Just off Victory....any questions???

[wes29]

A two man band, Tidal Wave, played Calypso/Reggae on the Lido deck. They were good, with a lot of "island" versions of songs you know, plus the regular reggae/calypso stuff. They were from Trinidad/Tobago, an electroninc keyboard and electric guitar. They are part of a 4 man band usually, but Carnival asked for only two for this cruise???? Wished they had a CD to buy.

 

Other movies were High School Musical 2 and Transformers, maybe because it was kiddy vacation week in MA and NY. Seaside Theater is a very cool concept. Also had a U2 concert video, in addition to Cash and EWF/Chicago.

 

Yangtze Wok is open 11-2:30pm or so. They serve light chinese food at a walk-thru "window". Good stuff, freshly prepared.

 

Tried to post photo of Sliding roof pool (roof open) and Irish Bar (only used for sing-alongs).

 

The Dancers tour was over, so not sure what's coming next. Only did 2 shows anyway, I think. Most nights was comedy/vantiliquist. We saw shows and the vantriliquist last year on Imagination.

[otistwilly]

This is my first post - Cruise Critic is such a great tool! I'm glad I found it!

 

We are leaving on the Victory the 16th of March, 19 days for those of us counting down.....anyway I am SO excited to see these great reviews and responses. I was honestly pretty worried when we booked because it seemed like such a mixed bag.

 

We're taking the kids, 16 & 4, and would like to do mostly beach and snorkeling, something both of them will enjoy. What are the best places to go and ways to get there? Carnival's excursions seem pricey and just not quite what we are looking for. Any suggestions?

 

Also, are the dining rooms really kid friendly, or do you get a lot of "did you really bring them here" looks? My 4 year old is really a great kid...but he's 4, and well has a 4 year old attention span.

 

Thanks!

[ray98]

This is my first post - Cruise Critic is such a great tool! I'm glad I found it!

 

We are leaving on the Victory the 16th of March, 19 days for those of us counting down.....anyway I am SO excited to see these great reviews and responses. I was honestly pretty worried when we booked because it seemed like such a mixed bag.

 

We're taking the kids, 16 & 4, and would like to do mostly beach and snorkeling, something both of them will enjoy. What are the best places to go and ways to get there? Carnival's excursions seem pricey and just not quite what we are looking for. Any suggestions?

 

Also, are the dining rooms really kid friendly, or do you get a lot of "did you really bring them here" looks? My 4 year old is really a great kid...but he's 4, and well has a 4 year old attention span.

 

Thanks!

 

You will get into San Juan really to late to hit the beach. There were loads of people snorkeling at Sapphire Beach on St. Thomas and Dawn beach on St. Maarten. Both will have taxi stations at the port with up front pricing PP to most locations on the islands.

 

No one will bother you with your kids in the dining room. If you are concerned you could visit the maitre'd and see if a table for 4 is available. Another option is Camp Carnival which is a supervised children's programs on board. Many kids that age will have trouble in the dining room as dinner will be about 1 1/2 hours long. Camp Carnival had large groups in that age bracket during my cruise. They take them to dinner where the eat kids food. After that they have structured activities. It was a hit on my cruise and all the kids had a blast. The counselors are the sweetest girls in the world.

[davesgirl]

I tried to cover everything but there is so much...I am sure I left out some. It is submitted and should post soon.

 

-------------------------------------

 

My wife and myself and in the 30yo range with an 11yo son...

 

Thank you ray98, great review, much appreciated, also thanks for the photos, we will be in cabin 2390 (May 11), so I looked it up and it is not too far from where you and your family were.:)

[AnnieB925]

This is my first post - Cruise Critic is such a great tool! I'm glad I found it!

 

We are leaving on the Victory the 16th of March, 19 days for those of us counting down.....anyway I am SO excited to see these great reviews and responses. I was honestly pretty worried when we booked because it seemed like such a mixed bag.

 

We're taking the kids, 16 & 4, and would like to do mostly beach and snorkeling, something both of them will enjoy. What are the best places to go and ways to get there? Carnival's excursions seem pricey and just not quite what we are looking for. Any suggestions?

 

Also, are the dining rooms really kid friendly, or do you get a lot of "did you really bring them here" looks? My 4 year old is really a great kid...but he's 4, and well has a 4 year old attention span.

 

Thanks!

 

We booked our excursion to Coki Beach through Air Force One and I would highly recommend this tour guide. If you visit the excursions board on Cruise Critic you'll find several recommendations. Here's what we did. We opted to go straight to the beach and Air Force One was waiting at the boat for us with a huge sign with my name on it. They took us directly to Coki Beach at 9:30 before the crowds arrived. Most tours offer shopping first and then the beach in the afternoon. You've got young children and can easily skip the shopping. You're children would love Coral World, which is right next to Coki Beach.

 

At St. Maarten we had arranged to have Bernard pick us up but somehow we had a miscommunication and ended up sharing an air conditioned cab van with other people. It was very reasonable: $12/pp to Orient Beach. If you go to Orient just make sure you don't go to the nude beach:eek: Not to worry, there's plent of lovely beach and plenty of kids.

[AnnieB925]

For more info on excursions go to "Boards" and "Ports of Call". Here's the link to the St. Thomas board:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=133

You can save so much money by not booking your excursions through Carnival.

[davesgirl]

...You can save so much money by not booking your excursions through Carnival.

...and that is true, but please, keep in mind that if you are on a non-Carnival excursion and something goes wrong, you are on your own! Read about my Belize Cave Tubing experience...http://user.shentel.net/cbarden/belizereview.html

[nybumpkin]

No one will bother you with your kids in the dining room. If you are concerned you could visit the maitre'd and see if a table for 4 is available. Another option is Camp Carnival which is a supervised children's programs on board. Many kids that age will have trouble in the dining room as dinner will be about 1 1/2 hours long. Camp Carnival had large groups in that age bracket during my cruise. They take them to dinner where the eat kids food. After that they have structured activities. It was a hit on my cruise and all the kids had a blast. The counselors are the sweetest girls in the world.

Our youngest son was four on our first cruise (also Victory). We've had great experiences with having our kids in the dining room - there is a kids' menu booklet with puzzles and games, the wait staff consistently has been good with the kids, and while the dinner can be long they will bring food earlier for the kids if necessary. Our kids generally have alternated having dinner in the dining room and having dinner with Camp Carnival, and that's worked well for us. On our Valor cruise last week, the Camp Carnival Capers listed the food items that would be available at dinner, which helped a great deal - the kids could look at the available food and decide whether they wanted to go to the dining room or to Camp Carnival.

 

If you have the 5:45 dining time (same time as Camp Carnival), what we've done is to have one parent take the kids to the Lido restaurant to sign them in, while the other parent goes to the dining room so that the wait staff knows we're coming to dinner. The one in the dining room at least can get started with ordering drinks.

[otistwilly]

Thank you all so much for the great advice.

 

I'm hoping that he will like Camp Carnival enough to want to eat there and then hopefully we'll be able to alternate as mentioned. Camp Carnival is the reason we chose this cruise so I hope it follows through with the reviews! Of course I know it's up to him to make it fun.... It's also a good idea to see if there is a table for 4 - thanks I didn't think of that.

 

As for the excursions (WOW Belize was an adventure, to say the least!) I knew San Juan would be mostly a sight seeing trip and we're planning Coki Beach so we can hit Coral World if we need to break it up a bit. THANKS for the Air Force 1 tip, I may feel better about that than a taxi. I'm still checking into things for St. Martin.

[sweetjem]

We will be on the Victory we have cruised her 2 times before but was wondering about were the Planes land is it by Orients Beach or somewhere else?

[ray98]

We will be on the Victory we have cruised her 2 times before but was wondering about were the Planes land is it by Orients Beach or somewhere else?

 

 

 

Maho beach....I came back with a few awesome pics.

[sweetjem]

thanks Ray.

[PartyAnimal1]

Just off the Victory on 2/24 out of Miami. We visited San Juan, St. Thomas and St. Martin.

 

 

Ray98, I had a few questions and concerns that I am hoping you can settle for me. I am currently having a hard time deciding between the Carnival Victory and the Royal Caribbean Adventure of the Seas. I was wondering if you could give me some information regarding the night life on the Victory. I was on the Carnival Liberty in '06 and had a GREAT time. Then in '07 I sailed on the NCL Sun and found it to be an older crowd and the nightlife seemed to wind down around midnight. Being in my early 20’s, I’m hoping to avoid this disappointment when booking this next cruise. Any information about the bars, clubs, and/or nightlife would be exceptional. Thanks, much appreciated.

Partyanimal1

[ray98]

Ray98, I had a few questions and concerns that I am hoping you can settle for me. I am currently having a hard time deciding between the Carnival Victory and the Royal Caribbean Adventure of the Seas. I was wondering if you could give me some information regarding the night life on the Victory. I was on the Carnival Liberty in '06 and had a GREAT time. Then in '07 I sailed on the NCL Sun and found it to be an older crowd and the nightlife seemed to wind down around midnight. Being in my early 20’s, I’m hoping to avoid this disappointment when booking this next cruise. Any information about the bars, clubs, and/or nightlife would be exceptional. Thanks, much appreciated.

Partyanimal1

 

Usually the atmosphere on a ship depends on when you book it. Seems the younger crowds go more towards summer while winter usually brings an older crowd. There was a good bit on nightlife on Deck 5 where the nightclub and casino are. This was a "winter" cruise but was a week many schools were out for winter break. I would say you would not be disappointed on this ship during spring and summer.

[lbacelli]

How was the casino onboard??

 

See any payouts?

 

 

Leaving for a spring break cruise March 9th.

[bassman19]

Thanks for the post. Heading out this Sat 3/1 to spend the night in Miami and then onto the Victory this coming Sunday. I've heard good and bad about Malcom due to his woo hoo so hopefully I will find him as fun as you did. Can't wait to get there and just plant myself in a pool chair and grab my buckets of beers. Thanks and I can't wait......

 

Just 3 more days Cudster!!!! Are ya meeting with the rest of us bu the upper part of the pool slide?

[ray98]

How was the casino onboard??

 

See any payouts?

 

 

Leaving for a spring break cruise March 9th.

 

Yeah...saw a few good ones on the slots. The table games were pretty packed also.

[justjan2]

What are the show times? We are taking the Southern Caribbean itin and wondered if there are always 2 show times.