Carnival Victory Review - 4/30/06

[bucket_O_beer4john]

We took this cruise along with 4 other couples. We had the 4 “L” shaped rooms on deck 6, as well as one inside cabin also on deck 6.

DW and I have been on 5 other cruises – all Carnival. One of the other couples had been on 5 Carnival cruises, and one Norwegian. Another couple had been on 1 Carnival, and 1 Royal Caribbean. The other 2 couples have been on cruises before, but I don’t know the specifics. Bottom line – there was a decent amount of cruising experience among us.

Part 1 – getting there

We drove down from Jacksonville the Saturday before. It was about a 5-hour drive, but we stopped for breakfast as well as a couple other rest stops. We were in no hurry, having no real plans for the evening. We left at 9:00 am, and got there about 3:30, so about 6 ½ hours.

The wind heading down was very gusty, blowing up to probably 20 mph from the east. It got pretty tiring fighting the crosswind the whole way, both for me in our Expedition, as well as another 2 couples in a Dodge Charger. I thought my buddy in the car would have had it a bit easier, but not so. My point on the wind will be evident in a few paragraphs….

Traffic really picked up around Fort Lauderdale, with a lot of construction, and the usual Miami morons driving 100 mph. Nothing like going 65 in a 55 zone, and getting passed like you are standing still. Anyone who has not drove there before – be warned. They are much worse than any drivers I have seen anywhere else.

Other than that, it was a very non-eventful drive down.

We stayed at the Clarion River Park Hotel & Suites at 100 SE 4th Street in Miami. Well, I guess at one point it was a Clarion. All the Clarion signs were down, and the hotel was in pretty sad shape. The elevators had at least one wall that was bare plywood, and the inspection placard in them was 3 years out of date. The carpeting throughout was stretched and worn. It took us over 2 hours to get our rooms. One couple took a smoking room, so we at least had a place to crash for a bit. Our room (when we finally got it) was actually a suite and was HUGE! But, the mattress was hard (I told DW that I had softer sheets of plywood at the house), and it was dated – it looked like it had been built and furnished in the 70’s or so. But, it was clean, had a decent shower, A/C worked, etc. If someone came in with a lot of money to fix it up, it would be a beautiful place. I just looked it up on Tripadvisor.com – just heard about that site. Wish I had seen it earlier.

Part 2 - Embarkation

We got to the port just after 10:00 am. There is still a lot of construction going on, and there were 4 other ships in. So, a bit hectic, but smoother than other trips. We unloaded and parked right across the street. The porter was great, and as I was pulling suitcases out of the truck, he kept telling me to take a break – he would handle it. But, I can’t stand watching others do all the work, so I pulled them out, he grabbed them and put them in the crates. I actually had to track him down after he was done to tip him – he had already moved on to someone else.

We went into the terminal, and were told it was the first day in the new space. We walked right up to a counter, and got checked in. The lady at first said there was another couple booked in our cabin, but it was from the previous cruise not being cleared out of the system yet. So, no worries if you are told you have cabin mates! From there we went to the waiting room, got our sail & sign, took our welcome aboard photo, and had a seat. We had to wait a bit over an hour for them to start boarding, and were on the ship by 11:45.

I have to say, the Carnival folks were amazingly friendly, and very well organized. I can’t say enough about how smooth this all went.

We stopped by our room, and dropped our carry-ons, and met our room steward. Then we went up to the aft pool bar and sat there for quite a while having drinks, and grabbed some lunch. DW and I had a meet & greet with the folks from our roll call, so we did that for a bit before muster.

Muster went smooth. We jumped the gun a bit, and grabbed our life vests early and headed down. I was surprised they didn’t go more into the fire prevention after the safety advisory that went out a couple weeks ago, but it was pretty much the same old spiel.

After muster, we headed topside for the sail away. It was still pretty windy like the day before. We had to go down to the end of the channel, spin a screwby, then cruise past the Explorer of the Seas, the Carnival Valor, and the Elation. Lots of horns as we passed by.

Part 3 – ship movement

We went out the channel into open water, and that wind was kicking up the waves pretty decent. OK – a lot! All night this boat was moving! It really kicked up around 1:30 –3:30. It woke DW up, and she went outside to see if it was storming. Crystal clear – just waves and wind. Next morning I was looking, and the bow was up and down all over. What felt like rolling was actually us yawing side to side. It eased up as the day went on. Lots of folks sick. Lots of folks in line at the purser’s desk for Dramamine (me included). I was doped up pretty good so I took 3 naps that day. Rumors said a good number of crew was having problems also.

After that first day, the seas calmed down, and the ship was mostly rock steady.

[bucket_O_beer4john]

Part 4 – meals

We ate all dinners in the dining room, and thought the food was very good. The Georges Blanc signature items were fantastic. DW had more than I, because they seemed to use a lot of liver and fish. She loved them, but I tend to avoid that stuff. I did hit some other entrees of his and loved them. Also signature appetizers and deserts were great. By the end of the week, I was looking for the signature items.

All the other food in the dining room was good too – the usual Carnival recipes.

We did see some folks that were not dressed well for the dining room. Formal nights had several men just in casual shirts. One younger “man” had a dress shirt on, untucked, with sneakers. Ooooh – impressive. Other nights I saw a couple folks in shorts and T- shirts. Mostly though, people seemed to follow the dress code.

My biggest complaint about the dining room? They did not have a complete set of silverware for dinner! How can Carnival claim “fine dining” when you don’t get a salad fork? I’m not a snob by any means, but how can you have fine cuisine when you are tasting it with salad dressing?? I don’t know what they figure they are saving with this one, but it really diminished the dining experience. Formal nights were one of the favorite activities of DW and I, and we enjoy getting dressed for it, and do expect it to be more formal than a regular night at the house.

We ate breakfast on the Lido deck, and it was OK. The usual buffet stuff. Pancakes, French toast, bacon, sausage, ham, etc. Omelets were available, but I’m not that much of a breakfast person. DW did them a few times and liked them.

Chinese line was pretty good the 2 times I hit it. The second time the chicken was good, but the pork noodles were very greasy.

Burger and fry line was good. But, the line for the aft grill was usually pretty long. Going through the sitting area to the main pool grill saved a lot of time and had the same stuff. They also had breakfast out there, so I would usually go there and save about 5 minutes.

Pizza was very good as usual, and of course, the deli was great. The deli was also open from 11am to 11:30pm, so it was pretty easy to grab something.

Part 5 – San Juan (or lack thereof)

Tuesday afternoon we had a cabin crawl with our new roll call friends. We got to see everything from a category 1A to a category 11 cabin, including aft cabins. When we were in the aft cabin, I noticed that we were running on only one propeller. After a while, there was an announcement that the ship was having propulsion problems, and couldn’t make full speed. If we went to San Juan, we wouldn’t be able to make it to St Marten the next day. So, they canceled San Juan, and got us into St. Marten at 8, instead of 11. We also got $25 pp on our sail & sign. DW is still convinced that there really wasn’t a propulsion problem, Carnival just didn’t want to take us into San Juan because of the protests.

Part 6 – St. Marten

Our only real plan here was to go to Maho beach to watch the planes. But, it was a pretty miserable day with a lot of rain. We got a break in the weather and got to the taxi stand, only to find that there was some strike on the French side, and traffic was terrible. We couldn’t find a taxi that would even think about going to Maho. We ended up just walking to a beachside bar, and having lunch and beers under an umbrella. We watched the rain, and talked with another couple off our ship that was also hiding from the rain. After a cancelled port the day before, and then a rainy day, we did not want to be stuck on the ship with a bunch of whiners! A bit disappointed about missing the planes, but we still enjoyed ourselves.

The weather did clear up later to let us walk around and shop some.

Part 7 – St. Thomas

We finally got a beautiful beach day.

We did a discover scuba tour that we booked through Coki Beach Dive Club. They picked us up right off the ship, and took us right over to the beach. We also had 2 other couples from our roll call group with us. One of the couples did a boat dive, so they took off as soon as we got to the beach. The other couple sat through the instruction with us, and we went into the water with 2 instructors for the 4 of us. We split up soon after going in, so it was just DW and me with our instructor Chris. These folks are amazing. They made us totally at ease, and we had a great dive. DW and I saw a sea turtle just off the beach, and dove for about 52 minutes after going through the shallow water exercises.

Afterwards, we sat on the beach drinking some Red Stripes, and had some lunch. I was glad to have the beers in me during the taxi ride back to the ship! Scary.

[bucket_O_beer4john]

Part 8 – The ship

 

We were very happy with the crew, and the service we received. Lots of smiles, and the crew seemed to enjoy working together.

 

The ship was pretty clean for the most part, but there were some pretty significant stains on the carpet in the hallway on our deck. Also, there were a couple areas going from the aft elevators to our cabin were we had some pretty funky smells – something like a cross between raw sewage and old seafood. We passed a couple crewmen working on the sewage system one day, and heard one of them say “this isn’t good!” Not sure what it was, but the smell was always there. The stains were always there too, even though they shampooed the carpet during the week.

 

Dining areas were clean, and tables cleared and wiped quickly. The buffet lines were always being cleaned.

 

The “L” shaped rooms were very nice, and seemed bigger than the other balcony cabins. Our cabin didn’t have much (if any) hot water, so we had cool showers all week. If it were a bigger issue, we would have complained about it. Looking back, I guess we should have. Just didn’t feel like going to complain to the pursers like so many others.

 

We didn’t use the balcony too much. We had a neighbor who liked to sing. Well, she liked to try to sing anyway!

 

The sheets and duvet were nice. I had to use 3 pillows, and the mattress was pretty dang hard. I’m not sure if our cabin had the new ones. When we were debarking, they were trucking out stacks of old mattresses.

 

Our cabin was shown as a queen bed, so I was looking forward to actually being able to be near DW in the middle of the night. Alas, it was still just two twins pushed together, so if I tried to go to the middle, I ended up rolling back or being on the very uncomfortable middle section.

 

Part 9 – Entertainment

 

Same old shows. Same as the last three cruises. OK, but nothing to get excited about after seeing them before.

 

Comedian Al Romero was pretty good. There was a lounge singer that did a few songs before Al’s first show. He did pretty good with his lounge songs, but absolutely rocked when he pulled his harmonica out and started into some blues. The orchestra seemed to be having a lot of fun with it too. A fun couple of songs.

 

Cruise director MalcomInTheMiddle was lame.

 

The calypso band played on deck from 12-5 everyday. Except for when they were doing the pool-side games. And except for when they were on break. And excep twhen they showed up at 12 to start setting up for an actual start time of 12:30. ish. So, they really didn’t play much at all. Nothing from them at all outside of the 12-5 times.

 

The piano bar – we poked our head in there a couple times, and didn’t hear anything that we would consider good. I really don’t think this guy could sing much at all.

 

The rock band in the aft lounge was pretty boring. The old people that happened in there looked pretty bored too. We did see some dancing, but not much. The band did not give off any energy.

 

We went to the Arctic bar once to try to get some dancing in. A couple other people were there too, but then it died out.

 

Did I mention MalcomInTheMiddle was lame?

 

Piano player in the atrium bar was nice, as was the classical trio.

 

Entertainment wise, this cruise was the pits. We have never been on a cruise where we walked around looking for something, anything, to do. Top side was dead, clubs were dead. And we are not hard people to entertain! We were looking for any excuse to stay up until midnight, and most nights couldn’t find it.

 

Part 10 – Debarkation

 

We did the self-assist, which took a bit longer than we expected to start. Still we were off the boat, and changing a flat tire in the parking lot by 9:20. (Bad valve stem)

 

We did make a mistake of hitting the midship elevator trying to get to deck 3 – nothing doing. This brought us to the dead end between the dining rooms. So, we had to go down to 2, then forward and up to 3. Oops.

 

Part 11 – overall

 

We had a good time, and this was a good cruise. Not a great cruise. There were some things that just couldn’t be helped: bad weather, propulsion problems, and a missed port. That’s part of cruising, and that is not why this wasn’t a great cruise.

 

I am very disappointed in the absolute lack of entertainment. And I can’t help but wonder if the lack of a complete table setting is an indication of “dumbing down” the cruise.

 

This was our 6th Carnival cruise, and I very much wanted to hit the Platinum level. I had every intention of staying with Carnival. But, after this cruise, I can’t help but wondering if maybe we shouldn’t try another line.

 

Sorry for the length! Any questions? Please let me know. I’ll try to help out.

[coolestwife]

Thank you for the review!

[jckvpa0]

Glad you had a nice cruise, thanks for the review!

 

It can't hurt to switch it up a bit, it's always nice to have a new experience.

[bucket_O_beer4john]

Almost forgot my ETDC duties!

 

We hit the F deck on Monday, which was nice because there was less movement there than other places on board. DW had to turn her chair around, because the tarp across the front railing is gone, and the kiddies (young and old) on the water slide had a clear view.

 

Of course, that didn't stop the old geezers from coming up and taking a look around.

[cathyoo]

Thank you for your review. I am glad you had a nice time, sorry you didn't have a great time.

 

On my last cruise I noticed there was not a full set of silver, however, they cleared the silver with every course and laid out clean utensils for the next course. I really liked the method since the table was less crowded.

[rvrgirl]

Sorry you had bad weather, and other problems. But I see you made the best of it. Personally, I would try another cruiseline. Just to break it up a little.

We have been on 7 cruises with Carnival, and I kinda feel its getting to be the same oh, same oh. (but hey maybe that's just me:) ) We are going on the radiance class on the Royal Caribbean in Oct. Then back to the Carnival Triumph in March;)

I'm sure you will have fun which ever cruiseline you choose!

[caprcorn28]

Glad to see that everything turned out for you on the cruise!!! Liked your review - a really nice balance!!! Sorry to hear that the weather was rather "iffy"...

I couldn't agree with you MORE on: "the usual Miami morons driving 100 mph. Nothing like going 65 in a 55 zone, and getting passed like you are standing still. Anyone who has not drove there before – be warned."

They're nuts!!! But I'll risk it again - love the area!!! But nuts!!! (I work with a guy that is from Miami, has lived here for 12 years now and he is STILL a lunatic driver!!)

Who was MalcomInThe Middle?? Is that your nickname for the CD or was Dana H on vacation?? (That's who we had in March)

 

"The piano bar – we poked our head in there a couple times, and didn’t hear anything that we would consider good. I really don’t think this guy could sing much at all." Our experience too!! Pretty disappointing for us, cuz we've always had such a FANTASTIC time at the piano bar! As I had said in my review, something to the effect of, never in my life have I heard rap and hip hop in a piano bar, but whatever!! :rolleyes:

 

"We did make a mistake of hitting the midship elevator trying to get to deck 3 – nothing doing. This brought us to the dead end between the dining rooms. So, we had to go down to 2, then forward and up to 3. Oops" Been there, Did that!! Glad that I am not the only one!!.....A few times!!! A great tip that really helped me a LOT during the cruise (cuz I have a terrible sense of direction) and yet, this was probably the ship that I learned the quickest...Deck 5 goes from one end to the other! There may have been "easier ways" sometimes to get to places...but Deck 5 was gold to me!!

Once again - great review - I enjoyed reading it!! Enjoy any future cruises that you take, no matter what line!!! :)

[jenjens1023]

We were on Victory in early April. This was our first Carnival cruise, so the entertainment was all new to us. We are also easy to entertain, and we enjoyed all of it (even the piano bar). But we hated Al Ramano--thought his ethnic jokes were mean, not funny (but I did like the one where he told Canadians to leave their quarters at home so they stop jamming our vending machines!).

 

Just goes to show how different everyone is and why there are umpteen cruise lines catering to any and every taste.

 

Never noticed the silverware problem. But I ate everything with my fingers and then wiped my hands on my jeans and wiped my mouth with my NASCAR hat.

 

We also had a wonderful time with Chris at Coki Beach. Too bad he had to wear that Yankees hat!

[bucket_O_beer4john]

Who was MalcomInThe Middle??

Oops - yes, MalcomInTheMiddle was the CD. Did I mention he was lame? Worst I've ever had.

 

Has anyone else ever heard of them running the newlywed/not-so-newlywed game on the last day? Every other cruise they did it on the first day, and played off the jokes the whole cruise.

[TanIslandGirl]

Thanks for the review Buckets. I am cruising on the Victory in Auust and I am sorry to hear that Malcolm is not the usual CD material we are used to. What are ya going to do?:confused: I enjoy the piano bars and it sounds like that might be a bust to. I guess I can hope for some ship swapping of employees before then. I enjoyed reading your review. Thanks

[VentureMan_2000]

Great review.

 

I sometimes think that the entertainment has a lot to do with the passengers aboard that week. Some PAX really get the bands and entertainment going. If everyone chooses to go to bed early, there is not a lot the entertainment can do to spice things up.

 

I'll be on the Victory Sunday.

 

WHat is the story on Protests in San Juan...? Are they bothering the tourists...?

[LHP]

Hey John ~ Glad you had a good time. I know what you mean about everything being for predictable. It does take some of the excitement out of the cruise. Fortunately, the two things hubby and I cruise for have remained the same and in abundant supply....sitting and staring out to sea (hubby) and karaoke (me) ! At least with another cruise line, there would be some new things to experience.

 

Now that you have mentioned the silverware, I was trying to think back. On our Pride cruise, they still used a salad folk and an entree folk. (guess they haven't gotten the memo!)

[poptart]

Our only real plan here was to go to Maho beach to watch the planes.

 

Do tell--what is this??? We'll be in St. Martin in November. I enjoyed your review.

[toescat]

Part 8 – The ship

 

We were very happy with the crew, and the service we received. Lots of smiles, and the crew seemed to enjoy working together.

 

The ship was pretty clean for the most part, but there were some pretty significant stains on the carpet in the hallway on our deck. Also, there were a couple areas going from the aft elevators to our cabin were we had some pretty funky smells – something like a cross between raw sewage and old seafood. We passed a couple crewmen working on the sewage system one day, and heard one of them say “this isn’t good!” Not sure what it was, but the smell was always there. The stains were always there too, even though they shampooed the carpet during the week.

 

Dining areas were clean, and tables cleared and wiped quickly. The buffet lines were always being cleaned.

 

The “L” shaped rooms were very nice, and seemed bigger than the other balcony cabins. Our cabin didn’t have much (if any) hot water, so we had cool showers all week. If it were a bigger issue, we would have complained about it. Looking back, I guess we should have. Just didn’t feel like going to complain to the pursers like so many others.

 

We didn’t use the balcony too much. We had a neighbor who liked to sing. Well, she liked to try to sing anyway!

 

The sheets and duvet were nice. I had to use 3 pillows, and the mattress was pretty dang hard. I’m not sure if our cabin had the new ones. When we were debarking, they were trucking out stacks of old mattresses.

 

Our cabin was shown as a queen bed, so I was looking forward to actually being able to be near DW in the middle of the night. Alas, it was still just two twins pushed together, so if I tried to go to the middle, I ended up rolling back or being on the very uncomfortable middle section.

 

Part 9 – Entertainment

 

Same old shows. Same as the last three cruises. OK, but nothing to get excited about after seeing them before.

 

Comedian Al Romero was pretty good. There was a lounge singer that did a few songs before Al’s first show. He did pretty good with his lounge songs, but absolutely rocked when he pulled his harmonica out and started into some blues. The orchestra seemed to be having a lot of fun with it too. A fun couple of songs.

 

Cruise director MalcomInTheMiddle was lame.

 

The calypso band played on deck from 12-5 everyday. Except for when they were doing the pool-side games. And except for when they were on break. And excep twhen they showed up at 12 to start setting up for an actual start time of 12:30. ish. So, they really didn’t play much at all. Nothing from them at all outside of the 12-5 times.

 

The piano bar – we poked our head in there a couple times, and didn’t hear anything that we would consider good. I really don’t think this guy could sing much at all.

 

The rock band in the aft lounge was pretty boring. The old people that happened in there looked pretty bored too. We did see some dancing, but not much. The band did not give off any energy.

 

We went to the Arctic bar once to try to get some dancing in. A couple other people were there too, but then it died out.

 

Did I mention MalcomInTheMiddle was lame?

 

Piano player in the atrium bar was nice, as was the classical trio.

 

Entertainment wise, this cruise was the pits. We have never been on a cruise where we walked around looking for something, anything, to do. Top side was dead, clubs were dead. And we are not hard people to entertain! We were looking for any excuse to stay up until midnight, and most nights couldn’t find it.

 

Part 10 – Debarkation

 

We did the self-assist, which took a bit longer than we expected to start. Still we were off the boat, and changing a flat tire in the parking lot by 9:20. (Bad valve stem)

 

We did make a mistake of hitting the midship elevator trying to get to deck 3 – nothing doing. This brought us to the dead end between the dining rooms. So, we had to go down to 2, then forward and up to 3. Oops.

 

Part 11 – overall

 

We had a good time, and this was a good cruise. Not a great cruise. There were some things that just couldn’t be helped: bad weather, propulsion problems, and a missed port. That’s part of cruising, and that is not why this wasn’t a great cruise.

 

I am very disappointed in the absolute lack of entertainment. And I can’t help but wonder if the lack of a complete table setting is an indication of “dumbing down” the cruise.

 

This was our 6th Carnival cruise, and I very much wanted to hit the Platinum level. I had every intention of staying with Carnival. But, after this cruise, I can’t help but wondering if maybe we shouldn’t try another line.

 

Sorry for the length! Any questions? Please let me know. I’ll try to help out.

 

Well I just got of the Princess Dawn and I will never cruise princess again. I have been on 9 Carnival Cruises and 2 Princess Cruises. Food on Carnival Ships is much much much better than Princess. Our cabin was on made up 3 times in a 10 day cruise. We had to use wet towels when we showered as we didn't ever see our steward. Did I mention our was very very very tiny and the balcony was very small. Carnival Ships are more comfortable and not very confusing this one you could not even go down a hallway straight. Weird.

 

One of my Co-workers just got off the the Celebrity Infinity on Monday and returned to work yesterday. He said back to Carnival I go. Food stunk everywhere. The only thing that was worth eating was the hamburgers. His cruise was so bad he is requesting a full refund.

 

So the grass may not be greener on the otherside.

 

 

My friends just got off of a Celebrity Cruise and they said the food stunk.

[VentureMan_2000]

Here you go...

 

 

[georgeb]

Here you go...

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=18783&stc=1&d=1142901586

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=20053&stc=1&d=1145228887

 

Is that real? You could hit them with rocks.

 

Bucket,

 

How was your room stewart? We're on the Victory in Jun and our room is two doors down. Should be the same person.

[VentureMan_2000]

Those photos are for real...:eek:

[coolestwife]

Those photos are for real...:eek:

 

That simply CANNOT be safe! Un...be...leivable!:eek: :eek:

[KruznKel]

Nice review.. can't say we had the same issues in March.. we really enjoyed it.. Piano man was different musta been why:D :p

 

As for Maho beach in St. Maarten.. we missed getting there on that trip.. but are hoping to get there in March 07! Love those planes!!:D

[LHP]

Here you go...

 

 

 

MAN!! That reminds me of Alaska. There is a spot where you can stand and have 757 land right over your head (if you can bear the noise). It was cool!!

[JLTMET56]

Who was MalcomInThe Middle?? Is that your nickname for the CD or was Dana H on vacation?? (That's who we had in March)

 

That's what he called himself,,we were on the ship (western) the week before and he was filling in for Dana who was on vacation (Dana was on the cruise we were on last July,,,,personally we thought Malcolm was one of the better CD's (in 5 cruises) that we've seen .,.,

 

thank you for the review,,it was our second cruise within a year on this ship

[Molly BPOE]

Really enjoyed the review, Dh and I will be sailing Victory this Sunday (5/14) this is our first cruise. I hope the weather is better than what you had. No one answered Venture's question, any problems for tourists in San Juan?

[Eliot Ness]

........We went into the terminal, and were told it was the first day in the new space. ........

Good review! Does this mean they are using the new terminal building for check-in now? It was under construction last June and we were hoping it would be finished by this summer.

 

John