Carnival Victory Review - New Years Cruise 2013

[My4Grandsons]

I too had Yellow Bird as a guide. At the end of the tour, he stopped to get me a phone book so I could look up people with my maiden name. My father was born in St. Lucia, and this was my first visit. Getting in and out of the water taxi was no fun,:( but the drivers were helpful in guiding me.:)

[SooNet]

[quote name='iluvthe-c']Loving the reivew! We will be on the Valor in a month and in the cabin 7383 which is right across the hall from where you were! We originally booked an inside cabin on deck 1 and for $40, upgraded to deck 7! What a deal. I was not planning on doing any excersions on our trip, but you had me at 'mud bath' at St Lucia! How do I book with Yellow Bird?[/QUOTE]

I am not familiar with the Valor's layout but I would suspect that it will be as convenient to everything as our room was. Couple of floors down to the dining room and a couple of floors up to the Lido buffet and pools.

You can book a tour with Cosol Tours in St. Lucia. I am sure you can request Yellow Bird but I believe any of the drivers with Cosol Tours will provide you with a fantastic day. Each of their vans holds 10-12 people and they have several vans and drivers. Make sure to tell the driver that you want to stop at the mud bath as they all go there but not all of them let you out to do the bath and this will depend on the timing. We only had about 15-20 minutes to try them out.

Have a great trip! We loved the itinerary.

[SooNet]

[quote name='My4Grandsons']I too had Yellow Bird as a guide. At the end of the tour, he stopped to get me a phone book so I could look up people with my maiden name. My father was born in St. Lucia, and this was my first visit. Getting in and out of the water taxi was no fun,:( but the drivers were helpful in guiding me.:)[/QUOTE]

I was very impressed with Yellow Bird and this tour. It is very apparent how in love with their country they are. I am not surprised he did that for you.

[t1adams]

GREAT Review!!! We'll be on Cosol Tours first of April. Can't wait! I think the idea of the island being self-sufficient, as painful as it might be, is the best thing for them. Just look at how much harder those people work when they come to the U.S. Their work ethic WAY supercedes our worth ethic any day of the week. Sorry you had the accident at the mud bath. How scary! You did the right thing making sure you cleaned your abrasion. I'm a CPR/First Aid instructor and that's what we tell classes to do first. Wash abrasions, don't just treat with medication. Debris can settle in there and cause infections if left unwashed. ;)

On another note, we'll be doing Royston Tours in St. Kitts. Can't wait to see your St. Kitts experience.:D

[SooNet]

[quote name='t1adams']GREAT Review!!! We'll be on Cosol Tours first of April. Can't wait! I think the idea of the island being self-sufficient, as painful as it might be, is the best thing for them. Just look at how much harder those people work when they come to the U.S. Their work ethic WAY supercedes our worth ethic any day of the week. Sorry you had the accident at the mud bath. How scary! You did the right thing making sure you cleaned your abrasion. I'm a CPR/First Aid instructor and that's what we tell classes to do first. Wash abrasions, don't just treat with medication. Debris can settle in there and cause infections if left unwashed. ;)

On another note, we'll be doing Royston Tours in St. Kitts. Can't wait to see your St. Kitts experience.:D[/QUOTE]

Thank you for the compliment. As for my fall, I am glad it wasn't any worse and I am fine thankfully. I can lose my balance hitting a crack in the pavement so should not have even tried to walk on those rocks. Oh well, live and learn. I hope to have Saint Kitts posted today.

[SooNet]

Day 8 – Saint Kitts – January 4, 2013

We were up bright and early again this morning and we were able to watch the sail in once again.

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We ordered our room service for between 7:00 and 7:30 this morning as our excursion was booked for 9:00 a.m. Breakfast arrived at exactly 7:00 this morning. We had breakfast and got ready for the day. We headed off the ship and we out at the pier at 8:30. We found our tour guide right away and we quickly found out that we were the only patrons for the day. So after a quick look around the shopping area we headed off on our excursion. This time we were with Grey’s Island Tours. This was another tour friends of ours from the Miracle have taken and highly recommended on Cruise Critic.

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Our tour guide is in the back right of this photo but we didn't know it when we took the picture.

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[SooNet]

---- Part 2

We drove around downtown Basseterre and Thenford pointed out the major attractions, like the town park and the government house and all 3 of our major Canadian banks. Churches are quite important in the islands and much of the island is separated based on the Church parishes. Most of the islands we have visited on this trip were established this way and remain that way today.

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Our next stop along the way was a series of acacia trees and the yellow-billed white egrets perched in them. The egrets have a symbiotic relationship with the cattle on the island. They cattle walk in the grass and release the insects and the egrets eat the insects.

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Along the way we also learned of several American Universities that are established here in St. Kitts. There is the University of Medicine and Nursing and the University of Veterinarian Medicine. From what I understand they Universities hire American professors and only American students attend these universities. They all return to the States when they are finished.

Our next stop was a lookout over the ocean and from there we could see a couple of islands hidden in the clouds. From what we understand on a clear day we could see St. Eustatius and Saba Island.

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In one of the parishes we saw this tree that was filled up with empty liquor bottles - no real explanation as to why they were there but it was very interesting.

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[SooNet]

---- Part 3

We then drove along some local roads and pulled over to the side of the road to take pictures with a man and his monkey Johnny for a small donation. Johnny was so freaking cute too. He was also very used to sharing his time with humans. From my understanding there a lot of wild monkeys in Saint Kitts. They were brought to Saint Kitts hundreds of years ago on ships and now thrive here.

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Our next stop was the Romney Manor and Caribelle Batik and Botanical Gardens factory.

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[SooNet]

---- Part 4

We were able to see some local children dancing in traditional costumes and play traditional music. At this point I wish I had brought some small bills with me as I would love to have stopped and taken some pictures but our guide said they would expect money. We continued on to the Botanical gardens where our guide got out with us and described and named many of the plants here. I cannot even begin to remember all of the names but I do remember that many of the plants were from Madagascar.

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Lipstick plant – the seeds have a waxy coating that can be used as lipstick.

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[SooNet]

---- Part 5

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[gone_cruisin]

This, by far, is my favorite cruise! I love this itinerary!

[SooNet]

---- Part 6

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[SooNet]

---- Part 7

We then went inside the Caribelle Batik factory and watched a demonstration of how Batik images are made. The woman describing this to us did this all while working on her latest piece. She told us that some of the projects she has worked on take up to 10 days to complete. Some of these projects were on display and for sale. They were quite large pieces and cost in the $200 range. I did love them.

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---- Continued Edited January 27, 2013 by SooNet

[SooNet]

---- Part 8

We then had a chance to visit the store and purchase some items. We picked up a pillow, some rum in a little pouch for our friend, and a scrunchy for DS’s girlfriend and a bag of spice for a co-worker.

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Outside the shop I had a bit of a run-in with some nasty fire ants. I could feel this searing pain on my toe and when I looked down there was an ant crawling on my shoe. I immediately tried to kill it with my other shoe while asking Thenford if they were fire ants – this is when it got interesting as Thenford went into action and was trying to kill the ant on my foot. After he killed it he called the staff of the store over to get rid of the ants. There was a whole mound of them hidden under the leg of the bench near the exit of the store. His reaction kind of scared me as I didn’t know what type of ants they were and if their venom was poisonous. Thenford then assured me that I would be fine and that the ants just inject a bit of acid into you. EWE! Eventually the pain went away, but I did have a large bump and redness for weeks afterward.

After we left the botanical gardens we drove along the coast for a bit and Thenford pointed out a church where Jefferson’s brother Samuel Jefferson and Sir Thomas Warner were buried. He then read to us the inscription on the crypt. He had it memorized!

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[SooNet]

---- Part 9

Our next stop was Brimstone Fort. Before we made our way up the hill to the fort we stopped at the gate and were offered an audio tour guide for the fort. We have tried these before and although they may be informative we find they take away from the experience of what we are seeing so we passed on them FYI they were $5 each. The road up to the fort is a little daunting and I have to give Thenford credit for this trip up as it is very narrow and windy and the edges of the road are not protected by any type of fencing – one wrong move and you’re down a cliff. He mentioned that sometimes along this road you might spot monkeys freely roaming and eating fruit. We finally made it to the top of the road and at this point I wondered how on earth we would make it back down. However, the views from the top were worth the trip up.

We watched a short video presentation on the restoration of the fort and that they were still in the process of restoring it. Again I wish I had some small bills with me to leave behind.

We had a little break and then headed up the stairs of the fortress. They were brutal but again the views from the top were worth it. I could not believe how many cannons that this fort had. What also surprised me was the sign we passed on the way up to the fort that said the French had breached the wall. I could not believe that they were able to make their way up the hill and then breach the walls without being spotted or killed first. When we were finished with our tour of the fortress we made our way back down the stairs and then had a quick bite to eat at the café.

When we were finished we found Thenford and then headed on our way. I was kind of nice not having to wait for others at this point.

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---- Part 10

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---- Part 11

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[SooNet]

---- Part 12

On our way back down the hill Thenford pointed out a small bird that he said was the most aggressive bird in St Kitts. This little bird will hunt down and chase much bigger birds.

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We also saw a wild monkey eating fruit at the side of the road. We also passed a couple of other tour vans on the way down and it was tricky pulling over on the narrow road to let them pass. We passed through a couple of stone gates as we were making our way down the hill and at one these gates Thenford actually had to back up to get through it as the road winds around directly after the gate. We also stopped to see a Lime Kiln on the way down. From what I understand the limes were burned to help with the concrete – not sure how that works.

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So now we headed back the way we came and started to head towards the Atlantic side of the island. This side of the island has larger homes and several resorts. One of the homes we saw had a big Canadian flag painted on it. The resort we saw is directly on the Atlantic Ocean and parts of the beach were practically unusable as the surf was so strong there. There was one section that looked a little more protected and definitely had a lot of beach chairs on it but at this time no one was on the beach. At the top of the hill we were able to take pictures of both the resort on one side of the hill and on the other side of the hill were views of both the Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea and in the distance we could see Nevis covered in clouds. There was also a group of vendors here and a man with a donkey and another monkey. Again I wish I had some small bills remaining. I know for next time!

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---- Part 13


When we finished here we headed down to a beach on the Caribbean side of the island. It was a this point that Thenford let us know that he had another tour booked and he would leave us there for some time and he would either return for us or one of his other employees would. He gave us his card and we discussed a return time of 2:30, which would give us some time to enjoy the beach and time for shopping when we returned to port.

There was a small bar here and they sell a pair of beach chairs for $10 I believe. It took them a while to come and collect the money for the chairs but they eventually did. We also had a palapa so we were quite comfortable while we were there.

There was a woman sitting next to me and her son and daughter-in-law were in front of us. They were on our ship as well. I got a chance to talk to her about her experiences on the islands and she told me that she really didn’t like St. Lucia. She had a taxi driver that told her about all of the terrible things of St. Lucia. The unemployment rate and the crime and how the people working in the ditches were prisoners etc. It is funny how whom you meet and interact with can change how you might feel about your day on an island. We had a totally different experience in St. Lucia and the landscape of the island was breathtaking. Much of the island of St. Lucia is unspoiled and green. Regardless, of my conversation with this woman, I still loved my experience at St. Lucia and I would not hesitate to go back.

The beach bar was called Shipwreck and there was a restaurant there. We tried to get service at the bar but were basically ignored so we decided to try the small barbeque area beside the bar. We chose the jerk chicken meal and shared it. It was quite delicious and we thoroughly enjoyed it.

After our meal we were pretty much done for the day so I went and changed and then went to watch the monkeys and mongoose that make there home there. The restaurant feeds the monkeys sugar cane and the mongoose get fruit. The monkeys were very particular about the sugar cane that they choose to eat and would search through the pile for just the right one. Every once in a while you would hear them fighting in the trees either with each other or with the mongoose when they cross into the monkey territory.

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Thenford showed up right on time and both DH and I were ready to go. We made our way back to the ship and paid Thenford for his time – gave him a little extra as it was so nice of him to go ahead with the tour with it only being the two of us.

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[SooNet]

---- Part 14

We did a little shopping and saw the native dancers again.

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I stopped in one store and it was a tacky souvenir store but they sold “Name Brand” items like the Coach suitcase I noticed as we were leaving the store and they wanted $70 dollars for. The “leather” handle on the suitcase was cracking! Yeah that was clearly not a Coach suitcase.

We then headed back to the ship.

When we got back to the room we noticed that they were fueling the ship and I believe I heard an announcement that there would be no smoking at this time.

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---- Continued Edited January 27, 2013 by SooNet

[SooNet]

---- Part 15


We ordered room service for dinner tonight as we were spent after our two full days of touring. We had two BLT sandwiches and potato chips with drinks.

After dinner we headed up to the Serenity area to sit in the hot tub for a while. It sure felt good on these old legs to be in the warm water for a bit. It was a nice night and not too much wind either. When we finished in the hot tub we headed up to the round couches to enjoy floating on the sea.

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At 8:00 pm they had they towel making demonstration and the Bella Perlina sale in the FunShops. I picked out a bracelet and then we headed to the show. It was a lot of fun making our towel animals. The only problem with making them is that you do tend to need a lot of space to fold the towel. We made a dog and an elephant.

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We went to see the two Adults Only comedy shows tonight. They were ok but the one comedian Don Barnhart spent way too much time talking to only a few people in the lounge. He was funny but it was getting quite boring having them carry on a conversation that didn’t include the rest of us. We stayed and watched the second comedian Lenny Schmidt at 11:00 and then called it a night.

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and... the party is still going!

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[SooNet]

[quote name='gone_cruisin']This, by far, is my favorite cruise! I love this itinerary![/QUOTE]

Me too - I'd do this exact cruise again in a minute. However, just out of curiosity would you consider doing a B2B from San Juan if Carnival had two itineraries from San Juan. I have posed that question to John Heald as I wonder why they haven't tried that yet. There are so many other islands in the south that I would love to visit as well.

[jjtimes6]

[quote name='SooNet']Me too - I'd do this exact cruise again in a minute. However, just out of curiosity would you consider doing a B2B from San Juan if Carnival had two itineraries from San Juan. I have posed that question to John Heald as I wonder why they haven't tried that yet. There are so many other islands in the south that I would love to visit as well.[/QUOTE]

That is an awesome idea! Really enjoying your review. We will be on the Valor in a few months, and did this same itinerary on the Victory a couple years ago. Thanks for taking the time to write the review!

[My4Grandsons]

We too had Thenford as a guide. At Shipwreck, he and my DH had a long conversation. In fact, this March we are going back to St. Kitts (another ship) and I booked a trip to Nevis. DH is asking if he has to go to Nevis, because he'd rather hang out with Thenford.

[SooNet]

[quote name='jjtimes6']That is an awesome idea! Really enjoying your review. We will be on the Valor in a few months, and did this same itinerary on the Victory a couple years ago. Thanks for taking the time to write the review![/QUOTE]

Thank you - I am glad you are enjoying my review. Just a couple more days left to report on and I'm done.