Carnival Victory Review w/Food Porn and lots of it! 7/31-8/7

We recently returned from a fast paced journey on the Carnival Victory August 7th. Going on the trip was me, Etoiles, 33 and my husband Daniel, 36. We are both foodies and so naturally we took photos of every meal (no matter the strange looks or stares we got as we pulled out our camera at the dinner table) and will have to share them with you all!

This was our second cruise and the first on Carnival and to the Carribean. Our first cruise was our addiction to cruising cruise last year on the NCL Pearl to Alaska. Daniel had never seen a white sand beach and clear water so he was set on seeing that this trip!

We set off from the midwest area of Chicago leaving O'Hare airport early in the morning on Saturday to have one day of relaxation in San Juan before our cruise. Boy that airport was crowded! We had to beg TSA to let us into a shorter line and then after security had to run to the gate! Eventually we made it and took a taxi to Hotel Casablanca in Old San Juan.

There are no elevators in this hotel so be aware. That is why we selected room 3A. It was not too bad to drag our luggage up there. The rooms were so quaint and reminded me of a bed and breakfast.

We even had a balcony in our room that looked out onto Old San Juan. The hotel is in a great location and we could easily walk to shops and restaurants. Here is the view from our balcony:

Overall, I enjoyed this hotel. The bathroom had nicely updated fixtures and the air conditioning worked really, REALLY well which Daniel loved. You could hear noises from the street on occassion but I could sleep with little problems or issues and the price was right! There is a continental breakfast included in the hotel, which I realize is just about the only meal we did not photograph but includes coffee, juice, toast, and cereal. Also, when we checked out on Sunday they held our luggage in a locked area for no charge while we explored the city before heading to the Victory.

Can't wait for the rest!! Love reading reviews that have pictures of everything!! Even though I wont be going on this ship anytime soon its fun to read all the reviews! :DThanks for taking the time to do this!!

I know someone is going to ask so I'll be the first! What kind of camera did you use?

I know someone is going to ask so I'll be the first! What kind of camera did you use?

Thanks for joining in!

We have a pretty basic digital camera, a Canon PowerShot A590. Some of the photos turned out really nice and some did not but I don't know if that points to my photographing skill (or lack thereof) or the camera! ;)

After arriving at the hotel we were famished and walked over to Cafe Berlin, which is only a few minutes away. We chose Cafe Berlin since I am a vegetarian and Daniel is not and this restaurant has a ton of options to suit us both.

The service was very nice and helpful in figuring out what to order. We started with the small Puerto Rican sampler.

It came out piping hot and everything tasted great! It had four items, 2 vegetarian and 2 with meat. I got the corn sticks and coconut patties. The corn sticks reminded me of American cornbread and were creamy on the inside. Daniel enjoyed the ones stuffed with chicken and cod.

I ordered the vegetarian Steak Argentino. It was huge!

I had been telling Daniel about mofungo in Puerto Rico so he had to try it and ordered the chicken mofungo.

He loved it and after the cruise was over said his favorite meal from the whole trip was here! I enjoyed the veggie 'steak' although it was a little mushy but overall a success! As a bonus it is only a minute or two to san Cristobal from this restaurant so we left to go there and burn those calories!

looking forward to reading more of your review! Love it so far! We will be on the Victory in February... so excited! :)

Looks like this review is going to be a good one. BRING IT ON

Victory here we come 162 to go

Paul

Great start, I love reviews :D

Can't wait to read more! Thank you for posting!

Another great Victory review! Hurray!

Can't wait to see all the food porn

Looking forward to your review.

Great start to your review!

Great start!! Thanks for taking the time to write this review!!:)

Sorry for the long break! Had to take a long drive to pick up our pet that was staying with my family during our trip.

After eating at Cafe Berlin we headed over to Fort San Cristobal. It was gorgeous! It was nicer than I expected.

View of El Morro from San Cristobal.

By then we were exhausted since we had gotten up at 4am for our early morning flight so we went very early to bed! The next morning I went to the roof of our hotel and could see the Victory in and waiting for us!

We ate the continental breakfast that came with the hotel (juice, coffee, toast, and cereal) and packed up. The hotel will nicely lock up luggage for you after you check out so you can explore the city before heading to the ship.

We went to La Bombonera for lunch since I had read so much about the mallorcas there. It was crowded but we found a table at the back.

I ordered a swiss cheese mallorca. It was good and the cheese was nicely melted. I like the sweet and savory balance.

Daniel got the egg, cheese, and ham mallorca but he was given the bacon one by mistake. He still enjoyed it! We also split a butter mallorca. The butter one ended up being my favorite!

The food was good and I am glad that we stopped there. I also recommend the juice because by the taste you can tell that it is freshly squeezed. I was not as blown away by the taste as I thought I would be though, but it was still tasty!

After lunch we took the free trolley to El Morro. Daniel and I both thought this was the most gorgeous of the two forts.

Next stop, the Carnival Victory!

Etoiles,

Great review...keep it coming! We are going on the Victory in April, can't wait!

Love reading reviews. Can't wait until you start the cruise part. Thanks for taking the time to do a review and for sharing your photos.

can't wait to read the rest -we are leaving from San Juan next year - it was great to see the FOOD pictures! Those Mallorca's (sp) look great!

Very nice review so far, we were scheduled to stop in San Juan in October but it was canceled :( Looking forward to the rest of your review~

Great review so far! I've heard mixed reviews of Cafe Berlin, but it sounds like you really enjoyed it and the food looked good! That may be our lunch stop once we get to town, too - we leave in just under 3 weeks!

Thanks to everyone for joining in! I do highly recommend the Berlin Cafe in San Juan and I am sorry to hear that TakeMeAway1001! Hopefully you will get to visit in the future.

Now, onto the ship! We walked our own luggage out of the cab from the hotel to the x-ray machine where the metal things are being loaded with luggage to bring to the ship. I was paranoid about the luggage since I had heard stories but we waited until we physically saw our luggage put into the big metal crate so less worries then!

After eating lunch our room was ready! (Don't worry, buffet photos are coming soon!) We booked our first balcony on the Victory, room 6432. That is one of the lucky L shaped rooms in the aft area of the ship that cost the same as a regular balcony, although the balconies are huge! Now for some reason those rooms do not seem to be booked quickly but I guess the secret's out now. We loved it!

We were concerned about the bars and club right below us but to be honest, we did not hear a peep from them - and Daniel is a very light sleeper so he would know! There were vibrations but only when the ship braked in port and just left but we were always awake by then seeing the islands so it didn't bother us.

I *loved* that lounger on our balcony. It was my best friend. I loved sitting out there and even saw dolphins jumping out of the water from there one day! :D

Thought I would take a picture of the freebies you get so everyone knows what they are. Caress body wash - I enjoyed this since the ship body wash smelled like lemon cleanser to me. The Suave lotion is very nice! You also get a Bic lady's razor, two tubes of Arm and Hammer toothpaste and a John Frieda sample. Not a bad haul!

After eating lunch and before our room was ready we dragged our carryons around the ship to take pictures of the nice neat ship. Here are some:

No chair hogging taking place! Actually although I saw some happening during the cruise, I always saw plenty of free chairs as well. Didn't bother me either way though, I just used my balcony lounger!

Thank you for taking the time to write this. I love your pictures, they are so clear & crisp. I'll be in SJU in just over 4 weeks, a port of call for the Valor.... I'm looking for somewhere to take my Mom for lunch, she really wants some authentic food. She's in a wheelchair and I'll be pushing her, is La Bombonera close to the pier & WC accessible?