Carnival Victory Review: A Great Week with a Few Bad Apples

Introduction

Let me preface this review by stating that I am very detail-oriented and love getting my hands on as much information as I possibly can before I go on vacation. Therefore, my review has a lot of details -- for most people, this is way more reading than what you have time for (sorry ). I’ll use this post to summarize my review, and you’ll find the details in the posts below. I’ve separated my review into separate posts to find things a little bit easier:

1. Summary
   
2. Pre-Cruise
   
3. The Ship
   
4. The Ports
   
5. Post-Cruise
   
6. Comparison to Other Cruiselines
   

Feel free to scroll directly to what interests you. If after all this you still have questions, let me know!

Overall Opinion

The cruise was good, but not spectacular. The food was downright boring (and in some cases, awful), but in every other aspect, Carnival met my expectations. With a port-intensive itinerary, I was happy even though at times the onboard experience seemed a little lackluster. While Carnival didn’t win me over as my favorite cruiseline, I would consider cruising Carnival again if the itinerary (my priority) was intriguing, especially if I landed as low of a price as I did on this cruise.

My Background & Perspective

I am a 25-year old female with a huge case of wanderlust. I travel roughly 4 weeks per year, primarily on “land” trips. This was my fourth cruise (previously cruised once each on Norwegian, Celebrity, and Princess). Although I prefer land trips, I have enjoyed all my cruises and will certainly cruise again in the future, though I have no future cruises booked at this point.

About My Cruising Companions

In the past I have cruised with my sister as a “girls getaway”. Cruises have been a great vacation style for us, since we have very different preferences and cruising lets us spent time together but also easily split up for various onboard activities when our interests differ. One thing we can agree on is that it’s great to spend a week in the tropical sun in the middle of winter!

For the first time, our parents joined us on the cruise. It’s been years since we took a family vacation, and I am happy to say that it worked out well. We did a few excursions together and split up for other ports, but always met up for dinner (at a minimum).

Choice of Ship

After two Western Caribbean cruises, we were ready for something a little different. We wanted a southern itinerary this time to check out new islands, and specifically wanted a ship departing San Juan on Sunday so that we could fly in a day before the cruise without having to take additional time off work. That left three options: Carnival Victory, Caribbean Princess, and Royal Caribbean Adventure of the Seas. Princess was ruled out quickly due to a less-than-stellar prior experience and Royal was ruled out since the price tag was an additional $250pp.

Choice of Cabin

After three cruises in an inside cabin, an interior room was again a logical choice. We tend to be in the cabin ONLY to shower and sleep, so we’re happy to save money on the room and spend it on excursions instead! We booked a category 4A room (#1409) with is a starboard aft location. Our parents were port left (#1290), an oceanview room.

Booking

I booked this cruise in July directly through Carnival. We booked Early Saver and ended up saving $50pp, which was a great bonus! It was really easy to fill out the online form to claim price drops and I would definitely book Early Saver again since my plans are always locked in stone anyway.

I booked airfare a few weeks after booking the cruise when I saw airfare drop. I got a great price on airfare (one way on JetBlue and one way on AirTran), though my flights were at awful times. I was able to change both of these flights to more convenient times before sailing at no additional cost, since JetBlue cancelled my original flight time. On the way home, I flew standby with no issues. Of course, this was more luck than anything else :)

Budgeting

I always set a budget for myself when I go on vacation as a tool to keep track of my spending. About half my budget went toward the actual cruise fare & airfare, with most of my remaining budget going toward shore excursions (all booked independently rather than through the cruiseline), so I was able to walk away with a Sail & Sign bill of only $140, including gratuities. You could do a cruise for cheaper than we did and still have a fantastic time, but I am an active person who isn't content to sit at a beach all day every day and end up shelling out for tours in port.

Packing

I travel with only a carry-on for ease and convenience. I chose a 21” rolling suitcase that has worked well on previous trips. This means we do not bring a lot of the “extras” recommended on Cruise Critic – over the door shoe hangers, nightlights, power strips, etc. We make do with the cabin provides and find that the other things aren’t particularly necessary. We had to buy sunscreen upon arrival, but didn't lack for anything else even with only a small amount of baggage.

Flight

I arrived in San Juan at 1:15pm on Saturday (a day before the cruise) and had just enough time to pick up my rental car and have lunch before returning to the airport to meet the rest of my family who flew in separately.

Car Rental

We rented a car for 24 hours pre-cruise with Charlie Cars. They have a free shuttle from the airport to their Isla Verde office and another free shuttle from the Condado office to the cruise terminal, and it was easy to pick up the car from one office and return it to a different location. Their airport shuttle seemed to be circling the airport regularly, and it was a short drive to the rental car location. I actually took the shuttle but then walked across the street for lunch before picking up the rental car (I was there an hour before my rental period started), which was not a problem. We had a basic Ford Focus, which wasn’t fancy and didn’t seem as new as other rental cars, but it was adequate for our needs. Driving in Puerto Rico was fairly easy, though navigating was a different story since I had trouble finding street signs! My GPS was a huge help, although it didn’t point me to the right address when returning the rental car (luckily I had written directions that got me there).

Hotel

We stayed in the town of Fajardo, on the east side of the island, at the Passionfruit B&B. We wanted to be close to our Biobay tour so we wouldn’t have to drive far late at night, and there aren’t many choices in Fajardo. Passionfruit was basic, but we had a comfortable stay at an affordable price (unlike at the nearby Waldorf-Astoria!).

Biobay

One of the things we were looking forward to most was our pre-cruise adventure kayaking in the Biobay. We went with the Pure Adventure group, which seemed well run. Our guides were great, and the biobay was really cool to see. We chose the later tour (8:15-10:15) since we weren’t sure if we’d get to the early tour in time based on when my family’s flight arrived. If at all possible, I’d definitely choose the earlier tour so you can get the hang of kayaking in the daylight. It’s very difficult to see where you going at night. TIP: There are a few cafes (one step up from street food) if you are looking for a convenient place to grab dinner or a drink after your tour. We had already eaten a full meal at Pasion por el Fogon, so skipped out on snacks. Live and learn.

El Yunque

We spent most of Sunday at the El Yunque rainforest. I loved having a rental car to see the park at our own pace rather than going with a tour group. We were able to pick and choose our own photo stops, the trails we wanted to hike on, and when we wanted a lunch break. Getting an early start was essential to enjoy nature before the crowds arrived. We had a great time hiking, but opted out of swimming at the waterfalls since the water was COLD! The park is free, though the visitor’s center was about $5pp. In my opinion, the displays at the visitor center were very skippable, so save your money.

Embarkation

After dropping off our rental car, we had a free shuttle ride to the port in Old San Juan. We arrived at roughly 3:30pm to find no wait at the port. This was probably the easiest check-in I’ve ever experienced! No swiping our credit cards for onboard expenses, no health questionnaires, and no delays. There is a basic selection of wines, liquors, and sundries (sunscreen, etc.) in the port building, making it easy to pick up the bottle of wine you are allowed to carry on (one per person). I didn’t find any of my favorites, so I opted out.

Our first stop was to the room to drop off our luggage, which was ready for us as soon as we boarded, a nice touch. We unpacked quickly and went up to the sanctuary area for some sunbathing. Since Victory doesn’t hold muster until 9:30pm, there are still a few good hours of uninterrupted sun on boarding day! Originally we had thought about heading into Old San Juan for sightseeing, but we were tired lounging was a welcome agenda change. We spent the rest of the evening exploring the ship, having dinner, and checking out the martini tasting.

A Small Inconvenience: The Victory is scheduled to leave Puerto Rico at 10pm, meaning all of the sailaway activities are much later than on typical cruises. I was exhausted after a long week at work and two early morning starts over the weekend (plus had a 6am wakeup call set for the next day), so I was a little annoyed by the cruise director announcements that were blaring in the hallway at 10:30pm when I was trying to get some sleep.

Decor & Design

Overall, the Victory is the ugliest ship I’ve ever seen. My last few ships were gorgeous, so this was a bit of a surprise! The décor is over the top, with loud patterned carpets and hundreds of statues all over the dining rooms. However, the ship seemed lovingly cared for and clean as well as well-maintained and a more beautiful ship would not translate into a better vacation.

On the flipside, the ship layout was simple to get around, and I never got lost, which is a huge improvement from my last cruise!

The Cabin

We were in Cabin 1409, a Category 4A interior stateroom on the 1st floor. We were almost all the way aft on the starboard side. It was a quick, easy walk to the gangway, dining room, and even up to the 5th floor for the Punchliners Comedy Club and Martini Bar, two of our frequently visited places. However, it is a lot of stairs up to the Sanctuary Area on the 10th deck, one of my other favorite places.

The room looked really small, but ended up being enough space for the two of us since we packed lightly. The closets didn’t have quite enough hangers, but we made do by folding most of our clothes neatly in the drawers. The bathroom was about as large as I’ve ever seen a cruise bathroom, and was stocked with bar soap, shower gel, shampoo, toothpaste, tissues, Alka Seltzer (?) and nasal strips (?). No conditioner or lotion, so bring your own.

One downside to our room was the very loud engine. The constant low engine rumble was not an issue, but the noise and vibrations of the thrusters will wake you up if you’re not up on your own otherwise. When we pulled into port in San Juan on the last day at 5am, we knew it!

Our parents’ room was an oceanview on the same deck, but as far away as possible. The room was significantly larger than ours, which they were happy about!

On a sidenote, we used the TV much more often than I normally do on vacation since we weren’t thrilled with the evening entertainment. Channels included ABC, NBC, CW, TNT, Discovery, and a movie channel without much variety (along with the standard Carnival-produced cruise channels).

Our Steward

I have no idea who our steward was, but he was fantastic. Beds were made, garbage was emptied, towels provided when requested, drinking water and ice available, and the bathroom clean. It’s the first time I haven’t had a chatty steward – he was invisible but took good care of us.

Public Areas

Bars and Lounges – I guess there are a lot of bars on the ship, but we never went to most of them. We went to the comedy club probably five out of seven nights. No problem finding a seat if you show up 15 minutes early. The Martini & Wine bar was virtually empty at all times, but we went there a few times anyway. The piano bar always seemed busy, but we never actually visited. Live music varied by lounge and rotated throughout the week. As with the rest of the ship, the décor was a bit overstated for my taste. There always seemed to be plenty of bartenders and wait staff.

Pools – There were four pools on the ship (plus the waterslide and a small kiddie pool about a foot deep), which were small. They seemed tinier than I think they really were simply because it was hot all week so the pools were busy. There were also a few hot tubs, which other passengers seemed to think weren’t hot, but they seemed plenty hot on my sunburn!

We never had a problem finding two seats together, although at times we couldn’t find open loungers in our favorite area, the sanctuary. This adults-only area had the most comfortable chairs, and thus seemed pretty popular. The aft pool always seemed to have the most open seating (plus the quietest environment since you couldn’t hear the music mid-ship).

There is a giant movie screen outside by the mid-ship pool, but we never attended a movie since none of the films appealed to us girls. They need a romantic comedy one night instead of all their action movies ;)

Spa - I didn’t have any money left in my budget for the spa, so we skipped out. There is also a fitness area near the spa, but we skipped that too (for non-financial reasons LOL).

Casino – We went to the casino once and spent a whopping $1 on the penny slots. It’s definitely smoky there, a turn-off for me.

Library - The library was nice but small with a limited selection of books.

Internet Café – At 75 cents a minute, I passed on onboard internet. I checked my email for free in Barbados (free wifi in the port terminal building if you have your own laptop) and then again in St. Lucia (upstairs internet café, $2.50 bought me 20 minutes). A ton of the bars in Philipsburg, St. Maarten had free wifi for customers, so pull up a bar stool, buy an ice cold beer, and surf away. Senor Frogs in San Juan, just across the street from the port, also has free wifi for customers.

Boutiques - The shopping area was nicely set up and was great for browsing the displays. I almost bought a pair of sunglasses which I thought were reasonably priced, but passed since I didn’t actually need them. A fair amount of the merchandise was reasonably priced, such as t-shirts for $10, watches for $20, etc. but there was also a lot of higher-end jewelry which was way out of my price range. I ended up just window shopping.

Food

This is my biggest gripe with Carnival. I like good food, simple as that, and Carnival’s menu is uninspired. Things like fried shrimp and meatloaf don’t really excite me, but more importantly, a lot of their meals weren’t really prepared with quality ingredients or even proper attention. I had a medium rare steak that was easily well-done while my sister’s medium-rare was still mooing.

Main Dining Room

We chose “Your Time Dining” for the first time on this cruise based on my parents’ recommendation, and this worked out really well. Coincidentally, we ended up eating around 6:15 nightly, but I liked knowing I had the option to switch times if I wanted. We had the same waiter (Adrian from Peru) nightly and thought the service was impeccable. We had a table for four, just our family, each night.

I sampled lots of dishes by sharing with family members, so I had the opportunity to try a wide assortment of foods. I, unfortunately, cannot list a single food that was better than average. Generally speaking, I liked their ethnic foods best (tom ka gai soup, Indian vegetarian entrée) and thought their beef was consistently poor. The upside? I didn’t come home gaining any weight.

I really appreciated the free espresso in the MDR, which was a wonderful touch.

The dress code was loosely enforced, but I never saw someone who looked so out of place that it was distracting to the meal.

We went to the MDR for breakfast four times, and really enjoyed the experience. The other three times we went to the buffet, though with long lines, it wasn’t necessarily faster. We stopped by the MDR for lunch on our sea day, and the service was fine, but the menu again a little boring. Not a problem – we hit afternoon tea that day as well, so ended up eating plenty of food.

My favorite part of the MDR (other than the excellent service, of course) was the waiters singing and dancing. Is it tacky? Yes. Is it cheesy? Of course. Is it fun? YOU BET!

Buffet – I don’t really like buffets, but for early days in port, this was our only option. The buffet opened at 7am, compared to 7:30 in the dining room, meaning you could get off the ship a little earlier. I was a little frustrated on our first day, since the Fun Times listed the buffet opening at 6:30 with continental breakfast, but the staff was waving us away since they were still setting up. I guess I should have ordered room service to guarantee an early meal. The buffet did have a decent salad bar, but I was unimpressed by the deli and wok areas.

Coffee Bar – After several nights of boring desserts, we visited the coffee bar on deck 5 to buy a better treat. Prices were reasonable, $2.50 for an enormous slice of cake, so two slices was more than enough for my family of four. Although the carrot cake and white chocolate tower were both good, neither was “great”. They also had a selection of gelatos and fancy coffees, which I never tried.

Sushi – Also on the fifth floor, on the outskirts of the casino, is free sushi. I didn’t try it since my sushi at the MDR for lunch wasn’t that great, but it’s always nice to have the option. It was open very limited hours, 5-8 most nights.

Casual Dining – There was a grill area (burgers, chicken, fries) and a pizza area available at the pool. I tried a hot dog and fries one day. The hot dog was really great, but the burgers didn’t look too good. Additionally, the chips and salsa were pretty good for a snack. I never tried the pizza, but my parents said it was okay.

Room Service – We never did try room service, but the menu seemed decent, with options ranging from a BLT with potato chips to chicken fajitas. Breakfast options were only cold foods, such as yogurt or pastries, rather than pancakes or omelettes.

Specialty Restaurant – I really missed having a specialty restaurant onboard, perhaps because I was so disappointed with my other options. I would have gladly paid $20 for a quality meal

Drinks – Okay, maybe this shouldn’t go under the “food” heading, but close enough . I was always happy with the service, and except for a raspberry mojito that was all raspberry and no rum, was happy with the drinks themselves. I thought prices were quite acceptable, with $9 for a martini ($10 when I upgraded to Ketel One). That’s cheaper than I pay at bars and restaurants at home. Wines by the glass were pretty limited, and definitely were on the lower-end of the spectrum with choices like Barefoot.

Entertainment

The shows ranged from excellent to boring. Unfortunately, the production song/dance shows weren’t very good, but I kind of expected that based on my experiences with other cruiselines. I did like the magician, Rand Woodbury, and one of the comedians, Happy Cole, and found the rest of the entertainers okay. There were always plenty of seats in the theatre. One disappointment was the late start on some of the comedian shows (11pm & 11:45pm), which was too late for me with 6am wake-up calls for 7am port days. I did enjoy the show times at 9:30 or 10pm and realize this is a give & take with other passengers schedules.

Onboard activities

I read over some sample Fun Times before the cruise and knew there wasn’t much going on onboard that appealed to me. I didn’t look at this as a problem, given that we only had one sea day. I spent most of my time onboard sunbathing by the pool, but did go to one trivia event that was pretty entertaining. Evenings were low-key for me, with a sailaway cocktail, dinner with my family, and a show.

I made my own fun, but due to the lack of interesting activities I wouldn’t consider a Carnival itinerary with a lot of sea days. This is a personal travel preference, of course.

Other Ship Services

Laundry & pressing – A big plus for Carnival is the self-serve laundry and ironing onboard. We didn’t need to use the washers/dryers, but it’s really nice they were there in case we had a particularly muddy day! If you don’t want to do your own laundry on vacation, no problem; you can still send it out for cleaning and pressing for an additional cost.

Photos – We have no need for professional photos, so we never posed for portraits or casual shots (hoping to save the environment a little by not wasting paper). Unlike on other ships, these photo stations really clogged up traffic on deck 5 since people came to a standstill while photographers snapped away. It was much easier to walk most of the way on deck 4 or 6 and then head to deck 5 at the last possible moment.

Other General Comments

Crowds – I expected this ship to feel crowded, but except for the buffet, the ship is laid out well-enough that people seemed to be spread out. Even the pool areas had empty seats!

Carnival Cruise Passengers – There were a few obnoxious cruisers onboard, but for the most part, we found our fellow passengers to be considerate. Demographics were all over the board, with plenty of 20-somethings like us along with young children and the oldest of all senior citizens. No need to feel out of place.

Tipping – Carnival recommends a daily gratuity (per person) of $11.50 divided between your waiter, assistant waiter, maitre’d, stateroom attendant, and other service personnel. These gratuities are automatically added to your onboard account. I don’t like the concept of “automatic tips” and would rather tip and thank each crew member personally, but I have to say the convenience is wonderful. A 15% service charge is added to all beverage orders. Further tips for fantastic service can be given in cash – I was a bit surprised not to find an extra line on bar bills for great service.

Seasickness – Our sailing was smooth as glass, so no complaints here!

On our seven day cruise, we had five ports: St. Thomas, Barbados, St. Lucia, St. Kitts, and St. Maarten. All of our plans for in port were researched using suggestions from Cruise Critic, Trip Advisor, and other websites as resources. I prefer independent excursions over ship tours since they tend to be smaller groups.

The Weather

The weather was mostly beautiful, warm and sunny (don’t forget the sunscreen) every day except for our day in Barbados.

St. Thomas (in port 7am-5pm)

Until dinner the night before, I hadn’t actually decided whether or not to stay in St. Thomas or head to St. John. Ultimately, I settled on St. John. Getting to St. John is a bit of a process, with a taxi to the Red Hook ferry dock followed by a ferry to Cruz Bay and eventually a taxi to your final destination in St. John. All in all, this took about an hour each way, so it would not be worth it when any shorter of a day in port (in my opinion).

I made my way over to Trunk Bay, which is just as beautiful as everyone claims. The beach is much smaller than I expected – you can’t walk very far and the sandbar itself doesn’t have room for many rows of towels, so get there early if you want a good spot. There was no one there when I got there early morning. The snorkel trail was a fun novelty, but I don’t think the sealife was any better than anywhere else I’ve snorkeled. There’s really nothing to do at Trunk Bay other than snorkel or sunbathe, so when it started getting crowded (around 10:45), I left to head to Cinnamon Bay.

Just a five minute taxi ride away, Cinnamon is a much wider beach, still with powdery soft sand and turquoise waters. There’s a bit more snorkeling by the rocks. Across the street, there’s a short trail by the sugar mill ruins and through the forest (national park) if you’re looking for something other than swimming or sunning.

I spent a short while enjoying a fruit smoothie and shopping in Cruz Bay before returning to St. Thomas and heading back onboard.

Barbados (8am-5pm)

Barbados was the one disappointing port of our cruise, due in part to weather that didn’t agree with us. The day started out rainy and stayed cloudy for most of the day. Although this was less than perfect, there’s not much you can do about the weather.

We had booked a tour with Shasa to go snorkeling with the turtles. We had chosen the 3-hour version of the tour which stops to snorkel in two places (they also have a 5-hour tour that includes lunch and a beach stop). Our tour was only okay – all the reviews I read had great stories about the staff, but we didn’t think they went out of their way to provide a fantastic day.

The turtles were really fun to swim with, and much larger than I expected. There were a lot of them, and I loved that we got their before the big tours arrived. It can get crowded quickly. Swimming in the rain wasn’t that big a deal, but it was chilly as we sailed to the next stop. We spent the second half of our tour snorkeling over a wreck where hundreds of fish were entertaining us.

Our original plan was to head to the Boatyard Beach for some water play after our snorkel tour, but since it was still raining off & on, we spent some time at a bar in port before returning to the ship early.

St. Lucia (8am-5pm)

The day was sunny in St. Lucia, a huge improvement from the day before. We had a short time in the port building to check our email before meeting Herod for our island tour.

St. Lucia is an absolutely beautiful island, lush and green with great overlooks from the hills, and Herod was wonderful at telling us about his island. The first half of our day was mostly photo stops, but Herod made us feel so welcome as we walked around for these brief stops that it was still an enjoyable time.

The second half of the day was more active, with a stop at the mud baths to layer up with rich minerals before soaking in the hot springs to rinse off and another stop at Jalousie Beach for swimming and excellent snorkeling.

Best of all, though, was lunch at Herod’s home. I sampled a dozen delicious foods, each better than the last. This was a great addition to the island tour.

Our tour ended with a speedboat ride back to the port from the beach. This was thrilling and exciting, in addition to being quicker than driving back the way we came. I’d do it again in a heartbeat.

One observation about St. Lucia: This island is full of contrasts, from stark poverty to multi-million dollar homes. On Herod’s tour, you’ll be exposed to the poverty on a few occasions. Herod warned us not to buy from the children (rightly so) since they were supposed to be at school, but you may want to bring some cash to buy a few things from other people to help the economy. If I ever get the chance to return to St. Lucia, I’d seriously consider looking for an opportunity to volunteer for the day.

St. Kitt’s (8am-6pm)

St. Kitt’s probably turned out to be my favorite island, much to my surprise. Of course, on a cruise with only one day in port, it’s hard to choose a favorite island so this really meant it turned out to be my favorite excursion ;)

My sister and I joined up with 4 others to climb the volcano on the island, a 4-hour hike that leads to spectacular views. We went with Royston, who is a wonderful tour guide who is excited to show you his island. We made several stops on our drive to/from the volcano, spending just as much time on an island tour as we did actually climbing the volcano. What a wonderful way to spend a day on this small island!

The hike itself is not for anyone afraid of heights. There’s rock scrambling involved, sometimes on narrow ledges, and a huge look down into the crater. The views are truly incredible, with a volcano crater in one direction and the gorgeous ocean in the opposite direction. As a hiker, I’d rate this hike somewhere between moderate and strenuous, although my sister says it’s just plain strenuous! Bring a liter of water and a granola bar and prepare to have a good time.

To be fair, I have to admit I was a little worried with this tour due to Royston’s timing. His enthusiasm to show you the whole island was welcomed but meant we used the entire day on tour. We met Royston at 8:15am and made it back to the ship barely in time, clocking in at 5:24pm. We cut it close, but it was a great day. I’d recommend Royston’s services – just be very clear that you want to be back at 5:00 so you have a bit more wiggle room. I’m sure he would be accommodating.

St. Maarten

Ahh, St. Maarten. This was a day that turned out entirely unexpected. My sister made a last-minute decision to add a horseback riding excursion to our day, since a beach day didn’t sound thrilling enough. I’m not a big horse fan, but she had humored me before with excursions, so it was time for me to take one for the team.

We joined a 1-hour ride with Lucky Stables that ended up to be an unacceptable experience. The horses were healthy and the guides were helpful, but it was a logistical nightmare. Our tour was supposed to be 8:30am-10am, allowing time to get situated on the horses and then complete our short ride/swim. Unfortunately, the stables decided the two of us weren’t enough customers for the ride, so we got shoved into a later group (with no explanation or apology) and in the end spent over an hour waiting around before ending up with less than an hour with the horses. This was a sore spot for me, although my sister was more in the “go with the flow” mentality which is why we waited around in the first place. Maybe our differing love for horseback riding had something to do with two very different experiences.

Regardless, after our ride we headed to Maho Beach. My parents (and half of Cruise Critic!) have talked this up so much that I had to see it for myself. I ended up being underwhelmed, so about an hour and fifteen minutes and three jumbo jets later, we decided to leave early and spent the rest of the afternoon in Philipsburg, not far from the port.

I’ve never been a shopper, but this ended up being a really fun afternoon with my sister. We window shopped (she actually shopped), sampled some guavaberry drinks, had lunch on the boardwalk, and did some people watching for a great end to our week. There is a water taxi ($4pp one-way, $6 round-trip) back to the ship, but we walked which was just as easy.

Disembarkation

We chose self disembarkation, meaning you have to carry your own bags off. This was not a problem for us, since we only had carry-ons. The process was quick and easy and Carnival seemed well-organized. We walked off at about 7:40am and there was literally no line at customs, so we made it through in about 30 seconds. I’m sure this is the exception to the rule, but it was super simple.

Touring Old San Juan

Segway Tour – Remember we were too tired to see OSJ pre-cruise, so we left our entire sightseeing to just one morning. We joined up with San Juan’s segway tour, which was another highlight of our vacation. We lucked out and had a guide just for our family of four, which made it a really personalized experience. Natalia was a great tour guide, showing us around the entire city. We stopped for photos in a few places and had fun just zipping around otherwise. Our short tour of El Morro fort was enough for my needs, but a history buff may want to return for a more extensive visit afterwards. The tour is advertised as 2 hours, but was more like 3 hours once you factored in the safety orientation and riding instruction. No problem storing our luggage in their office for the morning.

Bombanera – We had just enough time after our segway tour for lunch, and I was determined to get some local food. We walked up to La Bombanera, home of surly service and delicious food. I had the best Cuban sandwich of my life, great fresh-squeezed orange juice, and their claim-to-fame mallorca. It was a great meal!

Flight Home

Traffic to the airport was light, so we had a short taxi ride. I had heard horror stories about the San Juan airport, but in actuality, we had more than enough time despite long lines (we planned on 2 hours).

When I arrived at the airport, I realized I had screwed up and booked my flight home for Monday evening instead of Sunday (BIG OOPS!) but AirTran helped me out and let me fly standby on Sunday. There were more than enough seats, so I got home on Sunday as I had originally expected.

After taking four cruises all on different cruiselines, some people on Cruise Critic would still call me a “newbie” but I think I have done enough cruises to make this blanket statement: all cruises are more similar than different. Each has been an enjoyable experience, and each has had its own set of downsides.

There are a lot of Caribbean islands I still hope to visit, so you can bet I’ll be on more cruises in the future. My personal priority is on a good itinerary (which is of course, entirely subjective), so Carnival is still in the running. That being said, if itinerary and price are equal, my loyalty would go to Celebrity.

Cruising Style – Celebrity is very traditional, even elegant or refined. I enjoyed the formality that came in the evenings. Norwegian, on the other hand, is “freestyle”, casual, and easy-going. I also really liked the free-spirited nature. Carnival truly holds to the FunShip mentality with some crazy activities (hairy chest contests?!) and dancing waiters – still casual, but at times in a rowdy way. Princess is somewhere in the middle, and having the least-defined culture was my least favorite. The win is tied between Celebrity and Norwegian.

The Ships - This is far from comparing apples to apples since these ships are of varying ages and sizes.

In order of when I sailed them,

The NCL Spirit was built in 1999 but refurbished about two months before my cruise. It is 75,000ish tons (879 feet long) with 1950 passengers and 970 crew members.

The Celebrity Millennium was built in 2000 and refurbished about three months before my cruise. It is 91,000 tons and 965 feet long. There are 1950 passengers and 1000 crew members.

The Crown Princess was built in 2006 and I'm not sure if it's had a dry-dock refurbishment since then. It is 116,000 tons and 950 feet long with 3120 passengers and 1140 crew members.

The Carnival Victory was built in 2000 with a drydock in 2010. It is 101,000 tons and 893 feet long with 3400 passengers and 1100 crew members.

The win, based on size, layout, décor, and crowding goes to Celebrity with Princess in second.

Food

Food goes to Celebrity. The quality was much better in the main dining room and the specialty restaurant was out of this world. Great room service menus were offered in all classes of staterooms. No contest here.

Service

Service, hands down, goes to Celebrity. Waitstaff were more attentive, even at breakfast and lunch when you don’t always have your “usual” waiter. Drink servers were everywhere but never annoying. I would say room stewards and cruise directors/activity leaders were comparable. Carnival did a good job here, and I’ll award them second place.

Onboard Activities

Activities goes to Norwegian. There were always more things going on that appealed to me. Average age on both Norwegian and Princess were similar, with the demographic on Celebrity being older and likely contributing to the activities with a Carnival mentality of slightly rowdier than I’d prefer. Honestly I would say ALL lines have room for improvement as far as developing a variety of fun things to do onboard.

Entertainment

Entertainment also goes to Norwegian, but by a smaller margin. All four lines had a variety of entertainment, ranging from comedians to production shows to music around the vessel and also ranging from excellent to poor.

The Cabin

The cabins, all insides, were comfortable and adequate but the win goes to Princess.

The Pool

The pool area goes to Celebrity. Having the indoor pool was a huge plus (sorry Princess and Carnival – poolside movies couldn't beat the indoor pool!)

Drinks

Princess is the winner here for having both an elaborate menu and affordable prices.

Dress Code

Dress Code goes to Norwegian. I loved getting dressed up on formal nights and seeing everyone at their finest on Celebrity, but the other nights, it was an inconvenience to dress for dinner and pack extra clothing. Frankly, on Princess and Carnival, formal night was not as elaborate as on Celebrity and was a bit of a let-down.

Smoking Policies

Celebrity is the undoubted winner with the most restrictive smoking areas.

Towel Animals

We got horrible towel animals on this cruise, but my parents’ steward, Rodolfo, was great and thus Carnival wins the award! No towel animals whatsoever on Princess or Celebrity.

Disembarkation

Disembarkation is a three-way tie between Carnival, Norwegian and Princess. All had efficient plans for self-disembarkation that allowed for smooth, quick exits. Celebrity dropped the ball here.

Cruise Prices

Carnival wins by a land slide. I’ve gotten deals on all my cruises, but Carnival’s consistently low-priced options beats the other cruiselines where shopping around is a little more necessary.

I enjoyed your review. I will be on the Victory in August and I can't wait!

Great review... I will be sailing the Victory for the 2nd time this March. The only thing I dislike now compared to last time (May 2010) is they took away an island, so we have 1 day at sea. This will be different for me I have never had a full day at sea. We will sea :) how it goes.

 

St. Lucia (8am-5pm)

The day was sunny in St. Lucia, a huge improvement from the day before. We had a short time in the port building to check our email before meeting Herod for our island tour.

 

St. Lucia is an absolutely beautiful island, lush and green with great overlooks from the hills, and Herod was wonderful at telling us about his island. The first half of our day was mostly photo stops, but Herod made us feel so welcome as we walked around for these brief stops that it was still an enjoyable time.

 

The second half of the day was more active, with a stop at the mud baths to layer up with rich minerals before soaking in the hot springs to rinse off and another stop at Jalousie Beach for swimming and excellent snorkeling.

 

Best of all, though, was lunch at Herod’s home. I sampled a dozen delicious foods, each better than the last. This was a great addition to the island tour.

 

Our tour ended with a speedboat ride back to the port from the beach. This was thrilling and exciting, in addition to being quicker than driving back the way we came. I’d do it again in a heartbeat.

 

One observation about St. Lucia: This island is full of contrasts, from stark poverty to multi-million dollar homes. On Herod’s tour, you’ll be exposed to the poverty on a few occasions. Herod warned us not to buy from the children (rightly so) since they were supposed to be at school, but you may want to bring some cash to buy a few things from other people to help the economy. If I ever get the chance to return to St. Lucia, I’d seriously consider looking for an opportunity to volunteer for the day.

Thanks for the wonderful review! We will be sailing on the Victory with my 2 elderly parents. Was the ride back on the boat choppy?

Great review... I will be sailing the Victory for the 2nd time this March. The only thing I dislike now compared to last time (May 2010) is they took away an island, so we have 1 day at sea. This will be different for me I have never had a full day at sea. We will sea :) how it goes.

I was a little disappointed Carnival canceled the Dominica stop, but it's still a great cruise. Take advantage of that sea day and make the most of those other five ports. Enjoy!

Thanks for the wonderful review! We will be sailing on the Victory with my 2 elderly parents. Was the ride back on the boat choppy?

The boat ride back does bounce quite a bit due to the speed, but you won't be whipped around in an unsafe way. If you're concerned about a choppy ride, I've heard good things about Spencer Ambrose tours - and we left his boat in the dust, so I'm guessing it's a slower, smoother ride.

WOW!! Thanks for such an awesome review. We are doing this cruise in December and your review was a great help in planning.

thanks

I was determined to get some local food. We walked up to La Bombanera, home of surly service and delicious food. I had the best Cuban sandwich of my life...

I'm from Puerto Rico, and a "Cuban" sandwich doesn't quite qualify as "local food" (some people may actually feel a bit insulted about that statement, haha! ;)) Kinda like saying that you went to England and wanted to get some local food so you ordered an All-American hot dog and fries.

But YES, the mallorcas are absolutely wonderful (and that IS considered "local" :D)

I'm from Puerto Rico, and a "Cuban" sandwich doesn't quite qualify as "local food" (some people may actually feel a bit insulted about that statement, haha! ;)) Kinda like saying that you went to England and wanted to get some local food so you ordered an All-American hot dog and fries.

 

But YES, the mallorcas are absolutely wonderful (and that IS considered "local" :D)

You are 100% right! It wasn't my intention to order the cubano, but when I saw it on the menu, I "had" to get it. If it makes you feel better, I sampled off my family's plates as well, so did enjoy true local food.

We also want to swim with the turtles in Barbados. I was thinking Shasta's 3 hour tour.

Great review......Thanks. Feels like I've been there already.......

Thanks for sharing, always nice to see how others see this cruise. We did it in November and are doing it again this November.

When I arrived at the airport, I realized I had screwed up and booked my flight home for Monday evening instead of Sunday (BIG OOPS!) but AirTran helped me out and let me fly standby on Sunday. There were more than enough seats, so I got home on Sunday as I had originally expected.

Great review. I wish I had though of standby when I made that mistake. I had bought internet minutes on the ship, and learned I had booked my flight a day later than I thought. I didn't even think about calling when I disemarked...just got on a hotel's web site and booked another night. Called for the shuttle when I got off the ship. Didn't even stop to think if they picked up people from the ship. He picked me up, though.

Loved the review. Thank you for sharing. I really liked the way you grouped the information.

Thanks for your review! We are doing this itinerary next February... Great information... I've bookmarked it for future planning reference.

wow that review was professional

Thanks for writing such a fair, humourous, well laid out and informative review. Your comment about the decor of the ship made me laugh out loud. It's nice to read a review from someone who has sailed on different lines too.

You are 100% right! It wasn't my intention to order the cubano, but when I saw it on the menu, I "had" to get it. If it makes you feel better, I sampled off my family's plates as well, so did enjoy true local food.

I LOVE those "Puertorican" Cuban sandwiches! :D I still crave the ones freshly made at the local "Panaderia" (bakery) in my hometown in Puerto Rico. NOBODY could make a Cuban sandwich like they could (not even the real Cubans when I lived in Miami! :eek:)

Great review. I wish I had though of standby when I made that mistake. I had bought internet minutes on the ship, and learned I had booked my flight a day later than I thought. I didn't even think about calling when I disemarked...just got on a hotel's web site and booked another night. Called for the shuttle when I got off the ship. Didn't even stop to think if they picked up people from the ship. He picked me up, though.

I had half a mind to stay in Puerto Rico that extra day, but in the end, I was glad I got home on Sunday even though it was snowing at home and gorgeous in PR!!

Thanks for writing such a fair, humourous, well laid out and informative review. Your comment about the decor of the ship made me laugh out loud. It's nice to read a review from someone who has sailed on different lines too.

Glad no one took that comment too seriously ;)

Nice review and lots of good info. We snorkeled with the turtles too but did it with Calabaza. Now that was a great experience.

I giggled when I read your comment on decor because my dh and I thought it was the prettiest inside (but with just a bit of wear) of the ships we have ever been on! :)

Fantastic Review! Very informative, and I really liked the comparison to other lines at the end- it seemed to be a very fair comparison, every line has something going for it.

The only thing I wanted to mention (for a newbie who might get confused) is that chicken fajitas are not available for room service. It is a chicken fajita wrap- so basically, just another sandwich. You can see it in this picture (with BLT and chocolate cake). It is probably my favorite food on board!