KYWEST1

Thank you! We will be on the Victory in May. First time on Victory. Thanks for the pictures!

You're very welcome! Have a great cruise. You'll love Victory. :)

Last Sea Day: the last day on board is always bittersweet. You want to see and do everything on the ship that you can. We started the day bright and early at the gym. Sorry no pics. I love cruise ship gyms. There's just a cooler vibe to them than your gym at home (duh right? Everyone's on vacation and you're looking at the ocean while working out!) If you're one of those people that aren't interested in exercising on vacation, I'd like to change your mind. It's a great way to start off a sea day and you feel better later as you're sucking down Rum Runners and eating pizza, burgers, chocolate melting cake...Not judging or preaching, I just think you'd be surprised at how much better you feel after walking a couple miles on the treadmill or lifting some weights. It usually causes me to grab fruit & yogurt for breakfast and save my calories for later (where they belong...in my liquor!)

Sorry if all that made you roll your eyes. My kids love vacationing with me too! [emoji12]

Got on deck early enough for sun chairs and started our last day of fun & sun.

I love hearing the music on lido and I always give out a little groan when they stop it for games. No sooner after I groan, I find myself completely amused at my fellow cruisers. I mean where else are you going to witness grown men of all shapes & ages shake what their mama's gave them for a Hairy Chest contest? And don't forget the Tarzan yell. If you're not laughing at this please order another Blue Moon or Pina Colada cause it's funny.

They had some left over mexican food from the deck party so I grabbed some nachos from the grill for lunch. My daughter got some cheese fries and my friend grabbed a Reuben. We were all happy.

I took a break from the sun and headed down to 4 to buy some pictures. There was one photographer on formal night with a sparkly gold background and he took some fantastic pictures of us. Just an FYI.

We stayed on Lido for a long time. Hard to leave. We all met at the Atrium bar and tried going out on Deck 3 for sunset pictures. Didn't really work tho. I've gotten some great ones in the past but it was a little windy and the lighting wasn't right.

This was the first night we had to wait for dinner. I think it was about 20 minutes so we went to Alchemy for a Nikola visit!

Dinner was delicious and we loved the waiters' singing & dancing. It always makes me a little sad when they sing "Leaving on a Fun Ship". I'm a sap and also a little buzzed at this point, so I tend to get a little teary eyed.

After dinner we went to the 2nd showing of Vroom. Again it's excellent and a must see. I wish I could be a Carnival dancer.

After the show I think we went to hear Percy Crews the comedian (could've been the night before...they're all blending together). He's a black guy who starts joking about the races and I guarantee you're going to lyao! He compared catholic mass to black chuch (as he pronounced it) and we were crying. Go see him if you can.

Our last night in the piano bar [emoji22]. Even got seats this time.

I love the people that hang out in the ships piano bars. They're always the coolest. Especially when Andy Hackbarth is your leader (look him up...tons of social media). Hi Andy if you're reading!! [emoji8]

We tried to close it down (Andy tried to end the night too) but more people walked in and he kept playing. Left around 1:30-2 I think. Took a last stroll up for pizza and headed back to our unpacked cabins. Plenty of time for that on debarkation day right?

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Thank you for your review. You seem to be a very positive and kind person. We are booked for that bar hop you mentioned in Cozumel. Have never done it so we are looking forward to it.

Thank you so much! I've heard it's awesome so have fun. During my early stops in Cozumel, we would rent a jeep and do our own east end bar hop. These remote bars are literally right on a beach or a cliff overlooking the ocean and they have amazing views. Drinking & driving not a good idea anywhere so this bus tour is a great idea.

Sorry to hear about the man overboard. I love all your Key West info. I have been to Dante's a few times since it is the best place to cool off and get some food.

 

Great review!

Thanks so much! I appreciate it :)

How were the lines for food?

 

 

First cruise: Carnival Victory, 4/17/2017

The lines were varying at different times. If you really hate waiting in lines, find out when the buffet opens and get there early. It moved slowly once you were in it. That was the only thing that was a little annoying. I wanted a fresh salad one day, so I happened to walk up to the buffet as they were putting the final touches on it (still closed). So I walked over to the dessert cart to take a look and one of the workers told me "the buffet is open now". So I got in line maybe 6 people back and it took about 10 minutes to get to the salad part (at the end). What do these people do that takes so long??? I should've just jumped past them for my salad but I felt bad doing that and I was literally the 6th person in line!

There was always a pizza line but it went fast. Sandwich line was small to non existent. Chinese station wasn't bad either.

Lido grill always had a line when they first opened but it moved fast and if you wait a little bit, there was no line after the rush.

Enjoy your cruise :)

This has been a great review. Thank you once again, you described and narrated everything perfectly.

Thank you. I really appreciate it.

Here is a pic of how far our cruise got to and where it circled & turned around. Cut off Cozumel but we got about halfway between Key West & Cozumel. We were 33 miles from Cuba I believe. 2nd picture is of a coast guard plane that flew over area many times. Once it actually went directly over our ship.

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Here are some pics of our cabin. Loved being on the Lido deck. All the cabins are updated and very nice. I really missed the full length mirror tho on the closet door. It's just nice to check out your fabulous self from head to toe before heading out for the night. The main mirror in the cabin is big and lights up nicely but I did miss the full length one.

Also wanted to mention the wait time at the Lido bars. They always seemed to be understaffed and it was always at least a 15 minute wait. But this cruise seemed to have more staff on deck to take your orders so that's what we ended up doing. Marco from Croatia was awesome. We would yell across the deck for him and he'd come over with a big smile. We always tipped xtra. They all work so hard and really appreciate any xtra tips! The bars in all other areas of the ship didn't ever seem to be a long wait for a drink. Lobby, casino, piano bar and Alchemy were all pretty easy to get waited on.

Forgot to mention one of the lobby entertainers. It was a girl with a guitar who played more mellow easy listening music. Sounded good but she didn't put a lot into her appearance. Kind of granola-y and wore a tshirt & jeans. Hair & makeup not a priority for her either so I usually went to listen to Magic Power in the Casino area whenever she was playing. To each his own. Not my cup of tea. But she did have a nice voice.

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Kywest1 great review and put very nicely... looking forward to your next chapter! ty

Thank you. I appreciate that. It was not an easy part of my review to write.

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And with anytime dining, you can request to sit with the same wait staff each night. :)

Wow thanks!! I had no idea... Great tip for next time :)

Wasn't able to upload a video and not savvy enough to put them on YouTube with a link. Sorry. They sounded great tho.

We stayed at the piano bar until 2:00am I think. We were excited to sleep in the next day since we weren't getting to Cozumel until noon. So we headed up to lido for you guessed it...pizza. Then the 4 of us walked to our cabins but first my daughter and I wanted to show our friends the "secret door" or "secret decks" as I call them. If you're a regular on cruise critic you already know what I'm talking about. Any newbies reading, every ship has a few doors at the very front (varying floors on each ship) which lead out onto small deck areas at the very front of the ship. Think Jack & Rose but nowhere near that close to the point! Anyway, there usually isn't anyone out there and it's a cool place to hang out for a little bit. We didn't stay long and headed to our cabins for bed. We had no idea what was going to happen only an hour later.

The Captain's announcements came over the inside of our cabins and my friend and I both thought they were part of a dream. He was saying I need the stretcher team to deck 3(?) for a man overboard. It wasn't until 4:18 (I'll never forget that time) that Matey's announcement actually woke us up. The ship had come to a complete stop (after turning around unbeknownst to us). He said a passenger went overboard and needed everyone to remain silent and vigilant. We said to each other "is this really happening?" We went out on our balcony and saw a huge spotlight aimed at a blinking light and a lifeboat headed towards it. There were a lot of officers on that side of the bridge all looking and waiting. When the boat reached the blinking light they circled it and then the spotlight began immediately searching the ocean. The blinking light was a life preserver that someone had thrown in for the passenger to find. We cried and prayed and had such hope that he would be rescued. We couldn't sleep but with only 2 hours of sleep so far, we eventually drifted off until the 9am announcement of what happened. Our girls had luckily slept through the Captain's & Matey's announcement during the night.

I went up to get coffee and went up to deck 10 where some people were at the rails looking out over the ocean. Everyone was so somber and quietly talking about it. No one knew anything at this point. We were moving again so I didn't understand why there was a coastguard plane flying near us. Seemed like we would be long past where it occurred. That's when someone told me we are circling. Big circles so it wasn't that obvious that we were. Ran into some insensitive comments but all I could think of is how I couldn't bear for the ship to leave if it had been my loved one.

I just want everyone to know how hard the crew searched for him. We even saw them with binoculars on the bridge at 4:00pm (11 hours later). I also wanted to commend the entire ship staff for trying so hard to keep everyone's spirits up. Even tho many of them missed their time off and sometimes the only chance they have to call home. But they put us first and continued their top notch treatment and service. We tried to keep the girls spirits up as well. They were overwhelmingly sad for this young man. The entire ship was somber but carrying on as if it were a day at sea.

They still had the planned deck party which was uplifting after such a heavy hearted day. Again DJ Zen spun his tunes and I pretended to know how to line dance (or whatever it is). Piano bar was closed and we went to bed fairly early that night.

Cozumel: Even tho we didn't get there I'll share with you what we were going to do in case you're looking for ideas. Been there before so I like going to Paradise Beach. Admission to get in is under $10 and it gives you access to the beach/ chairs, their huge pool and facilities. Cool restaurant on the beach and tons of tequila! Bar staff come right to your chair just like on the ship. It's a great, safe place. Lots of little activities there too for an xtra charge. Snorkel equipmt and water inflatables for the kids, jet skis etc.

after that we were going to taxi to the desolate bars on the east side of the island. There is also a party bus tour that does this which I heard is awesome so check that out too. Cozumel also has some of the best snorkeling & diving around so if that sounds like your cup of tea I highly recommend it. Been there done that so take me to the beach!

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After formal dinner we went to watch the show (2nd performance). Sorry I forgot the name. The Thursday night show was Vroom and that was fantastic. This first show was really good too and I always encourage people to go to them. Unless you're someone who frequents live singing and dancing with an orchestra in the pit, why would you not go and see this? I just think it's such great entertainment and something you only really get the chance to see on a cruise. I love the theaters and love sitting up in the balcony. I wish I had taken some pictures. Had I known I would finally have figured out how to post them, I would've been snapping ship pics everywhere.

After the show it was off to the piano bar. Now I don't think I've mentioned the Scottish guys on board yet. They were awesome! Sometimes you're lucky enough to get a great group on your cruise that just make it better, and thankfully, we got the Scots! We spied them the first day on the Lido sporting their kilts, and we knew we were in for a treat. They were a big help when we needed them later in the cruise.

So upon entering the piano bar, Andy has his shirt off and sporting one of the ladie's big necklaces. Things were already crazy. Then in walk the men from Scotland! It's formal night so they're wearing their formal kilts of course. They looked amazing. But the best part was that they brought bagpipes to the piano bar! Not sure if I can upload a video but I'll try. Allen & Terry(?) were the head 2 and after they played the bagpipes Allen sat down and played the piano! Got the crowd pumped cause no one saw this coming. Andy was absolutely giddy that this was all going on. He was more than willing to share the spotlight. Part of the reason Andy is so special.

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This ... right here ... is exactly how Carnival should respond to those idiots looking for a refund. That really hit home for me.

 

To KYWest - I hope that shut down the insensitivity.

Thank you. And yes, she looked at me for a minute and said "I hadn't thought of that."

Most people I encountered weren't insensitive at all. Everyone just seemed really sad, but apparently there were the others who only thought about what they were missing. Sad

Well said OP and I'm glad to see all the positive responses. We were on this cruise (2 moms w/ our 2 college daughters). Words cannot describe how sad and awful this was to experience. Our 20 yr olds didn't even mention the disappointment in missing Cozumel. It went without saying, but first and foremost a 23 yr old boy lost his life! We could only pray for him and his family. Our hearts broke also for his friends that were cruising with him. Couldn't imagine what they were going through as they had to remain on the ship.

I talked to a woman the next morning as many of us were up on deck 10 looking out at the sea. She was a little insensitive and I said "Can you imagine if it was someone in your family and the ship just left the area to make sure everyone got to Cozumel?" There was very little hope by daybreak of finding him, but you can't stop looking. Some crew in the bridge still were looking with binoculars in the late afternoon. It broke my heart how dedicated they were in finding him and how hard they tried. RIP

Thanks for the review! Have only been to Key West once, but would love to go back. Following with delight.

Thank you! [emoji4]

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Once we got back on the ship we headed right up to Lido to hear the steel drum guy. I know we all miss the whole steel drum band but I'm grateful that they still have one guy (with backup band sound in a music thingy). Grabbed another Funship drink (this became our DOD a lot!) and headed to the aft to see my Key West disappear. Until we meet again my friend.

Here is a pic of Sunset Key. It's right across from Sunset Pier & Mallory Square. There are private homes as well as guest cottages on it. Also our favorite fine dining restaurant Latitudes. You can take the 7 min ferry over for lunch if that sounds good. You have to have reservations and can't take the ferry without them. It's a beautiful restaurant on the waters edge and you can dine inside or out. If you ever spend time in KW treat yourself to a sunset dinner here!

Here's another cheat. Spent my 50th Bday at Latitudes. It was heaven [emoji4]

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Ok enough about Key West! Partied a little more with DJ Zen (after steel drum guy). Forgot to mention if you love steel drum music he also plays in the lobby. One of my favorite places to go before dinner and people watch.

Back to the cabins to get ready for formal night. I still love a formal night but I know there are varying opinions and varying degrees of formal attire. I like to look nice and try not to judge but the drunk guy at the casino bar who was shirtless? Eww... no. I realize you're not going to dinner but you're not at a Lido bar either and it's 7:00. Whatever. Here are our cute girls. Moms were dressier but they weren't feeling the black dress thing.

Dinner was great. Prime rib maybe? For those of you who love to hear about what's on the menu and what did you eat, I'm so sorry... I'm not a foodie. I will say that everything was really good. Better than my last Princess cruise so there! Buffets (only once but looked) were great and MDR dinners were great. I'm not a breakfast person but had the lido fresh made omelette and it was really good. Ok here's something we can all appreciate!

One last picture before I turn in tonight. Late dinner is my favorite because I love being on Lido in the late afternoon hours and you get to see this from your balcony

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Great review so far! We went to Key West last year for the first time and loved it. We rented a scooter and drove around the island a bunch of times and took in the cites. We of course also splurged for a Key Lime Pie which was amazing. Can't wait to read the rest of your review!

Scooters are definitely another way to go. We always just rented bikes since you can maneuver them around busy areas better and I don't want to be a part of traffic. But they do look fun for the more open roads!

And yes! Good advice on getting some Key Lime pie [emoji4]

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I also forgot to mention that along that southern/eastern coast (after the Casa Marina) there's a great bike path right along the ocean and you go by Higgs beach and Smathers beach. Also a very poignant Aids Memorial area to see. After Smathers beach we headed back towards town. Sounds like a long trip but it's not at all.

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As I'm re-reading my review on my laptop I cringe at my many spelling and grammatical errors!! I have to write the review on my i-phone so I can post pics. I'm wearing my cheaters but it's still harder than typing on a laptop! My apologies :D

Thanks for the review.

Thanks for reading! :)

12 days and counting. Thanks for posting, we've been waiting for a current review. April 10th woo hoo

Lucky you!! Have fun :)

So I left off at having lunch at Dantes and walking around the Harbor or Wharf or Marina area. Whatever you want to call it.

Here's a cute picture of us 4 in a big chair at Dantes. Seems like everyone has the big chair now. You never have a bad time squeezing into them! Me & DD are on the left

Got on the bikes again and headed over to Duvall. On a side note, at the end of Duvall (you're in ship proximity here) there is Sunset Pier. Great place for a drink or an appy. Maybe some conch fritters. They're good here. At sunset, it's hard to find an open table, but again, it's nowhere near sunset time.

We actually headed to Sloppy Joes for some tee shirts. Lots of people in there and always a live band. Sloppy Joes is a landmark and you should definitely see it. We always preferred the open air bars/restaurants probably because we're from Chicago and hang inside too much time! Open sided but it's kinda dark. Here are some tee shirts you might like

Again I cheated. That was from last summer (at night of course)

My favorite little place is across the street and down by Front St is Hogs Breath. It's just our all time favorite and ove never had a bad time there

After a little shopping it was 1:00. Here's the tip: Drumroll.....don't go back at 1:00!! I'm not promoting missing the ship but we rode our bikes around the pier area & Sheraton (might be Hilton now..big resort at cruise port). The line to get back on is insane. Don't stand in the hot sun when you could be having a cold beer at Hogs Breath (literally minutes away) or just milling around the little shops in the area. This is why it's great to rent bikes at the end of the pier. You prepay so you just hop off & Holly gives you back the 1 sail & sign card that you leave with her. She gets your cell # and she did call us at 1:15 but we were right there and saw the line. Didn't get back on board until 2:00 and then we didn't even leave until 3!! So be nearby but don't torture yourself in the hot sun. At first you don't see the line but once you go past the first security check there it is. You can keep an eye on it from this area. There are shops behind where I'm standing to take the picture so have someone be a lookout and go grab some last minute souvenirs.

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Ooh' date=' loving this! Thank you. Great pictures! Can't wait til our May Victory cruise. Been on Carnival but this will be the first time with an Alchemy Bar![/quote']

 

 

Thank you...and you're going to love it! Worth the Cheers program alone! All included [emoji484]

 

 

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Had to show you Mr. Nikola at the Alchemy bar. Here he is lighting my "Antioxidant" drink. Each drink is a masterpiece. We called him Doctor [emoji23]

Here he is mixing both of our drinks at the same time. Such talent!

And one more showing more of the cool bar. The girl mixologist was good too, but.... she's no Nicola!

Menu from Alchemy

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Accidentally double posted and I don't know how to delete so I had to edit. Oops:cool: