Victory Review Jan 1-8, 2012 - Lots of pics

[kclvt]

We are booked to cruise March 10th, 2013 - so I have everyone beat for waiting!!!!!

[RunsWithFlyingDolphins]

Great Review. I really want to book that itinerary on the Victory. Maho Beach is amazing, isn't it? I fly in there very rarely, but it's fun seeing all the people get freaked out by my big airplane. I'm glad you had a good time and thank you for flying Delta! :D:D

[MarriedInStThomas1807]

We are booked to cruise March 10th, 2013 - so I have everyone beat for waiting!!!!!

 

When we booked our Victory cruise it was 422 days out. Felt like FOREVER! :( But alas.. now we're down to almost 40. :D Time flies!!

[MarriedInStThomas1807]

Question for the OP. I thought I read in another thread a few weeks back that they were doing road construction in St. Maarten and if you wanted to go to Maho beach it would be a big pain in the rear end and you may not make it back to the ship if you stay very long. Is that true? How long of a taxi ride is it from the port to Maho beach?

[jks336]

Question for the OP. I thought I read in another thread a few weeks back that they were doing road construction in St. Maarten and if you wanted to go to Maho beach it would be a big pain in the rear end and you may not make it back to the ship if you stay very long. Is that true? How long of a taxi ride is it from the port to Maho beach?

 

what i read in her reveiw is about 30 minutes and seemed the construction was done.

[excitedcruzr]

Love the review! Thanks! This cruise is on top of our list to do. My DH hates sea days and this port intensive itin is very appealing to us as well as the ports themselves being so awesome. I just worry about the San Juan airport and cruise terminal being chaotic and hard to navigate...did you find that? I also worry that the Victory is a big ship with a huge number of passengers. Was there lines for the buffet? Did you get seated in the MDR relatively quickly? Could you get a seat for the shows and comedians? Were there lines to get back on the ship at the ports? Thanks again and wedding congrats!

 

Regarding the airport..I had read this too, which is why I decided to fly in a day before and stick around a day after the cruise, to avoid crowds at the airport. But I don't know if it really made a difference. When we flew in, at 9:30 PM, on NYE, there was literally no one at the airport, so that was nice. But when we left SJ, we flew out at 9:45 AM. This was a busier time. Since we stayed at the hotel, (still gave ourselves 2 hours to get thru all the lines!), we had to walk (what felt like) past every other ticket counter (even though there probably was more counters past Delta), then we finally found the Delta counter. We asked 2-3 employees if we were going the right way, because it isn't set up like a typical airport (I've checked in at MSP, OMA, and MCO). And I don't know how to totally describe the airport not being typical...I guess I'm used to there being one ginormous ticket counter, and you find your airline, where as the PR airport had the ticket counters broken up. Luckily, the ag check didn't take us any time at all, since we had no lines, so that was nice. The longest part of waiting, was when DH had to re-arrange the check luggage, because we were over weight, and waiting in security (which security took about 10-15 min, if that). What it seemed to me, is they had a few different check points for ag and security, and depending where you were flying out of, told you which security check point to use. Which is another difference, typically, there's one security check point for every body to use, or as far as I've noticed. Just make sure to follow signs, and you won't have a problem.

 

There definitely was lines for the buffet. We had the buffets for breakfast and lunch most of the time. There werelines, but they seemed to move pretty fast. I forgot to mention, we had Early seating throughout the cruise, so we did get seated fairly quickly. I have no idea what ATD guests experienced as far as how long it took them to be seated. It seemed as if there was only about 1/4 (?, according to my great math skills :D) of the pax had ATD. Atlantic dining room upper was reserved for ATD, where as lower Atlantic, and all of Pacific were early or late seating.

 

We were able to get really good seats for the comedians and shows. With the comedians, I'd recommend to get there 10-15 min early, otherwise you won't have that great of seats. And if you like to get picked on, sit in the front. There was one certain comedian whose whole show was making fun of the people near the front. As far as the shows, we never had a problem finding a good seat, and we also got there 10-15 min early too.

 

Depending on what time we came back to get on the ship, there were lines. I think the worst time was when we got back around 2-3. The days we were in St Thomas and St Kitts, there was practically no line, but we got back before lunch time. One day, they closed the typical line to get back on, and diverted us to the exit ramp due to maintenance (?), and it seemed pretty confusing, as the people who were in charge of letting people on/off had no idea the maintenance guys closed it. But it solved itself within 5 min and they started letting us back on.

 

You're welcome :) and Thank you!!

[excitedcruzr]

Question for the OP. I thought I read in another thread a few weeks back that they were doing road construction in St. Maarten and if you wanted to go to Maho beach it would be a big pain in the rear end and you may not make it back to the ship if you stay very long. Is that true? How long of a taxi ride is it from the port to Maho beach?

 

I too had read that, which is why I asked my taxi driver repeatedly if there was any construction, and what I got out of him, is that it was completed shortly before we got there. It was kinda tough to understand him, but during the drive back, I didn't notice any extra traffic. It took the about the same amount of time to get there as it did to get back.

 

Granted, I would definitely ask your taxi driver if the construction is completed, because you can't believe every stranger's answer on here :p But to me, it seemed completed. Our taxi driver did make a comment about the bridge construction being finished, and when we passed it, he sort of explained what they did.

[folio#]

excitedcruzr we were on this same cruise as you! Congratulations!!! Looked to see if we were in your pics as there was 10 in our party lol! Wasn't the weather hot hot hot! One reason I love sailing out of San Juan. We also had a great time and having read other negative posts about leaving from San Juan we had not one problem. Everyone was having a great time and there were lines for lunch but like you said they moved fast. Always had a chair, we got up early on the fun day plus we were on the spa deck which we loved and will always book our cabin up there....loved it. We were in 1111 and we are booked for the Breeze January 5th on the spa deck as well. It was a great time with a great itinerary. We wanted to go to the airport beach but also wanted to go to out favorite beach Orient Bay, would take to long to do both and the cab fare was way to much. So we just went to Orient Bay and the money we would have spent on the cab fare, well we just used as bar money on the beach lol!

[Handsome58]

We go on her in August. Can't wait.

[pistachio]

thanks for the review! we leave on the victory in 3 weeks. can't wait! I'd love to see the Capers.

[D&CMom]

Great review! We are staying at the Posada San Francisco as well, before and after the cruise, and plan on eating at La Bombanera!

[D&CMom]

Oh and I forgot to say that we leave in 4 days!!!!! :D:D:D

[excitedcruzr]

excitedcruzr we were on this same cruise as you! Congratulations!!! Looked to see if we were in your pics as there was 10 in our party lol! Wasn't the weather hot hot hot! One reason I love sailing out of San Juan. We also had a great time and having read other negative posts about leaving from San Juan we had not one problem. Everyone was having a great time and there were lines for lunch but like you said they moved fast. Always had a chair, we got up early on the fun day plus we were on the spa deck which we loved and will always book our cabin up there....loved it. We were in 1111 and we are booked for the Breeze January 5th on the spa deck as well. It was a great time with a great itinerary. We wanted to go to the airport beach but also wanted to go to out favorite beach Orient Bay, would take to long to do both and the cab fare was way to much. So we just went to Orient Bay and the money we would have spent on the cab fare, well we just used as bar money on the beach lol!

 

Haha, yea the weather was indeed hot, but it definitely could have been worse! Our original plan was to do Orient in the AM and Maho in the PM, but with the taxi fares, we decided to just to one beach. I hope we can return to St. Maarten so we can visit Orient!

[excitedcruzr]

Great review! We are staying at the Posada San Francisco as well, before and after the cruise, and plan on eating at La Bombanera!

Oh and I forgot to say that we leave in 4 days!!!!! :D:D:D

 

 

 

Have fun! Have you been to Posada San Franciso before? It was such a great experience! and HAVE FUN!!! I'm so jealous of you :p And I see you're from Ontario..there will probably be tons of other Canadians on this ship. Forgot to mention it, but it was either pax were from San Juan or Canada, lol. Those of us from the continental USA were outnumbered. But anyway, enjoy yourselves!

[excitedcruzr]

thanks for the review! we leave on the victory in 3 weeks. can't wait! I'd love to see the Capers.

 

Alrighty, I can probably scan them up tomorrow for you. And if I don't do it tomorrow, I will definitely do it this weekend.

[D&CMom]

Have fun! Have you been to Posada San Franciso before? It was such a great experience! and HAVE FUN!!! I'm so jealous of you :p And I see you're from Ontario..there will probably be tons of other Canadians on this ship. Forgot to mention it, but it was either pax were from San Juan or Canada, lol. Those of us from the continental USA were outnumbered. But anyway, enjoy yourselves!

 

No we have never been to San Juan - looking forward to it though. :)

 

We Canadians are trying to escape this awful weather! :D

[01 Cobra]

Thanks for sharing your honeymoon and experiences!!! We did this cruise last year and we are going again in Aug this year. We just didn't seem to be able to do everything we wanted to do so we are going back for more! I know the hostel you stayed in!!! I ate breakfast at the resteraunt below it last year in June...nice area...I sat outside even tho it was hot, and I actually enjoyed it!!! I'm looking forward to getting back to PR and the Victory!!!

[pistachio]

Alrighty, I can probably scan them up tomorrow for you. And if I don't do it tomorrow, I will definitely do it this weekend.

 

thanks! that would be great.

[vwortho]

Thanks for the great reveiw. How long was the zip line excursion in st Lucia? What time did you leave the ship and return. Thanks.

[cruiser fanatic]

Could you please email me the funtimes my email is cruiser2008@live.com

Thanks.

[michiganirish]

thanks for the great review - did that trip 2 years in a row - will probably do it again and thanks for the nice comment on the detroit airport - it's come a long way - and yes is beautiful - congrats on your marriage