Just off the Victory

[seashell64]

I was a bit apprehensive for this cruise due to the recent comments about the shape of the ship - we found it just fine. This was our 7th Carnival Cruise -We've been on the Fantasy Class and the Conquest Class of Ships. We didn't find a lot of anything that was run down. We still have the old tube style TV, but our carpet had been replaced and we had a new working thermostat in the room. The blow dryer was something out of the 60's but I brought my own. We had a balcony room on deck 8 and we were steps away from the Lido deck. The Lido deck food was OK, the deli food was better and the dining room options were top notch and delicious. We had pizza pirate one night and while there was always a long line, it was worth the wait. We had FTF and embarkation and debarkation was a breeze - love Port Canaveral. We went into Nassau for a Segway excursion and had a blast. Seas were calm, everything was open (pools and slide), the Serenity deck was nice, and the elevators were working fine. The ship was always being cleaned and the staff always said hello. We did see one show Vroom which was good.

 

The only thing that was a hiccup was our room steward. He introduced himself on the first day and asked us to fill out a form for what time of day we wanted our room serviced; you could do both AM and PM and we chose PM. However, he did AM (no big deal), but forgot to give us our 2-liter of free water (we are Gold), didn't give us the custom's papers and didn't give us clean towels one day. He did keep our champagne on ice, but he seemed to be a bit overwhelmed. We ended up getting our water and we just had to ask someone else for the customs paperwork and towels so not a deal breaker, just not what we are accustomed to out of a room steward.

 

I wouldn't hesitate to book this ship/trip again if the price was right.

[RPGal1]

Thank you. I have been reading so much negative I was beginning to feel that I picked the wrong ship to do a three day on.

One question, did you have a later embarkation time because of the beautification project? We Have fttf as will, and I am use to getting on the ship rather early in the past.

[ladyamericana]

Thank you for posting. I am new to the boards and I have the same question regarding embarkation. I received the "beautification letter" after purchasing FTF and am wondering how it will be impacted with later check in time. Also, our cabin will be on deck 8 as well..just curious was your cabin aft, forward, mid and how was the noise? Thanks.

[Frank12]

We just got off Victory today also. Our steward was great. He handed me the paper to pick my room service but told me no matter what I picked, he would service our room twice a day..and he did.

Love the aft pool. Casino staff was great. We had a new flat screen in our Lido deck room. In May we had a lido room also, but the old tube style TV.

Overall a great cruise as usual. Dining room staff was fantastic.

[MACUQUI58]

We always just got off the Victory this morning. We had an inside cabin on deck 6 our cabin has not been renovated, but it was always clean and smelled refreshed. Our cabin Stewart Randall was great he always had a bucket of ice in the morning and at night. We had YTD our server team was amazing, Ionut, Juan and I Made were fabulous Imwould ask for their section each night. The food was amazing in the Dining Room. Me had breakfast in the Dining Room every morning and it was so good. All the pools were working and clean. I did read lots of relative reviews, yes the ship is outdated, but super clean and the crew was very attentive to anything you needed. I would definitely recommend the Victory.

[seashell64]

Thank you. I have been reading so much negative I was beginning to feel that I picked the wrong ship to do a three day on.

One question, did you have a later embarkation time because of the beautification project? We Have fttf as will, and I am use to getting on the ship rather early in the past.

 

I did not receive a beautification letter prior to the cruise. We were through security and seated in the FTTF section by 11:25 and at 11:30 they started boarding the weddings, then Diamond and Platinum - I think we headed up by 11:50. Others in our group who were in zone 1 and 2 were just 15 minutes behind us - but FTTF paid off especially after having to go to the service desk twice and seeing super long lines - no lines for the FTTF desk :).

[seashell64]

Thank you for posting. I am new to the boards and I have the same question regarding embarkation. I received the "beautification letter" after purchasing FTF and am wondering how it will be impacted with later check in time. Also, our cabin will be on deck 8 as well..just curious was your cabin aft, forward, mid and how was the noise? Thanks.

 

I didn't receive the beautification letter; we were part of a very large group (around 500), so I don't know if that had anything to do with it. We were on board by 11:50 and our room was ready. We were mid ship by a self service laundry - at first I thought it may be a problem, but we never heard a lot of people in the laundry room. We just had to go up one flight of stairs and we were staring right into the Lido deck main pool; no noise to speak of from the lido deck at night - this room was assigned to me (I didn't pick it), but I would choose it again 8357.

[SMSACE6]

Thanks for your review. I was on the Victory last year and loved the ship. As for the room steward thing, I am just off the Splendor, and had similar thing happen. But he never did ask me when I would like the service, but just did it in the morning anyway, and no service at night. Like you, it was not a deal breaker for me, but I did notice for the first time with Carnival that the Stewards are overwhelmed.

[riclop]

There are so many other better and newer ships.

[easyboy]

Thanks for sharing.

[ladyamericana]

Thank you for your reply and your review. I am hoping we will have a good experience as well!

[bobbismith]

the Serenity deck was nice.

 

Did you try the hot tubs? Were they hot? The Serenity deck is our favorite. We have two days :)

[rubyfizzle]

Thank you for your review. We received an automated Carnival phone call that our embarkation will being at 1:30 and not to show up until then (to help with parking/debarkation, etc.) Did anyone receive the same notification prior to their cruise? I'm debating on the fttf.

[seashell64]

Did you try the hot tubs? Were they hot? The Serenity deck is our favorite. We have two days :)

 

The hot tubs were not hot :(

[seashell64]

There are so many other better and newer ships.

 

Oh I definitely agree with you; however, this trip was FREE and included the cheers package for our group, as well as a balcony room so it made this trip fabulous!

 

We are booked on the Magic in May; first time on anything bigger/better than the conquest family of ships - very excited for that one.