FlyingCruiserNJ's Victory Tour (Carnival Victory-OCEAN SUITE) 11/28-12/2

[FlyingCruiserNJ]

Thank you so much for the great pictures, and your interesting and well written review! You made me relive my cruise from last week. I sailed from 12/19-12/23. It was a great cruise!

 

I am very glad that you are enjoying the review. I do try to make them informative and interesting at the same time, so everyone can get something from it to use for their upcoming cruises, or in your case, to re-live their experiences. Especially this time of year, when it gets dark early, is cold and snowy, it helps to think of vacations. How was your cruise? Did you experience a lot of the same stuff I did? I thought it was a nice enough ship with mostly good service and food, and while the itinerary is a boring one, it was still good to get off the ship and do stuff while in those places anyway. Happy New Year!

[FlyingCruiserNJ]

Very nice photos!

 

Thanks! Got more coming up, going to get started here in just a little while. Enjoy my sea day adventures! Happy New Year!

[MrsPhoenix91]

Thanks! Got more coming up, going to get started here in just a little while. Enjoy my sea day adventures! Happy New Year!

 

Thank you for your review! We have a similar itinerary on the Sensation in November 2017. We are excited to visit Key West again (first time was on the NCL Sky, your favorite ship LOL) and will be visiting Mexico for the first time.

[FlyingCruiserNJ]

Yes, I am finally back to bring you the continuation of my November 28 Carnival Victory sailing. I have learned that it is very hard to do a review around holiday season, because there is just so much going on but here I am to get it a little closer to completion. I am sorry about the long gaps in between postings but am going to at least get through day 4 here today. Thanks everyone for reading along and hope you have enjoyed following along with my adventure.

 

DAY 4: SEA DAY

 

You always know the cruise is in the finishing stages when you look back and see that you have visited all the ports of call on your itinerary and that all you have left is a sea day on your way back to where you began the journey. The next time we would see land (outside of sailing past Cuba where you can see it off in the distance) would be Miami, the next morning. But, that just means you have to get a little more enjoyment out of your last sea day. So here goes.

 

As is the norm with me, I slept in on this sea day once again. I woke up around 1100 sometime, and I have to say I did not get very good sleep the night before. I slept a good amount of time but it was pretty restless, up every few hours at the most, I don't know why. Oh well. I did wake up to seeing the nice day and open seas out of my cabin window. It is a good thing about having a balcony - on a sea day, you can leave the curtains wide open all day long, no worries about anyone looking in at you.

 

I sat outside on the balcony a little before we went to the seaday brunch, which is held on seadays in the Pacific MDR, and runs like 1000 or so to 1300. It is also the only time you can cash in your free platinum drink coupons. Yes, they do make it inconvenient for you to do so but it has always been that way. I believe that they should make it redeemable anytime, even if just on that last seaday because most people do not drink only one drink on a seaday and if you cash it in while hanging out on lido, you might just get comfortable and buy more drinks. Not gonna do that in the MDR though. Anyway...

 

As you can see, the balcony was larger than the standard, with a table and 4 chairs. Plenty of room. Light controls inside for when you want to go out on the balcony at night.

 

 

Warm, usual Caribbean sea day weather.

 

 

I said I would show a good tour of the ocean suite we had, here is the whirlpool bathtub we had. It was nice but my mom said it was nearly impossible for her to get into to even get a shower, definitely not ADA compliant and if you have mobility issues at all, avoid this setup. The tub was also small, but it was unique and definitely not something I have at home.

 

 

Sink and toilet. Plenty of space here for sure. No plumbing issues at all.

 

Seaday brunch preview. I will say we went to the MDR around noon to get seated and no issues with that, not crowded. More on that in a few....

[FlyingCruiserNJ]

DAY 4: SEA DAY CONTINUED

 

The Carnival seaday brunch is good, but it has not been updated in years. Still the same setup, same menu, same theme. The American Table has made dining interesting again, maybe they can work on that with the seaday brunch next. It still has the same accompanying theme that they had with the Punchliner brunch which was a colossal failure and that they did away with fairly quickly. Oh, BTW, they still call the comedy club the Punchliner, but at least they did away with the "partnership" they had with George Lopez, his name is no longer associated with it and many, many cruisers everywhere are happy about this. LOL. I will miss his recorded cursing before each show however, haha.

 

Anyway, they offer the usual breakfast a la carte items, or combos, or lunch-ish stuff. Of course, you can combine items to make interesting dishes, but I have always enjoyed the filet and eggs that is on the menu. So I got that again, fried eggs and medium-cooked filet mignon, which was ok this time. I did ask for dry white toast as an extra, and they did bring that out pretty quickly. Cannot have overeasy fried eggs without toast, man. Of course, I ordered a side of sausage links to go with it as well, who wouldn't? The steak and eggs also comes with decent homefries (but any diner homefries back home are way better) and a tomato if you were wondering. It was all pretty good, and I ordered a Funship Special, which took forever to arrive but was good and strong and my mom got a Pina Colada I think. She got the steak and eggs also I think. The seating we had was nice, near the window but it was really warm there in the sun.

 

 

We left the MDR around 1300, and they were beginning to close it up and were not letting any more people in at that time, and so we checked out the dinner menu which was posted up outside the MDR and I headed off to take in the day's activities while my mom went upstairs to walk around some.

 

On the way to meet at the lido restaurant around 1400, I stopped by the Seafood Shack. Interesting, never saw that before on a Carnival ship. Now, I am a seafood snob, living in a coastal state and spending much time at the shore itself, so while it looked good, I did not get anything from here as the experience would not be that special for me. Plus, you do have to pay extra for anything you order here. They had crabs, lobster, fish, shrimp, etc, and I think they said they would deliver it to you anywhere on the ship, but it just did not appeal to me. It was located aft, on the other corner from the pizzeria. I am sure if you wanted to check it out, it would be a neat experience though. I do wonder out loud why Carnival did away with the Fish N Chips they had on ships such as the Glory. I liked that place.

 

 

While I walked past here, I also saw a self service beer machine. I do not know what they had in there or what it cost or even how it worked, but I had heard about that in recent times and thought it was an interesting concept. I did not see anyone stop by it at all, during the cruise when I was nearby. Why would you, when there is a bar right next to it? But it might be an option and you can check that out if you are interested on a future cruise. They also have this concept at the Phillies ballpark, I guess for the business it cuts down on overhead and allows people to get their drinks more quickly. We will see if it catches on universally or not. I say it won't but you never know.

 

I also saw an impromptu game of beach ball volleying going on in the aft pool around this time. I was not sure what was going on so I passed by but it looked fun. I did go back here and join in later on, will talk more about that shortly....

And since we were in the seaday brunch for so long, I missed the ice carving demonstration so I do not know what the artwork was made into this time or where they even stored the carving after it was done, I never saw it anywhere. After that was the men's hairy chest competition. It is funny, they take guys of all age ranges, pair them up with women of all age ranges who will be the judges, then have the guys parade around and which ends with the women judges determining who was the winner of the whole contest at the end. I think I saw the girl who I talked to in the hot tub a few days earlier had been a judge as I passed by, LOL. I should have entered the festivities and gotten another chance to get acquainted with her. Oh well. I did have better stuff to do, like go to the chopsticks for a late second round of lunch and meet up with my mom again.

 

Nice day on lido, sun out, people enjoying the day. Have had some cruises where the last sea day featured lousy weather and ruined the whole experience. Not this time.

 

Of course, today also featured the Chocolate Extravaganza, which only goes for like an hour, on the lido buffet and if you have gone to it ever, it is overrated and the stuff looks good but generally doesn't taste that great. They do have dat chocolate wonderfall though, similar to the one that Golden Corral has, and they will dip anything you give them in chocolate which is the best part of it. Runs only until about 1430 or 1500 though.

 

 

I got some wonton soup, pepper chicken and rice and a chicken roll from Chopsticks and my mom and I sat down to another family from the Philly area and talked for a while before we headed off on our separate ways around 1530. No pictures of this lunch though but it was pretty good.

This is a ship map, located around the public areas, makes it hard to get lost on the ship.

 

More on my interesting fun time in the pool in a minute....

[tdh8359]

Following, great job by the way.

[FlyingCruiserNJ]

DAY 4: SEA DAY CONTINUED

This was one of the elevator banks. Throughout the cruise, it seemed each bank had one or more elevators down for maintenance and even when they were re-opened, they looked like they were under construction. Odd. The waits for elevators were never that long though, sometimes you had to go down to go up or vice versa though. Also, near the midship elevators, you had the glass elevators right next to it but they didn't always stop at all the same decks that the classic elevators did. I think they go to deck 3 only, so if you are lower than that, take the other elevators. Nice view of the atrium though.

 

The stairs. Not so bad to go down, not fun to go up. But if you wanted to work off calories and did not want to go to the gym, going up a few floors or more on these took care of that for you.

 

 

I also forgot to mention that did got some fried chicken and roast beef at the buffet at lunch, as the last sea day seems to feature "American" stuff on each cruise. The roast beef was dry and the chicken was not as good as I have had in the past so not great there. The deli was located on the other side of the ship on lido, from the chopsticks and was open much later than the chopsticks, did not go there but have heard that the stuff they have there is usually pretty good. Always seemed to be a line for that place. They also had the grill, which had hot dogs and fries on one side with one line and burgers on the other side of the lido, so you had to wait in two separate lines if you wanted both. Whatever. Maybe they should put a Guy's or Blue Iguana in here, huh? But they were open until at least 1700 most of the time.

 

Not to get sidetracked, but my mom likes to go to tea time on cruises, and she said this one was horrible. The selections of teas were bad, the service was bad, and teas that used to be free were now not and people had to pay extra. She said she was disappointed big time and wasn't sure if she would go back to one on her next cruise or not. Also, no Platinum or Diamond drink party (aka the party where you meet the ship officers, see a video of Carnival ships, meet the people onboard with the most days at sea, get snacks and FREE DRINKS) on this cruise, as I think they have scrapped the party for cruises less than 5 or whatever days. They are fun, and some are funner than others, and it all depends on ship management and how they approach doing them. If you were wondering about that....

My mom went back to the room to pack and I got my swim trunks and headed back to the aft pool to check out the activity going on back there around 1530. So, it turns out that someone had brought a beach ball to the pool with them, and it quickly turned into a pool full of people volleying it around and seeing how many times it could be bumped and by how many people until it hit the water or floor outside the pool again. Probably about 20 people playing at its peak and it had apparently been going on for a few hours. We did get some really good rallies going, and it was fun. Strangers of all ages, men, women all playing, getting along and this game went on until close to 1700 I would guess. I did get a couple of mouthfuls of salt pool water though as I dove a few times to keep the ball alive.

I mention this because it was a ton of fun, it just sort of happened, it wasn't organized by really anyone or any part of the ship staff, and everyone had a blast doing it. We were all sad when the owner of the ball left and took the ball with them, lol. Everyone kind of scattered their own ways then and I went and hung out in the hot tub for a little while with people from everywhere and talked about cruising and all kinds of stuff. It was fun, I headed out before 1800 and went back to the room to get my camera and try to get a good sunset picture but again, it was cloudy and I didn't get a great shot. I regret not getting pics of the fun at the pool but I don't like to take my phone up to the pool with me as it could get wet, stolen, etc and it is not worth the risk. Oh well.

 

I did get this picture of the sunset however, but it was not the greatest and I went back inside to check out the guitar player Jason, who was usually in the Ionian room on deck 4 but was playing in the atrium at this time, before heading back to the room to get ready for the last dinner of the cruise. I also stopped by the library, which seemed quiet and was not crowded but would be a nice place to hang around away from everything for a while.

 

 

 

 

Also got a pic of the excursions desk, which was closed for the rest of the cruise, but is located right near the atrium and across from the guest services desk. You can buy excursions here when it is open, but if it is a really popular tour, it can sell out and you can miss out if you wait until you are onboard to buy it. It has happened to me before.

 

 

Dinner upcoming....

[FlyingCruiserNJ]

DAY 4: SEA DAY CONTINUED

I also should mention that Carnival does a cool thing called Groove for St. Jude on every cruise I have ever done on them, and it is a dance seminar that benefits the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis. I have been to Memphis and that place is a beloved facility there and across the world really. If you are skeptical of charities as I can be as not all are as good as others, this one is a charity that you should support. I am not a dancer but I usually make a donation and get the t-shirt that they give everyone who donates at the least because I believe in their mission. Anyway, that is done on lido on the final seaday of cruises. I also forgot to mention that while the captain was not all that chatty during the cruise, he did give the usual noon update as to weather, position, forecast, etc as we passed the northwest coast of Cuba. It can be seen in the distance on a clear day.

 

Back to the story though, I got an ice cream cone around 1800, walked around some more and stopped by Serenity to see what was happening up there. Not crowded, but I never realized how big that area was either. You first see the area with the bar and hot tubs but they have hammocks and really secluded areas on the other side of the ship if it is just peace and quiet that you want. I also walked past the area on the deck below where it seems they are working on building a kid's pool, as it is advertised as such and is right outside the kid's club (but it doesn't look that close to completion yet). If you have kids and care about that stuff, the kid's club levels are Camp Carnival for the little ones, Circle C for tweens and Club o2 for older teens. Not sure about the exact age cutoff for each group, but surely it is not hard to find out if you look it up. I have heard they do a good job with keeping kids entertained on Carnival however.

 

This is the Comfort Kitchen, which had things like fries, chicken fingers, some weird chips and hot dogs, on Lido. It was closed after sunset but this was it. On the other side was the burger grill.

 

 

Another view of the again obstructed sunset

 

This is what the Punchliner comedy club looked all lit up. Of course, this lounge was used for more than just the Punchliner at other times.

 

The hallway our cabin was located in. They had the modern island-style faux wood paneling on the doors which gave it a neat theme.

 

I got back to the cabin around 1830 and took a short nap before dinner. I did one last dip in the whirlpool bathtub before getting ready for dinner, and we headed to the last dinner in the MDR at around 2030. They always had the rule that if you arrived too late, you wouldn't be seated but now they are serious and if you get there like a half hour or more late, they refuse to let you in and make you go to the buffet. And the buffet ain't the MDR, folks. I stopped by the buffet a few times to see what they had, and trust me, the MDR is much better. Room service is much better. They actually had room service menus in the cabins and while we did not order anything from it, some items are for a cost now and they include chicken wings. Finally. Of course tipping is a must for room service if you do order it as well. Anyway....

 

We were seated, ordered my final appetizer of beef barley soup, which was very good. I ordered some shrimp cocktail as well and penne mariscos for my entree along with Caribbean mojito chicken, which I had never had before but was really flavorful and good. The penne mariscos was just too much to finish though, good pasta with sauce and tons of seafood. I think they might offer it as an appetizer and if they do and I see it again, I am not going to order the full size dish as it is too big if you have other stuff ordered as well.

 

[CARNIVALCRUISE3]

I am very glad that you are enjoying the review. I do try to make them informative and interesting at the same time, so everyone can get something from it to use for their upcoming cruises, or in your case, to re-live their experiences. Especially this time of year, when it gets dark early, is cold and snowy, it helps to think of vacations. How was your cruise? Did you experience a lot of the same stuff I did? I thought it was a nice enough ship with mostly good service and food, and while the itinerary is a boring one, it was still good to get off the ship and do stuff while in those places anyway. Happy New Year!

 

I have sailed on this ship 5 times since I live 30 minutes away from The Port of Miami. Actually, I love Key West and Cozumel. I'm a teacher and sail during Spring Break, summer vacation, and Christmas vacation. I also sail with my mom and nephew. We have taken my nephew on cruises since he was 8. He is now 17 and didn't want to come this time. Maybe he will join us on the Vista in April. During the summer, I sailed by myself because My mom suffers from back pain, and her back was really hurting. My nephew was on vacation with my brother. On this cruise, I didn't book any excursions. It was a cruise to relax. We walked around Key West, and at Cozumel stayed at the port area shopping, and sat on the beach chairs by the palm trees facing the ships to catch some rays. It was so relaxing! We didn't want to leave!

Edited December 30, 2016 by CARNIVALCRUISE3

[FlyingCruiserNJ]

DAY 4: SEA DAY CONTINUED

 

More dinner stuff....I will say the sunflower crusted bread rolls are awesome. The plates with the Abe Lincoln images are neat also, nice touch. Other plates have other famous images on them, luck of the draw from night to night.

 

 

Of course, at the end of dinner, the wait staff does the farewell of Leaving on Funship, everyone wanted to get a picture and it is always a nice sendoff that they give you on the last night in the dining room. Carnival classic stuff.

 

 

I got a last dessert of wcmc and we had a little chat with the wait staff after giving each of them generous tips about their careers with Carnival, ships they have worked on, places they have gone, etc. Their workload was never huge all cruise long but it is nice when they take the time to talk to you about just normal everyday stuff as they used to do all the time but don't always have the chance to do anymore due to the decreased staff for more tables they have now. So, by 2200 we were out of the dining room and on our way to the final stage show of the cruise, which was called Vroom, which I am pretty sure I have seen before but still went to and enjoyed. Live music makes all the difference. My mom loves going to stage shows and while it is not my favorite thing to do, I enjoy watching the set changes, support staff work, etc - the stuff most people don't pay much attention to.

Afterwards, we went to the 2300 show of Percy Crews in the Punchliner, and it was not particularly overcrowded. I stopped by the not-currently-in-operation Taste bar on promenade, near the casino as we made our way to the other end of the ship, they offered samplings from Blue Iguana Cantina and Fahrenheit 555 steakhouse on this sailing. Of course this ship has neither but the whole point of the taste bar is to get people to try stuff from venues that are on other ships so they might book those other ships to experience the full menus.

 

 

Percy Crews was OK, but again it wasn't the kind of comedy that just makes you laugh and that is clever stuff, but at least it was comedy. He is a really nice guy and very approachable after the shows, outside the club however. So, right before midnight, we went up to the pizzeria for one last slice and one last soda, and hung out there until about 0030.

 

When everything quieted down, it was back to the cabin to finish packing and to verify that all our bills from the sign and sail accounts were good and I finished off the red wine that we had brought. We sadly did not even get to the white wine that we brought on, but I have since drank it at home and it was pretty good stuff. I also will say that we put our bags outside the cabin to get collected the next morning. We usually do self assist and could have this time, as we are usually in a hurry to get back to the airport to get a flight home but we had plenty of time the next morning to hang out so we could wait until they got to baggage claim to take them the next morning. We originally got zone 1 tags for being Platinum from our steward, but as part of the tour we had purchased for the next morning. something like zone 4 was our new debarkation zone. That was reserved for purchased excursion holders I think. We also made sure we filled out the customs declaration forms and had our passports ready as you get the forms on the last sea day and it is best to have them done in order to make customs and immigration go by faster the next day.

 

 

The last day's Funtimes, here they are.

 

 

 

While I sat outside on the balcony with my last glass of wine, I watched as we could see the lights from I guess, Key Largo or something nearby in the distance as we were only a few hours away from arrival back in Miami. We were scheduled for an 0700 arrival, but we got back much, much earlier. I think we were docked back in Miami before 0500, I will get into that much more when I talk about our debarkation experience the next morning. As usual, the last night is somber and I usually don't sleep that great knowing I have to get up early for debarkation and the trip back home, but I was asleep around 0100 either way.

 

That pretty much wraps up the cruise activities of the first four days, but there is still plenty to talk about. I have our entire debarkation day experience coming up, from docking to debarkation, to the neat Everglades tour we took, to our experience of traveling back home to end the vacation. I will try to to get to that as soon as possible, hopefully in the next few days, and thank you for your great comments and I hope you have enjoyed reading about my cruising adventure to this point. Have a wonderful New Year!

Edited December 31, 2016 by FlyingCruiserNJ

[FlyingCruiserNJ]

Thank you for your review! We have a similar itinerary on the Sensation in November 2017. We are excited to visit Key West again (first time was on the NCL Sky, your favorite ship LOL) and will be visiting Mexico for the first time.

 

Sensation is a great ship also. Been on it a few times. Older, smaller but it is nice for a short cruise to the western Caribbean or Bahamas. Or down to Ensenada on the west coast of Mexico. It has been my pleasure to write all about my time on the Victory, I enjoy doing it and I am glad people enjoy reading as well. Have a great time on your cruise and there is definitely plenty to do in Key West. It is possible to go to a different bar or shop or restaurant each time you go there, LOL. And I try to do just that. :cool: But there is also plenty to do in Cozumel, and you will have a good time there as well. Just don't be afraid to venture out from the port area and experience everything the place has to offer. And yeah, the Sky. LOL. We saw it sail past on embarkation day on this cruise and couldn't help but have flashbacks, :mad:. But anyway, have a great New Year and thanks for reading along!

[FlyingCruiserNJ]

Following, great job by the way.

 

Thank you very much, glad you like it. Have a happy New Year!

[FlyingCruiserNJ]

I have sailed on this ship 5 times since I live 30 minutes away from The Port of Miami. Actually, I love Key West and Cozumel. I'm a teacher and sail during Spring Break, summer vacation, and Christmas vacation. I also sail with my mom and nephew. We have taken my nephew on cruises since he was 8. He is now 17 and didn't want to come this time. Maybe he will join us on the Vista in April. During the summer, I sailed by myself because My mom suffers from back pain, and her back was really hurting. My nephew was on vacation with my brother. On this cruise, I didn't book any excursions. It was a cruise to relax. We walked around Key West, and at Cozumel stayed at the port area shopping, and sat on the beach chairs by the palm trees facing the ships to catch some rays. It was so relaxing! We didn't want to leave!

 

Haha, sometimes I wish I lived that close to the port and then I would literally cruise every month. I do have friends who live in Florida and are always asking me to stay with them though. It is pretty easy to get to the port cities in Florida from Philly though, plenty of flights going there every day.

 

Key West and Cozumel are fun places, I have seen so much of each that when I go there, it is usually just to eat, drink and relax. I take more exotic itineraries usually once a year but I am running out of ports of call that I have not already visited, lol. Guess it is on to South America and Europe next.

 

My nieces have sailed a few times in the past and love it. They are getting ready to go into middle school, so they are getting into that too cool to see their relatives stage, LOL. We are planning on a cruise maybe this Easter with them as a matter of fact. Looking forward to it. I have sailed solo a few times and enjoyed it. It is nice to cruise with other people but you can surely have a fine time by yourself. Do what you want, have a cabin to yourself, meet new people, etc. That spot right across from Pancho's in Cozumel is really nice. Carnival did a good job with that port area when they rebuilt it a few years ago. The only port like that with a better atmosphere is probably Grand Turk, at the Margaritaville which is usually much more crowded than the little beach area in Cozumel.

 

Anyway, thanks for reading and I am glad to hear you are enjoying and have a great New Year. I will try to get this review finished in the next few days and if you like seeing wetlands and alligators, be sure to check out my write-up of the excursion we took after the cruise was over.

[easyboy]

Your sea day posts and photos are really entertaining and informative. I feel like walking along with you on the ship!

[CARNIVALCRUISE3]

Haha, sometimes I wish I lived that close to the port and then I would literally cruise every month. I do have friends who live in Florida and are always asking me to stay with them though. It is pretty easy to get to the port cities in Florida from Philly though, plenty of flights going there every day.

 

Key West and Cozumel are fun places, I have seen so much of each that when I go there, it is usually just to eat, drink and relax. I take more exotic itineraries usually once a year but I am running out of ports of call that I have not already visited, lol. Guess it is on to South America and Europe next.

 

My nieces have sailed a few times in the past and love it. They are getting ready to go into middle school, so they are getting into that too cool to see their relatives stage, LOL. We are planning on a cruise maybe this Easter with them as a matter of fact. Looking forward to it. I have sailed solo a few times and enjoyed it. It is nice to cruise with other people but you can surely have a fine time by yourself. Do what you want, have a cabin to yourself, meet new people, etc. That spot right across from Pancho's in Cozumel is really nice. Carnival did a good job with that port area when they rebuilt it a few years ago. The only port like that with a better atmosphere is probably Grand Turk, at the Margaritaville which is usually much more crowded than the little beach area in Cozumel.

 

Anyway, thanks for reading and I am glad to hear you are enjoying and have a great New Year. I will try to get this review finished in the next few days and if you like seeing wetlands and alligators, be sure to check out my write-up of the excursion we took after the cruise was over.

 

I have also done 3 day cruises. I work 1/2 day on Friday morning, and on Monday morning head straight to work. So I only miss only half day of work. I don't like the 3 day cruises because they're full of nasty Miami drunks. On 4 -7 day cruises, you only see maybe one or two really drunk people.

 

Grand Turk is also one of my favorite ports. It is so beautiful and relaxing hanging out by the Margaritaville pool.

 

Actually, we didn't make it to dinner the last night because we were packing and there were so many activities going on. We went to eat on lido, and they had the same menu as the dining room. They had the penne mariscos, and the other items listed.

 

I loved the newly remodeled cabins. I felt like I was on the Breeze because they are decorated the same.

 

Thanks so much for your beautiful pictures and interesting and well written review. Wishing you the best in the New Year.

[Shaded Lady]

Love your review... subscribing so I can follow it all!

[FlyingCruiserNJ]

Your sea day posts and photos are really entertaining and informative. I feel like walking along with you on the ship!

 

Glad you like them. I guess I am doing this right as that was sort of my aim, to portray this whole review to people as I saw my experiences during the cruise. It does help people get more into the review, rather than just posting pictures of stuff or a brief summary of what was on the ship and in the ports. Thanks for reading, and I am going to get to the last part of the review sometime later today hopefully.

[FlyingCruiserNJ]

I have also done 3 day cruises. I work 1/2 day on Friday morning, and on Monday morning head straight to work. So I only miss only half day of work. I don't like the 3 day cruises because they're full of nasty Miami drunks. On 4 -7 day cruises, you only see maybe one or two really drunk people.

 

Grand Turk is also one of my favorite ports. It is so beautiful and relaxing hanging out by the Margaritaville pool.

 

Actually, we didn't make it to dinner the last night because we were packing and there were so many activities going on. We went to eat on lido, and they had the same menu as the dining room. They had the penne mariscos, and the other items listed.

 

I loved the newly remodeled cabins. I felt like I was on the Breeze because they are decorated the same.

 

Thanks so much for your beautiful pictures and interesting and well written review. Wishing you the best in the New Year.

 

There is definitely a difference between weekend booze cruises and the longer ones that are port-intensive and that visit more interesting ports. Sometimes you are in a mood for a weekend getaway but sometimes you do a longer one that requires more time, money of course and planning but both have their ups and downs. But it is awesome that you are so close to the port and can do those short cruises without missing much. I can go out of Baltimore and NYC also and have done a cruise from Boston but they actually cost way more for the most part, taxes and fares and generally do not go too far south, into the Caribbean. In general, cruising from Florida or somewhere else I have to fly to costs me less when you factor in everything believe it or not.

 

Grand Turk margaritaville is awesome although the drinks and food cost a ton, the atmosphere is unique and fun. Not a ton else to do in Grand Turk though, sadly outside of Jack's Shack, down the beach a little ways which is fun. I have done the island tour there, but unless you are into the extreme watersports, not much else to see and do on the island.

 

It just seems a lot of people skip dinner now, at least the late seating diners. I have always liked the experience but even I don't really get dressed up for it anymore outside of formal night and even then, only on longer cruises will I bring a suit with me. Just way more relaxed now than it used to be in the MDR. Once in a while they will have decent stuff that is similar to what you would get in the MDR at the buffet but I just generally like the sit-down and be served service at the MDR. Although on lines such as Princess and NCL, the dinner buffet seems to be pretty good and close to on par with the MDR. It just seems Carnival's buffet offerings have gone down in quality while the niche stuff like Guy's, Blue Iguana, Mongolian Wok, deli, seaday bbq, etc seem to be improving.

 

And the first thing I thought of when I saw the designs on the cabin doors was indeed the Breeze. That was the first ship I had seen with that and also the card slot behind the door that you have to put a card into to operate the lights. However on this cruise, the steward put his business card into the slot and we left it in there all cruise and that was effective in keeping the lights on all cruise long. I just read the Breeze is going in for a drydock, and wow, I remember when that thing was brand new. What is the dry dock interval, like every 4 or 5 years? Time is flying by these days. :mad:

 

Anyway, it was my pleasure to do this review and every review that I write, I am glad you have enjoyed it and best wishes to you in this new year. I have been so busy I haven't even made any new resolutions yet, lol. I should be finishing the last day of the review tonight though.

[FlyingCruiserNJ]

Love your review... subscribing so I can follow it all!

 

Awesome, I am happy to hear you are enjoying it. I should be finishing the last part up tonight, so be sure to check that out when I get it posted. Happy 2017!

[CARNIVALCRUISE3]

There is definitely a difference between weekend booze cruises and the longer ones that are port-intensive and that visit more interesting ports. Sometimes you are in a mood for a weekend getaway but sometimes you do a longer one that requires more time, money of course and planning but both have their ups and downs. But it is awesome that you are so close to the port and can do those short cruises without missing much. I can go out of Baltimore and NYC also and have done a cruise from Boston but they actually cost way more for the most part, taxes and fares and generally do not go too far south, into the Caribbean. In general, cruising from Florida or somewhere else I have to fly to costs me less when you factor in everything believe it or not.

 

Grand Turk margaritaville is awesome although the drinks and food cost a ton, the atmosphere is unique and fun. Not a ton else to do in Grand Turk though, sadly outside of Jack's Shack, down the beach a little ways which is fun. I have done the island tour there, but unless you are into the extreme watersports, not much else to see and do on the island.

 

It just seems a lot of people skip dinner now, at least the late seating diners. I have always liked the experience but even I don't really get dressed up for it anymore outside of formal night and even then, only on longer cruises will I bring a suit with me. Just way more relaxed now than it used to be in the MDR. Once in a while they will have decent stuff that is similar to what you would get in the MDR at the buffet but I just generally like the sit-down and be served service at the MDR. Although on lines such as Princess and NCL, the dinner buffet seems to be pretty good and close to on par with the MDR. It just seems Carnival's buffet offerings have gone down in quality while the niche stuff like Guy's, Blue Iguana, Mongolian Wok, deli, seaday bbq, etc seem to be improving.

 

And the first thing I thought of when I saw the designs on the cabin doors was indeed the Breeze. That was the first ship I had seen with that and also the card slot behind the door that you have to put a card into to operate the lights. However on this cruise, the steward put his business card into the slot and we left it in there all cruise and that was effective in keeping the lights on all cruise long. I just read the Breeze is going in for a drydock, and wow, I remember when that thing was brand new. What is the dry dock interval, like every 4 or 5 years? Time is flying by these days. :mad:

 

Anyway, it was my pleasure to do this review and every review that I write, I am glad you have enjoyed it and best wishes to you in this new year. I have been so busy I haven't even made any new resolutions yet, lol. I should be finishing the last day of the review tonight though.

 

I sailed on the Breeze 4 times when it sailed out of Miami. The last time I sailed on it was the last cruise out of Miami in May which was a 4 day cruise. The ship still looks as new as it did when I sailed on it the first year so I wonder what upgrades they are making. Next time I go to Grand Turk, I have to do the Island Tour. Next up for me is the Vista on April 8th, and on July 23rd! I was going to write a review about my Victory cruise, but how can I top yours? Your pictures are amazing, and it is so detailed and well written! Thanks again!

[FlyingCruiserNJ]

I sailed on the Breeze 4 times when it sailed out of Miami. The last time I sailed on it was the last cruise out of Miami in May which was a 4 day cruise. The ship still looks as new as it did when I sailed on it the first year so I wonder what upgrades they are making. Next time I go to Grand Turk, I have to do the Island Tour. Next up for me is the Vista on April 8th, and on July 23rd! I was going to write a review about my Victory cruise, but how can I top yours? Your pictures are amazing, and it is so detailed and well written! Thanks again!

 

I was on the Breeze, once back in 2014 on the southern itinerary from Miami. A large part of the reason I booked that ship and itinerary was that I had read a few really great reviews of it on this message board and when compared to the other options (Getaway/Breakaway), I chose it for value and itinerary and the fact it would be the biggest ship I had ever been on. We had a cove balcony, which was awesome on that ship, would surely do it again in the future if it was offered. We are looking at doing a little extended family cruise this Easter on either the Magic, Sunshine or Glory (have sailed the Glory and it was nice), that will probably be my next voyage. I have March already blocked off for my annual spring training baseball trip to Florida that I didn't make last year for the first time in a long time. The Breeze took everything that was scattered throughout the fleet and put it on one ship, basically and although it was a bit overwhelming, it was nice. I too wonder what they have in store for the dry dock. Probably just some major necessary maintenance and maybe will add some stuff.

 

I remember the island tour in Grand Turk was booked through the cruise line, when I took it at least 5 years ago on a visit there, which had happened the summer after a major hurricane hit and they were still rebuilding from that. Now that I remember, it also included a trip to the conch farm, so if that interests you, that would be a good combo to look into assuming they still offer that as an option. Jack's is a short cab ride down the road a little (not too far to not be able to see the ship in the distance from the beach) and has good food, drinks, atmosphere, and of course, the famous dog, Topher who lives there. Enjoy the Vista cruises you have coming up, I have read quite a few reviews of it so far and it seems to be a step up from even the Breeze. And I would love to see what your perspective of a review of the Victory would be, if you did one that would be awesome.

 

Thanks again for following along and for the nice conversation. I am going to get started with the last day's summary and pics in just a moment here, so I do hope you enjoy that and again, have a great time on your upcoming cruises.

[FlyingCruiserNJ]

LOL, it is now 4 days into 2017 and I am finally back to wrap this thing up. Thanks for being patient with me, I hope you had a great time following along with my Victory Tour from just after Thanksgiving. But, all good things must come to an end and this cruise vacation was no different. Coming up is my debarkation day experience and travel back home, enjoy.

 

DAY 5: DEBARKATION/POST CRUISE EVERGLADES TOUR/TRAVEL HOME DAY:

 

Sadly, as has been the case with every single cruise I have ever taken, that last morning arrived way too quickly. The last four days had passed by way too fast and it was again time to get off the ship and head out. So, that is where we were on this day.

 

I was finally up for good around 0630, after awakening briefly overnight, looking out my window, seeing we were already parked at the port of Miami, and looking at my watch and seeing that it was only 0500. I was kind of amazed. I can't ever remember getting back to port that early. Of course, even though we were parked way early, that doesn't mean that port ops staff and customs and border protection was on duty yet, so we did sit for a few hours until the debarkation process actually got going.

 

Anyway, we got ready to exit the cabin, got our stuff together, took one last check around the cabin to see if we left anything, and headed up to the buffet at 0730 to get some quick breakfast before going to the main dining room to meet our post-cruise excursion group. The standard breakfast of course, the lido dining room was somewhat crowded with people waiting to hear their debark groups called, and around 0800 we headed back to the dining room to meet the group of people who had booked post-cruise excursion tours as read the instructions on the tickets that were delivered to our room earlier in the cruise. I would also say the self-assist calls began around 0730 as well. It was a long gap in between when we got back to Miami and when we actually got off the ship and keep that in mind if you have an early flight out of FLL or MIA. You never know when you will actually get off the ship even if you get back to port early.

 

I always make mention of it but it was true again today. At the end of every cruise, the morning just seems to look cloudy, misty and depressing when you look out your window. Today was no different although it was actually raining pretty hard and had been all night. Some of it is psychological I guess in that it is the end of your cruise so you are already sad and see everything around you as being somber but it really was a lousy morning today. 70s and rain. But, we headed downstairs, off the ship through the atrium, and down to baggage claim where we easily found our bags near the belt and were through customs in no more than 10 or 15 minutes. Easy, maybe the wait got longer as the debark process progressed though.

 

The view from our balcony, it was rainy and dreary.

 

 

Right before we left the cabin, I got this pic of the room service menu. It looks impressive but we never ordered anything from it all cruise long. I should try out the wings next time I am on Carnival though, but if they are like the wings they have at the Red Frog Pub, I might be a little disappointed. Anyone try them, and if you have, were they any good? We also didn't finish one large bottle of water and our second bottle of wine, we took both with us for consumption at a later time.

 

 

As soon as we were through Customs, our tour met at the bus depot all the way out at the end of the pier, where the private shuttles drop off on embarkation day. We chose to book an Everglades tour for our post-cruise excursion because we thought it would be a cool thing to do (my mom had done a similar tour a few years ago and liked it) and we had all day until our flight home was scheduled to leave. It was either book an early flight home and risk missing it if we did not get off the ship soon enough, or waiting all day for an evening flight. If I was by myself, I would probably have tried to make the early flight but my mom does not move as fast as I do so we went with the tour and late flight.

 

We picked this tour also because the price was good, it included a tour, transit back to the airport, and they would hold our bags on the bus we traveled on all day long while we did the tour. In the long run, the tour package did not cost much more than a ride on SAS would have, total was $40 and it was a pretty exciting and unique experience. We got to the bus around 0900, the driver was Carlos and guide was Ignacio, and they were both very good and made the tour interesting. We gave them our tickets and bags, and got stickers that signified we were on the tour and waited for some last minute stragglers to find the bus. I will say that they could make the directions to the tour buses a little more clear, we had a hard time finding our way and had to ask a Carnival employee outside the terminal where to go to find our tour. After waiting until about 0930, we were still missing a few people and they never did show up. Bummer for them, they missed out. A few people also got off the bus and decided to not tour because they were not feeling that well. This would be a good 4-hour tour, after all.

 

We were out shortly thereafter, and made our way through downtown Miami and across the city, past MIA airport, toward the Everglades. I had never seen these parts of town before, and we got a nice history lesson in how Miami came to be, some landmarks along the way, and were out onto Alligator Alley, I think it is called, heading westbound. You are out of the city not too long after, and there is a huge contrast in the land once you exit. The Miccosukee resort is built just past the city limits and building is very limited, as you are out into the Everglades land quickly. Running alongside the roadway through the city is a large canal that delivers drinking water to Miami from the Everglades.

 

 

Nice shot of LAN Chile planes parked as we passed.

 

 

The canal that runs all the way from the Everglades to Miami

 

Up next, more of our tour.

[FlyingCruiserNJ]

DAY 5: DEBARKATION/POST-CRUISE EVERGLADES TOUR/TRAVEL HOME DAY CONTINUED:

 

Ignacio told us that 75 percent of the Everglades had been drained over the years, and that most of south Florida was swampy wetlands until it was built up decades ago. They just didn't know how important that kind of ecosystem was back then and thought nothing of filling in that land and building on it. It was in the early to mid 1900s that Marjorie Stoneman Douglas convinced politicians that not only drying up the Everglades was destroying the ecosystem and would eventually destroy all the land that they had built on, but that the drinking water that Miami relies on from there was being poisoned for many years and finally got them to get serious about preserving what was left. She was successful as now The Everglades is protected. As with nature, much of the damage done in the remaining land has been minimized.

 

The ride out US-41, Alligator Alley, out to the Everglades Safari, that we would be spending some time at. Lot of construction on this two-lane highway, but it is the only way to the other end of the state from the southeast side I think.

 

 

Well, it seemed that we were first to arrive at the Everglades Safari park, so we got to do our airboat tour first. We probably arrived around 1100, and the Everglades Safari is pretty much out in the middle of nowhere, 10-20 miles away from the metro area. Once you get into the park, you lose cell reception so be sure to turn your phone to airplane mode when you get there, and we headed through the ticket booth and to our airboat ride shortly thereafter.

 

This was our airboat as we made our way to it.

 

We got on the airboat, got a safety demo and foam earplugs to wear as the engine noise was pretty bad, and headed out. I had done a similar tour in Belize last year, it was also good. We slowly made our way out through the channel with wildlife all around us, until we got into some open waters and really got moving. Airboats ride on the surface of the water, and since this was an area where the water was only about a foot deep in many areas, they are the only way you can get around. Plus, they can go really fast and stuff, lol.

 

 

 

 

[FlyingCruiserNJ]

DAY 5: DEBARKATION DAY/POST-CRUISE EVERGLADES TOUR/TRAVEL HOME CONTINUED:

 

We made our way out a little further and we had been told by multiple people that since it was cloudy and rainy today, the alligators in the area likely would not be active. I guess they don't generally go out in the rain, but we eventually did see one at the side of the channel, just chilling in the grass. There were some solid land islands in the middle of the wetlands here, many species of animals, birds, fish live here. The water does not smell stagnant because it is always moving, not fast, but it is always moving to the east, unlike a lot of wetlands. The gator we saw was probably 10-15 feet long, and our airboat driver said it was not huge but not small either. We did stop to get some good pictures along the way.

 

Sawgrass that was all around us

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 5, 2017 by FlyingCruiserNJ

[FlyingCruiserNJ]

DAY 5: DEBARKATION DAY/POST-CRUISE EVERGLADES EXCURSION/TRAVEL HOME CONTINUED:

The guide told us that the water moves about a mile in 24 hours and that the gators can live to be a hundred years old. It was beginning to clear up as we neared the end of our hour-long airboat experience and we did see more gators and wildlife as we got closer to home base again.

 

A gator. What's up dude?

 

 

We got back around noon or so, disposed of the foam earplugs properly in the trash, tipped the driver of the boat and did the next part of the tour, which was a short demo of the power of alligators, and some information about them. One guide also held a large snake around his neck and let everyone touch it. Leathery. They said those snakes can kill and eat creatures up to alligator size and they have seen it. Unfortunately one snake that tried that ended up biting more than it could chew and exploded because it tried to eat a large gator. Cool story bro. Gators will not mess with people but they can move fast for short distances. They like to sleep a lot, and eat a lot. You could put your hand in one's mouth and be OK but if you touch their teeth, it is an automatic reflex to close their mouths and you can only imagine what damage that would do.

 

 

 

 

This gator just ate a snack provided by the trainer, he sure looked happy.