Just back from the Victory

[shipgirl56]

Just got home from a B2B Victory Eastern and Western Carib. The upgrade fairy shined down on us and we received an upgrade for both weeks. We booked an inside gty. and received an 8E Balcony on the Panorama Deck! Everything was wonderful and we had a great time.

[stampinrobin]

I'm crusing Victory in May - how was the food?

Did they have the liquor tasting that some have reported about on this board?

Any other info you have to share?

It will be my first cruise!

 

Thanks

[Elaine515]

More please....

 

Does the Victory have a place where we can purchase delicious ice cream shakes?

 

What was showing on the big screen tv on the Lido Deck?

 

Did you happen to notice if the Cicle C club was open yet?

 

Please tell us more... Thnx

 

 

 

Elaine :)

[stampinrobin]

what's the Circle C club?

[kimcruiser]

Glad your back and had a great upgrade! Please tell more when you get a chance. Just waiting patiently, not in a hurry, take your time, it's ok you're probably tired right? .....;) I'll just wait here, no biggie.:p

[gypsyrose]

Geez. You had a 2 week cruise and you just barely whet our appetite. Where is your review? What are you waiting on? Surely you arent doing laundry. Did you have to go back to work:eek: Please, pretty please, write a review. There just aren't enough around.

[Natanni]

Yes! More details here too please!

 

Which was your favorite, Eastern or Western? Could you give us some pros and cons of the different itineraries? We have only done Western and are anxious to try something new. Were the Eastern ports just as cruise ship packed as the Western?

 

Would love the hear all the details....I will now join the others waiting :D

[BeyondKen]

I'm crusing Victory in May - how was the food?

Did they have the liquor tasting that some have reported about on this board?

Any other info you have to share?

It will be my first cruise!

 

Thanks

>how was the food?

Excellent! Even better than the food on the Glory, if that's possible. The lobster tails were so tender and tasty (and tiny) that everyone at my table ordered a 2nd one.

 

>Did they have the liquor tasting that some have reported about on this board?

Yes. Also all the free drinks you can consume at the Captain's welcome aboard party.

 

>Any other info you have to share?

Go to tea time - at least once.

The Maitre D' sings after dinner every night.

The cruise director is a homeboy from the Bronx.

Watch out for the biting sea-horses.

[AnnieB925]

>how was the food?

Excellent! Even better than the food on the Glory, if that's possible. The lobster tails were so tender and tasty (and tiny) that everyone at my table ordered a 2nd one.

 

>Did they have the liquor tasting that some have reported about on this board?

Yes. Also all the free drinks you can consume at the Captain's welcome aboard party.

 

>Any other info you have to share?

Go to tea time - at least once.

The Maitre D' sings after dinner every night.

The cruise director is a homeboy from the Bronx.

Watch out for the biting sea-horses.

 

Thanks for the info. We'll be on the Victory 4 weeks from now. I've heard the sea horses really hurt! ouch!

[kimcruiser]

where was your cabin? how was it? did you do any excursions? we are on the eastern itinerary but Im sure everybody would love to here about both the west and east. What a vacation! thanks for you time.:D

[grandmato4]

Its great to hear that everything was so wonderful !! We considered doing a B2B but ended up just doing the western this time. In Cozumel was the ship on the same time as in port ? Looking forward to hearing more details of your great trip ! :)

[wenocancer2]

What exactly happens during Tea Time?

 

Please write a full review. There are not very many Victory reviews out there!

[BeyondKen]

What exactly happens during Tea Time?

Go to the Ionian Lounge. Teacups are set up on all the lounge tables. A guy comes around with a chest of many different kinds of tea. Take one, then he fills your cup with hot water. A cart comes around with tiny sandwiches and cakes. A three-piece orchestra plays classical music.

[georgep]

Booked for 4/13 cruise. Would like to read your review!!!!

Let us know when you post it.

[shipgirl56]

I don't know if I am very good at writing reviews, but I will try to tell more. We flew in on Saturday night and stayed at the Days Inn Airport North. Let's just say, if you are thinking of staying there - DON'T!:eek: We arrived at the pier about noon. We did not know our cabin assignment and so had to ask at arrival, to get our luggage tags. They gave us tags and the cabin number. We were unfamiliar with the room #'s, so we didn't know where the cabin was. The porter said it was a very nice cabin. I just thought, yeah right, they say that to everyone. The check-in line was long, but moved very quickly and we were onboard within minutes. We asked on board what deck we were on and they said deck 10 Panorama. We still thought that we were in an inside cabin and were shocked and delighted to find that we had a balcony cabin. I pinched myself everyday about how blessed we were with the upgrade.

[shipgirl56]

Our first week was the Eastern Caribbean. The first stop at San Juan is kind of disappointing. You arrive at 5pm. Some of the stores are open, but not many. We walked around and took pictures and went to dinner at a nice place and bought a 24pk of sodas to bring back onboard.

 

The second stop is St. Thomas where we booked our own tour through Godfrey's Tours. He took us downtown for some shopping and then did an island tour. After the tour he dropped us off at the beach - Sapphire Beach. The ones who did not want to go to the beach, he took back to the ship. He was very good. There were people from three different ships on the tour and each ship had their own time of day. He kept it all straight and got everyone back to their ship on time.

[shipgirl56]

The final stop was at St. Martin. We did a ship tour. It was an island tour, semi-sub tour with shopping time in Marigot. I really liked Marigot and felt that we didn't have enough time there. We found an incredible French Bakery and got chocolate croissants! MMM!:)

 

Our waiter for this week was great - Reddy! Our table assignment was not so great. It was behind the stairs coming down and we could not see much of the dining room. We ate at a table for 4 with just the two of us. We did not know about the singing and missed it the first week. I guess when there are just two people, you eat quicker? The second week we sat at a different table with another couple. We saw what we missed. The waiters and M'terdee (sp. I know) sang every night.

 

The big screen on deck had news on in the morning and music videos on in the afternoon. I mainly was at the aft pool (Sirens Pool), so don't have much other info. I know that one evening they had a spiderman movie and they had football on at least once.

[shipgirl56]

I'm cruising Victory in May - how was the food?

The food was ok to good. But, anything that I don’t have to buy and prepare is fine with me! I am not a picky eater and didn’t have anything that I didn’t like except for the filet mignon. The filet mignon didn’t look like a filet and it was very tough. I ordered the Salmon off of the alternative menu one night and it was very salty, but those are my only complaints.

Cozumel was the ship on the same time as in port ?

The ship stays on Miami time for both the Eastern and Western itineraries. Also, in Cozumel we tendered instead of docking. The docks were wiped out in a hurricane and are not rebuilt yet. There is just one dock that two cruise ships use. The different cruise lines take turns with the dock. Carnival Victory we were told gets to dock about every fourth week.

I've heard the sea horses really hurt!

I didn’t have a problem with them, but they do kind of stick out.

Where was your cabin? How was it?

We had cabin 1061 on the Panorama Deck. Great location. It was just a few steps out to the pool/lido deck. And we were right by the stairs to go upstairs and work out.

[grandmato4]

Thanks for the answer to my question about the ship/port time in Cozumel. Have my fingers crossed for docking but now we won't be surprised if we end up tendering. I'm enjoying reading your review. Nice job ! :)

[kimcruiser]

Thanks a lot shipgirl that was great. How was the Miami airport? Do they offer the (I think this is what it is called) Funvision? (Having one of those moments again:rolleyes:) so you can check out your sail & sign? Thanks again.:)

[cruisencook]

Thanks for the review. We sail Feb 10th, with two other couples. We're doing the western carb.. How was your weather on the western Cruise?

[shipgirl56]

Western Caribbean Review

Everyone doing the B2B was to meet at the Purser’s Desk at 10:45 AM. There were about 20 of us. They walked us off and we went through customs. Customs had the group all spread out and the girl leading us kind of lost track of everyone. Another lady gave us our new ship and sail cards down by customs. I guess we missed the information that we were to go back to the purser’s desk to give them the credit card information. I found out the next day when I tried to book a shore excursion. It was no problem, just went over to the purser’s desk and gave them the information and the purser’s desk booked the excursion for me so that I did not have to wait in line again at shore excursions.

 

Cozumel – I have never been to Cozumel and I guess I still haven’t. We booked the Tulum Mayan Ruins Tour through the ship. Since we tendered the excursion boat picked the group up right off the ship and took us over to mainland where we boarded the tour bus. I found the ruins very interesting and it is worth doing at least once. It poured down rain on us when we arrived at the ruins. I purchased a rain poncho for $3 from a vendor. The rain was warm and the poncho covered my shorts and top, so I didn’t mind. I am from the Pacific Northwest, so the rain is taken in stride.

 

Grand Cayman – We went on the Atlantis Submarine Tour. I did enjoy that. I love to snorkel, but don’t know how to dive. It was interesting to go deeper. They go down to just over 100 feet. My husband is tall and he had a hard time getting down low enough to see much out the window. So make note of that if someone in your party is tall – they probably won’t enjoy it. We saw lots of fish and coral. The sea was kind of rough, so the water could have been clearer than it was.

 

Jamaica – We booked the Wild Oats Champagne Falls Catamaran Tour. I thought that they were going to cancel it, because it turned out only 10 people booked the tour. Only five of the ten showed up for the tour. It was great for us! We had the Catamaran with 5 passengers and 7crew! They took us out to a reef to snorkel. Only my husband and I swam from the catamaran to the reef. They don’t tell you that when you book the tour. It is quite a swim but the water is calm and no waves. I saw more at that reef than anywhere else I have snorkeled. The tour usually books about 40 people. We saw it later in the day with a group from the other ship. It was packed. After snorkeling, we went over to Dunn River Falls and then back to the harbor.

 

We also received a basket of fruit in our cabin, one day, from hotel management. And the next day, a plate of chocolate covered strawberries was delivered from the manager.

 

Which did we like better Western or Eastern? I liked St. Thomas and St. Martin and Jamaica the best. So, can I say ½ and ½ ? If I only could book one week, I would probably pick Western.