Just Back From Victory 11/7

[palmbeach12]

I still haven't gotten my land legs back yet but here is my review of the Carnival Victory cruise, West Carib, 11/7-11/14. First let me tell you about my cruising background. This will be my 7th cruise and 4th Carnival cruise. My other 3 cruises were on Princess (1) and Celebrity (2). I am a 45 year old female govt worker and I was travelling with my Mom (age 64) and sister (age 42). They had both previously been on carnival cruises.

The cruise ship Victory is a Destiny class Carnival ship and is about 102,000 tons. The ship was full and had about 3000 people on it. 800 of them were non US citizens.

Embarkation was the best I have had on carnival. We arrived at the port of Miami at 11am and were in our room by 12:30. The lines moved very quickly and there was no standing around and sweating. Quite impressive.

The ship had recently been in drydock in the bahamas and looked very clean and freshly painted. All of the stateroom hallways and elevators were newly carpeted and looked great (at least for a day or two LOL).

Stateroom, Cat 8A, Cabin 64--. First impression - kind of small and dumpy. The pepto bismol pink curtains and bedspreads should have been burned during the drydock!! The newer carnival ships (Pride, Glory, etc.) have a more

subdued orange color and the staterooms are larger. This room was a tight squeeze for three people. We had two twin beds and a third bunk bed that came down from the ceiling. My sister fell down the ladder the first night because it was not attached securely (not Carnival's fault). Make sure it is latched onto the mettal frame - not the sheet.

Our luggage arrived and the room was suddenly smaller. After unpacking the clothes it was time to set up the bar. All three of us are "notorious" beer drinkers. With carnival charging around 4 bucks for a beer we decided to take an "offensive" stance. We brought a lot of beers with us in our luggage. YES we are what is commonly known as "sots." We also brought (in our carryons) 7 bottles of wine and a bottle of champagne for sailaway. Flame me if you want but we did save a lot of dough so we can go on another cruise!!! Our S&S card bill was still $643. We also tipped our Room Stewart extra for assisting us with ice and our dining staff for serving the wine.

Now that we are all unpacked we got ready for dinner. Late seating, Pacific DR. We headed to the piano bar for "margarita madness." The bar was standing room only and would be that way the whole week. We realized very quickly that Kevin Leslie Dennis was the reason. He was the funniest and most talented piano bar "guy" I have ever cruised with.

We went to dinner and were seated at a table for nine. There were two teenage girls who immediately got up and requested to move. THere were 4 older ladies (50ish) who we sat with that first night. Dinner was a little tense that night as two of the ladies were religious fanatics who were upset about us having wine with dinner. THey moved to another table the following evening. We had sweet and sour shrimp and sirloin steak. Carnival is now using a larger shrimp and instead of a beer batter are using a crunchy bread crumb coating. It is truly awesome - order a double order if you are a shrimp lover. Our waitresses were awesome. They knew what you wanted before you did. The best dining team I have ever had.

Entertainment that night was the pits. We attended the "Welcome Aboard Show" Take my advice and skip it. The first part of it was the "spoon on a string" game. Not that funny. The second part was a comedian - David Sayh. Not my type of humor. Nobody else laughed either. Headed home to the balcony and bed.

Next day - day at sea. Cruise Director Dana Hodson was a very personable young man. Today he was busy with bingo, shore excursion and shopping talks. We skipped them all and spent the morning at the gym working out. I honestly had intentions of visiting the gym every am but slept so good on this cruise I didnt wake up till 10am most days. This is highly unusual for me because I am usually up at 6 or 7 am. It felt great to really relax and get some much needed rest. Needless to say I didnt see the gym the rest of the week.

See next post: Victory Sots Part two

pb

Now that we

[Lindajlamarre]

Hello Palmbeach12! I was on the Victory back in 2002 I think it was. In 2003 we were on the Triumph. Next cruise...Victory 4/10/05 Western Itinerary (for the 3rd time!). On the Triumph we had 7425 (9a wraparound)...awesome! So we have that same cabin again on the Victory. The balcony is absolutely awesome. My hubby and I really had some good times out there....?!?

 

Anyway, we enjoyed the Victory so much that we decided to try her one more time. I'm glad to hear it was in dry dock getting some sprucing up!

 

You guys sound like my kinda gals! I like beer and margaritas! Love those Miami Vices with floater on top...YUM!

 

BTW....you referred to "older women" ..... 50ish.... at your dining room table? WELL! I'm 50ish! Am I an "older woman"?????? NO NO NO NO NO! NEVER NEVER NEVER!!!!! I don't know if I look 50ish but I sure as heck ain't gonna act like AN OLDER WOMAN!!!!!!! WHERE'S MY BEER!!!!????

 

Looking forward to more of your review!

 

Linda

[kcslim]

Good Morning PB! I, too, was on the Victory. I posted my review, as well. I had a great time, with a few glitches.. but got over those fairly well. The first 2-3 days, I rested well, after that.. I was up way too late, and up way too early! lol

 

What did you think of the magic show and/or Vrooom? Those are the only 2 shows I went to. Too bad we hadn't touched base prior to the cruise.. I had gone solo, and the first 1.5 days was definitely a little slow for me. It wasn't until the captain's party that I met others. Sure glad I did!

 

Karen

[palmbeach12]

linda...thanks for your compliments! Have a great time on the victory! I hope Kevin is still in the piano bar when you go -- the older woman comment was a "dig" not intended for y'all but for the old ladies at the table (who were really only in the 40's LOL) Party on linda.......

 

kcslim -- glad you had a killer time too. I saw VROOM and thought it was fab. I heard the magic show was great _

 

I loved the large # of party people on board.....

pb