Victory 10/3/2010-10/10/10

[Cool Breeze Cruiser]

More St. Lucia

 

Jalousie Beach

 

 

 

 

The resort area of the beach

 

 

 

Where we sat at Jalousie Beach. See the small area to the right, that is where we had our lunch. This is also the area of the beach where there is snorkeling.

 

[Cool Breeze Cruiser]

More St. Lucia

 

Toraille Waterfalls & Botanical Gardens

 

 

The water felt great!

 

[Cruiser_SG77]

Awesome review and great pics! Thanks for taking the time to post this.

 

Looks like you guys had a blast! :)

[Cool Breeze Cruiser]

Thanks. We always have a good time together!

 

By the way, we ordered room service the morning of our Spencer Ambrose tour since we had to meet his group at 8:30. It was great & came right on time. So unless you are earlybirds (we are not) it might be best to order room service when you have an early tour.

The Spencer Ambrose Tour was from 8:30-3:30 & cost $65 each. It included transportation to & from the pier,entry fees to the sites, lunch, snacks, unlimited drinks (apparently except the rum punch) & the water taxi fare to Jalousie Beach. We were supposed to pay extra if we wanted to take a water taxi back to the pier from the beach but again we were not given that option even though we had requested it.

 

That night was the second Elegant night & we were exhausted after our all day tour in St. Lucia. but we dressed up & out we went! That night was the VROOOM show & the late night Comedy Act with Jr McCollum & of course we ended up in the piano bar with our friends.

 

 

Elegant Night 2

 

 

We liked this map because it showed where we were going but unfortunately we stood in front of that part.

 

 

We didn't know anyone when we got on the ship but came home with so many great new friends. A special thanks to Faye for sending me pics of our sailboat adventure in Barbados!

 

[gail8]

Thanks for your great review so far. I am sitting here laughing at your day with Spencer Ambrose's brother. We had much the same experience with him. My husband calls it the day we were kidnapped in St Lucia!!!! The only difference in our day was the 4 kids in the back of the van throwing up from the crazy driving through the hills. :rolleyes: Thanks for the chuckles.

[Cool Breeze Cruiser]

Thanks for your great review so far. I am sitting here laughing at your day with Spencer Ambrose's brother. We had much the same experience with him. My husband calls it the day we were kidnapped in St Lucia!!!! The only difference in our day was the 4 kids in the back of the van throwing up from the crazy driving through the hills. :rolleyes: Thanks for the chuckles.

 

I never read a bad review about Spencer Ambroses tour until we went except for the one that he starts his tour out with a prayer which John did (& we liked, especially on those winding roads).

I thought I would get flamed for posting something negative about his tour & as I said maybe we caught them on a bad day but PLEASE, PLEASE come back & post the good & bad reviews so that everyone can choose the best tour for them.

I can not imagine having kids throwing up in the van you were in. Hope they were your kids as it is easier to tolerate your own kids vomit!

Luckily we did not get sick from the fast driving through the winding roads. We just felt let down from being soooo rushed, lack of time at Jalousie Beach, our eating experience there & the water taxi fiasco.

I loved St. Lucia but I don't feel like we had a great experience there!

[cuted126]

Great review! LOVE your first elegant night dress!

[Cool Breeze Cruiser]

Great review! LOVE your first elegant night dress!

 

Thanks. I love Dillards sales. I think I paid $20 for that dress & you can wad it up & throw it in the suitcase!

[Dirkgun]

That is too bad... it sounds like you caught them on a bad day. I know when Spencer is there they are alot more able to roll with the unforeseen punches (or even the forgotten requests..) We went with his cousin and we actually had the van to our group of 6. so we had the luxury of customizing as we went. He would just call spencer and tell him we would meet them wherever. We ended up leaving the Jalousie beach area earlier than the rest so we could stop at an art gallery on the way back. I do get a kick out of just how much your pictures mirror the kinds of pics we had. Still bringing back lots of great memories. I am loving your review keep it up. :D

[jimbo5544]

Very nice review and pictures. Looks like you had a wonderful time.

[1timecruiser]

I'm in the western part of the state as you can tell...but I just had to say, for 50 years of age, Madam you have it going on!!

 

I need to go work out so I can model several different swimsuits on my upcoming cruise. :rolleyes:

 

You guys look great and as if you had a wonderful time. Thanks for the review and pics!

[Cool Breeze Cruiser]

I'm in the western part of the state as you can tell...but I just had to say, for 50 years of age, Madam you have it going on!!

 

I need to go work out so I can model several different swimsuits on my upcoming cruise. :rolleyes:

 

You guys look great and as if you had a wonderful time. Thanks for the review and pics!

 

 

Thanks! You just made my day!

I am in Atlanta for a wedding but will finish the review when we get home.

Juli

[KMYork]

Thank you! I am totally enjoying your review. I will be on this ship in February. I am loving the pics and would also love to see more pics of the inside of the ship - I hear the decor is not very attractive, but I'm a Wizard of Oz girl and wouldn't mind the Emerald City feeling! :-)

[Cool Breeze Cruiser]

Thank you! I am totally enjoying your review. I will be on this ship in February. I am loving the pics and would also love to see more pics of the inside of the ship - I hear the decor is not very attractive, but I'm a Wizard of Oz girl and wouldn't mind the Emerald City feeling! :-)

 

Sorry. I did not take a lot of pics of the ship. I just use a point & shoot & there are so many great pics on Cruise Critic of the Victory. We mainly just took pics on the islands.

I really liked the blue & green colors & all the seahorses though.

I will post a pic of one of my favorite pictures on the ship though & the seahorses that are everywhere.

 

 

Here is a link to a Victory thread with tons of pics.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=980056&highlight=all+things+victory

 

 

 

 

[Cool Breeze Cruiser]

We were so excited about going to St. Kitts, especially since our river tubing in Dominica did not work out. We like to combine adventure days, beach days & touring days on our cruises so we booked an all day sail & snorkel through Liz at lizpereiratourstore@yahoo.com (formerly the Tour Store). It SOUNDED amazing!

I mention Liz because I was very impressed with her customer service. We emailed back & forth with her throughout our cruise because we had friends that wanted to join us. But on Tuesday before our Friday arrival in St. Kitts she sent us an email stating that due to the tropical depression & flooding she didn't think we would be able to go on our catamaran trip. We tentatively set up an ATV tour but by Thursday she let us know that would not be possible either due to the flooding. She offered several alternatives but we decided to just get off the ship & go to the beach with some of our new friends. I was glad Liz contacted us early in the week to keep us posted on what was going on in St. Kitts though so we could make other arrangements.

We went to the taxi stand right beside the pier & got a cab to Cockleshell Beach. They tried to talk us into going to another beach because they said Cockleshell was in bad shape due to the flooding. Upon questioning they told us the other beach they wanted to take us to did not have chairs & umbrellas so we decided to brave Cockleshell. There were eight of us & we were charged $6.50 each & our driver returned to pick us up at the time we requested for another $6.50 each.

I was so excited to actually see for myself the picture that has been my screensaver on my computer for the last few months, where the Atlantic & the Caribbean meet! Gorgeous! Our cab driver stopped & let us take pictures. Then he let us out at Cockleshell & we saw for ourselves how bad the flooding was. The water was almost black due to the sand that was stirred up & there was a huge boat washed up almost into Reggae Beach Bar!

We wanted to go to Lion's Beach Bar but their umbrellas had been torn up in the storm (they were working on them while we were there) & we did not think we could survive the Caribbean sun without an umbrella so we went down to the SpiceMill & paid $5 each for lounge chairs & $10 for an umbrella.

We ended up going to Lion's (right next door) because the beer there was $2 & was $3 at the SpiceMill & we fell in love with the Lion & Angela there. Such nice people!

Great rum punch was $5.

We had probably the best food of our whole cruise at Lion's! My DH & I split the ribs & everyone else split the chicken platter. OMG was it good. The rice was incredible! Angela said they season it with garlic & spices. It was also served with plantains & vegetables. I have pics!

We had so much fun at Cockleshell even though it definitely was not the day we had planned. There were eight of us & everyone loved it there.

We walked down to Reggae Beach Bar even though they were closed to watch them remove the boat from their premises. We got to see Wilbur the pig anyway!

Some of the women had a great aloe massage on the beach by Danny Boy (in front of Lion's) for $30 for 45 minutes. Wonderful!

We really want to go back to St. Kitts. I can imagine how beautiful it would be without the flooding. We could see Nevis (where we were supposed to have a picnic on our catamaran trip) & the water out there looked a gorgeous Caribbean blue!

Did we get to see the best of St. Kitts? No. Did we have an incredible time there & want to go back? Absolutely!

I will post the pics when I get back from a meeting.

[Cool Breeze Cruiser]

St. Kitts

 

 

 

Where the Atlantic meets the Caribbean! I have a great photo of this someone else took as my screensaver (probably a better pic). It was an overcast day but it was my pic (so it means I was there)! Awesome!!!!

 

 

The Carib Beer of St. Lucia with Nevis in the background. See the Caribbean blue water close to Nevis that our water should have looked like?m/albums/bb439/JuliKelley/PA080307.jpg[/img]

 

The water was just a LITTLE stirred up by the sand from the tropical depression!

 

 

 

The boat that was almost in Reggae Beach Bar!

 

[Cool Breeze Cruiser]

More St. Kitts

 

Wilbur was asleep when we were there but after all the excitement of the storms who could blame him?

 

 

Our Group at Lion's Beach Bar

 

 

 

My DH's OMG! This is the most delicious meal of the week!

 

 

That is the beautiful Nevis in the background that we ALMOST got to see!

 

 

The Lion & Angela & of course my DH & I! OK Angela, how do I make that delicious rice?

 

[Cool Breeze Cruiser]

More St. Kitts!

 

The newlyweds sampling the chicken!

 

 

 

Our fight over Danny Boy who gives GREAT aloe massages!

 

 

Heading back to 'our home'

 

 

 

'Our' Victory!

 

 

 

 

We had such a great time in St. Kitts despite the flooding! Good friends! Good Times!

 

Next up. My most embarrasing time of the week!

[jennmaybe]

Great review! We just returned last night and this was just a fabulous cruise! Anyone who is booked for this one, will absolutely love it!!

[Cool Breeze Cruiser]

Great review! We just returned last night and this was just a fabulous cruise! Anyone who is booked for this one, will absolutely love it!!

 

 

Thanks. Glad you had a good time too. Hope you had a little better weather than we did but we don't let weather determine rather we have a good time or not. We went to Florida a few years ago & it rained (monsoon type rain) the whole week we were there. Everyone was going home early & we decided to stay an extra day.

I remember you researching the Victory at the same time I was. Hard to believe how quickly it went by!

[Cool Breeze Cruiser]

We got back on the ship to rumors that we would not be going to St. Maarten. Unfortunately the rumors were true. a few minutes later we received a letter from Carnival stating our call to St. Maarten was canceled because the harbor was closed due to adverse weather conditions. We received an $8.18 credit per person for the government fees & taxes for St. Maarten.

We always cruise during hurricane season so this is always a possibility but we have never missed a port before despite encountering Hurricane Rick last year when leaving San Diego.

We were disappointed because we were really looking forward to Orient Beach & most of all because we had been to busy all week to shop for souvenirs so we were saving shopping for St. Maarten. My wallet is probably thankful we didn't stop there.

Anyway, we knew we would have a good time with a day at sea & we really had not had much time to explore the ship.

We were also grateful that with the crazy weather we had that week we only missed one port.

[Cool Breeze Cruiser]

While we were at Cockleshell Beach that day our newlywed friends said they would like try to be in the marriage show (formerly the Newlywed Game) that night so our group went to cheer them on. We always enjoy the Marriage Show & try not to miss it.

We were sitting in the audience & Karl with a K found a couple that had been married the night before we left for our cruise. Matter of fact their were several couples & he had to narrow it down by what time they got married. Then he found a couple that had been married 52 years.

OK. Remember we were there celebrating our 26th anniversary & that put us right in the middle! Our friends let Karl know that we should be the Midlyweds!

OMG! I always told my hubby that I NEVER wanted to be in the Marriage Show! I appreciate the other people that make fools of themselves for our entertainment though! lol!

You also have to understand that my husband likes to make things interesting (one of the reasons I married him) & his sense of humor is sometimes out there.

Well we had a little "liquid courage' before the show so we headed up there.

I have to admit that while my hubby was not boring there were only a couple of answers that made me want to crawl under my seat! I was laughing so hard tears were running down my face.

Karl called the game a tie & all three couples received a bottle of champagne & a Ship on a Stick! Yay for us!

Luckily we only had one more day of the Marriage Show playing over & over & over on television in all the cabins so only half the ship (or so it seemed) came up to us with comments like, "Did you see fireworks last night?"

All in good fun but never again! We bought the video & it is one of our favorite souvenirs. It didn't make up for not getting to shop in St. Maarten though!

 

Never really thought about us as Midlyweds!

 

 

I actually think the ship is pretty! A lot of great places for photos.

 

 

Love being greeted by towel animals every night. It never gets old!

 

[Cool Breeze Cruiser]

We woke up for our 'unexpected ' day at sea. Ironically it was a gorgeous day! To bad it was not in St. Maarten.

 

We joined friends & found chairs on the lido deck to soak up a little more sun. We made mimosas from our champagne from the marriage show. I had never had one & it was good.

 

We saw dolphins swimming alongside the ship several times & that is always exciting! There were a lot of baby dolphins with them.

 

I am sad to say that we had never been down the water slide before but we remedied that & it was so much fun!

The walk up to the slide was easy but very HOT & you have to take your shoes off to go down the slide.

 

And I finally got a Miami Vice! We were not on the ship that much during the day all week & it is hard to go on a cruise & not have at least one Miami Vice! Wonderful!

 

The day absolutely flew by! Where did the week go?

 

I have to say I really don't like the jumbo tran. I like to relax & watch the ocean & listen to the Calypso music so having videos going constantly is not my thing.

We could have gone to the aft pool but something was wrong with the top & they had to keep it closed while we were moving (it was open when we were in port) & it was like a sauna in there. Also, the pool & hot tub's water was absolutely GREEN!

 

All the pool & hot tubs on the ship were pretty murky looking towards the end of the week & they were always really full so we did not get in them. I don't really care for saltwater unless it is in the ocean so that was not a big deal.

 

We went to dinner, to the Who's Lying Show (pretty funny),

played the $5000 bingo (unfortunately we did not win or I would have probably booked another cruise right then), & saw the Legends Show. I know our fellow passengers worked hard all week getting ready for it & some of them were very talented & the costumes are amazing.

 

We hurried to our cabin to pack & put our luggage out & went back to join our friends in the Piano Bar to close out our last night. I had to drag my DH out of there kicking & screaming (almost) but all good things must come to an end!

 

Relaxing in the sun

 

 

 

Finally got a Miami Vice!

 

 

 

A beautiful sunset as we were passing by an island

 

 

 

 

Bingo!

 

 

I am going to miss this!

 

[Dirkgun]

Again, great review. Thanks for taking the time to write it.

[bluzchick]

Thank you so much for the review! Can't wait to sail 1/2/11! I got some great tips, thank you again! I am hoping the clean up the hot tubs/pools while in dry dock..I have noticed in some recent pics that they are looking kinda rough

 

You look amazing and congrats on the anniversary!