REVIEW-Best Vacation EVER on CARNIVAL VICTORY Jan 30th-Feb 6th, 2011 (LONG with PICS)

[imdawn]

This was hands down-the most amazing vacation we have ever been on! Pictures don’t even begin to do the ports justice (even though I will post a LOT of them in an attempt) you really have to see these places for yourself to see the real beauty!

 

Carnival Victory was our second cruise-our first cruise was last March on the Carnival Legend for our Honeymoon. We loved it so much as soon as we got home I was researching our next cruise! This cruise went to so many different ports it wasn’t a matter of IF we were going it was a matter of WHEN.

 

Carnival Victory sails out of San Juan and stops at St. Thomas, Barbados, St. Lucia, St. Kitts, and St. Maarten. If you are trying to decide if this cruise is for you or worth the money, believe me when I say IT IS! In fact, we are thinking about taking this exact cruise all over again…like I said it was the best vacation we’ve ever been on. I tried to stay on the ship, but they wouldn’t let me-jerks! :p

 

Onto the review-after a 3 hour drive south (we are from Northern Michigan by the Mackinaw Bridge) we flew out of Flint, Michigan in a snow storm and when I say snow storm I mean they had to de-ice our plane. We had a layover in Orlando and we were in San Juan Saturday evening.

Once we arrived in San Juan I felt like we were FINALLY on vacation-it was nice and hot and it was already after 5:00 p.m.! I love it-the hotter the better keep in mind we had –24 degrees in Michigan earlier in the week sooo 80-90 degrees was welcomed weather!

 

I tried my hand at Priceline and we were lucky enough to get a room at the Marriott Hotel & Stellaris Casino. This is BY FAR one of the nicest hotels we have ever stayed at. After our last cruise (we stayed at a dive Howard Johnson in Tampa with bugs if you want a good laugh click on that review http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1172863 to see the pictures!) this time we knew that getting a NICE hotel prior to cruising was very important! We got a good price too $160 for the night (keep in mind the Marriott Stellaris is a "Resort") I saw on different CC boards people were getting Resort rooms much cheaper-so maybe do some Priceline checking earlier than a couple months before you leave-we may have waited too long. Long story short-when we arrived at the Marriott Stellaris and it was worth EVERY cent!

 

We went to a pizza place a couple blocks away for dinner it was really good. Then we went in the other direction one block to the Walgreens and got a case of water and a case of pop for our room on the ship. Oh yea and after dinner we went to the casino and I won $200 when I put in $20!!! So really it was like we stayed for FREE!!!!

 

One of the Marriott Stellaris pools with a swim up bar!

 

My husband Jake in the ocean-the water was SO WARM!!!

 

Looking down the beach at Sunset

 

Me outside the Marriott after dinner (I loved the blue lights)

 

The pools lit up at night-very pretty!

[Dirkgun]

I love the start of this review already. Reviews of the Victory are my Favorite. :D Please keep it coming. :D Glad you had a good time

[dscow]

Great start! Looking forward to the rest of your review. :)

[delta cruiser]

Can't wait to read the rest of your review! We are leaving on the Victory in two months so we are anxious to see the rest!

[Name Of The Game]

Isn't the airfare terribly expensive to San Juan?

[imdawn]

The next day we woke up and headed to the ship to check in our luggage. I read on Cruise Critic that you could do this at around Noon-you can. (By the way the Marriott is going to get a heck of a great review from me on Trip Advisor when I get a chance to leave one…VERY COMFORTABLE BEDS!)

 

One thing about Puerto Rico that cracked me up-if you’ve ever watched Saturday Night Live-there is a skit on there called the Manuel Ortiz Show

swear I kept hearing this song everywhere we went and I’m pretty sure the cab driver on way to ship was listening to this exact song!!!!

 

Check in on the ship took awhile, but if you’ve ever been on a cruise you already know that. We just wanted to drop off our luggage and get back off to check out San Juan and the forts. We went to both forts and we took the free trolley (slow…but free) We took a TON of pictures over the course of this cruise-over 500 total so I had to pick the best ones from each port or else it would have taken FOREVER to upload them all!

 

Castillo San Cristobal

 

Looking left out of on of the rooms

 

Looking right out of one of the rooms

 

The Victory-it became kind of a "thing" to take a picture of the Victory from every port

 

Me at the fort-check out that water in the background!

[imdawn]

We headed over to the other fort-even though you could easily stay at one or the other and probably not cover the entire thing in a day..they are H-U-G-E! So many rooms and ground to cover...and if I haven't already mentioned it-Puerto Rico is HOOOOOOOT! But I'm not complaining-bring it on...that's why I'm wearing black-trying to attract the sun! haha

 

San Juan on the way to the other fort-I bet it's a bitch trying to park on these street ;P

 

El Morro-pretty sure everyone comes to this fort to fly a kite they are everywhere!

 

Going down to the dungeon...it was cooler down there ha!

 

Watch your head Jake!

 

My hair took a turn for the worse in the heat and humidity...but I'm still smiling

 

After checking out the fort for awhile we went outside to see that the sunny skies had turned grey and it looked like it was going to rain so we decided it was time to head to the ship. See all the kites and people just hanging out on the grass?!

[imdawn]

I love the start of this review already. Reviews of the Victory are my Favorite. :D Please keep it coming. :D Glad you had a good time

 

We had the BEST time!!! We want to go back N-O-W! I remember reading your review before we left!!!

 

dscowGreat start! Looking forward to the rest of your review. :)

Thanks it's a work in progress..you should have seen my first review on the Legend took me awhile, but it was worth it :)

 

delta cruiserCan't wait to read the rest of your review! We are leaving on the Victory in two months so we are anxious to see the rest!

Can I come with you in two months?!?!

 

Name Of The GameIsn't the airfare terribly expensive to San Juan?

Yep! We paid $845 for the two of us out of Flint, MI to San Juan, plus the lovely $65 fee for 3 bags, however, would we do it again-ABSOLUTELY!!!!! Right now if we had the time off from work!

[imdawn]

Time to check out the Victory and our Balcony Room! Room 6268 in case anyone was wondering.

We had a Balcony Room on the Carnival Legend and after a LOT of going back and forth about getting an inside room, ocean view room, or another balcony room, we decided to go with the balcony room...soooooooooo glad we did! It was AHHH-MAZING and you'd be surprised at all the little islands and such that you pass on this cruise not to menion falling asleep to the sound of the water and going out there every morning and night at a different port-let me just say it was worth the extra money!

 

Walking in

 

Jake loved that I made him wait with the luggage so I could take this picture haha

 

TWO Chocolate Melting Cakes?! I said it couldn't be done-Jake proved me wrong!

 

The Sail Away Party-Check it out the Victory has a movie theater!

 

I LOVED the BLUE LIGHTS by the pools!!!

[imdawn]

We got a big kick out of the green lit up ceiling that looks like a space ship or something-it was really cool looking. The stairways leading up to the top were lit up too.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[klm2]

Your right, this is one cruise you could do more than once and have a blast. Thanks for your review.

[Aplmac]

We got a big kick out of the green lit up ceiling that looks like a space ship or something

-it was really cool looking.

 

 

 

SO glad to see they replaced all the burnt-out bulbs!

In about 7 wks. I'll be doing fresh atrium pics.

 

It was like this...

..back in Nov. of 2008 and Apr. of 2009

 

.

[Akgoalie7]

My dad is from the UP. Sault St. Marie. We visited once for a family reunion. His family owns land in Rudyard too. It will be mine one day. Loved eating at "Antlers" in the Soo.

 

Good job on the review! MORE MORE MORE please! :D

[imdawn]

St. Thomas

We booked Package #6 with Air Force One Tours it was $30 pp and I highly recommend booking this tour if you want to see the sights of St. Thomas! http://www.havefunwithus.net/packages.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

[imdawn]

klm2-That's the plan-We want to do this exact cruise at LEAST one more time if not more!!!

 

aplmac-You take the most amazing pictures EVER! I loved all the ones you posted in the "All things Victory" board! What kind of camera do you use??

 

Akgoalie7-Antlers has the best wing dings ever! ;P My husband went to college in the Soo. He is originally from Bruce Crossing, MI though (complete other side of the U.P.) We live about 45 minutes South of the bridge now though. As you can imagine anytime we want to go on vacation-it's a bit of a drive to Flint, Detroit, etc. BUT...it's worth it!

 

St. Thomas continued

 

The kids at the schools waved at the tour buses

 

Good luck getting that through customs Jake!

 

I WANT this tree...seriously!

 

Beautiful blue water and amazing views!

 

[imdawn]

We loved the tour and I think as far as seeing St. Thomas it is definitely worth booking! We also booked tickets to the top of Paradise Point through Carnival (it was a couple bucks cheaper through Carnival than through their website) $20 pp. The view from Paradise Point was our favoirte view of St. Thomas!

 

Those are the trams we rode up in.

 

The amazing view (see the Victory at the bottom!!!)

 

Looking slightly to the right

 

Jake trying to take our picture with the view in the background

 

 

HAHA!!!

[Aplmac]

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Victory bow-decks..

 

 

 

aplmac-You take the most amazing pictures EVER!

I loved all the ones you posted in the "All things Victory" board!

=====> Yeah that was a cool thread we mad going for awhile there.

Maybe when I get back from Apr. cruise on Victory

something like that might happen again, given audience participation?

 

What kind of camera do you use?? ====> Nikon but..

it's the lenses I use.

 

 

 

I WANT this tree...seriously!

 

That is Bouganvillea -originally an Amazonic climbing vine

a woody vine with nasty thorns!

 

Whoever's the gardener has the un-pleasant end of Bouganvillea, once introduced to one's garden. :)

 

 

Personally I don't like it (despite its beautiful blooms in Dry Season) because of the ruddy thorns!

It is hell to manage, to cut back, to move the clippings.

Gloves are mandatory

 

You get several "sticks" -ouch! any time you mess with it!

And yet it'll climb all over the house if you let it, so it must be trimmed now and then.

 

Lovely to look at, difficult to actually live with.. ;)

[imdawn]

All and all St. Thomas was incredible. I kept saying to Jake that if the other ports were half as nice we were in for a treat! We could have even stayed right in San Juan for the week and had a hell of a good time!

 

Anyways we went up to the Lido deck once we got back onboard and ate lunch. We took a nice long nap. Grabbed dinner in the Main Dining Room. Then we did it ALL tonight since we didn't have to get up early the next day (Sea Day)

 

We went to the - Game Show Mania

-Jackpot Bingo (and lost)

-Senior Officers Introduction

-Show Time

-The Adults Only Comedians Al Romero and JR McCollom *both VERY funny couldn't catch my breath a couple times I was laughing so hard!

 

It was a great night!

Here are a couple misc pictures of the ship

 

 

Pool and Slide

 

Double Hammocks in Serenity...more like get your own Hammock!

 

 

More Serenity

 

Serenity

 

Jake's King of the World moment...

[trphil]

We are on the Victory in 35 days....can't wait!

[pokergirl34]

We were on Victory in December. It was our best vacation ever as well. I would be more than happy to book it again someday. This year it's no cruise and Maui instead but reviews like this will help me remember our best vacation ever!

[Aplmac]

 

Then we did it ALL tonight since we didn't

have to get up early the next day (Sea Day) ===> Good point!

_________________________________________

 

Here are a couple misc pictures of the ship

Double Hammocks in Serenity...more like get your own Hammock!

 

 

 

This area ^ of the ship ^ ^ is new to me

...no doubt installed during dry dock in Nov. (at Freeport?)

 

The area you've shown seems to be where the mini-golf course was

high up on the forward starboard side somewhere.

 

Here's my shot of that same area, for comparison, taken Nov. 2008

 

 

It was never a busy, well-used space and presumably Carnival noticed that too.

Now converted now into a luxe space, it has added that little something extra,

away from the madding crowd! ;)

[serenityseeker]

LOVIN' your review! Can't wait for our cruise on the Victory in April!!

Can't wait to see more pics!

[nytonowhere]

Isn't the airfare terribly expensive to San Juan?

 

i think generally yes, but I recently got a good deal, 304 pp RT nonstop from JFK leaving march 6 returning march 13! i hear prices have gone up alot since i booked. 7 days for me!!! :) This will be my second victory trip, and i really wouldnt let the price of airfare hinder you from booking this awesome cruise.

[DreaminFP]

Dawn, i'm so glad you are finally feeling better and posting your review can't wait to read the rest of it considering this is the trip we are thinking about next year. I did find airfare from Chicago for about the same we are paying to Miami in May.

[Aplmac]

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It's 0718 hrs. as Carnival Victory docks at Barbados for the very first time - November 5th. 2008

 

 

LOVIN' your review! Can't wait for our cruise on the Victory in April!!

Can't wait to see more pics!

I'm on Victory Apr. 13th (boarding at Barbados)

until we get to P.Rico on Sun. 17th.

 

--where we spend a week in San Juan with friends--

 

then re-boarding Victory on Easter Sun. 24th

and cruising down to Barbados by Wed. Apr. 27th.

 

 

Will U be there? :confused: