleasure to chat with you and meet your kids, They are beautiful ) Our luggage arrived at about 5pm when I had gone back to the cabin to put away my cameras. That evening we chose to eat at the buffet instead of the Pacific dining room where we were assigned to the 8pm seating. All was well on the buffet.

Monday Jan.10

Awoke to the rough waters at seaat 6:00 Am .... Quickly showered, when the smoke alarm went off. Someone from the bridge called down to ask if we were smoking in our room. I explained I had just showered. It took about 15 minutes for them to reset it... My family was not impressed with me. ( they told me I could not shower before 7 am on Tuesday ) Got dressed and took my Bonamine for comfort... LOL

Went to the pacific dining room for breakfast, where I truly enjoyed the danishes... See I am easy to please.. !

Then headed to the Lido pool area... To busy for me. We utilized the deli for luch as well as the buffet for our fruit and sald... Started to feel nausea, again at this point I could not see the horizon, as it was over cast. And I was feeling a bit nausea.

I went to check out the Art auction where I found some people had more money than brains... ( Sorry No offense to anyone just my opinion. )

After an hour I checked out the photo shop as well as the gift shops.

My daughter decide she wanted to check out Camp Carnival and could not drag her away for the formal night...

Around 5 pm we order fruit & veggies fromroom service. Proceeded to get ready for The first formal night. Not really knowing what was involved in the Captain's dinner, I laugh now because I could have save myself the 15 minutes waiting in line to shake his hand, when I could have watch it on Tv in my cabin later that night LOL........................And the next morning.

Upon arrival to the Pacific dining room I announced our table number to the Assistant Maitr'd ( Kriztina ) and she point off inot the sunset as to where our table was. Dazed and confused I stopped and asked another crew member where our table was. He escorted us to our table # 372 where Bernita and Suresh awaited our arrival... Both servers were wonderful throught the week.. Hats off to them.... I was a little surprised as on our previous cruise ( disney 3 days Sept 2004 ) The maitr'd always escorted you to your table.

Dinner was fabulous. Lobster, Yum .My favourite... Enough said about dinner..

Tues. Jan 11th

Another rough morning/day at sea... And the alarm going off again when I opened the balcony door... Another Bonamine for comfort and more danishes in the Pacific dining room for breakfast... Again more walking around the ship, checking it out...More overcast every now and then.. A few rain showers. Etc. So that meant more shopping... I felt they tried to push the shopping on the ship a little to much.. And I shop professionally for a living.

Go figure.! Upon arrival in San Juan and after a near mishap, My daughter decided she wanted to stay at Camp Carnival while we roamed the streets of San Juan.

The near mishap consisted of my daughter sitting on a chair on the lido deck watching the cap't bring the ship into port when she leaned forward towrds the window and the metal ledge on a 3 legged chair.. I grabbed her forehead and my hand hit the metal ledge. I needed an ice pack as it immediately started to swell. I went to the pursers office whereI was told the ifirmary was closed and only could they contact the Dr. if it was a "REAL Emergency " Ok so I went back to the Lido deck where they had a cart with bottles of water for sale, and stick my hand into the chest of ice... Mental note the chair was given to a server and asked for it ot be removed. It was still there the next day...

Disembarking into San Juan was a piece of cake.... Took a 15 minute carriage ride for a cost of $ 35.00 bought a few souvenirs near the port. Walked a few of the streets. Then headed back to the Ship and to the Atlantic Dining room for open seating... Another wonderful meal..

STAY Tuned for the rest of my vacation. And my negative review of the victory..