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

[dz63]

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.

 

Our cabin was on the port side of the ship. With the exception of St. Lucia, our cabin faced the dock at every port.

 

We did get a good down pour in San Juan prior to our cruise and again in St. Thomas. The weather in St. Thomas was mostly overcast and when it rained, it didn't rain for long. The rain that we did get luckily came down when we were in Papa Bear's taxi. We got a few sprinkles of rain while we were at Sapphire Beach but that was it. By the time we got back to the pier the sun was brightly shining.

 

There were times in St. Lucia and Barbados when the weather got a little overcast but it did not rain on us at all.

[dz63]

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!

 

We personally did not do any snorkeling at Sapphire Beach, but there were others from our group who did.

[shelling4life]

Hello fun family, did you happen to know if there are refrigerators on the Victory? Like Erin 1998 we are sailing the Southern on 11-08...Cant wait. We are in room 6400...hoping port side????? Balcony room. First cruise...love the seahorse theme and also the fact the black shiny floors are made of crushed seashells. Speaking of Seashells does any of the 6 Islands have beaches that have good shelling? Also, how do I find out about capers? So new to all of this...oh goodness!!! How very lucky of your boys to enjoy the Caribbean. Is it true the waters are very blue, or emerald blue? Starting to get quite excited....Thankyou for all the wonderful fun memories you are sharing.

[dz63]

Hello fun family, did you happen to know if there are refrigerators on the Victory? Like Erin 1998 we are sailing the Southern on 11-08...Cant wait. We are in room 6400...hoping port side????? Balcony room. First cruise...love the seahorse theme and also the fact the black shiny floors are made of crushed seashells. Speaking of Seashells does any of the 6 Islands have beaches that have good shelling? Also, how do I find out about capers? So new to all of this...oh goodness!!! How very lucky of your boys to enjoy the Caribbean. Is it true the waters are very blue, or emerald blue? Starting to get quite excited....Thankyou for all the wonderful fun memories you are sharing.

 

Hello shelling4life.

Congratulations on booking your first cruise. You will have a wonderful time!

 

Now, I'll try to answer your questions.

 

There are no refrigerators in the staterooms--not sure about the suites though!

 

Yes, if your room is 6400, than you are on the port side. All even numbered cabins are port side and the odd numbered cabins are on the starboard side of the ship.

 

From all the beaches we have been to on the Victory's itinerary, we have not seen much of any seashells.

 

Yes, some of the Caribbean beaches really are that beautiful turquoise color. I'll be posting a photo of Accra Beach in my Barbados post and you'll be able to see that for yourself!

 

As for the Capers, every evening your room steward will leave your next day Capers on your bed with your towel animal. I will post my Capers at the very end of this review.

 

Hope this information helps!

 

 

cz

[Celandine]

What a fantastic review so far! I cannot wait to read the rest.

 

The Victory looks like a beautiful ship, I'll have to put her on my "to cruise" list. :)

[dolfndreams]

Want to add to the thanks, what a great review and I am loving the pictures. I'll be aboard in February and had already planned on Papa Bear for St. Thomas, thanks for comfirming the choice.

 

Again, thanks for taking the time, it adds to the excitement.

Nan

[poffles]

Planning to do this cruise next December which is so long away, but reports like yours make the wait exciting.

 

Thanks for putting the effort into sharing your trip with everyone, it is so appreciated.

 

Patiently waiting for more.

 

[DOTTE]

Hello fun family, did you happen to know if there are refrigerators on the Victory? Like Erin 1998 we are sailing the Southern on 11-08...Cant wait. We are in room 6400...hoping port side????? Balcony room. First cruise...love the seahorse theme and also the fact the black shiny floors are made of crushed seashells. Speaking of Seashells does any of the 6 Islands have beaches that have good shelling? Also, how do I find out about capers? So new to all of this...oh goodness!!! How very lucky of your boys to enjoy the Caribbean. Is it true the waters are very blue, or emerald blue? Starting to get quite excited....Thankyou for all the wonderful fun memories you are sharing.

 

We went to Jolly Beach Resort on Antigua and the shells were plentiful there.

[BaseballMomof4]

Planning this cruise for 2011 and am loving your review - please post more!!

[lulu78]

I am so very glad to be reading your review. It has completely reminded me that my time on the Victory was better than I remember. I went on her in April 2008, out of Miami, and for some reason came back a little disappointed...I think it was the service on the ship, we travel with a big group and everyone felt the same way....we called it the trainee cruise, because the crew all seemed to be like in training. However, as I sit here at work....I much rather be on that ''trainee'' cuise than here, LOL :D

[azurewater]

dz63,

Thanks ever so much for sharing your vacation. We do not go until December 13th but reading these reviews has made the wait bearable.

 

On a past cruise, my camera turned up "missing" after the past guest party. It had all my photos from the first few days of our trip. Luckily, the day before my husband had downloaded my memory card onto his laptop. I had photos from the first two days, but lost the photos of Tulum. I was sick over that. Anyway, a friend who travels extensively in Europe told me he changes out his memory card everyday. That way if he looses his camera or if his card goes bad, he at least has photos for the other days. With memory cards being so inexpensive, I thought this was a good idea....sure beats loosing all those great vaca shots.

 

Thanks again for sharing your experiences.

Joy

[dz63]

dz63,

Thanks ever so much for sharing your vacation. We do not go until December 13th but reading these reviews has made the wait bearable.

 

On a past cruise, my camera turned up "missing" after the past guest party. It had all my photos from the first few days of our trip. Luckily, the day before my husband had downloaded my memory card onto his laptop. I had photos from the first two days, but lost the photos of Tulum. I was sick over that. Anyway, a friend who travels extensively in Europe told me he changes out his memory card everyday. That way if he looses his camera or if his card goes bad, he at least has photos for the other days. With memory cards being so inexpensive, I thought this was a good idea....sure beats loosing all those great vaca shots.

 

Thanks again for sharing your experiences.

Joy

 

That's a very good idea. In fact that is what we planned to do, (that's why we had the extra memory cards in our camera bag).

But having extra memory cards isn't much use if you end up loosing them too! :(

 

 

Now. . .back to the review!

[dz63]

 

 

 

July 8

 

Today’s excursion began at 9:30 am. From all the islands on this itinerary, deciding what to do in Barbados was certainly the toughest. We ended up booking with Edwin Lovell from Scenic Barbados Tours. Our adventures today would take us to Harrison’s Caves, the rugged East Coast and a Beach Stop at Accra/Rockley Beach.

 

As we were the only ones on this tour, we had the van all to ourselves. Our driver and guide was Andy and our first stop was Harrison’s Cave.

 

Entrance to Harrison’s Cave

 

Andy picked up our tickets and then we waited approx. 15 minutes for our tour to begin. After watching a 10-minute media presentation explaining the formation of the caves, we boarded a tram to begin our 40 minute journey into the caves.

 

 

Harrison’s Cave is a massive limestone cavern with streams and pools of cool water running through it.

A couple times the tram stopped, so we could get out and look around.

 

and yes. . .you do get dripped on!

 

 

During this tour, we descended 160 feet into the cave and saw many interesting stalactite and stalagmite formations.

 

The Altar

 

Our guide pointed out the early explorers’ entrance and showed us areas where the explorers literally had to crawl on their stomachs to get through! To help us understand what the explorers had to deal with, the guide turned off all the lights. Everything became “pitch-black.” The cave was so black and so ominously dark, that you couldn’t even see your hand in front of your face! If you think being in utter darkness is bad enough, the explorers also had to deal with scorpions and spiders too!

 

Harrison’s Cave is an awesome and interesting cavern to visit. When we visited, the cave facilities were undergoing renovations. Andy told us that Harrison’s Cave would be closing the following week for 6 months, until its redevelopment project is completed. We visited Harrison’s Cave just in time!

 

 

 

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[dz63]

From the caves we made our way to the rugged, Atlantic East Coast. We passed the Scotland District before arriving at picturesque Bathsheba.

Andy made a stop at the top of a hill and gave us as much as time as we needed to take photo’s.

 

Breathtaking Bathsheba—can you spot the little house on the rock?

 

From this stop we were able to snap a picture with a little green monkey. Of course a tip was required.

Andy tried to pet the monkey but it bit him!

 

 

We asked Andy if we could go down to Bathsheba Beach.

He accommodated and again gave us as much time as we wanted to explore the large rock formations that Bathsheba is so famous for.

 

 

 

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[dz63]

From Bathsheba, we traveled to St. John’s Parish Church, constructed in 1836.

It sits on a cliff overlooking the Atlantic East Coast.

 

St. John’s Parish Church

 

 

. . .that’s the van we toured in!

 

 

We walked inside the church as well as through the old cementary.

 

 

 

The view from St. John's Parish Church

 

 

continues

[dz63]

Our next stop was beautiful Rockley Beach (also known as Accra Beach), located on the South Coast of the island. Although the tour description from Edwin Lovell mentioned that drinks and rum punch would be served at the beach stop—they weren’t. No refreshments were served at all!

 

Rockley Beach--powdery, pinkish-colored sand and gorgeous, turquoise colored water

 

We enjoyed the warm, turquoise colored ocean water and especially liked the moderate-sized waves!

This made playing in the ocean a lot of fun!

 

 

There is a boardwalk at the far right side of the beach. DH and I walked down it a little way.

Presently it is about 1 mile in length and is still being extended.

 

Rockley Beach from the Boardwalk

 

Another view of Rockley Beach

 

We stayed 1 hour at the beach. We had the option to stay longer if we wanted too, but the boys were getting hungry and wanted to go back to the ship.

 

After a brief driving tour of Bridgetown, we arrived back at the cruise terminal at 3:00 pm.

 

 

The boys with Andy from Scenic Barbados Tours

 

 

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[dz63]

Back at the cruise terminal, we did a little souvenir shopping. . .

 

 

. . .before heading over to the ship

 

 

We were greeted by the beautiful sound of tropical, Caribbean music--a two-man steel drum band was playing beside the ship.

 

 

Boarding the Carnival Victory in Barbados

 

 

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[dz63]

Once back on board the Carnival Victory, it was up to the Lido Deck for lunch. . .

 

Mississippi Grill

 

. . .then over to the drink station,

 

 

and into the air-conditioned Mediterranean Restaurant.

 

The Mediterranean Restaurant

 

 

The 24 hour self-serve ice-cream was also very popular and very good too!

 

One of the ice-cream stations: Flavors available: vanilla, chocolate, vanilla/chocolate swirl combo and strawberry

 

The Barbados Terminal from the ship

 

We spent the rest of the afternoon enjoying the pools and pool decks.

 

 

continues

[dz63]

I really wanted to see the sunset from the ship, as I missed doing this on our last cruise. I went out to the front of the ship from deck 9.

I arrived just in time. The sunset was spectacular!

 

Carnival Victory sailing into the sunset

 

Looking aft, this is the view I got of the ship.

 

 

For dinner, I ordered the free range Spring Chicken Sicilian Style. It was delicious!

 

 

After dinner, we all attended the show in the Caribbean Lounge. The easiest way for us to get to the Caribbean Lounge (forward) from the Upper level of the Pacific Dining Room (aft), was to go up one more level, walk down Neptune’s Way, pass the Victory shops and we’re there!

 

The Guardian of Neptune’s Way

 

Tonight’s entertainment was a juggling show staring Victor Zuniga, followed by the comedian Dean Gaines.

Even though we will have to get up by 7:00 am tomorrow, the juggling performance was a show no one wanted to miss!

 

 

 

It’s not every night you’ll find a dinosaur on your bed!

 

 

 

 

Coming up next. . .Our day in St. Lucia

[sunseeker09]

It's like a mini-series... I have to wait every day for it continue :)

We'll be on the Victory in Jan. so I am really enjoying your detailed review and all the photos. Thanks for taking the time to post :)

[shelling4life]

Your info was so appreciated. I am so happy to be on Port side. I dont think room 6400 is a suite. I think its a stateroom with balcony. So probably no fridge. I wonder how a person can keep pops or water cool? I have to say I love your pictures so much. The cemetary photos were so awesome!!! Great colors and made you feel just like you were there. I love the lush green that grows in that area...very beautiful. Thankyou

[a3593]

Wow! Great review! Thanks for posting!

[dz63]

Your info was so appreciated. I am so happy to be on Port side. I dont think room 6400 is a suite. I think its a stateroom with balcony. So probably no fridge. I wonder how a person can keep pops or water cool? I have to say I love your pictures so much. The cemetary photos were so awesome!!! Great colors and made you feel just like you were there. I love the lush green that grows in that area...very beautiful. Thankyou

 

There is an ice-bucket in your room. Your room steward can keep it filled with ice or you can refill it yourself by getting ice from the ice-machine. That's how we kept our water and pops cold.

[boowaaccaa]

 

 

This is the same guy we saw on BOTH of our past cruises--LOL--it would be really strange if he were also on the Victory in December when we cruise.

[kelz66]

wow....what a great review to read.