Pirate's Quick VICTORY Cruise Photo Review

[pirate4me2]

We walked the shops until about 5:15, then headed back onboard the ship. This was DH's third time in Nassau, and my fourth, so we had pretty much seen all the shops and whatnot. I keep saying that when I sail an itinerary that stops in Nassau again I am going to make it a "sea day" and stay onboard, and I really think I will next time. It is nice to stick your toes in that beautiful blue water though. :)

 

Once we were cleaned up and dressed up, we headed to the MDR for dinner. On Victory's 3 day sailing, your elegant night is the day you are in port, which kind of stinks, but oh well. I continued my "relaxation" by taking a glass of wine to dinner with me. Ok, fine, so maybe I also drank a glass in the cabin as I was getting ready. :p We ended up seated with an older couple, so although I did remember to bring my phone with me to take pictures of the food, I felt funny using it while at dinner. Ok fine, I didn't feel funny...I got distracted by talking with them, between the conversation and my wine my mind wasn't in much of a state to multi-task. I do remember what I ate though! I had the scallops and a Caesar salad for my appetizer, and the scallops were AMAZING. Oh my gosh, they were so good. Or maybe that's the wine talking...either way, I was a happy girl. The salad also gets an A+. Myself and the older gentleman ordered the grilled jumbo shrimp as our main course, and the waitress brought out an extra serving without us even asking. As she placed it down she said, "You'll see why." There were only 4 shrimp on the serving, along with some kind of mashed potatoes. I was good with just the 4 shrimp, but the gentleman seemed grateful for the extra serving. :) The shrimp were cooked perfectly. To finish off my meal I ordered the Warm Chocolate Melting Cake, and it was done PERFECTLY...a nice, moist upper coating, followed by an ooey, gooey inside.

 

After saying goodnight to our dinner companions Chris and I headed to the lounge where the comedy shows are held. I forget the name of the lounge, but it is all the way aft on deck 5. We saw the 7:45 show of Jorge Salano, who I saw a few months ago on the Sunshine. HE IS HILARIOUS. Chris and I enjoyed his set, and then we headed to the Piano Bar to sing along with Rob. I hung out there until about 10, and then it hit me how exhausted I was. The sun and alcohol had worn me down, so I left Chris in the Piano Bar and headed back to the room to crash.

 

Tomorrow...our one and only sea day!

[SMSACE6]

LoL,,,this is the way I want to spend my day in Nassau! Love Bahama Mamas:)

[hpugirl27]

Loving your review so far! We leave in 2 weeks!!

[pirate4me2]

After all the fun in the sun yesterday, combined with my beverages, I had a fantastic night's sleep. I again found myself sleeping later than normal, I got up at 10:15. This was The seas were nice and calm today.

 

 

Chris and I decided to head to the Sea Day Brunch for our first meal of the day. One the way there we passed thru the casino and I fell in love with this decoration.

 

 

I also fell in love with the GIANT fish outside the Pacific Dining Room where the sea day brunch was held.

 

 

The popover bread that they serve was FANTASTIC. Oh my gosh...I prefer that to the pastry basket they give you earlier in the brunch.

 

 

I ordered the Caesar salad with jerk bacon for a starter, and it was YUMMY.

 

 

For my main, I got the eggs benedict with no ham or salmon. As usual, it was really, really, really good.

 

 

We stopped by the coffee bar on deck 5 to get some coffee, and it was great. I loved the iced moccachinos. We headed back to the room with our coffees and I spent some time reading on the balcony. It was a perfect sea day afternoon. I stayed there until 2, then we headed to the Love and Marriage show. Marcello (cruise director) was a great host, and we laughed, as usual.

[pirate4me2]

After leaving the Love and Marriage show we decided to walk the ship some and see what was going on. We headed to the upper decks, and this is what the Victory's Lido deck looks like at about 3 on a sea day.

 

 

Not bad! Lots of empty loungers, and nothing at all like Sunshine's Lido deck. I still love that ship though, I don't care what others say. I will, however, admit that her decks get crowded. :) But I digress...this review is about the Victory.

 

Here is a shot of the Twister slide.

 

Whale Tail!

 

And...a mini whale tail!

[prad]

Thanks for the review, Victory is really a fun ship for a short cruise! We will be sailing her in November, and was hoping for a picture of the Funtimes, curious to now the name of the Latin Band. Thank you!

[pirate4me2]

We had debated playing some mini golf (I beat Chris every time...at least I think I do hehe), but when we arrived up at the course it was packed with kids, and they didn't seem close to ending their games anytime soon. So we headed back down to the atrium to see how the guitar soloist (Niall I think was his name) sounded. He was pretty good, and while we listened to him I watched the bartenders making drinks.

 

Chris saw me watching the bartenders, and he said, "You should continue your tradition."

 

"What tradition?" I asked.

 

"Your 'have a drink every night' tradition," he said.

 

I smacked him, and then saw a very pretty, very yummylicious looking drink. Chris saw the look in my eye, got up, went to the bar, and asked the bartender what it was. She explained the drink to me, and I knew I had to have one.

 

Everyone, meet the Twilight Zone.

 

I thought that when I discovered the Caribbean Colada I had discovered the best drink on a Carnival ship, but holy cow...this takes first place. It was AMAZING. Y'all should try it if you haven't already. If you try it and don't like it and I happen to be on your sailing, bring the drink to me room and I will handle taking care of it for you. ;)

 

It was now about 6:15, and Chris was hungry, so we headed in for our last dinner of this short cruise. I ordered the spring rolls and the Caesar salad as my starters.

 

 

I didn't take a pic of the salad, you guys know what it looks like already. I loved the spring rolls, they were super duper yummy and perfectly crispy. The salad was again spot on, perfect. For our mains, Chris and I both got the meatloaf.

 

 

The meatloaf wasn't the texture that I am used to, but it had really, really good flavor. Chris and I both said it was good, and I would order it again with no hesitation. Dessert was my usual WCMC, and again, it was cooked perfectly. I would have to give Victory a very, very good review on her food. All our meals in the MDR were great.

 

After dinner we headed to the 7:45 comedy show with the comedian Azeem. He was really funny, but we agree that Jorge was better. We headed back to the room to finish packing, then decided to go visit Rob in the Piano Bar one last time. We hung out there from 8:45 until 10, when I decided I needed to go back to the room and get some sleep. I don't do so well getting up early in the morning, and I knew tomorrow would be a 7:00 or earlier day. However, when I was passing the atrium Marcello's activity he had going on made me stop. I'm not sure exactly what the activity was called, but he had someone come up on the "stage" area and do a Michael Jackson dance, and they won a medal. Then everyone around the atrium joined in singing "Lean on Me." It was packed on all the levels around the atrium, and when everyone was singing "Lean on Me" there was some kind of feeling in the air that I have not experienced before...it was just really calming.

 

[pirate4me2]

 

 

Chris found me at the "sing along" (I really do not know what the activity was) and we decided to go grab some pizza before heading back to the room. The Pizza Pirate was BUSY!! He got pepperoni, I got the cheese, and it was YUMMY!

 

 

We headed to the room to call it a day at about 10:30. Then, for some reason, I felt compelled to step out onto my balcony. I stepped outside into the pitch black, and all of a sudden I heard a "Ka-boom!" What the heck was that??? The I saw a bright flash, and I realized I was seeing my first nighttime thunderstorm at sea!

[pirate4me2]

 

 

 

 

Ok, so the first photo is the only really cool one...but it is crazy to think that it was pitch black out there and then when lightning came it lit it up like that so you could see the clouds and ocean. It was beautiful, and I hope that in the future we get to see more nighttime thunderstorms at sea. Isn't that crazy...I am wishing for storms on my vacation!

[pirate4me2]

Sunday morning had an early start to it. No sleeping until 10:00 for me now. :( The wake up call came thru loud and clear at 6:45, and I felt like I was drugged. I guess that's what I get for being so lazy the previous two days! :o

 

FTTF was to meet in the Caribbean Lounge at 7:15 if you were doing self assist, so we headed down to wait. I would say that at about 7:40 we were released to go hear that final "ding" noise as we scanned our cards one last time for this sailing. We walked down the gangway and back into the Port Canaveral terminal 6 building, and there was no line to wait in at Customs. I gave our declarations page (is that the right word for that little slip of paper?) to the agent and he looked at it and said, "any tobacco products?" "No sir, nothing, just went to the beach!" was my reply, and he said, "Have a great trip home." We walked away, out of the building, to the parking garage, and back to Red (my truck). We were in the truck and driving out of the port at 7:58.

 

Y'all don't want to hear about the drive home, so that's where I will end this. If anyone has any questions, feel free to ask and I will do my best to answer them. If anyone is wondering "Should I sail the Victory?" or "Are 3 day cruises just booze cruises?" here are my answers:

 

*Victory is a great ship. Really. I went into this sailing with an AWFUL attitude (ask Chris...he said during the Love and Marriage show when the CD said "You haven't seen ugly until you see my wife's what?" that his answer would be "Her attitude!"....I can truly have an awful one, and my 'tude leading up to this cruise was BAD) and I was expecting an old, run down ship with mold, rust, and terrible crew. And I love Carnival. But that was my mindset. Instead, Victory turned out to be a gorgeous ship. Yes, she is bare bones with no alternate dining, no ropes course, one old slide, no Guy's or Blue Iguana....but we still had a great 3 days. Yes, the staterooms are outdated, and yes, there were some spots on Lido where the deck needed to be redone...but they are working on that. My attitude began changing the first evening when I saw that the crew were still going to give us a good time, and I urge anyone on the fence about sailing Victory to book it and give her a try. You won't regret it.

 

*Was this a "booze cruise?" No. I didn't see any crazy drunkenness onboard. Sure, people were having drinks, but no riots broke out, nobody was running around naked, nobody was having a knock down screaming match at 2 a.m. It was no more rowdy than the 6, 7 and 8 day sailings I have been on. Although, I did drink more this cruise than usual, so maybe I was part of the crazy drunks onboard. :p Just kidding. Maybe...;)

 

Thank you to everyone who took the time to read this. To anyone sailing anytime soon...Bon Voyage!

[pirate4me2]

Enjoying the review and photos, following.:)

 

Thank you for following along!

 

LoL,,,this is the way I want to spend my day in Nassau! Love Bahama Mamas:)

 

It's a great way to spend your Nassau day. Just sayin'. :D:p

[pirate4me2]

Loving your review so far! We leave in 2 weeks!!

 

Have a great time!!

 

Thanks for the review, Victory is really a fun ship for a short cruise! We will be sailing her in November, and was hoping for a picture of the Funtimes, curious to now the name of the Latin Band. Thank you!

 

Unfortunately, I didn't keep our FunTimes, sorry. :( Chris thinks that the name of the band was Uptown Dawgs, or something along those lines. Have a great trip in November!

[retiring soon]

HI all!

 

pirate ~ what a great review!:D Sounds like you had a fun time & boy some of those food pictures made me hungry. What a stroke of luck to get lightning pictures, neat!

So glad to hear you Mom got a good report.

 

Eagerly anticipating your next cruise.;)

 

~ Jo ~ :)

[pirate4me2]

HI all!

 

pirate ~ what a great review!:D Sounds like you had a fun time & boy some of those food pictures made me hungry. What a stroke of luck to get lightning pictures, neat!

So glad to hear you Mom got a good report.

 

Eagerly anticipating your next cruise.;)

 

~ Jo ~ :)

 

Hey Jo, you found me! :D Gosh the Victory had great food, I think after Sunshine she may be the top ship I have sailed for food preparation! Almost everything I ate was delish. And I cannot begin to tell you HOW EXCITED I was to see that lightning pic I snapped. When I went to review my pictures and saw it I started jumping up and down saying, "Look! Look! I got a strike on my photos! I got it!"

I am glad Mom got a good report too! I posted more details on our roll call.

I can't believe I have nearly 3 WHOLE MONTHS until my next cruise! First world problems, right? :p Haha in all seriousness, I am super stoked for the Magic sailing...I can't wait to sail over Halloween, and as you know, I have been wanting to sail on Magic for a while now. I have a feeling it will be a great cruise.

[MACUQUI58]

Thanks for a great review. I will be sailing the Victory in September. I was also worried on going on the Victory, but now with your review I feel much better.

 

 

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[pirate4me2]

Thanks for a great review. I will be sailing the Victory in September. I was also worried on going on the Victory, but now with your review I feel much better.

 

 

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Glad I could help! Have a wonderful time on your cruise.

[biguy56]

Thanks for a fantastic review. We are going on our first cruise in October on

Victory and it will be our honeymoon. Was starting to worry about the negative reviews I keep seeing. Your post definitely put my mind at ease. Thanks again

[MACUQUI58]

Biguy the same thing happened to me when I was thinking on going on the Sunshine because of paying attention to those reviews we didn't go when we had it planned, but a year later we decided to try it anyways and let me tell you it was a fantastic cruise no sewage smell like they had posted... Remember a lot of these people that post these reviews either are never happy or most of them have never even being on a cruise and they just post to make people pissed off and not sail on Carnival....

 

 

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[biguy56]

Biguy the same thing happened to me when I was thinking on going on the Sunshine because of paying attention to those reviews we didn't go when we had it planned, but a year later we decided to try it anyways and let me tell you it was a fantastic cruise no sewage smell like they had posted... Remember a lot of these people that post these reviews either are never happy or most of them have never even being on a cruise and they just post to make people pissed off and not sail on Carnival....

 

 

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thanks Macuqui58, We are going in with open mind and just going to enjoy ourselves. Wish the negative nannys would just stay quite.

Thanks again

[siestakeys04]

When you went to British colonial did you have to pay the bill with a credit card? Loved your review

 

 

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[MACUQUI58]

We will be sailing the Victory on September 8th when we get back I will be posting our experience on the Victory....

 

 

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[pirate4me2]

Thanks for a fantastic review. We are going on our first cruise in October on

Victory and it will be our honeymoon. Was starting to worry about the negative reviews I keep seeing. Your post definitely put my mind at ease. Thanks again

 

Go in with an open mind and you should have a good time. Happy honeymoon!

 

 

 

 

 

Biguy the same thing happened to me when I was thinking on going on the Sunshine because of paying attention to those reviews we didn't go when we had it planned, but a year later we decided to try it anyways and let me tell you it was a fantastic cruise no sewage smell like they had posted... Remember a lot of these people that post these reviews either are never happy or most of them have never even being on a cruise and they just post to make people pissed off and not sail on Carnival....

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

 

 

 

 

Exactly! I did the same thing with Sunshine and I ended up loving her! That's when I realized to read reviews with a grain of salt.

 

 

When you went to British colonial did you have to pay the bill with a credit card? Loved your review

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

 

 

Thanks for reading along! I did pay with a credit card as I read that they would not take cash.

 

 

 

 

We will be sailing the Victory on September 8th when we get back I will be posting our experience on the Victory....

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

 

Have a great time on your cruise!

[FloridaAdGuy]

Have a great time!!

 

 

 

Unfortunately, I didn't keep our FunTimes, sorry. :( Chris thinks that the name of the band was Uptown Dawgs, or something along those lines. Have a great trip in November!

 

Thanks for the review and great photos. My girlfriend and I will be on the Victory in 50 days and this was great. And, Chris was close...the name of the band was UPDAWGS.

[Lgarth]

Thanks so much for this great review and awesome pictures.... :):) Hubby and I are sailing our 1st cruise on her in October. You've eased my mind tremendously:D:D

 

Also glad to hear about your Mom....

[sjn911]

Thanks so much for such a pretty review. Proof that short getaways can be perfect..especially when you know longer ones are coming. As time moves along...all the old decor is more and more different and fun..I like the new too..but appreciate the uniqueness. Sounds like the ship people and entertainers were great along with an nice cabin and really appreciating everything and having fun together with minimal planning..that Colonial Hilton JUST LOOKS FABULOUS. Glad mom is ok and super glad the cruise had that kind of camaraderie, all is well, mellow ending..that was special.

 

Thanks so much for doing this!! Happy next time...