Cruise-ginity lost on Carnival’s Victory – 10/7-10/14 Review

[cvpends]

I would love to see whole grain meusli (not granola), truly 100% whole grain bread/toast, brie, plain unflavored and unsweetened yogurt, good breakfast sausage with no fillers, and good thick cut bacon. But these items, as well as the items you listed are expensive, and we will never see them on Carnival. Their menu will probably continue to be gutted, and the offerings will lean more and more towards fast food. This is one of the reasons we are going to try Princess next year. Hopefully, we will find better food there.

 

Unfortunately, the Princess breakfast offerings look much like Carnivals, as far as I can tell. This is a thread I started yesterday over on that board asking this question:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1724087

 

For a great breakfast, I recommend HAL.

[iluvdoxies]

I would love to see whole grain meusli (not granola), truly 100% whole grain bread/toast, brie, plain unflavored and unsweetened yogurt, good breakfast sausage with no fillers, and good thick cut bacon. But these items, as well as the items you listed are expensive, and we will never see them on Carnival. Their menu will probably continue to be gutted, and the offerings will lean more and more towards fast food. This is one of the reasons we are going to try Princess next year. Hopefully, we will find better food there.

 

NCL has the meusli - very tasty !

[hmm33502]

Victory is where I lost mine too! You need to do it again to go back to St Maarten. It was the best day of my life so far (See pic below). Thanks for the review, it was entertaining and made me want to take the cruise all over again.

[trippingpara]

So happy to see a new Victory review. Also glad to see it was a great trip. I've read a few others lately that didn't seem to enjoy it as much due to the Puerto Rican's on the boat. Can't wait to continue reading. We leave in less than 3 weeks.

 

You're going to have a great time! Not sure why people would not enjoy the cruise simply because some Puerto Ricans were aboard. Were they not aware that the ship is ported in San Juan, Puerto Rico? Did they not expect that people living there might actually want to go on a cruise in that big white ship that docks there every Sunday??

 

Anyways, I would say that about 20% of the passengers were Puerto Ricans, 55% were Americans, 10% were Canadian, 5% British, and the remaining 10% mixed with a healthy dose of Caribbean Islanders such as Curacaoans and Bajans. That was just my impression of the breakdown or at least who I had ran into. There may have been a large contigent of French aboard hiding that I did not see (I actually did see one French couple so at least they came out from hiding!).

 

At no time did I ever feel uncomfortable due to a certain population of individuals being onboard. I have never seen such a large slice of the world population in one place before. I believe that I saw a person from every race, gender, size, age, sexual orientation and just about every country if you include the staff. I was having a blast running around looking at staff member's name tags to see where they were from. Being a guy, I would advise any other males to be careful doing this with female staff members. I was waiting to get slapped by some as I stared (with my half blind eyes) at their name tag which just so happens to be placed in a location that many men are accused of staring at just a little too much! As a geography and history buff, I can honestly swear that I was looking at their name tags only!! They really do need to make the writing on their name tags larger. If I remember correctly, there were 47 different countries represented by staff members on our cruise.

[trippingpara]

Loving the review. I too along with my 4 cousins leave in 10 days :D. You are increasing my excitement.:D

 

Glad I can get you guys revved up for it. You are going to have a blast! Be sure to get a good family game of chess going with the giant chess board on the back of the Lido Deck. There's a lot of fun to be had with those giant chess pieces!

[Dirkgun]

You're going to have a great time! Not sure why people would not enjoy the cruise simply because some Puerto Ricans were aboard. Were they not aware that the ship is ported in San Juan, Puerto Rico? Did they not expect that people living there might actually want to go on a cruise in that big white ship that docks there every Sunday??

 

.

 

Some people say the Puerto Ricans are pushy and obnoxiuos.... I have not had that experience... I think the people there are great. A little boisterous and happy but not overly pushy IMHO. I love some local flare. Is that not why you travel.... to see the world?? Still looking forward to your review. Off to a great start. Thanks

Edited October 18, 2012 by Dirkgun

[trippingpara]

Some people say the Puerto Ricans are pushy and obnoxiuos.... I have not had that experience... I think the people there are great. A little boisterous and happy but not overly pushy IMHO. I love some local flare. Is that not why you travel.... to see the world??

 

Local flair - exactly!! Once of the comics made a joke about the Puerto Ricans on board and how loud they talk. Then again, my wife is Italian and you should see her family get togethers. Oh vey!! Now I know the reason why ear plugs were invented!!

 

In fact, I do believe that one can find loud and obnoxious people from every country. I have travelled all over the world and I have found idiots every where I went.

[trippingpara]

I love reviews with humor. Thanks for writing this. We are going on the Victory again in December and even though we have been before (review in my signature) I love reading reviews for other opinions and ideas from them. Again thanks for taking the time to do it. :cool::D

 

I'm so jealous that you're going back on her! I must thank you for your lovely review. I read it several times as I prepared for our cruise!

[Coolcruise02]

Great review and pictures!

[oncruisecontrol]

Unfortunately, the Princess breakfast offerings look much like Carnivals, as far as I can tell. This is a thread I started yesterday over on that board asking this question:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1724087

 

For a great breakfast, I recommend HAL.

I just started reading your breakfast thread on the Princess board. Despite what the breakfast offerings may be, my travel companions have both cruised Princess, and they say that the dinner offerings are much better than what Carnival currently has on their MDR menus. Though, I hear the Princess menus are "evolving"?:eek: too. Nevertheless, I am ready for a change from Carnival.

 

With regard to HAL, I would love to try their breakfast, but I would not book a cruise on them just for the awesome breakfast. We are early 40's, and still like some nightlife. Celebrity is another choice we are considering. My sister and BIL cruised the Solstice last year, and said the food was really good. Alas, there was no nightlife. You can't have everything. Lol. Regardless, I'll give a couple of lines a try over the next year or two for comparison.

[oncruisecontrol]

OP: Thanks for your review. There is nothing like reading an account of one's first cruise. Thank you for posting it. I was on the Victory back in Dec 2007, and she is one of my favorite ships( I love the green Nautilus shell in the ceiling of the atrium). I have some great memories from that trip (from the food[outstanding], to the piano bar singer[a shout out to Eric Fisher wherever he may be], to the cruise director, Butch). Anyway, thanks for posting your review.

[nybumpkin]

Some people say the Puerto Ricans are pushy and obnoxiuos.... I have not had that experience... I think the people there are great. A little boisterous and happy but not overly pushy IMHO. I love some local flare. Is that not why you travel.... to see the world?? Still looking forward to your review. Off to a great start. Thanks

You know, in my time here on CC I've seen folks who say they won't cruise out of San Juan because of the locals. Or they won't sail out of Texas because of the locals. Or they won't sail out of Miami because of the locals. Or they won't sail out of New York because of the locals. After a while, you start running out of places to travel. I've sailed out of Galveston, Miami and New York (and visited San Juan as a stop on a New York cruise), and while there was definitely a different vibe on each cruise, overall the common factor was that I found a lot of nice people trying to enjoy a great vacation. Of course, there are always some "standouts" - being from New York (upstate), I was terribly embarrassed when we sailed on Glory in August when another New Yorker, at the purser's desk, crumpled up a piece of paper and threw it at the assistant purser who was waiting on him. No matter where you're from, that's completely unacceptable.

[BenjiRodney]

Glad you enjoyed it, we are doing it again on the 4th. Did it last year and loved it.

[trippingpara]

Ok, I'm back. Now where the heck was I? Oh yeah, San Juan and El Morro. Before I get to El Morro, let me tell you how we got there. We stolled down from Casa Blanca on Calle Fortaleza down to the pier just to get our bearings. We then turned up Calle Marina past Senor Frog to the Harley Davidson store (if we didn't stop at a Harley store I think my wife would have divorced me!!).

 

 

Anyways, after our expensive stop there (man, their shirts are pricey!), we then continued along Paseo De La Princesa (which rolls along the old city wall) until we came to the Raices statute (shown below).

 

 

We continued to follow the street as it curved around the city wall until we came to the oldest city gate, Puerta de San Juan. At the top of the wall it says (in Latin) Benedictus qui venit in nomini Domini which in English means "Blessed are those who come in the name of the Lord."

 

 

When facing the gate, if you turn to your left, you are now standing next to El Morro: (ok, actually that's my awesome wife standing next to El Morro, but you get the point!)

 

 

After taking a few photos (read as: several hundred photos!), we entered the city gates, turned right and headed down Calle del Cristo until we found Parque de los Palomas, otherwise known as Pigeon Park.

 

 

 

As you can see, pigeons are flippin' everywhere! This place is not for those that have watched Hitchcock's The Birds one too many times! We then turned around and started to make our way to the actual El Morro fort.

[trippingpara]

We cruised back up Calle del Cristo until we reached the wide open expanse outside the main entrance to El Morro. Kites were flying everywhere. Apparently this is a common spot for the locals to take their families for picnics and to fly kites. It was fun watching the local kids frolic around and play.

 

 

Along the northeastern corner of El Morro sits Santa Maria Magdalena de Pazzis Cemetery.

 

 

 

We then entered the fort itself. Prices are either $3 per person per fort (good for one day) or $5 per person for both forts (El Morro and San Cristobal) for 5 days.

 

 

 

I quickly became fascinated with the garitas that line the forts walls

[kclvt]

We are sailing this itinerary in March but on the Valor. So I read the reviews for Valor for the ship comments and Victory for the islands...

 

Can't wait to read more!

[trippingpara]

 

 

 

See the small fort to the left in the picture below. When these forts were active, there was no other land with the fort, just the little fort sticking out in the bay. That fort (Fortin San Juan de la Cruz) along with El Morro created a deadly crossfire to any ship that tried to enter the San Juan Harbor.

 

And of course, I turn my head for 5 minutes and my wife has already found a stray animal that she is trying to take home.

 

Thankfully there is a USDA inspection point when leaving San Juan so she wouldn't have gotten too far trying to fly out of San Juan with any of the dozen strays that she tried to keep!

 

As you can see from the photos, a squall quickly blew into the harbor and hit the southern portion of the harbor pretty good but it never rained in Old San Juan. We stayed at El Morro for a good hour and a half before making our way back into central Old San Juan for some dinner.

 

After dropping our cameras off at the hotel and a quick change of clothes, we walked down Calle Fortaleza to a nearby restaurant, Siglo XX where we both ordered the shrimp mofongo (sorry no photos - we left our cameras at the hotel). Very delicious! Of course, we had to wash them down with some good Puerto Rican cervaza, Medella Light. Apparently this restuarant is very well known for their paella, but we were really in the mood for some mofongo. After our lazy, hazy dinner, we sauntered our way back to our slice of Morocco at Casa Blanca and called it a night.

Edited October 18, 2012 by trippingpara

[Dirkgun]

I'm so jealous that you're going back on her! I must thank you for your lovely review. I read it several times as I prepared for our cruise!

 

 

Thanks for the nice comment.... I agree the reviews are great for reliving the vacation and also a great way to go back and remember it after you have it done.

[trippingpara]

Sunday, Oct. 7th – San Juan, Puerto Rico

 

Cruise day!! We were scheduled to take the Rainforest Rappelling and Ziplining Tour from EcoTours but it was cancelled at the last minute due to not enough people (a couple cancelled their tour on Friday night – thanks guys, really appreciate that!!!) putting us below their minimum requirement. Since we now didn’t have anything scheduled, we left our bags at Casa Blanca and headed back out into OSJ. This time we headed to the other (and actually larger fort), San Cristobal.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Looking over San Cristobal at El Capitolio en San Juan, home of the Puerto Rican legislative assembly.

 

As you can see, it was a much nicer day than yesterday. However, I did learn later on that in the Caribbean in October be prepared for rain even on a beautiful day. Squalls come in fast and hard and leave just as fast.

[trippingpara]

Looking to the west at El Morro

 

Notice the neighborhood in between the two forts? Apparently that is the most dangerous neighborhood in San Juan and Puerto Rico for that fact. It is called La Perla and is notorious for its violent drug dealers. We walked along the wall right outside the neighborhood with no problem but I would strongly advise not to go into that neighborhood.

 

Here's a couple more shots of San Cristobal:

 

 

 

Be careful if you attempt this photo (not recommended!) Those cannonballs are not cemented down (except for the bottom layer). The rest of them are just laid on top to build the pyramid. Getting her back down was rather amusing without bringing the whole kit and kaboodle down with her!

 

Yep, you can see the big fat lady sitting at her pier from San Cristobal.

[nybumpkin]

Wonderful photos! I have a photo with my kids and the cannonballs at San Cristobal - never realized they weren't secured.:eek:

[trippingpara]

We checked into the Victory around 2 pm. We were quickly moved through the process and soon found ourselves standing outside the duty free store just before security. Now I know this is a hot topic here but here I go anyways…we were only planning on bringing on two bottles of wine that we had purchased across the street at CVS. But since I was standing there in front of the duty free store, I figured what the heck, why not check it out.

 

Holy cow, the prices were great! Either that or we're getting ripped off in New England! Seconds after entering the store a Russian gentleman that worked there asked if we wanted something a little bit heavier than wine for our cruise. When I smiled, he quickly ushered us into a small private room that held high end wines and explained how to get bottles on board the cruise ship. Since the prices were so good compared to back home, I figured what the heck. Worse case is that they take it (or I even just hand it to them without trying) and I have a bottle of rum for half of what I would have paid back home.

 

So I bought a bottle of rum and followed his instructions and it worked like a charm. This really worked because the upper gangway for boarding was out of order and everyone is boarding from Deck 0. Not sure if it would still work if you board via the normal gangway.

 

For all of you about to flame me, please keep in mind that I am predominately a beer drinker and knew that I would still be spending quite a bit of change on board for my beers (Guinness of course!). This little bit of sneakiness was not planned, just a spur of the moment kind of thing. My wife looked quite nervous about the whole thing (she had problems understanding the instructions the Russian had given us) so she didn't quite grasp what was going on. By the look on her face while I went through the boarding process, she was waiting for me to be handcuffed and hauled off to some dark and lonely dungeon somewhere deep in the bowels of the ship!

 

Anyways, we boarded the Victory, dropped our carry ons off in our cabin and headed back out into OSJ for some last minute shopping and sightseeing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[trippingpara]

When we re-boarded the Victory, our luggage was waiting for us so we unpacked and put everything away. We had an oceanview room on Deck 2 (Main Deck). I bought this cabin based on the fact that we had only one port day and we would never be in the room. In hindsight, I wish I did get a balcony as we were in the room more often than I expected (we also had an additional sea day that was not planned). It was really nice to get away from the crowds sometimes (there are plenty of places to do this at) and it would have been great to do it in a lounger on a private balcony. Plus it would have been nice to enjoy a nice cup of java or maybe a mimosa on the balcony in the morning.

 

 

Unfortunately, my wife is a Steelers fan so she had to take this photo (I'm a Cleveland Browns fan - we're both originally from northwestern PA right by Cleveland and Pittsburgh). Let me tell you, our house gets real interesting twice a year when those two teams play each other! We even have our two dogs split by teams. One wears a Browns jersey while the other lays on a Steelers blanket (they don't make dog jerseys big enough for our English Mastiff).

 

Any ways...where the heck was I? Oh yeah, my review!

 

Mini golf by the whale tail

 

Looking down into the Atrium

 

Statute of Neptune guarding the entrance to the stores on Deck 5

 

The casino

[Dirkgun]

Lovin your pictures.... what camera are you using? The blues are absolutely great and the pictures of the forts... you can see the age and weathering in your shots. Great choices.

[trippingpara]

Lovin your pictures.... what camera are you using? The blues are absolutely great and the pictures of the forts... you can see the age and weathering in your shots. Great choices.

 

Thank you so much! The really vibrant photos are from my Sony A300 dSLR and the others are from our Sony Cybershot. Later on, you will see all of our St. Lucia photos were taken with our Fujifilm waterproof cameras (we each have one) and our dive photos were taken with an Intova DC9 dive camera. Yes, there are only two of us, yet we took 5 cameras on the trip with us! Now you can see how we ended up with over 1,200 photos!