Victory Review 12/16/2012 w/lots of pics

[Dirkgun]

Some Shipwreck beach pictures.....

 

 

 

Caribbean reef squid.....^

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sea Cucumber....^

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Dirkgun]

More random Shipwreck pictures.....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tiny little crab....^

 

 

 

 

 

 

DW helping MIL to snorkel and enjoy all the fun possible.....^

[Dirkgun]

When we were done swimming and snorkeling we were driven back to the port. There were dancers doing some kind of costumed dancing and they were pretty good. We walked around a bit and then went back to the ship.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The day was coming to an end.... time for Sail away. Curiously the Carnival staff offloaded this pile of Deck chairs and we just left them on the pier for some reason....? I am sure there was a plan for them but they did not clear it with me. Lol

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I really like Caribbean Sunsets.....

[hockeyluver]

Wow Shipwreck sure has changed since we were there in Feb 2010 !! We left our mark :D

 

 

 

 

 

Yikes I dont know why they are so big!! my first time uploading from photobucket sorry :(

Edited January 27, 2013 by hockeyluver

[Dirkgun]

Wow Shipwreck sure has changed since we were there in Feb 2010 !! We left our mark :D

 

 

 

 

 

Yikes I dont know why they are so big!! my first time uploading from photobucket sorry :(

 

Yeah we were there on the Victory in Feb of 2010 also... they had just been damaged by a hurricane a few months earlier but yes a lot more chairs and stuff there now.

[hockeyluver]

Yeah we were there on the Victory in Feb of 2010 also... they had just been damaged by a hurricane a few months earlier but yes a lot more chairs and stuff there now.

 

We had asked a cab driver to take us somewhere great and this is where he brought us, the views on the drive are amazing!! I cant wait to return!!

 

but I think we will do a tour this time!

[funinthesun1964]

We had the same dining staff on our Victory Cruise in December. Joseph, Nadzia, and Romeo were fantastic. Our bar waiter was Dimas instead of Vilad. Dimas was great about having wine on our table every night when we arrived. I loved this ship and this crew. Thank you for posting this picture so we could remember our great dining room staff.

 

 

I just knew that was Joseph!! We had him on our first cruise - Splendor in 2009! Will never forget him, he was a sweetheart! I hope I get to run into him again sometime. I was on the Victory in February of 2012, but didn't see him. I know they change ships often, though.

[Dirkgun]

I just knew that was Joseph!! We had him on our first cruise - Splendor in 2009! Will never forget him, he was a sweetheart! I hope I get to run into him again sometime. I was on the Victory in February of 2012, but didn't see him. I know they change ships often, though.

 

 

Yes Joseph was a great server and a very nice guy. I really have yet to find a bad one.... some a little less personable than others but never a bad one. They have such a hard job, I don't know how they keep it together and at least give the appearance of happy all the time. :)

[Dirkgun]

Ok I just noticed that somehow (probably user error?!?) I had a couple of posts that did not get posted. I am not sure what happened but when I went back and read a little I noticed there were a couple of times missing, so I will post them now. They will be out of order but I really did try to post them in the right spot..... so here goes..... (this post should be between post #1 and #2 I also don't know why some of the font formatting things got posted Sorry if it was confusing)

 

This one is on the first day we were in San Juan before we went downtown. We had gone to a subway to get a sandwich.....

 

We all hungrily ate our sandwiches and then took a walk. There is a nice little beach entrance about a block from the hotel and a nice little bench area for sitting and enjoying the views. There were people lying out on the sand but not really an area for playing in the water there if you walk about 2 blocks west you will hit a nice swimming beach where people swim and surf etc.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

^^...After walking around a bit we went back to the Hotel and took a nap ... (post #2)

 

 

Now should jump to just after post #2....

 

 

Ok to preface... we had just been hassled by the guy telling the story of him getting mugged... once I told him I knew his story, he just walked away. Then we found a cab and went back to the hotel and crashed for the night. We really slept good.

 

Sat Dec 15th We woke up around 9:00 am and my wife and I went down next door to Burger King and got everyone some croissant sandwiches and also their version of the Mallorca (pretty good there but not anywhere near as good as the originals). We brought them back to our group and we just enjoyed them in our rooms. After breakfast I called Enterprise and they came to pick me up to get our van we rented for $59 a day plus ins etc. Then at 12:30 pm we headed over to the airport to pick up DD and SIL. They got in on time but were exhausted so we took them back to the hotel so they could rest for a few minutes and clean up. We got ready and went to eat at a great little restaurant we always go to called Los Pinos. They make great Mofongo.

 

 

 

This was an important section to include otherwise I forgot to pick up my DD and SIL from the Airport...Lol

 

 

 

Picking them up from the Airport.... Yay everyone is here now.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ok so hopefully now we will be back to normal posts and not screw up anymore.....sorry for the confusion.

[Dirkgun]

Sat Dec 22nd; St Maarten. Today was a first for all of us…. Even though we had done this exact same itinerary (minus Dominica, that they used to have on this route (Carnival please bring it back)) we were not able to dock at St Maarten because of some big ocean swells…. There were 4 big cruise ships out waiting to dock that morning. So that time we just had an unscheduled sea day (which BTW is not as fun because we were already up raring to go when we got the news so no sleeping in).

 

So it was our first time here as well as the ones that had never been in the Southern Caribbean before at all. We had booked a tour that kind of did a little of everything. We booked with Bernard’s Tours. They were great. We drove through the Dutch side (since that is where we docked) and stopped at an Iguana farm. I was not really sure what to expect here, but I was pleasantly surprised. There is a nice little (under construction so will be even better) facility that has a bunch of Iguanas living in trees and around a pond there are also some chickens (I think everywhere in the Caribbean) running around. The guides will pick the Iguanas up and feed them lettuce and let you hold them. They don’t get too close if you don’t want them to, so it is not like if you are scared of them you have to worry about them being close to you.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Dirkgun]

Then we drove toward the French side and stopped at a little view spot and there was a vendor/guide that has a bunch of shells and things that he got out of the water there. You can take some if you wish, then he would appreciate a tip…. But is not at all pushy about it. Our next stop is Orient beach. As we drive in the parking lot our guide tells us that this end (on the right hand side as you look at the water) is the nude section… so if that is your cup of tea so to speak, then this is where you can walk back to, otherwise he dropped everyone off by a hotel resort area. All of the beaches are topless (not mandatory…Lol) so you can and will see plenty of that if you look I am just sayin..…. The water was fun the waves were quite big so we spent our time there both body surfing and boogie boarding as well as just jumping the waves. Did I tell you how much I enjoy the water in the Caribbean? There were some random dogs that came along the beach to investigate people and since we really missed our dogs of course we had to play with them and try to give them treats. We really enjoyed our time there it is a fun beach with lots to do. We would definitely like to come back there.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[gambee]

very nice pictures thanks for sharing, I specially like the variety of sea life that you encountered during your vacation.

[Dirkgun]

After our time was up at Orient Beach, we headed to the open market on the French side in the town of Marigot. We went to a little bakery that had pastries and other food items. It was nice to sit and enjoy some great tasting French pastry. We then walked around the open market for a while looking at the local vendors who were selling everything from touristy stuff like you can find everywhere to local fruits and vegetables.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then we drove to Maho beach (this is the place I was really looking forward to). It is a beach that is right up against the runway for the Airport. You can watch planes come in and land and it looks like you could just reach up and touch their landing gear. Then when the big jets take off they back up close to the fence and everyone…… ok maybe just the crazies Lol, Stand in the direct path of the jet engines to withstand the jet blast. They say it feels like hurricane force winds. Some of the pictures I have show the people really leaning in against the wind and sand blowing. We were thinking on the way we could just get in the water and watch for a while but the waves there were huge and just pounding the beach… in fact they had a tractor pushing the sand that the waves were washing up across the road. It was a very cool place to spend some time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

More Maho beach to come....

[Dirkgun]

At Maho I had my DSLR camera out and had watched a few smaller planes come in. They are cool but the Big Show is the big boys the bigger jets. When one came in for a landing I got over close to the path of the Runway to get some multi frame shots (action photos) Today I had my Bahamas hat on to keep the sun off my bald dome. When this plane came in I was taking shots but when it got past me it blew my hat off my head and down into the waves about 35 yards away. You can see in my pictures.... click, click, click... then I move the camera to find my hat, see that it is too late and go back to shooting. A nice guy that was down in the water brought it back to me. It was funny though.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hat blows off.....

 

Oh well what ya gonna do......back to shooting.

 

 

 

All the same sequence of shots....

 

The bigger the plane, the closer they land by the end of the runway (they need as much room as possible) so the little inter island planes are a lot higher when they come over the beach to land than the big jets. Same goes for take offs...next up some shots of a big plane taking off.

[Dirkgun]

These are some pics from A big American Airline plane taking off. When they pull on to the runway and get straightened out for take off .. all the crazies come to get blasted by the wind and sand/water combo that the planes jet engines blow at them. They say that some of the planes engine put out equivalent wind force to hurricane force winds.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Look at some of the guys having to lean in to the wind and you can see the sand and water mist sand blasting them....

 

 

 

 

 

 

The waves were really pounding this day.... washing the sand up and over the road so this tractor had to keep cleaning it of the road.

 

[Dirkgun]

When we got back to the pier we said goodbye to our tour guide and paid him the $40 per person, then walked around the shops a bit and finished some shopping. It is a very nice shopping area. I definitely would like to return to St Maarten some day. Once we got back on the Victory we went to get a snack and then walked around up on deck after sail away. It was kind of a sad feeling knowing that we had this last night on the ship. It is a somewhat stressful night getting ready to get off the next morning (whether you want to or not) packing your luggage and getting it ready to set out in the hall, all while you need to do dinner and really want to enjoy the last night on the wonderful cruise. It is very easy packing for the cruise, lots of energy and excitement, but to get off the ship that same excitement is not there…. Not to mention somehow all your clothes and belongings have multiplied and become much harder to organize.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Serenity area.... we did not use it but it sure looks relaxing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[sueandtimj]

your photos of maho beach are fabulous! we're hoping to go there in april!

 

Sue

[Dirkgun]

Last Night on board..... people are not as happy and excited as they have been the rest of the cruise. We wanted to really savor this last night.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tried to got some chocolate Strawberries and flowers to mask the sadness but it did not work..... Lol.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Not a great picture but the group of Dining room staff singing...."Leaving on a cruise ship" really gets me.

 

 

Although it is kind of sad, the luggage in the halls at night the last night always makes me laugh.... you can see everyone walking by checking out everyone elses luggage.... ooh that is nice, or how did they only have one small bag?? Lol

 

 

 

 

Up next.... Debarkation and our day in San Juan.

[Dirkgun]

your photos of maho beach are fabulous! we're hoping to go there in april!

 

Sue

 

 

Thanks... I have a bunch of them. It is such a cool place. I would have liked to stay there longer. If you go to St Maarten, definitely go to Maho. I think it is something you need to experience. :D

[Dirkgun]

very nice pictures thanks for sharing, I specially like the variety of sea life that you encountered during your vacation.

 

 

Thank you. Yes we definitely saw some cool things. I really love snorkeling for that reason. I am sure you could probably see more Diving but that is for another time...:eek::D

[Dirkgun]

Sun Dec 23rd; Back in port at San Juan. This morning we arrived back in San Juan and unfortunately they really are making us get off and letting perfect strangers into our rooms. We got up and went and had a nice relaxing breakfast in the dining room. I like the MDR for breakfast, you don’t have to fight the lines and can just sit and enjoy the meal. After the meal we waited for a bit and then debarked pretty effortlessly. Saying goodbye to our wonderful accommodations and great staff. That final bing out of the security machine is a sad sound. :mad:

 

 

 

 

 

 

When we got out with our luggage we found a porter to help us out through customs and to a taxi. The exit process probably only took about 30 mins start to finish. Our porter took us to a taxi that could take all of us and our luggage to our new home for the next few days… The Caribe Hilton. This property is a great place to stay. It has all the facilities anyone could want…. Pools, great views, restaurants (both onsite and close by) parking for rental cars ($18 a day) and fairly close to the public bus lines (within a block and a half. One of the very cool features of the Caribe Hilton is the grounds… they have a walkway that mirrors the rugged coast line and has loungers and beds that you can relax on day or night. There is also a neat little pier that sticks out in the water a bit that they light up at night and it is almost like dry snorkeling… there is lots of cool fish that you can see and different ones depending on the time of day.

 

We checked in and were able to just store our luggage until later when they had rooms done (it was only 10:30 am after all)

 

 

 

Down in the luggage area once you are off the ship before you go through customs....^

 

 

 

Our little pile of luggage to store (yikes).....^

 

 

[Dirkgun]

We grabbed a cab and went into Old San Juan, our plan was to tour the forts today. We had the driver drop us off at El Morro first. The forts are such a cool thing to see in San Juan. If you make it to San Juan, you really need to try to see the forts there. Their age and history really put things in perspective. They were started being built even before Columbus set sail for the Americas. They are also perched on the hill overlooking the most picturesque coastline. I could sit there all day and just look out in the ocean the water is such a great color and the weathered wood and stone of the walls and fort are just an incredible contrast. Pictures really don’t do it justice but we will try….

 

 

 

First up El Morro...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

More pics to come....

[Dirkgun]

More pictures of the fort.............

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The day is hot and a little windy.... you can see the humidity coming from the water. Very neat coastline though. I love it here.!! You can see San Cristobal in the distance.

[Dirkgun]

 

 

The Colors are so rich and Vibrant....^

 

 

Interesting Triangular Staircase......^

 

 

 

 

 

The amazing colors of the time weathered facade of the walls and the shapes of the exposed bricks.....^

[Dirkgun]

After we had walked around for a few hours we decided to get on the public trolley and ride it around to see where it went. We got on and rode it down to the waterfront and pier where the Victory sat. We saw the new set of people getting on her (kind of makes you jealous like someone moving into your house). We actually rode around the entire loop and then back down to the pier to grab a sandwich at the Subway across from the CVS store. After lunch we got on the trolley again and went up to the San Cristobal fort. It does not look like it is as big but actually it is the bigger grounds of the two forts. It just does not have the lawn and things around it like El Morro does. They both (the Forts) are incredible to see and imagine life back in the heyday or their usefulness. The US Navy used them as a U boat lookout during World War 2, so they have been used since the days of the early to mid 1500’s up to and including WWII and then now as historical sites. Pretty impressive how they withstood the test of time.

 

 

 

 

The trolley loading at El Morro along with a segway tour (that looks fun)....^

 

 

 

SIL trying to take a cannon ball home for a souvenir...Lol

 

 

 

 

Views from San Cristobal.... notice the Victory in the background.

 

 

 

 

 

Hallway beneath the fort... leads to a cell where they kept prisoners...