Carnival Victory Review - New Years Cruise 2013

[CruzerDeb]

Can't wait to read more!

[Bashlin]

Awesome! I'll be on the victory soon :-)

 

Sent from my Galaxy 3S

[sueandtimj]

Thanks for taking the time to write this review. I'm doing the same itinerary but on the Valor at the end of March. Looking forward to reading the rest!

 

Sue

[CHERRYBRANCH]

The week before we were to leave on holidays I was checking the weather network to see what would be happening prior to our cruise and I was shocked to find this as the forecast for the day before our trip.

 

 

and this was the storm we were to get on December 20, 2012 and we are located pretty much dead center of that circle

 

 

and what it looked like after the storm.

 

 

I am so ready for this trip! Thankfully all of the weather delays were the day before our expected departure and we didn't have to worry about making alternate arrangements.

 

On our day of departure December 28, we had to get up bright and early to catch our 7:20 a.m. flight out of Ottawa to Charlotte, NC and then on to San Juan, PR. We made it to the airport for 5:30 AM Yawn! DH went and parked the car in long term storage and I waited patiently for him. While waiting a nice lady at the US Airways counter gave me the US Customs form to fill out.

 

DH met me and we went to the self check-in counter and got all of our paperwork completed and then we realized that we should have dropped off our coats at the lockers before we did the check-in - OH Well! Live and learn. Off we went to put our coats away. Now in the Ottawa airport the departure check-ins are on the second floor at one end of the building and the arrivals are on the first floor at the other end. This is where the lockers are located.

 

By the time we got back to the check-in counters the US Airways employee was looking for us. As we were walking up to the counter we ran in to some old neighbours of ours but not just any neighbor she was originally from our home town and went to the same high school that DH and I went to. Haven’t seen them in quite some time as they moved away about 3 years ago now. Was nice to see them and they were on the same flight as we were, however they were heading to Jamaica! They were also leaving their 18 yo home alone.

 

Off to security and that went pretty smoothly - it’s kind of nice having a flight at 7:20 a.m. as the 6:00 a.m. crowd was already through and there weren’t that many people going through when we arrived. It’s been 4 years since we’ve flown so this was our first time going to the airport where we would have to have the full body scan or the pat down - well as it turns out we didn’t have to do either? Not sure why but maybe it’s a random selection thing. The one strange thing they did was swab my hands and belt but they didn’t do DH. So random!

 

Off to Customs check-in. These guys always make me feel intimidated but that’s there job so we answer all his questions and we are on our way. We get to the gate and sit down for a bit - DH went off to get water and gum and then a couple of muffins as I was starting to get a bit hungry and the flights now don’t have much in the way of food and what you have to pay for is questionable!

 

We make it to Charlotte in good time and then sit on the tarmac for a clear path to our gate. That can be a bit frustrating as you just want to get off the plane at that point. Finally get to the gate and then we have to wait for our carry-on luggage. The tunnel was pretty cold too. From what we were told the temperature in Charlotte was -1C.

 

Got our luggage and headed to our gate - still had plenty of time before our flight so we grabbed a quick bite to eat. Two sandwiches, a bag of chips, some nuts a water bottle and a sprite and it came out to $36 - highway robbery.

 

Now pretty much everyone knows that the speakers are pretty bad in most airports and sometimes with all the other noise around you it's hard to hear the boarding calls correctly. We thought we heard our boarding call so we went to line-up just to find out our zone had not been called! We got out of line and waited and lo and behold our zone was called next. Should have just stayed in the line - who's checking anyway.

 

Get on the plane and try and fit our two carry-ons in the same bin and they won't fit so we stand there for a couple of minutes trying and all the while we are holding up people trying to get on - HA! Then the stewardess says - why don't you just try another bin. Thanks and why didn't you suggest that a few minutes sooner!

 

All the passengers are loaded up pretty quickly and the captain comes on the speaker and says we are in line to take off shortly and with the nice tail wind we should arrive on time. A few minutes later he comes on to say they are putting some cargo on and we'll have to wait a few more minutes. It's at this point that my tiredness gets the better of me and I fall asleep. I wake up some time later and we still haven't left. We boarded the plane just after 11:00 am and our flight was to leave at 11:50 and it's now around 12:20 and he finally starts moving. At this point I figure we will get in to San Juan a bit late.

 

Well we arrived in San Juan on time - how surprising and it was a really good flight.

 

 

I think though I preferred the flight to Charlotte. There were 13 rows and 4 seats across. There was plenty of leg room and the take off and arrival were really smooth. The big planes with their speed and size kind of scare me. I always worry that the brakes will fail!

 

So we take our time at this point - what's the rush we are on holidays now! We wait for the plane to clear out and grab our stuff. When we get into the airport we connect to the free wi-fi and touch base with family back home.

 

Off to pick up our luggage and then grab a taxi to our hotel. The taxi ride was interesting as they always are. The one thing with the roads here is that they are all in pretty good shape but lanes disappear and it seems without warning. DH wants to rent a car tomorrow and head up to the rainforest and I am terrified! Hope it all goes well.

 

We make it to our hotel the Sheraton Hotel and Casino.

 

The temperature in Puerto Rico when we got to the hotel!

 

 

We checked in and got up to our room - freshened up a bit and headed out for a bite to eat.

 

The view from our room.

 

 

We stopped at the lounge and tapas bar. We had beef sliders, some chicken dish and a couple of beverages. The food was really tasty and hit the spot, but for a tapas dish it actually was too much food.

 

Went for a walk around the casino property and then headed back to the casino - where we spent a whopping $5 at the penny slots. DH was actually up to $6 at one point but then spent it all. We are such gamblers!

 

What hotel did you stay at in San Juan?

[SooNet]

Can't wait to read more!

It's taking much longer than I thought it would. I had prepared all of this in my blog with the pictures but when I went to post it in Cruise Critic I realized I had to re-import all of the image links again. Oh well - with each post I get to relive my cruise and it helps when it's -39 C with the wind chill!

 

Awesome! I'll be on the victory soon :-)

 

Sent from my Galaxy 3S

 

I hope you have a great cruise on the Victory.

 

Thanks for taking the time to write this review. I'm doing the same itinerary but on the Valor at the end of March. Looking forward to reading the rest!

 

Sue

 

You'll love the itinerary.

 

What hotel did you stay at in San Juan?

Sorry I should have posted that when I posted the pictures. We stayed at the Sheraton Puerto Rico Hotel and Casino. It's a bit far from Old San Juan and the port but it was a nice hotel for us to be in when we did our trip to the rainforest. I wouldn't have wanted to be in Old San Juan with that truck!

[chipq]

Beautiful pictures, thanks for sharing.

 

http://luv2cruise.blogspot.com

[SooNet]

Day 4 - St Thomas - December 31, 2012

 

I woke up really early today and I wasn’t feeling very good. I was hoping it wasn’t something I ate or worse coming down with something that might get me quarantined to the room!

 

We took our time getting ready and DH was ready way before me and he was getting really hungry so he decided to head up to the lido buffet to get some food. He was back in 10 minutes and he was really frustrated as the lineups were quite long. I suggested we call room service and order some breakfast. You can’t get hot food other than toast but you get the essentials and they were pretty quick too. I was starting to feel a bit better at this point so I got ready to head out to St. Thomas with DH. Before we headed out though we watched them loading food supplies on to the ship and almost watched the canine security unit get run over by a rogue forklift operator. Poor guy I’m surprised he didn’t wet himself.

 

We headed to the gangway around 11:30 and after a few minutes wait we were on the gangway – stopped for the obligatory photo and then on solid ground. We decided to skip the taxis and just walk today. The first stop after the gates was at the Pandora store – I have to say at this point that I would love to have video taped DH when I squeeled with glee when I saw the Pandora store. I think he thought I saw a car coming and he jumped! I bought the MOM charm for $75 I believe this same charm in Canadian stores is $80 or $85 plus taxes.

 

We then started walking to the gondola to see how much it would be to go up the mountain. They wanted $21 per person – highway robbery in my opinion. Skipped that and kept walking along the boardwalk.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

---- Continued

[SooNet]

---- Part 2

 

 

It was a little overcast in St. Thomas today and we did get rained on at one point but it was more of a mist than anything else. It was a very long walk along the water but it was nice to be away from the crowds. We finally got in to Charlotte Amalie and stopped at the Diamonds International stores, got a free charm bracelet and charm, stopped at Tiffany’s and Del Sol and finally decided to head back to the ship.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

---- Continued

[SooNet]

---- Part 3

 

We knew at this point we were taking the taxi so headed to the taxi stand and got a taxi right away. $4 per person per way. I stopped at the Pandora store again and picked up the rubber stoppers that they give you for free with the clips for the leather bracelets. I will pick up another set of these in St. Maarten along with a couple of clips.

 

We were back on the ship by 2 and went and grabbed a bite to eat. Then went back to the room to relax for a bit. Then we headed up to the

Adults only Serenity area to have a drink and sunbathe.

 

 

 

 

---- Continued

[Crusin Kelly]

We hit the Victory in 14 days... Miami, Jamaica and Cayman. Looking forward to info on the ship.

 

We did a day in San Juan on our Eastern Carib cruise - we enjoyed old town and the food... We will go back there to stay a few days.

 

Great review - will keep reading

[SooNet]

---- Part 4

 

Back down to the room to watch the pier runners coming back on board. All aboard time was 4:30 but the last person came on board at 4:45. It boggles my mind that they think the ship should wait for them as the take their time getting on board. Not even trying to speed up.

 

 

I was impressed that the security staff in St. Thomas were out looking for the stragglers and making sure they didn’t get left behind. Ropes were lifted and we were on our way just after 5.

 

We got ready for dinner and headed to dinner at 6. We were seated on the second floor of the Pacific Dining room. They put us at a table for 4. Originally DH sat across from me but I asked if he would sit beside me as I would prefer to sit beside him and not some stranger. Our waiter Ryan came and introduced himself to us and we asked him if there was to be anyone sitting with us and he said he wasn’t sure. I take it that there either isn’t one yet but there may be. We will see tomorrow I guess.

 

They had New Years Eve hats and horns at the tables and they had a special New Years Eve dinner tonight. DH and I both had the lobster and shrimp and he started with the Ceasar salad and I started with the Roasted Red Pepper soup and Four Season’s salad. DH had the fruit plate for dessert and I had the Raspberry Financier cake.

 

 

After dinner we walked around the Promenade and took in some of the activities. At 7:30 we went to watch the Family Friendly Comedy Show with John Floyd and we quite enjoyed that. At 9:30 we went to the Piano bar to see what Dana Honey was able to do on the piano. It started off pretty quiet with just Dana DH and myself there but as he played a few more people trickled in. I’m guessing it’s pretty tough to compete with the New Year’s Eve party happening.

 

At about 10:00 we went up to the Lido deck to enjoy some of the Caribbean music and dancing under the stars. Again I am quite impressed with the ability of some people and dancing. Wow! DH and I have decided we’d like to learn – now we just have to follow through on that. I would love to as I think it would be a fantastic workout and anything we can do to improve our dancing ability would be great.

 

 

 

---- Continued

[SooNet]

---- Part 5

 

Around 10:45 we went down to the Seventh Sea Lobby Bar to see the balloons drop from the top of the ship. We had a couple of drinks and listened to a fantastic duo “Impromptwo” singing classic variety music. The voice coming out of this woman was unbelievable.

 

The balloon drop at Midnight - Welcome 2013!

 

 

 

 

 

DH didn’t want to end the day just yet so he dragged me over to the after party in the Arctic Bar. The music wasn’t really to my taste and I was pretty exhausted so we ended up back in the room around 12:45.

DH was hungry so he ordered room service. He had a BLT with potato chips and a beer. I shared some of it and then we called it a night. Good bye 2012 and Welcome to 2013.

 

[SooNet]

Beautiful pictures, thanks for sharing.

 

http://luv2cruise.blogspot.com

 

Thank you - I am happy you are enjoying my review and pictures!

[SooNet]

Oops forgot some photos from St. Thomas.

 

There's a party going on and we weren't invited!

 

 

Edited January 25, 2013 by SooNet

[SooNet]

Day 5 – Sea Day - January 1, 2013

 

A nice and easy day today as we wind up for 4 crazy ports in a row. The next 4 days will be exhausting but for now we rest and take it easy.

 

Got up a bit later this morning – 8:00 am! Ha that’s sleeping in for me I guess. Back home it’s still 7:00. We got dressed and headed to the main dining room for breakfast. What a treat – it wasn’t busy and we had a table to ourselves. We got to sit and enjoy being served breakfast and it was quick and painless. I had the French toast with bacon and fried potatoes and DH had the sides!

We headed back to the room to relax for a bit and tidy up. Got ready to go to the Serenity deck so our steward could get our room cleaned. It was very crowded up on the Serenity deck with most of the chairs already taken and the only ones left were on the windy side of the deck. We had to steal a chair pad from another chair because the pad on the one DH grabbed was missing. I went and enjoyed the hot tub for a bit and then went back to sit with DH. It was really windy and he was starting to be covered by shade so we thought we would take our chances and try the pool deck for a couple of loungers. Well the usual chair hogs were out and about today but we didn’t have a problem finding two chairs together on the non-windy side of the ship. We got a nice view of Dominica in the distance too.

 

We sat there for another 30 minutes or so and then headed down to the buffet for a bite to eat. DH really wanted a salad but the salad bar wasn’t ready yet so he filled up on hamburger and fries in the meantime. I had a hamburger and fries and some nachos. When we were finished eating the salad bar had opened so DH went and got his salad. Now I’m starting to get really tired – oh man vacation is hard work! I had to sit and wait for him to eat his salad and I was almost falling asleep. We then went to get a couple of coffees and a dessert. DH had the lemon cake and I had the tiramisu cheesecake – yummy.

 

Headed back to our room to rest and enjoy our balcony. I love having the balcony this trip and we are really using it. One thing to note here we are on the Starboard side of the ship and we get sun almost all day long and it hasn’t been windy at all. I am guessing that will be the reverse for us after Barbados. The Port side the last day or so would be pretty windy.

At 2:00 pm we went to the Lightning fast art auction. It was interesting seeing the different art work and hearing the starting prices of the pieces. Not much was sold at the auction but one guy did buy the Mohammed Ali sports memorabilia and a painting of him. I believe the two pieces cost just over $5000. We got out of there with our free gift at 3:30 pm.

 

Back to the room and I finally got to nap. In between all these times I have been blogging the last couple of days. Finally caught up and now have to get ready for the Captain’s reception and then dinner. So much to do so little time. Sometimes I feel I’m missing out on all of these planned activities but then I have to remember I am on vacation dangit and I should just enjoy what I can. So far DH and I have been taking the stairs as much as possible as the elevators besides being claustrophobic to DH are also very slow and I need the exercise. Two floors up for the Lido Buffet and 3 floors down for the Pacific Dining Room – not sure I could have planned that any better.

 

So yes I did miss out on some activities today. I was so busy writing up the last couple of days activities and combined with the clock on my laptop being set to Eastern Standard Time and we are on Caribbean time which is an hour ahead – I missed the Captain’s cocktail party!

 

Tonight was elegant night and we just made it to dinner on time. I had a cream of potato and garlic crouton for my starter and farfale and roast turkey with peas and for dessert I had the bitter and blanc bread pudding. Here are some pictures of our food tonight. Not much else to show for the day.

 

 

 

 

After dinner we went and checked out the City Lights show – I am not sure what to think of this show. I have seen several cruise ship shows and this one well left me kind of wondering – What was that? The costumes are amazing and the singers were outstanding but the show just lacked something. Maybe it was the choice of music or the choreography. I don’t know but I have seen much better shows.it of

We headed over to see John Floyd’s adult show in the Punchliner comedy club and then took a bit of a break and headed back to the Punchliner comedy club for Macio’s show. Each comedian was good but Macio was exceptionally good. John Floyd was more of the scripted type of comedian where Macio was able to ad lib his show. He was hysterical. Not sure if they will be having more comedian’s on board this week as the next couple of days nothing is planned for the Punchliner.

We put out our room service card and headed to bed. Barbados tomorrow.

 

 

And... the party continues without us!

 

Edited January 25, 2013 by SooNet

[SooNet]

[quote name='Crusin Kelly']We hit the Victory in 14 days... Miami, Jamaica and Cayman. Looking forward to info on the ship.

We did a day in San Juan on our Eastern Carib cruise - we enjoyed old town and the food... We will go back there to stay a few days.

Great review - will keep reading[/quote]

I wonder how much of this cruise will be ported over to Valor. For example, will they continue to have the same comedians that were on the Victory or will they follow the ships that they were on.

We loved San Juan and Puerto Rico. We didn't get out to enjoy much of the food as our hotel was quite a ways from the hub of everything and we didn't want to drive that boat of a vehicle into old San Juan and I'm glad we didn't try and get a taxi back to the hotel the night before the cruise as I heard it was difficult to get any taxi to take people to the hotel as the roads were blocked because of the concert.

So next time we enjoy more of Old San Juan or maybe Condado.

[SooNet]

Day 6 – Barbados – January 2, 2013

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We ordered room service this morning so we could avoid the crowds and have a nice quiet meal before the start of the day. Our plan for today was to get off the ship around 9:30 and get a taxi to the beach near Bert’s Bar (Eugene Melnyk’s bar – owner of the Ottawa Senators) and catch a junior hockey game and then spend some time at the beach.

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Well we headed down to the Gangway after we were finished with our breakfast and it was a very easy disembarkation. There was no one waiting to get off and it went quite smoothly.

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---- Continued

[SooNet]

---- Part 2


We made a quick stop at Diamonds International for the free charms and then continued on to the exit to the taxi stands. This is where it gets interesting – the taxi drivers start attacking you as soon as you exit the port doors. There are a series of taxis waiting for your business there.

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If you continue on towards town and after you pass the port gates there are more taxi drivers waiting to harass you. Well one taxi driver outside of the port caught my attention and offered us a ride. He asked if we wanted to go to the beach or have a tour. DH just wanted to avoid them all and kept walking and left me behind. I managed to talk to the guy and he offered us an island tour with a stop at Bert’s bar and a pick up after the beach for $100 US. DH just wanted to keep going. I negotiated it down to $90 and agreed to go with him.

Our driver Andre takes us on a quick tour and then gets a call part way through the tour and from what I understand was asked to find a taxi for another couple? Anyway we headed back to the taxi stand and waited for him to find another driver for this other couple. Then we continue on our tour. We got to see some interesting sides of Barbados. We found out that the main industry is sugar and then tourism. We found out that their schools are all public until college and university. Their healthcare system is public but there are private hospitals as well. Even their medications are covered. They have public housing that costs $20 US per week. That housing didn’t look that awful either.

He took us through the Sanderling resort where Tiger Woods was married and he was hoping to find a monkey to give some banana to.

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---- Continued

[SooNet]

---- Part 3

We then visited one of the island’s first churches. He explained that the original church was destroyed in a hurricane in 1898 and was rebuilt with limestone. They have the original bell on display but it was damaged in the hurricane and repaired but never sounded the same again so it is just there for historical purposes. It was originally made in 1696.

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A very beautiful stained glass window.
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The original bell for the church. Repaired after a hurricane but never used again as the sound was off.

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The list of all the priests that have had the privilege of leading a congregation at this church.

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The original baptismal font.

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---- Continued

[SooNet]

---- Part 4

Ronald Regan visited this church as well as Kofi Anan.

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Rihanna is from Barbados and came back in the summer to give a concert at the local Cricket stadium. The concert was a sell out. The island is broken up into parishes and each parish has a church. Andre also enjoyed pointing out the KFC and the Chefette restaurants in and around Barbados. From what he said there is a competition between the two there is always one with the other. He said they had a McDonald’s back in the 70’s but it didn’t last.

I found Barbados to be a very interesting country and a country of stark contrasts. The wealthy live amongst the poor.

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There seems to be a lot of unfinished building projects around. The Four Seasons had started a resort on the water but left it partially finished. Andre told us that the recession had hit and the investors pulled out. The people of Barbados would like the government to step in and finish the project but so far nothing. We passed by one of the oldest trees in the country.

---- Continued

[SooNet]

---- Part 5

We finally made it to Bert’s bar around 12:00. We had a Canuck pizza – bacon, pepperoni, and mushroom.

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Our waitress was very nice and we had a good chat about Mr. Melnyk and hockey. We also got to catch the end of the Russia – Switzerland junior game. We found out that the Canadians are playing the US in the semi-finals tomorrow. Oh how I hope they do well.


---- Continued

[SooNet]

---- Part 6

After lunch we headed over to Rockley beach and the staff at the TIki bar were there right away to collect money for the chairs on the beach oh and tell us we can’t sit where we were planning as the chairs were all taken (even though no one was actually in them).

For some reason DH thinks we are in Canada where we can sit and do what we want on public beaches – not here at a tourist destination – they all want their share of the tourism dollars. So the nice man tells us it will be $60 US for the chairs. However we would be given vouchers for drinks and food at the bar.

I politely told him it wasn’t necessary as we had already eaten and just wanted the chair. Well we ended up getting the chairs for $15 US so we gave the server $20 US and he gave us back $10 Barbudian dollars in change. We also got $30 in vouchers. Not too bad. DH managed to get two beers and I got a pop and we had some of the vouchers left over. When we got there it started to rain and we were getting a bit wet so the nice guy let us sit under the umbrellas until the other customers arrived. I believe they were some pre-arranged excursion.

The Tiki bar at Rockley Beach.

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Look at that big ugly cloud behind me. It did rain but it didn't last long and hey it's rain in the Caribbean not snow in Canada.

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Andre planned to meet us at the beach for 3:00 to return us to the ship. He showed up at 2:45, which was perfect for us. He continued the tour on the way back to the ship and we arrived at the port just after 3:00. The security was very lax here. Andre told us we would need our Sail and Sign cards to get into the port area. The security guards never even looked at it.

Now, we pulled over to get out and it was time to pay Andre for his services for the day and for some reason he forgets that we negotiated $90 for the day – I don’t argue with him as I was going to give him the $100 anyway but it just left a bad taste in my mouth. When we went through the port building the security guard was looking out the window. Bizarre!

Now up to this point everything was going pretty smooth until I decided to pick up a Christmas ornament and somehow lost my beach towel. So after the issue with Andre and losing my towel now I’m kind of in a grumpy mood and it kind of soured the feelings of the day. I had read several reports before coming to Barbados and maybe that also had me feeling a bit negatively towards the island in any case I was probably more worried about the cost of the replacement towel than anything else so I will try and reserve judgment for now and let the day sink in.


---- Continued

[SooNet]

---- Part 7


We put our stuff away in the room and then headed up to the buffet for a bite to eat. They had this really yummy island beef stew. DH liked it so much he was going to head back for more but the buffet was closed. Ah well there’s always tomorrow.

We headed back to the room and I had a nap while DH soaked up some sun on the balcony. We weren’t sure we would go to the dining room tonight as we ate so late but in the end we went and we both tried to make some lite choices. I had the prosciutto ruffles and the Sicilian chicken. To finish things off I had the Chocolate melting cake. DH had a salad and the seafood pasta dish.

Prosciutto ruffles

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Salad

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Seafood Pasta

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Sicilian Chicken

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and of course the waiters are dancing!

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---- Continued

[SooNet]

---- Part 8


After dinner we went to look for our pictures from Elegant night and our gangway photos. The elegant night photos were horrible and the gangway photos were passable. So far this cruise I have only bought 1 photo – I have hated the rest. Will probably try to get one more elegant night photo done tomorrow.

We are both pretty exhausted after the day and heading to bed really early today. The seas are a rocking and rolling tonight. We should have a pretty good sleep. We put out our room service menu and are hoping it arrives on time tomorrow as we have an early excursion planned for St. Lucia.

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and.... the party is still going strong!

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[t1adams]

Very nice review! Very detailed. Will be on the Valor late March, same itinerary. Can't wait to see more tomorrow! :D