FINALLY! My really long Victory review 1/17-1/24/10 with MEGA pix!!

[scraphappylady]

Next it was on to the batik part of the tour. As we entered the main building, we were given a brief explanation of how batiking is done (with wax, dyes and lots of scraping), then had another half hour or so to shop and tour more of the nearby grounds.

 

 

 

Finished fabric hung to dry

 

I had just gotten back on the taxi/bus, when Mr. Grey motioned me back outside again. He had noticed how interested I was in taking pictures, and wanted to make sure to point out an unusual sight on a nearby bush.

 

 

They had to be a good three to four inches long, and very beautiful, in a bug sort of way. I’m afraid I caught him unaware, when I asked him what type of caterpillar they were. He wasn’t sure, but I believe he was planning on looking it up before his next tour.

 

As we drove through the little towns on our way to our next stop, we passed Middle Island Anglican Church, the first Anglican church in the Eastern Caribbean, and the site where Samuel Jefferson, the aforementioned ancestor of Thomas Jefferson, as well as Sir Thomas Warner, the first English governor of the West Indies were buried. While we didn’t stop here, we were able to get some good pictures.

 

The gravesites are under the white, open-air mini buildings to the right of the church.

[scraphappylady]

Our next stop was Brimstone Hill Fortress National Park, towering over 800 feet high above the surrounding landscape. It was designed by British military engineers and built by African slaves in the early 1700s. It has also been designated a UNESCO world heritage site.

 

While here, we had about an hour to an hour and a half to tour the buildings and surrounding land, as well as grab a quick bite to eat and we put that time to good use.

 

We passed through two very narrow gates on our way up to the main part of the fort

 

 

The citadel at the top of yet another very steep hill

 

Outside the main part of the fortress

 

Land view around the fortress

 

Surrounding countryside

[scraphappylady]

Down below the Citadel area

 

You want me to hike all the way up there?

 

Oh, it's not such a bad walk . . .

 

Really gave us a good view out to sea

 

 

[scraphappylady]

 

 

 

 

 

Powder storage

 

 

 

 

 

DH: Oh, no, you can't be serious . . . Me: Well, I'm the one with the camera . . . . DH: Sigh . . . (Me: I just love a man in uniform!)

[dommer573]

Great review, loved the pictures.:D Thanks for taking the time to do such a great job.;)

[Halftocruz]

This is one of the best reviews and most beautiful pictures I have ever seen. I am sooo jealous!!! I have wanted to go on a souther caribbean cruise for so long and after readind yours we are going to book one on the Victory soon. I am going to bookmark your review so I can go back and read it all over again so I can duplicate your excursions :)

 

Thanks for the time you spent on the review it was obvious that you spent a lot of effort on it.

 

Kellie

[scraphappylady]

Thanks for all the great comments, guys!:)

 

Now for more review:

 

Next, we headed back toward the port area, where you could be dropped off if you wanted to (no one in our group got off, though) and eventually on to the other side of the island, and Cockleshell Beach. Apparently this other part of the island is experiencing a huge building boom, and is the place to build your next multi-million dollar home!

 

We also saw (on the way to the beach) and then stopped in briefly at (on the way back) a gorgeous Marriott built right on the beach. Those in our group who were doing the B2B were considering going there the following week and wanted to check it out first.

 

Golf course near the Marriott

 

Marriott from a distance (the buildings with the red roofs are part of it)

 

At the same overlook where we could see the Marriott on one side, we could see also on the other side a beautiful bit of land where the Atlantic touches one shore and the Caribbean touches the other.

 

 

After winding our way through that area, and passing other apparently deserted beaches on our way,

 

 

we reached Cockleshell Beach.

[scraphappylady]

It was a lot less built up than I had been thinking, for which we were happy, but also not as white sand beautiful, either (I guess I just demand a lot from my beaches!)

 

 

 

 

 

We spread out our towels (didn’t see the sense in trying to rent a chair for only about an hour and a half or so) and slathered on the sunscreen. I had been hoping to collect some larger shells here, but despite looking for quite a while, only came home with a few smaller ones.

 

There was also a spot on the far left side of the beach to snorkel, and we had brought our gear, but decided just to soak up the sun and surf. A few people reported seeing a lobster while snorkeling, but I was just too relaxed by that point to make an effort.

 

Snorkeling area

[scraphappylady]

Since we were getting hungry again, we went ahead and put in for an order of conch fritters and a couple of beers at the food stand there. (By this time, we had quite a beer bottle collection – a different bottle from each island!) Well, it took almost 45 minutes to get our fritters, and then we ended up paying what amounted to $1 per fritter. They were quite good, but expensive – just a heads up!

 

Of course, we also had to see the giant pig (what was his name again? Wilbur?) while we were there, and it took a little searching to find him sleeping off the heat of the day in the shade behind one of the buildings. He was pretty enormous, though, as everyone had said.

 

 

During the time we spent on the beach, Mr. Grey had parked his taxi/bus in the shade and apparently went to do some shell hunting of his own (more on that later). We met back up with him when our time was up, and headed back to the port area.

 

Along the way, we took a moment to get a quick picture of our ship in the distance

 

and arrived back roughly six hours after we began. After paying for our tour, we started to explore the large shopping area that also made up the port. As we were browsing through one store, though, Mr. Grey came in and motioned Jon and I back outside.

 

I was worried that we had somehow miscalculated and not paid him enough. Instead, it turned out that he remembered how much I wanted to collect shells while at Cockleshell Beach, and went out and found some while he had been waiting. He then made a pile outside of the store, and told me to pick out the ones I wanted. Now that was above and beyond, in my opinion. You just can’t beat customer service like that!

[scraphappylady]

After lightening our wallets substantially in the shops (and I firmly second another past CC reviewer’s opinion when he said this was one of the best shopping areas out of all of our ports!), we slowly made our tired way back to the ship.

 

 

 

Sailaway wasn’t until 6pm, so we grabbed a few plates of sushi and relaxed until then.

 

A few more requisite sunset pictures

 

 

Watching passengers on the Thompsson ship as we start to pull out.

 

 

[scraphappylady]

As soon as we were on our way back out to sea, we headed back to our cabin for some much needed nap time – this time remembering to set our alarm!

 

Once again, we spent our entire dinner reminiscing over our day’s events with our table mates, and I found it hard to break off our discussion each time we had to order another course. Orlando was very patient, though, and never rushed us to decide, even though he had other tables.

 

As always, we had another very good meal. Jon started with the mushroom cream soup and an order of the tiger shrimp cocktail, while I went with the asparagus vichyssoise and then mozzarella and tomatoes. For the main course, I went ahead and decided to try the filet mignon again. I had had it on the Legend in July, and did not like how it was prepared then. This time, though, it was done very well and I finished the whole thing. Jon went with penne again, this time with a tomato cream sauce and said it was also very good. We of course had to go for dessert, so he picked the apple pie, with a side of vanilla ice cream and I took the chocolate/raspberry/vanilla cream cake. Oh, yum!

 

While we wanted to try and keep our nightly entertainment record intact, tonight’s show was a magician, something I was never really fond of. However, we were on vacation, so we went ahead anyway. I actually thought he did pretty well, up to the last part of his act, when he started getting away from magic and more toward a bit of overdramatic acting. I just wasn’t expecting it, and it took away from the rest of his show.

 

Our towel animal this night was a cute sting ray

 

and no matter how gently we tried to move him, he just fell apart before we got him to the couch.

 

Since we had no need to rush to get up early the following day in St. Martin, we took advantage of our balcony for awhile, watching the moon set and enjoying the cool sea breezes, before heading to bed.

 

Tomorrow . . . St. Martin, our last port before coming back to San Juan. :(

[LittleRF123]

This information is wonderful. I'm taking my first cruise on this ship in October and I'm so very excited. The information you provide is so detailed and the pictures are wonderful!

 

My question to you is about clothes and accessories. What sorts of clothes, shoes, jewelry and bags do you recommend for both the day excurisions as well as the formal events?

 

Again, thank you for all the great information and I really appreciate all the time you've taken to provide it to newbies like me!!!

[beach410]

great review, thanks for sharing, and such beautiful pictures!

[scraphappylady]

This information is wonderful. I'm taking my first cruise on this ship in October and I'm so very excited. The information you provide is so detailed and the pictures are wonderful!

 

My question to you is about clothes and accessories. What sorts of clothes, shoes, jewelry and bags do you recommend for both the day excurisions as well as the formal events?

 

Again, thank you for all the great information and I really appreciate all the time you've taken to provide it to newbies like me!!!

 

Wow! Oooh, this might be a long answer. Okay, if you've spent anytime reading posts on these boards, you should understand that yours could be a loaded question, in terms of arguing over how dressy or casual people should dress. Not that I'm afraid to answer though - I'll just answer based on what we did and what we saw!:)

 

For our formal night (the one that we didn't sleep through:p), I wore a black pair of dress pants and a sequined top, with a nice pair of gold sandals. I also had a pair of cubic zirconia dangle earrings I picked up at Kohls (can I list places like this in a review??? I hope so!) and a nice little black sequined clutch.

 

Jon wore a nice pair of khaki pants, an open collared shirt and a jacket. (obviously no purse!) I'm not sure if it was because we had the late seating or not, but we saw many more people dressed up (everything from cocktail to full length formal) than I would have guessed on such a port intensive cruise.

 

On the cruise casual nights, I usually went with dressy crop pants or a short skirt, a nice cotton shirt, and a small Tommy Hilfinger bag (oh, no, now my snobby side is showing through! nah, i just like the Caribbean look of his bags). I usually went with jewelry that I got from Amazon, or another online site I frequent, GriffCo Jewelry, and a nice pair of close toed sandals. Jon went with khaki pants again, and silk or more casual shirts, and "boat shoes" (if that's the name for them.)

 

For the cruise casual nights, we saw much more variety, shall we say, in outfits. Everything from more cocktail dresses to several people wearing what I would definitely classify as sweat pants, with certainly a lot of jeans in the mix.

 

For our excursions, we stuck mainly to a bathing suit for me - two piece tankini type, which meant I threw on a sleeveless shirt over the top, but could usually get away with the bathing suit skirt bottom. If I thought we might be doing more sitting than swimming, I would usually just go with a pair of casual shorts instead. Jon would usually go with trunks for bottoms and a logo (Old Navy or some such) t-shirt on top (yeah, he has a snobby side too, I'm afraid!)

 

When we thought we would be doing a lot of walking, Jon wore his sneakers and I went with very comfortable, broken in closed toed sandals. Otherwise, it was flip flops and what I call "men sandals." We usually ended up carrying one of our backpacks (no, make that JON usually carried it!;)) for our cameras, towels, snorkels, etc. and one belt bag for money, etc.

 

Hope that helps! You picked an awesome ship for your first cruise! Come back after your trip and let us know how you thought it was. And keep reading . . . St. Martin and a day back in San Juan again still to come!

[GinDon]

GREAT, GREAT, GREAT review! You have a wonderful eye for framing your pictures, you get some very unique angles. Thanks for taking so much time to share with us!

[POTOMACRUISER]

Where are all the people???

[doxie2cruise]

Can't get enough of your review. I look it for it several times a day and keep going over it again and again. Love everything your descriptions and pics. keep it coming. Looking forward to it in Dec. I only hope my review is somewhat worth reading. Doxie:cool:

[purrlinda]

After reading the last part of your review, I've decided to cancel my cruise and just go to St. Kitts for the week.

 

However, I'm traveling with 7 other people who would not appreciate it, so I guess now.

 

I am scheduled for the St. Kitts Scenic Railway but I'm really thinking that I want something more hands on and in depth there. It looks so rich in history and culture.

 

I might have to make it my 2011 vacation spot.

[scraphappylady]

GREAT, GREAT, GREAT review! You have a wonderful eye for framing your pictures, you get some very unique angles. Thanks for taking so much time to share with us!

 

Thanks! I try and take pictures many different ways, otherwise i get too bored with what I shoot. And you ought to see the 500 or so "unique" shots I deleted when I got home! :p

 

 

Where are all the people???

 

Well, it was just DH and I on the cruise this time, no kids, so we didn't get as many "couple" shots as other people with their families might. And I would much rather take pictures of the great scenery, rather than people in a group. Also, for this review, I tried to keep my group shots out of it as much as I could, since I didn't know if people would want to see themselves plastered all over the internet.

 

Is that what you meant?

 

 

Can't get enough of your review. I look it for it several times a day and keep going over it again and again. Love everything your descriptions and pics. keep it coming. Looking forward to it in Dec. I only hope my review is somewhat worth reading. Doxie:cool:

 

Don't worry about whether or not your review would be good enough! Just get out there, tell about what YOU did and saw, throw a few pictures in there, and I guarantee, you will have an interested audience! I'll be looking for it come December!:D

 

 

After reading the last part of your review, I've decided to cancel my cruise and just go to St. Kitts for the week.

 

However, I'm traveling with 7 other people who would not appreciate it, so I guess now.

 

I am scheduled for the St. Kitts Scenic Railway but I'm really thinking that I want something more hands on and in depth there. It looks so rich in history and culture.

 

I might have to make it my 2011 vacation spot.

 

Nah, don't cancel the cruise :eek: :D. Just plan on more trips/cruises to St. Kitts later on. Or do what DH and I talked about after our day on the island - after you win the lottery, and become filthy rich, make St. Kitts your winter home!! :p

[whendoweleave?]

Day 6 – St. Kitts

 

 

 

 

 

This is quite possibly one of the coolest pictures I've ever seen! Nice! Awesome review, by the way! Heading out Monday on our first cruise WITH our 18, 16 and 11 year old boys! Just Coz and Calica (Playa Del Carmen), but I hope to hit some of the more exotic ports someday!

[scraphappylady]

Day 7 – our last port; St. Martin

 

Our arrival in St. Martin today was supposed to be 7 am, and we’ll just have to take it on faith that this was actually the time we arrived. When we tumbled out of bed (and really it was only 7:45 am by then), we were already docked and the sun was shining down. Nope, no sunrise pictures here.

 

Since I had been to this port before, and Jon had seen my other pictures of St. Martin, we limited ourselves to just a few when we got off the boat around 9:30am.

 

 

 

 

 

We quickly found the taxi area, past the port tourist area and waited a few minutes until a taxi to Orient Beach was free.

 

 

 

Since we ended up sharing it with eight or nine other people, the cost was a minimal $6 per person. It took about 20 minutes to get to the beach.

 

We were dropped off at a spot further down the beach from the nudist resort, than I had been the last time I visited. After scouting the various chair/umbrella vendors for a few minutes, we settled on one called “Bikini Beach.”

 

 

For only $10, we got two well-padded chairs, a very big umbrella and a prime location. Wait!! Hold on a minute!! That wasn’t ten dollars . . . that was ten euros. Turns out that almost everything on this end of the beach was listed in euros. Hmmm, this was turning out to be a bit more expensive than I had figured. Every place took our American money - they just wanted to take more of it.

 

By this time, it was just shy of 10 am, and the beach was still practically deserted. I’m sure this was due largely to the fact that we were the only ship in port this day.

 

I’m guessing that because Carnival had recently changed the itinerary for Victory to drop Antiqua, and pick up St. Martin, we were visiting the island on an off day. In talking later to one of the shopkeepers in town, we found out that this was rather unusual. On an average day, there would be four or five ships in port, and during the very busy season, St. Martin could have as many as ten ships in port at once. Ouch! I would say we certainly lucked out.

[scraphappylady]

I realized after the first few photos, that I had better be careful when taking pictures, so as not to inadvertently get an x-rated one in there. Overall, though, we only saw a small amount of nudity, none ever full body, and most of what we saw certainly fell into the “those who should, don’t and those who shouldn’t unfortunately do” category. Jon tried to tease me that I should go native, so to speak, but I know I fall into the “those who shouldn’t” category and told him to forget it!

 

We spent the next three and a half blissful hours alternating between water fun and baking in the sun.

 

 

 

 

 

[scraphappylady]

By 1:30 pm, we were feeling hunger pangs, and spent a good ten or fifteen minutes trying to find a place to eat. Not that the food didn’t sound good, but the idea of paying over ten euros for a simple hamburger (without fries), didn’t sit too well with us, especially when we converted that to almost $14 US.

 

We finally found a place that took 1 euro to 1 dollar, and had good sounding food. It was actually run by a couple originally from New Jersey, who had owned the place for over twenty years. (I’m afraid I don’t remember the name of the restaurant, but it had license plates from all over the world tacked to the walls).

 

This was truly your beach shack restaurant, with the servers in bare feet, the owners right there talking to the regulars, and the best food imaginable! Now that’s how I want to spend my retirement years! We ended up getting fish sandwiches and split an order of onion rings (huge!), and were very happy when we were done.

 

By this time, the beach was getting busier, but it was a very long beach, with many different vendors offering chairs and umbrellas, so no one spot seemed overly crowded. If we hadn’t wanted to do some shopping in town, we might well have stayed there even longer.

[lollylew]

Loving your review! The Southern Caribbean route is definitely one that I have on my bucket list. Thanks for doing such an in depth review with great pictures! :)

[aggieastrosfan]

For only $10, we got two well-padded chairs, a very big umbrella and a prime location. Wait!! Hold on a minute!! That wasn’t ten dollars . . . that was ten euros. Turns out that almost everything on this end of the beach was listed in euros.

 

Do you think we should get a bit in euros before heading here? We were planning a pretty light day at Maho beach to check out planes, but I don't want to pay any more for drinks than I have to!

 

Thanks for the review, it's getting me extremely excited for my upcoming trip. :)