My very detailed Carnival Victory review from December 9-16, 2012

[BubMunkeyBles]

Really enjoying your review. I haven't found it negative at all!

[deladane]

Day 7- Wednesday in Barbados

When we woke up on Wednesday, we were docked in Barbados, but it was pouring rain! Our plan was to take a taxi to the Boatyard and spend the day relaxing on the beach and going out on one of the local boats to see the sea turtles. We decided to head to the beach even though it was raining, figuring we could sit at the bar and use their free wifi until the weather cleared up. We got to the Boatyard at around 9am, and the taxi cost $5 per person. The only people at the Boatyard were the hostess and one bartender. She explained the package they offer for cruise passengers: $12 per person includes a lounge chair, a drink (rum punch, soda, or water), and an umbrella to share. It also included use of the water trampoline, rope swing, and floating rock climbing, and there was free wifi access at the bar. We each paid our $12 and sat at the bar using the the free wifi until the rain stopped at about 9:30am. Then, we went out to the sand and picked two lounge chairs in the front row right along the water.

 

After about 5 minutes, a man named Charles approached us offering to take us out in his glass-bottom boat to swim with the sea turtles and snorkel over a shipwreck, plus he included the snorkeling equipment, life vests, and rum punch, all for $20 per person. We decided to go out with him right away because the skies were cloudy and we could tell it would be raining much of the day, so we wanted to do our swimming while it was somewhat sunny. To board the boat, we had to walk out into the water about 5 feet, and then Charles helped us climb up the ladder and get settled. There were two other passengers on the boat, and Neville was our guide for the excursion. Neville drove the boat to the other side of the bay and told us to get in the water while he threw out some food to attract the turtles. Two beautiful sea turtles came over to the boat and we swam with them for about a half hour...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[deladane]

By the end of the half our, another boat arrived and it was getting a little crowded with the extra people all trying to swim with the same two turtles, so we got back on the boat and motored over to the shipwreck. There were tons of different fish and coral to see, although I found the water to be too cloudy so my photos didn't come out as clear as the photos with the turtles.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After another half hour of snorkeling, we got back on the boat and Neville took us back to the Boatyard.

 

 

 

 

We spent the rest of the day relaxing at the Boatyard on our lounge chairs. The weather wasn't great, and it kept alternating between pouring rain for 20 minutes, followed by partly sunny skies for 20 minutes. Luckily we at least had a beach umbrella where we could try to stay dry during the rain.

 

 

[chosbor2]

I am loving your review so far and look forward to reading the rest! We are on the valor in October doing the same itinerary.

 

I really want to snorkel with the sea turtles, so I have just a few questions if you don't mind. Were there multiply people at the beach asking or just the one? Did you notice how many times they go out? Do I need to get there early to make it worth it? How long were you out there? Thanks.

[deladane]

I am loving your review so far and look forward to reading the rest! We are on the valor in October doing the same itinerary.

I really want to snorkel with the sea turtles, so I have just a few questions if you don't mind. Were there multiply people at the beach asking or just the one? Did you notice how many times they go out? Do I need to get there early to make it worth it? How long were you out there? Thanks.

Swimming with the sea turtles was definitely one of the highlights of my vacation! There are a bunch of small boats that take people out for some snorkeling, and they all charge about the same $20 for 1-1.5 hours and include snorkeling masks and life vests (and the boat I took also included rum punch). They all seemed to run the same way as Neville, where there is one guy who walks up and down the beach all day looking for people who want to go snorkeling, and the other guy stays on the boat going out and back with new people all day. We really liked Neville and had a great time with him, but I have a feeling the boats are all pretty equal and it probably doesn't matter which vendor you use.

We were the first people to arrive at Boatyard that day, and started seeing the vendors at about 9am. It doesn't really matter what time you go out, but I would assume that the later in the day it is, the more other swimmers from other excursions you will see. It is way better to go early and have the turtles all to yourself. We decided to go out pretty early because we knew it would be a rainy day, so we wanted to get out there as soon as we saw a break in the clouds so we wouldn't have to swim in the rain (not that it really mattered since we were wet anyway! haha) The excursion lasted about an hour and a half from pick up to drop off, and we stayed at boatyard from 8:30am until about 2pm. Hope that helps! Please let me know if you have any other questions!

[fbe2228]

Deladane... We were on this cruise with you and have been following along with your review. In the picture of you sitting in the lounge chair on the at-sea day that you posted on Jan 1st at 1:41pm, had the picture been taken a little more to the left, we would have been in your picture!! We were behind the people with the "sideways" lounge chairs on the left.

 

Also, we were in some of the same spots as you in Old San Juan. We walked to El Morro and stood on the wooden pier and walked through the tunnel to get to the city streets from the waterfront walk. How funny!

 

Keep up the good work. Your review and pics bring back good memories! We'll keep watching. Perhaps we'll see ourselves in one of your pictures.

 

Paul

[deladane]

Deladane... We were on this cruise with you and have been following along with your review. In the picture of you sitting in the lounge chair on the at-sea day that you posted on Jan 1st at 1:41pm, had the picture been taken a little more to the left, we would have been in your picture!! We were behind the people with the "sideways" lounge chairs on the left.

 

Also, we were in some of the same spots as you in Old San Juan. We walked to El Morro and stood on the wooden pier and walked through the tunnel to get to the city streets from the waterfront walk. How funny!

 

Keep up the good work. Your review and pics bring back good memories! We'll keep watching. Perhaps we'll see ourselves in one of your pictures.

 

Paul

 

Paul, that is so funny that you were inches away from being in my photo! I hope you had as much fun on the cruise as we did :)

[ron1946]

In the picture of the asst waiter (female) dancing on the table top in the "ruffles" - The guy in the background with the yellow shirt and camera stuck in his face is me.

 

We really enjoyed visiting the Islands and had a great time in the MDR. Our wait staff was I Wayan (Headwaiter) I Gede, (Team Waiter) and Daniel (Asst Team Waiter). One of the best teams we have enjoyed in 8 cruises!

[jeschwartz82]

thank you so much for your review! we will be doing this itinerary on the valor in a few months, and my husband, who was reading over my shoulder just informed me that we WILL be swimming with the turtles. LOL

 

thanks again!!

[buffyblue]

to the OP......in the picture of you guys swimming with the turtles....i am assuming that is your camera floating behind you. What is your camera in or is it light enough to float? I just got a new underwater camera and am terrified of dropping it. It is the "tough" camera and is fairly heavy. What do you have your fastened with?

 

Thanks

[deladane]

In the picture of the asst waiter (female) dancing on the table top in the "ruffles" - The guy in the background with the yellow shirt and camera stuck in his face is me.

 

We really enjoyed visiting the Islands and had a great time in the MDR. Our wait staff was I Wayan (Headwaiter) I Gede, (Team Waiter) and Daniel (Asst Team Waiter). One of the best teams we have enjoyed in 8 cruises!

 

Oh wow, I wish I was at your table then! Our wait staff was forgetable at best. They did their job and delivered the food correctly as ordered (most of the time- they did forget my appetizer once), but they seemed totally overworked with having to cover 3 large tables. We noticed that our table was always served last of the 3, which isn't such a big deal because obviously someone has to be last! But we didn't get to chat with them as much as I am used to chatting with my wait staff on previoous cruises, and we found that we had to wait a long time before getting our first course because they were so busy serving the other tables.

I'm not sure if you got to see our assistant waitress's face while she was dancing up there, but if so, I hope it amused you as much as it amused us to see how miserable she looked haha We actually asked her about it later in the week (since she was up there dancing nearly every night!), and she said that she really didn't like doing it haha Go figure! She must be the lowest man on the todem pole or something ;)

[deladane]

to the OP......in the picture of you guys swimming with the turtles....i am assuming that is your camera floating behind you. What is your camera in or is it light enough to float? I just got a new underwater camera and am terrified of dropping it. It is the "tough" camera and is fairly heavy. What do you have your fastened with?

 

Thanks

 

 

Definitely not a dumb question :) I have the new Sony underwater camera (DSC-TX20). The camera is very small and lightweight, but it does not float on its own. Thank goodness I purchased a floating wrist strap for it from Amazon.com... Stay tuned for my day in St. Kitts to see why this strap was worth every penny!! Here is a link to the strap I have (mine is yellow, this link is in orange)... A few companies make them, so I guess you can pick the one that works best for you, but I highly recommend getting one because although these fancy new cameras are waterproof, they definitely won't float on their own! :)

 

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0054L1SOM/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_3/178-4270192-6046548?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_r=0S4726S9KM00D5C5E53A&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_p=486539851&pf_rd_i=B001Q5Q62Y

[TrqoisWtrs]

Great review!

[dalsti]

Thanks for your great review.

 

You are covering to areas at once for us. :D

 

Our next cruise is on the Victory out of Miami, and we are sailing out of San Juan on the Conquest in Nov.

[Loving My Life]

I'm enjoying your review. We will be sailing on the Victory this Sunday!

[deladane]

Great review!

Thank you!!

 

 

thank you so much for your review! we will be doing this itinerary on the valor in a few months, and my husband, who was reading over my shoulder just informed me that we WILL be swimming with the turtles. LOL thanks again!!

You're welcome! :) I would highly recommend swimming with the sea turtles! It was such a memorable experience, and you really can't go wrong for $20 a person!

 

 

I'm enjoying your review. We will be sailing on the Victory this Sunday!

Oh wow! You are so lucky to be going on a cruise next week while everyone else is getting back to reality after the holidays haha I hope you have a fantastic time! Come back and write a review so we can all hear how it went!

 

 

Thanks for your great review.

You are covering to areas at once for us. :D

 

Our next cruise is on the Victory out of Miami, and we are sailing out of San Juan on the Conquest in Nov.

Haha that's pretty funny that you are going on the same ship on one cruise and the same itinerary on a different cruise. I'm glad my review will be helpful for your planning, since most readers will only benefit from half my review once the Victory changes itineraries!

[msstarr22]

After snorkeling, I sat in the shade for a few more hours and then we got ready to leave around 12:45pm. While we were packing up our bags, a huge iguana came over to the lounge chairs and caused quite a commotion!

 

 

 

 

We walked out to the front circle of the resort and a standard 12-person van taxi was waiting, so we got in and headed to the shopping area in downtown Charlotte Amilie. We went into a few of the stores, but everything was more expensive than we wanted to pay, and we didn't buy anything. We asked for directions to walk back to the port, and were told to go down to the water and turn left at the straw market, and then just walk along the water on the sidewalk all the way back until we saw the short cut through the yacht club. You literally cannot miss the cut through area:

 

 

 

 

The walk was about a mile, took us less than half an hour, and it was flat and paved the entire way. It was fun to see the ship across the water as we walked back:

 

 

 

 

Once we were back on the ship, we went up to lido for lunch and it was PACKED!! I was starving and didn't want to wait in the long buffet line, so i ordered a slice of the De Chevre pizza (goat cheese, mushrooms, and roasted garlic with mozzarella cheese and no sauce) from the aft pool area. It was ready in about 15 minutes and was well worth the wait:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oh how I miss that pizza, one of my faves! Enjoying your review!

[deladane]

Oh how I miss that pizza, one of my faves! Enjoying your review!

 

I loved that pizza so much that I had it for lunch once more towards the end of the week! You can't go wrong with goat cheese and mushrooms! :D

[deladane]

Here's a photo of me on the beach. The water turned a beautiful shade of turquoise when the sun came out...

 

 

At 2:00pm, we decided to go back to the port area to do a little shopping. Here is a photo of the shopping mall right next to the port:

 

 

 

 

There was free wifi access in there but it was spotty service and didn't reach to all the stores. Beth picked up some more suntan lotion at one of the stores, and I bought a postcard for my collection. Next, we got back on the ship and ate a quick lunch up on Lido. One of the things I definitely wanted to do on the cruise was to go down the water slide. Since we were already wet from the rain and snorkeling, we figured this was a good afternoon to go down the slide. Also, since the ship was still in port, there was no line, and we both had fun on our way down.

 

 

 

 

After that, we spent some more time lounging on Lido deck, and then went back to the cabin to get ready for dinner. Here is what I ate for dinner that night...

 

prosciutto ruffles with sweet melon

 

 

sushi sampler- warning: the one in the middle tasted HORRIBLE!

 

 

 

penne mariscos with grilled salmon

 

[deladane]

I couldn't decide on one dessert tonight, so I got two!:

 

strawberry cheesecake

 

 

diet lemon cake

 

 

After dinner, we walked around the ship for a while, taking photos with some of the decorations:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After dinner, I went to see the juggler show. His name was Manuel Zuniga and he was probably my favorite nighttime entertainment of the week. He was very funny, and I was impressed that he was able to juggle and not drop anything despite the rocking of the ship. He even did a trick where he juggled 4 ping pong balls using only his mouth!

[deladane]

Since a handful of passengers embarked today from Barbados, they had a sail away party up on Lido deck. We didn't get the outdoor sail away experience in OSJ due to the rain, so we went to this sail away party instead. It had a decent turn out, although it did start raining by the end:

 

 

 

 

Our only Funship Freddy sighting of the week!:

 

 

Tonight they also had the midnight Mexican buffet. We weren't really hungry to eat anything, but I had a few pieces of fruit and took some photos of the decorations:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[deladane]

Day 8- Thursday in St. Lucia

Thursday was our day in St. Lucia. We had pre-arranged a full-day excursion with Cosol for $65 per person, so after breakfast on Lido, we left the ship as soon as we were cleared and met Cosol by 8:15am. He assigned us to a van with 10 passengers total, and our driver/guide for the day was Bernard (but everyone calls him "Fat Man"). The van was clean and air conditioned, and we had a little wiggle room because there were only 10 of us in the 15-person van. As we drove around the island, Fat Man occasionally spoke up and told us what we were looking at. He made a few stops along the way and gave us some time to take photos:

 

Notice the rock formation on top of the mountains? It's supposed to look like a woman laying down:

 

 

where Pirates of the Caribbean was filmed:

 

 

The famous Pitons:

 

 

We stopped at a scenic overlook that also had a small store selling spices, bottles of alcohol, and a bunch of varieties of hot sauce and banana ketchup:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our next stop was at the banana plantation. Fat Man explained how the banana tree grows and gave out some samples of the bananas.

 

 

[deladane]

Then we got back in the van and drove to another scenic overlook that had a bathroom we could use (but they charged $1 to use it)

 

 

 

 

Up next, all of the vans touring with Cosol met up at a house for breakfast. They had a huge spread with tons of different sweet and savory foods to try, and they also had rum punch, beer, water, and soda available. I tried a taste of almost everything, and as expected, I enjoyed some of the foods better than others! They also had free bathrooms to use (but the toilets didn't flush- yuck!)

 

 

 

 

After breakfast, we headed off to the drive-in volcano. We could smell the sulphur even from inside the van! We got out of the van and a separate tour guide took us around the property and told us lots of information about it. We only stayed there for about 15 minutes, but that was more than enough because the sulphur smell starts to get to you after a while! There were clean restrooms to use here too, which came in handy after drinking all that free beer at breakfast!

 

 

 

 

After the volcano, it was time to go snorkeling between the pitons! We got into a small water taxi and rode for about 5 minutes to get to a small beach located between the pitons.

 

Here is what the water taxis looked like:

 

 

 

 

Notice the Pitons in the background!

[fbe2228]

Deladane,

 

Just missed you again!! Here's a picture of your water taxi from Jalousie Beach (yellow boat on the right). I remembered the sticker about "Wind and Sea tipping the vessel". We were there with Spencer Ambrose's tour.

 

Paul

[Coolcruise02]

Great review and pictures!