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

[happylady]

Love your review so far.

 

We must be twins from a past life....I'm a scrapbooker and have used the screen name "happylady" for about 9 years!!:D

[Momto2PrncChrmgs]

Enjoying the review and the pictures. We're taking our first cruise July 4 on the Victory! Can't wait!

[scraphappylady]

Ahhh! Took a much needed break yesterday, and got my fix of spring, at least for a few hours - I went to the Philadelphia Flower Show. I actually touched real, live grass again! Not the burnt out stuff we have under all of this snow right now, but the green, sweet-smelling stuff of early summer.

 

And all the flowering plants . . . heaven! Now if the weather outside would only cooperate. But I heard a rumor our area might be close to . . . gasp . . . 50 degrees or more by the weekend! Could it really be that close?

 

Anyway, now that I am refreshed once again, on with the review! Actually, I'll take a few moments to respond to some of your comments first, since I love getting feedback and I'm sure you all do too!!

 

Your pictures with the turtles are breath taking!!!! Absolutely beautiful:)

 

Excellent review and fantastic photos!!:)

Thanks so much! I just love being able to combine my love of writing with my passionate hobby of photography. Now that I have this whole Photobucket and inserting photos online thing down, I can really let go with the reviews!

 

 

Been following your review all along but so happy to get to the Barbados part! We booked our excursion through Silver Moon so I'm glad to hear how much you enjoyed them. I was a little hesitant given the extra cost but it sounds like it will be worth it. :D

 

I love the sea turtle pictures, you are making me rethink my plans for barbados! Keep em coming!

I cannot say enough good things about Silver Moon. The staff members were really professional, but in a totally laid back manner, and the excursion itself was awesome. As I said before, if you can swing the cost of a 12-person trip, it's so worth the money!

 

 

Your underwater pictures are GREAT ... I have an Olympus Stylus 770 underwater camera and now am wondering if I re-read the instructions or buy a new camera before we go!

Thanks! I have always been a Canon person, so I don't know much about the Olympus or what the differences might be in the two. If you're actually looking to switch, though, try Amazon. The price wasn't bad.

 

What I looked for when I got my D10 were depth (it goes to 33 feet down), zoom (unfortunately only 3x optical, but with 12.1 megapixels, it's not bad when you zoom in on the computer), and ability to see the viewscreen underwater. With the D10, there's no actual viewfinder, only the big screen on the back, but it's very bright and really easy to see, even in underwater sunlight.

 

My only complaint with the D10 was that it doesn't take AA batteries like my other Canon. But I just went and bought a few extra rechargable batteries on Amazon, when I got the D10 (you can get some good ones cheap!), and try to make sure they're well charged ahead of time.

 

 

Your turtle shots are great! Much better quality than what I took with the disposable underwater camera (esp after I enlarged them). The video was wonderful too--I was able to show my daughter "our turtles"! The green tint on the shell and head were interesting. It almost looks like you tinted them, except that I know the shell wasn't green like that.

 

This really is a great excursion for anyone to take if you can afford to splurge. I also liked that we actually sailed, instead of just hoisting the sail and turning on the motor.

 

And thanks for including the shot of my glorious backside!:p

 

Yeah, I never had good luck with the disposable ones - finally had to bite the bullet and buy a "real" underwater. Now I just have to take more cruises to make it financially worthwhile! :rolleyes:

 

I'm glad you could show your daughter the video - my kids were fascinated (lots of oooohs and aaaahhs!) and i was thrilled . . . it was my first foray into the world of YouTube! I'm still trying to figure out why so much of the video was in black and white - guess I should go back and actually READ the instructions?

 

And your glorious backside . . . no need to thank me! That one's free of charge (actually, thanks for being such a good sport - i never know how people will react when they recognize their various parts in review pix!:p)

[scraphappylady]

Love your review so far.

 

We must be twins from a past life....I'm a scrapbooker and have used the screen name "happylady" for about 9 years!!:D

 

Hey, I think you're right! (And were you also a supermodel in your past life, too? What do you know? I guess we WERE twins, then:D) When I first signed up for CC, I tried to use a name similar to one I use for Yahoo mail, "oh scrap" but they said it was already taken, so I had to get a little more creative.

 

As for scrapping, I've been doing it for just about nine years, too, but only seriously for the past five or so. Now I just have to figure out how the heck I'm going to get my scrapbook for this trip done. :eek: I was only about three years behind in my "normal life" scrapbooks, as it was.

 

Enjoying the review and the pictures. We're taking our first cruise July 4 on the Victory! Can't wait!

Hmm! Hearing of all you guys taking Victory for upcoming cruises has made me think we need to schedule her again sooner rather than later! Can't let all this knowledge I gained go to waste, can I?:p

[scraphappylady]

Hi,

 

I was on this sailing too!! I was at the lido deck bar for the meet n greet but never located anyone from CC!!!!

 

I love all your beautiful pictures & review!! Can't wait to keep reading about it!!

 

 

Happy sailing!

Sue

 

 

Oh, good! It wasn't just us then! We kept thinking we maybe had the wrong bar. We were sad we didn't get a chance to actually meet anyone else in person, but our drinks were good while we waited :p.

 

And as it turned out, we actually ended up meeting a few people from our roll call later on, on one of our other excursions.

[scraphappylady]

Okay, then. On with more of Barbados!

 

After our turtle encounter, we then headed over to an area where we had the chance to

snorkel above two shipwrecks. I know our guide told us what the wrecks were from, but I can’t for the life of me remember.

 

 

 

 

 

Since the wrecks were somewhat further beneath the water, it was hard to get a very clear shot of them, but it was beautiful to glide slowly over and watch the fish swim in and out.

 

By this time of day, the area was getting congested with other tours, but we had no problem, as our guide skillfully maneuvered us around the bulk of the people and over each of the wrecks. Jon said we look like a school of tourists, rather than fish, following him.

 

[scraphappylady]

Our guide also had a loaf of bread he used to attract fish as we went along, making for more nice shots.

 

See our guide up there going along sitting on his floatie?

 

 

 

And the fish weren't just up where we were. There were more beautiful ones further below us as well. If only they could have posed better . . .

 

 

 

Wait! Come back - don't leave yet!

[scraphappylady]

Once everyone was back on board, we sailed on a little further and anchored off shore for lunch. It was sheer torture to have to look at the beautiful shoreline and gorgeous homes, and realize just how far out of our league they were. If I remember correctly, our guide told us that the one we were closest to

 

 

 

rented for $1,000 a day, with a two week minimum stay. If I’m not quite correct on that, I’m not too far off cost-wise. Certainly, not your casual little mini-vacation by any means. Oh, well. At least the views were free.

 

Lunch was a casual buffet affair and once again, the food was delicious. It consisted of cold spiced chicken, fish (marlin) cooked with more spices, pasta salad, a feta cheese/olive/veggie salad, regular salad and rolls. Plus as much of that delicious rum punch (or beer, soda, orange juice, etc) as we wanted.

 

After we ate, we had the opportunity to swim or snorkel again, for about an hour. I swam around some, but we were in deeper water and the snorkeling wasn’t really worth it here. Plus, I was pretty stuffed by this point.

 

As soon as we were on our way back to port, I stretched out for some sun time, while Jon took more pictures. In contrast to our excursion in St. Thomas, we actually were allowed to sit or lay on the roping here as we sailed, and it was a most pleasant way to travel.

 

 

(And no, I'm not a double fisted drinker . . . i was holding Jon's drink for him as he took the picture. Really!)

 

On the trip back, our guides brought out yet more food, this time in the form of carrot cake (mmmm), and freshly made pina coladas. In addition, we were given cold washcloths with which to cool off. Yep, we were indeed spoiled.

 

We passed near the Victory and the other ships keeping her company in port, as we came back to where our catamaran was to dock. (See the crane that I talked about earlier, next to Victory?)

 

 

We also noticed another ship in port later that, as rumor had it, belonged to a Russian millionaire. It looked like a cross between a ship and a submarine, and was said to be made for deep ocean travel and heavy seas. I can believe it.

 

[Angel59920]

What tour company did you use for your excursion?

[scraphappylady]

Once we were back on land, we spent some time souvenir shopping in the terminal. Correction . . . I meandered (and bought). Jon found a computer kiosk and checked our email, then sent a quick note to the folks back home. We then re-boarded about 4:15pm.

 

Sailaway was just about on time, 5 pm, and once again we didn’t hear of anyone being left behind. :p

 

As we left port, I noticed a ship called “Knorr” docked at the end of the pier. Something about the name struck a chord, so I jotted it down and took a picture.

 

 

Turned out, it belongs to the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, on Cape Cod, and I must have seen it there when I visited the area a few summers ago. It was just fun to realize how far it had come.

 

We again indulged in some sushi, relaxing as we watched the ocean slip by outside, then took a few pictures of the setting sun, before heading back to get ready for dinner.

 

[purrlinda]

This review is such an excellent ride! I've had a nasty cold for days and it's been a bright spot. Only 61 days until I leave for my time on the Victory!

[maplo]

I love reading this and looking at all of your beautiful pictures.

My Sister-in-law and I are excited about doing this trip in September.

We were talking about the turtle swim. Ok, I can swim but not the best at it and deep water to me is intimidating. So, if we sign up for this tour are there the life vests to wear and is this something someone like me, who can swim but not the best could do? I would love to do it but I know if I can't wear the vests, I won't get in the water. lol

 

Also, how hard is it to get in and out of the boat. I once did a stingray excursion in Grand Cayman and I am only 5'2" so I had a heck of a time getting back onto the stairs. Luckily my hubby gave me a big boost.

 

Whatever we decide to do we will have a blast. I have the best sister-in-law in the world. She is the sister I never had and the two of us have a blast together. But, hope this is something we can possibly consider doing since we both love tours that include animals/ sealife.

Thanks for your help and I look forward to the rest of your review.

Pam

[imagine8]

Thanks for this wonderful review. Some of the best pics I've seen on here!:)

[scraphappylady]

What tour company did you use for your excursion?

 

For the turtles? I've always called it Silver Moon/Ocean Adventures. If I remember correctly, in looking it up online I could use either name interchangeably and would get their web site. If you're interested, I would say book as soon as you can - I've heard they can get filled up quickly. We booked about two months out.

 

This review is such an excellent ride! I've had a nasty cold for days and it's been a bright spot. Only 61 days until I leave for my time on the Victory!

Just keep thinking warm Caribbean thoughts and feel better soon!

 

My Sister-in-law and I are excited about doing this trip in September. We were talking about the turtle swim. Ok, I can swim but not the best at it and deep water to me is intimidating. So, if we sign up for this tour are there the life vests to wear and is this something someone like me, who can swim but not the best could do? I would love to do it but I know if I can't wear the vests, I won't get in the water. lol

 

Also, how hard is it to get in and out of the boat. I once did a stingray excursion in Grand Cayman and I am only 5'2" so I had a heck of a time getting back onto the stairs. Luckily my hubby gave me a big boost.

 

Pam

 

Silver Moon has inflatable vests for those who need them. I usually don't wear one, but wore it this time because I was afraid I would get too tired with so much snorkeling and really wanted to concentrate on the turtles.

 

I actually had to let some air back out of mine when I got into the water. The vests are very good at keeping you afloat, and the salt in the water helps a lot, too. At one point, I tried to dive down to get closer to the wrecks and the vest wouldn't let me go down. Lesson learned!

 

Also, the tour operators suggest that when you swim with the turtles, you don't wear flippers, so as not to boink them (or your fellow snorkelers) in the head! :rolleyes: It was actually a nice experience to snorkel without flippers for a change.

 

As for getting in and out of the water, there is a nice ledge within a foot or so of the water, off the back of the boat. You can sit there to get ready, then ease yourself down the ladder hanging off the back. Very easy. I've always found getting back onto the boat can be a little tricky if you are wearing flippers (later on in the trip), since I was always told to take mine off before climbing back up the ladder. I'm just nervous that mine will end up at the bottom of the ocean, but if you ask I'm sure they'd be happy to grab yours before you climb back out. Again, the ladder is only a few steps long, and there are good handholds to grab onto. Not hard at all.

[scraphappylady]

Thanks for this wonderful review. Some of the best pics I've seen on here!:)

 

Aw, shucks . . . :D

[scraphappylady]

Barbados (cont'd . . . yet again!)

 

At dinner, we apologized for seemingly blowing off our dinner mates the previous night, then settled in for another wonderful meal and socializing. For appetizers, both DH and I had the sushi plate, then Jon went for the French onion soup as well, while I had the prosuitto ruffles, a favorite of mine. As the main course, Jon had the penne with seafood, and I ordered the mahi mahi, both of which were really well prepared. We rounded out the meal with vanilla ice cream for him and the date/fig cake for me. I was being adventurous this time since I had heard mixed reviews about the cake, but it turned out to be very good.

 

We had time for a quick cup of coffee, before making our way to the Caribbean Lounge for this night’s entertainment (10:30pm). There were two entertainers – a comedian/juggler and another comedian.

 

The juggler, Victor Zuniga, was wonderful, with a nice level of humor in his act as well. I tried to get my DH to go up on stage when Victor asked for a volunteer (maybe he would get one of those elusive ship-on-a-sticks?), but he wouldn’t do it. :( We were sorry when his portion of the show ended.

 

On the other hand, we did not enjoy the other comedian, Percy Crews, quite as much. He was very loud, not as funny, and a little more PG-13, shall we say, than the mixed crowd of kids and adults warranted. He also did the late night R-rated show the following night and he seemed to be bringing in too much of that type of material and attitude into this show.

 

As we again slowly strolled back toward our cabin, we passed through the casino, which was packed. This time we each donated $10 to the 2 cent slots, making our funds last almost 30 minutes each, before finally going down in defeat.

 

Our cabin friend this night was a swan

 

 

and we tried to start a collection of towel animals to last the whole trip. But no matter how carefully we tried to move our animals each night, they never made it intact over to the couch, and were usually gone after our stewardess finished making up our cabin the next day. At least we have our pictures to remember them by!

 

We knew we had a very busy tour scheduled the next day in St. Lucia, so it was off to bed.

[jimsmom2]

Our cruise on the Victory starts on Easter and we can't wait. We are using your reviews to help plan our excursions and give our teens (2 boys) an opportunity to 'see' what it is they can do around the islands. We will probably only take about 3 different excursions on all the islands, so we want to make sure we get our moneys worth. Your review is really helping in that aspect.

 

I haven't read all the way through some of iyour narrative, so I'm not sure if you took the leap of faith and booked some of the tours on-shore when you got there or thru the ship. I would really want to know which ones that there could be the chance of NOT getting back to the ship on time.

 

Also, how was the food on this ship. Our last cruise was with the Destiny on Carnival and I was totally NOT :( impressed with the fare in the general dining area. I hope this one is better. The night-time food and service was excellent, however.

 

Thank you again for the photos. I scrap, but do it digitally with photoshop and piece my designs together using backgrounds and lettering, etc., from online scrap stores.

 

LeeAnn

Carnival Victory

4/4/2010

Eastern Caribbean

[medacruise]

LOVING your posts. We sail in September.....really helping me to get a feel for this trip. I don't think the cruise will come fast enough!

[happylady]

(And were you also a supermodel in your past life, too? What do you know? I guess we WERE twins, then:D)

 

Your right, I'm actually tall, blond with abs of steel, 22 years old with a masters degree in nuclear physics...of course I don't want anyone to be jealous, so I cover it with a slightly overweight middle age body! :D:eek::D:eek:

[scraphappylady]

Our cruise on the Victory starts on Easter and we can't wait. We are using your reviews to help plan our excursions and give our teens (2 boys) an opportunity to 'see' what it is they can do around the islands. We will probably only take about 3 different excursions on all the islands, so we want to make sure we get our moneys worth. Your review is really helping in that aspect.

 

I haven't read all the way through some of iyour narrative, so I'm not sure if you took the leap of faith and booked some of the tours on-shore when you got there or thru the ship. I would really want to know which ones that there could be the chance of NOT getting back to the ship on time.

 

Also, how was the food on this ship. Our last cruise was with the Destiny on Carnival and I was totally NOT :( impressed with the fare in the general dining area. I hope this one is better. The night-time food and service was excellent, however.

 

Thank you again for the photos. I scrap, but do it digitally with photoshop and piece my designs together using backgrounds and lettering, etc., from online scrap stores.

 

LeeAnn

Carnival Victory

4/4/2010

Eastern Caribbean

 

 

I hope my review, now and when finished, can help you! Hmm, with teen boys, that's a hard call. Do they like what I would call slightly more "educational" things, like touring an old fort, or more adventurous, like say river tubing? We did two land based driving tours - St. Lucia (coming up) and St. Kitts - and it might take a certain type of teenager to be able to put up with that much driving, and not much active/beach time.

 

Of all the tours we did, I can definitely recommend the snorkeling with turtles for any age (assuming they're ok in the water - not necessarily awesome swimmers but just comfortable at least with snorkeling with vests on). You'll really get your money's worth there! After that, it would kinda be based on their personalities.

 

We only booked two tours thru Carnival, one of which was for Dominica because of the state of the roads there. Otherwise, I booked independent places, but ahead of time online. I did online research, mostly on CC, and picked well recommended, highly praised tours. These companies rely on good feedback to stay in business, and the ones that we chose were indeed top notch.

 

It would worry me to pick up a taxi in port, without knowing anything about that person/company, and then expect them to give you a decent tour, especially if you need to rely on them to get you back to the ship in time. On the other hand, if you're just taking a taxi to get to a particular beach, try and find out ahead how much the estimated cost would be. We took one to Orient Beach, on St. Martin, and pretty much knew cost, pickup location, etc ahead of time, so we felt comfortable.

 

When were you on the Destiny? I think I heard that they only change the menus company wide every one or two years. But don't let one ship's food worry you. We had food on our July 09 Legend cruise that was not so good there, but awesome on Victory, and vice versa. More depends on the particular chef, I think! (And try the made to order breakfast omelets on the Lido - I think they're to die for, myself!!)

 

With how much I love the computer and digital photography, I have a feeling I'm going to go to digital scrapbooking in the not too distant future! Might be a way to get caught up on some of my vacation scrapbooks, at least!:rolleyes:

[scraphappylady]

LOVING your posts. We sail in September.....really helping me to get a feel for this trip. I don't think the cruise will come fast enough!

 

Glad my experiences can help! I know how you feel! We only had about 165 days to wait when we originally booked our trip, and it was torture counting down every one of them. But the end result was soooo worth it!:D

 

Your right, I'm actually tall, blond with abs of steel, 22 years old with a masters degree in nuclear physics...of course I don't want anyone to be jealous, so I cover it with a slightly overweight middle age body! :D:eek::D:eek:

 

Yep, definitely twins!:p

[KroozFoolz]

 

We also noticed another ship in port later that, as rumor had it, belonged to a Russian millionaire. It looked like a cross between a ship and a submarine, and was said to be made for deep ocean travel and heavy seas. I can believe it.

 

 

I have really been enjoying your review!

I think I spotted the yacht pictured above when you were in Barbados on Royal Princess's webcam today, off the coast of St. Barts.

 

[scraphappylady]

I have really been enjoying your review!

I think I spotted the yacht pictured above when you were in Barbados on Royal Princess's webcam today, off the coast of St. Barts.

 

 

 

Looks like it's the same one. Just taking it's own sweet time meandering around the islands, I guess. Must be quite a nice lifestyle!:rolleyes:

[scraphappylady]

Day 5 - St. Lucia

 

By now, we had established a routine in the mornings. Since Jon and I both seemed to wake up pretty early, we would usually have time to spend on the deck, either before or after getting ready for the day, and watch as we came into port. This morning was no exception. We watched another gorgeous sunrise,

 

 

 

then got ready and had breakfast on the Lido, and spent the remainder of the time before pulling into port taking pictures from the top decks.

 

 

 

 

[scraphappylady]

Passing in front of the runway at a small local airport. I'm guessing we were big enough that they had to stop air traffic for a few minutes!

 

 

 

 

Pointe Seraphine

 

Tying up the boat at the dock area