B2B on Carnival Dream Western & Carnival Victory Southern Caribbean! Review w/Pics!

[brilliantseas]

 

 

 

 

 

[brilliantseas]

More photos of the port area in Castries, St. Lucia:

 

 

 

 

 

 

[brilliantseas]

 

 

 

 

 

[brilliantseas]

 

 

 

 

 

[brilliantseas]

Unfortunately our early dining time meant that we had to choose between dinner and a beautiful sunset. I was able to get one picture as we set sail before heading to the Pacific Dining Room, but in the future, I would really like to go back to late dining or Your Time Dining.

 

 

As I've mentioned earlier, Day 5 is the weakest of the 7-night menu on Carnival, and it is also one of the weaker nights for entertainment. Here is what I had for dinner:

 

Oysters Rockefeller - 1/5

This was one of the Didja Ever appetizers introduced with the new Carnival menus, so I thought I would try something new. I've had oysters rockefeller a few times before at various business functions and once at a seafood buffet in Williamsburg, VA. I don't recall ever particularly enjoying it, or really oysters in general, but I thought I would give it another try since nothing else jumped out at me. I ate exactly one, and that was enough. It was about room temperature, dry, and just generally not good.

 

Shrimp & Fries - 3/5

This is another example of the "dumbing down" of Carnival's menu. John Heald has mentioned on multiple occasions how many different shrimp dishes Carnival has on the menu that are supposed to take the place of shrimp cocktail, but as you will probably notice if you try any of the shrimp dishes offered later in the week, more is not necessarily better. This particular dish is prepared with the breaded shrimp also used in the Sweet & Sour Shrimp entree, but without any special sauce, presentation, or special side dish, this entree just feels uninspired. It is something that I should be getting off the Lido Buffet, not something I should be getting in the dining room.

 

I've also had the snapper entree on multiple occasions, and while better than the Shrimp & Fries entree, it still isn't something that I seek out. I think I'd actually prefer a turkey wrap from the deli on Lido Deck than any of the entrees on the Day 5 menu.

 

Chocolate, Vanilla and Raspberry Cream Cake - 4/5

Not on the same level as creme brulee, WCMC, or Bitter & Blanc, but still very delicious with a cup of coffee. Perhaps the best part of the dish is the raspberry sorbet - so good I'd recommend asking for two on your next cruise since the scoops are slightly smaller than what you'd get if you were using a melon baller to scoop ice cream. (Ice cream and sorbets that come with desserts are served in the same size ramekin as the ketchup that comes with your fries or the sweet & sour sauce that comes with your shrimp. The portions are that small!)

 

Nighttime entertainment on day #5 includes the production show VROOM, and another night of Super Star Live Karaoke. Sorry, no Punchliner Comedy Club tonight.

VROOM was the better of the two big production shows onboard. It features a lot of classic rock and country music from the 50's through early 90's. It is on par with the larger musical production shows at top amusement parks, but I wouldn't put it in the same category as a Las Vegas show.

 

After VROOM, we spent some time watching Super Star Live Karaoke and at the roulette table in the casino. At one point, I was up over $250 playing $5-10/spin, but by the end of the night I had given all but $40 of it back. That is exactly why I always tell myself to go back to the room and lock up the winnings before returning to the casino, and if I plan on going back, only take $40-50 with me so I lock in my winnings.

 

Backtracking to Day 4 - Barbados for a second:

 

I forgot to mention one big event that takes place just after sailing from Barbados on the Victory, and one that takes place on every Carnival ship. Groove for St. Jude is a great opportunity to get a cheap souvenir and have some fun on deck while helping a great charity. For $10, you get a t-shirt and a wristband supporting St. Jude, with all proceeds going directly to St. Jude. You don't have to donate or get a t-shirt to participate, but the vast majority of the people that I saw up on deck had a t-shirt on.

 

Unfortunately, the scheduling of Groove on the Victory is less than ideal. The party starts a little after 5:00pm (they start selling t-shirts just before 5:00), but for those with early dining, like me, you can only stay for the first song or two before it is time to get ready for dinner. When I left, there was still a long line of people waiting to get shirts and join the party. Here is a picture taken during the first song:

 

 

and now, fast forward back to Day 5 - St. Lucia for a few more pictures:

 

What the mid-ship pool looks like on a port day

 

 

Up Next: Day 6 and one of my new favorite ports - Basseterre, St. Kitts

[nessz79]

Still enjoying your review! I'm sorry you weren't feeling well on St. Lucia day, but you sure do have a lot of good pictures.

[CorbinCatFan]

Nice pictures. We're making our fourth cruise to the Southern Caribbean next fall and our first on the Victory.

 

I did notice one thing about St. Lucia. Of the three times we've docked in St. Lucia, we've been docked where the Emerald Princess was. We've never have ventured past the flea market.

 

Looking forward to the rest of your review.

[mlrack101]

Im touring w/ Spencer in just 2 weeks! Can't wait. I'll remember the potty advise!:rolleyes:

[brilliantseas]

Im touring w/ Spencer in just 2 weeks! Can't wait. I'll remember the potty advise!:rolleyes:

 

Have fun and don't forget water shoes for Jalouise Beach!

[brilliantseas]

Good morning Cruise Critic! It is time for another update to my B2B review. This morning I'll talk a little bit about St. Kitts, which was a major highlight of my Carnival Victory cruise. I'll start on page 9 for the sake of easier readability since we're only one post away from a new page.

[brilliantseas]

St. Kitts is one of the most beautiful islands that I have ever seen. The island is just so green, and unlike many other Caribbean islands, which have the hillsides developed with mutli-million dollar homes that ruin the views, St. Kitts is only developed along the coastal areas, with the green mountainsides being left almost completely untouched. It is so beautiful.

 

I'm going to split this review up a little bit and share some photos of the port area and the island in general this morning, followed later by more detail about Brimstone Hill Fortress, which is the largest fortress in the Eastern Hemisphere, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Brimstone Hill was probably the #1 highlight of the entire cruise. I'll go into more detail about that a little later.

 

But first, here are some photos of the Basseterre, St. Kitts area.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[brilliantseas]

One of the smaller Fat Tuesday's in the Caribbean

 

 

 

 

 

[brilliantseas]

 

 

 

 

 

[brilliantseas]

 

 

The mountain out across the water is Nevis, St. Kitt's sister island. We were told that it is much more laid back than St. Kitt's, however St. Kitt's already felt so much more laid back than the more populous Caribbean islands that we saw no reason to venture over there. The ferry dock is located just outside of the cruise port facility, and ferries leave throughout the day for the trip across to Nevis. I believe the ferry ride is under an hour and is fairly inexpensive for those who want to make the day trip over to St. Kitt's sister island. Carnival also offers catamaran excursions over to Nevis for those interested.

 

 

 

 

[brilliantseas]

 

 

 

 

 

Hopefully you enjoy the photos of the undeveloped natural beauty of the mountainous areas of St. Kitt's. I'll be back later to talk about our afternoon in St. Kitt's, which included a private tour of Brimstone Hill Fortress, which was the highlight of our cruise.

[SunshineOnTheBrain]

Loving your review...especially for the Victory. We are sailing on her March 2012. Thank you for taking the time to post!!!!!

[brilliantseas]

Loving your review...especially for the Victory. We are sailing on her March 2012. Thank you for taking the time to post!!!!!

 

Have a great time and be sure to bring back some photos to share!

[brilliantseas]

As I mentioned earlier, Brimstone Hill Fortress on St. Kitts probably one of the biggest highlights of our trip... and we almost didn't go because of the taxi fare.

 

St. Kitts has government controlled taxi fares, like many other islands, and there is a giant board that tells you how much it will cost you to go just about everywhere on the island. The waiting drivers will also be happy to walk you over to the board to show you that the price they are quoting is the official government rate. We did have one out-of-uniform driver (probably not licensed) who approached us inside the shopping area and offered a lower fare, but we decided to go with the uniformed drivers in the official taxi area instead.

 

Some places like Frigate Bay Beach are quoted on a strictly one-way fare. Brimstone Hill Fortress, however, is priced as a tour, where the driver will stay with you the entire time you are there and bring you back to the port (or take you to the beach) when you are done. When you get to the fort and pay your admission fee, the taxi driver is given a slip that has a number on it saying how many passengers he took up to the top of the mountain, and he has to turn it in again when leaving, I guess so he doesn't try to earn another fare while you are exploring and leave you stranded since Brimstone Hill is away from the other tourist areas. They also have a contest for the number of passengers each driver brings to Brimstone Hill on a given year.

 

Anyway, the official Brimstone Hill Fortress tour is about a 30 minute taxi ride in each direction, and you can explore the fortress as long as you want. It takes anywhere from an hour to two hours to do the whole fort (it is that big!) depending on whether or not you walk down to the lower areas or stop in the museum to watch the video about the fort. We were there almost two hours and didn't watch the video.

 

The "fare" for the tour is $50 for up to 4 people, and $12.50 per person over 4. Our driver, Barry Wyatt, was quite friendly and experienced, and gave us a full narrated tour of the drive to and from the fortress as well. We had so much fun, we tipped him an extra $20 for the effort. He encouraged us to come back to St. Kitts again, and he'll do custom island tours as well. He gave us his card so we could reserve him specifically on our next visit.

 

He has a large silver Toyota van that looks similar to what we in the states know as the Dodge Sprinter, so it is very spacious if you have a large group. He calls his van "De Islander", so if you see a taxi driving around with "De Islander" on the window, you know it is Barry Wyatt behind the wheel. He doesn't have a website, but you can call him at 869 760 0734 or email him at NOTOSPORTS <@> hotmail <.> com. I've never recommended a specific taxi driver on any cruise before, but Barry was so good, I wouldn't hesitate to call him next time we're going to be in St. Kitts.

 

Anyway, back to the fortress tour. When you get to the mountain the fortress is on, you quickly realize why they say to take a taxi or a tour and not try to do the public transit and walk up. The steep narrow dirt road that takes you up the mountain zig zags probably 2-3 miles at a steep incline before you actually get to the fort. We saw two ladies coming back down that looked like they were having a very bad day from walking. The driver said that they probably took the bus thinking they could walk it, and were now regretting their decision. The ride up the mountain is a little scary because it is so steep and the road is so narrow, but we survived!

 

Once you get to the top, you pay your admission fee of $8 per person (to the preservation society) and are offered what looks like an old school cell phone that is a recorded narration about the fort for an additional $12. We declined.

 

Once you get past the admisison booth, there is a large grassy parking area where the taxis park. We went in the afternoon, so there were only about 5-6 taxis up there, which equalled a total of about15 people at the fort. Very nice for picture taking. We were told that the big tour groups (Carnival and independents) all come in the morning and it is much more crowded early in the day.

 

Next to the parking area is the little museum, gift shop, restrooms, and a small cafe that serves beverages (you'll need them when you're done walking around!) and some light meals as well. There are also a few picnic tables outside where you can eat or chat with some of the taxi drivers waiting for their groups to come back. This is also where you will meet your driver whenever you are ready to go.

 

From that central area, you can walk up to the top of the Fortress, which is the most restored area, or you can walk down the hill to some of the lower levels and the unrestored areas of the Fortress. It is all very cool, and we spent almost two hours walking around taking pictures and reading all about the various areas of the fort. The view is just incredible.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[brilliantseas]

 

 

 

 

 

[brilliantseas]

 

 

 

 

 

[brilliantseas]

 

 

 

 

 

[brilliantseas]

 

 

 

 

 

[brilliantseas]

 

 

 

 

 

[brilliantseas]

 

 

 

 

[brilliantseas]