Our Victory Vacation 1/9/10 - 1/16/10: It rocked! (Literally and figuratively)

[jennyfire6]

This is just the best review I've seen!! We're sailing on 2/13 from SanJuan on the Victory and it's our first Carnival cruise so we're not sure what to expect and we don't know how to really "plan" our days on the islands! It's our honeymoon, so this has really helped give us some ideas.

 

I guess something I"m very worried about is our flight...we leave Minneapolis at 8 a.m....fly to Dallas...then to SJuan and get there at 8:10... I feel like that is cutting it SO CLOSE but travel agent assured us it's totally normal and fine, and that since we're booked on flights/transfers THRU Carnival, it really should be ok... thoughts on this?

 

So can anyone give us a list of "Must Dos" on each island?! :) This is great, THANKS!

 

 

YIKES! That is cutting it really close! I am doing this same trip in May (my honeymoon as well - congrats to you!)....and originally I was going to arrive from NYC at 6pm, which I thought was a little close. From what I understand, once you arrive at SJU, gathering your bags and getting to the port should only take about 30 min tops - which would get you there around 830-845 if your flight lands at 810. That's only 45 min before you are required to be on the ship (I think the absolute latest is 930pm and they sail at 10pm). Thing is - you are flying out of MSP in the winter?!?!? What if your flight is delayed and you miss the connection in Dallas?? I am a nervous nelly so I didn't like the idea of getting in at 6pm! If there is any way you can leave a little earlier I would highly consider it. I've read a few reviews where people say you need to get in the day before, which I think is a little extreme, I think same day is fine but I would leave yourself at least a few hours before embarkation.

 

I've never been on the Victory, but I have been on Valor and Conquest and Carnival is a great cruise line. It really is the "fun ship"! I met great people on both trips. The food is better than the other 2 cruise lines I've been on in my opinion. The staterooms are a little larger than other lines. And - the hairy chest competition is not to be missed - hysterical!

[Dirkgun]

This is just the best review I've seen!! We're sailing on 2/13 from SanJuan on the Victory and it's our first Carnival cruise so we're not sure what to expect and we don't know how to really "plan" our days on the islands! It's our honeymoon, so this has really helped give us some ideas.

 

I guess something I"m very worried about is our flight...we leave Minneapolis at 8 a.m....fly to Dallas...then to SJuan and get there at 8:10... I feel like that is cutting it SO CLOSE but travel agent assured us it's totally normal and fine, and that since we're booked on flights/transfers THRU Carnival, it really should be ok... thoughts on this?

 

So can anyone give us a list of "Must Dos" on each island?! :) This is great, THANKS!

 

Yes it is cutting it close.... if you did book your airline tickets through carnival you should be ok. Is that who booked the flights for you? Usually they want you on board a couple of hours before you sail away at embarkation. So I think 8:00 pm is the normal all aboard call. I know they do wait for people.... Back in feb/2010 on our Victory cruise the announce ment was made that we wuld be waiting for passengers whose flight was late. Just call Carnival and verify that you will be fine. Have a great trip. It is an awesome itinerary. What kinds of things do like to do... are beach goers only? or like the active tours or adventure.... let us know so we can tell you.

Dirk

[ricew001]

I'm so glad that you all are enjoying my review. I do plan to finish it. Sorry I am behind.

 

But I do want to finish my review and answer your questions before you sail...and just know that sailing is going to be FANTASTIC!!!

[Canadian_J]

A big thank you for such an in-depth review! We're on the Feb 20 sailing and I've been filtering through and enjoying all the details. Most of all you've gotten us very excited for St.Lucia! I'm the type of person who always passes on my best travel tips and let me say, I just loveeee hearing them from others! Our group is sold on the Rendezvous, so if we ever cruise together, these guys owe you a martini! :D

[ricew001]

Unfortunately I had to leave the Serenity Deck because I had to shower and get dinner. "Fun Appreciation" was Saturday night where there were free drinks. But I decided to spend a little more time on the Serenity Deck and missed the free drinks.

 

DH and I went to dinner where we had prime rib, potatoes au gratin, and the Grand Marnier soufflé – it was all delicious! The dining room staff did a wonderful song “Leaving on a Fun Ship” to the tune of “Leaving on a Jet Plane.” (I think DH posted it on Google. At the end of this review I will list what he posted on YouTube.)

 

The Legends show was pretty late – about 10:15 but DH had to be back stage fairly early and I wanted a great seat! So we went to the lounge for the earlier events so I could get a good seat. We played TV Theme Trivia in the lounge. We finally asked the hostess if these were US TV shows because we couldn’t get them!! After the trivia, Mike left to become Frank Sinatra and I quickly realized I needed a Carnival Cosmo. I sat through the Liars show, where each person is giving a word and tells you what it means but two of them are lying. I didn’t really like the premise of the show, but when I saw the people who were a part of it the next day I joked with them about it. (I can just hear my Mom now: Now you know we don't tell lies!) There was a game of bingo and I bought the tickets for the free cruise raffle. Mike said he was back stage saying “if my wife is playing bingo and wins, she’s gonna pay off this cruise and we’ll be back in a few months!” Well I didn’t play bingo but I did buy those raffle tickets. Unfortunately I didn’t win. :mad:

 

Our new friend Ashley was Brittany Spears in the legends show so her husband came and sat with me so we can watch our DS2 (dear spouses squared) perform. The show was really good. They put some of the Carnival performers in with the passengers and it was just really well done. There was a point with Karl that was so funny I thought I would fall in the floor laughing. He was Dolly Parton and it was just absolutely hysterical. We had watched Karl in a few events over the week, so it made it even funnier because he incorporated some of those bits into his Dolly routine. (I googled Carnival Victory entertainment and saw the clip of the other cruise director doing this same bit. It was very funny too but I still think Karl was the most hysterical!)

 

My DH was the finale. When the spotlight came on him, he was sitting on a bar stool in a suit with a hat. He started singing “My Way” and I got chills. Now I’ve been listening to him sing in bands for 20 years, but to see him on stage here for the finale, was just something else. His voice sounded great.

The performers all got a DVD of the show, a photo of all the people in the show, [see those below] and a free drink. They brought all the performers into the lobby for everyone to meet and that was cool. The spouses were all hanging out too and we hit the bar – gotta have another Carnival Cosmo. We found ourselves realizing it was the last night so we wanted one more drink! We were in a small group of couples and really enjoyed recapping the cruise. DH and I went to see Wally B one more time in the piano bar. We closed him down and had one more round of drinks (really, our last round). I have no idea what time we came back to our room. We ordered one more room service. This time they put mayo on my sandwich. Ick, but it wasn’t the end of the world as we know it.

 

Sometime around 5 a.m. I got up and went to the bathroom. I saw that sail and sign bill sitting there taunting me. I decided I didn’t want to spoil my cruise euphoria, so I didn’t look at it at that moment. I went back to bed and slept until 7 a.m.

[hutat]

I dont know how its possible to hate a cruise that goes to all those beautiful islands! I think those people might just take themselves too seriously ;)

 

 

Those are the Celebrity,Princess,and Crystal people. They don't know what FUN is.

Thank you so much for the review rice. Was on this cruise in Feb.2010 and loved every minute of it.

[ricew001]

Sunday, January 16, 2011

 

No it wasn’t time to go home was it?! We woke up at 7 a.m. and packed. I got brave and looked at my sail and sign bill and was pleasantly surprised. (I will detail that in my post review thoughts.)

 

We met our wonderful steward Jason in the hallway and told him were going to breakfast and would be right back to get our stuff. We had one last breakfast in the dining room. I had French toast. Now my first dining room breakfast had been the awful waffle, so I had avoided ordering pancakes or French toast. That French toast was incredibly delicious! Couldn’t believe I had missed out on this all week!

 

The wait for boarding was pretty long. DH is not a morning person so he stretched out and napped a bit while I talked to our new friends. It was funny recapping the cruise and watching the young couple with us. Turns out she didn’t know they could order room service free, eat in the dining room for breakfast, etc. Each time those subjects came up she smacked her husband and said “See we should have known that or I told you so! LOL!”

 

Besides the Monkey man, our only “scam” was with the taxi going back to the airport. I am not sure that “scam” is the best way to describe it but here’s what happened: As we were leaving a young man asked if we needed a shuttle. We said yes and asked the price to the airport. He said $18. We followed him to the chaos outside the port. He put our bags on a shuttle bus and left us standing outside in the heat. Then someone came back and took our bags to a different shuttle and quoted a $22 price. Somewhere along that became $25 plus a $1 per bag and that’s when we said NO. Finally in the end yet another driver yelled to a different person in Spanish and our price ended up at $22. We didn’t get that type of run around with the pre-cruise transfer through Carnival. We ended up as the only passengers in a van riding back to the airport. Definitely prefer the Carnival transfer!

 

The airport was an exercise in patience. The lines are incredibly long. I mean take the longest line most of you have ever seen in an airport and multiple it times 6. I knew about the USDA line and to do it first. This board had people tell you about it and some have mentioned signs. That day there were so many people there we couldn’t even see the sign! Then we checked it at the airline desk. (Could we have done curbside check in??) Then we went through security! Then we decided we need food and ended up eating at Subway. My feet were absolutely killing me at this point.

 

There is duty free liquor at good prices and some kiosks at the airport but I couldn’t do any more walking.

 

So I found a seat and low and behold – there sat KARL in the corner busy texting. We chit chatted a bit and I had the feeling he wanted to be low key so I didn’t dominate his attention but really enjoyed our conversation. Despite the other post I read here, I am a big fan of Karl!!!

Seated beside me on the plane was a man who broke his foot on the 3rd day of the cruise. He had a miserable flight. I couldn’t bear to ask him to trade seats with my DH who was just across the aisle. I really wanted to be beside my hubby after such a wonderful week but it didn’t work out. We held hands across the aisle a few times and talked about how hard it would be next week in real life…sigh!

 

When we landed in Charlotte we spotted some piano bar buddies and we all broke into song…kind of!

 

The one good thing about being back in Charlotte – BOJANGLES!! I needed a sweet tea and a biscuit fix. LOL!

 

We landed at RDU. It was cold. I was in flip flop and capri jeans. I miss Carnival Victory and the Southern Carribean…..

[BOOGALOO509]

Many thanks once again for your review. I really enjoyed it and found loads of interesting information to help us plan for our cruise next year.

 

Regards.

 

John

[trvlqueen]

Despite the other post I read here, I am a big fan of Karl!!!

…..

 

 

I agree - he's my favorite CD to date!

 

Thanks again for the fantastic review. I'm sailing Victory for our 20th anniversary in September. Too far out to know who the CD will be, but I won't be sad if Karl is there ...

 

We already have our chef's table reservations and cannot wait! It's going to be a fantastic cruise!

[Prairie_Gal]

Awesome review!!!

[klepton]

Excellent review! Thanks!

 

I sailed the Victory in Feb 2010, and will be doing so again April this year. It's a great itinerary! Looking forward to seeing the improvements from drydock.

 

Curious though, what time was your flight after the cruise? Last year we didn't fly out until 6:00. The line wasn't all that bad at 4:00 when we got to the airport. This year we fly out at 2:30, so I'm hoping a lot of the crowds will be dissipated by then, or is that when it's worst? :eek:

[cruisin'grandma]

I dont know how its possible to hate a cruise that goes to all those beautiful islands! I think those people might just take themselves too seriously ;)

 

I saw a quote somewhere once that said "A bad day on a cruise is better than a good day anywhere else." How true.

I have been following your wonderful review. We are going on this ship in 377 days. But who's counting. This will be my 22 cruise and every one is like going on my first. Very excited! Thanks for the uplifting review. I will pass it on to my fellow cruise mates who will be traveling with me.

 

cruisin'grandma

[Corntea]

What a wonderful review! Thank you! I am looking forward to our March 13th sailing on the Victory for our 10th Anniversary! Did I miss the list of tips? Also I would love to see the youtube videos your husband posted!

Thanks again!

[ricew001]

Excellent review! Thanks!

Curious though, what time was your flight after the cruise? Last year we didn't fly out until 6:00. The line wasn't all that bad at 4:00 when we got to the airport. This year we fly out at 2:30, so I'm hoping a lot of the crowds will be dissipated by then, or is that when it's worst? :eek:

 

Hi Klepton! Our flight was scheduled for 5:40 pm. We thought we would site see that day originally, but when we disembarked, we decided to go straight to the airport. That was to our best interest. I think we got off the ship at 10:30, caught our taxi (I recorded that saga here), and went straight to the airport. I did hear some regulars say they never saw the lines there that bad. It took us the four hours to get through all the lines. Then by the time we got something to eat (Another long line) we really didn't have that long to wait for our flight.

 

I hope you won't have the long lines. But even though we did, we just used the opportunity to ask our fellow cruisers about their trips and decide if they did something this time that we wanted to do next time!

 

I'm sure you will have a fantastic time!! Enjoy it!

[ricew001]

I saw a quote somewhere once that said "A bad day on a cruise is better than a good day anywhere else." How true.

I have been following your wonderful review. We are going on this ship in 377 days. But who's counting. This will be my 22 cruise and every one is like going on my first. Very excited! Thanks for the uplifting review. I will pass it on to my fellow cruise mates who will be traveling with me.

 

cruisin'grandma

 

Hi Cruisin' Grandma. Thanks for the compliments!! I hope your cruise mates find it helpful. I certainly feel like all the reviews here were a huge help to me and I'd like to "pay it forward"!! Please let me know about your trip. I'm excited for you!

[ricew001]

Corntea, I haven't posted all my tips yet. But here's what I have put together so far. I don't want to wait until it's perfect because it may never make it at that rate! ;-) so here you go...at least a first draft

 

 

After thoughts

 

The Ship

 

There was an unbelievable horrible sewage smell on the 2nd floor – but only on part of it and luckily it wasn’t our part!

 

There were several activities played in the casino and they caused so much congestion, blocking the walk way. I guess this was just one more activity people could partake in and putting it in the casino put it in front of the guests that were pretty much planted in the casino and gave them a chance to see some fun without leaving the one-arm bandits.

 

There was a LOT of movement. We felt the ship move every day and night. The movement was not a problem at all for me thanks to the patch. Personally, I found the patch an answer to my prayers! It did make my pupils large and as I have said, it gave me dry mouth... but isn’t that what rum punch is for?

 

Most everyone seems to enjoy the Marriage Show. Definitely plan to attend it.

 

 

Preparation

 

Again I can’t stress enough – pack light and take advantage of the laundry facilities.

 

PACK A HAIR DRYER!!! The onboard one was no help whatsoever. Even my hubby said he could have blown on my hair for a better result! Really, even if you have to wait and buy one at CVS, do it.

 

Be sure to put your medications, jewelry, and money in your carry on. Unfortunately, I believe my best costume jewelry disappeared somewhere between RDU airport and being delivered to our room. Since I couldn’t find it the very first night, DH thought maybe I left it at home but since we’ve returned I still haven’t found it. I do remember hesitating a little before putting it in my checked luggage but I thought, hey this is costume – even though it’s nice looking it’s not worth anything…..

but as a friend said, theives don't have the time to check authenticity!

 

We didn’t spend any extra time in San Juan. On our next trip, I’d like to come a day or two early. I think you should plan for that pre-cruise because by post-cruise we were exhausted!

 

The advice to go to CVS was some of the best advice we got!! We bought drinks there and some toiletries we forgot. I do think next time we'll just go there and buy things we can buy there instead of packing from home and taking with us.

 

During the Cruise

 

Eat in the dining room for breakfast. Get some cereal from the buffet for snacks.

 

Don’t plan something for every single port. Pick a couple things that you really want to do. This makes it a bit more leisurely and affordable.

 

stay tuned and I'll add some more! ;-)

[Corntea]

Thank you so much (so far)! I am so sorry to hear about your jewelry. I actually planned on only taking costume jewelry, but now that I think of it, I would be SOOO sad without it!

My husband and I are definitely planning on some down time. This will be the longest we have been away from our girls (3 and 6) and we plan to make the best of it. I picture a lot of time lounging on our balcony listening to the iPod and soaking in the Caribbean sun!

I am looking forward to more tips when you get around to it. I have heard that some ships are better than others for storage. Is there room under the beds for suitcases?

[ricew001]

Thank you so much (so far)! I am so sorry to hear about your jewelry. I actually planned on only taking costume jewelry, but now that I think of it, I would be SOOO sad without it!

My husband and I are definitely planning on some down time. This will be the longest we have been away from our girls (3 and 6) and we plan to make the best of it. I picture a lot of time lounging on our balcony listening to the iPod and soaking in the Caribbean sun!

I am looking forward to more tips when you get around to it. I have heard that some ships are better than others for storage. Is there room under the beds for suitcases?

 

Hi Corntea. We had plenty of space in our oceanview room on Carnival Victory. We slid our suitcases under the bed after we unpacked. We had counter space around the room with cabinets underneath them and two full length closets with a full length mirror in one of them. The other closet had shelves and the safe.

I still stress thought to pack VERY LIGHTLY! Be sure to check YouTube for packing advice. They show how to pack for a long trip with just a carry on. It will give you some good ideas even if you take more than just the carry on.

Just pack your costume jewelry in your purse when you fly and keep it with you.

You'll have so much fun!

[dja31705]

I am glad that you wrote this review. I am planning an official Cruise Critic Cruise for the Week of thankgiving 2011 and it feels good to know that this is a great cruise and itinerary. Thanks for posting the pictures also. I feel better about planning the cruise now. Thanks so much.

[ricew001]

You get to fly straight out of Charlotte to San Juan! Lucky you!!

We loved this cruise. We've been back a little over month and we talk about the cruise and look at the pix daily.

 

You will LOVE it!

[BenjiRodney]

Thanks for the review and very helpful tips. We are flying in at 12:25 in the afternoon then plan to head to the ship check in and then hit CVS for Diet Pepsi and Diet Coke. Now if Nov 6th would just get here.

[Buffettfan 225]

Part II St Kitts

! And I found the stash of rum punch and sweet cakes while I was down there....

 

Just reading and enjoying your review for the secind time and remembering our cruise. Glad you enjoyed the sugar train...if you found more of those sugar treats you must have bouncing on train from a sugar high!

St.Lucia was so great we may take this cruise in spring again. Although this time they don't do Dominca so get a day to rest! 6 ports was a lot!

Suzy ~buffettfan 225

[themerle]

Thanks for sharing your review and photos! Your review was very informative and answered a lot of questions that I had. I have made notes while reading your review and plan on taking a few of the tours that you did. Thanks again!

[MiserableWife]

I really enjoyed the review! I can't wait until we go on this one!!! The tips about excursions are very helpful.