!!! Carnival Victory !!! ^_^ The Ultimate Review and Complete Pictorial Guide!!!

So glad you're back Gambee!! Can't wait to follow along.

Another demonstration of facials from a hydro dermabrasion machine that they use. They claimed the treatment could last up to six months. That I can believe, I've seen some people change dramatically. She said this one was different because of the natural collagen that they use.

We stayed there for an additional 5 minutes or so because one lady in our group showed interest and they wanted to reel her in :D.

In the meantime, we had some of the naturally flavored water that they offer there. I can't believe I missed the picture of it :eek::confused:

Thoroughly enjoying another great review, thanks as always! :D

Gambee- I'm happy to have found this review as I love a good long read with stellar photos and detail.

Joe Farcus designed the Carnival interiors for 30 years and that's an awful lot of work. I have seen interviews with him and he is super passionate about his job but he seemed not to know when to stop, crumple up the drawing and toss it in the bin, get his eyes checked and consult a color chart from Sherwin-Williams.

Joe is now designing interiors for Costa.

Like you I don't see the SEA in the decor-more of an "exploding paint shop" theme.

This is a dark ship inside and the designs are too busy and clashing. An assault on the eye-but someone signed off on the renderings and the ship is stuck with it.

I saw one room that didn't look dated-the one with the least amount of "design" and that was the Adriatic Lounge under your cabin.

So, not a ship I yearn to sail on but I will follow along as your reviews are top-notch and full of humor (and martinis).

The go-pro on a stick is a welcome addition-love the photos of you and your family on the balcony and around the ship.

Thanks for your review of the Celebrity Silhouette a while back. I am taking my first non-Princess cruise on her in January and your review helped me in my decision.

Following along....

Norris

Ohhhh, I forgot they had a sale. If you booked more treatments, you got more off. They also had a bunch of sales on specific treatments. Like extended treatments, to half off. I forgot to mention that earlier when I attempted to visit the spa, before going into our rooms, they had a little meeting going on, and they asked us to come back later on.

Now this treatment was hilarious. They took one guy from our group. And out of all guys they took the most masculine person that would feel odd there. Please, for heaven's sake, pick someone like me. I am not all that feminine or anything, but you clearly tell that I would be more lax in such a situation. The barber started palpating the guy's skin, it was to die for, mainly because of his facial expression. He also kept asking him whether it felt good, and such. The funny thing was when he showed him the mirror and asked him if he could see the difference from one side to the other. I would be lying if I noticed anything different. He looked the same on both sides. Then the guy stood up and was on the verge of taking off, and he said you’re not done. Then he proceeded to apply some cream under his eyes. Let it be said he was happy that treatment was done. On the other hand, I think I would have enjoyed that little sample there.

Then we went to the gym and even there they tried to make a sale. Actually, it was one of the longer spiels we heard. He tried telling us how we all walk wrong, blah blah blah. I know I am defective, but walking wrong? That is a new one for me. I've been volunteering in a physical therapy office for about 300hrs and no one noted this before. Now I am left self conscious with my new abnormality :o

That said, they had some pretty neat equipment there.

Of course, my family wasted no time to take pictures to send to Colombia as jokes that they came to the cruise to workout…. Hmmmm Yeah…. Not one of us stepped foot in that gym after the first day :D. And yes, we were told to get off the machines, because they were not running and they could break.

Here is the footprint analysis section.

My family had pretty much had it with the extensive tour and decided to relax a little. The main issue is that two of them lack English, so these tours are boring for them. We kind of just wanted to go and tour the facilities like I usually do. But I understand this is part of their job.

Those bikes looked really nice! They seemed like a recent addition.

After that we were given the little tickets for the raffles, we filled them up and dropped them in the box. We failed to go to the raffle, but then again that is just another event for sales. I attended one in Disney once and they are just looking to close sales. So I guess it was not a bad thing :)

Then we moved into the massage area.

First, it was a seaweed product that they wrap you in and seal you with some metallic paper. They do a sample on your hand just for tests. One thing that I like to note, is that they kept telling my aunt that all the treatments were great for water retention. She actually does suffer from it, and it is something that as you can imagine bothers her. Thankfully, her English is not that good and it bypassed her. Nevertheless, in a large group like that, and repeating over and over, is not a nice thing to do. It would certainly make me self-conscious. I did not discussed it further with her.

Then they took us to the lobby area of the spa and asked us to have a seat. Then they sample a few of the massage techniques that they offer. They all felt FABULOUS!!! OMG I found myself in haven, and actually so was mom. She was interested in the hot rock one, so I told her to get it and I would pay for it. But she declined. I think this runs on the family, I really love massages, but only from people that I am comfortable with, like my ex.

Oh by the way, all of those massages are great for water retention :D

The different types of tools used for the massages

They really made an effort to close a sale, but it was a no go with this group. I played myself out of there, promising to come back with mom to pick of the massages.

After that we headed to Camp Carnival, I have to admit that it is one of the smallest I've seen. It was tiny! Good thing I don’t have kids. I forgot to get documents of camp Carnival. We were just having a blast laughing away. I have a few of the other ships, on my site.

At least they have a nice view, unlike some other ships.

Right off Camp Carnival, you can head up the stair and end up by the kids pool. It was a really nice area. And why in the name of God, aren’t the jacuzzis covered like this???

My uncle actually cleaned the seaweed there, he said his hands were a little softer.

After that we decided to head to the room to get ready, because it was getting closer to Muster. And who wants to miss muster? Right? Not me :rolleyes:, it is one of my favorite events of the cruise.

I love how the screen is always playing underwater videos.

My uncle dancing to the Ship Camera that can be viewed on the staterooms!

Anyone for Chess?

Classic Carnival picture

My uncle way behind as usual.

The aft pool ended up being our sanctuary, more on that later.

So we headed to the room and we met Ruben our steward. He was absolutely fantastic. We also gave him some extra money there, as well as at the end of the cruise.

We used this time to ask him about a little problem that we had. The third bed in the room was a ceiling bed, there was no way I was going to allow my mom to climb up there. So he said he would bring a roll away bed for us. The rolling bed was uncomfortable as hell! But much better than having my mom fall from up there.

Here he was showing us the bed, before we asked. Nice fellow.

With our small problem fixed we decided to venture into our balcony to relax a little before muster. I took a few nice pictures while I was out there.

There were a bunch of boats coming in.

 

My first impressions of the ship were. Well, how do I put this GREEN!

 

 

Cruised on the Victory in June. Love the over-the-top décor.

For those who follow my reviews. Remember that last time I was wondering what that structure was? Well a fellow CC member told me they are the flooding doors for the tunnel. It's really nice how it lights up at night.

Absolutely loving your review. You do the BEST reviews. Victory was my 2nd ship I ever cruised on. Sailed on her out of San Juan and did the South Caribbean 7 night cruise in 2011. Looking back at my photos now I realized that I took almost no photos of the interior of the ship. Concentrated on the ports......I was learning back then. So I am absolutely loving all your interior shots.

I have a comment about the underwater Olympus TG-2 camera. I have the same camera and when on my Quantum cruise is April it was cloudy the day we went snorkeling. I somehow ended up with the flash set to on. Photos turned out terrible as all I was getting was flash in the water. Sad lesson learned as it was turtles.....thank goodness I had my GoPro and got some video also.

Anxiously awaiting more of your review.

Think I will go read one of our other reviews over as I await updates to this one.

Again, thank you for your wonderful reviews.

That's a shame, but fortunately you had the GoPro. You could actually just do screen shots of the video as well. By the way, flash is good sometimes under water. But it has to be on very clear water, I have used it a few times.

Thank you for following along, and posting :)

 

 

You're so cute!!!! :D

I second that!!! You are a cutie-pie! Your uncle is too funny. Love the casino picture with his crazy glasses on. Lol

 

Is it my imagination, or did somebody go "GREEN CRAZY" on this ship?????? Dang, is there a rhyme or reason to it, ie: Emerald of the Sea or something? :D

Chuckles, thank you :o :)

Great review so far sir:)

Thank you, glad you like it :)

So glad you're back Gambee!! Can't wait to follow along.

Welcome aboard :D

[We never went to Serenity, or at least I never did. I think the main reason is because our cabin was all the way back and Serenity is up on front. That said, the area looked really nice. The only issue I found was that the Jacuzzis were way too exposed to the sun.

 

You are spot on with this observation. Serenity was nice but not enough shade in the Jacuzzi. we went early in the morning before it got too hot (it was also less crowded then

Thoroughly enjoying another great review, thanks as always! :D

Very welcome, glad you like it ;)

Cruised on the Victory in June. Love the over-the-top décor.

True that, decor is so very personal :)

Which ship did you book? I've been wanting to do Europe, but it is just so costly.

I booked on the Carnival Vista. For us it is cheaper because hotels in Europe generally don't hold a family of 4 and the food feels like it is free on a cruise. Lol... Still a lot of money so we will see if we actually go.

Gambee- I'm happy to have found this review as I love a good long read with stellar photos and detail.

 

Joe Farcus designed the Carnival interiors for 30 years and that's an awful lot of work. I have seen interviews with him and he is super passionate about his job but he seemed not to know when to stop, crumple up the drawing and toss it in the bin, get his eyes checked and consult a color chart from Sherwin-Williams.

 

Joe is now designing interiors for Costa.

 

Like you I don't see the SEA in the decor-more of an "exploding paint shop" theme.

 

This is a dark ship inside and the designs are too busy and clashing. An assault on the eye-but someone signed off on the renderings and the ship is stuck with it.

 

I saw one room that didn't look dated-the one with the least amount of "design" and that was the Adriatic Lounge under your cabin.

 

So, not a ship I yearn to sail on but I will follow along as your reviews are top-notch and full of humor (and martinis).

 

The go-pro on a stick is a welcome addition-love the photos of you and your family on the balcony and around the ship.

 

Thanks for your review of the Celebrity Silhouette a while back. I am taking my first non-Princess cruise on her in January and your review helped me in my decision.

 

Following along....

 

Norris

I am glad he is no longer with Carnival, the Breeze and Vista look great to me. Thank you for following along even if the ship is not to your liking, and you might never sail on it. These reviews are a lot of work, and I am glad they are engaging enough to attract all kind of readers :)

Thank you for your kind comment, and I am glad my X review helped you as well ;)