Carnival Victory Review 9/20-9/27/09 w/ Pics!

[IslandToIsland]

Let me start by saying this was my 3rd cruise and my BF 2nd, all with Carnival and just like the others this cruise did not disappoint. We are both in our early 30's and celebrated my BF 31st birthday on this cruise. The itinerary was great, but exhausting at times.

 

We flew into San Juan on Sat. 9/19 and stayed at the Sheraton Old San Juan. Nice hotel and very convenient walk to the Pier. I don't have any pics of the room, but it was your average looking room with not much of a view from our location. We were on the side of Senor Frogs and for those interested noise was not a factor at all.

 

View from the plane in San Juan.

 

 

 

 

 

The front desk is on this side entrance on the left as you walk in.

 

 

After we checked in, we went over to Senor Frogs to eat. I had the BLT wrap and BF had the encrusted chicken parm, both were very good. We have never been to Senor Frogs before and it was a fun atmosphere. We had ordered large sodas, not knowing the large is indeed LARGE. The cup is called "the yard" and we kept them as souvenirs. After we ate we headed back over to the Sheraton and met a few people from our roll call in the bar. It was nice to put faces with names. After a few drinks we all decided to turn in for the night.

 

Inside Senor Frogs....I thought the ceiling was cute :p

 

 

Me with Senor Frog

[jimbo5544]

Nice start to the review. Look forward to reading and seeing more!

[HarperSays]

Can't wait for this review. We are leaving for this cruise on Saturday!

[IslandToIsland]

9/20 Embarkation Day

 

We checked out of the Sheraton and left our bags there til about 12:30pm or so. We got a map from the hotel and decided to walk to La Bombonera for breakfast. The walk was not bad at all and once we got there, we waited about 10-15 min. for a seat. It was very busy. The food was good, but my BF and I tried the mallorca after we ate and it was amazing! It is like toated bread with a buttery taste and powdered sugar on top. YUM! I wish I had ordered that first because I could have ate a few. I definitely see why they are so famous for it.

 

 

 

 

After we ate, we walked back to the Sheraton to retrieve our luggage and started over to the ship.

 

Streets in Old San Juan

 

 

Our first view of the Victory from the roof of the Sheraton

 

 

Views from the Sheraton

 

 

 

 

 

Not sure what this is, but decided to take a pic anyway....anyone?

 

Despite what I had read on other threads about how chaotic San Juan port is, embarkation was a breeze for us. We left our luggage with the porters, went upstairs took the embarkation photo, got S&S cards then headed over to the duty free liquor store in the terminal. Bought a bottle of Captain Morgan and put it right in our carry on. I was nervous at first, but then I was watching people go through security with the liquor right in the bag from the store and no one had any problems. We were zone 11 and it did not take us long at all to get on the ship. I'd have to say this was probably the easiest embarkation so far.

[jimbo5544]

Can't wait for this review. We are leaving for this cruise on Saturday!

Great timing for you!

[ShannLC16]

Yay! I am excited to read your Victory review! We are going on this cruise in March.

 

Keep the posts and pictures coming!:D

[IslandToIsland]

Once we were on the ship, we went to the Lido and had some burgers and fries. I love the burgers on the ship, they are so good. This is where the non stop eating began! After we ate, we explored the ship some til it was time to head to our room. We were on deck 8 Verandah in room 8304. When we arrived, our luggage was already there waiting for us. I was very surprised. Everything was going really smooth.

 

 

Pic of our balcony room 8304

 

 

 

View from our balcony

 

 

View of San Cristobol from our balcony

 

We put our luggage away quick then decided to explore Old San Juan. We headed to one of the forts, San Cristobol. Once we were in the fort for a little while, it bagan to pour buckets. It was refreshing because it was so hot, but it was not stopping anytime soon.

 

On our way to the fort

 

 

 

 

 

 

Approaching the fort

[IslandToIsland]

Barracks for the soldiers

 

 

Here you can see it was pretty dark inside

 

 

Writing and drawings from the prisoners

 

 

 

Views from the fort

 

 

 

 

[IslandToIsland]

As I said earlier the rain was not stopping, so we bought a couple of ponchos and headed back where we found a little sports bar. The beers were 2/$5.00 and we stayed there for a while and watched some football. Once it stopped raining, we decide to start back to the ship. Old San Juan is such a nice place to walk around with so many sights to see.

 

 

Here you can see how hard the rain was coming down

 

 

We saw a beautiful rainbow right by the ship on our way back

 

 

 

 

Up Next Day 1 St.Thomas

[IslandToIsland]

9/21 Day 1 St. Thomas

 

We decided to take the ferry over to St. John to snorkel at Trunk Bay. We did not want to waste time looking for the local bus, so we headed out of the port area and were able to catch a taxi on her way to the Red Hook ferry. It was about a 25 min. ride. Once there we bought our tickets and off to Trunk Bay we went. The ferry ride was about 15 min. and stopped in Crown Bay and from there we caught a taxi over to Trunk Bay. This beach is absolutely breathtaking. It is really something you see on a post card. We snorkeled here and seen a number of fish, a turtle, and two stingrays. The water was gorgeous and it was hard to have to get out.

 

 

View of St.Thomas from our balcony

 

 

Ferry ride over to Crown Bay

 

 

 

 

First glimpse of Trunk Bay from the overlook, GORGEOUS!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our first closeup

[IslandToIsland]

The area around the mountain is where the snorkel trail was

 

 

 

 

Part of the snorkel trail....there are plaques with tid bits of info on them. The date on these pics is a day off

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[f7prez]

Loving your review, especially the large photos. Keep them coming.

 

The thing you photographed and wasn't sure of what it was, is where other cruise ships dock. We docked there last year on Freedom of the Seas.

[IslandToIsland]

We headed back to the ship on the 1:15 Charlotte Amalie ferry. This ferry ride was a little longer, but the views were so nice. The taxi ride back to the ship was about 10min.

 

 

 

 

Some views from the ferry back to the ship

 

 

 

This day was BF birthday, so I had ordered decorations to be put up while we were gone and a cake to be served at dinner that night. He was surprised when he opened the door. He kinda stood at the door for a min and looked in. He said he thought it was the wrong room at first. The decorations were nice and they came with two bonvoyage key chains.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[IslandToIsland]

Later that night at dinner, BF had a feeling something was up when he started hearing the waiters singing Happy Bday to other people in the dining room. He kept looking at me and smiling and saying "what did you do?" Of course I said, "what are you talking about, I didn't do anything." hehe

 

Then here they came singing and he was so embarrassed. He said I'm in for some payback. We will see. :D

 

 

 

I will continue with day 2 Dominica a little later. Stay tuned.

[IslandToIsland]

Loving your review, especially the large photos. Keep them coming.

 

The thing you photographed and wasn't sure of what it was, is where other cruise ships dock. We docked there last year on Freedom of the Seas.

Thank You, now I know. I just thought it looked kinda neat.:)

[IslandToIsland]

Yay! I am excited to read your Victory review! We are going on this cruise in March.

 

Keep the posts and pictures coming!:D

 

Can't wait for this review. We are leaving for this cruise on Saturday!

 

Nice start to the review. Look forward to reading and seeing more!

 

Thank You and you all will have a blast on this cruise. It is very busy, but impossible to pass up!

[terrielynn]

More please! We are leaving in 4 days! I cannot read enough on these fantastic ports! Great review!!

[jjal]

I am in the way background of your trunk bay photo-- too funny!

[IslandToIsland]

9/22 Day 2 Dominca

 

Today we had the Roseau Valley Beat Tour booked through Bumpiing Tours. We met Levi outside of the port area where we then split up into groups. We were with Gary who was our guide for the day. We started out towards Middleham Falls and on our way Gary was giving us a little history on the island. Now we were originally booked for the Roseau Valley Treasures Tour, but changed to this one a couple weeks before the cruise. I am telling you now, the hike to Middleham Falls is no joke. After this hike, I never wanted to see stairs again. The pay off was beautiful, but the hike was very tough. Most people in our group climbed down to the fall and swam around and a few climbed up the side and jumped in.

 

We didn't take our good camera on this part of the tour and thank goodness we didn't because it poured during the hike. We ended up using our water camera and taking mostly video of Middleham Falls.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I took probably close to 1000 pics and video, so I'm still in the process of going through them all. I want to try and give you a little taste of each part.

[IslandToIsland]

After Middleham Falls we headed to Titou Gorge and swam through the cave to the end where some in our group climbed up the side next to the small waterfall. They had a hard time getting up and surely getting back down. The gorge was a neat experience.

 

The pics in here did not come out and the video is dark because it was so dark inside. The second link is where some people were climbing up. You can see Gary climb up first. I do not have video of the others, but believe me he made it look easy. They were struggling.

 

 

 

 

Next up was Trafalgar Falls, not a very far hike and once again the payoff was beautiful. There were two falls on either side, one bigger than the other.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our last stop was the sulpher spings and boy was this relaxing after the long hike. We spent the rest of our time here until we had to go back to the ship.

 

 

 

 

There was a little that we climbed through and this is what was on the other side. Gary was there waiting to take our pic.

[seaside725]

My DH and I are taking this cruise in November. Thanks for the updates. What I really would like to know is where was the best snorkeling at? I love the pictures of St. Johns.

[erin1998]

Thank you so much for taking the time to write a review and post your pictures!!! We are sailing on the Victory in November and can't wait!!! :D

Erin

[IslandToIsland]

After the sulpher spings we climbed over a bunch of rocks up closer to the falls. A few people went all the way up and got in the water. Too scary for me, so I stayed a ways back and took pics :p

 

 

A bit closer to the falls

 

 

 

After everyone came back, we made our way back to the van and were on our way back to the ship.

 

 

I have seen this pic in other threads and of course had to take it myself

 

This tour was great. We did not have time to see Champagne Reef, but that just gives me another reason to visit!

 

Next up is Barbados

[jenms2000]

thanks for writing this and for all the pictures. i noticed you had a waterproof bag around your neck. what kind is it and did work well for you? we're going on victory on nov 8th and we're getting really excited!!!:D

[IslandToIsland]

thanks for writing this and for all the pictures. i noticed you had a waterproof bag around your neck. what kind is it and did work well for you? we're going on victory on nov 8th and we're getting really excited!!!:D

 

The waterproof pouch is an aquapac and I love it, it works great. It also came with a belt that clips around your waist if you wanted to wear it that way. I bought it through their website.