Just back from the Victory...any questions?

[JohnGaltny]

do you have a deck plan/diagram of the ship showing it from the side and identifying the public areas? Does Carnival give them out aboard??

 

The one we got on Princess was a huge help to navigating the SUN.

 

Thanks.

[highcountrycruiser]

Yes, you can get a small folding card that is a deck plan at the pursers desk. They are in a plastic stand.

[aprilvw69]

How long was your cruise? How many formal nights did you have? I will be on the Victory in June for 6 nights and have heard from some posters 1 formal night while others say to plan on 2. It's very confusing.:confused:

 

I was on the Victory a few weeks back and yes, there is mini-golf on the ship.

 

We felt the same about the Victory as everyone else on this thread. And my 7 and 4 year olds loved Camp Carnival, too.

 

As for the chocolate melting cake, it was something that we could have lived without....I guess I was expecting more. My wife, being the huge chocolate fan she is.....well, she was disappointed as well. I guess she's gotten spoiled from the chocolates I bring back from Europe.

 

Enjoy your cruise, you'll have a blast.

 

 

Thanks for letting us know about the mini-golf....Is there an extra charge for it or what????

[aprilvw69]

How long was your cruise? How many formal nights did you have? I will be on the Victory in June for 6 nights and have heard from some posters 1 formal night while others say to plan on 2. It's very confusing.:confused:

 

 

 

Hi...hana56......You had mentioned about the formal night....What dates are you going? We are going June 3 for 6 nights on the victory and I was told we had 1 formal night....

[aprilvw69]

Hi Amt08080..

 

 

I was wondering about the rooms you had mentioned you were on the empress level also. By chance did you try using a laptop in your room? We are taking our laptop with us and were hoping we would be able to use it in our cabin.

 

 

April

[kimberlyp119]

We just got back from the 4/8 sailing aboard the Victory. There were a few negatives but we all had fun. We brought the kids since it was spring break. There were a zillion kids. Kids running wild without supervision. I'm sure the people who didn't bring kids hated that!!! I have cruised before and would put this ship at the bottom of my list. It's an older ship with signs of wear and tear. Some of the halls smelled like sewer. It was really bad at times. There was no sports deck, which my kids always like. Just a small mini-golf area that was jammed with people at all times. The food was good. Never had a bad meal but never an exceptional one either. Our waiters were ok. Nothing above and beyond. I never once saw my cabin steward. My husband met him once but that was it. Our room was nicely cleaned everyday but our kids' room was skipped days at a time. They were located on a different deck because of an upgrade so I never met their cabin steward either. If the kids did not put the "Clean up my stateroom" card then their room was left untouched. The shows were good. The Legends show on the last day was very good. Don't bother playing BINGO. Carnival is only interested in making money and NOT having fun doing so. On all of the Princess cruises I have been on we looked forward to Bingo since it was so much fun. On this cruise they started late most times and had to rush rush rush and there was no joking around. The ports were fun. The worst part of going ashore is when you have to take a tender instead of docking at the pier. We docked at Costa Maya and Jamaica but had to be tendered in Grand Cayman. The line to get the tender was at least a mile long (no exaggeration!!) with people standing in the blazing sun!!!! We did all of our shore excursions privately. We saved a ton and had an excellent time. No matter what anyone says, Don't be afraid to book something on shore. We went to Stingray City with Justin and his crew on Grand Cayman. It was the most amazing thing ever! We paid about $30pp but they were selling the same tour onboard for about $70. I could go on and on....any questions????

[Mrichy555]

Hey Amy, I was wondering if you or your husband made it to the casino? Was wondering what kind of texas holdem tourneys they had if any.

 

Also in Costa Maya did you happen to go to Majahaul?

[kimberlyp119]

Texas Hold Em was all computerized. You sit around a poker table with screens in front of you. Any time you bet you need to swipe your s&s card. It's basically the same as playing online at home.

[kimberlyp119]

I forgot to add this to my previous post. You actually dock in Mahajual. We took a cab to the public beach area. It was $3pp to get there and $2pp to get back. Very nice area!!!! We rented chairs on the beach and had buckets of Corona delivered (6 beers $10!!!!)

[Julienatul]

Did you have a balcony cabin? If so are there mini fridge's in them?

 

Also were there chairs avialable by the pool? Any chair hogs?

 

What is the name of the lido deck band?

 

 

Thanks,

Julie

[kimberlyp119]

We had a balcony cabin. It was nice. As for chair hogs........if you are not out on deck by 9am forget about getting a chair. We went on deck at 8:45 and got 2 chairs. The person next to us had 6 chairs saved for over 3 hours!!!!!!! Very rude! The band at the Lido deck pool was called Cool Runnings. Caribbean music.

[kimberlyp119]

No mini fridge. The cabin steward puts 6 cans of coke products and a bottle of water in your cabin. Cokes are $1.75 and the water was $3.75.

[Amy08080]

Oooooh.... just thought of a question for all of you who just returned from the Victory. I had read on another thread that the Victory DID already have mini-golf. I as of yet haven't been able to confirm this.... is it true??? Getting so excited... 4 days left!

 

yes there was a mini golf. My godson took my son once during the cruise. I know you purchase the clubs and golfballs on the lido deck, but I have no clue as to where the mini golf was, I didn't see it the whole trip, which was pretty odd since I was all over that ship about a thousand times. But to answer your question, yes there is a mini golf.

[Amy08080]

How long was your cruise? How many formal nights did you have? I will be on the Victory in June for 6 nights and have heard from some posters 1 formal night while others say to plan on 2. It's very confusing.:confused:

 

Two formal nights. They were on Monday and Friday. The Monday night one had the Captain's Cocktail party.

[Amy08080]

Hi Amt08080..

 

 

I was wondering about the rooms you had mentioned you were on the empress level also. By chance did you try using a laptop in your room? We are taking our laptop with us and were hoping we would be able to use it in our cabin.

 

 

April

 

Didn't use a laptop, so I'm not sure if I could give you a correct answer. They have two outlets in the cabin, so I would suggest taking a power strip. It came in handy. I'm sure if you were just using the laptop without internet it wouldn't be a problem. If you are using the internet, I know our cell phones had bad signals, so I'm not sure. They have a computer area with internet access on the ship, but the prices from what I heard are astronomical for their use. I did see people with laptops so I guess it's possible.

[Amy08080]

Did you have a balcony cabin? If so are there mini fridge's in them?

 

Also were there chairs avialable by the pool? Any chair hogs?

 

What is the name of the lido deck band?

 

 

Thanks,

Julie

 

Yes, had balcony cabin 7349 on the Empress deck. No they did not have mini fridges. Only the suites have the fridges.

 

Yes there are chairs available by the pools. And yes, there were chair hogs. As a previous poster mentioned, if you do not have a chair by 8-9am, you will not have a chair at all. You will see many of empty chairs being held for invisible guests:rolleyes: , and from one incident I have mentioned before, god forbid you take one of their empty chairs.

 

The lido deck band was Cool Runnings. They played mostly Caribbean Music, but also played some Top Hits.

[Kkate]

I got back from a Victory Western cruise on April 1/07. Had a great time. There was a guitar player named Joe who played "Party Music" on the Promenade deck by the casino who was very good. If you listen, he says some really funny & outrageous stuff in between songs that most people don't notice. Mahajual was very enjoyable with a great beach & as mentioned, very cheap cervasas (sp). I tried an inside room this time and found it to be just fine. Food was great but never tried the dining room (only way I could get DH on the ship!). The steak sandwiches at the Mississipi grill were fantastic. Only complaint was a lot of 10 - 16 year olds running around unsupervised at times. Happy cruising to all....Cheers

[Island Annie]

Pineapple Gal,

 

A word of advise . . . Don't stay onboard, or confine yourself to the cruiseship terminal in Costa Maya.

 

Be a little adventourous and take a ride into Majahul (the small fishing village just a few minutes away). It's like stepping back in time to old world Mexico. A Very "rustic" but FUN little town.

 

The entire town is only about 6-8 city blocks long & is all beach on one side & all casual bar/restaurants & stores on the other.

 

The entire length of the beach is lined with Palapa-style bars (most who will provide you with a lounge chair for sunning if you're buying your drinks from their place. You can also order snacks & lunch & eat right on the beach if you'd like to, as they'll take your order then just run across the street to their restaurant to pick up your food & bring it to you. Also . . . The prices in Majahul are VERY reasonable.

 

Spend as much time in Majahul as you'd like to, then taxi back to the terminal area & spend the remainder of your day there, then you're only a few steps away from getting back onboard when you're ready to.

 

Of course this is all just "My" opinion, but is what I did on my day in Costa Maya & it worked out really well.

 

Because I was traveling alone, I was a bit hesitant to venture off on my own into Majahul, but after reading all the positive reviews here on the cc board I decided to do it inspite of my hestitations and was SO glad that I did. It's a very cool little town (now). (I hear there are lots of plans for expansion, and I'll hate to see that happen.

 

If you do a search for "Costa Maya" on webshots you'll find lots of pictures of Majahul that will give you a better feel for the town.

 

Ebjoy it before all the expansion.

 

Annie

[aprilvw69]

Hi Amy......

 

 

Thanks for the information about the laptops. I had read on here that some people were able to use theirs in their cabins for the internet depending on where they were located I guess. We will be downloading pics and was hoping to keep in contact with sil to check on our daughter(we got a portable webcam for us and a regular one for her) but I guess we can just call and check in. Also I had a questin for you, you had stated to hana56 that you had 2 formal nights on a 6 day cruise. Our ta told us we would only have 1.

[PineappleGal]

Any more questions let me know. I have all the Capers.

 

I would love to see the capers if you don't mind. Would you like my email address or something? Let me know. Can't wait to hear from you. I guess you have the current capers and I'm leaving May 20 and that would help us out to get an idea of what we want to do.

 

THANKS!!

[PineappleGal]

Pineapple Gal,

 

A word of advise . . . Don't stay onboard, or confine yourself to the cruiseship terminal in Costa Maya.

 

Be a little adventourous and take a ride into Majahul (the small fishing village just a few minutes away). It's like stepping back in time to old world Mexico. A Very "rustic" but FUN little town.

 

The entire town is only about 6-8 city blocks long & is all beach on one side & all casual bar/restaurants & stores on the other.

 

The entire length of the beach is lined with Palapa-style bars (most who will provide you with a lounge chair for sunning if you're buying your drinks from their place. You can also order snacks & lunch & eat right on the beach if you'd like to, as they'll take your order then just run across the street to their restaurant to pick up your food & bring it to you. Also . . . The prices in Majahul are VERY reasonable.

 

Spend as much time in Majahul as you'd like to, then taxi back to the terminal area & spend the remainder of your day there, then you're only a few steps away from getting back onboard when you're ready to.

 

Of course this is all just "My" opinion, but is what I did on my day in Costa Maya & it worked out really well.

 

Because I was traveling alone, I was a bit hesitant to venture off on my own into Majahul, but after reading all the positive reviews here on the cc board I decided to do it inspite of my hestitations and was SO glad that I did. It's a very cool little town (now). (I hear there are lots of plans for expansion, and I'll hate to see that happen.

 

If you do a search for "Costa Maya" on webshots you'll find lots of pictures of Majahul that will give you a better feel for the town.

 

Ebjoy it before all the expansion.

 

Annie

 

Love the advise, I think once we get on the cruise and they give you the price list of the ports, we might think twice and get something to do from the excursion list. We found that the Carnival excursion list was pricey but you never know till you get on board. We have a fun day at sea the first day so we will be debuting what to do then for Costa Maya. Thanks again for the tips and advise about the port. I will shirley look at the webshots for photos. Thanks again.

[barvn]

Appreciated all of the advice and comments. I am traveling with my husband, mother and my 5 year old triplets in November. Can't wait! Did have a lot of questions, but alot of them already answered. Did anyone do the tour with Dunns River Falls and the River Tubing and would you recommend it for small children?

Was the Victory decorated nicely? Was anybody in a cabin on the Main Deck. We are booked in cabins 2387 2389.

Did anybody take a private Taxi or Van from the airport or did you use Carnivals transportation?

[aprilvw69]

Well this might be a stupid question....and I know I have seen this asked on here before but don't remember where I just got our birth certificates in the mail today from the Office of Vital Statistics (we can't find our originals) are they considered certified from vital statistics???? I was just wondering because we did not have much time to get passports so we went this route.

[aprilvw69]

Well this might be a stupid question....and I know I have seen this asked on here before but don't remember where I just got our birth certificates in the mail today from the Office of Vital Statistics (we can't find our originals) are they considered certified from vital statistics???? I was just wondering because we did not have much time to get passports so we went this route.

[aprilvw69]

sorry about the double message I accidentally clicked it twice