Just off the Victory Review!! 01/10/2010

[weddincruizer]

Well, the long awaited cruise is over :( Yes, I almost cried when I heard the final "ding" upon leaving the ship. Here is my review with pictures to be added soon. I need to add that I was traveling with a group of 40 people so my opinion may be a little different based on that experience.

 

Pre Cruise - San Juan, Puerto Rico

Upon our arrival to PR we realized that 1 of our suitcases were never sent from Memphis. So sad that there were over 12 people on our flight alone with lost baggage. It did finally come on Thursday in St Lucia. A good point to know is if your baggage is lost, make sure to tell guest services so that they can work on getting your bags.

 

After much research and countless hours on CC we finally decided to stay at the Embassy Suites in Isla Verde. This hotel was absolutely beautiful (if I were staying more than 1 day in PR). This room came with a HUGE price tag of $300. However, it did include a full hot breakfast cooked to order, a cocktail party in the evening, a a GORGEOUS lagoon style pool. The nightlife in Isla Verde is definitely NOT for the partier. If you are looking for a wild night definitely go to Old San Juan!

 

Day 1 - San Juan, Puerto Rico

After waking up and getting ready to board the ship we "piled" into a van that took us to the port for $40 (luggage and all). How we got that deal??? I HAVE NO CLUE!! We arrived at the port around 11:30 and bought all of the tourist trap goodies for sale and stood in line. From start to finish embarkation was only about 30 minutes. YES, the rumors of confiscating alcohol in SJ are true. Now for those that want to, there are definite ways around that. Believe me, with a group of 40 we needed bottles. I would say however, don't bring to much on in PR because it is just as easy to bring it on as the days progress.

 

When we boarded the ship we treated ourselves to lunch on the Lido deck. This buffet with a little disappointing. It is set-up in a round robin manner and there are 4 stations, however, all 4 stations had the same food for the entire trip. If I see potato salad and meat and cheese 1 moe time I think I can gag!! BUT, this trip is definitely about the ports of call NOT the ship. We were able to get into our rooms at about 1:00 pm, this was really cool for me because it was my first balcony. Soooooooo worth the extra money. It is priceless to sleep with the balcony door open and hear the sounds of the sea at night.

 

Muster was around 9:45 pm, as we sailed late for passengers coming from the airport. This is really not a big deal considering the trip to St. Thomas is only a 45 minute boat ride. So the first night we really spent drifting instead of sailing.

 

After unpacking and destressing, we all decided to go to Club Artic. Which we later named Club "Whacktic". The club itself is really cute, but the DJ is AWFUL. It is so sad to say that YES this cruise really does cater to the PR audience. He would start the night out with really good music and then switch to NOTHING but latin music. However, we had fun and made the best of it. I will be adding pictures as they come in from others on the cruise. They will also be chiming in on this review as well to give a well rounded view of the cruise.

 

Oh yes, before I leave I must talk about my cabin steward Ivan!!! HE WAS AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yes that required all of those exclamation points. We never had to ask for a thing from him, ice was always in the bucket and towels were always fresh.

 

I am at work so I have to keep my time limited online. I will add pics later today so that you all can get the fullness!!!

[dvan68]

 

 

YES, the rumors of confiscating alcohol in SJ are true. Now for those that want to, there are definite ways around that. Believe me, with a group of 40 we needed bottles. I would say however, don't bring to much on in PR because it is just as easy to bring it on as the days progress.

 

 

Inquiring minds need to know - how did you get around it?

[martinchem]

We were told to put it in our shoulder bag, no problem.

[weddincruizer]

Inquiring minds need to know - how did you get around it?

 

OK, I will tell but to be honest, it is a tad ghetto!!! Again I will say that I am just a "innocent" person that had to help those who weren't as blessed as me to be able to do this. :D:D Some of the bottles were smuggled in 40 DD bras! The others were taped to legs. NO, you cannot just put it in a carry on or hand bag. They sent ALL bags through a XRay machine and confiscated them. They will not search your physical body if the metal detector does not alarm. They actually took the metal off of the bottles to get them through the metal detector and there goes the story. They were taking LOTS of alcohol from people and some were not very happy about it. BEWARE!!! Oh yeah, they also put tequila in listerine bottles and checked the bags. Yes somehow they were able to keep the seal in tact. Like I said, this was a tad ghetto but it worked and our sign and sail accounts were fairly decent. I will also say that we did also buy cocktails on the ship. So Carnival did get money from us, you gotta try EVERY drink of the day and who can resist a Coconut Monkey Head????:eek:

[sunseeker09]

You were on the cruise right after us! :) So I'll be reading along with your review while writing mine.

Nice tricks for the alcohol! I agree on our crusie they had people x-ray all bags, so no sneaking anything in. The table where they took it was right there too, so it would be difficult I think to get anything it that way. It seems that putting alcohol in checked luggage is still not a problem. Not that WE would do something like that or anything ;)

[dvan68]

OK, I will tell but to be honest, it is a tad ghetto!!! Again I will say that I am just a "innocent" person that had to help those who weren't as blessed as me to be able to do this. :D:D Some of the bottles were smuggled in 40 DD bras! The others were taped to legs. NO, you cannot just put it in a carry on or hand bag. They sent ALL bags through a XRay machine and confiscated them. They will not search your physical body if the metal detector does not alarm. They actually took the metal off of the bottles to get them through the metal detector and there goes the story. They were taking LOTS of alcohol from people and some were not very happy about it. BEWARE!!! Oh yeah, they also put tequila in listerine bottles and checked the bags. Yes somehow they were able to keep the seal in tact. Like I said, this was a tad ghetto but it worked and our sign and sail accounts were fairly decent. I will also say that we did also buy cocktails on the ship. So Carnival did get money from us, you gotta try EVERY drink of the day and who can resist a Coconut Monkey Head????:eek:

 

Oh my lord!!! I am trying to picture how people were walking with bottles strapped to them!

 

I guess we'll just take the free samples from that store!

[cantwait06]

Thanks for writing a review, I am anxious to hear more! Out of curiosity, what room were you in? We just upgraded to a balcony room (our first ever) for our Victory cruise and we are so excited!

[sailorwife]

Oh my lord!!! I am trying to picture how people were walking with bottles strapped to them!

 

I guess we'll just take the free samples from that store!

get yourself some rum runners,

Joan

[weddincruizer]

Thanks for writing a review, I am anxious to hear more! Out of curiosity, what room were you in? We just upgraded to a balcony room (our first ever) for our Victory cruise and we are so excited!

We were in room 1063 which is a balcony. It was very convenient to walk from our room to the Lido deck without an elevator because we could just walk down the deck stairs. I promise pics are coming, I just need to figure out how to bring them from Facebook and also how to put them onto CC.

[weddincruizer]

So we finally danced ourselves silly and landed ashore in St Thomas. I told everyone before that we were not going to make any excursion arrangements in advance because we never would know what we felt like that day. Some may call it risky, but it proved to work REALLY well in our favor because of the size of our group a lot of taxis wanted to wheel and deal with us.

 

We decided to make St Thomas a beach day, and boy am I glad we did! We walked right outside of the port and got a taxi van looking thing for $6 each person, each way to Coki Beach. Now beware, we were told by Carnival that there was not any beach that offered jet skis and if we wanted to jet ski we had to go through Carnival. NOT TRUE!!!

 

When we arrived at Coki Beach, we were told that the side we would be jet skiing on was te Carribean Sea side and the Beach was on the Atlantic side. Let me tell you, both sides were beautiful. Now, if you are into upscale resort style beaches, go somewhere else. This is a laid back beach with a local vibe. $2 Coronas, and VERY stout $3 cocktails. Contrary to popular practices, the consecutive cocktails get stronger :D

 

We were given a person to service all of our food and drink needs and we simply relaxed. After having a great time snorkeling and sun bathing and right on cue, our taxi driver was there to pick us up. We went back to the Diamond Row (shopping for al you shopaholics) and picked up a few knick knacks for the kids and back to the ship we went.

 

We actually went to dinner in our assigned dining room this night (Pacific Upper). We had early dining, which worked best for us because our group varied in ages and late seating would not have worked and Your Time dining would have been a disaster. Now I will add that getting to this dining room was a little tricky at first but I finally got the hang of it.

 

The Pacific Upper is on the 4th floor but you have to go to the 5th floor, walk all the way to the Aft and then go down the stairs. Once you have reached the hanging fish, you have made it. Our waiter wa Rodel who was actually an Employee of the Month in December. He was REALLY good, considering our group size and the amount of food we ate. I think around the 3rd night he caught on to the fact that many of the people in our group were going to order 2 starters and 2 main dishes. But no worries, HE WAS WELL taken care of!

 

No show for me on Monday, I do however have PLENTY to say about the shows that I did do....MORE COMING!! Anyone have any pointers about putting on pics???

[t_nix]

Thank you for sharing your trip and pics pics with us. I cant wait to hear more!!!

[gjsmth]

What were your thoughts on the ship? Does it show it's 10yr old age?

[cruisecamp]

 

 

We decided to make St Thomas a beach day, and boy am I glad we did! We walked right outside of the port and got a taxi van looking thing for $6 each person, each way to Coki Beach.

 

 

How long did it take to get to Coki Beach?

[ladyj3641]

just tagging post

[newt98]

so are they taking it out if you put it in checked luggage?

[Dirkgun]

Thanks for doing this review. It sounds so far like you had a great time. As far as pictures are concerned... if you sign up for a photobucket or snpfish account (free for both) you just upload the pics then paste the url link in the post on CC I personally use photobucket dot com. I just copy and paste the IMG code from photobucket to CC post.... like this picture of the cemetary in San Juan just under El Morro.

 

[virginiatechmom]

We decided to make St Thomas a beach day, and boy am I glad we did! We walked right outside of the port and got a taxi van looking thing for $6 each person, each way to Coki Beach. Now beware, we were told by Carnival that there was not any beach that offered jet skis and if we wanted to jet ski we had to go through Carnival. NOT TRUE!!!

 

When we arrived at Coki Beach, we were told that the side we would be jet skiing on was te Carribean Sea side and the Beach was on the Atlantic side. Let me tell you, both sides were beautiful. Now, if you are into upscale resort style beaches, go somewhere else. This is a laid back beach with a local vibe. $2 Coronas, and VERY stout $3 cocktails. Contrary to popular practices, the consecutive cocktails get stronger :D

 

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Hi Weddincruizer,

 

Thanks for the detailed review. I was on the Victory last May and am returning again this May. We wanted to rent jet skis on the island and I see you rented them on Coki. Was it a "guided tour" or could you take the jet skis out on your own? Also, what was the cost, if you dont mind me asking?? We want to rent jet skis on the island, but do not want to take a guided tour. Whatever beach offers this is where we will probably end up.

 

Thanks for your help!

[weddincruizer]

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Hi Weddincruizer,

 

Thanks for the detailed review. I was on the Victory last May and am returning again this May. We wanted to rent jet skis on the island and I see you rented them on Coki. Was it a "guided tour" or could you take the jet skis out on your own? Also, what was the cost, if you dont mind me asking?? We want to rent jet skis on the island, but do not want to take a guided tour. Whatever beach offers this is where we will probably end up.

 

Thanks for your help!

 

On Coki Beach they were $50 for 30 minutes and $90 per hour. Also it was $10 extra for another rider. That day they only had 2 jet skis in service but I was able to ride anywhere I wanted within a pretty large area. NO GUIDED tour...those suck REALLY BAD!!! At Cockleshell beach in St Kitts it was around the same price or cheaper by a few bucks but no extra for other people.

[weddincruizer]

How long did it take to get to Coki Beach?

 

The ride to Coki Beach was about 20-25 minutes, the driver even stopped for us to get stuff from the store on the way back. As long as the others in the taxi agreed. I found this to be true on most of the islands and since we were in a group we never had problems. One of the drivers even offered to stop for beers on the way and give us a cooler with ice.

[Momto2PrncChrmgs]

Great review so far! We'll be on the Victory July 4 for our first cruise!

[weddincruizer]

After the relaxing day at Coki Beach in St Thomas, we decided to go on a "tour". Now again, I will tell you that we did not pre-book anything except for Cosol Tours so we were completely on our own when we got off of the ship. I was a little hesitant to book anything considering all of the reviews that people gave Dominica on CC. At first, I walked across the street from the pier to the throngs of taxi cab operators and I never felt "scared" but lets just say they are willing to wheel and deal BIG TIME for your business. That day in port we were the only ship there so a lot of the operators just wanted to work that day.

 

We finally settled on a tour bus/van combo that took all of us to the Mr Nices fruit stand ( A MUST), Emerald Pool, and Black Sands Beach. I have been a lot of places and by far I LOVED EMERALD POOL. Beware, use the restroom before you leave the ship as it does cost $1 for use of the bathroom. Also wear good shoes to walk because the trail down is pretty slippery. If you can take the cold water definitely get in, it is sooooo refreshing.

 

This was no Cosol Tour, but our guide was very knowledgable about the island and was able to answer all of our questions with ease. There have been many posts about this being a poor island and awful roads. I say take all of those posts in stride. Remember, we are visitors in another persons country, if you don't think you can handle the driving, stay on the ship. Yes, the roads are narrow, windy, and high at times, but the drivers handle them very well. As for the poor part of the country, I can say that Dominica has a 4% crime rate! I found that to be particularly interesting.

 

*A Little Note* If you do choose to do a independent tour make sure to tip the tour guide. None of the money that you pay goes to the tour guide, only the driver. They freelance for extra money.

 

 

 

Tuesday Night marks the 1st of 2 formal nights on the Victory. I was a little disappointed that lobster wasnt until Thursday, but the food was still pretty good. Now if you are into the old time cruising with tux's and formal gowns. This ship will definitely disappoint. There were some people that came into the dining room with beach attire on!!! *GASP* Luckily our group was in our own little section so we didnt have to look at them that much. IMHO I think that if you dont want to dress for dinner, go to the Lido or other options that are available. But definitely don't come rolling into the dining room looking like a fried lobster! I had to include a pic of myself and hubby in our formal attire!!

[virginiatechmom]

Thanks for the jet ski info! I think that may be where we will go. I am loving your review btw. Can't wait to hear the rest :)

[cruisecamp]

Thanks for the taking the time to write this great review! We will be on the Victory cruise on 3/7 so its always good to see about past cruisers' experiences. I'm anxious to hear about your Cosol Tour as we are planning to do that in St. Lucia.

[jazmantravel]

Excellent details... Gimme More!!! Gimme More!!! LMAO... We board the Victory February 14th

[airlink diva]

good so far!!