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

[KSDispatcher]

CUTE black and white dress!!!!!!!

[deladane]

Can you tell me more about this tour? I googled the name, and I googled paddleboating in St Kitts, but nothing (but your review) popped up in the search. Do you have an email address or a website for them? How much did the tour cost for each of you? Was there an age requirement? It really looks like a lot of fun.

 

Thanks,

Sue

 

Here Sue:

 

http://www.supstkitts.com/

 

 

Thanks for posting the link! Beth actually did all the leg work in organizing this excursion, but I believe she said they emailed her back pretty quickly. The tour cost $65 per person, and included transportation to and from the port. They allow a maximum of 6 people per tour because that is all their SUV can carry (which is great because it would be hard to keep a larger group together anyway). I'm not sure if there is an age requirement, but if you email them, I'm sure they can answer any specific questions you may have. I don't think there are many other SUP companies in St. Kitts, but even if there were, I would still recommend this company as Nick was a great tour guide and he was very patient with teaching us how to paddle.

[deladane]

CUTE black and white dress!!!!!!!

 

Thanks!! I got it this summer from New York & Company :)

[deladane]

Really enjoying your review and photos! We did this cruise two years ago on the Victory, and are doing it again in 85 days on the Valor!

Thank you! It's such a great itinerary that you are very lucky to be able to repeat it, and on a different ship too! :)

 

 

I'm leaving next week and this was one of the most useful reviews that I have ever read! Great job and now I'm even more excited :)

Thank you so much! I'm glad you are finding it so helpful :)

 

 

Wonderful review, such beautiful photos! I will be doing this itinerary in Oct, 2013! You did a wonderful job of making me feel I was right there with you! I am so excited!,

Thank you!! As I write the review, I feel like I am still soaking up the Southern Caribbean sun, so that's great that you are reliving it with me! :)

[maritaysa]

Enjoying your review and pics!

[RBCL]

Great review!

[banilla]

Loving your review. Just wondering about Sapphire beach: Did you find that you needed water shoes or did you enter barefoot? I have read some reviews that it can be a little rocky. Thanks

[deladane]

Loving your review. Just wondering about Sapphire beach: Did you find that you needed water shoes or did you enter barefoot? I have read some reviews that it can be a little rocky. Thanks

 

The water at Sapphire beach has 3 different sections. When standing at the dive shop facing the water, if you go to the left, there is a section of sea grass where some people have said they saw sea turtles and sting rays (I didn't go in that section, so I'm not sure what animals might have been there) but I imagine that you wouldn't need water shoes there. The section of water straight ahead of the dive shop is all soft sand, and you definitely wouldn't need water shoes there either.

 

The section of water to the right of the dive shop is where I went snorkeling. It is very densely packed with coral, and there is no where to rest your feet down on the ground. There are also places where the coral rises up very close to the water line, so when I floated over that section, I actually got a cut on my heel because I wasn't wearing my water shoes. I would definitely recommend wearing water shoes if you are going to the coral section to go snorkeling because it is very rough and rocky! But that's what makes it beautiful! :) The only reason I didn't wear mine was because they were still wet from kayaking two nights before, and I knew I needed them to be dry for St. Lucia, so I didn't want to risk getting them wet and having them not be dry in time. I hope that helps! With or without water shoes, Sapphire Beach was definitely the most beautiful beach I saw that entire week, and possibly in my whole life! I hope you have a great time there! :)

[LOVECRUISING100%]

Thanks for posting .. Great Review w/awesome Pics !

[pghsteelerfan]

Thank you for taking the time to post a review, I'm really enjoying it. Your pictures are beautiful (so glad you got your camera back BTW). We're finally planning another cruise, same itinerary but it would be on Carnival Valor by the time we will probably be going in April or May of this year. I have what may seem a stupid question, but it never hurts to ask right? :) When the ship sails away from St. Lucia, did Carnival Victory head down to the Pitons so all can view them from the ship? That would be great if they do. I've seen on the Ports boards, under St. Lucia, that some of the other cruise lines do that but there was no mention of Carnival doing it. I'm looking forward to reading the rest of your review so I can get some good ideas for our upcoming cruise.

[pamp0227]

Great review. I really enjoyed the review and pictures. Thanks for taking the time to write the review.

[smickey81]

Thank you for the amazing detailed review of your cruise! We are leaving in just a few days on the same cruise and reading your review has really helped! :D

[deladane]

I ordered a lot of food for dinner tonight, but it was mostly because I needed some back ups in case I didn't like something haha I was really curious to try the pumpkin squash entree, but it was a very bizarre combination of flavors (I don't think cheese belonged in this dish!) Something else we noticed throughout the week is that the items on the menu that are listed as being "healthy" with a heart icon, are not necessarily the healthy options. Clearly a dish that is filled with cheese and covered with a filo dough pastry crust is not a healthy option! Another thing that we noticed is that the descriptions of the food on the menu weren't always accurate. Like they would describe a dish on the menu and make it sound really fancy, and then the plate would show up on the table and it looked nothing like what we were expecting. Anyway, here are some photos of everything I ordered tonight...

 

shrimp cocktail

 

 

oysters rockefeller

 

 

petite filet mignon and braised boneless short ribs

 

 

cinnamon pumpkin, squash, yam, and cheddar cheese pie

 

 

Apple pie

 

 

diet pumpkin pie

[deladane]

After spending the whole week searching for something fun to do at night on the ship, our wishes finally came true. Tonight's theme was 80's night, and they were playing 80's music at a lot of the bars and the trivia game was an 80's version of name that tune! I LOVE 80's music, and I knew that game would be perfect for me. We sat down at the casino bar, ready to play some trivia, and guess what? I won!!! I was very proud of my ship on a stick :D

 

 

 

 

Tonight they also had the towel folding demonstration. I was looking forward to this all week! There wasn't a huge turn out, but I think that might be because it started at 9:15 when many people were still eating dinner at the late seating. They had bins filled with clean towels at the entrance to the theater, and they walked us through the process of making two towel animals. It was a lot of fun (I love anything crafty!), but I doubt I could re-create it now if I tried haha Here are my new towel buddies:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ironically, our steward also left us an elephant in the cabin. I think his was a little better than mine haha

 

 

[Chelleum]

You did a good job with the animal towels. If I had tried it would've been a mess. lol!! Great review and pics, I'm doing this itinerary in October but on the Valor.

[Mr2Scents]

The water at Sapphire beach has 3 different sections. When standing at the dive shop facing the water, if you go to the left, there is a section of sea grass where some people have said they saw sea turtles and sting rays (I didn't go in that section, so I'm not sure what animals might have been there) but I imagine that you wouldn't need water shoes there. The section of water straight ahead of the dive shop is all soft sand, and you definitely wouldn't need water shoes there either.

 

The section of water to the right of the dive shop is where I went snorkeling. It is very densely packed with coral, and there is no where to rest your feet down on the ground. There are also places where the coral rises up very close to the water line, so when I floated over that section, I actually got a cut on my heel because I wasn't wearing my water shoes. I would definitely recommend wearing water shoes if you are going to the coral section to go snorkeling because it is very rough and rocky! But that's what makes it beautiful! :) The only reason I didn't wear mine was because they were still wet from kayaking two nights before, and I knew I needed them to be dry for St. Lucia, so I didn't want to risk getting them wet and having them not be dry in time. I hope that helps! With or without water shoes, Sapphire Beach was definitely the most beautiful beach I saw that entire week, and possibly in my whole life! I hope you have a great time there! :)

 

 

Sapphire Beach was our favorite beach of the cruise as well. I've snorkeled at Coki beach previously and was not disappointed in our choice of Sapphire. We wanted something not so crowded as most people either go to Magens Bay or Coki. I'd go back there again in a minute.

[deladane]

Thank you for taking the time to post a review, I'm really enjoying it. Your pictures are beautiful (so glad you got your camera back BTW). We're finally planning another cruise, same itinerary but it would be on Carnival Valor by the time we will probably be going in April or May of this year. I have what may seem a stupid question, but it never hurts to ask right? :) When the ship sails away from St. Lucia, did Carnival Victory head down to the Pitons so all can view them from the ship? That would be great if they do. I've seen on the Ports boards, under St. Lucia, that some of the other cruise lines do that but there was no mention of Carnival doing it. I'm looking forward to reading the rest of your review so I can get some good ideas for our upcoming cruise.

 

I'm sorry I forgot to reply to you yesterday. That's not a stupid question at all! Haha. Unfortunately, I don't know the answer for you :(. St Lucia is one of the two formal nights, and I had the 6pm dinner seating so I didn't see the sail away at 5pm as I was getting dressed for formal night. In fact, the only night I did see the sail away was from St Kitts, and that's because it was the only night when sail away was at 6pm so we got to watch the sunset and the sail away and we just went to dinner a few minutes late :). Sorry I'm not of much help, but hopefully someone else out there in Cruise Critic Land knows the answer?

[wrigley80]

Great Review.....we did the Southern Caribbean itinerary a few years back on the Carnival Destiny

[pghsteelerfan]

I'm sorry I forgot to reply to you yesterday. That's not a stupid question at all! Haha. Unfortunately, I don't know the answer for you :(. St Lucia is one of the two formal nights, and I had the 6pm dinner seating so I didn't see the sail away at 5pm as I was getting dressed for formal night. In fact, the only night I did see the sail away was from St Kitts, and that's because it was the only night when sail away was at 6pm so we got to watch the sunset and the sail away and we just went to dinner a few minutes late :). Sorry I'm not of much help, but hopefully someone else out there in Cruise Critic Land knows the answer?

 

You did mention the 6PM seating/formal night and I'd just read it too. My bad. LOL!!! Actually, your whole review has really been helpful since we're getting ready to book a cruise with the same itinerary for early May but it will be on Valor instead of Victory. You've sold me on Sapphire Beach in St. Thomas and my DH agreed to that. From your pictures and descriptions it looks so pretty there. On our last cruise we stopped in St. Thomas did an excursion to St. John (snorkeling at Trunk Bay) so this time we want to enjoy St. Thomas without feeling rushed. We're still weighing our options for the other islands but I'm enjoying the planning and really getting excited.

[fbe2228]

Pghsteelerfan: I had to look at my pictures to remember which way we went. The answer to your question is no. When we left Castries, we sailed away from the Pitons. However, I did get some decent pictures of the Pitons in the morning as we were approaching St. Lucia.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Deladane. Now we remember you. We were playing along with you with the 80's trivia. We got 18 correct. You got 19. Grrr....:)

 

Paul

[deladane]

Day 10- Saturday in St. Maarten

Saturday was our last port day and we were docked in St. Maarten before I even woke up. We had a busy day scheduled for today, with an ATV tour pre-booked through Island Marketing in the morning, and a taxi ride out to Maho Beach to watch the planes land in the afternoon. We met our tour guide, Junior, outside the front gate of the port area at 8:40am. Luckily we had given ourselves a half hour to find him because everyone we asked for directions pointed us in a different direction! It seemed like no one knew where the front gate was, but we did eventually find it and Junior drove us to his supply yard to get our ATVs. We had arranged to be on a group tour and to share the ATV because I personally was terrified and had no interest in driving, whereas Beth has driven ATVs before and was excited to do it again. When we got to the supply yard, Junior told us that we were the only two people signed up for the excursion! So basically, we were charged the group rate for a private tour! Junior was a great guide- he took us all over the island, and gave us time to stop and take photos at some scenic overlooks and at the border of the French and Dutch sides.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Originally, the tour was supposed to include an hour break at Orient Beach. Beth and I spent so much time at the beaches all week that we didn't really want to waste an hour on an already-busy day. Plus we were dressed in shorts and sneakers, so we didn't want to bother changing into bathing suits and flip flops for just an hour. So instead, we asked Junior if it was okay to stop at Orient Beach to take a few photos, and then we could get on our way 5 minutes later. After seeing so many beautiful beaches all week, we were somewhat underwhelmed by Orient Beach. It looked like a very narrow strip of sand, and it was packed full of lounge chairs. We were happy with our decision to carry on with the tour.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The ATV tour only took us on the streets of St. Maarten, so aside from like 3 minutes of riding along the beach, there was no off-roading. On the way back through Marigot, we got stuck in a lot of traffic. It was stop and go for most of the ride back, and we ended up back at the storage yard around 11am. Junior took us back to the ship by 11:15, and I took a few minutes to run back to the ship and change out of my dusty clothes while Beth did a few minutes of shopping in the port area.

 

At 11:30am, we met up at the taxi stand to get a ride to Maho Beach. It turned out that we were sharing a ride with the magician who performed on the ship the night before. I was so busy playing 80's music trivia that I missed the magic show, but he told us he has worked for Carnival for 25 years and it was interesting to hear his perspective of living life on the road. The taxi ride cost $9 and took about a half hour, and we noticed that the traffic in the opposite direction heading back towards Marigot and the cruise terminal was totally stopped for several miles. Our taxi driver said if we wanted to get back to the ship on time, we would need to leave at least 2 hours for the ride because of all the traffic. The magician suggested that we should ask our taxi driver to take us the long way through the French side of the island instead of coming back the way we came through Simpson Bay/Marigot. At first, the taxi driver hesitated, but after a few more minutes and seeing how bad the traffic was, he agreed with the magician that that would be a better route to take on the return trip.

[pghsteelerfan]

Pghsteelerfan: I had to look at my pictures to remember which way we went. The answer to your question is no. When we left Castries, we sailed away from the Pitons. However, I did get some decent pictures of the Pitons in the morning as we were approaching St. Lucia.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Deladane. Now we remember you. We were playing along with you with the 80's trivia. We got 18 correct. You got 19. Grrr....:)

 

Paul

 

Thank you. I'll definitely be up early so I can see and get pictures from the ship. We're planning on going in May 2013, so the sun should be up or at least light enough out to see them. :)

[deladane]

We dropped the magician off at the airport and then continued on to Maho Beach. We got there at the right time because as soon as we got there, several huge airplanes came in for landing one after the other! We saw 6 or 7 planes back to back in about 25 minutes! Please note that 1) MANY more planes landed than were listed on this surf board, and 2) I was standing on the bar/restaurant's patio to take all of these photos.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We were at Maho Beach from around 12:30 until 1pm, and we decided that we saw plenty of planes landing so we wanted to get back to the ship area before the traffic built up too much. We found a taxi at the taxi stand and insisted that he take us back the "long" way. He resisted at first, but then agreed. We were very happy that we forced him to take us that way because we got back to the port in 45 minutes (only 15 minutes longer than the ride to the beach) and we knew that the other direction would have taken way longer.

 

We spent a little more time shopping in the port area, then got back on the ship for a late lunch. Today was the "chocolate buffet" at lunch time. It wasn't all that impressive of a selection, but I did enjoy the dessert sushi pieces:

 

 

 

 

 

 

I actually ended up eating my dessert first while I waited for the pizza guy to make me another slice of that yummy De Chevre pizza I had earlier in the week. I figured today was my last chance, so I wanted to eat all of my favorites one more time!

 

After lunch, I went back to the cabin to start packing my suitcase... I couldn't believe our vacation was almost over! I spent the rest of the afternoon packing, relaxing on Lido deck, and worrying that people might miss the ship because they were stuck in traffic. Here is a photo of all the people coming back down the pier at about 4:15pm (with a 4:30pm all aboard time)

 

 

 

 

Surprisingly, I didn't hear them call any names over the loudspeaker, so I guess everyone did make it back in time. Maybe traffic cleared up by then? Or maybe they all just left the beach early enough!

[deladane]

Tonight's dinner menu wasn't very exciting. The coconut shrimp entree was a repeat from my appetizer on the first night. I did make it a point to have some WCMC one last time! I had the shrimp cocktail for an appetizer and I also ordered the mushrooms in balsamic vinegar dressing but the waitress forgot to serve that to me (everyone at the table who tried the mushrooms said they tasted horrible because they were drenched in vinegar, so I didn't bother asking the waitress to bring me my dish haha) Anyway, no need to re-show the shrimp cocktail photo, so I'll just start with the entrees...

 

 

broiled filet of mahi mahi

 

 

oops, I just remembered I forgot to take a photo of the shrimp before I ate it! It looked identical to the shrimp appetizer on the first night though, so you're not missing much :)

 

 

WCMC and Grand Marnier Souffle

 

 

diet apple pie (tasted exactly like the regular apple pie!)

 

 

After dinner, we said goodbye to our tablemates and wait staff, and went back to the cabin to finish packing. Then we went down to guest services to settle our bill before heading to the adult comedy show. I already mentioned my feelings about this comedian- the one who was so horrible that no one laughed at any of his "jokes" and he spent most of his half hour on stage picking on people in the audience instead of attempting more of his pre-written material. After that, we spent some time at the casino and then headed off to bed. Our last towel "animal" was a heart...

 

 

[deladane]

Day 11- Sunday back in Puerto Rico

After a great week at sea, we returned safe and sound to San Juan on Sunday morning. We decided to carry our own bags off the ship, so we left the cabin at 8:30am (the latest time we could), and took our luggage up to Lido for one last breakfast. It was very crowded, but we found two seats at a table and were able to take turns watching the bags and getting our food. After we ate, we waited for them to let people start getting off the ship. Apparently there was a hold up in the luggage warehouse, so we had to wait a few extra minutes, but finally at 9:30, we were cleared to leave. We took the elevator down to deck zero, swiped our sign and sail card one last time, and then walked off the ship. We had to wait on line for about 15 minutes to go through customs, and then we left the cruise terminal. We found a taxi right away, and he took us to the Marriott Stellaris Resort and Casino for $12 plus $1 per suitcase. Our good luck with hotels continued, as our room was ready for check in when we arrived a little after 10am! We dropped off our bags and went straight down to the pool area for a day of relaxing. Here are some photos of the resort:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate. It was partly sunny in the morning, but by lunch time, dark clouds rolled in with a cold breeze. It definitely was not the warm sunny day we anticipated, and we never went into the pool because the water was too cold. I ordered lunch by the pool bar- it was the best bacon cheeseburger with fries I had all week!

 

 

 

 

A word of caution though: There are tons of pigeons surrounding the pool, and the second they brought my food to my lounge chair, the pigeons came over and attacked. One of them jumped up on to my lounge chair, and then perched on the rim of the food basket! The bartender came over and shooed him away, and I moved over to the bar to finish my food. The bartender told me the pigeons don't like water, so when they came back, I just splashed water on them and they flew away. It was kind of gross and not very appetizing, but at least it never touched my food!

 

I stayed at the pool until around 5pm, and then headed back to the room to get ready for dinner. We didn't know exactly what we were in the mood for, so we left the hotel and walked up and down the main street, reading menus as we passed each restaurant. Most of the restaurants were a bit more pricey than we wanted to spend, but we stumbled upon an Italian restaurant called Via Appia's Deli that had a huge line outside of locals waiting to be seated. The restaurant awning says it is a deli, but we walked inside and looked at the menu and saw that it was actually an Italian restaurant, and almost everyone had gourmet pizzas on their tables that looked delicious! We were told to wait in line outside and someone would come seat us. While we were waiting, this man pulled up and parked his motorcycle right across the street from us:

 

 

 

 

It attracted a lot of attention, but it was fun to see! Eventually, one of the waiters came outside and escorted us to a table in the restaurant. I ordered the baked ziti with chicken, and it was one of the best meals I had all week! It was filled with pieces of chicken, and the sauce and cheese were both very tasty. Best of all, it only cost $11.50 (as opposed to the nearly $30 dishes at all the other restaurants!) They didn't have the fastest service, but I think that's because there were only locals eating here, not many tourists, and they were all out for a leisurely Sunday dinner with their families and were not in any rush. After dinner, we got some Haagen Daaz for dessert and then went back to the hotel.

 

Monday morning, we woke up, got ready, packed up our stuff, and checked out of the hotel by 10:30am to go to the airport. There was no wait for a taxi in front of the hotel. My flight home left Puerto Rico at 1pm, and transferred in Atlanta to fly back to Tucson, landing at 9:15pm (which was really 12:15am Puerto Rico time!). I took a taxi home and was in bed by 10:30... back to work at 8am on Tuesday boooo!

 

Coming up: some final thoughts about the trip