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1st Time Cruiser Review-Carnival Victory Sept 20-27, 2009

CruisinJazz

By CruisinJazz,
in Carnival Cruise Lines

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CruisinJazz

CruisinJazz

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I had promised to write a review of my thoughts and experiences as a 1st time cruiser...so here it goes!

 

Let me first say that I absolutely LOVE to travel, but all of my experiences have been land based vacations as I did not want to ever be "stuck" on a ship. I had been in the US Navy, but never set foot on a ship. While I was stationed in Iceland I had taken a ferry from Reykajvik to Akranes and was buried waste deep into a trash can sick as a dog so how would I ever manage a week long cruise???

 

Our friend put together a Friends and Family Cruise in which I decided "Aww, what the heck! Let's give it a try!" I booked an 8A GTY Balcony May 2008 for the Carnival Victory Cruise Sept 20 - 27, 2009 cruise. Needless to say this has been a very, very long year of waiting, anticipating, bugging the crap out of people here on Cruise Critic with questions after questions after questions. I truly had no idea what to expect.

 

I did NOT purchase a travel insurance. I have never had to cancel any vacation for any reason so why pay for something I knew I wouldn't need?? Booking under the Friends and Family Group was fantastic...able to put down a minimum payment and make payments throughout the year instead of having to come up with one lump sum right away. This really made things easy!

 

August 15, 2009 came around and I found out that my husband had been having an affair with one of his co-workers. Ummm, we have a cruise next month what the heck??!!! I've been looking so forward to this cruise and now this??!! What to do, what to do. I knew for a fact that nothing was going to stop me from going on this cruise, but do I allow my husband to go?? I sent an email to the travel agent handling the group cruise. For $50 I could switch my husband's name to someone else if I wanted. I don't know how much it would have cost to change the information on the airfare since I decided to go ahead and allow him to go. I could not throw him overboard since I'm 5'2" and he's 6'4" and 285 pounds.

 

Friday, Sept 18, 2009 we arrive in San Juan! We met up with our friends who arrived the day before and proceeded to her family's empty flat where we would be staying prior to the cruise.

 

The view from the flat we stayed in....

 

<a href="http://s250.photobucket.com/albums/gg254/Ellerfamily5/Puerto%20Rico%20Victory%20Cruise%20Sept%202009/?action=view&current=CourtneyItaly004.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/gg254/Ellerfamily5/Puerto%20Rico%20Victory%20Cruise%20Sept%202009/CourtneyItaly004.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

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CruisinJazz

CruisinJazz

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It truly was an amazing view and I'm glad that I did it, but boy was I sore afterwards! As soon as we got back down to the bottom we went to a roadside shack to grab a bite to eat and then made our way to the beach. The warm water really helped my aching muscles. That evening we did the Bioluminescent Bay. I love to kayak so this was more up my alley! We did not book this ahead of time, but was able to get 4 of us in on one of the groups. It took a half hour to kayak through the mangroves to the bay without moonlight. Bioluminescent bay is something else!! When the fish swim through the water it looks like shooting stars. When you swirl your hand through the water it looks like pixie dust shimmering every where. It's absolutely beautiful and definitely worth the money to book this excursion!!! We did not have problems with mosquito's until after the excursion and sat at the restaurant across the street from where you start off in the kayaks.

 

The next morning was the long awaited time of boarding Carnival Victory for our very first cruise!! Our first glimpse of the beautiful ship...

 

058.jpg?t=1254602313

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CruisinJazz

CruisinJazz

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We arrived at the port at 12:30pm, unloaded our bags, my friend Janie and I stayed with our luggage while the boys parked the car. No matter how many times I read other reviews, how embarkation worked, etc... I still did not get a true handle on how it all works. My husband and I pulled out our cruise documents and passports. Our friends had birth certificates and their cruise documents. We showed our information and proceeded to go through the terminal. We handed over our checked bags (if you do not have the luggage tags printed off they will give you other one's and staple them around the handle of your luggage). We grabbed some alcohol and threw it into our carry on bags. The alcohol went through just fine and was not confiscated. We proceeded to through the line to have our cruise pictures taken and then into the line to get our sign and sail account cards. After we got our sign and sail cards the boys went back to down to drop the rental car off at Enterprise while Janie and I went onto the ship.

 

My friend Janie in line to get sign and sail card.

CourtneyItaly277.jpg?t=1254604765

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CruisinJazz

CruisinJazz

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We were on the ship by 1pm and Janie and I went to scout out our cabins. We had been upgraded from an 8A to an 8D balcony cabin on the Verandah Deck...cabin 8368. Our friends were in the cabin right beside of us in 8372. We dropped off our carry on luggage and went back to the Lido deck to grab our first drink while waiting for our husband's. It only took the guys 20 minutes to drop the car off at Enterprise and get back onto the ship. We met up with the guys on the Lido deck at 1:20. We grabbed some food and then headed off to really see our cabin, what would be home for the week.

 

Cabin 8368....

CourtneyItaly297.jpg?t=1254605611

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