Another Victory Review & Pictures May 16-23

[Havinsnest]

I am working on my review and my blog at the same time.

 

Our son got married on this cruise so references to the groom are our youngest child, Chris, and the bride, the lovely Tasha.

 

 

 

And Away We Go. Or Not.

 

Posted on May 14, 2010 by Kathy

Our flight to Puerto Rico was supposed to leave at 5:10. We got a notice an hour or so before we were to leave for the airport that we’d been delayed until 6:55 due to the storms here in the Metroplex. So the bad news was the flight was delayed for weather. The good news was the house is clean, we are packed and ready to go and we found out about the delay before we left for the airport. However, as we were walking into the airport terminal at 6:00 we got a text saying we were being delayed again. This time until 8:00.

It is now 8:25. We JUST got on the plane. The second (and third) delays were due to the weather in Orange County where the flight originated.

After losing 27.3 pounds since March 5, I am officially off my diet for the next 10 days. I plan to pay attention to what I eat but I’m also not going to turn down Warm Melting Cake for dessert. We walk the length of the ship several times a day when we cruise plus the walking we do on shore excursions so I think it will be okay. Terry bought McDonalds’ Premium Grilled Chicken Classic Sandwich for us to eat, which we will do once the plane is in the air which is about 8 WW points so I’m not doing too badly to start my “off diet” experience.

New proposed time of arrival is 3 am Puerto Rico time. We have a Segway Tour of Old San Juan scheduled tomorrow at 9 am. It’s gonna be a short night.

 

 

Saturday, May 15

I woke up at about 7. Too excited to sleep? Chris knocked on our door about 7:30 to see if we wanted to go to breakfast. He and Tasha and Kelly and Terry and I hiked up hill to McDonald’s. And I do mean up hill. Old San Juan is Very Hilly. And Very Windy. I understand so much more about Sister Bertrille of The Flying Nun now that I’ve spent time there. As an aside, The Flying Nun and The Happy Hollisters at Lizard Cove, read when I was about 8, are the reasons that for most of my life I have wanted to visit Puerto Rico and San Juan. Thanks, son, for getting married there and making Mom a Happy Camper.

After our hike and breakfast at the prettiest Mickey D’s I’ve ever been to (this mural of Old San Juan is one of several on the walls there) we headed back down hill for our Segway Tour.

I cannot say enough about the Segway Tour. It was a blast. We had a Segway riding lesson before heading out on them. Kelly seemed scared spitless although she says she enjoyed the experience and Chris had the Segway mastered in about 13 seconds. He was disappointed to discover the tour company presets the speed so you can’t go any faster than 5 mph.

We saw lots of beautiful things on the tour including parts of the original wall around the city, Fort El Morro (a National Historical Site), and the lovely old buildings and residences of Old San Juan.

Love the Segway Parking System…Put a rock behind a tire.

[Havinsnest]

Bride and Groom share a Segway Smooch.

In our family it is a tradition to take pictures with the entrance signs to the various National Park Service sites we visit.

I probably should have skipped the tradition this time around. Just after this picture was taken I tripped on the concrete base of the sign and broke my right thumb. I hoped up, told them all was well and got on my Segway to head to the next part of the tour. I’m not generally a person to fuss when I’m hurt. I’m more like: C’est la vie. For two weeks before the trip I’d had a feeling of impending doom. The moment I fell it went away. Don’t you like my youngest child, aka Chris the groom, who is taller on a sloping ground than I am when I’m standing on the Segway? We tried to come up with a reason for needing a Segway at home. We figured we could pool our money to buy one if we just had a reason to need one.

After the Segway Tour (which lasted just over 3 hours instead of the advertised 2 hours – Hurray!) Terry and I made a quick trip to CVS pharmacy (conveniently located across the street from the tour company’s headquarters and a few doors down from the Sheraton) for Aleve and ibuprofen since he saw how bad the thumb was swollen and knew I had done “something” to it. We ended up making 4 or 5 trips to CVS over the next 24 hours. We were probably their best customers of the weekend.

One my recommendation, the kids went to lunch at Barrachina, home of the original Piña Colada,

while Terry and I went to ice my hand, take a nap and then spend some time in the hotel hot tub/spa. What a great view the swimming pool and spa have of the bay and the area. Barrachina was where our Cruise Critic Roll Call had dinner later that evening. We were doing family/pre-wedding stuff and weren’t able to attend but I heard there was nearly 40 people for the Roll Call Dinner.

 

 

[Havinsnest]

We wandered around Old San Juan for a while before dinner with everyone else. Terry and I split a Tripleta Sandwich we bought from a street vendor. My new favorite food.

We had dinner at a Latin/Salsa restaurant near the hotel called The Latin Roots. The food was wonderfully tasty, the atmosphere fun and watching the Salsa Dancers and those getting Salsa lessons was great. Fruit Punch and two different meals of stuffed plantain.

After our second trip to CVS (this time for a thumb splint and where Chris saw us and what we were doing to realize how bad my thumb actually was) Terry and I wandered the area some more, listened to a concert in Spanish and eventually we headed back to the hotel. We know tomorrow will be a busy day and, even with this afternoon’s nap, we are short on sleep.

 

 

Magnitude 5.8 – PUERTO RICO.

 

 

What a way to start your (son’s wedding) day. Earthquake at 1:15 am. We have tiny earthquakes sometimes as home but you can seldom feel them. This one could be felt. And it caused the alarm system at the hotel to go off for a couple of seconds followed by an announcement that it was a false alarm.

I more or less slept through it all. I knew things were happening but thought I was dreaming the shaking and alarm and announcement. Terry woke up to the alarm and announcement but missed the quake. Chris says he was awake for it all! Wonder if he's nervous about his big day and that's why he was awake?

[crusing48/51]

Thank you for your review and pictures! I'm so sorry to hear about your thumb! Hopefully it didn't ruin your vacation. So far, you have my undivided attention. Can hardly wait to hear about the rest of the events.

 

A cruise and a wedding! Wow, I'll bet you had an awesome time. I'm glad to hear you enjoyed the Segway(other than the broken thumb). We have booked that tour for our September precruise activity. All the reviews have been great. Am looking forward to it.

 

Keep the review coming. I want to hear more! The pics are lovely as well!

[cantwait06]

Loving this review, can't wait to read more! How is your thumb?

[JerseyshoreBruce]

Great review so far can not wait to hear the rest!:)

[jks336]

what a great start to your review!! still hanging on the time i can book this trip! :) you said orangecounty and with mention of earthquakes you must be from so cali? lived there for 16yrs.. did my "growing" up there lol. last earthquake i felt was a 4 while 7months pregnant.. can we say hyperventilate! lol.. anyways,, waiting for more of your reveiw and pics :)

 

man your thumb must have been hurting!!.. and congrats on th wedding for your son :) what a vaca

[Havinsnest]

what a great start to your review!! still hanging on the time i can book this trip! you said orangecounty and with mention of earthquakes you must be from so cali? lived there for 16yrs.. did my "growing" up there lol. last earthquake i felt was a 4 while 7months pregnant.. can we say hyperventilate! lol.. anyways,, waiting for more of your reveiw and pics

 

man your thumb must have been hurting!!.. and congrats on th wedding for your son what a vaca

 

We live in Arlington Texas, and yes, we get earthquakes but only baby quakes.

 

God is good. I have a pretty high tolerance to pain which is why my husband knew I was hurting when I said we needed to get some Aleve. He was so cute, he cut my meat for me all week and held my hand to make sure I didn't fall when getting on and off boats, trains, cabs, etc. Love that man. :D Thumb still aches. The doctor says the break is nearly healed but I also sprained it and that will take another week or two to heal. Still wearing the thumb splint most of the time for protection to the thumb.

 

 

 

Victory Aft Wrap 7425

 

 

 

 

[Havinsnest]

Wedding Day!

 

Posted on May 16, 2010 by Kathy

Woke up about 5:30 and watched Victory sail into port! The others went back to McDonalds for breakfast but Terry and I stayed at the hotel to hold down the fort. Well, actually Terry made another two trips to CVS and I held down the fort and checked out of Sheraton. Seems he was able to buy super glue the first trip but nothing else until 11 am. SO back to CVS at 11 for soft drinks and whatever else he decided he couldn’t live without. The manager helped me check out. He was so cute…upon seeing the thumb splint, “Mrs. Havins, you did NOT have that when I saw you yesterday.” We discussed how we’d handle checking back in next Sunday and how they would hold our luggage for the day, etc. I cannot say enough about how nice the staff was at the Sheraton.

We met the others downstairs at 12:30. Always the early birds we were in the lobby by about 11:30 and talked to several others who would be on this same cruise. Our little bridal party hiked across the street and down 1/2 a block to the cruise terminal so we could meet the bridal consultant who was working with Chris and Tasha at 1:00. Most of the guests were not sailing so they stayed outside the terminal with another wedding consultant and wedding party as both brides and grooms and Terry and I headed inside with “our” consultant. Our other cruises have been out of Galveston. Let me just say I like the way things are done in Galveston much better. It was very disorganized in San Juan. The bridal consultant was pointed in directions she (and we) knew she shouldn’t be going. They tried to send us to the embarkation line and we hadn’t even checked in. Ten or fifteen minutes were spent walking in circles from one person with bad information to another. Eventually we got to the VIP lounge. It was so crowded they sent us to the regular check in counter. The person they sent us to there was helping someone else. Ten minutes later I noticed the two guys beside him were just standing there even though there was a huge long line and they had called “Next” twice each. I pointed them out to Terry, he asked if they could help us and within 5 minutes all 4 of us were checked in and had our Sail and Sign Cards and the bridal consultant was looking at us in relief. Wedding time is drawing nearer and nearer as the Carnival people and bridal consultant lead us to the security check in. We got there just as their electrical system and computers crashed. So everyone stood around waiting for it to come back up. Another 15 or 20 minutes later things were back up and we were being checked. Happily we were on board in another few minutes and Tasha was on her way to get her nails done at the Spa.

Our cabin and the suite we’d gotten for the bride and groom were opened and ready. After a quick look at his home for the next week, Chris hung out with us on our balcony and around the ship until wedding time.

Love, Love, LOVE this big wrap around balcony. Cabin 7425 for those who are interested.

[Havinsnest]

The wedding was beautiful. Tasha did a lot of work on it and it showed. The whole thing was very casual and my flip flop kid got to wear his favorite shoes to get married in. It’s a family thing. His oldest sister got married in flips and all 5 of her bridesmaids wore them as well. His second sister got married in bare feet. She forgot her shoes and we have the cutest pictures of her piggy toes showing as her daddy walked her down the aisle of the church.

The bride went the extra mile and got everyone a corsage or boutonniere. They wrote their own vows and although the minister forgot to have the parents read the blessings we’d written for our children it was a lovely ceremony. Terry read our blessing to Chris at the reception.

[Havinsnest]

We were so full from the reception meal to eat dinner so Terry missed his beloved crème brulee. Later he and I went in search of secret doors and later had pizza and french fries. We didn’t have any problems with the sea horses but I can sure see how they might “get” you if you aren’t careful. The safety drill was quick and to the point and we enjoyed Sail Away from our balcony.

[Buffettfan 225]

We were so full from the reception meal to eat dinner so Terry missed his beloved crème brulee. Later he and I went in search of secret doors

Did you find any secret doors?? I read there are some, but you are at stern and they are at bow I thought. Handsome man! ;) First glance reminded me of Phil Jackson NBA basketball coach. (But Terry is better looking and such a gentleman!) Awaiting more photos and reviews, I know it is such work posting and we all appreciate it. Love the narratives and photos to match. Months from now you'll love reading back over it.

Congrats to the newlyweds. We sail Victory in July, so love absorbing any info on it. Looking for the Luggage Express (valet) service info--want to know the earliest flight--we have a 12:08 flight.

[Havinsnest]

We generally stay on Deck 7 and there are secret doors on that deck - at the front. We found another set this time, too, but spent most of our time using the ones on Deck 7 to watch the world at night for a change from our rear of the boat view.

 

Thanks for the kind words about my Terry. I think he's pretty good looking, too.

 

How fun to wake up and see St. Thomas and St. John coming into view. And that meant another National Park to mark off our list.

It was really cool. We start our mornings on the balcony drinking coffee, hot chocolate and eating fruit. After about an hour we wander down to breakfast. Today was Eggs Benedict and oatmeal for me and blueberry waffles and fruit for Terry.

 

 

We took a walking tour of the area. I kept seeing things that were straight out of our history books. I kept saying, “We are in the West Indies. HOW COOL IS THAT?”

Hello. My name is Kathy and I am a nerd.

 

 

I don't drink and we don't gamble so I spend money on pictures. Lots and lots of pictures.

 

 

I iced my hand while we sailed away and we took tons of pictures.

We enjoyed our first dinner in the dining room (Atlantic) and our waiter (Agus) and his helper (Yoga) were very attentive and helpful. They gave us recommendations each night and never steered us wrong.

After dinner we went to the Welcome Show and enjoyed two comedians, Al Romero and Percy Crews, whom we’ve seen before on Conquest. Terry says this is the first cruise director we’ve had without a last name. Brad was fine, we never saw him except in the shows which is a first for us. I did tell Terry that it wouldn’t hurt for the Carnival Cruise Directors across the board to get some new material. Off to bed. Tomorrow is Dominica and our aerial tram trip through the Rainforest.

[cjackso8]

Thank you so much for this review!

 

My honeymoon is going to be on the Victory in February, and I cannot wait!

 

I'm so sorry about your thumb, what a way to spend your vacation!:(

 

Congratulations to the bride and groom! Like I said, I'm a bride to be (5 months to go!) and I'm eating up everyone elses wedding stories right now! I too am a flip flop baby, I can't even walk in heels. I'm getting married in a pair of blue keds that say bride on the heel. :o So I understand your son's relief of getting married in comfy shoes!

 

The review is great, can't wait for more!

[Havinsnest]

In 2004 I got the autographs of the national soccer team from Dominica. They were stuck in an elevator with me and maybe they thought I wasn’t going to let them leave without autographs but I swear I did not say that to them…thought it maybe…but never said it. They told me their country was called Doh min e ka. I am assured on this trip that it is actually Dom in e ka (like the song that singing nun sang in the 60s) so I am confused. I can tell you this…it is a beautiful country and Christopher Columbus named the island after the day of the week on which he spotted it, a Sunday (dominica in Latin), November 3, 1493.

We had another leisurely morning followed by breakfast before our shore excursion. I found this aerial tram thing on You Tube when Chris and Tasha first started talking about taking this cruise for the wedding. I originally saw it for $99 a person through the tram company and was happy to book it in advance of the cruise though Carnival for $89. I looked recently through Carnival and it’s gone up to $100. Whatever you pay ... it's worth it!

When I was a kid I heard about jungles but not rain forests. Then I started hearing about rain forests and not jungles. Took me awhile for it to click that they were different names for the same thing. I also thought to see one I would have to go to Deepest Darkest Peru and walk for miles and miles along the Amazon River and I KNEW that wasn’t happening. So glad for the world that Carnival and cruising and shore excursions have opened up to me/us.

 

 

Terry had the camera during our trip through the rain forest. He took something like 140 pictures. It was amazing.

It rained while we were on this excursion. Rain in the Rain Forest. Who Knew? The most harrowing part of the whole thing was the trip getting there. They are working on the “road” and in many places the road was more like a goat path but the views from the bus windows were spectacular.

Once there the tram ride is 90 minutes. For 45 minutes you are mostly on, or just above, the floor of the forest. Then there is an optional short hike you can take. The second half of the trip is from the top of the canopy. Either way was incredible. I fell in love with this flower which we saw on several of the islands.

[Momto2PrncChrmgs]

Congratulations on the marriage of your son-your family is beautiful!

Loving the review, can't wait for more...

[Havinsnest]

We are suckers for a water fall and have 100s of pictures of them.

 

Terry wasn’t real sure about getting on this suspension bridge…about 300 feet up and a little wiggly but he did it and I have pictures to proof it. We would have liked to have taken more pictures from the bridge but it was raining and were concerned about the camera’s safety.

Love this little flower the guide plucked off a tree and handed me…It’s called the Plastic Flower. Which is exactly what it looks and feels like. Plastic.

A tree fell on a (empty) school bus during a hurricane several years ago. Both are still sitting where the hurricane put them.

[Havinsnest]

Once back on ship I iced my thumb and we took advantage of room service. I love the turkey sandwiches.

Terry likes to try the local (cheap) beer when we are in the various ports. This is one of his Tour Of Local Beers Collection.

Dominica was the first Elegant Night.

After my sandwich I had time to run to the Spa and have my hair done after the shore excursion since we had late seating for dinner. My hair gets kinky curly when it gets wet and, thanks to the rain forest’s rain it had gotten very wet. Hurray for the young lady at the Spa who did my hair!

I think we clean up pretty well.

We skipped the Captain’s Celebration this time but the person who did my hair said the captain had been in earlier to get his hair done (cut), too.

For the most part, we enjoyed Victory’s Sea Theme although at dinner the ceiling (dropped down and blue to to simulate being under the sea) seemed close. Liked the decorations that went along with the Sea Theme.

[alreadypacked]

Loving your review! You have a nice personality to your writing, and the pictures are wonderful.

 

I'm not certain I could have handled that suspension bridge, though. :eek:

 

Congrats to your son and daughter in law. Can't wait to read the rest. :)

[Havinsnest]

Barbados

 

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It was a little foggy when when we pulled into port. That went away in a few minutes but I thought it made for a good picture moment. Have I mentioned how much I loved the aft wrap balcony? We will be doing this again! I love the suites we’ve had before but this balcony wins any contest hands down.

Months ago we decided we would NOT be doing major excursions every day on this trip. We planned on two excursions (Dominica and St. Kitts), the walking tour of St. Thomas (courtesy of Frommer’s online), and beach days elsewhere.

After some research, and much discussion within the Roll Call Group, we decided on The Boatyard on Carlisle Bay for our first beach day of Barbados ($4 taxi ride and then $10 a person for entry, a drink and an umbrella and chair and shuttle back to the ship). We didn’t get there as early as I would have liked (too much time sitting on our balcony) so all the umbrellas were already gone. However, my ever resourceful spouse went a wandering and found an unused umbrella. The couple to whom it “belonged” were sunning so they offered it to Terry.

Barbados was beautiful and the beach was great. Terry’s sunburn, not so much. He burns easily and even though he had on sun screen he is burned. SOOOO, I’m thinking no more beach days on this trip. Tasha has SPF 100 for Chris since he (and Kristie) inherited his dad’s fairy white skin. Katie is the only one of the three that got my ability to brown.

[Havinsnest]

Just love the color of the water and sand. Bliss.

 

 

Me with some of our Roll Call friends.

 

It rained maybe 10 minutes while we were there. A little shower that came and went in the blink of an eye. Those are the best kinds of showers.

 

 

Back on board I iced my hand again while eating another room service Turkey Sandwich. Terry thought we needed a picture of the thumb/hand/splint for posterity.

[Havinsnest]

Sail Away from Barbados as seen from my deck chair.

It’s a tough life but someone has to do it.

 

 

 

 

Bye Bye Barbados…Until we meet again.

After dinner we went to the show. Tonight was Juggler Victor Zuniga. He’s pretty good and he’s funny as well. We also saw comedian Percy Crews. We’ve seen him before and think he’s pretty funny. He has an Adult Show tomorrow we’ll probably go see.

[Havinsnest]

St. Lucia

 

At breakfast this morning we sat with a Scots couple who joined the cruise yesterday in Barbados. They were fun to talk to. They take many tours and have been to Yellowstone so we talked about The Park for awhile as well as discussing other places we’d all visited. I told them Scotland is on my To-Do list.

 

Chris and Tasha are doing a catamaran tour today. One of the ship’s videographers is going with them. He has done several things with them and, as part of their wedding package, they will have a wonderful video of of their wedding and honeymoon when they leave the ship to go along with all the photographs. We saw them as they were leaving on their tour.

Notice the paparazzi?

Just so you know…I have no responsibility for his hat. The hat his offspring refer to as Dad’s Dork Hat. But it does keep his ears from sunburning.

Oh my. I may have lost 27.3 pounds since March but, as you can see by this picture, I have SEVERAL more 27.3 pounds to go.

[Havinsnest]

We love flora and fauna and had a great time looking at all sorts of new-to-us or better-than-the-version-we-are-used-to things on this trip.

 

 

Another shot of the Beer of the Countries Collection.

[Havinsnest]

Due to the sunburn – which is now beginning to blister just a teeny bit – I decreed no more beach days for Terry. Last night we looked at the Carnival excursions for today and decided to book a tour. The tour we picked was called Best Views of St. Lucia. And we definitely saw some of the best views. There was a person on the tour with us who I have to tell you about. I don’t watch The Bachelor but apparently part of the recent season was shot in St. Lucia. As we were traveling around the island we saw lots of things, including the poverty that most countries have but don’t show you on television. She kept saying things like, “They didn’t show all this poverty on The Bachelor.” “I don’t think those people on The Bachelor were very honest. They sure didn’t show THIS.” “I just can’t believe the poverty. They never mentioned this on The Bachelor.” I’m sure she’s a very nice lady but I must admit she gave us plenty to talk about once we got back to the ship.

 

I love the colors on the houses.

Sometimes you fell like a nut, sometimes you don’t. A cashew nut in its shell.