Disappointed with the Victory

[Knights on the Beach]

We were also shocked (that's the wrong word - since we knew from this board beforehand) to find that there was not a single hand sanitizer on board the ship. And the staff made it very clear that this antibacterial measure was NOT on board because noro is a VIRUS and it would not help protect against it. They mentioned that it would stop people from washing their hands and truly preventing NORO so Carnival made the choice to not use them on their ships. So then why Princess and HAL?

Maybe the HAL and Princess passengers whined louder than Carnival passengers to get them? I agree, the hand sanitizers are NO substitute for washing your hands! There is nothing more disturbing than watching someone walk out of the restroom without washing their hands and seeing them head right for the buffet.

[Chigirlcruzin]

This is something I'd write in big letters on the comment cards for those who are bothered by this. I do agree that they should be available for those who prefer using them. I didn't give it a second thought other than the day we boarded our Carnival ship last month Royal Carribean had the Liberty in port and was delayed because of the amount of Norovirus cases they had onboard that sailing. Next cruise I'll be sure to add the santizer request on my comment card :)

 

They should be available for those that want it, but they should not make it mandatory to use them! I am diligent about washing my hands, and I rarely get sick. I won't use hand sanitizers unless there is nothing else available. The hand sanitizers give a false sense of security.

[Chigirlcruzin]

Maybe the HAL and Princess passengers whined louder than Carnival passengers to get them? I agree, the hand sanitizers are NO substitute for washing your hands! There is nothing more disturbing than watching someone walk out of the restroom without washing their hands and seeing them head right for the buffet.

 

:eek: and eeeew!

[Chigirlcruzin]

Maybe the HAL and Princess passengers whined louder than Carnival passengers to get them? I agree, the hand sanitizers are NO substitute for washing your hands! There is nothing more disturbing than watching someone walk out of the restroom without washing their hands and seeing them head right for the buffet.

 

:eek: and eeeew!

[Knights on the Beach]

They should be available for those that want it, but they should not make it mandatory to use them! I am diligent about washing my hands, and I rarely get sick. I won't use hand sanitizers unless there is nothing else available. The hand sanitizers give a false sense of security.

I totally agree with you!!

[mek]

I was on the 6/3 sailing and did a very long review. Some things I agree with and others we did not experience. We found our cabins and the ship in general to be very clean. We did have some issues with the dining room service and not enough activities. Also, after being on two Destiny class chips, I personally don't care for the layout and probably won't sail that class again. I like more open deck space and do feel closed in on these ships. I love the Spirit class - better layout and more open deck space.

[JohnGaltny]

Friends and I are on the Victory next week so I appreciate the timely review.

When I look at ship reviews I normally discard the "five star" and the "one star" and concentrate on the middle group that balance the good and bad. You've done this really well.

I fully expect to have a good time in Canada and I fully expect Carnival will give me some stuff to make fun of just like Princess did in last year's Journals.

 

JG

[big_duck]

Strange that the OP didn't see the health and safety video Carnival plays on the in room TVs, explaining why the don't provide hand sanatizers, whilst looking for the non-existent movies. :rolleyes:

 

 

My apologies for the run on sentence. :o

[S.S.Oceanlover]

It is kinda odd that Carnival owns Princess and Princess uses those hand sanitizers but Carnival doesnt when you think about it?

 

we were just on a Carnival ship 2 weeks ago and no hand sanitizers.

 

Carnival stated on the TV and in the Capers that the hand sanitizers may help, they don't prevent you from getting the virus and they suggested you just wash yours hands with soap and water often.

 

Bill

[makunc1]

I tried the baby back ribs. Sent them back because they were a) undercooked b) excessively fatty and c) not quite hot....UGH!

 

Did you try them on the first night or on one of the sea days at lunch? Because the first night they were very good (and I love ribs), but the sea day they were not baby backs, they were spareribs (false advertising, lol) and they were fatty, like you mentioned.

[Wennfred]

There was a time when the Glory was getting a good share of bad reviews, now she is up to par, I guess it goes in waves.

 

 

Fred

[LPast50]

Has nobody read or heard that Hand Sanitizers can be TOXIC to small children? The sanitizers are "scented" & if a child licks their hand they could die! Check out SNOPES for more details.

[NoPiratesPlease]

LHP

Does the OP have some valid complaints? Of course, but again they are no worse than the same complaints I have read about NCL or RCCL as well.

 

As the OP I agree 100%. A review is no more than a snapshot.

 

No, I didn't watch the hand sanitizer video. It seemed about 12 of the TV channels were ship stuff--safety, buying junk in the stores, the restaurants, blah, blah, blah. I NEVER watch that stuff--and Carnival had far more channels devoted to it than most ships.

 

On the hand washing I DO agree that hand-washing is best, but the sanitizers are a good stop-gap. Forcing usage upon re-entering the ship is not a bad idea.

[Kurbanfan]

Nice review. I think you should reconsider your decision on not sailing with Carnival again. We have been on 10 Carnival cruise ships and there are 2 of those ships we will never sail again. Ships just like hotels are all ran by different management and staff. Although they may bear the same name you might experience big differences. If we would have given up after cruising on the ships we were not pleased with we would have missed all the other wonderful ships Carnival has to offer.

Just a thought:)

[Chigirlcruzin]

Forcing usage upon re-entering the ship is not a bad idea.

 

Having it available is not a bad idea. Forcing usage is. I don't want to have raw hands on my cruise.

 

I'm sorry your cruise experience wasn't up to par. I hope your next one, on whichever line you choose, is a great one!

[voyagerfl]

Hand Washing is mostly a Mechanical process. You need to wash your hands for a nice long time. I believe I once read a good measure is long enough to sing the words to Happy Birthday at least twice slowly.

 

I have gotten pretty weird about germs....I even use a paper towel to open (get out of) a public restroom.

 

Although, I do have to say, my trust in people washing their hands very well is not good. Plus all the things we touch after washing our hands, people sneezing into their hands, etc...

 

It does provide me with some comfort to see a few hand sanitizers around......

[TexasAlexus]

I'm sorry to hear that you cruise was disappointing on many fronts, but appreciate hearing the positives as well. I don't have a favorite cruise line, but NCL became my least favorite because my one and only sailing on the Wind. I know I shouldn't judge an entire cruise line based on one cruise, on one ship, but I did. Although I loved my cruise because it was a Hawaiian itinerary, the service was absolutely aweful. The staff were trying so hard, but the ship was extremely understaffed especially in the dining rooms and the on board entertainment and night time production shows were almost non-existent. I feel like each cruiseline has some ships and itineraries that are better than others and it's best to try to choose a cruise based more on the ship itself rather than the cruiseline. I'm sure I'll sail on NCL again someday, but I will definately choose my ship wisely. Maybe you would enjoy a different Carnival ship. We really enjoyed the Conquest. Good luck on your future cruises.

[voyagerfl]

Has nobody read or heard that Hand Sanitizers can be TOXIC to small children? The sanitizers are "scented" & if a child licks their hand they could die! Check out SNOPES for more details.

 

 

Uhhhhhhh, DID JUST THAT.....

 

SNOPES SAYS........SMALL CHILDREN COULD SUFFER ALCOHOL POISONING BY INGESTING HAND SANITIZERS...(YUK!)

 

IN OTHER WORDS THEY WOULD HAVE TO DRINK IT.....NOT LICK THEIR HANDS AS YOU SUGGEST.

 

THEY ALSO GO ON TO POINT OUT A STUDY AT BOSTON UNIVERSITY THAT REPORTS A 59% DECREASE IN GASTROINTESTIONAL ILLNESSES IN HOUSEHOLDS THAT USE IT.

[cruise crazy mick]

the victory was my favourite cruise, for fun and the people we met, the piano bar was fantastic in fact i liked all the bars . that said on rccl you do have to use hand sanitizers upon entry to the food areas which as to be a good thing ,if i could turn back time , i would do that same victory cruise again. i left that ship very sad knowing i would probably never see any of those great people we met again,

[msescada]

To the OP, sorry you didn't have a great cruise experience on the Victory. We have sailed her twice and never had any of your problems. We are leaving next Monday to go on her again. A question: what excursion was the reversing falls that you booked? I would like to go on that. Thought maybe we'd rent a taxi, but if this is a good excursion, we will book that. Thanks for any info.

 

It was the trip that went to St. Marten and the reversing rapids. I can't remember the exact name. It's a half-day tour and they give you 'lunch' of fish chowder or veggie soup (both good, not great) at St. Maarten. We ate our lunch at about 9:45 am.

[msescada]

Strange that the OP didn't see the health and safety video Carnival plays on the in room TVs, explaining why the don't provide hand sanatizers, whilst looking for the non-existent movies. :rolleyes:

 

 

My apologies for the run on sentence. :o

 

 

I'm the other half of the OP...we didn't see the video because we only turned the TV on once at 10 pm. We simply wanted to check out what was on and maybe watch a movie for a while. If there was a video, it didn't play while we were channel flipping. Advertisements for shipboard services and ways to spend money did play on and on and on, but nothing about Carnival's reasons for no sanitizers.

[msescada]

Did you try them on the first night or on one of the sea days at lunch? Because the first night they were very good (and I love ribs), but the sea day they were not baby backs, they were spareribs (false advertising, lol) and they were fatty, like you mentioned.

 

Bingo...last day at sea at lunch. I thought he was being brave to begin with given that even though we had a table for 2 right at the exit from the kitchen (ideal placement?), every dish i was served was cold except for the chicken soup one night...that one was warm, and a pasta with tomato sauce i asked them to make for me the last night. That was warmer than warm but still not hot. We were in the other restaurant for lunch and I think he thought we might have better luck getting hot food in the Pacific dining room.

[NoPiratesPlease]

Try another Carnival ship?

 

Why? Remember: You only have one chance to make a good first impression.

 

What if we take your advice and try another Carnival ship and the same thing happens? Then we'll REALLY feel stupid! You know, fool me once shame on you, but fool me twice, shame on me!

 

People told us that the Victory was a typical Carnival layout--very little open space. If that's true, then one of our 3 basic objections is true on all their ships.

[enjoyinglife]

the victory was my favourite cruise, for fun and the people we met, the piano bar was fantastic in fact i liked all the bars . that said on rccl you do have to use hand sanitizers upon entry to the food areas which as to be a good thing ,if i could turn back time , i would do that same victory cruise again. i left that ship very sad knowing i would probably never see any of those great people we met again,

 

The Victory was my favorite cruise also. We sailed her last February. The entertainment was the best we have had! I agree that the piano bar was fun! We did have movies in the cabin - if I remember correctly, there was a family channel that played several different ones geared to small kids, then two or three others that played more action type movies. That ship had the only version of bingo that I liked - the winner got to play "deal or no deal" and my family just loved watching it!

 

And PS to all you going on any Carnival Cruise - dont forget to try to "wam chocolate melting cake" All four of us agree that it was to die for. In fact, the two 14 year olds were tired and took a nap one day. They purposely skipped dinner, but showed up in time for "warm chocolate melting cake"

 

For all of you who are going on her soon, just keep and opened mine about it; you may agree with some of the points, or even all, then again, maybe none.

[hockeymom97]

People told us that the Victory was a typical Carnival layout--very little open space. If that's true, then one of our 3 basic objections is true on all their ships.

 

I've heard the opposite - that the Victory has a somewhat difficult floor plan compared to other Carnival ships. Anyone know if this is accurate or not?