Carnival Victory Dec. 16-23 2012 Review w/some pics

[100TMaster]

Figured after reading all of these reviews for years and not contributing much it was about time to post something that may be beneficial to some. This is my first review so take it as it is. I’m going to be honest here and as impartial as possible; be prepared for criticisms and commendations; if you disagree, this is just my experience and opinions so here goes!!

 

I’m going to give a brief overview of everything then get into the different ports separately.

 

Getting There: NYC 0800 flight to SJU day of cruise; good choice, no complaints

Getting On: once off the plane, on the ship within 2 hours; no complaints

Stateroom: upgraded from Deck 6 Balcony to Deck 9 Balcony 9-28* - DISASTER

Stateroom Service: Had Henry – awesome, hard working guy

Food: food in the MDR (Atlantic) was awesome, far beyond what I expected; ask for Carlos

Food Buffet: buffet lines ridiculously long, never seen this before, food was crappy at best

Entertainment: didn’t really go see any

Co-Cruisers: strangely aggressive, pushy, impolite (typical cutting lines, reaching in front of you while you are trying to serve yourself, running around in front of you tripping you, no apologies when knocking your stuff over); intermingled with friendly cruisecritic folk.

Cruise Director: Heenie - just seemed a little "off"

Sea Conditions: calm, comfortable

St. Thomas: Meghan’s Bay (spelling to be corrected later); AWESOME

Barbados: disappointed, mostly due to my lack of planning

St. Lucia: favorite! Did the Consol Tour with “Yellow Bird” AWESOME

St. Kitts: disappointed

St. Maarten: wandered to Phillipsburg beach, AWESOME

Debarkation: smooth, do it yourself, get off early, otherwise you will be stuck in the crowd

 

Background

30ish y/o male traveling with gf. I really enjoy cruising and am very easy going and generally don’t care about living the luxury lifestyle/having impeccable service. As long as there is a bed, shower, bathroom, food and a beautiful landscape, I’m pretty much a happy camper.

 

I worked on the Carnival Victory in 2000 (my first cruise as well) as a security contractor. In between 2000 and 2012, I cruised Carnival 2 other times (Celebration, Imagination) with average experiences. After my cruise on Carnival Imagination I switched to NCL and have been cruising with them until this cruise on the Victory. We have been very happy with the quality and level of service on NCL and have found it far exceeded Carnival. However, we wanted to get more ports of call and this cruise on the Victory was what fit the bill.

 

The “Fly-In”

Flew out of NYC at 0800 day of the cruise; arrived at 1235 hrs. Flight was easy and comfortable. Grabbed a cab (4 of us) from SJU to the pier, came to $24 ($19+2 gas surcharge + 1 per piece of luggage); still came out cheaper than carnival transfers.

 

Got to the terminal around 1335 hours. There was a bit of a line to get onto the ship through customs. We were on by 1430 hours and room was ready and food was hot.

 

I have to give it to Carnival; in retrospect, I know people didn’t get off the ship from the previous cruise till close to noon in some cases; having rooms ready for new passengers in such a short turnaround was pretty impressive.

 

**Small note: get the flu shot before you fly; many on the flight down got the flu on the cruise except the ones who had the shot. The morning of debarkation, everyone was hacking up a lung/sneezing; it was pretty nasty, except I had already been sick for 3 days.

 

NEXT POST IS THE STATEROOM: MUST READ FOR PEOPLE LOOKING FOR LIDO (Deck 9) BALCONY FORWARD

 

[100TMaster]

So here is the deal with the stateroom. We originally had booked mid-ship Deck 6 Balcony for a decent price. A week later, we looked at the deck plan of the ship (should have done earlier) and we found that our stateroom was right above the club. We figured it would be really noisy based on previous reviews so we paid an upgrade fee of $200’ish, I don’t remember exactly how much, to get a lido forward balcony (Deck 9); we were room 9-28*. These are the rooms that are right by the main entertainment area on Deck 9 and next to the Atrium elevators. We had read reviews that these rooms were nice and quiet despite their proximity to the elevators. Some people said, however, that it was noisy once or twice when people didn’t close the fire-door exit at the end of the hallway which opens directly to the party deck. THIS ROOM WAS NOISY AS HELL, and I sleep like a rock.

 

So here is how it went down; our first introduction to our stateroom:

 

We walk on, pleasantly happy to get our room right away. The room is fairly large and comfortable. Then we open the bathroom. Although the bathroom had been cleaned, the toilet was filthy. Not going to go into details, but filthy. We called guest services and they said they would send someone up to clean it. 2 hours later, no one showed (it was a long flight, so we were ready to use the bathroom and it was not usable). We called again and they finally sent someone up. Nice guy, tried to clean the bathroom but said that the toilet was beyond cleaning and there was nothing he could do; but he did manage to clean “some” of it. Called guest services again because toilet was still not hygienic. They actually did a good job and sent engineering up and replaced the toilet seat. I commend them, Guest Services actually did a very good job and made us very happy! WooHOO a usable bathroom!

 

Oh, as a precursor to the bathroom situation, the telephone in the room was broken; i.e. the buttons were broken off and the handset couldn’t hang up because the plastic had broken off; so to get in contact with Guest Services we had to use the phone in the atrium; they fixed the phone quickly as well though, so we were happy with a working phone and bathroom.

 

The entire room was covered in dust: the shelves, the draws, the TV. By this time I just didn’t care anymore so I dusted it myself before we dug in.

 

The Balcony: nice and large, 2 chairs and a table; comfortable; except for the noise. We liked to hear the ocean waves but all that can be heard from this room is the air exchange for the engines that has a vent somewhere in the vicinity of the balcony so all you hear is the loud air fans; similar to when you walk around deck 10 by the big gratings. The balcony door is made to shut automatically, so if you want it open, prop the chair against it.

 

The Fire-Door: man this thing was awful. When people open it to get to the Lido party deck, the thing doesn’t close, it stays open, and it you hear the partying all night long. I must have gotten up every night 3-4 times closing this stupid door behind people who were going to back to their rooms so we could sleep in peace. Once the door was closed, it was peacefully quiet. I don’t know why the door doesn’t close automatically. There is a picture below of the door.

 

Stateroom Service: we had Henry. Really hardworking, nice guy. Greeted us by name every day/night. Made us fantastic towel animals; always turned down the bed; made crappy stateroom choice slide out of mind. Good job Henry!

 

Other than that, bed was comfy, AC was cold, shower was hot, and we were comfortable.

[100TMaster]

Sorry, pictures coming soon, figuring how to upload; and review gets better, we actually had a great time and would cruise Victory again.

[tef43]

I'm confused.

 

You praise Henry, but yet Henry would have been the one responsible for the cleanliness of the bathroom. :confused:

[ron1946]

Co-Cruisers: strangely aggressive, pushy, impolite (typical cutting lines, reaching in front of you while you are trying to serve yourself, running around in front of you tripping you, no apologies when knocking your stuff over); intermingled with friendly cruisecritic folk.

 

We were on the cruise the week before you and experienced the same thing. We missed getting out of the elevator once because the people coming in would not let us out. The big thing was that when you tried to address an issue, all you got was, "No speak English".

 

When we went to the dining room we had an excellent table for eight, but my wife and I were the only ones at the table, and the entire dining room was only half full the entire cruise. However, going up to the Lido deck buffet, there were always long lines and could not find a place to even sit.

 

The last night of the cruise we asked two ladies from Puerto Rico about this, and come to find out, they said they received discounts for their cruise. They paid the same amount for an Ocean View that our friends paid for and interior!

 

We ran into many, many problems concerning rudeness, arrogance, hollering in the hall ways, lack of common courtesy, etc., etc., and although we were frustrated at times, we made up our minds that this was not going to deteract from our cruise. The Islands were all beautiful, and we had a great time with new friends we met.

 

Now before the flaming starts, let me say I have been all over the world in the Navy, participated in many cultures, I am not a racist or a biggot, and presently I am a preacher, so I tolerate people pretty well, but in eight cruises, I have never experienced this.

[PathfinderEss]

Enjoying your review.

[hockeyluver]

Looking forward to the rest of your review, we will be in a 4J on the Victory in February, and we are planning on booking this itinerary on the Valor for 2014.

[Name Of The Game]

Cruising from San Juan is not on my list after reading yet another review about the boisterous, rude fellow passengers.

[KirkNC]

Thanks for the review!

[t1adams]

Cruising from San Juan is not on my list after reading yet another review about the boisterous, rude fellow passengers.

 

As sad or pathetic as this might sound, you might need to book this cruise during a very busy cruising time of the year....when you know it will be sold out (mostly American) and it won't have the opportunity to be discounted. We're cruising during the heart of spring break this coming year on the Valor and it was sold out a few months ago. When you cruise on ANY line, ANYWHERE during "off season," you need to be expected to cruise with discounted folks.

[100TMaster]

I'm confused.

 

You praise Henry, but yet Henry would have been the one responsible for the cleanliness of the bathroom. :confused:

 

I'm not sure that is correct. Henry seemed to be the one changing the sheets and some other interior work; he had a crew of 3-4 other workers who had different uniforms cleaning the bathrooms; these guys had play grey tops and bottoms and carried around the mop buckets and such.

 

Not sure of the inner hierarchy structure of the room stewards; it kinda seemed like Henry was not the one cleaning the bathrooms, just dealing with the guests and tidying up; definitely a separate crew was out and about scrubbing.

 

Either way, only day we had a problem was Day 1; every day past that was fantastic, regardless of who was scrubbing.

[100TMaster]

The Fire-Door

 

 

[100TMaster]

Our Zoo; thanks Henry!

 

[100TMaster]

We were on the cruise the week before you and experienced the same thing. We missed getting out of the elevator once because the people coming in would not let us out. The big thing was that when you tried to address an issue, all you got was, "No speak English".

 

When we went to the dining room we had an excellent table for eight, but my wife and I were the only ones at the table, and the entire dining room was only half full the entire cruise. However, going up to the Lido deck buffet, there were always long lines and could not find a place to even sit.

 

The last night of the cruise we asked two ladies from Puerto Rico about this, and come to find out, they said they received discounts for their cruise. They paid the same amount for an Ocean View that our friends paid for and interior!

 

We ran into many, many problems concerning rudeness, arrogance, hollering in the hall ways, lack of common courtesy, etc., etc., and although we were frustrated at times, we made up our minds that this was not going to deteract from our cruise. The Islands were all beautiful, and we had a great time with new friends we met.

 

Now before the flaming starts, let me say I have been all over the world in the Navy, participated in many cultures, I am not a racist or a biggot, and presently I am a preacher, so I tolerate people pretty well, but in eight cruises, I have never experienced this.

 

I usually could care less, but this was the first time on a cruise I was a little taken back.

[100TMaster]

Now to the good stuff!!! FOOD!

 

MDR Review Up First

 

We booked this cruise knowing (expecting actually) that the food would probably not be comparable with NCL. We may have been jaded from the food on our few earlier Carnival cruises, but we just did not want to be disappointed, so we didn’t expect anything. We were pleasantly wrong. Food at the MDR was absolutely fantastic.

 

We utilized the anytime dining, but generally tried to aim around 1800-1845; anything past that there was a long line to get into the Atlantic. I am not positive, but I believe the Pacific was reserved for cruisers with set dining times.

 

We requested Carlos as our waiter each night; funny guy and hard working; service was top notch and he would also accommodate our strange orders at times (2 starters, shared deserts, etc.).

 

First dinner I had some type of braised meat, I forget if it was lamb or pork, but it was perfectly done and terrific. Lobster night was great; lobster tails were meaty and not overcooked. Had the Mahi-Mahi another night it was pretty good as well. Alligator fritter appetizers were tasty; the shark fritters tasted a little too fishy for my liking. The steaks were cooked perfectly as ordered, and came out hot! They ranged from medium-rare to medium as requested by the individual. We have had bad experiences on other lines, but the Victory galley really nailed it. All and all, the MDR food was good-great without any complications or regrets.

 

Only thing that got old was the dancing wait staff; but some people seem to enjoy it.

 

Braised Something - but it was good!

 

 

Sushi Appetizer

 

 

 

Black Bean Soup

 

 

The famous lava cake

 

 

Some type of apple pastry

 

 

Lobster!!

 

[100TMaster]

Alligator Fritters (actually, this may be a picture of the shark fritters, they both looked the same but the shark tasted not so good and the alligator tasted pretty good)

 

 

Stuffed Mushrooms

 

[Bashlin]

Would like to see all the pictures you have of the ship please.. And do you have any balcony pics..

Thanks and good review

 

Sent from my Galaxy 3S

[100TMaster]

Panko Shrimp

 

 

Mahi-Mahi

 

 

 

 

Atlantic Dining Room: very pretty and open which is something we enjoyed.

 

 

Atlantic Dining Room

 

 

[100TMaster]

Buffet and “Specialty Windows”

As other people have mentioned, the layout of the buffets are pretty bad. I think part of the reason NCL doesn’t have lines at the buffets is because they have multiple island type buffet stations whereas the Victory had one main buffet mirrored port/starboard and one line on each side. There is no way to sugar coat it, the lines were long, really, really long. We usually just avoided the buffet. There was a small island station behind the buffet close to the stairs to the upper seating area, but the problem there was that no one knew where it started so people were always jumping in front of people waiting in line (making it longer lol).

 

The main buffet opened at around 1800 hours for dinner. The line started forming at around 1750 hours. If you were not there by 1805, you had an exponentially increasing wait time starting at 10 minutes.

 

Once again, we avoided the main buffet because of the lines and, in my humble opinion, the food was pretty bland, even though it was basically the same stuff you get in the MDR, just self serve.

 

Just forward of the main buffet are two “specialty windows,” literally. On the port side is the NY Deli which served up hot Reuben’s as well as some pretty good pastrami sandwiches. As can be expected, the line was long at times and the guys working the window were less than happy due to the extended hours and popularity of the window. I threw them a $5 and they seemed to smile and remember us for the rest of the trip.

 

On the starboard side is the Asian “specialty window.” I really have nothing good to say about the food served here so I’m simply not going to.

 

Aft of the mid-ship pool are two grill counters; again mirrored port/starboard. Lines as usual. Burgers/dogs/chicken fingers/fries/fixings. Chicken fingers were really good; burgers were decent, didn’t have the courage to try a dog. There is also another one of these stations by the aft pool on the starboard side; same stuff, different spot, same quality.

 

Also on the aft deck is the 24 hour pizza “pizza pirate,” yharr! Man, the guy working this place hated life, hated cruisers, and had good reason for it. This poor guy must have worked this counter 18 hours a day – he was ALWAYS there and people were ALWAYS ordering pizza. Tough gig-but from what I remember it was a starting position on the ship. Some reviews say you can get calzones here – no luck for us, we asked at all hours of the day and they refused. We also tried to get a Cesar salad with chicken and they told us 30 minutes (but that never happened). So, on one hand I feel sorry for the guy, but on the other hand, this is your job and people pay money to have access to 24 hour pizza. I'm horrible about keeping my wallet in my pocket so I gave the guy a $10 one night around 0100 when kids were giving him a hard time. He smiled and me and said thank you with such a tone and facial expression that basically translated to: "thanks bro, I really appreciate it, they work me like a dog here and these kids without parents give me *#*t all night long and I have to smile and eat it up, so thanks for being appreciative of my services, come back any time." (yeah, all that from the look on his face and the thank you). Anyway, the guy always smiled and said hello from that point on and gave me whatever i needed and some extra.

 

In case you are wondering, the pizza was awesome. If you want a specialty pizza listed and displayed, plan on coming back in half hour or so and hope someone else didn’t get it. Of course, lines were long here as well during peak hours of the day, also expect un-supervised kids to bypass the 20+ person line and go straight to the front, grab a slice off the counter, go back to their seat and throw the majority of the slice away.

 

Breakfast

We ordered room service nearly every day which was fantastic. It was a basically a continental breakfast, but we had it on our balcony which was wonderful. Room service was always on time and always friendly.

 

Lines for breakfast at the buffet sucked just as much as the lines for dinner. If you need some food, head to the aft grill – people seem to forget about it in the morning. There is an omelet station there was well, the crew does a good job cooking up omelets to your liking.

 

Service

Crew was everywhere cleaning tables and making room for hungry cruisers. They did a great job.

 

Main Buffet

 

 

Main Buffet

 

 

Main Buffet

 

 

Mid-Ship Grill Port

 

 

Mid-Ship Grill Port

 

Mid-Ship Grill Port Seating

 

[Pookarook]

Cruising from San Juan is not on my list after reading yet another review about the boisterous, rude fellow passengers.

 

Did this cruise in May '11 and had the same experiences with the fellow cruisers as others have mentioned. My personal favorite was the propping of cabin doors so that they could yell down the hall to communicate. It was certainly a loud cruise. Oh yeah, all the kids in the hot tubs was great too. On a positive note, the itinerary is top notch, as was everything else on the ship.

[CruzinTamela]

Thanks so much for your great review and pics! They bring back great memories of my cruise on the Victory several years ago. I'm glad to see I was not the only one disappointed in St. Kitts!

[Cruizinman]

Nice review ,I miss the ole Girl :D

[bucks724]

Our family did this itinerary on the Victory in 2009 and we canceled before final payment. We lost about $150 but were okay with it. When they returned, they ALL said we made a good decision. Same complaints about the passengers. I've been hearing about it since 2009 and they vowed to never leave out of SJU again. Sorry you had a crappy set of fellow passengers too!

[mlrack101]

Food: food in the MDR (Atlantic) was awesome, far beyond what I expected; ask for Carlos

Food Buffet: buffet lines ridiculously long, never seen this before, food was crappy at best

 

My DH and I did this cruise last year and yes Carlos is the best! Buffet was always long yet we never had an issue, We were right on the lido deck 2 cabins in and since we are early risers we were there right at 7am for breakfast. Got in line got our seats and enjoyed the rest...lol We did find a lot of PR's on the trip but expected it as you mentioned they 'fill the boat' and since they dock in their country they get the advantage of the discounted rates. we didn't have any issues with loud people (first week of December). We did find when getting back on board from the port to take the stairs up a couple of levels and then take the glass elevators back to the lido deck. Otherwise the lines were long for the regular elevators.

 

My DH and I are taking our 2 DS's on this same trip in 11 days! Can't wait. Looking forward to reading more of your reviews. I too didn't like Barbados but LOVED St Kitts!

[100TMaster]

Our family did this itinerary on the Victory in 2009 and we canceled before final payment. We lost about $150 but were okay with it. When they returned, they ALL said we made a good decision. Same complaints about the passengers. I've been hearing about it since 2009 and they vowed to never leave out of SJU again. Sorry you had a crappy set of fellow passengers too!

 

Yeah, some passengers were a pain, but all-in-all we had a fantastic cruise on the Victory and would certainly do it again. I think the great time we had definitely outweighed the passenger mix; i was just pointing out some disappointments we had with the cruise. But, as above, we did have a great time and the itinerary was fantastic.