Victorious VICTORY cruise 9/10-14

[DramaQueen22]

I did my first solo cruise on the Victory from September 10-14 and had a great time! A more detailed review follows.

 

DAY 1 Embarkation in Miami

 

I flew in same day from Philadelphia. Best part was being able to check in for the cruise right in the airport! Quick and easy; took less than 10 minutes and I was waiting for the shuttle to the port. That took a while. The airport had enhanced security in place that day, so every bus and van was being searched and inspected by dogs before being released to pick anyone up. Once we boarded, it was a short 15 minute hop to the pier.

 

After surrendering my suitcase to a porter, we were ushered right into the terminal, bypassing the long lines. Right to the carry-on scanner then on board. There were dedicated elevators to take you right to the Lido Deck. I was sitting in the sun enjoying Blue Iguana tacos by 1:10pm.

 

When cabins were ready, I headed off to find 8231...inside cabin. Fantastic location and lovely cabin. My steward introduced himself and I requested 2x daily service and to please keep my ice bucket filled. I was unpacking my carryon when a knock on the door indicted my suitcase had already arrived! That is the fasted I have ever gotten my bags. Unpacked and went out to explore a little bit.

 

I was tired after an already long day (up at 3am to make my flight!), so I napped before dinner. Once arriving in the Pacific Aft DR on Deck 3, I was seated at a table for single cruisers. Now, this was kind of the part that made me a bit nervous in this experience, but there were only 3 of us at a table for 6 and it stayed that was until our final night. We had great conversation each night and it worked out great. Dinner that night was a grilled mahi mahi that was delicious. I had melting cake for dessert.

 

Had to stop and enjoy a drink at Alchemy after dinner...the Antioxidant was refreshing. Alchemy bartenders were not as friendly as those we had on the Pride in January, but the drinks were still good.

 

Enjoyed the Dive in Movie on deck then went to the Welcome Aboard show with Felipe the CD. He was a blast the entire trip.

[DramaQueen22]

DAY 2...KEY WEST

 

We were only docked in Key West for a short time, so I went with the ship's Sights and Bites Tour. We had a great tour guide named Sue who took our small group on a walking tour of Old Town, the Harbor, and Duval Street. We tasted hot sauces at Peppers of Key West ( a few were brave enough to try the mega hot sauce, but not me!) then had a lovely slice of Key Lime Pie at Kermits. So good!

 

Once the tour was over, there were several of us interested in going back to a local rum distillery for tasting. That was a lot of fun and the rum was tasty. We all made sure to get back to the ship on time!

 

The ship pulled out right around 1:30pm. I snagged a chair aft on Deck 10 and enjoyed some time in Siren's Pool and reading in the sun.

 

Tonight was elegant night. I enjoyed the Strawberry Bisque, and the Spanakopita/Stuffed Pepper entree. That was unusual and very good. Creme Brulee for dessert.

 

Went to the evening show...which was pretty good. The dancers had lots of energy and they were "on" for practically a full hour. My only comment was that the female lead singer just over-sang way too much. She had a great voice, but she had one volume setting and no interpretation of the material, Understand that I am a theater director, so I tend to be a bit pickier about stuff like that then the typical audience member.

 

The 70's Motown Trivia was a blast!

[DramaQueen22]

DAY 3...COZUMEL

 

Well, my grand plan for a day at Paradise Beach was killed by the rainy weather greeting us when we docked. There were already 3 other ships in port by then. Carnival made blue rain ponchos available for those who wanted to get off the ship. It was hilarious watching a virtual army of blue penguins traversing the pier! I joined them a bit later and went in search of some good vanilla.

 

Didn't stay out long, as I was starting to not feel well (thank you gentleman who coughed the entire flight down in the seat next to me without covering your mouth! :mad: :mad::mad:) I ended up snuggled in my very comfy bed most of the afternoon.

 

No formal dinner seating this evening, so I grabbed a pizza and salad from the buffet. Pizza was very good.

 

The weather cleared up right around 6pm, so I watched the Dive In Movie. Tonight was the Love and Marriage Show, which is always a hysterical highlight of any cruise. Tonight's was no exception.

[DramaQueen22]

DAY 4...SEA DAY

 

Absolutely perfect weather greeted us for this final sea day. Decks were crowded, but I was able to get a chair aft on deck 10 again. Quite warm today. Had my Guy's Burger for lunch.

 

A wonderful family ended up joining our table for dinner tonight. We had a great time. Had the Beef Tenderloin, which was so good. Our waiters did the end of cruise show. These guys were awesome! Then we enjoyed the Baked Alaska. MMMMM.

 

Went to the Vroom show, which was decent. Then it was off for another round of 80's and 90's Trivia. We had our very own "Backstage Boys", which was a hoot to watch! Then it was off to bed since debarkation would come way too soon.

 

DEBARKATION

 

I had planned on an excursion since my flight was later in the afternoon. We all met in the Atlantic DR and were ushered off the ship together...but by then they had already started self-debark, so the terminal was crowded and the lines were a bit long. Once making it through customs, were we on a nice air-conditioned bus for the Top 10 Sights of Miami. We drove through some of the Art Deco neighborhoods, down Ocean Drive, and around Miami Beach a bit. We then had about an hour to explore Little Havana. After that, we had some time in the Wynwood neighborhood to see the murals painted all around. Really cool. My only complaint is that our tour guide, while he was incredibly knowledgeable, did not stop talking the entire 3 hours of the tour! That and the bus often went by things too fast to allow for good photo ops.

 

We were dropped at the airport right at our terminals...easy peasy!

[DramaQueen22]

GENERAL IMPRESSIONS

 

Ship: clean and well laid out. Never encountered any less than lovely staff. My cabin was spacious and in a great location.

 

Food: Lido Buffet was the usual offerings. Desserts were lackluster but for the chocolate chip cookies! The fresh fruit was very good on this trip. MDR food was excellent throughout the trip. Blue Iguana and Guys were good. Pizza was excellent.

 

Entertainment: Felipe and his staff were tons of fun. I liked the shows...but for my earlier comment. I only saw one comedian. (Roman) He was ok once he got going, but he was a bit slow the first 10 minutes of his routine I thought. Hannah in the Piano Bar was great. Loved the Dive In Movies!

 

Solo cruising: I had a great time on my first solo. I kept to myself during the day, but socialized more from dinner on each night. Worst part about it? There's no one to put sunscreen on your back! ;p

 

DH and I are booked on the Horizon in September of 2019. That's way too long from now!

[FlyingCruiserNJ]

Nice summary of the cruise experience. I too was on this cruise and it was a good time. I also flew down the morning of, into FLL, got a ride on SAS (best shuttle company there, they call you to confirm you have arrived, are waiting at baggage claim for you and you are at POM a half hour after getting out of the terminal), met up with my group, who all took different routings to get there, and had a great time. They surely did let everyone on early, I was on lido with my lunch at 1130 and sailaway was on time and a lot of fun. It was hot all week although not particularly sunny and it did rain in Cozumel (part of Invest 95 which almost became a tropical depression right over top of us) for half the day but we made the best of it and spent the evening in Cozumel, and rode up to downtown to check out some drinkeries there. We probably saw each other at some point, lol. The group of 5 crazies running around lido and the promenade at all hours of the day was us, LOL.

 

 

 

I had been on the Victory before, nice little ship, dated and not the most modern of activities offered but still enough to do. Vroom was great, best I can remember it being, and I have seen it multiple times. The live music makes those shows I am convinced of that. The music on Promenade each night was excellent, that band was great. The comedians were good although unless you got a seat a half hour before each show, it was standing room only or no entry at all.

 

 

 

I would have done a review of this myself as I often do but I took almost no pictures on this cruise (very unusual for me) so a review would be fairly boring. The bar service was excellent from what I could gather and the mdr service was outstanding. Granted, we were at a 12-top table at the very back of the boat on deck 3 atlantic for the late seating and our tablemates only showed up one night and the room was not crowded overall but still great, classic Carnival service.

 

 

 

Which do you like more? Guys or Blue Iguana? I like Guy's plain burger with bacon and potato sticks for a topping but lately the fries have been just too spicy for my tastes. Still good for a free venue though. Blue Iguana is great for lunch, and the pizza was good each time we went. Did you check out the seafood shack? We were going to but never made it there, as it is an upcharge venue but I have heard the stuff there is good. The chopsticks on the lido buffet was good, not sure how many people knew it was even there as they have done away with Mongolian wok and replaced it with this place. Not bad but not as good as the wok was. The biggest secret was the upper dining room on deck 10, right above the lido buffet, we always got a seat there, never crowded. The dinner buffet keeps getting worse and worse on Carnival which is a huge negative but as long as you are willing to clean up some and dress fairly nice, the mdr is still very good.

 

 

 

We too were disappointed at the early day in Key West but I have been there so many times I am used to it and now plan accordingly. We just spent the day on Duval St. and since we were the only ones in port that day, walked right back onboard around the scheduled departure time of 1300 and spent the rest of the day up on lido. We also carried all our stuff on with us and most of us did self assist debark. Did you get off the ship before customs shut everything down around 900? They would not let anyone who did not get off very early to debark until after 1000. No biggie for us as we had later flights but some were freaking out because we did not get off until 1130 which I am sure delayed the turnaround for later in the day as there were still many people after us still waiting to get off at close to noon. Never experienced that before.

[ricew001]

We did this same cruise last August. We've had two on the Victory and the next one will be too. After that I want a havana cabin so I think it will have to be the Magic or another ship of that class, correct?

 

I was so not impressed by Alchemy. I wonder now based on your comment if it is unique to Victory because I hear so many other people say they love Alchemy. I don't plan to go back. Our favorite parts of Victory were the Serenity Deck with Kat the bartender and Sean Reynolds in the Piano Bar. We really had a blast and look forward to doing it again.

 

Thanks for your review!

[riclop]

Thanks for the report.

[DramaQueen22]

Which do you like more? Guys or Blue Iguana? I like Guy's plain burger with bacon and potato sticks for a topping but lately the fries have been just too spicy for my tastes. Still good for a free venue though. Blue Iguana is great for lunch, and the pizza was good each time we went. Did you check out the seafood shack? We were going to but never made it there, as it is an upcharge venue but I have heard the stuff there is good. The chopsticks on the lido buffet was good, not sure how many people knew it was even there as they have done away with Mongolian wok and replaced it with this place. Not bad but not as good as the wok was. The biggest secret was the upper dining room on deck 10, right above the lido buffet, we always got a seat there, never crowded. The dinner buffet keeps getting worse and worse on Carnival which is a huge negative but as long as you are willing to clean up some and dress fairly nice, the mdr is still very good.

 

 

I like them both really. Gotta agree with you about the fries this trip though! Mine were just covered with the seasoning to the point that they were not good at all. I have some gristly bits in my pork taco too, so not perfect there either. I do like the breakfast burritos, but didn't get any this time.

[PhillyFan33579]

Who were the bartenders at the Alchemy Bar? I was on Victory recently with Ionna and Nikola working the Alchemy Bar. They are two of my favorite "alchemists", and I have spent a lot of time at Alchemy Bars on Carnival ships.

[DramaQueen22]

Who were the bartenders at the Alchemy Bar? I was on Victory recently with Ionna and Nikola working the Alchemy Bar. They are two of my favorite "alchemists", and I have spent a lot of time at Alchemy Bars on Carnival ships.

 

 

Nikola was there, and he seemed to be much more engaged than the woman...but I can't remember her name!

[tandemcruzr]

After that I want a havana cabin so I think it will have to be the Magic or another ship of that class, correct?

 

Havana cabins are only on the Vista and the Horizon. They will also be on the Panorama when she comes out in Nov, 2019.

[Melissalcsw]

So awesome, you did you a solo cruise. I'd like to try one actually. DH is not as crazy about cruising as I am, so that might be possible.

Glad you had a great time!

Can't wait to hear about your Horizon cruise.