FINALLY! My really long Victory review 1/17-1/24/10 with MEGA pix!!

[scraphappylady]

Scraphapplady,

 

I think we were in San Juan in Jan. on the Explorer of the Sea the day you guys were leaving on your Victory cruise. San Juan was one of our ports. We left from Cape Liberty and arrived in San Juan on Sunday. I remember seeing the Victory and telling my husband that we cruised her to New England 2 yrs ago. Loved the Victory. So much we are booked on her this May. Just wondered what you did with your carry ons prior to being allowed into your cabins. Please let me know if there is any thing we must do on board or in some of the ports.

 

Were you then in St. Thomas the next day (Monday)? We saw both Explorer and Celebrity Equinox there with us, too. You are going to love Victory AGAIN!! I know at some point I'm going to be back on her again.

 

When we boarded in SJ, there were porters taking luggage right as you entered the building. We took all valuables out of our three suitcases ahead of time, stored them in our backpacks and just dropped the suitcases off. Much lighter and easier than schlepping luggage all around the ship with us!

 

Two of my favorite tours were snorkeling with the turtles in Barbados and Thenford Grey's island tour in St. Kitts. I'll be going into all of our tours in great detail . . . I promise!

-Cathy

[milokitty]

Loving your review! I can't wait to see your pix from Barbados and St Kitts, esp the video (we were on the same excursions). We also got off the ship in San Juan and walked up to San Cristobal. Your pix of the sea horses by the steps bring a smile to my face--although they didn't at the time. I clipped them with my thigh multiple times and came off the ship with a big bruise!:)

[cuted126]

Loving your review! Can't wait to see more!

[sheri18]

loving the review so far...cant wait for the rest.... i am still trying to get past the 1 suitcase....how did you manage that....

[scraphappylady]

loving the review so far...cant wait for the rest.... i am still trying to get past the 1 suitcase....how did you manage that....

 

One huge 26" that we checked . . . two 19" that we carried on (plus a backpack each for the cameras, etc.). We didn't want to have to pay anymore than we had to! :rolleyes:

[scraphappylady]

Loving your review! I can't wait to see your pix from Barbados and St Kitts, esp the video (we were on the same excursions). We also got off the ship in San Juan and walked up to San Cristobal. Your pix of the sea horses by the steps bring a smile to my face--although they didn't at the time. I clipped them with my thigh multiple times and came off the ship with a big bruise!:)

 

Thanks! Am I right in remembering you two were the ones who also left the kids back home with grandma? (I'm so terrible with this unless I have faces to put with people!) The videos turned out pretty well for doing them on an underwater camera, although for some reason they ended up mostly black and white :confused:. Don't know what I did wrong! As soon as I can get DH to merge them all together into one iMovie, we'll post them on YouTube and then I can post a link when I come to that part of the review!

[scraphappylady]

We ended up spending almost an hour and a half wandering through various parts of the fort and considered the $3 pp admission fee a small price to pay for the history we learned.

 

 

Outside the fort

 

 

 

Soldiers barracks

 

Doesn't quite have that historical look to it here, does it?

[scraphappylady]

Looking toward El Morro fort, about a mile away.

 

 

 

Amazing to realize with this photo, just how thick the walls were!

 

 

[scraphappylady]

A full view of Victory from the fort.

 

Looking out over the old city

 

While I would have liked to spend all day touring, the skies were beginning to darken again, and I was worried that we would get caught in a downpour. I still wanted to take in more of the festival in the old city.

 

As we left the fort, we saw this sight. I took it as a good sign.

 

We left the fort and meandered parallel to the docks, into the old city, for awhile, taking in the architecture of the city as we went. Seeing as how there seemed to be no container laws in effect, we also decided “when in Rome . . . “ and ordered a couple of beers and a fried disk of something to munch on from one of the many food stands scattered around. It looked like a big fried tortilla, and I thought it might be made of plantains, but that proved not to be the case. It wasn’t bad, and rather more bland than I would have expected, but it definitely wasn’t plantain. I later learned that it was called “bacalaitos,” in essence a fried cod fish fritter. It hadn’t tasted fishy, though, so this came as a surprise.

 

We meandered down the Paseo de La Princesa, a very beautiful promenade west of the dock area, and one that I had remembered from my earlier visit to SJ, to the southern tip of Old San Juan, and the Roots fountain, looking out over San Juan Bay, then turned and headed back toward the ship

 

 

Yes, that last photo WAS sunny - it's actually one that I ended up taking on our return trip to SJ. I know I took another photo of the fountain before embarking, but don't know where it went to. Kinda like those lost socks in the dryer, I guess . . .

 

As we walked back, I had been trying to find a place to sit for awhile, preferably out of the impending rain, to wait for it to turn dark, so that I could get a nice night photo of our ship before we sailed.

 

As we passed by Senor Frogs, almost back to the ship, I was mentally listing every "tourist trap" review of the place that I had heard, even while my legs were carrying me inside.

 

 

You know how some places sound so bad that you just have to see what they’re like for yourself? Well, we were warned! :D

[Ippalee]

Can't wait to see more, I can't wait to one day go to places like this with such history, great job LOVE all the details

[Vicki22]

Vicki,

Can you pack me in your luggage? I don't eat much, really. :p

Seriously, you'll have a blast - just pace yourself. I'll try and finish my review before you leave.

 

-Cathy

 

 

I wouldn't be worried about how much you eat.....just where you would sleep.;)

[iowa52402]

Great job with this review - we sail on the Victory on March 21 so this is so much fun to read and anticipate !

[shebring02lx]

I just have to tell you these photos are BEAUTIFUL. The review is great as well. The victory has the most stunning atrium I have ever seen. I love the photos of the fort in PR, in fact I had to share them with my husband. I havent had the privlidge to go yet, but it is on my list of places to visit!

I look forward to reading the rest of the review and seeing those pictures!

Thanks for sharing!

[Mypapaya]

I booked my family on the Victory April 4th. Your wonderful pictures are a delight to look at. While I'm at work I can get so bogged down, but then I come to this site to lift my spirits. I can't wait to read more!:)

[kelz66]

I posted a link to this review on our roll call.

 

:D

[milokitty]

Thanks! Am I right in remembering you two were the ones who also left the kids back home with grandma? (I'm so terrible with this unless I have faces to put with people!) The videos turned out pretty well for doing them on an underwater camera, although for some reason they ended up mostly black and white :confused:. Don't know what I did wrong! As soon as I can get DH to merge them all together into one iMovie, we'll post them on YouTube and then I can post a link when I come to that part of the review!

 

Yep--that was us. Like I think I told you, I thought I'd miss the kids more, but I knew they were in good hands and that they would behave. I have to say that this was one GREAT trip. I came home so relaxed, and it actually carried over for a couple of days into work! I loved the pix of the wrap-around deck--that was great. We were offered the move up to the grand suite the week before the cruise and took it because we didn't have the kids with us and wanted to splurge even more (we went on the cruise for our birthdays). I just got my photoalbum from Shutterfly and I love to just look at the blue water and remember the warm weather, since it doesn't look like we are getting any here any time soon (we are just south of DC and got 32" during that big snowstorm plus more with other storms). Anyway, I'm looking forward to more pix so I can daydream some more!!

Debbie

[scraphappylady]

I posted a link to this review on our roll call.

 

:D

 

Thanks! I hope I can help those who are first time cruisers or haven't been on the Victory before! I know before we went, I tried to find out everything and anything about the ship, ports, etc. that I could. Just passing along the favor (and getting to relive the experience as I do:))

 

Yep--that was us. Like I think I told you, I thought I'd miss the kids more, but I knew they were in good hands and that they would behave. I have to say that this was one GREAT trip. I came home so relaxed, and it actually carried over for a couple of days into work! I loved the pix of the wrap-around deck--that was great. We were offered the move up to the grand suite the week before the cruise and took it because we didn't have the kids with us and wanted to splurge even more (we went on the cruise for our birthdays). I just got my photoalbum from Shutterfly and I love to just look at the blue water and remember the warm weather, since it doesn't look like we are getting any here any time soon (we are just south of DC and got 32" during that big snowstorm plus more with other storms). Anyway, I'm looking forward to more pix so I can daydream some more!!

Debbie

 

I agree - wonderful trip, wonderful itinerary! Glad your kids survived w/o you for that week ;). Mine were just fine, too, and as soon as they got in a good hug wondered what we got them as souvenirs! :rolleyes: We actually were offered the penthouse suite, and turned it down because of wanting to experience the aft wrap; didn't regret our decision in the least. So you got even more snow than we did! Only just now was ours starting to melt a lot, but tonite into Friday morning we're in the 6-12" band for more. Sigh. I really don't like El Nino anymore . . .

[scraphappylady]

Thanks everyone for the wonderful words of encouragement!

 

Now where was I?

 

Ah, yes. . . .Senor Frogs. Hmmm.

 

Well, we had been warned about Senor Frogs, but we still ended up going in anyway, out of sheer curiosity. And once inside, it was hard to just walk back out again - or so we told ourselves, to justify spending a little time there.

 

However, after spending over $50 for a (small!) side order of quesadillas and 4 drinks, we realized why some call it a tourist trap. They were really good drinks and we had fun, but you definitely pay for the ambiance. In looking back, it's a good thing we didn't get more than two drinks each . . .

 

 

 

 

Who knows what we would have been doing (or wearing) if we had stayed there much longer?

 

As it turned out, it was still lightly raining when we finally got out of the restaurant anyway, so we had to run through the raindrops on our way back to the ship, and I didn’t get my night shot then. (I did later, though!)

 

We got back to our room by around 6:45 pm, changed out of our now damp clothes, unpacking most of our suitcases in the process, and then headed to dinner. It was open seating this first night, because we were sailing so late. Since we had been scheduled for the Pacific dining room for this cruise, we decided to take advantage of our situation this night and see what the Atlantic dining room looked like. We ended up waiting in line for about 10 minutes, then were seated at a table with a group of five, and another couple from Quebec, whom we ended up talking with for the rest of dinner.

 

For this meal, we went with the shrimp appetizer for both of us, then the New York strip for Jon, which to his delight was being substituted this night for the flat iron steak. While he enjoyed it very much, I decided to try the Indian dish, and it was hit or miss. Some parts of the meal were delicious, and others, such as the Indian bread with onions, were not as palatable. For dessert, he opted for the black forest gateau, with cherries and heavy cream, and I went with my favorite, crème brulee. Awesome!

 

Sadly, we ended up having such wonderful dinner companions during the whole cruise, that I ended up forgetting to take any food pictures this time. Looking back, though, most of what we had was the same as the food pictures in other people’s reviews, and the menu hadn’t changed since we sailed in July, so I didn’t really feel too bad. Sorry, no food porn this time!

 

After dinner, we took a few quick nighttime pictures from off our balcony,

 

Explorer next to us

 

Looking back toward the building we came through to board

 

Looking toward the Sheraton Old San Juan

[scraphappylady]

Our balcony at night

 

Another night balcony shot

 

then it was time for muster. Without the need to bring life jackets anymore, it was about as painless as could be. We were directed down the two flights of stairs right outside our door, to deck 4, and stood in a mostly straight line as Karl (with a K), our cruise director, gave a short 10-15 min. lecture. He made it as funny as such a serious subject could be, and it wasn’t long before we were heading back up on deck for sailaway.

 

Sailaway commenced around 10:20 pm (we were set for 10pm) and as I remembered from prior cruises, the ship’s horn was deafening as we slowly backed out of our slot. We managed to squeeze in near an aft starboard (rear right) railing, and I took a few pictures as we passed El Morro, the other of San Juan’s famous forts.

 

The outer city walls near the fort

 

 

 

[scraphappylady]

By the time we headed out to sea, the sailaway party was in full swing.

 

 

 

 

We did a little people watching, and some Macarena and line dancing, then headed back to the cabin. Since we didn’t have an early excursion the next day, we decided to go for room service for breakfast and put out our choices. As we left the lights of San Juan behind, we were moving along at a pretty fast clip.

 

Next up - our first port, St. Thomas!

[ShannLC16]

Love the pictures of the balloons on your heads...especially your face in the picture. It looks like the same face I make when my husband takes pictures of me! :D

 

Enjoying the review!

[cruiserNC]

Fantastic Reveiw

Loving it...

[scraphappylady]

Love the pictures of the balloons on your heads...especially your face in the picture. It looks like the same face I make when my husband takes pictures of me! :D

 

Enjoying the review!

 

Thanks! Yeah, that picture was more or less after the first drink. The chairs came after the second drink. Good thing we didn't drink more!

[scraphappylady]

Probably since it was our first night onboard, I had a bit of trouble sleeping and woke around 6:30 am, to the sounds of the engine slowing. Being at the back of the ship, we were more able to feel the ship vibrating, and heard a few more noises than when we had a side balcony room, but after this first night, barely took notice again.

 

As we pulled into port, I sat out on our expansive deck, taking pictures and journaling. Today, we were sharing the port with Explorer of the Seas and the Celebrity Equinox

 

 

 

 

As it got to be 8:30, with the island sitting there in front of me, and no room service, though, I got antsy. So when room service called and said they were running behind schedule, we cancelled, took quick showers and hit the Lido for a quick bite.

 

Our excursion wasn’t set to begin until 11:45, so we headed off the ship and spent a good 90 minutes or so exploring, taking pictures and hitting some of the shops I remembered from my last visit to this island.

 

Oh, put a little effort into it, would you?

 

 

[scraphappylady]

 

 

 

At 11:30, we met up with our excursion group, and shortly thereafter were on our way. We had opted to do the champagne catamaran sail and snorkel to St. John, a Carnival excursion and very similar sounding to the one I had done on RC’s Adventure of the Seas a year ago. Imagine my surprise, when we got to the marina and boarded the very same boat, “Adventurer,” that I had taken then!

 

We motored over to Honeymoon Bay, as our guides pointed out various celebrity homes and other sights, and talked about living on the island. Apparently, we lucked out with such beautiful weather this day, as the three days prior to our arrival had been rainy.