The last ever Carnival Victory review, with photos.

CoasterGuy · August 4, 2020

The nightmare drags on with no end in sight. Cruising is on hold. This sucks.

So I figured why not put together a review of my January 2020 cruise on Carnival Victory. Just three months before she was scheduled to go into drydock to become Radiance, and two months before everything cruising came to a halt.

About us:

My name is Eric. This would be my third cruise on Carnival. My first two were singles cruises and I had a blast on both of them. For my third cruise I wanted to try something different. I had heard awesome things about Half Moon Cay and not so nice things about Nassau. I booked this cruise solo almost a year in advance. My original plan was to get the drink package and have a nice short party cruise, see what sort of people I may meet on the ship, and just enjoy myself. Shortly after I booked, something crazy happened. I met a woman named Nicky on one of those dating apps. We started seeing each other and after a while the L word was being used. This was after being single for around five years or so, and so was kinda unexpected. Nicky had never been on a cruise before but was excited to try it. So about nine months before the cruise I called Carnival and added her to the booking. I’m not cruising single or solo this time. Who’da thunk it?

Please note that I am doing this review largely by memory six months later. I certainly don’t remember what we ate for every meal, but I do think I remember more than enough to give a decent review.

Day before:

Our non-stop flight from Cleveland to Miami on American Airlines went without a problem, arriving around 5PM. It was cold for Miami, 60 and getting down into the upper 50s. Our hotel was the Crowne Plaza Miami Airport. We ate dinner at a nearby restaurant called Catch of the Day. I also walked to a nearby convenience store to get Cokes for carrying on the cruise. On the cruise we discovered the soft drinks were still Coke, changeover to Pepsi not completed yet on the Victory. But I like to carry on a 12 pack anyhow.

No pictures today because I never think to take pics of the night before accommodations. Hotel was nice and we had no complaints about it.

Day 1:

After our hotel breakfast which I don’t recall the specifics of, I took a dip in the pool while Nicky did some final getting ready. COLD in the pool, was probably only in it for ten minutes. Called an Uber to take us to the cruise port. We had Faster to the Fun, and the process of getting from curb to ship was probably fifteen minutes. We immediately headed to our room on Deck 7 mid which is where I like it. In between Lido and Promenade, close to everything. Went in search of some food and the lines were long for everything. Unfortunately the Victory does not have the BBQ that nobody knows about on embarkation day. So we decided to get pizza for our first meal. This was where I had my first mishap of the cruise. After getting my pizza I guess I wasn’t careful enough. My plate tilted just enough to where the entire pizza slid off and fell on the floor, crust side down. 😒 I realize this is gonna sound damn gross especially with this Covid stuff going around, but I called five second rule and picked up the whole thing and put it right back on my plate. I was absolutely not going to wait in that long line again. Good thing I have a strong immune system.

After eating and with some time to kill before muster, we made our way to Serenity deck and enjoyed some time in the hot tubs. Later on still before muster we went to the Black and Red bar on Promenade deck for a meet and greet with members of our sailing facebook group, and I ordered some sort of fizzy champagne drink from Alchemy bar. Nicky is not much of an alcohol drinker so she ended up getting the Bottomless Bubbles package, and she took good advantage of it throughout the cruise.

Muster drill was quick and uneventful. Lucky me, I am now two for two in being on the side that gets to leave first during the outdoor muster drills. We then headed for Lido deck for sailaway party only to discover it was raining outside. Ugh. Glad to say once the rain stopped later that evening the rest of the cruise had perfect weather. 70s and sunny, not too hot. Sailaway party was moved to the Atrium and we just chilled there for a while until it was time for dinner. Dinner that evening in the main dining room was good, as it would be every night. We opted for your time dining and liked the convenience of being able to reserve a table on the hub app. Never waited more than 10 mins for a table. I had flat iron steak which was decent for being $0, and I don’t recall what Nicky had. What I remember most was the look on Nicky’s face when she first tried the chocolate melting cake.

For entertainment that evening, we went to karaoke and it was a good time had by all. Followed by the back hot tubs on lido. I love the retractable roof and the fact they kept the hot tubs open until midnight. My other two Carnival sailings they were closed by 10pm. Nicky went to bed and I spent too much money in the casino. It was a good first day at sea. We both looked forward to a relaxing sea day tomorrow, followed by Half Moon Cay.

Edited August 4, 2020 by CoasterGuy

CoasterGuy · August 4, 2020

Yes, we got shirts for this specific sailing. Our first cruise together, why not?

Edited August 4, 2020 by CoasterGuy

CoasterGuy · August 4, 2020

CoasterGuy · August 4, 2020

Main Dining Room

Melting cake!!

Edited August 4, 2020 by CoasterGuy

CoasterGuy · August 4, 2020

Aft pool

CoasterGuy · August 4, 2020

Day 2 at sea:

One thing I absolutely had marked down to do was the seaday brunch. I had never done one on my previous sailings. We both enjoyed it very much even though I don’t recall what we actually ate (from the pictures it looks like I had bacon sausage and eggs). Later that afternoon I entered the slot tournament, while Nicky went on her own to the aft pool area for some time in the pool and a Guy’s burger. I had done a slot tournament on the Breeze and had the shame of finishing last in my group, although as a consolation prize I won $75 in free play casino credits, that I was able to parlay into some cash. This time I would not win any money, but I was happy to not be in last place again. I was actually 2nd best of the first 24 contestants until a few people all scored higher at once. I joined Nicky at the aft pool and hot tubs and we enjoyed the perfect weather.

The previous day, Nicky asked me where Build-a-bear was on the ship. I later discovered its an event happening today. At around 4PM Nicky went down to do Build-a-bear while I took it easy in the room for a bit. She also really liked the towel animal elephant we found on our bed. After getting back to the room with her new creation she appropriately calls “Victoria Bear”, I took Nicky to the front of deck seven and showed her the “secret deck”. The wind was so strong it was blowing the liquid out of my drink glass! This would be a sign of things to come with really strong winds on the top decks and front secret decks. We also spent time in Serenity deck a bit before dinner. Eventually we had to get ready for elegant night, and we went to the Atrium to have pictures taken in our “elegant” attire. We caught a bit of the captain’s toast, which I had missed on my prior cruises.

From the pictures it looks like Nicky had the pork chop and onions for dinner. I think I had the prime rib and mac and cheese, always a favorite of mine that I get once per cruise. After dinner found us in the nightclub enjoying 70s and 80s dance hits. Later on the adult comedy show. Our comedian this evening was Jaylyn Bishop. Lots of laughs to be had. After comedy we went back to the room and soon enough Nicky went to sleep. No casino gambling for me tonight. I went to bed shortly after but I may have gone to Serenity first, if it wasn’t already closed due to the strong winds.

CoasterGuy · August 4, 2020

CoasterGuy · August 4, 2020

CoasterGuy · August 4, 2020

Captain's toast

Nicky's favorite picture

CoasterGuy · August 4, 2020

Be back sometime today to post the rest.

PhillyFan33579 · August 4, 2020

Enjoying the review and all the pictures. Victory was my first cruise on a non-Fantasy Carnival ship and was the ship that started my cruise addiction. While my wife and I had been on several cruises prior to cruising on Victory, it was our cruise on Victory that changed cruising from a vacation to a lifestyle where we never went more than 3 months without a cruise for years, which unfortunately came to a screeching halt earlier this year.

DanvilleCruiser · August 4, 2020

Thanks for posting the review. It’s great to read about the fun times.

MzOhioLady · August 4, 2020

Thanks for doing the Review!! Can't wait to read more, and I Love the Pictures.

Moonglo · August 4, 2020

8 hours ago, CoasterGuy said:

Main Dining Room

Melting cake!!

I love the expression on your face while trying the lava cake~~~ MMm good.

schwesterellibelli · August 4, 2020

Thanks for sharing. I miss cruising...

CoasterGuy · August 4, 2020

8 hours ago, PhillyFan33579 said:

Enjoying the review and all the pictures. Victory was my first cruise on a non-Fantasy Carnival ship and was the ship that started my cruise addiction. While my wife and I had been on several cruises prior to cruising on Victory, it was our cruise on Victory that changed cruising from a vacation to a lifestyle where we never went more than 3 months without a cruise for years, which unfortunately came to a screeching halt earlier this year.

Glad youre enjoying it. Sounds like you two were living the dream up until the pandemic.

CoasterGuy · August 4, 2020

6 hours ago, DanvilleCruiser said:

Thanks for posting the review. It’s great to read about the fun times.

5 hours ago, MzOhioLady said:

Thanks for doing the Review!! Can't wait to read more, and I Love the Pictures.

1 hour ago, schwesterellibelli said:

Thanks for sharing. I miss cruising...

Thanks everyone.

CoasterGuy · August 4, 2020

Day 3: Half Moon Cay

If you have somehow managed to stay with me and my hazy memory up to this point, congrats. Day #3 is where the most interesting stuff happened. For breakfast I think we did Blue Iguana burritos. I’ve always liked these and love the fact there is never a line for them. We took advantage of our FTTF status and grabbed a priority tender to the island shortly after 9AM or so.

Right as we were stepping off the tender and walking into the port entrance, we saw something bad that put me in a negative mood for a bit. There was a woman, probably in her 60s or so, lying on the ground motionless. She was surrounded by a few carnival employees who called for help. Some passenger was talking almost at yelling level at one of the employees, a fairly young woman, saying “I am a doctor!” and some other stuff. I think there was a language barrier here as the guy had a russian sounding accent and the woman is from a country where their first language is not english. I guess the guy wanted to take a look at the poor woman and this employee was in the way. Here’s the part I wish I hadn’t seen: The tall doctor then got behind the employee, grabbed her by her armpits, picked her up a good foot off the ground, and then just kinda tossed her aside. Not violently enough to really hurt her, but still. I get that you are a doctor, but I thought his actions here were way overzealous. There is no reason for him to be putting his hands on a Carnival employee (or anyone) like that. Thankfully multiple carnival employees were standing right there and saw this. I hope the guy got some kind of backlash or something from Carnival for that.

Wanting to move past that whole ugly sight, Nicky and I immediately made our way to the beach. Half Moon Beach was everything it was hyped up to be. Soft white powder sand, turquoise blue water. Right before this cruise I bought a waterproof camera, an Olympus Tough TG-5. On this cruise we did not have anything planned for underwater like snorkeling, but I thought it would be nice to have it for pics in the water without needing to use my phone in a waterproof case. At some point during the day, several fish were swimming right by me and Nicky’s feet, as we were standing not too deep into the water. I put the waterproof camera in underwater mode, held it underwater with my hands, pointed towards the fish and pressed the shutter as they swam by, and hoped for the best. The results were surprisingly good as you’ll see below. If that got pictures this halfway decent I can only imagine how nice it will be for snorkeling.

A little after 11AM we went to the Captain Morgan pirate ship bar to get drinks. As I was walking back from the bathroom I noticed they already opened the island BBQ even though it wasn’t 11:30 yet. I got a little turned around and it took me a couple minutes to walk back to the bar (it’s like a maze) and I saw some roosters along the way. As soon as I got back to the bar I told Nicky it’s lunch time. I honestly found the BBQ to be very meh. The hamburgers and hot dogs were average at best. The best item by far was the jerk chicken.

After lunch we were back in the water, enjoying the awesome beach. When we finally had our fill of swimming and sun, we spent the last hour or so of our time in port at “I wish I could stay here forever” bar. Nicky kept joking that she’s not going back to the ship. We both greatly enjoyed our time at Half Moon Cay and keep talking about going back. It’s probably in my top two favorites of the eight caribbean ports I’ve visited so far. Before boarding the tender I stopped at the little straw market and bought my only in port souvenir for this cruise, a “Bahamas” magnet shaped like a sandal.

Back on the ship I ate a Guy’s burger and Nicky eventually joined me at the Red Frog Rum bar. I was kinda surprised the Blue Iguana Tequila bar was already closed at 6PM. For dinner this evening we opted for the buffet, and this was the only meal on the ship that I didn’t care for. I found a few good things I enjoyed, but had to supplement it with pizza. I did however savor a coke float that I made with coke taken from the room, and the ship’s self-serve ice cream. Nicky probably liked the buffet just a tad more, as she is more of a herbivore than me.

The previous night I heard a little bit of the casino bar band (called “Music Boardwalk”) and they sounded pretty good. Tonight I wanted to listen to them more and Nicky and I both enjoyed the music. They played a mix of rock and pop hits from the 70s - 90s or so. Nicky also won some money doing the coin pusher game. I tried it and didn’t have any luck. My plan at first was to listen to the casino band for a while and then head to lido for megadeck. Nicky and I liked the band so much and were having such a good chill time that we decided to skip megadeck and stay put until it was time for R rated comedy.

I got a deal closer at the Alchemy Bar, my favorite drink from there. Nicky and I sat right next to the band as they were performing. For several minutes, I was sitting there there just so relaxed, thinking about how nice this cruise has been, the ocean, beach, all the fun on the ship, the good music, good food, time spent with Nicky. Not having to be at work. Just enjoying all of it. I had almost reached a zen-like state, total relaxation.

CRASH!!

Out of absolutely freaking nowhere, my drink glass with my deal closer in it fell over the side of the table and shattered. I had only taken two sips of it. Nobody touched it. I sat there for a solid minute doing my best Joey Bosa impersonation, trying to figure out what the heck just happened. A guy sitting at the bar saw this happen and said something to me, but I couldn’t hear him. He came over to where I was sitting and told me: “The vibrations from the band caused the glass to shift and fall over the table”.

It made perfect sense, and is the only rational explanation I can think of. Having just lost an $11 drink I can admit that in a moment of frustration I kicked the shattered glass against the wall just once, as Nicky let the bar staff know what happened so someone could clean it up. Now I know for the future to babysit my drink better. I’m sure I’m not the only one as I have seen the same thing happen to other people on land in really loud nightclubs, but the idea of it happening on a ship next to a rock n roll band never occurred to me. Ugh.

I went back to the room to change my socks as the drink got all over one of my socks. I got over the aggravation of that moment quickly and Nicky and I made our way to the comedy club. On the way I stopped at Alchemy Bar and got myself another deal closer. The way I see it I’d rather pay $22 and get one, than pay $11 and get zero. (Well two measly sips).

Jaylyn Bishop had another great show, probably better than the night before. At some point in the evening we also spent some more time in the aft hot tubs. The bar in the aft of Lido deck is my favorite outdoor bar on pretty much any carnival cruise ship, because it’s never crowded and open all day until midnight. (looking at you, Blue Iguana). After comedy Nicky went to bed and I went to the nightclub for a bit before turning in.

Despite a few hiccups day 3 was an awesome day that was very fun, both on the island and on ship. Awaiting us tomorrow would be Nassau, and also our final evening at sea. Not having a full sea day at the end of the cruise felt strange.