Just off Victory 6/19-6/26

First off, we had a wonderful trip! The ship is in excellent shape and the sailing could not have been more smooth even through some rough seas over the first few days.

Getting off the ship is just like everyone here describes it; chaotic. We opted for self assist disembarkation and that began at 7:36AM. By 9:30AM we were checking in to The Palms in South Beach so even though it didn't feel like we were moving, we obviously were.

I'll be posting a full review later but while speaking of disembarkation I'll just say that they need to have someone go along the line and remove those who really shouldn't be there. Each of my sons had a pull behind carryon bag, I had a large pull behind and a pull behind carryon and my wife did as well. Other people had every combination of luggage that would stress a hotel baggage cart and were trying to do self assist. :confused: The best advice I can offer anyone doing self assist, other than to make sure you can carry your own luggage, is to be waiting in the Carribean Lounge at 7:00 and don't plan on using an elevator to get there after that time. It really would be nice if they'd only allow self assist for those who attend the briefing on Saturday night; there were quite a few people who didn't have their customs forms filled out and didn't have their Sail & Sign cards ready etc. The US Customs table always had officers waiting for people to complete documentation that should have been completed before considering self assist.

If anyone has any questions, please post them and I'll do my best to answer as I compile a review.

Glad to hear you had a good time! I am excited to read your review. I can't seem to read enough about the ship!!

Glad to hear you had a good time! I am excited to read your review. I can't seem to read enough about the ship!!

heids32:

I know how you feel so I'll get started;

Precruise hotel:

We flew in on Friday rented a Ford Expedition from Hertz and spent two nights at the Four Points Sheraton on Collins Ave. It's an excellent hotel but they tend to nickel and dime you to death. We spent more on meals at the hotel and parking than we did on the room but we didn't have many options with the weather being nothing but rain. :(

Embarkation:

No organization whatsoever unless you consider that the staff seems intent on making a cluster out of whatever organization that exists.

We arrived at the POM via Hertz shuttle and were stuck in a traffic jam. Our shuttle driver opted to maneuver around the traffic and enter via an alternate route and drove us right up to the luggage bins where the porters immediately loaded our bags into the color coded bins. We then proceeded to the Carnival terminal and lined up to checkin. After about 45 minutes we were next in line to sign in and Carnival adjusted the roped off section and redirected everyone into a large cluster in the hallway leading to the security checkpoint. People who just arrived were positioned in front of people who had waited in line for 45 minutes. After another half hour they let more new arrivals into an adjacent line and then opened security lines. We then proceded through security and then went to the checkin counter....the same checkin process we would have completed an hour earlier had they not changed procedures in the middle. Oh well. Annoying but not a problem. We breazed through checkin and then boarded the ship after two photo ops only to find that it was raining so we couldn't go out on the decks and it was before noon so our rooms weren't ready either so we just explored the ship and watched people arrive etc. We made our way back to the Sirens Pool area and tried out the Med buffet; Everything was excellent.

Our luggage arrived piece by piece (7 bags total) with the last piece arriving around 11:00PM. I have no idea how it all became separated because it was all loaded in the same bin.

We sailed around 5:00PM after a VERY long muster drill. The weather was hot with high humidity so a lot of folks ended up taking their life jackets off to avoid passing out. It seemed the delay was caused by people not going to their muster stations at the appropriate time. :eek:

The sailaway from Miami was very interesting due to a small sail boat in the middle of the channel leading out from POM. The Captain laid on the horn quite a bit and I got an awesome video from Deck 9 forward deck thanks to many tips here on CC! If we had not changed course near the end we would have rammed the sail boat as it wasn't making any progress in clearing the channel. Stopping would have been interesting too as the Valor was coming up right behind us. :rolleyes: I'll see if I can pull some pics off the video and post them as well.

Upon going to our cabin we discovered the couch was already made up as a bed and I assumed the steward would change it to a couch on Monday...more on that later.;)

We took a spa tour and my wife got a hot rock massage for a special price of $165.00. She was complaining of her back hurting from the time we left home on Friday and didn't mention it again after the massage so it must have been a good one.

We attended the Camp Carnival briefing Sunday evening and signed our three boys up. Very informative and an excellent Camp staff. They kept our boys satisfied all week and that's not an easy chore!

We had the late second seating for dinner in the Atlantic dining room. The food and wait staff was excellent.

We turned in around midnight and slept like logs...the beds are very comfortable and yes they do have the new comforters.

More later...time to go get some more South Beach sun and watch the Victory and Valor sail away again....without us. :mad:

I too am excited to read your review ... I read every thing I can find on the Victory ... am glad to hear you had a great time ...

Candy

Thanks so much for posting your review...I'm looking forward to the rest of the installments.

It appears that you had a roll-away bed in your cabin...am I correct? We booked an ocean view guarantee cabin on the Victory for our cruise next month and doing the "gift order" method, I've just discovered that we have been upgraded to a balcony cabin! :) But...according to the deck plan that I've studied, this cabin doesn't have a convertible couch or a bunk and there will be three of us in this cabin.

Is the rollaway on the floor like it appears in your picture? Would it be large enough for an adult? Were you able to navigate around the roll away bed during the night to get to the bathroom? How comfortable was the mattress?

I appreciate any information you can give me on these things. I'm excited about our upgrade, but just a little concerned about how things will work with a roll away bed!!

Thanks for the review so far and the great pics! I cant wait to see/read more! Thanks again!:)

Thanks so much for posting your review...I'm looking forward to the rest of the installments.

 

It appears that you had a roll-away bed in your cabin...am I correct? We booked an ocean view guarantee cabin on the Victory for our cruise next month and doing the "gift order" method, I've just discovered that we have been upgraded to a balcony cabin! :) But...according to the deck plan that I've studied, this cabin doesn't have a convertible couch or a bunk and there will be three of us in this cabin.

 

Is the rollaway on the floor like it appears in your picture? Would it be large enough for an adult? Were you able to navigate around the roll away bed during the night to get to the bathroom? How comfortable was the mattress?

 

I appreciate any information you can give me on these things. I'm excited about our upgrade, but just a little concerned about how things will work with a roll away bed!!

mathgal:

Congrats on your upgrade! You'll love the balcony.

We were supposed to have a rollaway bed and other cabins did have a genuine roll away that stowed in the closet but ours slid under the end of the queen bed. The 'slideaway' bed was actually very comfortable and our two youngest argued over who got to sleep on it each night. It was more comfortable than all of the other beds and was big enough for an adult so you'll have no problem. I don't know about the comfort of the actual rollaway beds, but perhaps yours will be a slideaway as well since your cabin doesn't list as having a rollaway.

Navigating the cabin was tight with the slideaway out but the steward slid it back in each morning and out at night so it was never a problem.

The couch wasn't converted by the steward until Friday, though I figured it out myself on Wednesday and I converted it again on Thursday. For some reason our stewards just didn't understand our requests to convert the bed to a couch. I asked the steward who was making our beds on Monday to convert the bed to a couch and he said it wasn't his job but he'd relay the message; The bed remained. I asked Tuesday and it didn't happen. On Wednesday I asked a steward down the hall from our room if he could convert it and he directed me to our stewards assistant. She restated that I wanted the bed converted to a 'sofa' each day instead of a bed? I confirmed that was what we wanted and she said she didn't have time right now but she'd do it later; later didn't come until Friday though I figured it out myself Wednesday and again on Thursday. In case anyone is curious, or needs to convert their own, there are two levers located midway in the front of the bed that you need to squeeze together and rotate the bed over and the couch up. There's also a zip over cover to keep the bed linens in place. During the day, every day, the bunk bed remained partially folded against the wall instead of up in the ceiling. It made sitting on the couch a bit tedious because you had to be careful not to hit your head when sitting down or standing up. I also cautioned the boys not to pull on the bed because it would unfold down on them. I don't know why it was never put up into the ceiling but it wasn't a problem even after Wednesday when we actually had a couch.

I guess if I'd spent more time in the cabin I would have been annoyed at the situation, but we only used the cabin to change clothes and store our stuff so it wasn't an issue.

I would say the stewards did a good job of cleaning, and it appeared that they did, but there was clothing in the drawers and closet from the previous occupants so I don't know that they cleaned as well as they should have. I'll let others decide how they feel; I was OK with it and didn't make an issue of it.

I will say that on our previous cruise, the steward cleaned EVERY time we left the cabin and we never saw him after the first day introduction. On this cruise, the steward cleaned twice a day and was in the room for about a half hour each time and we saw him and his assistant frequently. We also tipped him $20 on the first night to bring a fifth beach towel which we expected given that we booked a cabin for five. We weren't lucky enough to be able to maintain five beach towels for the week though and had to request them for each shore day; sans the $20 tip since that didn't work.

We were disappointed with only one thing on our entire cruise and that was not having robes to wear on the balcony this morning for our final morning on the ship. I could assume that robes were limited because we also gave our steward a $20 tip with a request for robes for our boys on Monday and he took the tip and stated that robes are only provided for adults. I think that assumption would be wrong because I saw him remove our robes and replace them with new ones during the week. We had everything packed except our clothing that we planned to wear off ship, so sitting on the balcony facing the Port of Miami in the buff was our only remaining option; we opted to skip the morning on the balcony routine.:rolleyes:

I will be posting a review of the remaining days and more pictures as time allows. I have over 3GB of digital pictures to upload and $700 worth of Carnival photos to scan in after we get home...Yeah, we bought a lot of pictures. :)

Thank you for your review. I am looking forward to my cruise......only 83 days left!!!!!!!!!! I am still looking for pictures of the balcony for room 8428 so if anyone has them I would greatly appreciate it if you could forward them to me.

Thanks :)

Thank you sir:) Keep the info coming! I need to feed my addiction!!

Heidi

Sorry for the delay in posting a full review. We'll be camping for the next week and a half but I did get quite a few photos uploaded to webshots.

Click here for our formal photos

Click here for our photos from Cozumel including Paradise Beach

Click here for our Grand Cayman photos

Click here for our Ocho Rios photos including Dunn's River Falls

I'll be adding photos for Days at Sea and ship photos when I get a chance. I also have quite a few in addition to what I'll be posting so if anyone wants a pic of something in particular, just let me know and I'll see if I have it.

Paul, thanks for the pictures. It was nice to see Paradise Tom, now I won't ask every guy I see if they are Tom. Can't wait for our cruise on the Victory.

Paul,

I was looking at your pics. Very nice! I have a question....you were at the Hyatt in Grand Cayman. Did you pay to use the resort for the day?

Thanks for your help.

Paul,

You did get Ashkarita in one of your pics at Paradise Beach. She is on the 3rd page last row, middle pic (in the pink bathing suit). Looking at the pics of where you were sitting, you were only a few chairs away from us!

I too am looking for information on the Hyatt...

We are group of 11 going on the Victory in October...and we did the Stingrays a few years ago...

Did you book thru Carnival...

any information would be great

thanks!

love your pictures...

ours kids will be 10 and 6 if you have tips...

thanks!

Paul,

 

I was looking at your pics. Very nice! I have a question....you were at the Hyatt in Grand Cayman. Did you pay to use the resort for the day?

 

Thanks for your help.

Stephanie:

Yes, we paid $35 per adult and the kids (Three boys ages 10, 8 and 4) were free. The $35 fee included use of the pools, hot tub, beach chairs, pool chairs, unlimited beach towels, and also came with $15 credit per adult for food and drinks.

I too am looking for information on the Hyatt...

 

We are group of 11 going on the Victory in October...and we did the Stingrays a few years ago...

 

Did you book thru Carnival...

 

any information would be great

thanks!

 

love your pictures...

 

ours kids will be 10 and 6 if you have tips...

thanks!

Cruisin Amy:

We didn't book; we just hailed a cab and were there at least an hour before any of the excursion folks arrived up the beach from us. I don't know if I posted any of the pictures, but the excursion beach area was quite crowded and ours wasn't at all crowded. As I recall the cab fare was 15$ (Total) for the five of us and the driver asked what time we were returning and he was there promptly to drive us back.

Our boys are of the same age group as yours and they loved the water and beach. I would recommend bringing snorkeling goggles and nothing else. The water is crystal clear and there's plenty of interesting ocean floor items to keep them occupied. There's also a Red Sail Sports store ocean front at the hotel that also rents all kinds of ocean gear if you don't bring any of your own. They also have, according to my boys, pretty good grilled cheese sandwiches at the beach front restaurant at the Hyatt.

Paul,

 

You did get Ashkarita in one of your pics at Paradise Beach. She is on the 3rd page last row, middle pic (in the pink bathing suit). Looking at the pics of where you were sitting, you were only a few chairs away from us!

LonghornMike:

Cool! I'll look through the ones I didn't post and see if she's in any of them and I'll add them.

Paul: I may have missed it in your review of your cruise, but what time did you arrive at the port? We are going on the Victory in 2 weeks and can't wait.

Paul,

Thanks for the info. We have just decided to do the Hyatt for the day!

Paul: I may have missed it in your review of your cruise, but what time did you arrive at the port? We are going on the Victory in 2 weeks and can't wait.

fern1226:

We arrived at the Port of Miami around 10:00. We began standing in line in the Carnival terminal at 11:04AM. At 12:39AM we were sitting in the Atrium of Victory. I would definately recommend arriving at Port no later than 10:00AM. Even though we were stuck in traffic at the port, nobody was lining up ahead of us because they couldn't get there either. When our driver finally went around everything to the luggage bins, we unloaded and went straight inside the Carnival terminal. Later, while on our balcony, we saw those who came later standing in lines outside of the terminal in the rain.

Paul,

I appreciated your respons to my question about the roll away beds...thanks! Just thought of another question. Was there a refrigerator in your cabin? I thought I read somewhere that the balcony cabins had them, but then again I've read so much information on this site that it starts to get jumbled up in my brain!!

BTW...just wondering about your name "medik"...are you a doctor? paramdedic? EMT?

Paul,

 

I appreciated your respons to my question about the roll away beds...thanks! Just thought of another question. Was there a refrigerator in your cabin? I thought I read somewhere that the balcony cabins had them, but then again I've read so much information on this site that it starts to get jumbled up in my brain!!

 

BTW...just wondering about your name "medik"...are you a doctor? paramdedic? EMT?

mathgal:

You are welcome.

No fridge. As I recall there were three Cokes, one Diet Coke, four glasses, an ice bucket maintained full of ice, and one large bottle of water on the vanity table. We never used anything other than the ice and glasses. I found a vending machine on deck 8 port side midship that had diet coke in cans for $1.50 so that's what we used all week. We had planned to bring diet coke onboard but...we forgot. :rolleyes:

The nickname came from 'PaulMedic' not being available on AOL way back when so I went with PaulMedik; I am a Paramedic currently working as an ER RN. It may make very little sense, but most of my education is in electrical engineering. :eek: I guess that's why I especially enjoyed shocking people as a Paramedic!;)

Thanks for the quick reply about the fridge.

My DH is an EMT...we live in a small town so its really a second job that he does on the side. We call it his "hobby". He does make a very small amount of money (less than $3/hr. when he is on call), but it is considered a "volunteer" position. Mostly he looks at it as a way to give of himself to others in need. I think if he had the opportunity he would love to do the EMT job full time.

Thanks Paul. We will get there around 10 am. We are all so excited. Today I'm going to show my DS and DH the pictures you posted online. :)

I summarized our day in Cozumel in the Ports of Call forum. So as to not be repetitive, click here for the link. :)