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Victory Review 03/08/2009 with Pics!


mara93

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I know there are a couple of Victory reviews already out there but I thought some might appreciate the info since we opted to do different excursions than the ones already reviewed.

 

We flew into San Juan on Thurs. 03/05 since we were getting married that weekend at the Hotel El Convento in Old San Juan. Hotel is beautiful, service was excellent!

Our guests stayed at Da House Hotel & we heard mixed reviews. No hot water for showers, music was always full blast. They did know the hotel was next to a club but didn't expect it to be that loud. Our Best Man ended up at the club every night because he couldn't sleep due to the noise. They did love the price & proximity to everything in OSJ.

 

03/08- Embarkation

Embarkation was a breeze. From the time we got to the pier to the time we were on the boat was about 10 minutes tops. We got there a little after 3pm & there were absolutely no lines. We had a Balcony cabin on the Veranda Deck, Cabin 8384. I have to say I was surprised how big the cabins were, I wasn't expecting them to be so spacious. It was starboard & perfect, we had beautiful views at every island we stopped at. Well, except Barbados. The port is in an industrial area & just is not pretty.

Our lovely ship in SJ

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We had dinner in the Pacific Dining Room that evening with some wonderful folks. We had the Shrimp Cocktail, Cured Salmon, Red Snapper & Steak. I have pictures if anyone would like to see them. The food was delicious! We have absolutely no complaints about the dining room. Well, maybe one. We did indulge in the Chocolate Melting Cake after hearing so much about it and although it was delicious, it went right through us. First and last time we had it.

The infamous Cake

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We went to our muster drill. Not a big deal, in & out in about 15-20 minutes. Got lucky & were put right by an exit & were able to get out as soon as it ended.

Went to the sail away party for a little bit, hit up the 24hr pizza, explored the ship a bit & went to bed since I was a bit dizzy.

Up next: St. Thomas

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03/09 - St. Thomas

I have to start by saying that St. Thomas was my favorite island. As soon as we woke up, we had a breathtaking view.

St. Thomas from our balcony

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We did the breakfast buffet on the lido & got off the ship to do our tour with Sunny Liston.

We were picked up by one of his drivers, Elvis, & dropped off for 2 hours off shopping downtown. They had shirts selling here at 4 for $10 & regret not buying any. We explored around a bit & met up with Elvis at noon to start our tour. First stop was halfway up the mountain where you can snap the famous ship in port pics.

I left my SLR camera at home, not wanting to lug it around & thinking it would just be an inconvenience & really, really regretted it.

Next stop, was the Mountain Top.

Views were amazing here & they served their Famous Banana Daquiris.

Tell the truth, I didn't enjoy it too much, too strong for me.

View of Magen's Bay from the Mountain Top

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Next, we made a stop halfway down the mountain & then continued on to Magen's Bay where a couple of people stayed for a couple of hours. We only got off & walked around but it didn't seem that great to us (to pay the $4 charge) so we decided to go back to the ship since we didn't wear swimwear. Our driver offered to take us to another beach & we ended up at Coki. To us, much better atmosphere than Magen's & cleaner so we spent about 2 hours there.

Look how blue the water is

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And how clear, please excuse my sausage toes

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Our driver stayed at Coki with us & just came & got us when we had to leave.

The Sunny Liston tour was okay, we did sing & dance & the people on the tour with us were great, we kept bumping into them afterwards on the ship but I don't know if I would do it again. We had almost booked with Henry from Triple E & heard from some of our friends that cruised with us & did his excursion about additional places they visited that might've interested us.

Oh, well, next time.

 

We got back on the ship, hit up the Sushi Bar, explored the ship a bit more & enjoyed Sailing Away from our balcony.

For dinner we had the Smoked Duck, Beef Kabob, Lamb Chops (DELICIOUS!), Tiramisu & Souffle.

We did try seeing a show in the Caribbean Lounge but it wasn't to our liking so we headed to the Adriatic Lounge where they had live music. Wee Jimmy did come in mid through & hosted the booty shaking contest which was hysterical.

 

Next stop: Dominica

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Amazing pictures. We are going in just a few short weeks. I'll be sure to pick up those shirts:) Wow...Now I really can't wait. We are doing Sunny's tour too. I has good reviews. I would love to see more pictures.

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03/10 - Dominica

 

Awoke to beautiful Dominica from our balcony.

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Hit up the breakfast buffet on the lido again. We booked an Emerald Pool Tour & River Tubing excursion with Antours.

Took about 45 minutes to reach the Emerald Pool & our guide Sherry was great. You can tell she has a great pride of Dominica.

The walk down to the Pool is kind of rough, big stairs dug into the ground & held in place with wood slats, very rocky but completely worth it.

Every dip in the Pool is said to take 10 years off your appearance (I think that's what she said)

The Emerald Pool

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The trek back up wasn't too nice, seems we took a longer route but were able to stop & take some pictures at some outlooks. It was also very rocky & kind of steep. Next stop was Mr. Nice.

Mr. Nice was excellent, he's very personable & funny & you can try anything you want at his stand. I had a banana & it was delicious, very sweet. He cracked open a coconut for our group & just talked, really enjoyed this.

Off to do our River Tubing. We arrive, don helmets & vests & jump in our tubes. This was so much FUN! I did flip once but it wasn't so bad, the river did move pretty fast in places & it really was a great time.

Tour dropped us off, we did some shopping & hopped back on board.

We caught the sunset over some mountains while we were sailing away, just beautiful.

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It was Elegant Night, we dressed up & hit the Captain's Party.

Dinner that night was Stuffed Mushrooms, Lobster, & Cherries Jubilee. Yum!

I have to say that our waiters, Liza & Rizal from the Philippinnes, were great!

I think we saw the comedian, Al Romero, in the Adriatic Lounge this night & he was hilarious.

Next stop: Barbados

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03/11 - Barbados

 

Don't have any pictures from our balcony here, port wasn't much to look at. The rest of the island, what we saw, was beautiful, though. We booked the Tiami Catamaran Sail, Turtles, & Beach Excursion through Carnival this day. It was nice since it left at noon, we woke up late & took our time getting ready & eating breakfast. By today we were sick of the breakfast buffet but the restaurant closed too early for us.

Boarded the catamaran & the crew was great, they were very friendly & funny.

Sailed by this bad boy on our way out.

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We sailed for about 45 minutes to reach the sea turtles, where we snorkeled to see them. This was fantastic! Turtles were so close you could reach out & touch them.

We then sailed a little bit further to a beach where we swimmed & laid on for a bit. At this time, the bar opened on the catamaran (drinks are included w/the excursion). The crew was so nice they even brought drinks to people swimming! LOL It was hysterical!

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Back on the catamaran for the sail back, did some dancing, joined the conga line, we had fun.

 

Dinner that night was Seafood Pasta, Jerked Pork, & the Cheese Plate. Waiters dressed up & danced, some even got on to their serving stations to dance, made us all laugh.

Afterwards, played some bingo in the Caribbean Lounge, saw the juggler, who was hilarious, followed by the comedian Michael Macy. It was his family show & it was good.

 

Next stop: St. Lucia

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03/12- St. Lucia.

 

Woke up to beautiful St. Lucia.

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Had breakfast at the buffet again. They really need to switch it up more.

We didn't have anything planned for this island, just wanted to kick back on some beach. Got off & were attacked with tour offers with sour faces when we refused.

Hopped on a taxi to Reduit (?) Beach for $6 a pp.

Beach was nice, bit crowded & no shade. Had to rent umbrellas & chairs but we found a place a bit down that offered beach chairs if you were a customer so we bought a couple of drinks there.

Laid on the beach for a bit, rented a jet ski & rode on the inflatable couches that are dragged by boats. Very scary but lots of fun.

There was a sunken yacht. Some guys told us waves were pretty high & sunk it the week before.

Here it is

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Our sunblock wasn't that strong & we roasted this day. Back to the ship, dressed for dinner, another Elegant Night. Had some drinks by the Piano Bar beforehand (we bought the DOD card, worked out great for us!)

We thought the Victory was a very nice ship but some areas needed some improvements.

So many lights were out here that needed replacing.

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Dinner that night was Escargot, Delice of the Ocean, Shrimp Dinner, Chautebriande & the Baked Alaska. We saw Michael Macy's Adult Show this evening & it was great.

 

Next stop: Antigua

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03/13- Antigua

 

Antigua, you can see the church from our balcony

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Antigua was a lazy day for us. Got up late, breakfast on the Lido. Walked around town, lots of places were closed because it was an Election Day for them. Spent an hour or two shopping & having some drinks here then jumped back onboard for a nice nap.

 

Caught another sunset as we left.

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And, I took a picture of the DOD card offer!

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Dinner this night was Spicy Chicken, Hmm, I forget the name, Filet Mignon (YUM!), & apple pie w/ice cream.

Here's the Filet Mignon.

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Afterwards, we played bingo, saw the Magic Show, & played in the Casino. Won about $50 & walked away.

 

Next stop: St. Kitts.

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03/14 - St. Kitts

 

We didn't have anything planned for this day but felt like doing something so we snagged a tour right on the pier for $20 a pp.

While Easy Boy Ken drove us around the island, we saw fresh fruit & veggies/seafood being sold on the side of the road.

Lobsters:

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We saw egrets, held a baby monkey & saw sheep, goats & donkeys everywhere.

We stopped at a place & were shown how Caribelle Batik is done.

St. Kitts is a volcanic island & you will smell it, in certain places the smell of sulphur is very strong.

We stopped at a lookout where the waves were crashing against black volcanic rock, it was beautiful.

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Drove by a quarry & just enjoyed the ride. St. Kitts was very breezy, no need for A/C here, it was very enjoyable.

Easy Boy Ken dropped us off after a 2 hour tour, we did some shopping, a little bit of drinking & hopped back on board.

Sailing away from St. Kitts, you can see the black sand being brought up by the ship.

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Went to look for the "Secret Front Deck". There was NOONE there & what great views. We saw a beautiful rainbow & sunset here.

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Hit up the Sushi Bar for a snack

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Dinner this night was Crab Cakes, Chicken Alfredo, Fatoush Salad, Panko Crusted Shrimp, the Baby Back Ribs, and the Orange Souffle. The meat on the ribs slid right off the bone, they were amazing.

 

Went to the Legends Show this night. We had a great Elvis, I think his name was Marcus. Wee Jimmy dressed up as Dolly Parton, pretty funny.

 

Next stop: San Juan, time to get off.

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03/15 - San Juan

 

We had #11 as a debarkation number, were off the ship before 10am pretty painless.

They only bad part was that we were selected for a Random Customs Search at 6:30am. Pretty rude awakening! LOL

We didn't leave PR until 03/17 & were very sad to come back home.

It was our first cruise & it will certainly not be our last.

 

Likes:

The great staff.

Our cabin steward, Iwayan, was very kind & treated us great.

Our waiters, Liza & Rizal, were fantastic.

The service on the ship was phenomenal.

 

 

Dislikes:

The ship needed some improvements, as you could see lights needed to be replaced but it was very clean throughout.

Raging mildew in the shower.

Lots of rocking. I didn't expect it to rock as much as it did.

It had to come to an end.

 

Any questions?

 

Hope this was helpful & thanks for looking!

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03/13- Antigua

Antigua, you can see the church from our balcony

 

Antigua was a lazy day for us. Got up late, breakfast on the Lido.

Walked around town, lots of places were closed because it was an Election Day for them.

Spent an hour or two shopping & having some drinks here then jumped back onboard for a nice nap.

Not the most exciting island, if you don't do beaches..
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Thanks for the review. And congrats on your wedding.

 

Would have loved to have booked El Convento for a pre-cruise stay, but they have a 2-night minimum and I'm doing my 2-nights post cruise.

 

Several recent Victory reviews, but no one seems to be doing the excursions I've booked.

 

As St Thomas is the only island i've visited, and I like it there very much, i'm hoping that a couple of the "new" ones will become new favs.

 

Think those lights were really burned out or is it supposed to be some sort of pattern? Like a seashell, or something?

 

Where did you stay post-cruise?

 

I have an "inside" just under the bridge (the ones that used to be OV cabins but they reclassed because you don't actually see the ocean from the window) that is right next to the "secret" deck. Hope to have my own semi-private huge balcony for watching docking and sailaways.

 

I'm not at all happy to keep hearing about all the rocking on this ship, especially with having that forward cabin and my past issues with being seasick. Here's hoping the ginger really has cured me.

 

Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

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I'm a little concerned about all the rocking as well. Two people in our group (June 2009) have never been on a cruise.

 

DH & I have cabin 8380....would this be next door to yours? Any obstructed views by life boats?

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Latinhunny33

 

Thank you for the beautiful pictures and review. It certainly makes the excitement grow.

Do you know if there still is Luggage Express? We don't want to be saddled with luggage to airport.

 

Thanks in advance.

 

Mrsosci

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I honestly don't know if I would want my luggage shipped to the airport without me in San Juan. Don't you have to go through some sort of agricultural check when you arrive? Sorry, it's been a while since I sailed to San Juan. But I know it can be rather hectic at the airport.

 

If you aren't flying out until late, there are places near the pier that will keep your luggage for you. Check the San Juan POC board. That's what I'm doing the morning of embarkation. Checking out of the hotel and leaving our bags at a restaurant (I'm brain dead and can't think of the name at the moment). They'll keep it for free. Of course, out of gratitude, I'll just have to have a drink when we finish our sightseeing and before we head to the ship. :D

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I honestly don't know if I would want my luggage shipped to the airport without me in San Juan. Don't you have to go through some sort of agricultural check when you arrive? Sorry, it's been a while since I sailed to San Juan. But I know it can be rather hectic at the airport.

 

If you aren't flying out until late, there are places near the pier that will keep your luggage for you. Check the San Juan POC board. That's what I'm doing the morning of embarkation. Checking out of the hotel and leaving our bags at a restaurant (I'm brain dead and can't think of the name at the moment). They'll keep it for free. Of course, out of gratitude, I'll just have to have a drink when we finish our sightseeing and before we head to the ship. :D

 

We are flying in the day before embarkation. What hotel are you staying at? I need three rooms so I am looking for something nice but fairly economical. :o

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