Just back from the Victory!!

[sandymac]

We sailed the Eastern Caribbean and we had an awesome time!! We sailed with our 3 kids, ages 8, 5, and 2.5. I have to say it was definitely the best family vacation we have ever had (including Disney)!

 

The kids had a wonderful time - they went to camp everyday! My 8 and 5 year old loved camp - but my 2.5 year old loved it for the first half of the week, but by Friday he didn't want to go anymore - not sure why.

 

Dh and I spent time in the casino, the lounges, listened to the Piano singer (he was awesome), played trivia games, bingo, watched Karaoke and just had a blast!!!!

 

The weather was beautiful. San Juan was my least favorite - not much for us to do at 5:00 with 3 kids. We walked around but headed right back to the boat. We encountered many homeless people and the streets had garbarge everywhere. St marten was beautiful. We took the water taxi, which is right by the boat, and went shopping and to the beach which was right next to the shopping. We paid $10 for 2 chairs and an umbrella and got 2 free drinks. St Thomas was also beautiful. We went to Megans Bay. It was not as crowded as I anticipated. The ride there and back cost us $80 for the 5 of us.

 

We had a cabin on the Spa deck (1114) - it was great. The 5 of us fit fine in the room and the floor to ceiling windows are amazing. We were able to watch, from our room, sailing into the ports! The cabin was actually bigger than i expected. The only downside to this room was you could hear the deck chairs being put out early in the morning from the deck above. But it didn't seem to bother my DH or kids - they slept right through it. I would definitely get this cabin again.

 

The food was good - but there was nothing I would really say was absolutely amazing. We ate in the dining room for dinner every night. My kids ate chicken nuggets and pizza every night. The deli was great!!! The buffet was good, although i wish they had more food for the kids (mac n cheese, chicken nuggets, etc) We ate there for breakfast and lunch.

 

I was a little nervous about the Victory after reading some reviews here lately, but I thought the ship was amazing. It was defintiely clean, our room was immaculate, and I never thought of it as an "old" ship. But, that could be due to my inexperience as a cruiser (this is only my 2nd cruise).

 

If anyone has any questions, i would be happy to answer them.

 

Sandy

[htkodiak]

Thanks for the review,we will be sailing the Victory in Dec '06.From now till then I will be reading all the reviews I can find,and driving my DW crazy with the info I find.Happy cruising

[Donnask8pro]

Question, did you encounter any topless or naked people at St Martin? I am also taking my 5 yr old(Boy) and I am swaying my decision to go to Western instead. Also with San Juan being a later night port it seems a waste. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you. I probably have more questions if thats ok.

[sandymac]

Donnaskpro, We did not see any topless/naked people in St Martin, but we didn't go to Orient Beach. We went to a beach that was right next to the shopping and as soon as you get off the water taxi. I am sorry, but i don't know the name of it. Hope that helps - any more questions, please ask!!

[jckvpa0]

Is Megans Bay far from the ship, $80.00 seems a little steep for a taxi ride!

[tinmanswife]

We were on Victory 1/8 (Eastern) and were planning on going to Saphire Beach or Megan's Bay ... The woman at the tourist info center right @ the dock suggested Morningstar beach instead, much closer to the ship, and the taxi was only $6 pp each way. We have nothing to compare to, but found Morningstar beach beautiful, could rent chairs and umbrella, and practically had the beach to ourselves. We also got to stay longer because it was @ the most a 15 min. ride.

[sandymac]

We were charged $8pp each way - we had 5 people...but that also included the $3pp it cost to get into Megans Bay

Tinman's wife, my MIL and SIL went to Morningstar and they liked it. It did cost them $6pp. But to rent 2 chairs and an umbrella cost $25. I don't know how much the chairs cost my DH, but we didn't need an umbrella b/c there was plenty of shade there.

[caprcorn28]

Question, did you encounter any topless or naked people at St Martin? I am also taking my 5 yr old(Boy) and I am swaying my decision to go to Western instead.

Oh...they aren't all completely naked....one of the guys had a hat on!!!! Oh, and sunscreen on his nose!!! :cool: :eek:

 

You WILL encounter topless and naked over in the Western Caribbean too. It's just something that most of the rest of the world does - swim/sunbathe like that. For with how much some of these bathing suits lack nowadays...may as well be.

At five, he may not even notice it...too busy in the sand and water to care. I have taken my kids who were 10 down to 3 to both South Beach and various other Caribbean beaches...We saw just about everything. Most of what my son saw (10) wasn't ANYTHING that he looked at for very long. (Usually the people that are naked/topless are really the ones that 'shouldn't' be anyway!!) They were old women or European mothers. There was a mother with her two small children walking down the beach, playing in the same, no top and only a G-string on...My kids didn't pay much attention to it at all. And we saw her everyday for three days.

Just don't make a big deal out of it to him and maybe he will just move on and not think it's a big deal either.

Have a good trip either way!! :)

[cruisin'isbest]

We just got back from the Victory too (2/19-2/26 sailing). The weather was great at all the ports. San Juan was beautiful to sail in to, but the 5:00 pm hour is pretty much a waste. St. Marteen was also just beautiful. We also took the water taxi, and went into the little town and did some shopping and stopped into a casino. We were doing good in the casino, and by the time we were ready to leave, it was time to stop to eat and make our way back to the ship. St. Thomas was the same - just beautiful. We did have 2-3 days of 7.5 - 12 ft. waves during our days at sea, but on this larger vessel, you couldn't tell it as much as on the smaller (70,000 ton) ships.

 

The Victory is a very nice ship. Our cabin was very clean, every staff person we came in contact with was very friendly, and there seemed to be constant cleaning around the ship. I was disappointed with the horrible banging noises we heard 3 of the 7 nights in our cabin (M2202 - very first room up front). They sounded like explosions going off inside the hull of the ship, and some of them were bad enough to shake the bed. I understand this noise is caused from waves hitting the ship. Sure didn't sound like waves to me. Needless to say, I didn't sleep much those nights.

 

Most of the food was very good. We ate all breakfasts, most lunches, and all dinners in the dining room. This was the best way to go because you bypassed the lines at the buffet. We did partake of the pizza and burgers a couple of times.

 

We had fun at the casino, and saw some of the shows. One day we had trouble finding lounge chairs, and ended up finding some on the Funnel Deck. Alot of people were up there, but I only saw a couple of ladies without tops.

 

By the way, in St. Marteen, we saw a couple of women who were bathing topless at that beach that is right there where the water taxi lets you off.

 

All in all, it was a great vacation. I would do it again in a heartbeat. I just know next time not to reserve cabins at the very front of the ship.

[VentureMan_2000]

By the way' date=' in St. Marteen, we saw a couple of women who were bathing topless at that beach that is right there where the water taxi lets you off.

[/quote']

 

 

Can you be more specific please... :D

[cruisin'isbest]

When you dock in St. Marteen, you can catch a water taxi that takes you across the bay, or you can walk. There's a beach area real close to one of the places where the water taxi lets you off. We were walking along the boardwalk there, which lines the beach on one side, and restaurants and shops line the boardwalk on the other side. We saw some topless bathers right there on that beach.

[CruisinGrams]

Most of the people sunbathing topless in St. Martin were from our shore excursion group, but we did see some people walking down the beach dressed the same as the day they arrived on this earth. One couple were obviously honeymooners (I won't tell you how I could tell) but they will both have fun slathering on something for their sun burn and another man resembled a well tanned leather handbag with lots of wrinkles. To each his own and I had heard it is just us people for N. America that have a problem with this. I just chose not to politely not stare.

[parrothead0918]

Sandymac,

Do you remember the name of the singer in the piano bar? We were on the Victory and really enjoyed Scotee in the piano bar, but he was taking a medical leave shortly after our cruise. Just wondering.

[caprcorn28]

(M2202 - very first room up front). They sounded like explosions going off inside the hull of the ship' date=' and some of them were bad enough to shake the bed. I understand this noise is caused from waves hitting the ship. Sure didn't sound like waves to me. Needless to say, I didn't sleep much those nights.

 

I just know next time not to reserve cabins at the very front of the ship.[/quote']:eek: I KNOW what you are saying...I had a cabin at the VERY front of (a different) ship too. NEVER again!! It moved tooooo much and it was toooo noisy. Back when I was up front, was when the tug boats pushed you in to dock (that's what we were told it was)....dear God, bang in to the wall...thought that they were coming thru!!!!!

 

No guarantee cabin for me...I am 'unlucky' enough to get that as my assignment!!

[sandymac]

Cruisin'isbest, oohhh, we were at that beach, glad we didn't run into any topless sunbathers - not sure how my kids would have reacted. In fact the beach was filled with a ton of kids (but that could be b/c we went during president's week).

 

parrothead, I believe his name was Cam - he was awesome!!! One of our favorite nights on the boat.

[Missey81]

Actually I do have a few questions....we will be sailing on the Victory 4-9-06. When you go to the dining rooms for breakfast and lunch, what is the dress code? shorts o.k.? Also I was reading that Carnival Cruises carry Sam Adams Lager as one of the Domestic Beers....can you confirm....DH FAVORITE! We were going to smuggle a case on board, but if they have it, why bother. One more question, how early did the pool area fill up? I know my kids will want to be by the slide, so I may be eating breakfast pool side.

 

Also, what about getting on the ship? were you able to board early and was it a long wait.

 

This is our first cruise on Carnival and I would like it to go as smooth as possible.

 

Thanks for all your help.:)

[MYSTIKAL]

I Got Back From The Victory On Feb 5th And Let Me Say It Was The Best Vacation I Ever Had.... Some Of The Question You Want To Know...... There Is Plenty Of Chairs By The Slide And They Don't Fill Up Too Quickly Usually By 11 Am..... We Got To The Ship At 10:30 And We Were On Board Eating At 12:30... The Lines Moved Really Fast....... As For The Beer There Is No Way Possiable From Wht I Could See Of Being Able To Smuggle On A Case Of Beer Lolol Good Luck...... As For The Dress Code In The Dinning Room For Lunch And Breakfast You Can Wear What Ever You Like... Supper More People Tended To Dress Up........i Am Already Booked For Next Year And Can't Wait.... I Love The Victory:d

[sandymac]

We sailed during presidents week which is a big week off from school in the NE (i'm not sure about other areas), so getting a chair by the pool was nearly impossible. We had a room under the sun deck and I would hear the chairs coming out by 6:15 in the morning. If you are going during a busy time of year, I would suggest getting out as early as possible for a chair by the pool. We didn't go to the pool until the afternoons, as my kids went to the camp in the mornings. I would just sit at the bench by the pool while they were swimming and there were a few days we were lucky enough to snag a chair as soon as someone left.

 

As far as the dining room, we only went there for dinner - breakfast and lunch we ate at the buffet, or deli.

 

I can't help with the beer - my DH drank budweiser.

 

We got to the ship at 10:30 as well, and we started boarding at 12:00 - our rooms were even ready at that time!

[GAMOMOF2]

Can you give me an idea of the activities for the 2.5 year old? Going 4/2/06 with 5 & 3 year old and wanting to give them more ideas of what will be going on.

 

Thanks. They are so excited so anything I can give them is good.:p

[nybumpkin]

Can you give me an idea of the activities for the 2.5 year old? Going 4/2/06 with 5 & 3 year old and wanting to give them more ideas of what will be going on.

 

Thanks. They are so excited so anything I can give them is good.:p

 

There were a fair number of craft activities for our 4 year old on Victory, including a tee-shirt coloring activity. The play area has lots of toys for free play times, and there were some food activities - my mind's a bit foggy now, but I think there was a cookie-decorating activity and a sunday-making activity. One thing I did with my youngest before the cruise was to go to the Carnival website and show him the virtual tour of Camp Carnival. (Of course, every time after that when I went to the computer I heard "Mom, can you show me the toys again?") He loved Camp Carnival on both our cruises.

[GAMOMOF2]

Thanks, that is what I do with my kids. They love to look at the pictures. I think they are more excited than me.