!!! Carnival Victory !!! ^_^ The Ultimate Review and Complete Pictorial Guide!!!

[gambee]

Awesome review, Gambee. I also don't believe one should have to dress up while on vacation in the middle of the Caribbean. When sailing Carnival, I always bring one pair of long pants just to get to the lobster on elegant night...

 

It is all a personal opinion, that is why I don't impose mine on anything. Our situation could have been solved easily, but we chose not to. It's ok, we moved on :)

[gambee]

Thanks for this review! I'm sailing on the Victory in 12 days and this review answered so many questions.

 

Have a great cruise, maybe more of your questions get answered in the rest of the review.

[gambee]

Yeah, a Gambee review!

 

Sent from my SM-N915T using Tapatalk

 

Welcome aboard ;)

[gambee]

I am enjoying this review and your awesome pictures very much! Thank you for all of your work. We will be on this ship in October and I am excited to see what to expect. I've gotten spoiled being on the bigger newer ships but think this one will be just fine! Looking forward to the rest of the review :)

 

I hope you have a wonderful cruise. There is much fun to be had, even if you have been spoiled by larger ships :). This comes from experience.

[gambee]

Have you seen this one? Unbelievable how small their getting. [ATTACH]359550[/ATTACH]

 

I saw that one, but it seems to still be current generation. I wonder what the new full size era will look like. I think I will continue with this one until something dramatic changes. I am pretty happy with it :)

[gambee]

So looking for the rest of your review and final score on an older ship. Thanks for the review and all the hard work you put in it.

 

You're very welcome, glad you're enjoying the review. I am not even sure yet where this ship scores :D

[gambee]

Gambee!

 

So happy to read another one of your reviews. It took me this long to catch up, and I started following along on the 1st day!

 

Sorry to hear about your MDR issues with the dress code. I find the dress codes to be a hassle as well. Just off an X ship sailing around Greece in August and all the men have to wear long pants even on "casual" nights to enter the dining room. My family ended up just eating on our balcony the last 2 nights rather than bother with changing, etc.

 

But it makes some people really happy to have a chance to dress up, so I get it.

 

Thanks for letting us tag along on another one of your cruises!

 

Thank you for following. Long pants are not that bad, I have issues with full suits. Just not my thing I guess. But I guess this was odd to happen one day or another, specially considering how I am always trying to go around the dress codes.

 

It is all good, lesson learned :)

[gambee]

Gambee on Princess they allow shorts on the 1st and last night in the MDR . Pants on all the other nights but you don't have to wear a suit on gala night but of course a lot of people really dress up nicely.

 

Oh, I was actually talking about that they offer the same thing in the buffet as in the MDR. But this is something that I've heard and not expereinced. Thanks for the info though. I been wanting to try Royal/Regal for sometime now. Maybe next year :)

[tropic1980]

Great review so far, thanks for sharing.

[perfect match]

Gambee, thank you for your honesty in telling us about formal night. I'm sure it wasn't easy for you to share that story. Hopefully by sharing you have helped someone else avoid finding themselves in the same uncomfortable situation. After all, even on a cruise ship with a dress code for the MDR, there are still options available for everyone. BTW, I think you handled the whole situation very well. :D

[Buffett fan]

It is all a personal opinion, that is why I don't impose mine on anything. Our situation could have been solved easily, but we chose not to. It's ok, we moved on :)

 

Gambee - I absolutely love your attitude...wish everyone was as happy-go-lucky as you!

[latitude918]

Sorry to hear that you missed lobster night. Dressing up isn't for everyone. The wife and I dress up because we don't get to do it a lot, and we find it a lot of fun.

 

Glad you didn't put up a fuss though. It'll make the lobster that much better next time :)

[2ndcruiser-destiny]

Thanks for the review. i can't wait to board her next week

[Stella777]

Gambee, I am enjoying reading through your review. It is fantastic as always and detailed like I like. Thank you for all the work you put into it besides all the photos as well. I wanted to ask you a question that might have already been asked here but I wouln'd know where to find it. The question is this: Where did the ladies get their nautical shirts that they wore on the first day in the beginning of your review. I just love those shirts and would like to purchase them. Thanks

[gambee]

Working on the next set, should be up in a few :)

[gambee]

Day Three

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[gambee]

 

We were super excited to finally hit Half Moon Cay. Absolutely everyone I ever talk to said that it was a paradise. Please keep in mind that my idea of paradise is Castaway Cay (Disney Private Island), as you can imagine Disney either goes big or they don’t go at all. Castaway Cay, is a dream come true. No tender, tram to take you to your desired beach, amazing food, cheap drinks, amazing snorkeling on the adult beach, free umbrellas, all that's included. That is definitely a package that is hard to beat, so I had very high expectations for Half Moon Cay.

 

I will start with a picture that I forgot from day 2 sunset.

 

 

 

I have to admit that one of my biggest fears was missing this port. I had essentially booked this cruise for Half Moon Cay, and missing it would be heartbreaking. I was so glad when I woke up that morning and the day appeared clear and ready for us.

 

And here is the sunrise for day 3.

 

 

 

While I was in the balcony, mom came running and told us that we had to be down there now. I had completely forgotten that we needed to pick up the tickets for the tender. Have I mentioned that I absolutely hate tenders? To me, a private island, looses its charm when I have to board a tender. Well, I'll be damned, little did I know how wrong I could be.

 

Anyway, I immediately covered my semi-naked butt with whatever I could find and rushed downstairs to the main theater. Once I got there we got in line and they started to put a sticker on our shirts with the number 2. I immediately thought, well wait a minute, I am starving. I asked the girls if they had eaten something. As I could imagine, no one had eaten anything. I asked the ladies at the counter if we could grab a bite and then come back while keeping the same number. She said, no, once you get the ticket you all have to wait here. The line goes quite quickly. Then I asked when they would serve lunch, she told me around noon. There was no way in hell that I would last until noon.

 

I asked them, and we all agreed that we needed to eat something before heading out. So all that running that mom did was absolutely useless :rolleyes:, ugh.

 

So anyway, we headed to the buffet.

 

Thank God there was no line, a MIRACLE I SAY! A MIRACLE!

 

 

Then again, it was way early. I think around 7:30

 

 

[gambee]

 

 

 

 

 

[gambee]

 

 

Anyone in the mood for a delicious eggs benedict? :D, I will take 3, please. But put them in a doggie bag, because I am throwing those bastards overboard!

 

 

Do you guys see something odd there? Look at the tater tots, and enjoy the hell out of them. Because they are as rare as a Coca Cola in the middle of the Sahara. For real, what the hell… The only other time I saw them was in the Brunch on the last day.

 

Also notice the eggs,…. Um yeah…. Not good……

 

Light breakfast, I know, do you blame me?

 

 

Here is my uncle’s breakfast.

 

 

 

[gambee]

So we ate fairly quickly, and then rushed to the room to get all of our goodies for a day at the beach. Once we got to the main theater they gave us number 7. Damn, we went from number 2 to 7, crap, we were going to be sitting there forever! Well, I was way wrong, we sat there for about 5 minutes and then they called our number. We grabbed all of our stuff, and we headed down the stairs.

 

Next thing we knew, we had boarded the tender. Very efficient!

 

 

 

 

 

And guess what?

 

It was a glass bottom boat!

 

 

[gambee]

Granted, you will see crap on the way there, but still a neat feature to have. I mean you can see the bottom, but the tender travels so fast that it is all cloudy.

 

 

 

The ride on the tender was short, and comfortable. A happy Gambee was getting ready to disembark.

 

 

My father used to work for Cutty Sark scotch, so I took the picture of the clipper that they had in the tender. It is actually pretty good and affordable scotch. I had a few on this cruise ;)

 

 

[gambee]

 

 

And I welcome you to “LINE LAND” yet once again! The ironic thing is that this line was 100% avoidable!!!

 

 

Do you want to know what was causing it?

 

 

 

Go, take a wild guess?

 

 

 

 

Yes, you’re right!

 

 

PHOTOGRAPHERS!!!!

 

 

WHAT THE HELL!!!

 

 

 

Just look at that, totally unnecessary. You can not see it very clear, but he is holding a stick with a sign to stop everyone there.

 

The worst part is that the picture is actually pretty crappy. The backdrop of a line of people behind you? Then again, I guess that is a good memory from line land.....

 

 

[gambee]

 

My family had managed to squeeze out of that fiasco early, so they were waiting for me. For some reason I got stuck in there.

 

And more photographers, there were about 4 more there.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[gambee]

The main area was nice, but lets face it. I did not come to Half Moon Cay to look at buildings and cement. Give me the BEACH! I SAY!

 

 

That was kind of cute

 

 

 

 

 

 

[gambee]

 

The back to the ship line area.

 

 

Refreshment area. It was really nice to cool down.

 

 

The walk to the beach is very short.