My long overdue review of my October cruise on the Carnival Victory

[Leo's Rule]

Upon leaving Sr. Frog’s we made a wrong turn to head to the area to catch the cabs and ended up walking past the bus terminal and thought we’d give it another try with the bus. We waited maybe 15 minutes for our bus. While waiting we saw Freddy Kreuger; I took a picture of him, but it’s not that great.

 

 

We had 2 buses we could catch back to Condado, I don’t remember them anymore, (I think one was the C21) and we saw one in the terminal. Turns out what’s showing on the top of the bus while they are “on break” before departure in not accurate. The route they will take updates when they are ready to start boarding. FYI, you must have exact change for the bus, if you use bills, you will not get refunded. And there are no set schedules for the buses; they come when they come. And outside of the bus terminal, if you want a bus, you must flag them down to get them to stop; otherwise, they will pass you up if you’re just sitting down at the bus stop (the driver just assumes you’re resting). The bus ride was fast, there were maybe 1 or 2 stops made. Once at the hotel, I walked around one last time and Monique and my mom went to the laundry facility to wash clothes. I showered and called it a night.

 

 

[Leo's Rule]

10/14/12:

 

Check out was at 12:30 and we all slept in until the last possible minute. We repacked our bags to make sure the liquids were in our carry on. We ate breakfast then checked out of the hotel. Before leaving, we took more photos and then our bellhop flagged down a taxi for us. I think the cost was $21; we had to pay a dollar for each bag.

 

 

 

 

We arrive at the pier and it looks like a mad house, but surprisingly, we moved through with no problems. We may have spent 15 minutes in line before reaching the counters. We received our S&S cards, posed for our embarkation photos (group photo and individual photos) and we were on our way to get on the ship. I think I’m in love with the Port of San Juan; we received numerous samples of wine and alcohol. I can’t even count how many I had. We went to our rooms and put away our carry-ons. Before we left the room, our luggage arrived; Monique’s was the only luggage that didn’t arrive. We went to lido, grabbed a bite, and then exited the ship.

 

 

 

[Leo's Rule]

We headed to the pier to catch the ferry over to Cantano so we could do the Bacardi Tour. We arrived a couple of seconds too late and watched a ferry pull off. We had 30 minutes to kill before the next one, so we went and purchased bags from a street vendor we had passed on our way to the ferry. Then we stopped at the CVS to buy some water; it was extremely hot out! The ferry came 2 minutes after we walked back to the waiting area.

 

Us on the ferry

 

The ferry ride was short and there were no cabs in sight to get us to the Bacardi factory when we arrived in Catano. I was thinking, “oh, hell”. Well, really, I was thinking “Oh, s***!” But we were saved by the bell. I saw a taxi driver leaving from a convenience store and flagged him down. He took us to the factory for $3 pp.

 

Picture of a statue while in Catano

 

When we arrived to the gate, the guard told our driver that the last tour had already departed. Mind you I did my research prior to arriving in San Juan and the last tour was scheduled to take place at 4 pm; it was 3:45! We asked if we could go to the gift store and he said yes. Now we’re in and a tour operator instructs us to get on the trolley and catch up to the tour that went before us and collect our drink coupon at the end of the tour. (We didn't get the first drink coupon) We hadn’t missed anything. The tour basically gives info on the process of making the rum, the reason the bat became their symbol, and a demonstration on making certain drinks with the rums.

 

Some pictures from the factory

 

 

 

 

We received our free drinks (so delicious) at the end of the tour and looked in the gift shop then headed back to the ferry.

[Leo's Rule]

Once back in OSJ I wanted to visit El Morro, but my mom started complaining, so we headed back to the ship where I then consumed 8 or 10 more samples. I make myself sound like a lush, but I’m really not a drinker. LOL. We purchased vodka, rum, and wine and then we were back on the ship.

 

We were hungry so we went to dinner. The first night was open seating, but we had YTD to begin with. We were in the Atlantic Dining Room and were seated with Lady and her team. If you’re looking for a food review, you really won’t get one. Everything I chose was good. Also, if you want an in depth review of the ship, I’ll try my best, but I didn't explore the entire ship. I know; that was sad on my part.

 

Atlantic Dining Room

 

Menu for the night

 

Didja ever Item

 

Fish

 

Guess whose meal this was - it's chicken strips

 

Chicken

[Leo's Rule]

My review of the ship:

 

Overall, I liked the Victory. She was a beauty to me. I've read reviews where people have stated it’s old and musty; not true! Yes, the ship is older, but it isn't musty. I did notice a sewage smell on one of the floors, but only on one night. Maybe someone’s toilet backed up? I stayed on the Main deck in cabin 2310. I didn't feel cramped at all, but the placement of one of the beds was weird. If you opened the door, people in the hallway could see if someone was in the bed; you had a full view! So keep that in mind. Our room was set up for 2 twins, but if you wanted the king bed, you would have had the weird placement.

 

Pictures of my cabin

I'll apologize now; my brain was not on taking pictures of the cabin...I was hungry, but you'll get the gist of the set up. If you book this cabin and opt for the king bed, people will see your bed when you open your door.

 

See the table? There's another bed to the left of it. That table can't be moved, so if you wanted the king, the other bed will be where Monique is...and you can see whose in the bed from the door

 

Monique was on deck 6 in cabin 6332. Her set up was better; no one could see the full bed. (Sorry, like I said, I wasn't thinking about pictures at the time.)

 

 

I liked the sea theme throughout the ship. I did board the ship worried I would hit the seahorses on the stairs; a lot of reviewers complained about that happening to them, but I say they must have been overly intoxicated or just clumsy by nature, because I never hit the sea horses and I took the stairs quite a bit. The décor in the library, club, internet café, and some other places were nice.

 

Some photos around the ship

I don't recall

 

Piano Bar

 

Lido at night

 

Atrium

 

Word of advice, if you go to the Punchliner, bring a blanket! A polar bear could live in there! Apparently there’s a Red Frog Pub on the ship, but I never saw it….or maybe they just sell the beer? There’s a serenity deck, but I never used it; it was always crowded, and there weren’t a lot of kids on the ship, so I didn’t need it.

 

My dining room was the Atlantic, which I enjoyed. I was on the floor level too. On the last day of the cruise, the morning we were back in San Juan, we had breakfast in the (Galaxy??) and I’m so glad that wasn’t our dining room. The set up was a little funky; there was no way a person could see the show the wait staff puts on…and this was floor level!! Maybe it was better up top.

 

I never got in the hot tubs or the pools, but I did go down the slide several times. The lines on the lido deck were ok, but I always went to breakfast around 7:30 am. One morning we didn’t get there until 8:15 or 8:30 and the lines were unbearable. I think I grabbed a grapefruit and some bananas. I’m picky about breakfast; I don’t eat breakfast meats and don’t like powdered eggs. I want my pancakes!!!! I will say that I was shocked this cruise; the oatmeal was actually good! The aft area on the lido had a leak; one of the tables had a constant drip of water falling down on it. The omelet station was always busy. The eating areas on aft seemed to be less congested. It took me a couple of days to figure this out, but turning right leads you forward on the ship, and turning left leads you towards the aft. The main floor is deck 5, you can get to all areas of the ship from there. I’d sail her again, but looks like it will only happen in Miami now since the Valor is repositioning to San Juan.

[Leo's Rule]

10/15/12:

 

We’ve arrived in St. Thomas! St. Thomas is a beauty in my opinion. I will plan a land vacation there. Our itinerary for the day is to go to Paradise Point (booked through Carnival), then do a land tour with Godfrey Tours, and then a sea trek at Coral World Ocean Park. We disembarked and headed to Paradise Point only to discover the lift was down; the staff prepared for the storm the day before, and we were told to come back at 11:00 am. Well, we had a tour with Godfrey at 11 so we couldn’t do it. (Yes, my money was refunded by Carnival)

 

FYI, everyone has always stated to buy the Paradise Point tickets through Carnival because they are cheaper ($20) when compared to buying them at the park ($25). Well, I learned the $25 covers the sky lift and a tour of the island!!!!!! If you buy through Carnival, you’ll only get the sky lift. (I haven't really confirmed this; one of the drivers told me that).

 

Well, we had 2 hrs to kill so we looked at stores, took pictures and then walked back to Paradise Point because we were meeting Godfrey there.

 

 

 

 

Godfrey had a full van, so he sent Burlie to give us our tour. We had the van all to ourselves. They provided soda and water for us if wanted it. I don’t remember all of the stops we made, but they were all breathtaking stops. Burlie even took a route that Godfrey doesn’t take because his van is larger and can’t make it through the tight turns. We did have a stop at Mountain Top; absolutely gorgeous views from there.

 

 

 

[Leo's Rule]

Our final stop was at Coki Beach, but I pre-booked our sea trek at Coral World Ocean Park so we walked over there. Burlie came back for us after our excursion.

 

We were early for our appointment, so we walked around, took pictures, and watched the sea-lion show.

 

Coki Beach

 

Coki Beach

 

Stingray

 

Turtle pond???

 

This thing is massive

 

Sea Lion

[Leo's Rule]

More photos around Coral World

 

It can regenerate it's limbs? What????

 

It took some time for me to actually touch this

 

 

Reminds me of a spider; I wasn't touching it

 

Donkey Dung?

 

I wasn't touching poop! Ok, so it really wasn't poop, but it looks like it

[Leo's Rule]

More photos

 

 

This fella somehow jumped out of the pond. I attempted to pick him up but he felt weird. My mom had to put him back in his home.

 

These roamed the property freely. I almost stepped on him

 

Jaws

 

 

[Leo's Rule]

2:30 finally arrived and we went for our briefing then did the trek. It was cool, but my water proof camera flooded and I was pissed, but Olympus is taking care of me.

 

The only picture that survived before my camera died

 

Our proof we did the trek. Had to purchase this since my camera died

 

We survived the trek!

 

After our sea trek Burlie dropped us off at Sr Frogs so we could get our free margaritas. We took them to go and ran back to the ship because we were cutting it close on time. I panicked for a moment because I thought the gates to get out of the port were closed, but we were fine; people were still getting on the ship. Once on the ship we showered and went to dinner in the dining room.

 

This was waiting for my mom in the cabin

 

Sorry, she ate one. She also had a ship on a stick

 

Our port photos

 

[Leo's Rule]

If I failed to mention it, it was my mom’s birthday. When it was time for dessert, my mom’s cake was delivered to the table (I pre ordered it) and the waitstaff sung 3 versions of HBD to her; the regular version, Stevie Wonder’s version, and 50 Cent’s version, and put a bow on her head made from the napkins. My mom isn’t a cake eater, but I wanted something delivered to her. The chocolate cake was mmm-mmm-good. It was so good that we ordered another one. I’m sure we did something after dinner, but I don’t recall. I do remember at some point I showered and went to bed.

 

Dinner photos

 

 

Fried Shrimp

 

Didja

 

Assorted seafood

 

Farfalle

 

Birthday girl

[Leo's Rule]

10/16/12:

 

This was our sea day and I had a photo scavenger hunt planned for us. This was so fun. My mom won the challenge! I didn't upload the photos to Facebook because some of the things we needed pictures of involved individuals who should have been stopped by the swimwear police and the other pictures just would have bored you; we were taking pictures with items that began with a certain letter.

 

I don’t recall everything else done that day, but we eventually got dressed for elegant night. Dinner was good and I do remember catching 2 comedy shows, I just don't remember the comedian's name (I could look at the FunTimes, but i'm lazy, I'm not going upstairs), but he was funny during both acts...and he didn't repeat his material. I loved the host Miguel; he said “azucar” after everything he said (you had to experience it for yourself).

 

We also went to the night club and danced. Eventually my mom called it a night, but Monique and I went back to the night club. We danced some more and then called it a night.

 

Pictures from our day

 

OMG...he was Monique's room steward...he hit on her every time he saw her. It was hilarious

 

Before getting ready for dinner

 

On our way to dinner

 

My mommy

 

Seated for dinner

[Leo's Rule]

More photos from our day

 

Dinner menu

 

Stuffed mushrooms (looks like escargot)

 

Didja item of the day...it was sooo good

 

Lobster and shrimp...sorry the photo is blurry

 

Guess who had this? From the every day menu

[Leo's Rule]

More photos from the day

 

 

 

Photos from either day 1 or day 2 of the cruise

 

Angel and I...she was a hoot!!!!

 

Look Ma, I'm famous. LOL

 

In the casino

 

Lido Aft

[Leo's Rule]

10/17/12:

 

When I began picking excursions for each port, I wanted to do a snorkel and turtle encounter, but my mom didn’t want to do it and I hadn’t heard back from Nicole or Monique and I didn’t want to be the only one going, so I didn’t pre-book anything for this port. If you're wondering who Nicole is, she is one of my good friends who was supposed to be on this cruise, but work issues prevented her from coming.

 

We hired a taxi to give us a tour of the island. It was $20 pp. Barbados is nothing to write home about. We didn’t have a real beach break, but the one we did visit was pretty. I asked the driver to stop for local food and he assured me we would, but that never happened. When I realized we were headed back to the ship I informed him of his oversight and he told me that he mentioned it when we stopped in the city; he did not, but he did offer to take me back, but I declined.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then why sell them?

[Leo's Rule]

More pictures around Barbados

 

 

 

 

 

When we were in the city my finger was bleeding due to a broken nail I suffered that morning. I needed a bandaid and he mentioned I could go the pharmacy but needed small bills because the store only refunded in Barbados dollars. Well, he was nice enough to go to the pharmacy with me and he purchased them for me since I had no small bills.

 

Back in port we sampled rum that would put hair on your chest. I bought a bottle for a friend who has a palette for it.

 

This is one of the bottles. I bought some Rum Punch and some Mount Gay Rum. One was given to a friend, one to my uncle, and the rum punch was for me

 

We're back on the ship for sailaway and took some photos.

 

[Leo's Rule]

More sailaway photos

 

Me and the Lucian DJ

 

Ok, I really am a big kid. I saw Funship Freddy from deck 11 and ran down to deck 9...I almost ran some kids down just to get to him.

 

 

 

After taking photos, we remained on the Lido deck to eat dinner. I wanted to make sure she had something she'd enjoy. She never finished any of her food from the MDR when we ate there; except for the night she had chicken strips.

 

We caught a show after dinner and my mom eventually headed back to our cabin, but Monique and I explored some more and found ourselves participating in the Thriller dance on Lido and eventually eating at the Mexican buffet. We ate some dessert and called it a night.

 

I just threw this photo in here, but we ran into Miguel "Mr. Azucar" at some point this evening

 

Monique loving life

[Leo's Rule]

Mexican Buffet

 

 

 

 

I don't like cheese, but wanted to take a photo of the display. There was a guy in front and he moved and I got a whiff of funk in my nostrils and gave him all sorts of side eyes. It wasn't until I moved closer to the cheese that I realized that was the source of the funk and not the guy. Ooops

 

Enjoying my fruit. My earlier post said we had dessert; well we did, I tried a slice of cake that was dry

 

Well, I wasn’t exactly sleepy, so I decided to play a prank on Monique. Earlier that day she told us how her room steward fell in love with her. He hit on her, telling her that he was lonely and needed affection. So, after I let her know I made it to my cabin, I called her back 10 minutes later pretending to be a man. She thought it was my mom playing a joke on her. Long story short, she hung up and wouldn’t answer the phone anymore. So I gave it a rest and called early in the morning (Thursday), saying, “Monique, you hung up on me. I was in want of you last night. May I come to your room?” She hung up and immediately called our room. I feigned ignorance and told her I didn’t know what she was talking about. Once we arrived to her room I came clean because I didn’t want her to think it was her room steward or anyone else for that matter and call guest services and get someone in trouble behind me playing a joke.

[Leo's Rule]

10/18/12:

 

We’re in St. Lucia and I’m amped for the day because I pre-booked an excursion with Treetop; I booked the Triple Adventure (jeep safari, zipline, and waterfall hike) for $89! Monique didn’t book when I sent the information to her and the special was no longer running and paid $125. The price actually wasn't bad because Carnival’s zip line excursion is $99 or $119 with a different company and they don’t have as many lines as Treetop (12) and is only the cost is only for the zipline.

 

My view from the Lido deck (and some married man was trying to step to me. He either forgot he had on his ring or thought I was down for his shenanigans...I think not!

 

Showayne William was our guide for the day. Our groups were split by the packages chosen…those who didn’t book our package were in an air conditioned van and we were in an open-air jeep. Basically, we had a tour of the island like the others did, but once we were off the main streets, we were able to stand up for a thrilling ride; one where you could lose an eye or your head if you didn’t duck when instructed to. Okay, maybe you wouldn’t have lost an eye or your head, but you could be injured because of the foliage in the rainforest.

 

Once we were at Treetop, we disembarked the jeep and went in to be harnessed. Oh, we did put away our belongings first. Note: The lockers have no locks, but no one stole anything. I’m not too trusting, so I did put my money in my sock; I wasn’t leaving that in an open locker! I wore a backpack and thought I could bring it on the zip line, but I couldn’t. While walking to the demo platform, they told us which lines were easy and which were more challenging. My mom was funny…she told the guides to put her on the easy lines. I explained to her that it didn’t work that way. She then stated she’d only do the 1st line and not do the rest. I told her if she wanted to get out of the park she had to do them all (I know, I was wrong for doing that, but I had to get her to do something different for a change). She made it through all 12 lines although she was angry after the 1st one; the guide gave her the slowdown signal too late and she crashed into the tree. It scared her, but she was fine…the trees are well padded. I crashed into one too. The guides did fuss at me on my 1st line because I spun and in my attempt to face them, I grabbed the top line; thank God I wasn’t hurt.

 

 

 

Had to make her go first

 

 

[Leo's Rule]

After the zipline we headed to another area via the jeep and had to walk down a trail and cross over a brook to get to the waterfall. Let me tell you, it was rough on my feet because I was barefoot; I wasn’t going to walk in mud and water in my tennis shoes. We were instructed to only wear watershoes or flip flops and guess who left theirs on the ship? Me (raises hand). Technically, I wasn’t barefeet because Monique had flip flops I could use, but it felt like I was because those rocks were sharp and it was muddy and the flip flops kept getting stuck in the mud. I took my Kodak Sport Video Camera because my water proof camera died in St. Thomas. Though it can take photos, the zoom sucks. As long as we were at the base of the waterfall our pictures were great, but if we wanted to the climb the rocks to get in the waterfall, we’d need a better camera. So I asked one of the ladies on the tour with us if she’d mind if Showayne used her camera to take pictures of me and Monique (my mom didn’t come down for the waterfall because she didn’t wear her swimsuit). So, many thanks to Monica and she sent the photos as promised!

 

Monique climbed up first. She's telling me which grooves to step on to get up to the rock she's on. Mind you, it was a big step getting out of the water onto the rock. Don't let the picture fool you

 

We made it! The water stung like heck!

 

On the way back to the jeep it began to pour down on us. Showayne gave us ponchos, but I opted not to take one…I was already soaked. Once we left the rainforest and the country-side of the island, the sun came out. We stopped to take a photo at the location where Pirates of the Caribbean 1&2 were filmed.

 

 

Monica and her family and I decided to eat the local food before heading back to the ship. Showayne stayed with us and the others were taken back to the ship. We ate at The Dolphin Ocean and the food was delicious to me. I had the fish meal which consisted of fish, fried plantains, cooked plantains, macaroni and cheese, and rice and peas. Monica had the chicken meal, her husband the lamb meal, and she ordered the chicken plate for her children. The plate came with French fries. I also had a small cup of rum punch…whoa is all I have to say…I think there was more rum than punch…if someone had a lighter they could have set my breath on fire. It burned going down. Let’s just say it took a while for that to wear off.

 

 

 

[Leo's Rule]

I walked across to the flea market and bought some local soap then went back to the restaurant so Sowayne could walk us to the pier.

 

We said our goodbyes and I double checked with Monica that she had my email address so she could send my photos to me.

 

Back on the ship, I locate my mom and aunt. I went to the cabin so I could shower and get dressed. At some point we went to our 2nd elegant night, but avoided having our pictures taken by the photographers, but took some on our own.

 

Can you tell that I'm tired? Or maybe I'm still tipsy from that rum punch

 

 

 

We weren’t seated with Lady this night because it was extremely busy. I don’t recall who we were seated with but their service was horrible! The server one section over was entertaining; too bad we didn’t get him; we couldn’t wait for dinner to end.

 

The picture was taken before we realized the service was horrible

 

Tonight's menu and our selections:

 

Baked eggplant

[lucyinthesky111]

Great review!!!

[Leo's Rule]

More food photos from our dinner

 

Mom's appetizer

 

Seafood platter

 

Spanakopita - I've had better, I didn't really eat this

 

Salmon - ordered from the every day menu. My mom ate a forkful and was through, so I ate it..well, 1/2 of it, I was still stuffed from the food I had in port. Monique ordered this as well. She enjoyed it.

 

Now I'm being lazy and don't feel like posting the dessert pictures. My mom had sherbet ice cream, I had baked alaska, and Monique had the amaretto cake.

 

We stopped by our cabins for a moment and discovered we had a treat from the dining room apologizing for the long wait. We stopped by Lido so my mom could eat and then we went to a show. I was bored to pieces, so I left and called it a night. I had been operating on little fumes of energy.

[Leo's Rule]

Great review!!!

 

Thanks! Started from scratch so I could get the photos in the review.

[chosbor2]

So glad to read about your first southern Caribbean cruise! Looks like you had a wonderful trip both times and have given me lots of ideas for mine!

 

 

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