2,600 Word Review: Carnival Victory Thanksgiving '06

[joetrizeo]

Hey all, JoeT here with my review of the Carnival Victory's Western Caribbean sailing for Thanksgiving 2006.

 

All and all it was a good time. Not as great as I expected my first Carnival cruise to be. Some aspects I liked, other I didn't.

 

First of all let me get the obvious crappy stuff out of the way which could happen on any cruise and is no fault of Carnivals.

 

First of all the weather sucked. I can’t believe I’m calling 70F and overcast with some rain sucky but it's all relative. For Cleveland, that’s good weather but for a Caribbean cruise, where we're used to sun sun sun and 85F, that’s the pits. It made for rather LONG days at sea.

 

Second the ship was full up. This made for long buffet lines (20min to get food) and aggravation getting around. Crowded stores, hallways, gangways, decks, elevators, pools, hot tubs, blah.

 

Third there was a large family reunion onboard and most of this family lacked tact, manners, etiquette and common sense. In general I found too many boisterous, non-courteous and disrespectful people. (Insert common reasons here)

 

One of the kids pitched a vanilla ice cream cone over the banister in the atrium from deck 9 and it flew all the way down to the black grand piano on deck 3 with a ferocious SPLAT, AS the piano man was playing. Boy was he pissed. My camera was in the room other wise I would have snapped shots. I was on deck 4 so I couldn’t run and catch him. But others pointed him out.

 

Another kid proceeded to cut in front of everyone in the ice cream line waiting to get ice cream, including the dude currently getting ice cream.....ME!

I had my cone under the machine and my hand on the lever about to dispense my ice cream when this kid barges up next to me and pushes my cone out of the way with his cone and proceeded to put his hand on top of my hand on the lever to get ice cream. I said 'excuse me' to which he didn’t respond, I then said it louder "Excuse me! Wait your turn!' HA-HA he backed off. It was more of a laugh than a problem though. But I now understand what everyone’s talking about when they say 'control your kids'. Oh and by the way, I saw that kid everywhere on the ship and never once did I see him with his parents or any adults.

 

WHAT does Carnival put in its ice cream, jeeze!

 

Ok, rant over. Now on to the serious review.

 

Airport/Transfers:

The airport and transfers were busy. The Carnival reps at the airport weren’t too friendly. Rather just ordering us where to go and to move our luggage over here and out of the way. The bus ride was fine. About 1 hr from off the plane to off the bus. The real problem came at the end of the bus ride and locking us on the bus to do their tipping scheme. Read more about it here.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=452199

 

Embarkation:

Great and super fast. About an hour from inline to on boat. Did I have to stand in line, ya. Did it suck, ya. Did it bother me? No, because we were excited. The Carnival reps at embarkation were super friendly with smiles and clear explanations about where to go, what to fill out and well wishes. My two friends (who had a different flight) got to cut in front of the embarkation line, here’s how. As they were standing there a Carnival rep comes and says 'English? Anyone speak English?" My friend goes 'we do' she goes 'how many?' he says '2' she says 'right this way please' and they were directed out of line to a waiting rep. How that happened we have no clue but we'll take it!

 

Ship and Room:

Blah, what can I say? I was not impressed with the condition of the Victory and the room. Right off the bat I noticed that it had a 'used' appearance which is to be expected on a 6 year old ship but I just thought things should look more sparkling new and taken care of than they did. The ships décor was nice. I liked the blue greens everywhere. Watch out for the seahorses and lamp posts! (See pics in my signature).

What I didn't like. The hallway carpet was worn with stains, dark areas and worn out spots on it. Some signs and buttons were worn out and need painted/replaced. You could see dirt built up in the corners of the bathroom and in the crevasses of counter tops. Our cabin carpet was dingy and made our feet and socks dark when we walked on it. Our draws had sand, lint, dirt, hair from previous cruisers in it. I had to clean it out before I put my clothes in them. (Room stewards fault maybe?)

 

We had 8326, inside cabin, deck 8, port side.

 

Victory amenities:

No fridge. Robes in cabin (never used them). Extra bedding in one closet. Extra bed under our bed. Beds were hard but bedding was comfortable and nice. AC blew cold and was fully adjustable. Hairdryer in the bathroom with electric razor plugs only on it. Two 110v plugs in the room itself. Dove shampoo and Lever 2000 body wash in the shower. Basket of necessities like razor, hair gel and toothpaste. More useful for the LAST day (when all your bathroom stuff is packed and taken away) than during the cruise.

 

Days at sea:

I lump these all together because they were uneventful because of the weather. We ended up with 4 days at sea since Grand Cayman was canceled. The only nice day was the last (sat). Good news is it wasn’t crowded on the lido deck and you could always find a spot! The activities were fun. Loved the hairy chest competition! Congrats to "Fernando from Portugal!" who won the hearts of every beast loving woman with his furry coat, Tarzan call that was more like an all out scream at the top of his lungs, and his ability to swing dance flip the woman judging. See my pics for his hairy trophy.

 

No one laid out. Most just laid in the deck chairs fully clothed. Some swam and were in the hot tubs (tons of kids in the hot tubs). We would spend some time on the lido deck then get bored. Then go to the casino and blow 20$ in 30 min. Then go back to the room and watch a little TV. Then get bored and go eat some more. Then walk around aimlessly. Then go see an activity. But the last day was really nice and where most of my pics are from. You could see how crowded the boat was now. By 10:30 every spot was filled up and it took about 5 min to find 4 chairs free. We layed out and swam. Pools were warm and hot tub temps were just right. It was the best day and the weather made all the difference. Saw the diaper rule enforced which was a good laugh.

 

Costa Maya:

Weather was nice. Explored the port area and did the jungle beach break excursion. See my review over here.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=452194

 

Grand Cayman:

Canceled :( Was looking forward to snorkeling soooo much!

 

Jamaica:

Nice weather but high seas and muggy. Did the Dunn's river falls and party boat excursion. It was an awesome time. See my review here.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=452196

 

Food:

Subjective of course, but I thought the food was just OK. Not as good as I was expecting. Nothing hit me as WOW. Some good dishes included the chocolate melting cake. We ate one almost every night. The pasta siciliano was good and so was the pasta with sausage and red peppers. Prime rib was fine and so was the lobster. The cal zones were great! I had 2 every day. The 24 hour drink and ice cream was really good. I like the fact you could get it whenever you feel. Good selection with the 3 standards chocolate, vanilla and mix. But the machines were kind of dirty and sticky and should have been cleaned more often. I like the apple juice, fruit punch, lemonade and ice tea available all the time. The hot chocolate was nice and really good with some vanilla in it.

 

The buffets lacked and were filthy. The lines were long (20 min to get food) and they were dirty with food spilling out onto the line, dirty handles in the food, and not well stocked with fresh food in general. Saw a lot of empty pans. I noticed a lot of food was regular American fare food (excluding the specialty buffets) which is good I guess but when I’m on vacation I don’t want to eat regular food I can get at home. Point being, breakfast never changed. Every day was the same potatoes, bacon, eggs, sausage, and bread. I wish they would take more liberty and create some breakfast food to make it more interesting to eat and try. Same thing gets boring.

 

I liked having the specialty eating places incase the buffet wasn’t appetizing. I’m talking about the Chinese wok, deli, pizzeria with cal zones and bbq open extended hours. Good job Carnival.

 

Service:

Room steward service and dining service was top notch. Comparable to anything I’ve received at 5 star hotels, resorts and restaurants.

For as busy as it was I was really surprised at how fast and well the buffet bus personnel kept the buffet tables clean, clear and stocked with silverware. We never had a problem finding a table for 4.

 

Cruise director and Assistant Cruise Director:

I felt these guys were cheesy and corny. But I guess they have to be. Jorge was a nice guy but his jokes were never funny. RRRRRRRRRRRRenaldo was ok, but he seamed to talk about his 'BUUUTTT' a bit too much. "KUISSY KUISSY! BUUUHH BYYEEE!"

They did do a fine job of leading the activities though.

 

Entertainment:

We are not show type people so we never saw one nightly act. They had 3 nights of comedians at midnight. Adults only show. We went to each one and they were a fun time. I liked the idea of a midnight adults show. "Don't be makin' fun of Jeff Gordon!" ha-ha

I felt the dinner time entertainment lacked. It mainly consisted of the waiters in a group singing or doing a line dance. On my other cruise the dinner entertainment was much better. There was singing and scripted dancing. They involved the whole restaurant. It was like a mini show that lasted almost 30 min rather than just 5.

 

Gripes:

No pool side towels: I mean come on. They had no ship towels for free use by the pool for when you get out of the water to dry off. Using your own or the 22$ towel they give you is such a hassle. It is such a convenience not having to worry about carrying your own towel everywhere, and guarding it incase someone takes off with it.

Now you have to worry about bringing your own towel and carrying it everywhere you go, hanging it up by the pool and watching it every 5 min to make sure it didn’t blow away or someone didn’t take it. With the 22$ towel and the cost that’s involved, it isn't worth the risk and worry about possibly losing it or having it swiped.

 

I found most of the deck chairs to be greasy and dirty. I know they've been out for years and people have been laying on them week after week but I felt like I needed a shower after laying on them. Perhaps scrub them once in a while? I guess I need a cover towel like host randy :)

 

Sirens aft pool area is a smoke fest. Made it hard to enjoy the adults’ only hot tub.

 

On Costa, it was real nice to have the entire back pool area as adults only. No kids in that pool or 2 hot tubs at all!

 

It was nice to have music playing in the aft pool area and in the center of the lido deck but the cd's or player skipped constantly. Mp3 players are cheap. Perhaps they need to upgrade their equipment.

 

Only 1 midnight buffet. Costa had one every night.

 

Debarkation sucked. Waiting in a line to get off the ship was bad but part of the game I guess.

 

No boobs on the topless deck, just a few people up there to get away from the crowds. Does anyone ever use it topless-ly or is THAT the big joke about the f-deck, that it's never used? :P

 

Not as 'fun ship' as I thought.

 

Praises:

 

Casino was big. Dance floor for 18 and over.

 

Water slide was fun despite tons of kids.

 

Having 5 casual nights and 2 formal nights was nice. I wore a suit on the formal nights and jeans and t-shirt on casual nights. I dress up every day for work and don’t want to on vacation. On my other cruise I was used to only ONE casual night, 2 formal and the rest semi-formal (business attire). It was nice not having to dress up ever night for dinner.

 

Other observations:

I found Carnival just as culturally diverse as my cruise on European Costa. We saw and heard many different nationalities and languages.

Carnival was not as 'all American' as I thought - not that it mattered.

The smoke problem was the same on both lines. Some people said it’s worse on Costa because it's European and there are a higher numbers of smokers in Europe but I found the same amount of smokers on both lines.

 

Summary:

I dunno, when I vacation, I want to feel more luxurious than I normally am. I want to be pampered and eat new and exciting foods that I’ve never eaten before. Not stuff I can get or make at home like chicken noodle soup or steak. I want my cruise to be a little more upscale than normal life. Carnival is a great cruise, for the masses. It’s a great casual cruise atmosphere but I want something a little classier on my vacation. Carnival just didn’t give me that ‘luxury’ feeling.

 

The three major things that will tend to steer me away from Carnival next time is the pool towel policy, food (including messy buffets), and people onboard.

I just feel that if I’m going to spend vacation time and money in a highly social atmosphere such as on a cruise, and that’s what cruises are, I want to spend it with other people who have the tact, politeness and social dignity to act correctly on a cruise.

 

If my cruise was a fluke then I’ll have no problem cruising Carnival next time. But if this is indicative of the type of cruisers Carnival attracts with its aggressive and competitive pricing policy, then I'm probably more inclined to cruise a not-so-mainstream cruise line.

 

It still sucked coming home and drudging back to work so I know I enjoyed my vacation and made the best of it.

 

My vacation, my cruise, my view, my opinion

 

Tip: when they 'close down' the beverage stations they are not really closed down. They simply turn around the metal cup levers which you push your glass up against to dispense your drink. If they are turned around all you have to do is put your glass up to the spout and with the other hand, reach behind the lever and push on the black button that the lever would normally push against and whalla! Beverage dispensed!

 

Hope you enjoyed my review. It took approx 6 total hours to write, organize and edit my 4 threads with 5,400 words.

 

Later all!

 

 

 

-JoeT

[GoinCruisin]

I've always seen towels poolside, that is weird they didn't have them... however, you give them your S&S number and if you don't turn it back in, it's still $22... you can't get out of taking responsibility for the towels... whether it is from your room or deck... Not a big deal, you just make sure you don't lose the towel... :D

 

On the Miracle, the back pool and hot tub were adults only, however, kids could still "hang out" there... I do wish they would have an area that was just for adults, by a pool... kids have a kiddie pool, we need an adult pool :D

 

I haven't been on that ship, so I don't know if it was a fluke... I'd have to agree about the buffets... but I felt the same way on RCL, and actually every buffet I've ever encountered on land... I can't get too excited about a buffet... unless I've had ALOT of drinks. Just never appealed to me...

 

People, you can have a bad bunch on any cruise, any line... I've had them on Carnival, had them on RCL... I don't think you can avoid the possibility on ANY cruise line... you just have to roll with the punches.

 

I would say if you want luxury and pampering, definitely try one of the more upscale lines... for the Carnival price, or RCL, etc... you aren't going to get pampering or luxury, then again, you wouldn't get it on land for $100 a day either!! LOL!!

 

THanks for taking the time to write the review!!!

[stowawaykc]

Nice review! Thanks for taking the time to post it.

I think when people read a review, this is the kind of info they are looking for. You pretty much covered it all.

 

 

GO BUCKEYES!

Kurt

[cuyahoga11]

I have been on the Victory 2 times. First time it was terrible so had to try it again, better but after last weeks cruise on the Legen I find that I like the spirt class ship better. Better layout, not so congested and lots of short lines instead of one very long line on lido deck

[truecruiser]

joe -- you said room stewards were top notch. i am curious about the rest of the crew on the VICTORY. i sailed it some time ago (i think it was in 2005), and ironically, it was the only cruise i have ever been on where i thought the crew was just not nice. many of them (not all, but enough) were pretty crabby and not very accomodating (and as a general matter, i never really ask for anything (other than food and drinks) on any of my cruises -- no special requests from room stewards, etc.). but i remember on the VICTORY, the Purser's desk crew, one of the photographers (yes -- can you believe it?), and our room steward (especially our room steward, ironically the only female room steward we've ever had) were all nasty at one time or another. i think crews do rotate. were any of the crew nasty? i had never experienced this before (not on celebrity, ncl or carnival), and have never experienced it since (nad have been cruising carnival exclusively for the past 5 years. it was a one off thing, i think. and i hope it stays that way. and .. i did not let it ruin my cruise.

[joetrizeo]

joe -- you said room stewards were top notch. i am curious about the rest of the crew on the VICTORY. i sailed it some time ago (i think it was in 2005), and ironically, it was the only cruise i have ever been on where i thought the crew was just not nice. many of them (not all, but enough) were pretty crabby and not very accomodating (and as a general matter, i never really ask for anything (other than food and drinks) on any of my cruises -- no special requests from room stewards, etc.). but i remember on the VICTORY, the Purser's desk crew, one of the photographers (yes -- can you believe it?), and our room steward (especially our room steward, ironically the only female room steward we've ever had) were all nasty at one time or another. i think crews do rotate. were any of the crew nasty? i had never experienced this before (not on celebrity, ncl or carnival), and have never experienced it since (nad have been cruising carnival exclusively for the past 5 years. it was a one off thing, i think. and i hope it stays that way. and .. i did not let it ruin my cruise.

 

the rest of the crew was absolutly top notch. no need to go into detail when everyone did a great job.

 

i couldn't even find something to complain about even if i tried.

 

if you say 'hi' first they will say hi back. i think on the cruise you have to be the one to initiate the friendly conversation. i'm just that type of person.

 

i've been a waiter, i've done the 'fake nice' thing. it's really hard to maintain sometimes. 90% of the time the niceness is fake kuz their at work i mean come on! but atleast it's there.