Victory Review Dec 11-18, 2011 - long

[Sunseeker11]

I had been wanting to take this cruise for the past few years because of itinerary. I was just casually looking on line at the prices in June and the price was right - quick text to DH to see if he could get the time off work and finally made the plunge and booked it. This was our first cruise, we have always done AI in the past. I wasn't sure what DH would think of a cruise, he didn't seem interested so I did all the planning, he didn't even know what ports we would visit!

 

I found CC to be very helpful answering my newbie questions and help to plan our excursions.

 

We flew in to Puerto Rico 2 days early so we could do some exploring beforehand. Since I wanted to get here as early in the day as possible, I booked us a 6am flight out of Toronto with a connecting flight in Miami. A couple of months beforehand our connecting flight was canceled and we were put on a later flight, no biggie except that I could have booked an 8:30 flight out of TO instead, oh well, that is how it is.

 

The morning we left I didn't go to bed because as always I was still packing at midnight and getting our house in order for our pet sitters. We left the house just after 2am! We landed in PR at 5:30 - everything went smoothly.

 

It was raining when we landed, really was looking forward to sun after leaving the cold but at least it was warm. It didn't take long to get our luggage and into a cab. We had done US customs in Toronto so that was one less thing to delay us.

 

Hotel

 

I booked Conrad San Juan on Priceline for $100 a night, was a bit worried about the bad reviews but they were uncalled for. We had an amazing oceanfront room (I emailed manager and requested it, figuring Priceline would give me the awful room in the back!). The front desk staff were very friendly and helpful. After we got settled in we went for a walk down the strip, by the time we decided we needed some dinner it was 8pm and I had been up since 7am the day before! We decided to grab some Wendy's because we wanted something quick The service was the slowest ever and the food was pretty awful. That is what we get for eating fast food!

 

 

 

 

When we got back to a hotel a nice tropical storm blew in. Very heavy rain and wind. I love watching a good storm.

 

[pafam4]

I'm probably jumping ahead here, but how far was the hotel from the port? Did they have a shuttle service? Just getting ideas for a possible stay in San Juan in the spring before a cruise. Thanks.

[Sunseeker11]

El Yunque/Luquillo

 

Saturday morning we got up early because we had rented a car from Charlie's. It was a short walk down Ashford Avenue. We were heading off to El Yunque. On our way there it was raining so hard we stopped at the outlet mall. We walked around a for a bit bought a few things and continued on to El Yunque. The rain forest is beautiful! We went to the visitor center for a quick look and bite to eat. We then went to La Mina Falls. It was raining lightly as we walked down to the falls, once we got there the water was so heavy there was no way we could swim in it. On our way back up it started to rain heavier. The Yokahu tower was closed, we assumed because of the rain. We were going to hike the Mt. Britton trail but it was raining quite hard and our camera was not waterproof, we figured that tower would be closed as well. Will visit next time.......

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We then decided to head to Luquillo beach, we found the kiosks ok but had a hard time finding the entrance to the parking lot. We headed a bit further out and were able to stop on the road next to the beach, there was 1 family on the beach! By this time the sun was peaking out of the clouds

 

 

That night we went to Hacienda Don Jose for some authentic PR food (was not eating fast food again) We had mofongo, it was delicious. The restaurant was quiet and we had a nice ocean front seat.

[Sunseeker11]

Cruise Day!

 

We got up early so we could enjoy the pools and hot tub at our hotel. We arrived at the port around noon. It was a nightmare. There were people still getting off the ship. We handed in our luggage and went up to the check in area. It wasn't too bad, we waited probably 45 minutes. By the time it was our turn the waiting area was full. They didn't start calling zones for quite a while. You can imagine how many people there were, I sat on the floor because all the chairs were occupied. We had zone 10 but a nice security guard gave us zone 3 (I had asked him about leaving and he very politely told me what I needed to know was going to leave and after I gave him our zone card they started calling zones so he gave us zone 3 - he did mention they had some problems in the morning and that is why they hadn't allowed anyone to board yet (while lining up at security I noticed people in zone 13 ahead of us, so they don't pay attention to your zone number.

 

Old San Juan

 

We grabbed a quick bite and headed off to check out the forts. We were going to take a trolley but waited forever so decided to walk. It really isn't that bad of a walk if you don't have any mobility problems. We had enough time to visit both forts. I am amazed at the Puerto Rican women walking up the hills and around the forts in their high heels! I had on runners and my feet were sore! Then we wandered through Old San Juan on our way back to the ship. It is nice how they light it up at Christmas time.

 

 

 

 

Our Cabin

We had cabin #7416 - it is at the back of the ship with an extra wide balcony (it is one of the sideways rooms by emergency staircase). Our location was very quiet. We never heard our neighbors or noise in the hallway. We met out room steward, he was from Indonesia. I can't remember his name but he always addressed us by our names!

 

Will continue later.....

[Sunseeker11]

pafam4 - the port is quite close, if it weren't for our luggage we would have walked. They didn't have a shuttle. The taxi's were waiting across the street. It took 10-15 minutes by taxi - it was very congested. It cost us $18.50 plus tip. We met a couple post cruise that walked from our hotel

[4c's]

Sunseeker11,

 

Great review, thanks. We leave in 3 weeks for the Victory, this will be our second time. We are also in room #7416, do you have any pictures of the room, it's nice to hear it's quiet:D we are excited about the balcony, did you spend much time on it?

 

Thanks,

 

Jim

[Sunseeker11]

Here are some pictures. I was fortunate to change to this room after Carnival had us above the disco (I am a light sleeper and we were up most mornings by 7) What I liked best was when I woke up in the morning I could see the ocean without even moving - slept with curtain partially open. I didn't get any good balcony shots, I have one that shows the size. I bought a new camera just before the trip and spent part of our sea day reading the manual and testing settings!

 

 

My husband is a smoker so he spent more time on it than I did. We enjoyed standing out there every morning as we docked and some time in the evening. On our sea day we spent a few hours relaxing. We burn too easily so stayed away from the decks and it was nice to have a place to go to get away from the crowds.

 

You will love this room!

[Sunseeker11]

Notes on the Cabin:

 

I had read in other reviews that there wasn't much storage. Our bathroom had tons of storage. There is a shelf under the sink and a large medicine cabinet, plenty of room for everything (my stuff, my husband only had the essentials men travel with!). The plug in the bathroom didn't work, I used one of the other plugs instead. Our 3 way adapter came in handy to plug in all of our electronics. Once on our cruise we had no contact with the outside world, cell phones off and we didn't buy any internet time.

 

I had brought a cooler to keep our drinks cold but our steward kept our ice bucket full of ice so we didn't use the cooler

 

First Day

 

We explored the ship, took a tour and had dinner somewhere (I honestly can't remember where we ate or what we had). Throughout the cruise we saw some shows and comedians, they were all good especially the comedians.

 

St. Thomas

 

What a beautiful site when we woke up!

 

 

We had ordered room service so that we could enjoy a leisurely breakfast on our balcony. When our breakfast hadn't shown up by 8:10 we called and were told they were running late, we called again at 8:40 and we were told they had been at our door at 7:30 - I sat in the room from 7:30 to 8:45 waiting instead of on our balcony. Breakfast showed up at 9am and we had to eat quickly in order to make our tour. I did not let this ruin my vacation!

 

We took a tour with Air Force One - Papa Bear. He took us around the island showing us the sites and then dropped us off at Megan's Bay. Our tour only had 7 people and all Canadians - we weren't much help when he was quizzing us on US history! He was a great tour guide and we thoroughly enjoyed our day. Magen's Bay was beautiful and we found a quiet place in the shade. We snorkeled a bit and found some sea turtles! not many fish though. We enjoyed watching the bird fishing. This was one of my favorite ports.

 

 

 

 

 

[Sunseeker11]

Sea Day and Other Observations

 

We had planned to get up early enough to have breakfast in the dining room but needed to catch up on sleep. We got up at 9:30 - headed to the buffet, it was busy as expected. We wandered around the ship for a while. The buffet was quite busy at lunch so we went back to our room and ordered room service. The didn't quite get our order right but who is checking. We spent the afternoon on our balcony and then went to the Serenity area and sat in the hot tub for too long. It was Elegant night, we dressed nicely but not formally (me=sundress, husband=dockers and nice shirt).

 

We had anytime dining. Most nights we had a table for 2. I am glad they have this option. 6 can be a bit early on port days and I find 8:15 too late. We never waited more than a couple of minutes for a table. 2 nights we ate with other couples. We enjoyed their company. We had already started eating the 2nd night when they sat them with us, that was a bit awkward. The food for the most part was good although sometimes it was cold. We were able to try some things we wouldn't normally order. I had the chocolate melting cake 3 nights in a row, that was enough for me! I am not a huge foodie so did not take pictures of the food and don't remember everything I ate. One night we ate at the buffet, it was OK but the MDR was much better.

 

We had many pictures done (we never have nice pictures taken) but only bought 3 the entire cruise.

 

We mainly took the stairs everywhere. I had a hard time remembering that the lido deck was up, I had a bad habit of going down 2 levels instead of up 2 levels! All of the exercise paid off because I only gained 3 pounds in our 10 days of vacation and I ate well.

[Sunseeker11]

Other Sea day notes:

 

I watched the marriage show, it was hilarious! They took a newlywed couple, 25yrs and 50 yrs and asked them questions. They also had a hairy back contest, I feel sorry for the woman having to squeeze their butts!The cruise director Karl with a K was amazing.

 

Barbados

 

We enjoyed our day sailing with Silver Moon on their 24 person cat, there were 21 of us and plenty of room. I highly recommend them! The atmosphere was quiet and relaxing with an amazing lunch. Our first stop was snorkeling at the ship wreck, it was ok but not the best. Then off to the sea turtles, we were the only boat there and there were lots of sea turtles! I felt bad that I kicked some of them when they came up underneath me. I wish I had a proper waterproof camera, I had a disposable and the pictures are horrible. Tiami arrived just as we were finishing up and there had to be over 50 people on their cat, was glad to be with Silver Moon. We stopped near a a beach for lunch, afterwards we jumped off and swam to the beach, it was where Tiger Woods was married, apparently $2500 a night. On our way back we ran into some heavy rain, we were fortunate it came when it did. Up until that point we had perfect weather.

 

 

 

The smaller Silver Moon cat

 

[brensr41]

thanks for the great start we will be going in april. cant wait to read the rest

[Ms. Fun Bunch]

My Fun Group will be doing this cruise in August! Can't wait for the rest!

[rockraiders]

Enjoying your review. We sail the Victory in 84 days. Can't wait!

[beerman2]

rockraiders

 

We sail right after you! 91 days for us!

 

Love reading about the Victory.

[LBumb]

great photos

[guntheros]

Love reading your review! We will be going in less than 2 weeks!

[jks336]

the OP ran away, hasn't been no more posts.. hopefully they will find their way back here to continue

[CaFireCaptain]

Like the review, Like Rock we are on the same trip. Nice to see pics of where I will be in 81 days.

[AryMay]

Sunseeker11' date='

 

Great review, thanks. We leave in 3 weeks for the Victory, this will be our second time. We are also in room #7416, do you have any pictures of the room, it's nice to hear it's quiet:D we are excited about the balcony, did you spend much time on it?

 

Thanks,

 

Jim[/quote']

 

I'm cruising with you, Jim...and more than just a little bit jealous of your balcony!

 

Thanks also to the OP for the review...and especially thanks for taking time to include the photos. I'll be checking back for the rest of the review...

[BenjiRodney]

Loved this, we did it in November and had a blast, Papa Bear was the best. We booked Victory again for next November.

[Sunseeker11]

Sorry I haven't continued, I wrote about St. Lucia yesterday and when I tried to add pictures it disappeared.

 

St. Lucia

 

We went on the Land and Sea Safari with Spencer Ambrose. I really wanted to go with Herod but he didn't get enough people (I wanted to eat at his mother's house).

 

The St. Lucia port is hectic, we waited out by the street for our group. Then we went to his van and waited some more for a missing couple. Spencer was training a new girl and I do hope she improves with time. She was soft spoken and didn't have any enthusiasm making it hard to be interested in what she was saying. We were fortunate Spencer came along for the day. I think our tour had 13 people, there was plenty of room (have read recently that people were crowded with 14)

 

Overall the tour was decent. We learned a lot about St. Lucia and saw quite a bit. The area on the beach was small and crowded. It started raining and everyone cleared out so the rain was a blessing! The boat ride along the coast was my favorite part. We did have some boat issues but were rescued by another boat and got back with 10 minutes to spare. This was my least favorite of all the ports but was still a good day.

 

It was $1 to hold the boa!

 

 

 

 

 

[Sunseeker11]

This is the volcano

 

 

This is the snorkeling area

 

[excalwop]

Sunseeker11; The rain forest lives up to it's name been there twice The 1st time was not a cloud in the sky and had a wonderful time.But the 2nd time I think that your photos look a little dry;). Was just glad that I had my dive camera with me that day

Paul

[excalwop]

Sunseeker11; The rain forest lives up to it's name been there twice The 1st time was not a cloud in the sky and had a wonderful time.But the 2nd time I think that your photos look a little dry;). Was just glad that I had my dive camera with me that day

Paul

Odds are good that will be back there for the 3rd time in three weeks time Post Victory cruise tour

[Sunseeker11]

More on St. Lucia

 

We found the vendors to be very aggressive and pushy, at points when our bus stopped we couldn't even look out the windows because the kids were swarming us. I think this really put us off St. Lucia, it wasn't like that in the other ports

 

 

St. Kitts

 

I had read some reviews that it wasn't even worth getting off the ship in St. Kitts so I didn't have any expectations. It turned out to be my favorite island!

 

We did a tour with Thenford Grey. He sent us a photo of where to meet. He was easy to find. This port was very organized, they had an area for the buses to park. Our group gathered together promptly and off we went in Thenfords very clean bus! Thenford is an amazing tour guide, very knowledgeable and interesting. I wish we had more time to spend at Romney Manor and Brimstone Hill, they were breath taking. He then took us to the look out (there was a man with a donkey and monkey dressed for Christmas - he was very polite, not pushy and took donations for pictures - wish we had given him more - his animals looked well taken care of).

 

We went to the Shipwreck bar, it was extremely busy and we waited 1.5hrs for nachos and fries! Although we did meet a nice couple from Florida and chatted with them over drinks. We had 1/2hr left until Thenford came back and we hopped in the water for some snorkeling, I was mad about how much time I had wasted waiting for food and now my time snorkeling was almost nothing and it turned out to be the best snorkeling of the entire cruise. I couldn't believe how many fish there were! Lesson learned. I wasn't concerned about snorkeling at the time because I thought it was going to be like St. Lucia.

 

As I said before, this was my favorite port and tour! I would do it again. A tour with Thenford is a must!

 

Romney Manor

 

 

Brimstone Hill

 

 

 

South Friars Bay