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A Surprise Engagement On The Victory!! 11/6/11 Review


soulsistah007

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Welcome to my review!! After months of researching and planning, it was finally our time to enjoy our vacation!! Little did I know that there was going to be a surprise for me! This is my first review so bear with me and feel free to ask any questions and I'll do my best to answer. Here's a breakdown of who we are and our trip details:

 

 

Who: Myself (29), my boyfriend (30), my mom (50), family friend (49). This was my 3rd cruise (all with Carnival), my bf's 2nd (all with Carnival) and my mom and friends 1st cruise.

What: Carnival Victory

Where: San Juan, St. Thomas, Barbados, St. Lucia, St. Kitts, St. Maarten

When: 11/6/11 Sailing

Why: Do you really need a reason to cruise?! lol My boyfriend and I were celebrating our 2nd anniversary, his birthday, my mom's 50th birthday and unbeknownst to me, my boyfriend was going to propose!

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PRE CRUISE:

 

Our trip started at 12am Saturday morning. Being from Toronto, we decided to fly out of Buffalo to save on air fare and it was well worth it. In researching flights back in April, flights out of Toronto were a minimum of $300 more per person than the prices we got from Buffalo. We ended up booking with Jet Blue; round trip flights from Buffalo to San Juan with a connection in New York (JFK). We got to the airport at 2 am to get our 5:45am flight. The flights to San Juan were decent and uneventful. The flight attendants were very friendly and put us passengers at ease. Those blue chips they have are so tasty!

 

 

For our pre-cruise stay, we booked at the Holiday Inn Express hotel in Condado. Our choice for this hotel was simple: free with our Air Miles points! I had read a lot of reviews on Trip Advisor about this particular hotel and as our hotel was booked in early May, the majority of reviews I read since were a mixed bag of positive and negative so I was a bit worried. Upon arrival, there was nothing to be worried out at all. It was a pretty decent hotel for our one night stay. The rooms are small but a decent size, our floor was very quiet, the staff were very friendly and accommodating and the continental breakfast was good and had a great variety of food to choose from. The location in Condado was perfect. The hotel was across the street from the beach and lots of shops/restaurants nearby. Overall, it was a good stay.

 

Here are some pics:

 

The first is a view from our hotel window:

 

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Hurry back ! I love romantic proposals. LOL, my dear husband of 43 years was proposal challenged !! Our son arranged a very romantic proposal for our now, daughter-in-law, thank goodness. I can't wait to read more. The title and your screen name caught my eye.

 

Congratulations on your engagement. Don't forget to tell us about your future plans.

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Hurry back ! I love romantic proposals. LOL, my dear husband of 43 years was proposal challenged !! Our son arranged a very romantic proposal for our now, daughter-in-law, thank goodness. I can't wait to read more. The title and your screen name caught my eye.

 

Congratulations on your engagement. Don't forget to tell us about your future plans.

 

I'm with you-my husband proposed in our kitchen while I was cleaning the grout...and he had a few beers in him :eek:!! I would have much preferred a proposal on a cruise, but we got married on one instead-compromise, right?!?

 

Congrats OP! Can't wait to hear more!!!

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Thanks for the well wishes everyone!

 

 

 

EMBARKATION/DAY 1 - SAN JUAN

We left the hotel at 11am and grabbed a cab to head to the pier. The taxi rates are regulated and I believe it costs us just over $20.00. There's a gas fee of $1.75 and its $1 per luggage. We got to the pier and upon arrival it looked like disorganized chaos. People everywhere, coming and going and people just standing around. At first glance, it was hard to tell who exactly the porters were but then we realized they had the same shirts. I know from Miami and Port Canaveral, $1 or 2 a bag is usually sufficient. The San Juan porter wanted $3/per bag. I don't know if he was trying to scam us but I managed to talk him down to $2. He walked us into the terminal with our bags and I watched him put our luggage in the crate.

 

We headed upstairs to take our welcome aboard picture and check in. We were really early so we didn’t have to wait in any lines. We got zone 5 which seemed to be irrelevant because they didn't check our zone cards when we boarded. We were on the ship just after 12:30pm.

Once on board, we went straight to the lido to get some lunch.

 

Our first views of the lido deck:

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Our view of San Juan while eating lunch:

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Around 2:15, we headed down to our room and it was ready for us. 15 minutes later, our luggage arrived!!

 

Our room was an ocean view cabin on the riviera deck; stateroom 1306. The room itself was spacious for two people. We had a king size bed and a sofa. The only negative quality about our room was that we would hear what sounded like 3 heavy knocks at the same time randomly during the day. First we thought it was someone at the door but it wasn't. Later on during the week, I noticed the sound coming from underneath the bathroom floor. Perhaps we were just above something that rattled under us but it wasn't anything that bothered us greatly so we didnt complain about it. Overall, great room and very convenient for port days!!

 

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As you can see, the toiletries, with the exception of toothpaste and soap, were geared for females. Bf was hoping for a men's disposable razor but no luck.

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Thanks for the well wishes everyone!

 

 

 

EMBARKATION/DAY 1 - SAN JUAN

We left the hotel at 11am and grabbed a cab to head to the pier. The taxi rates are regulated and I believe it costs us just over $20.00. There's a gas fee of $1.75 and its $1 per luggage. We got to the pier and upon arrival it looked like disorganized chaos. People everywhere, coming and going and people just standing around. At first glance, it was hard to tell who exactly the porters were but then we realized they had the same shirts. I know from Miami and Port Canaveral, $1 or 2 a bag is usually sufficient. The San Juan porter wanted $3/per bag. I don't know if he was trying to scam us but I managed to talk him down to $2. He walked us into the terminal with our bags and I watched him put our luggage in the crate.

 

I heard this before on another review. Someone at Carnival needs to do something about the chaos and porter problem in San Juan!

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Hurry back ! I love romantic proposals. LOL, my dear husband of 43 years was proposal challenged !! Our son arranged a very romantic proposal for our now, daughter-in-law, thank goodness. I can't wait to read more. The title and your screen name caught my eye.

 

Congratulations on your engagement. Don't forget to tell us about your future plans.

 

Thank you!! Lol, how did your husband propose? That's wonderful that you've been together for over 40 years!! :)

 

So far, we've decided that we want to get married September 2012. I would love to do a destination wedding but were still deciding. We may not do any cruises next year but were thinking of going to Europe for 2 weeks for our honeymoon!

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From Bon Voyage, we got a bottle of Bacardi Limon for around $40.00.

 

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Once we got our luggage, we decided to head out to Old San Juan specifically to get travel mugs (we had forgot to pack our bubba kegs :( ) and some coke to mix with our Bacardi. We ended up going to Marshalls where we got our mugs and CVS for the Coke. Bf and I had been to San Juan last year on our Liberty cruise. For anyone that is a first-timer to San Juan, I would definitely recommend seeing the forts and checking out their museums. Its fascinating! So while we were familiar with the area, we didn’t do much site seeing this time around. It was also very humid! We wore our winter jackets to the airport so the heat was welcomed but wore us out quickly lol.

 

Our view coming out of Marshalls

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Thank you!! Lol, how did your husband propose? That's wonderful that you've been together for over 40 years!! :)

 

We were on our way out to a club on a date. My husband was just driving along and suddenly said, "Oh, why don't we just get married and get it over with." LOL !!!! All I said was, 'I'll let you know." DUH, my answer was about as romantic as his proposal.

 

To be honest with you it was so long ago, I don't remember WHEN I gave him an answer ! That was in Feb. 1968 and we got married in May, 1968. When we married, he was 30, I was 26 and at that point, neither of us wanted to wait to plan a big wedding. We had a small wedding which had its drama,too.

 

The church was LOCKED when I arrived. That was before cell phones, of course so we had to find someone who had a key. The florist was in the parking lot waiting to get in, also. Then, my husband was late because he had to run to pick up our rings which had just come in that morning. The jeweler had given us 'loaners,' to us just in case.

 

The wedding was lovely, our reception was fun in a location across town.(Cleveland, Ohio) As we left the reception to go to our apt., my husband suddenly remembered he'd left his clothes in the dryer at the laundrymat that morning. LOL, so we stopped to get those. We were both teachers at the time, so we didn't have the time to take for a 'honeymoon.' Guess these cruise we're doing make up for that.

 

My advice as you plan your wedding. "A wedding does not a marriage make.' Some people spend more time planning the wedding than they spend planning their life together.

 

Our son proposed to his wife this past Valentine's Day week-end by taking her to dinner at the Ritz-Carleton in Ft. Lauderdale and having the ring arranged on her dessert plate. Awwww, he got down on his knee and the whole nine yards. They married in June in a small ceremony with a few family and friends. Glad he didn't take after his father !

 

Congratulations once again. I'm VERY excited for you.

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Thank you!! Lol, how did your husband propose? That's wonderful that you've been together for over 40 years!! :)

 

We were on our way out to a club on a date. My husband was just driving along and suddenly said, "Oh, why don't we just get married and get it over with." LOL !!!! All I said was, 'I'll let you know." DUH, my answer was about as romantic as his proposal.

 

To be honest with you it was so long ago, I don't remember WHEN I gave him an answer ! That was in Feb. 1968 and we got married in May, 1968. When we married, he was 30, I was 26 and at that point, neither of us wanted to wait to plan a big wedding. We had a small wedding which had its drama,too.

 

The church was LOCKED when I arrived. That was before cell phones, of course so we had to find someone who had a key. The florist was in the parking lot waiting to get in, also. Then, my husband was late because he had to run to pick up our rings which had just come in that morning. The jeweler had given us 'loaners,' to us just in case.

 

The wedding was lovely, our reception was fun in a location across town.(Cleveland, Ohio) As we left the reception to go to our apt., my husband suddenly remembered he'd left his clothes in the dryer at the laundrymat that morning. LOL, so we stopped to get those. We were both teachers at the time, so we didn't have the time to take for a 'honeymoon.' Guess these cruise we're doing make up for that.

 

My advice as you plan your wedding. "A wedding does not a marriage make.' Some people spend more time planning the wedding than they spend planning their life together.

 

Our son proposed to his wife this past Valentine's Day week-end by taking her to dinner at the Ritz-Carleton in Ft. Lauderdale and having the ring arranged on her dessert plate. Awwww, he got down on his knee and the whole nine yards. They married in June in a small ceremony with a few family and friends. Glad he didn't take after his father !

 

Congratulations once again. I'm VERY excited for you.

 

LOL That's a funny proposal/wedding story. It goes to show that a lot of hoopla for a wedding isn't necessary - love is :). Your advice is spot on! That's the best advice I've received so far. I'm gonna remember that and pass it on to my fiance as we discuss wedding plans. I'd like to think I'm a very simple girl and dont need much to make me happy. I'm also the first child, granddaughter, niece,etc so trying to explain to my family that we don't need a showstopper wedding may be another story lol. Your son's proposal sounds so sweet too! Thanks again for such lovely advice! :)

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We headed back to the pier and noticed the smaller liquor store in the corner, before you go up the escalators. Bf fell in love! They had a buy one get one free sale and so he ended up with 2 1L bottles of Tequila for $10 total! They even had decent bottles of rum (750ml – 1 litre) for only $1.00. That’s not a typo lol. I can’t attest to the quality though lol. The lady was saying that the prices are cheap so they could sell them off to make room for newer products. We bought a bottle of wine from upstairs and headed back on the ship.

 

 

On CC, there’s always posts about smuggling alcohol and which ports are easier than others and so on. The San Juan port had absolutely no enforcement of getting liquor on board. We walked straight through the doors and no one stopped us or said anything. We bought alcohol at other ports and were able to get more bottles straight to our room (St. Thomas) but some others we ended up checking it at the liquor table as it seemed to be more enforced (St. Kitts and St. Maarten).

 

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We then relaxed, ordered our favorite room service item (cheesecake!), and got ready for dinner. We had “anytime” dinning during this cruise and for us, it’s the best option. We always love private tables and the convenience of going when we wanted. The only time we had to wait was the Second Elegant night and the wait was 10 -15 mins. I’ll touch more on our thoughts of the overall food of the cruise later on.

 

 

After dinner, we headed up to the sail away party and had a great time with all the dances!! Being that we started from Puerto Rico and that many guests were from there, I will say that this was one of the best cruises for dancing and nightlife. I loved that everyone danced away and didn't care if they weren't the best dancer....its all about having fun!

 

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Our fun crew:

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Up next: St. Thomas

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To get to the marshalls, you'll walk towards your left when you get out of the pier, go north 4 blocks up the first street you see and make a left. Keep walking and you'll see it. Easy way to remember is to walk in a Z formation when you leave the pier.

 

The exact location is 154 Calle Rafael Cordero, ‎, Plaza De Armas, San Juan 00901, Puerto Rico. The store is huge! About 3-4 levels high! Hope this helps :)

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Congratulations!!

Enjoying your review, hopefully one day we will sail out of San Juan !!

 

Delta your proposal was as romantic as mine... "So you want to get married ?" lol ok this was 3 days after we met !! :eek: Met on Feb 12th, went out for dinner for my birthday on the 13th, went out for dinner for valentines day and the next day he asked me. I honestly believe there is someone out there for everyone!! This May we will be celebrating our 25th anniversary :D We also had a small no frills wedding, but the marriage has been awesome!!

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DAY 2 - ST. THOMAS

Today we ordered the continental breakfast to our room. I would love it if there were some hot items we could order but we chose this option today to get more out of our time in St. Thomas instead of battling the lido deck crowds.

 

We were lucky enough to have family members at many of the ports of call for this trip so for St. Thomas, we met up with my grandpa’s best friend who drove us around St. Thomas. We got some very cheap alcohol at the local K Mart (bf wanted me to tell you that he spent $60 on what would normally be $200 worth of alcohol), stopped off at Megan’s Bay, and went to Mountain Top. The streets in St. Thomas are very steep with lots of sharp turns and caused a bit of motion sickness for us but the drive was worth the view.

 

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