Carnival Victory 4 night Western Caribbean review!

[fshstck]

We just got back from the 4 night Western Caribbean cruise onboard the Carnival Victory: March 12-16. Miami / Key West / Cozumel. I will tey to touch base on every aspect of our experience (even a call from tje "upgrade fairy"). Hopefully this will be beneficial and entertaining to future cruisers! Just a little personal background to give you our perspective. Mid -40's couple married 20+ years this was our first vacation together without the kids, we went on a cruise once before in 2001 on Royal Caribbean (along with our 3 children, four brothers and their family and my Mom to keep peace). So this was a new experience for us being without family and by ourselves.

 

Let's start with the pre-cruise selection process: We live in the North East UNite States and every Easter we go to Florida for Spring Break, taking three kids for a week long vacation to either Cocoa Beaxh or some other beach town, thia ywar was going to be different, my oldest daughter is in College and her Spring Break doesn't coincide with my high school age daughter's break. We would not be able to go this upcoming Easter. We decided instead next Christmas will be a week in the Florida Keys. It's been a long cold winter, and a stressful one for my wife since she recently changed jobs, I knew she was due for a respite from her hard work. So I started thibking about a mini-vacation for just the two of us. I got out a calendar, checked the dates with everyone's schedules (proms, band concerts, college break, work meetings etc. ....) there was only a few feasible windows that would work, Mid March was the best choice. Now to find a cruise line and deatination! To be continued....

[Bosox312]

Great! Looking forward to reading more! We are going on her in less tha 60 days.

[fshstck]

Ok, let me apologize for the typographical errors, I am posting using a Kindle Fire and the keyboard is not it's best feature. So it was back in late December/ early January that I began planning this trip, I also wanted it to be a surprise and I was going to tell her on Valentine's Day! I decided on mid March, and began looking at the factors which would determine what to chose:

1.Starting Port- (narrowed it down to either Miami or Ft. Lauderdale- I wanted to start in a warm weather city- also Southwest has lots of cheap non-stop flights from BWI to FLL)

2. Ports of Call- (I wanted a Caribbean destination, with the help of this forum I was intriqued with Cozumel, we had been to the Bahamas on our first cruise, and Dominican Republic on our honeymoon. Cozumel sounded good!)

3) Activities- (My wife always wanted to swim with the dolphins and I love to snorkel, Cozumel offered both)

4) Length of cruise (4-5 days seemed to be the ideal range- just in case my wife didn't enjoy it, she is prone to motion sickness)

5) Price- (Carnival seemed to be the most reasonable, I also considered Princess and Royal Caribbean)

 

I spent several days checking the different cruise line itineraries and found the best suited cruise was Carnival's Western Caribbean and March 12th was the date! I like to control planning so involving a travel agent wasn't an option. I considered booking through AAA, but ultimately decided I would book directly with Carnival. I created a profile and did some mock bookings. Within a few days I got a call from a Carnival PVP, they were having a 48 hour sale. I asked if I could pay it in installments and she said 'No', because it was a limited time offer. I asked what benefit it was booking tjrough her rather than doing it online, she really couldn't give me any tangible benefits of using a PVP. I told her I would thonk about the offer. I e-mailed my wife's boss and aske if she have those days off (remember my wife has no idea I am planning this). Ten minutes later I got the answer, she qould give her the time off, I went online booked the reservation and paid in full. It was the point of no return, I had to make this vacation work!

 

Fast Forward..... a few days before Valentine's Day, my wife's workplace decides to do some budget cuts, immediate boss was terminated and her job was also on the chopping block, depending on what the board of directors decide. Her stress level is bumped up a fe notches and on Valentine's Day I gave her all the paperwork, everything was booked: air flights, excursions, shuttle transfers, rental car reservations for the day the cruise ends. She was extremely happy but still worried she would lose her job, especially having to take time off. A few days later she got word, her job is safe and her former boss had told the CEO of the company about the upcoming vacation, apparently everyone at her work knew and kept it quiet. She could finally relax, and get ready for the.much needed vacation! to be continued.....

[Bosox312]

We, too, are flying from BWI to FLL. Did you use a taxi to get to the port? If so, can you share what the cost was? Thanks!

[fshstck]

Here are some things that may help you going from BWI to FLL. The night before we stayed at the Red Roof Inn plus because it was a 6:00am flight and we live three hours away from the airport. (I wanted to stay at Aloft, but there reservations line was down the day I tried to book a room- either one is less than $90 a night). I used econopark express for offsite parking, I found them through GROUPON and it was only $22 plus tax for the entire time. At FLL we got a shuttle through MJS, it was only $15 per person to Port of Miami (do not get a traditional taxi, it would cost a fortune). I would recommend MJS, the only issue I had with them was that I expected them to be waiting when we arrived, we ha to wait about an hour, because he was actually bringing people that got off the Victory that mornong back to the airport. It is also a shared shuttle so we had to wait around for another couple to arrive. I was annoyed about the waiting, because I didn't know that would happen. Leaving from FLL we had a real late flight 9:35pm, We rented a car from Alamo, downtown Miami with drop off at FLL and that cost us $45. The taxi ride feom Port of Miami to downtown to Alamo was $10. Hope that helps.