Victory Review 1/22-1/29 (longer than I thought)

[fig414]

I'll start out by saying you will see some comparisons to Caribbean Princess because we sailed on her last in Sept '04, but I'll try to keep them to a minimum. I am also going to post separate threads on the joys of my suite guarantee and the ensuing Skipper's Club Experience. We are a 40's couple on our 4th Carnival after our 1st Princess.

 

Embarkation: The greatest experience ever because of our first Carnival mini suite and Skipper's club. We arrived at 11:30 and were in the stateroom at Noon. Skipping past all lines and then being the first to board was a thrill. Not only were we in the first group to board, but by sheer luck where we happened to be standing in our group we were the first, and I mean first, passengers on the ship. It was hysterical. More on that subject on my subsequent post on Skipper's Club.

It's all downhill from here on out........... (just kidding)

 

The Ship: I was curious to see how a 6 year old ship would hold up. We were on CP when it was 5-6 months old and it was so bright and shiny and new. We loved the decor. We were a little tired of the glitzy older ships. That Red and Purple and Orange was getting tiresome. We thought the Victory was beautiful with the blue and coral motif and the ship looked in pretty darn great shape. We also much prefer Carnival's main Promenade Deck than Princess' which is choppy. Some people like that, but we prefer the one big long deck where all the action is.

 

The first 2 sea days were hot, sunny, and very windy. The higher on the deck the harder the wind blew. It was also pretty rocky as the seas were rough. We did some balcony time to offset the wind. We survived though and enjoyed. I can't believe Carnival caused the sea to be rough and the wind to be strong. (oh, someone will blame them).

 

Ports: San Juan - we strolled thru Old San Juan which is steps away and had a great dinner at a place called Aquaviva on Forteleza St. It's one of the main blocks in OSJ and dinner was fabulous ($130 with tip, but who cares). I had check this joint out ahead of time on the web. Forteleza St was very cool with lots of shops and food and drink.

 

St Maarten: We don't do excursions anymore because we now go on our own and find it cheaper and we can come and go as we please. We were planning to do the Golden Eagle Cat trip this year but my wife was a little under the weather so we bagged it. We did some shopping and went back on board and sunned on the empty lido deck.

 

St Thomas: We spent the whole day at Morningstar beach by the Marriott which was great. I know that no excursions go there and it close to ship and nice and quiet. Had a nice lunch at the beach.

 

Friday was cloudy all day and calm. Saurday was gorgeous and calm. No rain on the trip to speak of.

 

Debarkation: It went smoothly and we found that many pax must use self assist off the ship for early departure as finding our 3 bags was a breeze.

 

Stateroom: Mini suite on Empress deck right near an elevator was very nice and also very quiet. No noises other than the usual came through. We did a suite guarantee for the first time and saved 400 bucks this way. Our Room steward was excellent and we barely saw her the whole trip.

 

Food: We did Late seating and had a table for 10 that only had 3 couples. Very nice people our age and we had lots of arm room as we spread it out. Our waiter Saravanan was excellent and we found the food to be very good and the prtions to be small as usual, especially the apps. A few times I ordered 2 apps or 2 entrees to make up for it. We learned that trick long ago.

The room service menu was way better than our last Carnival in 99. The selection was outstanding (small portions as to be expected).

 

Nightlife: This is the biggest difference between Carnival and Princess. This ship is very alive at night which we love. There is always something going on somewhere. All the different lounges with all the different types of music with something for everyone.. The major disappointment was the Piano Bar which is usually a great place. We went the first night to see "Vince" and he bit. We tried him another night and the same thing. The guy's voice just isn't very good. Only the seats around the piano were ever taken and even then we only had to wait a while to get one of them and you moved on. We would just stroll from one to another depending on the mood. The Ionian room on deck 4 always had a nice jazz trio and it wasn't to cigarry. The lobby bar was nicely crowded with either classical violin stuff or piano. The wine bar & the black and seas lounge were very nice also. The bar outside the Casino was always happening and had a decent music guy there each night. There is always some funny and goofy stuff going on there. The casino was very crowded all trip and was fun.

 

I know I missed something so feel free to ask and sorry about the length of this post. I'm just so happy to be back on Carnival, although we really enjoyed Princess too.

My thanks to all posters on this site as usual.

[VentureMan_2000]

Nice review.

 

When are you going to write carnival and complain about the sea being rough and the wind being strong...:D

[caprcorn28]

I can't believe Carnival caused the sea to be rough and the wind to be strong. (oh, someone will blame them).

 

Too funny...and sadly you are probably right!!

 

Nightlife: This is the biggest difference between Carnival and Princess. This ship is very alive at night which we love. There is always something going on somewhere. All the different lounges with all the different types of music with something for everyone.. The major disappointment was the Piano Bar which is usually a great place. We went the first night to see "Vince" and he bit. We tried him another night and the same thing. The guy's voice just isn't very good. Only the seats around the piano were ever taken and even then we only had to wait a while to get one of them and you moved on. We would just stroll from one to another depending on the mood. The Ionian room on deck 4 always had a nice jazz trio and it wasn't to cigarry. The lobby bar was nicely crowded with either classical violin stuff or piano. The wine bar & the black and seas lounge were very nice also. The bar outside the Casino was always happening and had a decent music guy there each night. There is always some funny and goofy stuff going on there. The casino was very crowded all trip and was fun.

 

Thanks for taking the time to post your review!!! I love to hear about everyone's different experiences!! Can't wait to have my own in only eight weeks!!

 

It sounds like we have about the same idea of what is fun by some of the things that you said, " funny and goofy stuff going on there" "nicely crowded" etc. I will still go and try the Piano bar as it is my favorite place on ships...and by the sounds of it, I should fit right in!! :p See bolded words above! hahaha!!!

 

Thanks again! :D

[CrazieNCruisingGypsy2]

Thanks for the great review! Loved it! So glad to hear positive stuff! I'll be on her in 6 days! WAHHOOO!! I can't wait!

[jckvpa0]

Very nice review, thanks for taking the time!

 

Looking forward to your review on the Skippers Club!

[fig414]

A short follow up. Our room was on the starboard side and we had great sun action on our balcony for the 2 sea days down and the 3 port days for anyone who wanted to know.

[fig414]

My wife reminded me to add how comfortable the new bedding was. The mattress and the sheets were great. That's it. Thanks again to everyone out here. I'm outta here.