Just Booked 2nd Cruise ... Carnival Victory ... Questions!

[susan123]

We did this cruise a few years ago on the Destiny with a slightly different itinerary and then the Victory last year with the more port intense itinerary. I did miss not having a sea day, but every port is great. The railroad tour on St. Kitts is fun and was one of our favorite excursions....free rum punch, delightful local people commenting on their island and singing for us, and a great overview of the island. You ride on a narrowgage railroad in an old train that originally was used to transport sugar cane from the plantations. Be sure to take some kind of tour on Dominica that takes you into the rainforest. The natural beauty is amazing even though the people are very poor there. We didn't do an excursion at two of the ports we already had visited, and that gave us more time to relax and to enjoy the ship.

 

The first time we sailed from San Juan, we stayed at the Sheraton across the street from the pier, and we loved it there. Last year we decided to save a little money since we were spending so much on shore excursions and stayed at a Holiday Inn Express in the downtown (Condado) area since my husband had points we could redeem for a free room because he travels a lot in his work. The location was nice with a lot of restaurants and shops nearby as well as a seawalk across the street that was a pretty place to walk or sit. The hotel itself was adequate for only one night before the cruise, but we wouldn't have been happy there much longer. Actually, DH wasn't happy for the short time we were there since our room and the public areas of the hotel were tiny and not very comfortable. We'll go back to the Sheraton the next time we are in San Juan.

 

The Victory is a beautiful ship, and it is well maintained and very clean. There always was someone cleaning wherever we went on the ship. The staff was friendly and helpful, food was great, we enjoyed the local people from Puerto Rico who were on the ship, and we didn't have any problems with anything on the cruise.

[CBussey64]

:) See You On Board!! We are booked for the same sailing! We took the ship and itinerary in Jan 2009 and are really excited to go back again. This time we are taking the kids with, (13 and 15) It is a great ship, I have heard it will be in dry dock this fall in Nov, so it should be new and fresh. The itinerary with a port every day is awesome! One word of advice I would give is to ask for late dining. In the souther caribbean, the sun sets at 615 every night. Last time we had early dining and had to rush from sunset to supper.

There is a group on the roll call, I am not computer savy enough to cut and paste the link, but go to the roll call section, click on Carnival Roll Calls, then Find Victory Roll Calls, the link is called Cruise Critic Buddies Feb 6 2011 or something like that. 210 DAYS! Yay!:D

 

 

Oh there is, that's great, will go join and look forward to seeing/meeting you as well.

 

I'm VERY excited, esp. hearing it's going into dry dock beforehand. Whoo hoo.

 

We did choose late dining ... we did that our last cruise and it worked out so much better for us ....

 

Those 210 days can't go fast enough. :D

[TortieGal]

Just did this in April and I would have to say I was worried about doing something so port intensive. I love my sea days! But, we took it easy in 2 ports - St. Thomas and St. Kitts - and just made them beach days. I had originally wanted to do one in St. Maarten instead since it's on so many other itineraries but with St. Lucia and Cosol's tour the day before St. Kitts, it worked out well. That was an extremely long day of being herded like cattle (I am one of the few who won't rave about his tour - I just thought it was ok) and I could not have taken another day on a bus.

 

My favorite excursion was the turtle swim in Barbados and I highly recommend doing it with a private tour operator. We did it with Silvermoon and did the 12 person tour. It wasn't all that much more than carnival's excursion but the HUGE difference was that we weren't packed in like sardines. We sailed passed the Carnival tour and it totally reaffirmed our choice! It was nice to essentially have the whole catamaran to ourselves and there was plenty of drinks and food. Our crew did a really great job.

[AUS-SEA]

Okay. I've never posted photos before... and I'm having a really hard time trying to figure out how to do it. I'm attaching these two photos and will attach more later after I ask a friend who has done this before what I am doing wrong and why my photos are just thumbnails. In the meantime, I will start by mentioning that the ship is decorated in a "Seas around the World" theme. The first photo is of an octopus sculpture that is in one of the hallways, perhaps on the Promenade. The second is of the slide that goes into the King of Seas pool. There are three pools on this ship. -- I will return and I WILL post the rest of the pics, I promise.

[Thoth]

Did the same itinerary two years ago on Destiny, but went to Antigua not St Maarten.

St Thomas: island tour in 08, but preferred tour out to Saint John I took in 2002.

Dominica: Trafalgar Falls and Emerald Pools walking tour...take sturdy shoes with firm grip

Barbados: Monkey sanctuary and 4x4 adventure

St Lucia: island tour

St Kitts: Brimstone Hill Fortress

 

This itinerary did wear me out....I sure missed those relaxing " fun days at sea".

[Momto2PrncChrmgs]

We just got off the Victory this past Sunday-our first cruise and we took our 4 and 7 yr old boys.

The highlights:

MDR food was fantastic, as was our service. Tried lots of new things. LOVE Warm chocolate melting cake with 2 ice creams.

Shasa Catamaran with turtles in Barbados,

Little Bay in St Maarten jumping waves and relaxing on the beach.

Family laser tag.

EVERYONE (employees) we saw said hello, and were incredibly nice and helpful.

 

The not so high-lights:

The ships layout is pretty confusing. The first night we walked around for over 30 minutes trying to find our dining room. DIdn't know you had to go all the way to the other end of the ship and then down to 3rd floor.

The pools were smaller than I'd hoped and crowded.

Ice cream machines on LIdo were usually closed, had to walk all the way back thru the buffet area to the adult pool area to get ice cream.

Buffet, sandwich line, pizza line were all crowded all the time. Bring patience if you're eating there.

 

So as you can see, even the negatives weren't really all that negative. We had a fantastic, amazing trip! Enjoy yours!!

[SmogMonster]

You will have a fantastic time. We did this cruise last November with 2 other couples and plan on doing it again. (after Alaska and Mediterannean)

 

Make sure you do a tour with Levi Bumpiing in Dominica. Absolutely fantastic. Do not do the tour through the Cruiseline. Levi knows how to avoid the crowds and adjusts his route to avoid getting to spots when all the buses are there. Plus the tour includes all you can drink. He will have a cooler in his van loaded with local beers, sodas etc. LEvi is a very friendly, professional man who has worked hard to build his business and will do everything he can to make sure you have a good time. Also, we were able to take a dip in the emerald pool unlike any of the other visitors. I still remember the looks of envy as passengers on other tours saw DW and I relaxing in the hot springs!

 

The ship is awesome and there is alot of activity going on through the night. The bars, casino, dance clubs, karaoke stay busy.

 

Food was awesome too. Never had a bad meal and service was fast.

 

SOmeone may had said this on anearlier post but check out the "all things vicotry" thread. There is a ton of info about the ship and ports.

 

If possible spend some time in San Juan. We flew in two days early and stayed at the Marriot Isla Verde. It a beautiful hotel and a lot of locals go there to party at night in their dance club and casino. THe ocean front hammocks were very relaxing. Dont miss the Old Fort (Castilla San Felipe

El Morro) THis Fort is HUGE. The other fort (Fuerte San Cristobal) is really cool too but if I could only do one, it would have to be El Morro.

 

Also, dont be afraid to stop at some of the food stands you will find along the highway. We have a local friend who took us around and we got a chance to taste some authentic Puerto Rican cuisine.

 

Hmm, the memories that have been revived writing this post may force me to move this trip up on the cruise agenda!

[kelz66]

We were also part of the group that went in April.

 

Awesome itin. and awesome ship..very clean and well maintained.

 

Just schedule a couple beach days or down days to pacxe yourself.

 

:cool:

[dhudd]

We cruised aboard the M.S. Carnival Victory twice. I would love to cruise aboard her again and again. The Victory was our first and third cruise. Very good ship & crew!

[DaDivaMom]

We sailed with LadyJ and had a blast. Build in some relaxation time!

 

St. Thomas...instead of revisiting this isle we took the ferry to St. John and hung out at Cinnamon Bay. Less crowded and beautiful got us into vacay mode!

 

Dominica- Extreme Dominica Canyoning. AWESOME! It is the real Dominica and well worth the trip if you are even slightly athletic.

 

Barbados- Catamaran and turtles with Shasa(Jason)...very relaxing and fun.

 

St. Lucia- we took an island tour with a private guide but I really don't recommend him. The island is beautiful.

 

St. Kitt- took a taxi to Cockleshell beach and hung out at Lion's place

 

St. Martin- rented a car and headed to Margiot then on to Orient Beach

 

Loved the ship, staff and route. Two thumbs up!!!

[wrf2e]

Did the Victory in February and doing it again in October. I stayed at the Caribe Hilton pre-cruise in February. It was a very nice resort but their wasn't much to do in the nearby area. I have read that the Sheraton Old San Juan is nice and it is right across from the pier and in the heart of Old San Juan...many things to do and see there. I go the Hilton for $100 on priceline and have seen many people get similar rates at Sheraton.

[CBussey64]

Certainlly glad we booked our cruise for Feb 6 and not later ~ just found out my daughter and her husband, the parent's of my one and only 21 month old grandson ... are expecting baby #2 mid-late March .... cut that close!!!! :D

[Thoth]

If possible spend some time in San Juan. We flew in two days early and stayed at the Marriot Isla Verde. It a beautiful hotel and a lot of locals go there to party at night in their dance club and casino. THe ocean front hammocks were very relaxing. Dont miss the Old Fort (Castilla San Felipe

El Morro) THis Fort is HUGE. The other fort (Fuerte San Cristobal) is really cool too but if I could only do one, it would have to be El Morro.

 

Also, dont be afraid to stop at some of the food stands you will find along the highway. We have a local friend who took us around and we got a chance to taste some authentic Puerto Rican cuisine.

 

Hmm, the memories that have been revived writing this post may force me to move this trip up on the cruise agenda!

 

San Juan is my favorite Caribbean port. Back in 2008 I took that 7 day port a day cruise ( St Thomas, Dominica, Barbados, St Kitts, Antigua) and that short San Juan city tour on the way to the airport, on the last day, was the best. My tour of San Cristobal fortress was the tops on that cruise and I did a self walking tour from around Plaza De Colon. What a lovely city! With those cobblestone streets and historical buildings, the ambiance of old San Juan is more Mediterranean than Caribbean.

[robbinsgirl]

This is a great cruise/itenerary. My 18 year old daughter, her friend, and her friend's mom went on May 30. We loved all of the different ports. We only booked one excursion through the ship: Barbados, the 5 star Catamaran. It was great, and the crew were wonderful. We did all the other excursions off ship and spent about $350 apiece on excursions all week. Enjoy this one! The views are breath taking!

[AUS-SEA]

Here are some of my pics. Sorry it has taken so long. Had some technical difficulties.

 

As I had mentioned before, the ship is decorated in an Oceans-of-the-World theme. It's really quite nice. If you are wondering why there are so few people, I took these shots on a port day and had returned to the ship earlier than the majority of the other cruisers.

 

This is the Grand Atrium. The blue walls of the atrium appear to be tiles. The piano near the bottom is where teh Seventh Sea Piano Bar is located.

 

The Irish Sea Bar...

 

The Caspian Sea Bar... and if I am not mistaken, this is in the general vacinity of where the Captain's Cocktail Party was location...

 

... stay tuned for more...

[AUS-SEA]

... continued...

 

The South China Sea Club & Casinao...

 

The Trident Bar... and if you look in the background, you'll see the Casino. I liked the barstools in the shape of sea horses. If I recall correctly, the sushi bar is to the left of this bar.

 

The Agegean Bar...

 

... stay tuned...

[AUS-SEA]

... continued...

 

The Mediterranean Restaurant... located on the Lido deck...

 

The King of Seas Pool...

Lido deck with movie screen...

[AUS-SEA]

... continued...

 

The Tritan's Pool is the one in the foreground...

The last two shots are of some artwork I saw around the ship.

This fellow was about 7 feet tall and in one of the Promenade hallways...

http://i928.photobucket.com/albums/ad125/elaychdesign/Picture167.jpg[/img]

This is some backlit wall art that I thought was beautiful.

http://i928.photobucket.com/albums/ad125/elaychdesign/Picture214.jpg' alt='Picture214.jpg'>

 

That's all I've got. I hope you have a great trip.

[AUS-SEA]

I noticed that two of my pics didn't come across, so I'll try again.

 

The Titan's pool... in the foreground...

 

 

... and the Octopus who stands approximately 7 feet tall.