Carnival Victory Review with photos ~ Miami to Half Moon Cay & Nassau ~ 4 nights

[riclop]

Thanks for the report.

[heffy2]

Great review, thank you so much!

 

[CoasterGuy]

I have a future cruise booked on this ship and itinerary. Thank you for your review.

Edited January 6, 2019 by CoasterGuy

[philbob84]

This is nice to have since her refit is almost upon us.

[ricew001]

On 10/8/2018 at 7:58 PM, beachbum6264 said:

 

 

You really should have tried the conch salad - one of the things I missed when we moved from Nassau to the states. Conch salad, conch fritters, cracked conch, conch chowder.... childhood memories!! Good stuff. I can get some here locally, but it's so much better fresh. Enjoying your review, even if we are taking the other itinerary - Key West and Cozumel.

 

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We did the Key West and Cozumel on Victory. See my tag line for my review on here. I have 2 reviews on Victory and after November, will have the third! We like the Victory.

[MWBearFan]

Haven't been on here in a while.  Was going to comment when you posted the review but the boards were locked then. Wanted to say I really enjoyed reading your review then and again today as it brought back good memories.  

 

My wife and I were on this cruise as well.  It was in celebration of our 1 year anniversary.  Ironically we were one deck up from your rowdy neighbors.  We were in cabin 8434 which is one of the aft extended balconies near the middle of the ship.  I didn't recall noticing the disturbances but then again we weren't in our cabin a lot.  We had FTTF so we got early boarding.  Arrived at the port around 12:30 and were on the ship by around 1pm dropped our stuff off in our room.  It was so hot that day that by the time we got to our room I hit the shower to cool off.  Once we left our room we were off to explore the ship making Guy's Burgers our first stop (I'd been looking forward to that since we booked the cruise lol).  As you mentioned the food lines got long quick on the first day.  With our bellies full we continued exploring and getting lost a few times along the way lol.  We went back to the cabin for a bit to relax and wait for the muster drill and ended up having a good chat with one of the crew members, everyone we interacted with crew wise was pleasant, friendly and happy to help.  

 

The we spent most of the sail away watching from one of the starboard side rail areas it was so cool to watch the coast guard blowing their horns and the people on the Carnival Ecstasy waiving to us.  Then watching Miami slowly shrink into the distance.  Once we were out of the harbor we went back and enjoyed the view from our aft balcony.  We couldn't get over how amazing and vivid the blue waters were in the wake of the ship. What an amazing and romantic sunset to share.  This was my first ever cruise and first time outside the US as well.  My wife had cruised once before with Norwegian.  I was hooked the moment we boarded the ship. We loved our room but being on the back of the ship we felt the movement especially when we could tell they were speeding up to make up time.  

 

We definitely liked this itinerary and the highlight being Half Moon Cay the sign that says I wish I could stay here forever says it all.  Beautiful clear water, like you the beach looked crowded but never felt crowded.  The hot lunch was good, and just a good day to relax and enjoy the beautiful beach.  We did the Kayak excursion on HMC which we won at the Welcome aboard event.  We were thinking of doing the sting ray one.  But couldn't believe we were the first name drawn from the raffle.  It's fair to say that my wife enjoyed it more than I did.  The kayaks aren't built for tall people and it was a struggle for me to stay upright or find a position that didn't make my back hurt.  But the guide was great and we did a two person kayak.  It was overall cool it took us to a lagoon where they talked about the island, culture, etc. and we got to see various sea life like star fish, conch, some kind of upside down jellyfish, sea cucumbers.  It's probably something I won't do again (kayaking) but glad I did it once.

 

On Nassau we got a day pass at the Warwick Resort which we took a taxi to.  The resort was nice and we enjoyed our time there.  We left in time to do a little shopping at the straw market and to get a t-shirt at the Hard Rock Cafe.  I wanted to get a Del Sol t-shirt but were unable to locate the store and din't feel safe enough to spend time exploring to find it.  We weren't overly impressed with the market or Nassau in general.  It felt dirty and not particularly safe.  If it's on any future itinerary we may just stay on the ship.  We did get a neat Christmas ornament made of shell.  Our thing is collecting ornaments from places we've been.  

 

All in all we had a great time on this cruise.  Ship crew, stewards, and service personnel were all friendly and helpful.  Our fellow guests were friendly and pleasant as well at least those we interacted with.  For the money it's hard to beat what you get on a cruise experience.  The food was good, and plenty of it, if you starve it's your fault lol.  Loved having access to tea, lemonade, and water any time.  Definitely bring a tumbler of some kind they provide cups but they're small.  Also you can get ice cream or frozen yogurt virtually anywhere on the ship.  It was a nice introduction to cruising for me and a way better cruising experience than my wife had on her Norwegian cruise (mainly due to people she cruised with and weather).  My only disappointment really was the shortness of the cruise we felt like we weren't able to do/try all the things we wanted to and often had to pick between things.  We booked our next cruise.  An 8 night cruise in 2021 with my wife and her parents.  We went with a mid balcony this time to maybe have a bit less motion than the rear balcony.  We wanted to have more sea days and we get three of them.  We also get to go back to Half Moon Cay along with Grand Turk, Aruba, and Bonaire.  Again I enjoyed reading your review, like a trip down memory lane.  

 

[cruisin4Becky]

I am glad I spotted your review of the Victory. I was on the November 12 sailing of this ship to celebrate my birthday and your review really brought back memories! I loved that ship so much. I did the Cozumel and Key West itenerary of this ship isntead of Nassau and Half moon but I have been to both of those ports before and really loved seeing your pics of Half Moon Cay.. Im not a big fan of nassau. In fact I just switched a cruise to Nassau and freeport  to a better cruise on the Breeze,going to better ports in may

 

[jimbo5544]

  Very nice review and pics, good job. 

[xDisconnections]

Thanks for the review.