Victory 4/10 SOLO Trip report with pics (yes another 4/10 victory thread)

[cdamion]

It has been a while since I have done a photo review, so here it goes. I have not been on Carnival in a couple years, so I was interested to see if and how things had changed. Unfortunately they have gone downhill. As far as the ship and crew, this was my worst experience cruising yet. As far as having fun and the people I met on board, it was close to my best cruise experience. Would I do it all over again? Absolutely!

 

With that being said, let’s get started:

 

 

I booked this cruise about 4 weeks prior after seeing a price I couldn't refuse, plus I had to use a future cruise certificate before it expired.

 

 

I spent the night in South Beach and caught a taxi to the port at about 11am. Before too long I saw Victory sitting alone at the port.

 

 

I did purchase Faster to the Fun for this cruise. I arrived at the port around 11:15am. There were hardly any people there and I was on board within about 15 minutes. If I did not have FTTF, I would have been on board maybe 10 minutes later, so I was wondering if it was worth it. This thought went away as soon as I boarded and went straight down to the Main Deck and to my cabin. So nice to not have to carry around bags waiting for the cabin to be ready.

 

 

I upgraded myself from an interior to an Oceanview because I wanted to at least have the light. In retrospect I do wish I had a balcony. It was my first cruise without one in a long time and I definitely missed it.

 

 

Edited April 17, 2014 by cdamion

[jimbri]

Looking forward to the rest of your review. Love the photos.

[cdamion]

Once on board, I grabbed lunch up on Lido while it was still empty with a nice view of Miami.

 

 

After eating I wandered around a bit. I have to say, I do not like the DJ’s around the ship for embarkation. There is something missing when there is not live music. The DJ’s were fine, but it just took away from the ambiance of being on a cruise for me.

 

 

[cdamion]

I went up to check out Serenity, which while some on board complained about it, I actually liked it with the big hot tubs, the bar and the nice seating.

 

 

Never did get to try out all the shower heads, guess I’ll have to go back:

 

 

 

[cdamion]

 

 

[cdamion]

Ugh, I have run out of time. I will come back and continue late tonight or tomorrow. Lots to say about the experiences on the ship and lots more pics! Like I said it was a mix of negative re the ship and crew (I would still rather be on there) and fantastic experiences because of the great people I met on board.

 

All coming soon!

Edited April 17, 2014 by cdamion

[SMSACE6]

I will look forward to the rest of your review:)

[diamondcharl]

Totally subscribing! Love that you still had fun in spite of the negatives. Curious to hear them.

[cdamion]

After I checked out Serenity, I wandered around the ship and took random pics. It seemed to be in OK shape. As far as design, I kind of liked it compared to other ships. As most know it is a nautical theme with rooms named for oceans around the world.

 

 

 

The high tech (!) map:

 

 

The night club:

 

[cdamion]

To me, one of the most attractive, but underutilized, places on the ship is the Ionian Lounge. It is immediately forward of the top floor of the aft restaurant. I usually stopped by here for a drink before dinner.

 

 

 

My tour of the ship was interrupted with a problem from work, so I had to go back to the cabin to work until the muster drill.

 

Once there I met the cabin steward – I can’t remember his name right now, but I did write it down so that I could give it to Carnival. He was very friendly and is without a doubt the best cabin steward I have had to date. I gave him a nice tip at the end of the cruise. He was exceedingly friendly. Nice, especially when I was in the low-rent district on the Main deck.

 

Finally we did the muster drill, so I emailed my work off and turned off the phone and computer.

 

I ran up to the muster station where there was a woman with a maybe 2 year old who was a true terror. First he stomped on my foot (I was wearing flip flops). She picked him up and then he started smacking my head. His mom apologized and I said don’t worry about it. Then he kicked me in the back over and over. Mom just said “stoooooop” in the whiniest voice ever. Next his father took him and he started slapping his father across the face over and over again. Dad puts him down and he shoves the person next to them. Another foot stomp on me. Mom picks him up and he starts screaming and flailing.

 

Another woman with a similarly aged kid asked the mother if she spanks him and she says “no, we don’t believe in physical punishment. It is not an effective form of discipline.” I can see her point because obviously the “stoooooop” and “dooooooon’t” whines were very effective in stopping little Damien from beating everybody.

 

Finally after being beat up by a 2-year-old, muster was over.

 

I headed to the rear bar to meet up with the folks from cruise critic. Rather than rely on the meet and greet on CC, one of the guys set up a Facebook group which had about 30 members.

 

I have to note that this was one of the best groups I have ever met on a ship. We all randomly hung out throughout the cruise. It was an entirely different experience for me – it actually felt like I was with a group of friends on the ship which made it a fantastic experience.

 

Finally, it was time to sail away, so I watched South Beach pass by.

 

[cdamion]

One of the things I love most on any ship is to sit outside and catch the sunsets. While I did miss a couple this cruise, the first one was great.

 

 

 

[cdamion]

There is no filter or processing on this pic!!!!! It was an amazing sunset!

 

 

 

After the sunset it was time for dinner. A few days before the cruise I sent a message to JH and asked that he ask the Maitre D to sit me at a larger table with other solos if possible. Well, the Maitre D not only did that, he sat me at a large table with me and 6 women. As a guy, I did appreciate this immensely. I do have a girlfriend at home and was not looking for any romance on the trip, but still…

 

One odd thing, a couple of the women sat at one end of the table (it was a rectangular 10-top) with a gap in seats between the rest of us seated at the other end and really just kept to themselves. The rest of us had a very fun dinner. Throughout the cruise we would hang out around the ship randomly. Really nice people. I do hope to keep in touch with them.

 

Main dining room service was very efficient. Our waiter had us served quickly. He was one of the better waiters I have had on a cruise. The food the first night was outstanding. This faded over the course of the cruise (the food quality – service was always good). The drink service was never that good during dinners with it taking 30 minutes or longer for people to get their drinks. I always just brought mine from the lounge by the dining room, so it wasn’t an issue for me. However, one evening one of the women at the table wasn’t feeling great and asked for a ginger ale repeatedly and it took about 45minuts to come. One of the waiter’s assistants actually ran and got the drink server to get it.

 

I don’t have pics of this evening because my camera’s battery died early on and I didn’t feel like getting it. I did spend a significant amount of time in the casino. I skipped the Welcome Aboard show because unless something has drastically changed, been there done that.

[cdamion]

Because of the work issue, I wasn’t really in cruising mode all night. I was kind of stressed. I did hang out in the casino. I checked out the night club and the piano bar as well.

 

I am not sure what to make of the piano bar. In what is usually one of the most crowded venues on the ship, it wasn’t that popular. I went in and soon learned why. The piano player was kind of like a teacher scolding students. If people talked while she played and stuff, she shooshed them. A lot of people got irritated with it and left.

 

I did spend more time in there and she kind of grew on me, but it was an odd situation. I will have a pic of her later in the review.

 

As the night went on, the venues thinned out pretty early – likely due to the 730am port call in Key West the following morning.

 

As I was interacting with crew and looking around the ship, I started noticing things. Paint worn in a lot of areas, bulbs burnt out. The ship just looks tired if you look closely. Also, the crew was for the most part not what I am used to Carnvial crews being. No friendliness, no trying to remember my name, a lot of saying no when I asked for certain drinks or not mixing them how I requested (such as simple going light on the coke with rum and cokes – explaining I did not care if the glass was full). Not everybody, but it was pretty common. I heard no a lot more than I ever had. They didn’t have 3 different rums on their menus, just many little things that added up. I feel like maybe these guys are understaffed and just can’t keep the friendliness going? I don’t know, but it was a noticeable difference from my last Carnival cruise 2 years ago.

 

As an example of what I am talking about with bulbs, this is a pic of inside the elevator – notice the lights for the different floors are not complete, this was the case in every elevator (a couple of which broke down during the cruise).

 

 

That one was fine compared to the others, where only a couple of the floors lights would work. On some elevators no lights worked at all, so you couldn’t tell what floor you were on by looking.

 

Again, these are not deal breakers, but little things – a lack of attention to detail. Does it impact my cruise? Not really. But I notice it. Like I said at the beginning, this was probably the worst cruise I have been to from a ship and crew perspective, but I would very happily get on board again tomorrow.

 

After barhopping, making donations to the casino, and hanging out with my new friends from the meet and greet, it was finally time for bed. I had a jet ski tour around Key West booked for the morning and didn’t want to be too tired or hung over for that.

 

Here is night 1’s towel animal:

 

 

I have to run for the evening as it is my birthday and I need to celebrate (mourn). I will be back tomorrow with more about the ship and Key West. Plenty more pics to come too, so stay tuned!!!!

 

Thanks for following along, I know there is another Victory report out there that has some wonderful pics. Follow that one too!!!

[erinmarie424]

I am loving ALL the Victory reviews.... Especially since we sail on Thursday! I think yours is the first with a good shot of the showers on Serenity.... DBF is looking forward to checking that out.

[msgemgirl]

Enjoying the review so far. :)

[paradiscroozin]

Great review so far! I love the DOF of some of these images, and the panoramas, vertical and horizontal! Really nice!

[cruzn buckeye]

Enjoying your reivew. i have a quick question. i was on the Victory in October with some friends. We had a great time. But we also found the ship and especially the crew fantastic! This is the reason I chose her for my first solo cruise. Perhaps, they have had a change of crew since I was on there last.

I love the lido area. However, the small pool, where the slide ends on the main part of lido, seemed to have a real stinky smell. has that been taken care of? I hope so.

Also, there were babies in diapers in the main Lido pool. So after asking about it, nothing was done. this is bad for spread of diseases. So I went back to the adult pool and it was closed all day. Wonder if it was something similar since there were small kids in it.

[seannyice81]

Excellent review so far.

 

I've noticed a few similarities with my solo cruise on Victory a few weeks ago. I was also the only guy seated with a bunch of women. A few of them didn't dine with us again after the first night, though. Just saying, if you're a solo guy, the maitre d seems to look out for you on Victory, haha!

 

I'm interested in what you're going to post about the piano bar singer. The one time I stopped by, I didn't stick around long.

 

I found the crew and staff to be really friendly on my cruise. Although when I asked a few about which day the funnel cup was sold, they had no idea what I was talking about.

 

Happy (belated) Brithday!

Edited April 20, 2014 by seannyice81

[cdamion]

Sorry for the delay. I was over-celebrating my birthday the last couple nights. I think I’ll get the review/trip report wrapped up tonight. The last day I have more pics of the ship. Thanks for those of you following!!!!

[cdamion]

Day 2 Key West.

 

We arrived in port before 730. This morning I just opted for the continental breakfast available by putting the door card out. They showed up a little bit earlier than I put on the door hanger, but no worries. After I ate I headed up to the top deck to check out the view.

 

 

 

I arranged for a jet ski tour around Key West and invited the group along, a couple other people decided to join. After letting the first round of people get off the ship, I headed off to meet the van for the jet ski tour.

 

 

[cdamion]

The tour ended up being one of the more fun excursions I’ve done. I would highly recommend it if you enjoy jet skis at all. The tour goes 27 miles in about 2 hours. The company I booked with was Island Safari and would definitely do it again.

 

After signing all our rights away, they brought us out to the dock to get on a machine and do a quick safety briefing.

 

 

Before too long we were idling our way out to sea.

 

 

[cdamion]

After having a few minutes of riding the waverunners in a wide open area to get used to them, we headed out into open waters and to various places where we would stop and learn the history of the different parts of the island.

 

 

A view of the Victory from afar:

 

 

 

One unique part was wandering through the mangroves:

 

[cdamion]

Next up was stopping at a sandbar and sanding calf-deep out in the ocean…

 

 

Southernmost point from the water:

 

 

Passing by the Victory (after some pretty choppy seas):

 

 

Finally, we were back in the channel to return the jet skis.

 

 

Like I mentioned, this was one of the most fun excursions I have ever done. The company was Island Safari and they encouraged us to go as fast as possible and have as much fun as possible.

Edited April 21, 2014 by cdamion

[cdamion]

After the tour, the van brought us back down near the ship. I wandered around a bit to take in the area. While I have been here before, it is always nice to explore and hit my favorite places. I ended up getting a slice of Key Lime pie before heading back to the ship.

 

 

 

 

Edited April 21, 2014 by cdamion

[cdamion]

 

Even though we were close to sail away, there was not a long line to get back on to the ship.