My Carnival Victory review 4/1-4/8/2012 (Long with lots of pix!)

[scraphappylady]

This wasn’t to say that Tim and my aunt didn’t do well; it just took a little longer for them to get used to the novelty.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

DH and I also got a quick refresher spin to make sure we were comfortable. Everything came back almost instantly. Kinda like riding a bike!

[scraphappylady]

Over the course of the next two hours, we meandered through Old San Juan, up to El Morro fort, and back down again, stopping many times to get a history lesson of the area. As I’ve found on my previous Segway tours here, I always learn something new each time I go.

 

Heading out

 

Paseo de La Princesa

 

 

Convent - I believe it's still in use today

 

 

Roots Fountain

 

Looking out over the bay

 

 

Very big but not good to eat

[scraphappylady]

 

 

Part of the old wall that surrounded the city

 

 

Although it was hot, it was a gorgeous sunny day, with hardly a cloud in the sky. Many people were taking advantage of the holiday to meander along the walkway that runs close to the old city walls.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Old guard tower in the wall

[scraphappylady]

 

 

la Rogativa sculpture

 

Quick stop near the governor's mansion

 

 

 

 

 

Watch out for those speed bumps; they can be a little tricky!

[scraphappylady]

When we stopped at El Morro fort, we had a chance to get a drink of water, but for the most part we took drinks from our own water bottles whenever we stopped. I would highly recommend bringing a few along. We drained ours by the time we got done with the tour.

 

 

Kite flying is a very popular pastime on the fort grounds

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lighthouse on top of the fort

 

 

Out of necessity, the armory was placed some distance from the fort, so there would be no unwanted accidents!

[scraphappylady]

 

 

Across the bay was another smaller fort, so that when enemies tried to enter the mouth of the bay, they would be caught in the crossfire from both sides.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Group photo by the entrance

 

 

Dry moat

[scraphappylady]

Above the fort entrance

 

Inside the main area

 

 

Some of the artillery on display

 

 

 

 

Various levels of the fort

 

 

 

 

[scraphappylady]

How the soldiers lived; considering many of them were coming from prisons in Spain to serve their sentences here, these accommodations were considered the lap of luxury

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These ramps were used to haul the cannons from one level to another

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[scraphappylady]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[tonit964]

By this time, we were pretty full. Most of us just had a small dish of sherbet, if at all. But Jon soldiered on and got the cappuccino pie. He really liked it.

 

 

 

We got pictures of us with both Rizalino and Pravit, tipped them well, gave hugs all around and slowly staggered out of the dining room, stuffed to the gills.

 

Here we are with Rizalino

 

 

and with Pravit.

 

 

Love your review and pictures. Pravit was our waiter on our Alaska cruise last August on the Spirit! We also saw him on our Thanksgiving cruise on the Spirit. He was awesome.

Glad you had a great cruise.

[scraphappylady]

It was a bit trickier going downhill, especially on those uneven blue bricks, but we just took it slowly and made it just fine.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Heading out through the Puerta de San Juan, the only one out of the original six city gates still standing.

 

 

Gate from the front

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After arriving back at the Segway building, we paid for our tour (adding a generous tip!), said good-bye to our tour guide Jose, and headed out to get a late lunch.

[scraphappylady]

Love your review and pictures. Pravit was our waiter on our Alaska cruise last August on the Spirit! We also saw him on our Thanksgiving cruise on the Spirit. He was awesome.

Glad you had a great cruise.

 

Wow! He gets around! Yeah, he was awesome. We were sad that we only had him for part of the cruise, but since it was because he was promoted to a head waiter, we were happy for him!

 

Thanks for the feedback!

[bruinswin222]

Thank you so much for this review I have been reading it all along. We are on the victory on July 8th and also staying post cruise at the Sheraton. I am hoping to be lucky like you and be able to check in early. I know you haven't finished the review but any recommendations of restaurants in old San Juan? (breakfast, lunch, or dinner)

[SXM54]

Did you book the Segway tour on line prior tithe cruise? About how much is the tour and each Segway. I'm very interested in trying this tour prior to our cruise. Easier to get around in the heat. Looks like fun!

[DJ56]

Sunday, April 8 – back to San Juan and our Segway tour

 

It was hard to wake up today, head out on our balcony and see that, yes, we had indeed tied up once more back in our home port of San Juan.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some of us were feeling it more than others.

 

 

Because we were going to be taking all of our luggage off the ship by ourselves, we didn’t really have a timetable to follow, but I knew I wanted to get to our hotel fairly early to beat any crowds.

 

In the past, Carnival had requested that we be out of our rooms by around 8:30 am, so by 7:45 am, we were dressed and ready to go eat. We made our way upstairs to the Lido, but as we hit the top of the stairs we saw a fairly large crowd. At that point, we heard Carnival employees telling everyone that the dining room was open with little or no waiting, so we turned around and went right back down there to eat.

 

The dining room WAS surprisingly empty, and in a short amount of time, we had eaten and were back in our rooms.

 

Before we headed out, I listened to the announcements, to make sure passengers were beginning to disembark, then we were on our way. It was a bit tricky to maneuver some of our luggage through the hallways. The room stewards were going full blast putting rooms back together for the new oncoming passengers, and some passengers had set room service trays out in the hallways. With Jon taking both of our larger pieces of luggage and the kids helping out as well, though, we made it through without a hitch.

 

By now it was close to 9 am, but the elevators came very quickly, and we headed for Deck 1. It was so sad to make our way to the card reader machines for the last time, and hear the final DOINK of our cards. I paused for a moment to take one last picture of my group near the ship. They hammed it up for the camera, but you can see how we were feeling!

 

 

 

I just LOVE your sad faced pix!! I have taken those too!! Thanks for sharing them....my morning started off with a 'chuckle'!! You made my day.... I can relate to that same feeling. I can't believe they are really making me leave!! My day to board the Victory is getting closer! One week from today!! Yippee!! Again, THANKS for sharing your cruise with everyone... ;)

[Handsome58]

Now I can not wait for August to get here! Thanks!

[Susie51]

Thank you for sharing your cruise with us. When I was on the Victory in 2008, I don't rember the Serenity area. It looks very nice. Is it for suite guests only?

[gizzie]

Awesome

[nimiq]

OK first thanks for sharing all these memories with us.

I love you detailed review,lots of info and just the correct amount.

I love you food pics. Made me hungry :-)

I love all of your pics.

I love how your family and yourself are so positive it just shows on your faces.

I love the Victory

I love your family.

 

OK I did use the word love alot but this is what transpired the most from your review. The love and respect you have for each other it was just beautiful to read and see. You guys continue like this you make such a nice family.

 

Sea ya

Eric

 

Hal Westerdam March2012

Coral Princess Sep2011

Ruby Princess Nov2010

Sapphire Princess Sep2010

Rccl Adventure Of The Seas April 2010

Carnival Miracle Feb2010

Rccl Oassis of the Seas Feb2010

Rccl Majesty of the Seas Nov2009

Rccl Navigator of Seas Sep2009

Hal Westerdam Nov&Dec2008

Caribbean Princess Nov2007

Sea Princess Nov&Dec 2006

Diamond Princess Apr2005

Rccl Navigator Dec2004

NCL SUN Nov2004

Visit of QM2 Oct2004

Carnival Victory Nov2003

Golden Princess Apr2003

Celebrity Mercury Nov2002

Carnival Elation Nov2001

NCL SKY Nov2000

[scraphappylady]

Apologies to all! I didn't mean to leave you all hanging! Mini crisis over the weekend, but the crisis is all averted now, so I will try to finish this up, then answer any of your questions and feedback!

After we finished our tour, we headed out to get a bite to eat. Once again, CC came to the rescue when I was researching restaurants before our cruise. While it was listed as a little hole-in-the-wall place, and indeed not much to look at from the outside, Punto de Vista was also listed as the #4 restaurant in San Juan (out of 406) on TripAdvisor. And we could definitely see how it got that rating. While I don’t remember exactly what we ordered, it was delicious, plentiful and inexpensive. They also offer 2-for-1-price Mojitos, so of course we (adults) had to take them up on their offer!

 

 

 

Located in a strip mall, right off of the main road, Punto de Vista is almost directly across from the dock where the Victory was parked. We took seats outside on the “patio” rather than in the miniscule interior dining area, and were quickly acknowledged. Drinks and food took a little longer to come, but the staff is laid back and very friendly. We had no real place to be, so we just relaxed and went with it.

 

After lunch, we checked out souvenir booths that had been set up close to the waterfront, and shared a couple of sodas from the food carts. (It was still really hot!) Traffic was horrendous, but since we didn’t have to drive anywhere, it was fun to watch the cars jockey to move forward those extra few feet every now and then.

 

 

Gridlock traffic

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

While we had the time, my aunt wanted to check out the Harley store located right in that same area, and the kids deemed this as good a time as any to stop at the Cold Stone Creamery right down the road. I went with my aunt, while DH took the kids, and we met up inside the ice cream store when we were done.

 

By now, Tim was getting antsy with all of the sightseeing, so we headed back to the hotel. The kids immediately plopped down to watch some tv – they were so deprived after a week without, you understand! It gave us adults a chance to unwind, take out some toiletries for the next morning, re-arrange some of our luggage and just generally chill. We also took this opportunity to use the hotel computers in the lobby to print out our boarding passes for the next day.

[scraphappylady]

As it started to get dark, and the deck lights came on onboard Victory, we took more pictures from our balcony.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By 8 pm, all the ice cream had worn off, and the kids were getting hungry again. Sigh. Where do they put it all? We again headed out, this time into a much cooler, and very pleasant, early April Caribbean evening. We didn’t have to go far to reach the restaurant I wanted to try this night, angling up a few blocks from the hotel in the direction of the San Cristobal fort, until we reached Café Berlin.

 

 

 

Upon entering, I felt it had a nice island type atmosphere, with floor-to-ceiling windows, slow moving ceiling fans, and both inside and outside dining. While the food was somewhat more expensive here as compared to our lunch menu, it was also just as good, including the fresh out-of-the-oven bread and dipping sauce.

 

Again, we ordered a variety of dishes, none of which I remembered to write down. We took our time eating, but it wasn’t long before Tim began to droop, putting down his head on the seat of the booth.

[scraphappylady]

We got back to the hotel after 9:30 pm, and Tim quickly got ready for bed. Meanwhile, my aunt broke out our last bottle of wine and we had a quick toast. Then leaving Jon, who was staying behind to keep an eye on Tim, the rest of us went up to the roof deck to wait for Victory to head out of port once again.

 

While the horn signaling the ship’s departure sounds wonderful when you are onboard, listening to it as the ship leaves without you is hard to hear!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Shortly afterwards, we turned in for the night. We had a long travel day ahead of us and we wanted to be sure we were well rested.

 

Up Next: A final look at San Juan, then home

 

 

[scraphappylady]

Monday, April 9 – one more walk through San Juan

 

Probably because of the fact that we would actually be leaving the Caribbean today, we were all up early, to squeeze out every last little bit of fun we could before we had to board our airplane.

 

A quick shower for everyone and some last minute condensing toiletries and re-packing luggage, and we were on our way to breakfast. I had deliberately scheduled a later flight home, in order to take one last leisurely stroll through town before getting to the airport.

 

Very empty, lonely pier!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Therefore, we had plenty of time to head to one of my favorite spots for breakfast – Cafeteria Mallorca.

 

The morning air was pleasant, without the heat that would come later in the day. We soon reached the restaurant and were told to sit where we wanted.

 

 

 

 

[scraphappylady]

 

 

 

 

 

We ordered a huge amount of food, including a fresh fruit bowl to share and a mallorca with butter for everyone to sample, as well as eggs and such, and our total bill was only $53 for the five of us. The pastries that were displayed in the front window also looked good, but we weren’t sure how well they would handle being carted around, so we opted not to get any.

 

The hotel’s check-out time was 11 am, which gave us plenty of extra time to stroll through more of the old city we hadn’t visited before. It was a great chance for me to take more pictures.

Plenty of beautiful architecture

One of the many plazas in the city

 

[scraphappylady]

Hotel El Convento

 

 

 

 

Blue paving bricks - brought over in ships as ballast