My Carnival Victory review 4/1-4/8/2012 (Long with lots of pix!)

[scraphappylady]

After about an hour or so, we headed back to the room – DD, my aunt and I to pack, and DH and DS to wander the ship more and stay out of our way! Because we wanted to leave the ship on our own schedule, we opted to do self-assist. I’m not sure Victory actually had self-assist, but what were they going to do – kick us off the ship?? :p This made packing a little easier and more relaxed, since we didn’t have to stick our luggage outside the door that night. Added to it was the fact that we were only going to our hotel the next day, so we didn’t have to worry about toiletries for the airplane until later.

 

Also, because I had been throwing our dirty clothes into the suitcases as we were done with them, all I had to do was roll them up tightly, making sure we had clothes for the next day. Since we were heading home and I was going to be doing laundry soon, I didn’t use my Ziploc baggies to store the clothes in for the return trip. I knew I had plenty of things to wear waiting for me at home, if these got wet or “misplaced” by the airline. DD had a slightly harder time with packing as she’s not the most organized of people even at home!

 

As I mentioned earlier in this review, though, we ended up with quite a bit more than we came with. DD was adament that all her shells all make it home, but they were extremely heavy. Finally we just split them into three smaller one-gallon Ziplocs and stashed them in different pieces of luggage. We compromised, too, and ended up dumping out half of her sand on the balcony, where it gradually blew away into the ocean.

 

Since there was only one show tonight – the Legends show where passengers provide the entertainment – it was set for 10:15 pm, after the later dinner. This meant we also had more time to spend out on our balcony, as well as trying to find some of those elusive photos the ship’s photographers had taken. DH actually had to end up ordering reprints of three of our formal pictures after he couldn’t find them anywhere. He picked them up later, after 11 pm.

 

We were a bit sad going into supper tonight, knowing this was the last night we would be waited on hand and foot. We would have to say good-bye to our wonderful servers, and Pravit had assured us he would stop by one last time to good-bye. Dinner tonight, however, was one of the ones I had been looking forward to.

 

Tonight's "didja" offering was frog legs, something my aunt had eaten before and was looking forward to.

DH also tried them, and declared they were very good. As for me, I just couldn't do it. They just looked too much like miniature . . . legs, I guess.

 

So I stuck with my favorite, seafood, and went for the New England crab cake.

 

The mango cream (with iced mango and fresh ginger) was also a favorite.

 

[scraphappylady]

Next up, our main entrees.

 

My aunt opted to try the zucchini and eggplant parmesan with pomodoro sauce; she said it wasn't bad.

 

 

Fillet of mahi mahi for DD.

 

But this was the meal I had been most looking forward to, don't ask me why. Bacon macaroni and cheese, topped with a grilled marinated chicken breast. Something about creamy cheese and bacon! And boy, was it good! But there was so much of it, I just couldn't finish it all!!

 

And I knew there would be one meal where I couldn't remember everything. All DH could remember was that he and DS had "some sort of beef" this night. At any rate, he remembered that it was good!

 

[scraphappylady]

By this time, we were pretty full. Most of us just had a small dish of sherbet, if at all. But Jon soldiered on and got the cappuccino pie. He really liked it.

 

 

 

We got pictures of us with both Rizalino and Pravit, tipped them well, gave hugs all around and slowly staggered out of the dining room, stuffed to the gills.

 

Here we are with Rizalino

 

 

and with Pravit.

[ibcnusoon]

 

 

As we headed back to port, enjoying the view of the water on the way, the driver told me an interesting fact I hadn’t heard before. He said the reason the water is such a pretty blue in the Caribbean is because the sun is reflecting off very white sand underneath. That’s why our lakes don’t have those wonderful lighter shades of teal and blue –the sun is reflecting off darker dirt, not white sand.

 

 

 

awww, what a sweet story! Divi Beach looks really nice, great knowing they have clean restrooms and somewhere to grab a bite to eat - and close to the port!

[scraphappylady]

This was the night that Felipe, our cruise director, drew the Win A Cruise raffle ticket before the show. The ship also offered the Jackpot Bingo, where the jackpot started at a high of $5000, before going down from there. There were two winners and they split a $1000 prize.

 

The Legends show tonight was shorter than some of the other shows, but proved to be very entertaining. Earlier in the week, passengers had auditioned during several of the karaoke nights in the ship’s bars, in order to portray a favorite singer up on stage tonight. Among those famous personalities represented were Garth Brooks, Madonna and Frank Sinatra. And always a crowd favorite, Sonny and Cher, with Cher being represented by Felipe, our cruise director, in drag.

 

Coming back into our cabin, we were greeted by our last towel animal, a stingray.

 

 

 

My aunt and Mandy had been collecting theirs each night, and Jeffery had set them up so they greeted them when they came into the room. Mandy couldn’t resist taking a picture of the whole “gang.”

 

 

Again it was a beautiful night to be out on the balcony, and we took a bit of time to soak in the balmy Caribbean night air, before finally heading in to bed.

 

View of the side of the ship

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next up: back to San Juan and our Segway tour

[ibcnusoon]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

great picture!!!!!

[scraphappylady]

awww, what a sweet story! Divi Beach looks really nice, great knowing they have clean restrooms and somewhere to grab a bite to eat - and close to the port!

 

Yeah, it would explain why the water in the lakes here in the northeast look so grungy so much of the time. Time to import some very white sand. Did I mention how much I love the Caribbean? :p

 

Divi was awesome. I thought it might be too "touristy" being near a resort, but let me tell you, Orient was far more built up than this!! Just right for our family and some much needed "down time!"

[scraphappylady]

great picture!!!!!

 

Thanks! Although I do have to admit - I did send this one through Photoshop. :o Night time shots are not my best!

[SXM54]

Both my girls and my husband want to go to Maho. I think it might be the bus marked "MULLET" for Mullet Bay. Since I'll have my elderly parents with me, and trying to please everyone, we willt ake a taxi to Maho instead of finding that MULLET bus (and walking to Maho). By taking a taxi, I can have my parents dropped off at the casino royale casino next to Maho while we hang out watching the planes on the beach.

 

We spend every winter in St. Maarten....Maho. You can easily walk from the Sunset Beach Bar and Grill to the Casino Royale. They are very close to each other. The beach in Maho is really nice and a great place to swim as long as the ocean isn't rough. Usually it's very nice and a nice place to relax. However, it does get very crowded between 12-5 pm when the huge jets land and take off. Great to watch the jets....you will really have fun. We use the bus system all of the time in SXM. Make sure that the driver will take you to Maho and not Mullet unless you want to go to Mullet. You Should NOT walk from from Maho to Mullet....too far and some sketchy areas down by Subway and through the mullet resort. It is a long walk and usually very hot. You can go to Mullet Beach; however, they do not have any facilities for you to change in.....there is an old bathroom but they don't really take care of it. Chairs/umbrella's run about $15-20. Rosie's is a wonderful beachside grill located in Mullet....she makes great ribs and hamburgers/chicken and sells nice drinks. The beach at Mullet is much larger than Maho but can also be rough at times. I prefer Maho as they have nicer facilities to change in, etc. Also more options for food. They even have a live reggae band at Sunset Beach Bar and Grill in the afternoon, they are fantastic. There is also free wifi if you need to use the internet at Sunset Beach Bar and Grill. A word of warning.....if you plan on drinking any alcohol, do not drive on the island, especially on the French side. They set up BAT all over during the day and anything over .04 is a charge of $140 in cash on the spot. Also make sure you wear your seat belts as they charge I think $70......much more strict on the French side than Dutch side. Have a wonderful time.

 

Scrap Lady.....I'm loving this review.....great job:-) Thanks for sharing your vacation with us!

[scraphappylady]

We spend every winter in St. Maarten....Maho. You can easily walk from the Sunset Beach Bar and Grill to the Casino Royale. They are very close to each other. The beach in Maho is really nice and a great place to swim as long as the ocean isn't rough. Usually it's very nice and a nice place to relax. However, it does get very crowded between 12-5 pm when the huge jets land and take off. Great to watch the jets....you will really have fun. We use the bus system all of the time in SXM. Make sure that the driver will take you to Maho and not Mullet unless you want to go to Mullet. You Should NOT walk from from Maho to Mullet....too far and some sketchy areas down by Subway and through the mullet resort. It is a long walk and usually very hot. You can go to Mullet Beach; however, they do not have any facilities for you to change in.....there is an old bathroom but they don't really take care of it. Chairs/umbrella's run about $15-20. Rosie's is a wonderful beachside grill located in Mullet....she makes great ribs and hamburgers/chicken and sells nice drinks. The beach at Mullet is much larger than Maho but can also be rough at times. I prefer Maho as they have nicer facilities to change in, etc. Also more options for food. They even have a live reggae band at Sunset Beach Bar and Grill in the afternoon, they are fantastic. There is also free wifi if you need to use the internet at Sunset Beach Bar and Grill. A word of warning.....if you plan on drinking any alcohol, do not drive on the island, especially on the French side. They set up BAT all over during the day and anything over .04 is a charge of $140 in cash on the spot. Also make sure you wear your seat belts as they charge I think $70......much more strict on the French side than Dutch side. Have a wonderful time.

 

Scrap Lady.....I'm loving this review.....great job:-) Thanks for sharing your vacation with us!

 

This is great! Thanks so much for filling in here. I know this will be a great help to someone in the future and since I didn't go over near there, I really couldn't help much. Very much appreciate it!! Glad you're enjoying the review - still a bit more to come! Stay tuned :)

[SXM54]

This is great! Thanks so much for filling in here. I know this will be a great help to someone in the future and since I didn't go over near there, I really couldn't help much. Very much appreciate it!! Glad you're enjoying the review - still a bit more to come! Stay tuned :)

 

Looking forward to hearing about the Segways in PR. My daughter and I will be taking the Victory cruise this summer.....can't wait. First time to Barbados, SXL, and SXK. So we are enjoying your recommendations. Interesting reading about your trip every evening. We also live in NEPA!

[BCcruzer2]

We'll be going on this cruise next year, our first, and I had a question about what clothing is allowed in the MDR. We'll be traveling with our two teenage sons, who will wear dress pants on the formal nights, but would much rather wear dress shorts with a nice shirt on the other nights. In some of your pics it looks like your son did this also, or did he get changed after dinner?

[scraphappylady]

Looking forward to hearing about the Segways in PR. My daughter and I will be taking the Victory cruise this summer.....can't wait. First time to Barbados, SXL, and SXK. So we are enjoying your recommendations. Interesting reading about your trip every evening. We also live in NEPA!

 

Well, hi there neighbor!:p. Not as much writing about the Segway next, but i have plenty of pix! And maybe my husband is right - maybe I am writing a book!

[scraphappylady]

We'll be going on this cruise next year, our first, and I had a question about what clothing is allowed in the MDR. We'll be traveling with our two teenage sons, who will wear dress pants on the formal nights, but would much rather wear dress shorts with a nice shirt on the other nights. In some of your pics it looks like your son did this also, or did he get changed after dinner?

 

Dress shorts and nice polo or maybe a collared shirt would be fine on casual nights. Don't sweat it - as long as they look nice, no one should even notice. (DS never got changed unless it was into trunks or clothes for bed!) Even DH wore dress shorts one night :eek: and he's still here to tell about it! :p

 

Oh, and did you hear how they're introducing something new . . . Naked Night . . . .?

[ibcnusoon]

We spend every winter in St. Maarten....Maho. You can easily walk from the Sunset Beach Bar and Grill to the Casino Royale. They are very close to each other. The beach in Maho is really nice and a great place to swim as long as the ocean isn't rough. Usually it's very nice and a nice place to relax. However, it does get very crowded between 12-5 pm when the huge jets land and take off. Great to watch the jets....you will really have fun. We use the bus system all of the time in SXM. Make sure that the driver will take you to Maho and not Mullet unless you want to go to Mullet. You Should NOT walk from from Maho to Mullet....too far and some sketchy areas down by Subway and through the mullet resort. It is a long walk and usually very hot. You can go to Mullet Beach; however, they do not have any facilities for you to change in.....there is an old bathroom but they don't really take care of it. Chairs/umbrella's run about $15-20. Rosie's is a wonderful beachside grill located in Mullet....she makes great ribs and hamburgers/chicken and sells nice drinks. The beach at Mullet is much larger than Maho but can also be rough at times. I prefer Maho as they have nicer facilities to change in, etc. Also more options for food. They even have a live reggae band at Sunset Beach Bar and Grill in the afternoon, they are fantastic. There is also free wifi if you need to use the internet at Sunset Beach Bar and Grill. A word of warning.....if you plan on drinking any alcohol, do not drive on the island, especially on the French side. They set up BAT all over during the day and anything over .04 is a charge of $140 in cash on the spot. Also make sure you wear your seat belts as they charge I think $70......much more strict on the French side than Dutch side. Have a wonderful time.

 

Scrap Lady.....I'm loving this review.....great job:-) Thanks for sharing your vacation with us!

 

 

Thanks so much for the additional information. We plan on taking a taxi from the ship to Maho and planning on leaving at 3pm to make it back tot he ship by 4:30pm, not stopping in Phillipsburg. Would that work?

[DJ56]

Again, I just want to say THANKS for taking the time and sharing your Victory cruise experience. Your pix are so nice and your family is beautiful!! Looks like you had alot of fun together!! I leave on the Victory in 9 days and I am SO SO SO EXCITED!! Thanks for making my excitement level even higher!! ;)

[SXM54]

Thanks so much for the additional information. We plan on taking a taxi from the ship to Maho and planning on leaving at 3pm to make it back tot he ship by 4:30pm, not stopping in Phillipsburg. Would that work?

 

You have plenty of time to get back to the pier and plenty of taxis to pick from by the Sunset Bar. You will make it back to the ship without any problems. Usually in the summer, it's easier to get around. We are renting a car for the day when we go to SXM. We are heading right to Maho to visit our friends then to sunset beach bar and grill for lunch and a private beach nearby. Then we will probably leave about 3:30 to allow us time to drop off the car and head to phillipsburg to visit some more friends near Guaverberry. If you have time, stop by Guaverberry for a colada.....they are delicious. It is only about a 10 minute walk back to the ship. We bring home several bottles every year if we have room in the suitcases, lol. Also, make sure you only take cabs with taxi on top.....no gypsy cabs. The best place to pick up the cab is by sunset bar. The buses/vans that scrap lady talked about are fine as well and a good deal.

[ibcnusoon]

I heard about the Guaverberry on St. Maarten! Will definately look out for some! Thanks sxm54.

[scraphappylady]

Again, I just want to say THANKS for taking the time and sharing your Victory cruise experience. Your pix are so nice and your family is beautiful!! Looks like you had alot of fun together!! I leave on the Victory in 9 days and I am SO SO SO EXCITED!! Thanks for making my excitement level even higher!! ;)

 

Thanks so much! We had a blast - I couldn't have asked for a greater vacation!

 

Glad I could provide a little excitement for you before you leave - but the real thing is even better!! Have a great time and come back and write a review for us!

[scraphappylady]

Sunday, April 8 – back to San Juan and our Segway tour

 

It was hard to wake up today, head out on our balcony and see that, yes, we had indeed tied up once more back in our home port of San Juan.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some of us were feeling it more than others.

 

Because we were going to be taking all of our luggage off the ship by ourselves, we didn’t really have a timetable to follow, but I knew I wanted to get to our hotel fairly early to beat any crowds.

 

In the past, Carnival had requested that we be out of our rooms by around 8:30 am, so by 7:45 am, we were dressed and ready to go eat. We made our way upstairs to the Lido, but as we hit the top of the stairs we saw a fairly large crowd. At that point, we heard Carnival employees telling everyone that the dining room was open with little or no waiting, so we turned around and went right back down there to eat.

 

The dining room WAS surprisingly empty, and in a short amount of time, we had eaten and were back in our rooms.

Before we headed out, I listened to the announcements, to make sure passengers were beginning to disembark, then we were on our way. It was a bit tricky to maneuver some of our luggage through the hallways. The room stewards were going full blast putting rooms back together for the new oncoming passengers, and some passengers had set room service trays out in the hallways. With Jon taking both of our larger pieces of luggage and the kids helping out as well, though, we made it through without a hitch.

 

By now it was close to 9 am, but the elevators came very quickly, and we headed for Deck 1. It was so sad to make our way to the card reader machines for the last time, and hear the final DOINK of our cards. I paused for a moment to take one last picture of my group near the ship. They hammed it up for the camera, but you can see how we were feeling!

 

[scraphappylady]

We made our way out into the big warehouse-like area, past all of the other passenger bags waiting to be claimed, and breezed through customs. I made sure we had our declaration form filled out the night before, and had it in hand along with our passports before we got up to security.

 

Heading out of the dock area, we were immediately accosted by taxi drivers willing to take us where we wanted to go. Since we were only heading over to the Sheraton Old San Juan, though, we politely declined. While our luggage wheels didn’t like some of the pavement bricks on the way over, it only took us a short five-minute walk and we were at the front of the hotel.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In contrast to the last time DH and I had been in the hotel, the lobby was empty this early in the morning. The last time we had arrived at around 11 am, and had to fight our way through the crowds. What a nice change! In thinking back, I wonder if the fact that it was Easter Sunday had anything to do with it.

 

Because hotel check-in time is officially listed as 3 pm, I had planned on storing our luggage with a bellhop (they have a special room set aside for this), heading out and sightseeing, then checking in later on in the day. We had packed our backpacks with all of our valuables as well as our cameras for our Segway tour. They were bulky, but we didn’t feel safe leaving this stuff behind. To my absolute surprise, our room was ready and we could access it right away.

 

We had reserved a one-bedroom suite, and it was more than adequate in size to house all our stuff and still allow us to move around with ease. While I wasn’t as happy that the bathroom was off of the bedroom, while the pull-out sofa was in the living room, we made it work just fine.

 

[scraphappylady]

And for whatever reason – maybe I had booked early enough – we had an absolutely perfect view from our mini balcony right at the front of the hotel!! In the past I had stretched out to get pictures from around the side of the hotel. Now we could see it all!

 

 

Looking along the front of the hotel from our balcony

 

Main road in front of the dock area

 

 

 

People coming off Victory and taxis bringing new passengers

 

 

Getting busier!

 

 

Entrance to the check-in building

 

[scraphappylady]

We were now able to drop all of our luggage in our room, put most valuables in the in-room safe, and head out to tour the city with hardly anything in our backpacks at all, aside from our water bottles. The kids even left their backpacks in the room.

 

We relaxed a bit in the room first and watched as other passengers left the ship and took more pictures from our wonderful vantage point.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[scraphappylady]

Looking down near the front of the hotel

 

One of the hotel restaurants

 

 

By 11:15 am we were again ready to head out. Our Segway tour wasn’t until noon, so this left us a little time to slowly meander over to our meeting place, taking pictures as we went.

 

In front of Senor Frogs

 

 

Near the Segway place

[scraphappylady]

Because this would be my fourth time on a Segway, I initially had planned on sitting this one out, and had only reserved four spaces. However, it turned out that we were the only group scheduled for this time, so I was quickly persuaded by the rest to come along.

 

It took about 20 minutes for everyone to get their lesson/refresher on operating the Segways. DD surprised me by how quickly and easily she took to it, but after I thought about it, it made sense. She has skied a lot in the past, and has very good balance, which served her well here.