Carnival newbie cruising with Victory (trip report and photos 5/29/17 - 6/2/17)

[scrapfan]

Can't wait to read the rest of your review

 

Thanks...

[scrapfan]

Club O2 and Circle C are on deck 12 and Camp Ocean is on deck 11, the best way to get there is from the elevators at the front of the ship by the Seven Seas lobby (we actually went across the Lido deck and used the stairs but you had to go up the awkward tier seating by the pool).

 

 















 



 



 

 

Deck 11 also has the spa, salon and fitness center right beside Camp Ocean.

Tables were set up as you entered the spa area and the staff kept trying to get us to sign up for different services or take a guided tour, we just said "no thank you" and walked on back. This was the only time we were in this area, we took the stairs every chance we got so I didn't feel the urge to get any more exercise;) and we did not use any of the spa services so I can't comment on those.

[scrapfan]

Deck 12 has access to Serenity adult area as well as a wading pool that may be used by the kids clubs.

 

 

 

The lobby elevators do not go all the way to deck 12 (there was 1 small elevator in the area) so we just took the stairs.

The only one in our group who spent any time at Serenity was Roger and he liked to go up there and relax. We did walk through the area on our sea day but it was really crowded and I found our cabin balcony way more relaxing.

 

[jakesnana]

Thanks for the review and Circle C schedule. We are leaving in a little over 2 weeks with (3) 14 year olds, so this is PERFECT !! Thanks again.

[scrapfan]

We found the table to sign up for the Dr. Seuss Green Eggs & Ham breakfast (it was located by the elevators on deck 9 under the atrium).

 

 

 



 



 

The cost for the breakfast was $5 per person and was charged to our S&S cards. The character breakfast took place on day 3 which was our only sea day (Thursday). We initially had a reservation for 8:45am but guest services called us later that day to ask if we could move it to 10am because of our group size (9), this worked out better for us since we didn't have to get up so early. I will go into detail later about this but it was well worth the additional charge.

[scrapfan]

In this general vicinity of deck 9 there were tables set up for everything from spa services, credit card offers, Cheers packages and liquor sales. My husband noticed some of the prices of the bottled liquor and they were actually pretty reasonable. Artwork lined the halls as well and I assume they were sold later at the art auction???

 

 

 



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We walked around the ship taking pictures...

Hallway on deck 7

 

South China Sea Club Casino (deck 5)



 



 

[scrapfan]

The Taste Bar (located on deck 5 next to the casino)

 



 

Coral Sea Cafe (deck 5 next to the Internet Cafe and casino)



 



The items here are an additional charge; I don't like coffee and we were always too full to try the ice cream so I cannot comment on the menu. (Keep in mind the soft serve is pretty good and it is free).



 



This area was always busy in the evenings with the bands playing next to the casino and photographers set up all along deck 5 there was always traffic here.

[siestakeys04]

The gelato when was that available and was it near the coffee bar?

[MrsPhoenix91]

Good Lord, that gelato looked delicious!!!!!!!!

[scrapfan]

The gelato when was that available and was it near the coffee bar?

 

It is located at the coffee bar to the left of it; I snapped a photo of it but never really checked out the flavors or prices. I did not see it out in the mornings or late at night but mid-day when we walked by the area they did seem to have it then.

[reerun25]

Really enjoying your review so far!

[JAXCRUISER]

Great review so far! I'm really enjoying it! Thanks!

[TONYnDEB]

Really enjoying your review so far (thank you so much!). My hubby and I are doing the 4-day Key West/Cozumel in September. Any tips or advice you can provide would be much appreciated. Thanks again!

[lilalila]

What is the name of your Cozumel tour?

 

Your pics are not showing up. Photobucket says "Please update your account to enable 3rd party hosting"

[KappaLady]

Was that the end of the review? Aww . . . [emoji17]

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[tycup]

Am I the only one that can't see ANY of the pictures? It just says please update your account to enable 3rd party posting. I would love to see the pictures though.

[beachbum6264]

Am I the only one that can't see ANY of the pictures? It just says please update your account to enable 3rd party posting. I would love to see the pictures though.

 

Photobucket decided to change their 'free' accounts to paid - to the tune of almost $400. No pay = no see pictures anymore. So anyone who posted pics anywhere that didn't want to cough up $400 is left with websites with that box instead of pics. They're all over the place, every message board I'm on is full of them. I only had a few pics on there because I didn't like the way that site worked, lucky for me. So, to answer your question, Nope, no one can see the pics anymore. Blame darn Photobucket.

[scrapfan]

Sorry it has been so long on this review, I have been using Photobucket for years now and they stopped allowing 3rd party sharing unless you pay an outrageous amount of money each year. I am deleting my account with them and will be looking for a new photo sharing website. I have looked into Flickr and Amazon Photos so I hope to get something uploaded soon. I am really aggravated that the photos are not showing up after I have gotten this far in the review so I will either upload all the photos at once or start the review again in another post. Thanks for having patience!

[scrapfan]

What is the name of your Cozumel tour?

 

Your pics are not showing up. Photobucket says "Please update your account to enable 3rd party hosting"

 

I found the excursion thru Trip Advisor and was not booked thru Carnival. The website is www.cozumelcruiseexcursions.net and there are different tours you can take, we decided on the jeep tour which included snorkeling and it was awesome!

[scrapfan]

Really enjoying your review so far (thank you so much!). My hubby and I are doing the 4-day Key West/Cozumel in September. Any tips or advice you can provide would be much appreciated. Thanks again!

 

*We got a balcony room on the 7th floor and we enjoyed it very much so if you can go with a balcony.

*See the comedy shows but come early for the adult shows (it got very packed in there).

*Definitely visit Alchemy bar!

*We did Your Time Dining and they always seated us almost immediately but you end up with different wait staff each night; with the shows and activities scheduled for later on in the evening we ended up eating around 6pm every night. If you want the same wait staff each night and plan on doing the shows you may want to do early dining.

*I am not a fan of cruise ship pools (they were crowded most of the time) and the Lido deck was always busy so we didn't hang out much up there but be sure not to miss the Hairy Chest contest or other activities that were going on.

*Watch out for sales throughout the cruise, the first night had bottled alcohol on sale (you couldn't pick up till the last day) and t-shirt sales on day 3 on the Lido deck. I did buy some photos but I couldn't really find any deals on them.

*Key West: we didn't book any excursions in advance so when we got off the ship they were "peddling" all the different tours and we got a discount on one for our group.

*Cozumel: we booked an excursion with an independent company for a private jeep tour and I would highly recommend this. We had 9 people in our group but they can do small groups as well and you customize what you want to see on the island, the guide was helpful and stayed with our belongings when we went snorkeling, touring, etc. (www.cozumelcruiseexcursions.net)

*The last night of the cruise they had 80's trivia in the lobby and it was a blast; people were lined up around the bar, the steps, the balcony's on the upper decks to sing along it was awesome!

 

The ship is older but I really enjoyed it, the people on our cruise were fun and outgoing which made the mood so much better, the staff was friendly and helpful and I have to say this was one of my better vacations. Victory doesn't have all the 2.0 upgrades but I would definitely sail her again. Hope this helps and have a great cruise.

[scrapfan]

I know it has been a while since I posted anything but life got really hectic. I felt really bad for not finishing my review of our Victory cruise so I worked on it as I could and will try and see if the pictures will post and finish this up. Thank you all for being patient...

 

PICKING UP WHERE I LEFT OFF...

 

I know it has been a while since I posted anything but life got really hectic. I felt really bad for not finishing my review of our Victory cruise so I worked on it as I could and will try and see if the pictures will post and finish this up. Thank you all for being patient... PICKING UP WHERE I LEFT OFF... We continued to tour the ship and the different bars, etc...

The Arcade

 

 

 

Alchemy Bar

 

 

 

Club Arctic

[scrapfan]

Irish Sea Piano Bar

 

 

Black & Red Seas Lounge

 

Adriatic Lounge (location of comedy shows)

 

[scrapfan]

Skybox Sports Bar

 

 

 

 

Indian Library

 

Caribbean Lounge

[scrapfan]

 

 

 

Atlantic Dining Room

 

 

[scrapfan]

We went back to our rooms to see if our luggage had arrived yet but only part of it was there. We were on deck 7 midship close to the elevators and stairs; be forewarned that they close off part of the elevators to bring the luggage up for a short while so the stairs may be faster.

The muster drill was at 3:30pm and lasted right at 30 minutes. We did have to stage outside at our assigned station (Muster Station E) and they did scan our cards to check that we were there. It was not horrible but one thing I don’t get is after the drill was over they announced that everyone who had missed the mandatory drill must attend their own briefing in the Caribbean Lounge, in the air conditioning,with seating (ok they didn’t say anything about the a/c or seating) but I still thought this was odd, isn’t that like rewarding the slackers who can’t tell time or something?

 

After the muster drill we went up on deck to watch the sail away party at 4pm, the deck was full of people watching us leave port. **One thing I can say about the Lido deck on Victory it was always busy when we were up there**

 

 

 

The Norwegian Sky was joining us today.