Disappointed with the Victory

[NoPiratesPlease]

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?

 

Good question!

 

Look, as the OP it really sounds as if we are doing a lot of whining, but that's not the point. We actually had a really nice time--we just didn't care for the ship.

 

But reviews are just that: reviews. There's facts and there's opinions. What I observed are facts. How I felt about it are opinions.

 

I'm not telling anyone not to sail Carnival. If you sail on Carnival and LOVE it, then my review is, for you, meaningless and you should continue to sail with them. But people who had similar experiences corroborate that what happened to us has happened to others.

 

It's just a review.

[enjoyinglife]

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?

 

I wouldn't call it more difficult, but maybe someone else will. There are some floors that you cannot walk front to back on (due to dinning rooms?). Maybe it was only deck three you could not get back to front on.

 

If anyone wants a quiet area to sit, there is an area behind the shore excursions area and the pursors desk that has a lot of lounge chairs and it is quiet enough to take a nap, read, talk quietly to someone else. I used this area on the last sea day.

[Crusin Karen]

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.

Okay, thanks. I'll look for it.

[Crusin Karen]

Oops, one more question. Did they time this excursion so you could see the falls "reverse?"

[Knights on the Beach]

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.

Having it available is one thing, but forcing it is quite another. Maybe it just makes some people feel better to see it, but nothing replaces good hand washing.

 

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.

If the layout of the ship was one of your main complaints and you ever DO decide to try another Carnival cruise, you may want to try one of the Spirit class ships. They have a different layout and you can go all the way from one end to the other on all decks. Personally, the Spirit class layout is my least favorite, but a lot of people like it. I had no problems with the layout of the Victory or any other ship with a similar layout. Once you realize you can't go all the way through on two decks, it isn't that hard to figure out. I much prefer the tiered decks around the pool deck and the Spirit class ships don't have that.

 

Incidentally, my brother and his wife did a cruise on NCL last fall after several Carnival cruises and are in no hurry to repeat that experience. They felt there wasn't nearly as much to do on that NCL ship. One day we may try it out for ourselves, but in the meantime, we are perfectly happy with Carnival. But hey, that's the great thing about trying other cruiselines -- there's something for everyone, you just have to look for it.

[POOHISME2]

Wow, thats all I can say. :confused:

 

I too am leaving Thursday and am not too happy about the recent reports.

 

I just got off the Miracle in May and had a great time. The food was great as was the entertainment.

I'm hoping my family has a different experience:confused:

[Wennfred]

Wow, thats all I can say. :confused:

I too am leaving Thursday and am not too happy about the recent reports.

 

For every 1 negative review on this ship there are 20 good ones.

 

Im sure you will have a great time, just like on the Miracle.

 

Fred

[Knights on the Beach]

Wow, thats all I can say. :confused:

 

I too am leaving Thursday and am not too happy about the recent reports.

 

I just got off the Miracle in May and had a great time. The food was great as was the entertainment.

I'm hoping my family has a different experience:confused:

Do NOT worry -- go with an open mind!! There were several bad reviews about the Triumph for a few weeks before our cruise last month. I'd BEEN on the Triumph twice before that and knew I liked the ship and had a hard time reading some of those reviews. I'm happy to say, we had a great time on our cruise and most of the "bad stuff" we'd read about didn't happen to us. Was it perfect? No! What is?? But you know what? The food was EXCELLENT (which was a relief to us because it was very average on the Legend in December) and we had probably the best waiter we've had in 13 cruises!! Sure, there were little things that could have been improved, but nothing worth fretting over.

 

Have a great time, then come back and tell us about it!! :)

[TexasAlexus]

Or...not

[vlwalker]

We just returned from a 5 day cruise to the Canadian Maritime Provinces aboard the Victory and were quite disappointed with the Carnival experience.

 

It was our first time on Carnival after about many times on NCL. We didn't expect all the conveniences so that wasn't a surprise. What was a surprise was three things that hit hard.

 

For the "fun ships", there was less to do than we are used to, but especially during the days at sea. With all the hype of "Dancing With The Stars", they had one cha-cha class and none of the other dances. Events were all scheduled at the same time, so there was lots and lots of down time. Very little dancing was scheduled other than disco, and dance floors were small and crowded. They didn't even have a barbecue. This was the first time in many years we spent significant time in the casino. We've gone on many cruises where we never even walked in, much less played. On the plus side I came out a few dollars ahead in BlackJack--not many, but I got hours of entertainment playing for free (always a plus).

 

The next big surprise was that lack of stuff for older kids. For up-to-13, there seemed to be good fun, but the teens? Nada. We were traveling as a couple, having left the kids home but we spoke to families and the teens were not having fun--these were good kids not trouble-makers (and, no we didn't see any of THOSE on this cruise--that was a plus).

 

The third big surprise was how little open space there was. This was the most cramped ship we've ever been on. Even the 5,000 ton WindStar felt more roomy. The main pool area on the NCL Dawn, a smaller ship, is two to three times larger, and, by itself is much larger than the main and rear pool area on the Victory. To Carnival's credit, the Victory had a pool slide that dwarfs anything we've seen before. We didn't use it, but we appreciated it.

 

Some pluses of the Victory:

 

This may be the smoothest sailing hull we've ever seen. We were in the North Atlantic and never felt anything. We WERE in a top cabin, Cat 12, SR 7299, and Carnival locates the top cabins centrally both top to bottom and forward and aft. Still, it was as smooth sailing as we've ever seen--beating even the QE2 and the late Norway.

 

I may have some problems with some of the services, but this may well have been one of the friendliest crews we've ever seen. EVERYONE of the hotel staff was warm and pleasant. Some of the officers were cold and distant, but that's not a big deal.

 

Not only were the drinks good, but the COFFEE was excellent! We are SO used to atrocious coffee that on ships that have in-room coffee makers we bring a pound of ground coffee and coffee filters and use bottled water. But this ship's coffee was a wonderful unexpected pleasure!

 

The cabin was about the size and comfort level we expected, maybe a little roomier and with a nice balcony. We were very comfortable there.

 

We only did one tour--the St Johns/St Martin/Reversing Falls tour, but for a ship's tour (and we've been on many) it ranked as one of the very best. Compared to some tours, like the Big Island in Hawaii, or a private tour of Pompei, this one held it's own. I would never have expected it to be one of the best tours we've ever taken, but only the private tours we've done have been better! The guide was experienced, knowledgable, interesting and able to connect with her tour group. That's saying something considering the material was only so-so interesting-but she made it FASCINATING!

 

But here I have to add some serious criticisms--3 again, this time health and sanitation.

 

First, we were astonished by how dirty the ship was. We didn't dare use the cabinets in the bath or drawers in the dressing area as they were filthy. Much of the ship could have been cleaner. Room maintenance was poor to go with that--the bed had a 3" sag, there was broken open sloppy caulking in the shower and tub, and there was a big hole that looked like it once held a VCR under the TV.

 

Second, unlike every other ship we've been on in the last 5 or 6 years, there were no hand sanitizing stations anywhere. You go on ANY NCL ship and you cannot get aboard or into ANY dining area without passing hand sanitizers. Getting aboard they REQUIRE you to hand-sanitize, every time. Having had two bouts of Norwalk virus and my wife having had one, I can tell you it's awfully nasty, and when it first appeared, it could race through a ship and leave the staff and passengers devastated (August 2002 on the Cunard Caronia--1/3 of the crew and passengers were down with it). I don't know how Carnival gets away with it or justifies it.

 

Third, we had troubles getting a hot meal. By the time the hot food reached us it was usually cold. And the cold food was tepid. Not only is it unpalatable, it's downright unhealthy. The food on Victory may rank as the worst of any ship we've been on (except, of course, the coffee). Stick to simple foods, and the cold soups (mango, apple-curry) stood out as exceptionally good.

 

A big disappointment was the in-room tv. Most ships at least play a couple of full-length movies a la HBO, but not Carnival. Movies were strictly pay-per-view, just like a hotel (complete with selections of "adult" for double the price). Happily, we kept ourselves busy enough digging up dance floors and in the casino so we didn't use PPV at all.

 

We did manage to have ourselves a nice time--a couple on a 5 day cruise without kids for the first time in 6 years--how could we NOT have a good time?

 

Still, we had hoped for more--better food, more to do, than we got. We doubt we'll be on Carnival again in the future.

 

NPP.

 

I bring my own sanitizer.

[vlwalker]

I agree with all of the complaints laid out by the OP. I was on the Victory and noticed the same concerns. Basically, the food, aside from the hot dogs, baby back ribs on the first night and the daily chocolate melting cake, was atrocious. And our cabin was filthy as filthy can be. And I am not talking about worn carpet here. I am talking about "gunk" everywhere, including lots of hair in the bed when we arrived and gunked on tomato juice on the ice bucket tongs. Truly disgusting.

 

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?

 

Personally, I agree that they should be on every ship AND people should also wash their hands many times during the day. These people who don't wash their hands are not going to do so anyway, so what's the harm?

 

I also like good old soap and water. Before eating, I like to wash my hands with soap and water, not just use sanitizer. I use sanitizer when I can't get to a sink.

[flynrph]

Let's see..... Where to start? 1. Hand sanitizer. There was a note in the cabin explaining the lack of efficacy for noro virus. That said, I still think it would be handy for "other types of bacteria."

2. The TV channels. Ya know, something is screwed up on that ship. Quite a few channels were missing or black screen, when they should have been operational. I had plenty other things to do so the TV channel problem did get me worked up, but it is a problem.

3. Cold food. My sister and BIL, this being their 17th cruise on Carnival read the riot act to senior personnel on the ship, in regard to cold food. I was present at one the the discussions. From a food sanitation point of view, this should not be happening. And yes, the senior staff were writing it down and I did see some improvement the next day.

4. Cleaning the tables. There was a big problem having the tables cleaned after use back by the pizza bar at Sirens pool. Also, an issue just forward of this area. Twice I had to bus my own table to be able to eat. I was about to go hunt down management when I noticed that management had discovered the problem and had sent some employees to rectify the problem. But, unfortunately, the problem persisted for the rest of the cruise. Oh yes, this went on the comment card.

5. Sewer smell. I did notice a slight odor in my bathroom. And I fixed it pronto. The drain by the side of the toilet needed a little water to fill the catch. Added a little from the had held shower and problem solved. Toilet didn't flush on the second day. Called the purser, problem fixed in 15 minutes. Great service.

Now, that all being said, these events did not dampen my enjoyment of the cruise. This being my seventh cruise, I felt the ship was spacious and I never felt crowded at all.

Dinner food and service were excellent. (I just remembered. ***** Advisory**** There were TWO formal night on this 5 day cruise. I planned for one! So be prepared! Second and fourth night.) And you will enjoy the singing Maitre D if you are in the Atlantic dining room!

The rest of the ship was clean and the staff always friendly.

Lastly, beware of the sea horses. They attack. Knowing this before hand kept it to a minimum, but I let my guard down for just a moment, and whack, there went my knee!

Cloud 9, it was a pleasure meeting you and your husband.:cool:

[nybumpkin]

Do NOT worry -- go with an open mind!! There were several bad reviews about the Triumph for a few weeks before our cruise last month. I'd BEEN on the Triumph twice before that and knew I liked the ship and had a hard time reading some of those reviews

Me too - I've been on Victory twice and enjoyed it both times, and we're going again in August. For those who haven't sailed on this class of ship (or Conquest-class, for that matter), decks 3 and 4 do not go through; there is a 2-deck galley between the dining rooms. Decks 5 and 9 go through, as do all the main cabin decks. It's not just Victory - Destiny, Triumph, Victory, Conquest, Glory, Valor, Liberty, and Freedom have the same layout. It can be a bit difficult (we didn't find the Ionian Lounge on Victory until our second cruise), but I actually had a harder time finding my way around Legend (Spirit-class) last year.

 

I think entertainment experiences can vary from cruise to cruise. Last year when we sailed on Victory, we had a really good jazz trio in the Ionian Lounge, but there was no piano player in the Irish Seas Lounge (the piano bar) - there was a guitar player instead:( . Earlier this year when we sailed on Liberty, there was a pretty good (not great) piano player in the piano lounge, but very little music in the Cabinet (Liberty's version of the Ionian Lounge). Since we've seen both production shows on Victory twice now and don't plan to go again (we liked them, BTW:) ), we're hoping for some good entertainment in the lounges on this sailing. For those of you sailing this Thursday (Mr. Pete, I'm thinking of you:D ), I hope you have a great trip - please post reviews when you return!

[marshabear]

we were on the previous voyage and i have to say the tables were bussed very efficiently in and near the aft pool/pizza area...i barely finished my pizza and there was someone to remove my plate....

 

i am NOT saying you are not telling the truth, i just want others to know this did not happen to us on our cruise...

 

i am sorry your voyage wasn't as good as ours..we had a terrific time!!

 

it makes me wonder though...since there is such a difference in service in the pool area, i am wondering if they switch wait staff each sailing..maybe you guys had a different wait staff up on the lido deck???

 

 

marsha

[flynrph]

it makes me wonder though...since there is such a difference in service in the pool area, i am wondering if they switch wait staff each sailing..maybe you guys had a different wait staff up on the lido deck???

marsha

I was wondering that myself. I would have shrugged it off, but it kept happening so something was amiss. The one person they did have back there consistently was working her butt off and I let management know how hard she was trying. She needed help. One person could not do it alone. Maybe they rotated some crew members and this fell through a crack.

[Crusin Karen]

(I just remembered. ***** Advisory**** There were TWO formal night on this 5 day cruise. I planned for one! So be prepared! Second and fourth night.)

I just told my DH this and he said I'm wrong (meaning you are lol!) Never heard of 2 formal nights on a 5 nighter....anyone else have that happen or was it just that sailing???

[flynrph]

(I just remembered. ***** Advisory**** There were TWO formal night on this 5 day cruise. I planned for one! So be prepared! Second and fourth night.)

I just told my DH this and he said I'm wrong (meaning you are lol!) Never heard of 2 formal nights on a 5 nighter....anyone else have that happen or was it just that sailing???

No kidding! That was what I said. I called the purser's desk to verify! That's why you got the heads up! A lot of people ditched dinner that night! (Lot of casual too!):cool:

[NoPiratesPlease]

Don't worry--formal on Carnival is just about anything you want. The one thing it is NOT is tuxedo/black tie. The only tuxes I saw were on staff (that goes for dinner jackets). NCL is only slightly more formal--at one restaurant, in my tux, a lady assumed I was the Maitre' d--despite having studs, cufflinks and a non-black bow-tie (tied, not clip-on, thank you!) Since then I only like bringing a white dinner jacket. I didn't even bring that on Carnival and still almost felt overdressed.

 

Jacket and tie is dressed up for "formal night" on Carnival, but still acceptable (lots of guys skip the tie and many even ditch the jacket--somehow this is still formal...)

 

On Cunard, on formal night, at least half the men are in tuxes or equivalent (Dinner jacket, Scottish kilts, etc). The other half are in dark suits with ties.

[dodge9]

Thanks for your review. My two favorite lines are Carnival and NCL and sometimes I wish I could just take the best of both and make one!!!!

 

I will be in suite 7299 in August... do you have any photos of the suite you could send me or any other info? I hope the matress is replaced before we go; maybe I need to e-mail Bob!!!!

[nybumpkin]

Don't worry--formal on Carnival is just about anything you want. The one thing it is NOT is tuxedo/black tie. The only tuxes I saw were on staff (that goes for dinner jackets).

Well, on the 8/11 sailing there will be at least four tuxes - my DH and 3 sons!:D I would be curious, though, to hear whether there are two formal nights on the 5-night cruises going forward - I was planning only one formal outfit.

[bleuiz]

I will also be on the Victory with Mr. Pete on Thurs. and all these negative reviews are getting me nervous. I plan on bringing a journal and writing everything down so when I get back I can post a full review. I have never been on Carnival before and the only cruise I was on was 14 years ago for my honeymoon (RCCL) so I don't think I will be as critical.

 

I will be on this cruise with my DH and my 2 sons (9 and 11) and my whole family will be with us for a total of 15 people. I am sure we will have fun just being together and I am going to go into this with a positive attitude. Our main goal for this trip is being together so no matter how bad the ship is I think we will have fun.

 

Loralie

 

I will also be on the cruise, with 15 people............my family was not to thrilled with going on this cruise (someone wanted to go to the Carri bean, someone else wanted to go a resort near AC........but since I took this cruise last year and had a wonderful time, this was the compromise...

I hope it is better than some of the reviews (although last week there were conflicting reviews for the same cruise)

[Soccerfan]

My experience is just the opposite of yours, but I have never been on the Victory. I was on the Carnival Valor in May and was surprised to see that there were no hand sanitizers upon entering the restaurants. So I looked up the CDC rating and was surprised to see that Carnival's CDC rating is higher than NCL's. But I also read that the alcohol in the hand sanitizers evaporates before killing the germs. I read that Carnival is looking to start using some sort of towellette that you can use to clean your hands when entering a restaurant. Apparently this will alleviate the evaporation problem of the existing hand sanitizers. It just feels right to clean your hands upon entering an eating establishment. I really hope your next cruise is better, whichever line you decide to try next, and thanks for posting your honest opinions here.

 

Hi,

 

We were recently on the Carnival Freedom. The hand towellettes are already in use in the food area :) Great cruise with great food. No complaints here.

[voyagerfl]

You can argue the virtues or non virtues of hand sanitizers forever....

 

However.....I believe when I'm exposed to massive amounts (1000's) of people coming from all over the country, with varying degrees of personal hygiene, and being confined with them on a Cruise Ship, I'd rather have the Sanitizer available.....YOU MAY MAKE A PERSONAL CHOICE NOT TO USE IT.

 

And lets face it......there are those here that will argue anything that they feel is in defense of Carnival.......forgetting that as much as we might love Carnival, it is still a Big for profit Corporation.

 

As for the OP.......I'd say....stick with NCL.....though personally I hate waiting 30 to 60 minutes in line so I can Eat when I want ??????

Whichever, thanks for sharing your experience with us....though I must say you might have missed several things.....as your experience seems very different than the Carnival Cruises I've been on.

[Sundagger]

It's true.... hand sanitizers are "anti BACTERIAL" or antimicrobial... not Antivirus.... they are effective on germs and bacteria, but not necessarily viruses... the CDC recommends handwashing, and only relying on hand sanitizers when there is no hand washing facility (like on excursions)... and it has to have over 62% alcohol...

 

http://www.cdc.gov/nceh/vsp/pub/Handwashing/handwashingtips.pdf

 

too many people use these hand sanitizers and don't practice good handwashing techniques... hand sanitizers have made people lazy (many people). You should wash your hands often... period. I take my own sanitizer, for germs and bacteria... Carnival is really good about educating people about the virus and informing passengers about what they can do to help curb the transmission.

 

Alcohol based hand sanitizers should also be kept away from children, they are dangerous for children, as well as smokers.

 

You can check the CDC reports, where over and over there are reports of eColi, and other noroviruses, that were resistant against alcohol based sanitizers... And when you read article after article on how to prevent transmission, it never states to use hand sanitizer, it always puts emphasis on hand washing: http://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/hygiene/ships/en/gssanitation7.pdf

 

I would suggest taking your own and using it in between washings... but I certainly wouldn't rely on it.... proper hand hygiene is the only proven method for helping to keep the transmission rate down.

There are a number of inaccuracies in your presentation. Hand sanitizers, such as Purell, are anti-microbial. "Germs" is a colloquial term that essentially means microbes. Microbes include bacteria, viruses, protozoa, etc. So hand sanitizers work against bacteria, AND viruses. Against all viruses? No. Norovirus is one that they are ineffective against. Are Noroviruses the main cause of gastroenteritis? No. Rotaviruses are.

 

So ... hand sanitizers, whose active ingredient is ethyl alcohol, will kill many micro-organisms that cause disease, but not Norovirus. Since there are many, many bacteria and viruses that they do kill, I think they should be provided on all ships. Norovirus is not the only problem.

 

There is no substitute for handwashing to reduce the chance of catching Norovirus, but doing both washing and using an antimicrobial is the best plan of action for reducing the chance of catching a wide variety of diseases.

 

Are they safe? Yes, if used as directed. Don't let children eat or drink the sanitizers. It is like giving them a shot or two of whiskey. There is an additive to Purell that makes it taste bitter, so it's not like leaving candy-flavored liquid aspirin or Tylenol out. Those are really dangerous.

[PACURN]

Shoot! we lost another paying customer to NCL :D

 

Great Review

 

 

Fred

 

I'm picturing the Ditech Guy!!!