Just returned from Victory Cruise!

[Haysiedaze]

Thanks MomsBusy, any suggestions are more than welcome! The kids love snorkeling so we will take your advice on the Turtle Excursion.

 

My kids and I search for pictures of the islands and The Victory almost every evening. They are very excited. I believe the 3 of us will drive my wife crazy before we leave discussing the cruise :rolleyes: .

[momsbusy]

:rolleyes: Thats the fun part!

[momsbusy]

Hi Romansluv, I'm not sure, because I don't know whether Jolly Beach is public or private. Whatever you do, don't miss it, it is GORGEOUS!

[CruiseLover824]

I would like to do that port focused cruise! Such a great itinerary...if only flights weren't so high :mad:

 

Please share pics!

 

I am not sure where you are from, but we are booked on the Victory for April of 2010....we booked flights as soon as they were able to be booked back in May. Ours from Detroit were $371(that includes tax!). More friends booked out of Columbus, OH and got about the same deal. I thought this was pretty decent.

 

If you really want to do this itinerary....you may want to check flights as soon as they will let you book them--330 days b4 dates for flights. I agree that they are really high now...I think almost $700!!!!!

[SCFCRUISER]

We booked our flights in April of '08 for our Victory cruise this past February out of Cincy round trip for $239.00 each. That is a great price. We usually pay that to fly to Florida!!!

You folks who are going on this cruise soon will love this cruise!!!!

 

Steve

[cruiseawaits]

We booked our flights in April of '08 for our Victory cruise this past February out of Cincy round trip for $239.00 each. That is a great price. We usually pay that to fly to Florida!!!

You folks who are going on this cruise soon will love this cruise!!!!

 

Steve

 

Booked our flights for this coming February nonstop out of JFK(NYC)for $256/pp. I couldn't pass up this rate so purchased airfare, now I have to decide between Victory, RCCL-Adventure of the Seas or Caribbean Princess. Hope to make my mind up by tomorrow and deposit. Have never sailed southern Caribbean on Carnival. Does the Victory receive its' TV reception via satellite out of Denver like others in the Carnival fleet? If so, what stations are received?

[linkinsama]

what'd you think about this most port intensive itinerary? :)

 

I saw a lot of people on here say how exhausting it was. I thought since we're in our early 30s and in good shape and we did exursions 1 day/beach day the next the whole time that beach days would give us rest. Wrong!

 

We were competely exhausted (happily) the whole time. We stayed up late (2ish) but also napped for abt 1.5-3 hours a day. (usually closer to 1.5 but those beds are soooo comfy)

[momsbusy]

We began our trip by flying with free Southwest points to Ft. Lauderdale. We stayed the night at the Hampton Inn & Suites right next to the airport. It was a perfect stayover, with a large suite for 6 at a bargain rate and free breakfast spread, and free airport shuttle. We then flew from Miami to San Juan on American, again got a very cheap rate months ago when they were having their carribbean sale. Flight delayed for hours, but we finally got to San Juan and went to the Caribe Hilton, where we stayed for 3 nights. Beautiful hotel with a great location! It was a Holiday there, I think Constitution day, so there were bands and people and celebration and dancing everywhere. Again, we were very pleased with our hotel. As Hilton members, we got free breakfast everyday and free internet. This means alot when you are 6 people. The pools and beach were great! Drinks were great. There was a water tramp in the ocean and plenty of chairs, and places to swim. I would go back to the Caribe. Ate dinner at Subway, Lemongrass, and their Italian place. Lemongrass was very very good, but $$$$. Got up Sunday early, ready to head to the ship, which was maybe 10 - 15 minutes drive away. Got to terminal at Noon and were told we could board very soon. As I said, the liquor store was right at the entrance to board and very accomodating. We boarded and went up to the Lido for Lunch. Easily found a great table with a view and began eating & drinking. Rooms opened, as promised, promptly at 2:30. The sailaway from San Juan was probably one of the most beautiful sailaways I have ever seen. We went past the forts, all lit up at night with flags flying. The sailaway party was really fun. More coming.

[tiggerman101]

A couple more points about Jolly Beach before I move on to another port. The beach is packed with seashells. Beautiful seashells, so if you are a sea shell hunter, you will be in heaven. Walk into the water about a couple feet and you will be standing on them, everywhere. The water is the most gorgeous color of aquamarine, and calm like a sheet of glass. You can pay to go out far and ride jetskis, or have a boat pull you on a big tube. An old guy on the beach had a big piece of aloe from a tree or whatever, cracked it open and rubbed it all over my sons arms and back and he claims his sunburn was completely gone. The jerk chicken fresh off the grill was excellent!

 

 

Wow, conditions must vary there by quite a bit. When we were there in March the surf was pretty rough. The were some really big and powerful waves coming in. Also the first few feet of the water line was covered in large pieces of broken shell. I had to steel my partner's water shoes to get in.

[Cruzen My Life Away]

Would love to see the capers if you have them!!! Can't wait to hear about the islands... keep the info coming can't wait to see the ship myself in September!!!:p

[poohbear80]

Glad to hear you had a wonderful time we leave in 8 days and I really can't wait. We fly in the day of being I have to work that sat before. :( It's only for 3 hours.:p Our plane is suppose to arrive in San Juan at 1pm. :eek:Just praying flights are on time either way I plan to make this vacation relaxing.:cool: I'm so excited and can hardly stand it.:D

[momsbusy]

Have a great time Poohbear!

Tiggerman, we did have very different expereinces at Jolly. But wasn't it wonderful?

Ok, so we had a great sail off from San Juan, there was a really fun party with lots of dancing and Funship Freddy was out taking pics with everyone, my kids no exception. Our first stop was St. Thomas. We've been here before, but you never get over how beautiful this place is. My girls were READY TO SHOP! The men, simply bystanders, however, they were giving out free shots at the entrance to the pier... Anyway, needless to say, it was a great day. Interesting note: Found some very nice "bags" this time around, usually only to be found at the straw market in Nassau. Daughters got a "Burberry" large travel tote, 14 yr old now very happy, and a "Dolce & Gabbana" multi color striped bucket bag, 11 yr old very happy. Another Note: As I previously mentioned, if you want to bring booze on board, do it in San Juan, don't wait for St. Thomas. There are some wonderful liquor stores, but it will be confiscated at boarding, as we witnessed.

My family has now been on the road a total of 6 days, and they are ready to chill, so since we are beach people, not hikers, we decided that our next stop, Dominica, would be a ship day. We all wanted to hang on the ship and do everything it has to offer. Dominica is gorgeous, I know I say that about every Island, but they are all GORGEOUS! Lots of people got off to go hiking and what not, we slept in and luxuriated on the boat all day. Kids were off exploring, we hung by the pool and bar and buffett...Pure heaven. This night is a formal night, so we had plenty of time to get ready and just really soak in that we are on this great cruise. Dinner was a Lobster and Prawn dish, which was delicious, and the crazy ones who don't like seafood had their steak whatever. Overall, food was very good. The Island of Dominica is mountainy and cloudy with scattered rainshowers. Next stop is Barbados.

[cruiseawaits]

We thought of using Dominica as a ship day also. Is there anything interesting at the pier(i.e. shopping, local vendors, etc.)? Would like to maybe get off and walk around this area for a little while during the day.

[momsbusy]

Yes, get off and poke around. There was lots of island music playing, friendly people, stands selling all kinds of stuff and lots of shops. Very nice, not modern like St. THomas, more islandy.

[mississauga]

momsbusy,doing a great job so far......waiting to hear more. Thanks for taking the time to share.

 

If planning to bring alcohol home and don't mind them keeping it until the last day, is it cheaper to buy in San juan or St. Thomas?

[momsbusy]

San Juan. They have a "concierge" take you around the shop, asking you what you like and pointing out the specials and deals they have going that day.

[hunter42]

Does the ship carry Rum Jumbie? Last year they had stopped carring it.

[momsbusy]

Sorry, I don't know about Rum Jumby

[dallas52]

cant wait to hear the rest, plan on taking this cruise the last of Feb. for our 40th wedding anniversary. Sound like you had a great time, glad you did. waiting hear the rest of your cruise.

[momsbusy]

We arrived at Barbados on Wed. We had signed up for the Turtle swim and shipwreck snorkel, so we got up early. We do breakfast buffett, so I don't have any news on the dining room breakfast. If you get to the buffet on the early side, the lines are short & quick. If you get there at a later "high" time, you could be waiting 15 minutes or more. I think it will vary from cruise to cruise, but our "crowd" seemed to lean toward 9-9:30am. Breakfast buffet is what you would expect. Fruit, breads & pastries, eggs, hashbrowns, bacon, sausage, cereals, pancakes, waffles yogurt...everything basically. You can also get made to order omelettes and eggs. Coffee, juice, tea etc... Everyone in my family found what they liked each morning. Each morning, I would also run a supply of OJ up to our room to mix with rum for our cocktails later. We saved a significant amount of money doing this. And the rums from puerto rico really were better than any we had tasted before. So then we got off the boat and walked up to the Barbados Terminal, which is a huge shopping mall basically. We met up with a jeep that took us to our boat. We got on a Speedboat with an excellent Tour Guide (Dude with lots of long dreads), and sped off to the Turtle site. The ride was alot of fun, everyone gets wet and you have great views as we are running close long the coastline, north up the west coast for about 1/2 hour or so at most. We got to the turtles before the other groups because our boat was so fast, so we had them all to ourselves. It was amazing. We got in the water, he put out some food and suddenly they were everywhere. Giant ones as well as babies. It was an awesome experience, one the kids will not forget. There was a guy that paddled by on a kayak with a big dog on board and that was really funny to look at. We also saw lots of other types of fish and coral. We stayed for probably 40 minutes or so, it was plenty of time to get our fill. Got back on the boat and sped off again to the shipwreck. The place we went actually had 5 shipwrecks in the area, all marked off, we visited one of them. Scuba divers come in there and spend the day going from wreck to wreck. I loved the shipwreck! The water was crystal clear, so you could see all the details of it, and there were all kinds of fish everywhere. It was just amazing. I want to go back and dive all the sites one day. It was in a large cove area, lined by a gorgeous beach, which we visited later, there was a Marriott in the distance. We spent the next half hour or so snorkeling the shipwreck, then it was party time. We got back on the boat and sodas for the kids and rum punch for the adults was passed around. All you can drink ofcourse. We pulled right up to the beach and spent the rest of our time there, drinking, playing on the beach and in the water. It was beautiful white sand and crystal blue water. This was a really fun excursion, only took 1/2 the day. We were dropped back at the terminal for shopping and then back to the boat for a late lunch.

[alschmid]

We just got back from this cruise as well - will post a review soon! Had an awesome time!

 

~Amy

[Senoj84]

It was great! Let me know if you have any questions! Amy

 

Can't wait for the review!

[Buffettfan 225]

Have a great time Poohbear!

Tiggerman, we did have very different expereinces at Jolly. But wasn't it wonderful?

Ok, so we had a great sail off from San Juan, there was a really fun party with lots of dancing and Funship Freddy was out taking pics with everyone, my kids no exception. Our first stop was St. Thomas. We've been here before, but you never get over how beautiful this place is. My girls were READY TO SHOP! The men, simply bystanders, however, they were giving out free shots at the entrance to the pier... Anyway, needless to say, it was a great day. Interesting note: Found some very nice "bags" this time around, usually only to be found at the straw market in Nassau. Daughters got a "Burberry" large travel tote, 14 yr old now very happy, and a "Dolce & Gabbana" multi color striped bucket bag, 11 yr old very happy. Another Note: As I previously mentioned, if you want to bring booze on board, do it in San Juan, don't wait for St. Thomas. There are some wonderful liquor stores, but it will be confiscated at boarding, as we witnessed.

My family has now been on the road a total of 6 days, and they are ready to chill, so since we are beach people, not hikers, we decided that our next stop, Dominica, would be a ship day. We all wanted to hang on the ship and do everything it has to offer. Dominica is gorgeous, I know I say that about every Island, but they are all GORGEOUS! Lots of people got off to go hiking and what not, we slept in and luxuriated on the boat all day. Kids were off exploring, we hung by the pool and bar and buffett...Pure heaven. This night is a formal night, so we had plenty of time to get ready and just really soak in that we are on this great cruise. Dinner was a Lobster and Prawn dish, which was delicious, and the crazy ones who don't like seafood had their steak whatever. Overall, food was very good. The Island of Dominica is mountainy and cloudy with scattered rainshowers. Next stop is Barbados.

We will be sailing almost exact week next year. I know St.Thomas has two shopping areas- Havensite and downtown area-where did you find bags? Also are they "authentic" or reproduction? my son always likes finding reproduction belt buckles and we attach and reassemble to better leather belts at home. I wouldn't mind a bag though.

OH-- how was weather? any rain ponchos needed?

[Haysiedaze]

Do you know if someone can stay on the boat and take pictures during the turtle excursion? My wife doesn't swim but wants to go and take pictures plus go to the beach.

 

Thanks

[momsbusy]

Yes, you can stay on the boat. The crew was very friendly.

Found the "bags" in the very back at Havensight. Weather was very hot in San Juan, and then surprisingly got nicer and nicer as we sailed south. Scattered showers here and there that passed through quickly. In general, I thought the weather was perfect and lovely. I think St. Kitts was where we saw lots of belt buckles and such. St. Kitts was an interesting port, I've got picures of the kids with monkeys on their heads?!? I'm a buffetfan too!