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Carnival Victory Review with photos ~ Miami to Half Moon Cay & Nassau ~ 4 nights


CupKayke
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Hello!

Not sure if many will be interested in a Carnival Victory Review but I’ll start and we’ll see how this goes….

 

 

Itinerary:

 

 

Day 1 – Leave out of Miami

 

 

Day 2 – Sea Day

 

 

Day 3 – Half Moon Cay

 

 

Day 4 – Nassau, Bahamas

 

 

Day 5 – Disembark in Miami

 

 

The cruise left October 1st and returned October 5th. This was a four-night, five-day cruise with a good itinerary and a good mix of cruisers. I thought we had around 2,700 passengers onboard but during Bingo they announced 3,500 passengers so I don’t really know. I think I’ll just try to cover some basics of the cruise each day. I do have the Fun Times and all the daily mail they give you but I’m not posting them so feel free to ask questions if you want me to look-up something.

 

 

A bit about us… my husband and I travel internationally every year and this year we are remodeling our home and had not planned to travel. We got an email from Carnival on a Friday night after a long week at work and we booked this cruise less than 30 days out. We booked a balcony room on Deck 7 (Empress Deck) for $310 per person. We did get a discount because we are previous cruisers. We stayed one night pre-cruise in Miami. We are in our mid-40s, from the Midwest, we don’t normally travel to warm areas or do Caribbean cruises but we both have laid-back attitudes about most things…. like, pretty much any cruise is a good cruise. This was not our favorite cruise but it was fine for what we paid. I’ll try to do a daily detail of what we encountered and post plenty of pictures.

 

 

Anyone interested?

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Pre-Cruise Day 1 ~ Memphis

 

We drove to Memphis because we got $62 flights from Memphis to Miami on Allegiant Air. We did not get this deal coming back but that's okay, we still saved a few hundred dollars and Allegiant was fine. We visited the Bass Pro Shops Pyramid...

 

 

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They have an elevator inside you can pay $10 to ride to the top and see Memphis from the top of the pyramid..

 

 

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We are from Missouri and I lived in Springfield, MO for 15 years and worked for Bass Pro Shops for almost 5 years while I was in college back in the early 90s. Springfield, MO is home to the original Bass Pro Shops and nothing can compare to that Outdoor World so we were quite a bit disappointed in the pyramid. If you are ever near Branson or Springfield.... take the time (several hours) to check-out the Springfield Bass Pro Shops. We don't hunt or fish but there is so much to see and so many interesting items for sale in the flagship store. Also, I used to sit just around the corner from Johnny Morris' office - his kids were still crawling around at the time and he left his office unlocked and shared the breakroom with those of us working for the phones for his catalog sales. Nice guy. I could tell all sorts of stories now people wouldn't believe but that was back when people could be trusted and there was just one Bass Pro but I digress.

 

 

We had an okay time at the pyramid but we had a much better time at Dave & Busters that night in Bartlett, TN where we stayed for the evening. We paid $5 for the Jurassic Park virtual reality ride which was worth $20. Carnival needs to get something like this on one of their ships. Seriously. There was a long line for this "ride" at Dave & Busters and it was an incredible experience.

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Gary (68) and i (57) were married on 2/29/08, yes leap year on victory...We would to see your review, very much!!!!

 

We'll see how I do...

 

I am planning a short birthday cruise in November/December on the Victory so your review is very timely for me. Not a lot about Victory on here recently!

 

I agree. I couldn't find anything on this ship pre-cruise which is mainly why I'm going to do this review. She's a good ship with a nice layout on Lido.

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We sailed on Victory last October for DH's birthday gift. We had a great time, so good that I booked the same cruise again this year for him/us, and this year friends are going with us. Only a few more weeks to go. I love reading reviews like this, I might have missed something the first time on board. Thanks for taking the time to do this.

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DSCF5675_zpshlqpalru.jpg

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hello!

 

 

 

Not sure if many will be interested in a Carnival Victory Review but I’ll start and we’ll see how this goes….

 

 

 

 

 

Itinerary:

 

 

 

 

 

Day 1 – Leave out of Miami

 

 

 

 

 

Day 2 – Sea Day

 

 

 

 

 

Day 3 – Half Moon Cay

 

 

 

 

 

Day 4 – Nassau, Bahamas

 

 

 

 

 

Day 5 – Disembark in Miami

 

 

 

 

 

The cruise left October 1st and returned October 5th. This was a four-night, five-day cruise with a good itinerary and a good mix of cruisers. I thought we had around 2,700 passengers onboard but during Bingo they announced 3,500 passengers so I don’t really know. I think I’ll just try to cover some basics of the cruise each day. I do have the Fun Times and all the daily mail they give you but I’m not posting them so feel free to ask questions if you want me to look-up something.

 

 

 

 

 

A bit about us… my husband and I travel internationally every year and this year we are remodeling our home and had not planned to travel. We got an email from Carnival on a Friday night after a long week at work and we booked this cruise less than 30 days out. We booked a balcony room on Deck 7 (Empress Deck) for $310 per person. We did get a discount because we are previous cruisers. We stayed one night pre-cruise in Miami. We are in our mid-40s, from the Midwest, we don’t normally travel to warm areas or do Caribbean cruises but we both have laid-back attitudes about most things…. like, pretty much any cruise is a good cruise. This was not our favorite cruise but it was fine for what we paid. I’ll try to do a daily detail of what we encountered and post plenty of pictures.

 

 

 

 

 

Anyone interested?

 

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Yup, keep it coming....

 

 

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My apologies for the temporary photo problems. Photobucket has been up and down for 3 days now. It's back (for now). I am a paid member so these photos will work (eventually) but if you ever come to read the blog and it just shows black boxes... it means Photobucket is down, again. The pics will come back... eventually. Seems like once they became a pay-only site, the site started crashing a lot. Eh. I'm going to try to get this review posted but it's up to Photobucket at this point...

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Pre-Cruise Day 2 ~ Miami

 

We flew into Fort Lauderdale from Memphis. Arrived at noon, almost exactly.

Here we are... looking a mess...

 

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Uber from FLL to our hotel in Miami on Biscayne Bay - The Doubletree By Hilton Grand Hotel Biscayne Bay was $42.22 pre-trip. That was much higher than everyone told us it would be pre-trip but it was a super quick trip and a real nice guy drove us there.

 

Our hotel was great. We had a huge balcony with views of the bay...

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There was a constant breeze on our 7th floor room - it was hot outside (apparently) but we stayed on that balcony almost all day. It was fantastic with the breeze and the view.

 

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We had a good lunch at Catch Bar & Grill - which is "next door" i.e. a walk through the combined lobbies of the Hilton and Marriott Hotels. We ate outside and shared a wonderful Cuban sandwich with pulled pork. The watermelon margarita was super strong and not-so-great. The service was very slow.

 

Unfortunately, later that evening after we had walked across the street to Publix for Sprite for the cruise, we really didn't want to go anywhere else for dinner. Dumb mistake. We should have tried anything else in this great city. The dinner was fried calamari (terrible, especially compared to Carnival's calamari on the first night which was excellent) and they changed their menus from what you see online - no more fish & chips. We split the Catch of the Day sandwich (snapper) and it was a waste of a lot of money. $60 for one appetizer, one sandwich with fries and 2 drinks (a Corona for me and a mixed drink for him). The Corona was $7.50. If you stay here, try somewhere else. The hotels have a deli and a couple of neat small cafes between them (plus a liquor store and a pharmacy). We were there for the ambiance and the views of the bay, the breeze, and to view the boats on the dock. It was interesting but a poor choice.

 

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Embarkation Day

 

We had an embarkation time of 11:00 to 11:30am. We arrived at the port at 11:00am using the hotel shuttle. The hotel charges $7.50 per person for this shared van ride. We left our suitcases with the porter and went to the lines. They had a "Priority/FFF" line... an "On time" line... and "Not on Time (early/late)" line... except the minute we stepped-up they closed the "On Time" line and everyone who wasn't "Priority/FFF" was put through the same line. I said something to the girl who handed us a Zone 14 card and she said "It's all the same now" and she said this kinda rudely. Not a good first impression for the cruise from Carnival.

 

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We sat in the terminal waiting to board approximately one hour. When it was our time to board, we then waited to get our photo taken prior to boarding. It was a great picture and we purchased it but we paid $14.99 to download it. I ordered it from the kiosk when the photo area was closed. I asked Guest Services how it would be delivered and they said to the email address on file with the folio number. When we got off the cruise in Miami, there was no picture in my email. I called Carnival from the airport and they said I had to wait up to 40 hours before they would have my folio and they could email me the photo. I haven't called yet. Frustrating hassle. Also, why doesn't Carnival take embarkation photos during the one hour why you are waiting to board?? Seems like this could be changed and more people would be willing to stop and have their photos made. Just interesting to me how they do things at times...

 

 

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The views from Miami on the ship are excellent.

 

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My husband smokes. I do not. He is a courteous smoker so I don't want to read one reply about how terrible it is. I know it and I agree. Having said that, when we got onboard the smoking section on Deck 10 was closed until they were finished fueling the boat. We asked multiple times. The smoking section remained closed all the way until 1:30pm when the rooms became available. We put away our luggage and my husband left to again try to smoke on Deck 10. This time, someone told him the casino on Deck 5 was smoking and air-conditioned so that entire time he could have been smoking and didn't know it. We never even thought about the casino so the embarkation day was very stressful for my husband. In retrospect, in the future, we'll remember the casino or we'll embark at a much later time in the day.

 

By the way, if you want a Guy's Burger on embarkation day - get it the minute you get onboard or you will NOT get one that day. The ship was seemingly empty when we boarded and there was already a long line for a burger. By the time 1:30pm rolled-around the line for a burger was all the way over to the Iguana bar and stretched well past that!! We tried a Guy's Burger the next day at 3pm with no wait. Frankly, getting ANY food on embarkation day was crazy - Lido, Pizzeria, everywhere was lines lines lines. I don't ever remember a ship being like that on embarkation day. Terrible first impression for some new cruisers who sat at our dining room table... and probably several others. There was never any problem the rest of the cruise with super long lines or long waits.

 

Here's the ship at noon... before the crowds...

 

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The Red Frog Rum Bar

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Enjoying your review. I haven’t been on the Victory but I’ve been on the Freedom and the layout is about the same. I much prefer the tiered sundecks on that class of ships to the new style on the Dream where it’s one flat deck. I’m looking forward to reading more.

 

 

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The views during sail away were fantastic...

 

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Star Island AKA Millionaire's Row...

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South Beach...

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We could see the skyline for hours after we left Miami...

 

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Also, the boat is docked facing Miami with the port side being the embarkation side and then it pushes out to the side, pulls forward, and turns around right there in the bay and sails out! I thought that was super cool because our room was on the port side so we got the great views of Star Island and South Beach while leaving Miami!!

 

Just a further note... Sail Away was hilarious!

A cop had someone pulled-over on the side of the road and he pulled-out his blowhorn and yelled "Bon Voyage" to the cruise ship! The ship went wild!

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Then the Coast Guard boys got a bit naughty... it was soooo funny... out of that little silver box came at least 3 or 4 more guys... and one of them started dancing and fist pumping and again the cheers were so loud out on the pool deck I was on the balcony busting-up laughing from it all!

 

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Later, I heard the DJ say "We're going to the BAAAHAMAAAASSSSS!!!!" and again, the ship went wild! It was really neat even though I was on our balcony enjoying it alone, I loved it!

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I’m boarding this ship tomorrow. What movies were playing at the Dive In?

 

EXCELLENT MOVIES!!

Jurassic World

Avengers (the latest one)

Book Club

Peter Rabbit

The Incredibles 2

 

Those are the ones I remember. Get there early if you want a seat! We LOVED the Dive-In Movies!!!!

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When we got to our room our refrigerator was "in the closet" and it was barely cool. The closet was hot inside so we took the advice of some fellow Cruise Critic reviews and I put a small clothespin-like alligator (used to hold beach towels on chairs) inside the cabinet. The cabinet cooled-down and our Sprites stayed cold the entire cruise. Amazing what a difference that made!

 

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I noticed there were two tall waters in our room which were marked $3.75 each. I mentioned to Ari, our excellent room steward, that we were Gold members and while we were at dinner we got two free waters, a letter from Carnival and two pins.

 

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We also got THIS letter...

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Tomorrow is our ONLY Sea Day the entire cruise and I spend a lot of time on our balcony so I was a bit disappointed to read this. In the end, they washed the starboard side first and started in our room around noon and it was over while we were at Bingo (so probably around 1:30pm). The letter is a bit wrong because you can't be on your balcony while they are washing the balconies above yours.

 

Back to our first night onboard... we ate in the Main Dining Room at 8:15pm. We had a table of 8 but only 5 showed tonight. One guy's wife was seasick and another couple only ate in the dining room one night. My husband wore shorts (khaki shorts) in the dining room every night. This first night, lots of men and women wore shorts and sandals. I don't care how you dress as long as you are clean and decent. The last night we saw a guy wearing gym shorts and a t-shirt and a girl wearing black cutoff jeans. Again, I didn't care. What they were wearing didn't change the service or the taste of the food. Service was great - fast - which is how we like it. We don't like super long dinners. Loved the large carafes of iced water on the tables. I probably drank a full carafe myself every night. Our dining room waiters were ever-changing but we got great service so that's all that mattered to us. We were at table 429 in the lower dining room. You should check your card to see if you are lower or upper dining room. There was lots of confusion the first night. Also, they don't open the doors until 8:15pm so plan to wait a bit or don't be early. Odd numbered tables are on the left side of the dining room and even numbered tables are on the right side. The wait staff are very attentive and I can't say enough about how nice they all were every night. We ate in the MDR 3 of the 4 nights. Tonight "my husband" had the calamari appetizer and "we" loved it. Ha He had ribs and I had chicken. I had the tiramisu for dessert. Our tablemates ordered 2 to 3 appetizers and at times, 2 to 3 entrees per person. The waiters never blinked an eye.

 

 

I just looked at today's Fun Times and tonight's movies were...

 

Rampage at 7pm

Ocean's Eight at 9pm

 

I really wanted to see Ocean's Eight but we stayed talking to our dinner companions and it was too late to get a seat by 9:30pm. Frankly, you pretty much need to be there at least 30 minutes before the late show if you are going to get a seat.

 

By the way - the TV said the Bottomless Bubbles program is available the first two days of the cruise (only). Next time we sail, I'm getting going to sign-up for this program however I noticed they don't get the can of soda, just fountain refills. Can you get the can if you ask? Does anyone know??

 

The Welcome Aboard Show was at 10:15pm tonight. Too late for us. We ate, walked the ship, attempted to sat on our balcony for a bit but the guys next door were crazy rowdy (more on that later) and finally we were in bed listening to the rowdy neighbors by 11pm.

 

Actually, I'll address the neighbors now. This is a very sensitive subject (I think) and hard to address on a public forum because we don't know what happened for sure but here are the facts... We were in Cabin 7416, Balcony, Port Side which is the very last cabin on the port side of the ship. This is an odd room where the bed faces the window and the balcony. The balcony was super long and included 2 chairs, a table, and a full lounger! I loved it! We got this room because it was one of 3 rooms available at the time we booked so I think we just got lucky.

 

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Left side of balcony.... with the lounger we never used....

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There were several guys in the corner suite "behind and beside" us. Their balcony wrapped around the port side aft corner. They were incredibly loud, cussing a lot, and talking A LOT. While I was outside the first day rearranging the lounger to the left side of the balcony and the two chairs and table to the right side, one of the younger guys jumped-up on their balcony ledge trying to look over into our balcony and made comments about me moving the chairs (it was loud but it was the daytime). He risked his life to see the person on the balcony. Later, we saw them leave the room and walk down the hallway and again, talking like they owned the ship. Maybe once they saw that I was middle-aged and overweight they probably weren't so much interested in "checking that out" anymore... but I digress. They were obnoxious. We went to sleep listening to the obnoxiousness going-on over there. It sounded like there were a lot of them in the room. AT NO TIME DID WE EVER CALL SECURITY OR REPORT ANYTHING ABOUT THE ROOM. My husband was disgusted with them but I told him to give them a day and they would calm down.

 

 

For the record.... we don't know what happened to them. We do know something happened. We woke-up to a dead quiet balcony. Only one guy was in the room for the remainder of the cruise. Around 3pm on the sea day we had decided to take a nap when we heard someone come in the room and then two guys got in a big fight. An older guy was blaming the young guy for doing something stupid. Then some girls came in and talked to them. The young guy was very upset and sounded nervous. What a change! He said they had been banned from cruising for life. He said someone was "getting 12 to 14 years" and he was upset. We saw security at the room at least twice. The day before we stopped at Nassau, there was a lady at the door reading a checklist of articles for someone to get together. Again, we don't know what happened for sure but you can almost figure it out. The tough part for us was... the room to the right of ours, some girls, were friends with these guys. There were at least 3 rooms of their friends in our immediate hallway. We were given some cold looks and some snide remarks were made by the girls in the room to the right of us when we were out on the balcony the rest of the cruise. Here's the deal.... someone probably called security on them and security probably found some things in their room they shouldn't have and someone got in a lot of trouble. We don't know but we didn't call security or anyone for that matter. The last night of the cruise, the young kid started yelling out the balcony to "F all you MFers - It's my last night blah blah blah" and we heard some guy yell back from another balcony for him to shutup. They were crazy to think it was us when everyone on the port or aft side could hear their antics that first night. They did themselves in and I really wish we would have had a chance to talk to the girls in the room to the right of us but that never happened. It is what it is. I must say, however, I have never heard of someone being banned from cruising for LIFE. WOW

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Our second day on the ship was a Sea Day and our only Sea Day on this cruise. We had an early breakfast on Lido. The raisin French toast was very popular and very good. The eggs are terrible (fake). Hubby realized if you go get an omelet at the omelet station, you get real eggs.

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Btw, you can get a bucket of ice from any bar at any time, no questions. That was nice. I loved-loved the iced tea on this ship. It was available 24/7 along with plenty of ice. I did water it down with extra water but it was fantastic to always have iced tea available. As for the bacon, it was cooked thoroughly and it was fantastic and they were not stingy with the bacon, ever.

 

We walked the entire ship this morning. It is beautiful...

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Love the greens and blues

 

 

 

 

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This is the main lobby area - shops, photo area, excursions desk, guest services...

 

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These wonderful hand wash stations are all over the Lido deck in blue and red. Just look. You will see them everywhere. They were great and people were using them. One of the tiny things that seemed so odd this cruise is no handsoap in your cabin bathroom. We used a sample-sized body wash I had in our luggage as handsoap for the entire cruise. Who thinks to bring their own handsoap on a cruise?? And then... the last day... as we were leaving... I saw on one of the room attendants cart... with a whole bag full of round, hard, white handsoaps. WHY didn't we ever have one??

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