Carnival Victory Review with lots of Photo's--July 5-12, 2009

[CruisinJazz]

A fab review! This is getting me excited about the Vic. She looks so festive. This will be my first Carnival cruise. Cant wait. Rhanks so much for taking the time.:D

 

Thank you so much for posting your review and pics!!! I'm looking so forward to our first cruise in 6 weeks! :)

[RobynS]

Oh please keep those reviews coming. We go on the Victory in November and I am ready to go tomorrow :p !! I love hearing about all the different excursions although it makes me wonder if I really need to do one every day...decisions, decisions!

[henny38]

Great review so far! DH and I are leaving on the Victory on Oct. 18th to celebrate our 25th anniversary. Can't wait! Your review is just making me more excited to go.

 

Thanks...

 

Karen

[cruisergal 1]

What a wonderful review of your holiday. The pictures are fab as well. I'm taking notes, as we will be cruising on the Victory in 28 days. Looking forward to seeing more of your trip.

[winewanderer]

A big thank you from me too for posting such a great review with terrific photos.

 

We don't sail until April 2010. So far away but at least I can read how others enjoyed their cruise.

 

Diana

[Dirkgun]

Sorry you lost your camera. We do appreciate the pics you have. What kind of underwater camera did you buy in St Thomas? Do you like it?

[LBumb]

awesome photos. great looking family

[boowaaccaa]

Thanks for the review and pictures!

We are on this trip in 119 days! YEH

 

Question your excursion in St. Thomas---was it booked in advance and how much was it?

[dz63]

Sorry you lost your camera. We do appreciate the pics you have. What kind of underwater camera did you buy in St Thomas? Do you like it?

 

We bought a Fuji Finepix Z33 digital waterproof camera.

So far, we are happy with it. The quality is so much better than a disposable waterproof camera.

[dz63]

Thanks for the review and pictures!

We are on this trip in 119 days! YEH

 

Question your excursion in St. Thomas---was it booked in advance and how much was it?

 

We booked our excursion with Airforce 1 Papa Bear approx. 2 months in advance.

 

The price for the tour was $25.00 per person--very reasonable!

[Payd]

We booked our excursion with Airforce 1 Papa Bear approx. 2 months in advance.

 

The price for the tour was $25.00 per person--very reasonable!

 

Wow sounds like a great tour and an even better price pp.

[cantwait06]

Wow, awesome review so far, I love the pictures! I am eagerly awaiting more! Thanks for posting!

[Manitobeens]

Hi dz63. Your review is great. We did this cruise in Feb and loved every minute of it. For those who wonder about a port a day, it is intensive but a great way to see a lot of islands. We were lucky as we had a week in Puerto Rico after to rest up:D. So sad to hear that Mountain Top burned in May:eek:. We enjoyed our time there. Glad they found a place to continue creating their Banana Daquri's

[Nefertari007]

Thanks for posting your review! Do you have any contact information for Papa Bear? His tour sounds great!

[dz63]

Thanks for posting your review! Do you have any contact information for Papa Bear? His tour sounds great!

 

This is the link to Papa Bear's website:

 

http://www.havefunwithus.net/

 

His email address is:

 

info@havefunwithus.org

 

 

cz

[dz63]

July 7

 

Today’s excursion was booked through Antours and included a visit to the Emerald Pool and then River Tubing down the Layou River. Our new waterproof camera will sure come in handy today! Since our tour didn’t begin until 10:30, we could sleep in and still experience our first dining room breakfast. We were seated at a table in the Pacific Dining Room with another couple, who were also going River Tubing, but they booked through Carnival.

 

The gentleman at the table told us about his St.Thomas adventures. He picked up an island tour from the pier and had a driver that took him on a wild island excursion. He mentioned how reckless his guide drove, and how everyone on the tour began screaming for their lives! He said that he is sure his guide took them to places where no one else would dare to go! This made us realize the importance of pre-booking with someone who has a good reputation—like Papa Bear. We appreciated how well he drove and looked out for all of us. We were in good hands with Papa Bear!

 

After breakfast, DH and my oldest son realized that they didn’t order enough and were still hungry. So they ran up to the Lido Deck to grab some more to eat—the beauty of being on a cruise ship!

 

When we disembarked from the ship, it was very easy to find the Antours representative holding up their sign, right at the end of the pier. Our tour guide for the day was Neysa and our driver was Mikey. We drove through small villages and lush countryside as we made our way towards the tropical rainforest about 50 minutes away. Neysa provided information about the island along the way.

 

A beautiful view

 

When we arrived at the Emerald Pool, Neysa picked up our tickets. We then were ready to follow the trail that would lead us to the falls. A sign at the beginning of the trail said the falls is 15-minutes away, but it only took us about 10 minutes to walk through the lush, green, tropical rainforest adorned with vibrant ferns and veins to get to it. Neysa walked down to the falls with us.

 

 

Our first glimpse of the Emerald Pool and Falls

 

The falls are nestled in a secluded paradise, spectacularly set in the midst of a tropical rainforest. We thoroughly enjoyed swimming under the cool, refreshing falls and jumping off the rocks into the emerald colored waters of the pool below.

 

 

 

Neysa said that swimming in the Emerald Pool will make you 10 years younger! I wouldn’t mind that, but my 14 year old said he didn’t want to be 4 years old again. My older two sons began to tease their 10 year old brother by saying that he would cease to exist if he went swimming in this pool! Regardless of this saying, it didn’t stop anyone from having fun!

 

Emerald Pool—a touch of unspoiled paradise!

 

 

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[dz63]

We had about 20 minutes here, before we made our way back through the rainforest.

 

Emerald Pool Trail

 

My youngest was fascinated with this unusual face in the tree!

 

 

After checking out the venders, we boarded the Antours bus.

 

Antours bus with the boys and Neysa

 

Our next stop was a visit to Mr. Nice’s fruit stand. Along the way, Neysa pointed out banana plantations, breadnut trees and pineapple fields.

 

Breadnut

 

A Pineapple Field

 

About 15 minutes later we arrived at Mr. Nice. We got to sample lots of delicious fresh fruit, like bananas, pineapples, coconuts and mango’s.

For some reason, fresh fruit always seems to taste better in the Caribbean! The coconut candy was also scrumptious!

 

 

 

continues

[dz63]

It was another 15 minute drive to get to the start of our River Tubing excursion. Ainstein, who I think is the “boss” of Antours, was there to give us a brief orientation.

 

 

We then put on our helmets and lifejackets and were ready for our adventure down the Layou River.

 

 

The river tubing was a lot of fun and no one in our group tipped over in the rapids. The guides were all excellent and did a super job keeping everyone together and pulling us out of areas if we got stuck. Three times along the river, the guides raced ahead to stop the tubers, giving everyone the chance to catch up! At one deep spot in the river, we actually got to get out of our tubes and go for a refreshing swim!

 

 

Two of our guides

 

There was one spot along the river bank, where we could see Neysa, Mikey and Ainstein watching and waving to us as we floated by.

 

Our river tubing adventure allowed us to float and race through the lush rainforest and took approx. 1 1/4 hours to complete.

 

 

At the landing site, Neysa was there serving drinks—either Sprite or Rum Punch and Ainstein was there thanking everyone for choosing Antours.

 

Even though the tour description lists a stop at Mero Beach, we were not given this option. We were taken directly back to the cruise ship pier and arrived there around 3:00 pm.

 

Today, Antours allowed us to experience a wonderful and exciting water-filled adventure in the beautiful and unspoiled rainforests of Dominica.

 

 

The Carnival Victory in Dominica

 

 

continues

[luvtrips]

We'll be on the Victory in Feb, and I'm enjoying this review, thanks for taking the time to post it.

[dz63]

Once back on the ship, everyone followed the usual routine of hastening up to the Lido Deck and getting something good to eat.

 

We spent the rest of the afternoon enjoying the pools and relaxing on the pool decks while Michael Jackson’s Memorial Ceremony was being broadcasted on the Seaside Theatre.

 

At 5:00 pm we departed from the beautiful island of Dominica.

 

 

 

 

Tonight was a very busy night on the Carnival Victory. Not only was it Cruise Elegant Night, but it was also the night for the Captain’s Reception Party, starting at 7:30 pm in the Adriatic Lounge.

 

Adriatic Lounge, Promenade Deck aft

 

Captain Antonino Sammartano, his officers and the Chef

 

Even Funship Freddy made an appearance dressed in his formal wear!

 

 

 

continues

[dz63]

From the Captains Reception Party, we went straight to dinner.

 

Tonight we enjoyed delicious, tender roasted Prime Rib of American Beef au Jus!

 

 

For dessert, the boys devoured their warm chocolate melting cakes, while I savored the Caramelized Apples on Puff Pastry. . .

 

 

. . .and DH enjoyed the Cherries Jubilee.

 

 

After dinner in the Pacific Dining room, DH and I went to the “Livin’ In America” show that began at 10:30 pm in the Caribbean Lounge. This singing and dancing show did not interest the boys, so they went back to the room to watch movies. When we came back to the room after the show, we were surprised to find that our youngest was serving his brothers a late night feast of Pizza and fries!

 

This is the towel animal we found in our room tonight.

 

A Lobster Towel Animal

 

 

Coming up next. . .Our day in Barbados

[Buffettfan 225]

We are planning cruise on Victory next year same weekend

with balconies/suite- is it possible to recall what side of ship faced toward shore in each port on Southern route?

 

Any recommedation port or starboard? We also like sun in afternoon on balcony- sometimes I get it right and always get sun coming and going each direction.

trying to decide to book starboard or port balcony. Wondering what side of ship faced dock at each port. Thanks for any help.

Also- how much rain did you encouter with July sailing, we usually do an April cruise-just wondering.

[scraphappylady]

Thank you so much for posting your review! My DH and i are loving reading it! I did one on my July trip on the Legend and I know just how much work goes into selecting and posting pix plus writing up everything you did (and trying to remember it all!:p)

 

My DH and I will be on board in January, and can't wait. Seeing all your pix and what you did gives us a good idea of what we can look forward to and what we might want to try.

 

Just a quick question - did you do any snorkeling off Sapphire Beach? We have it as a possible beach to visit. The last time I visited St. Thomas, I ended up on a catamaran off St. John, so I'm really needing some beach info at this point! TIA!

[dallas52]

sounds great, cant wait till Feb when we go.

[WillyWayne]

DW and I will be on this cruise in February and we are really enjoying your review.

 

Thanks :)