Just got off the Victory from Canada...questions?

[funkybbabs]

Just got off the Victory on a 5 day to Canada and now ready for all your questions...any takers?????????????:cool:

[Mila]

Hi,

 

We are going to be on Victory on September 11th going to Canada.

 

Did you have a good time? What did you like and why? What you didn't like?

Do you have any complaints? Do you have any suggestions?

Thanks

[funkybbabs]

We had a great time...with little or no complaints...It was a real pleasure leaving from NY. We arrived at 12:00 and got right on the ship...which was a breeze!!!!!!!!! Luggage arrived within 1 hour. The only thing I suggest is that you check your dinner assisignments. we had late seating but they gave us early. It was fixed the next day but only because we were the 3rd on line. Others that waited until that night where out of luck. The ship was full but never noticed.. Canada was cold and rainy and the fog was unbelieveable!!!! Would not give you two cents for Canada(just my opinion) Don;t miss the Irish Sea Bar with Kevin!!! He was great and made for great memories.... The food was OK but very small portions...Room service I found out was great Love those BLT's!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Any other questions will glady answer:D

[mirrajay]

How was the nightlife besides the Irish Sea Bar? Everyone raves about the piano sing alongs and such, so I am excited to check it out, but did you happen to go to Club Arctic or the Black and Red Seas bar? I have been told that I may be dissapointed in the amount of nightlife on this itinerary as compared to a Carribbean cruise. What was your experience?

 

What about the temperature of public areas. I was just wondering if without all the airconditioning needed b/c of the cooler weather, are the dining rooms and lounges still freezing?

 

Glad you had a great time! Thanks for offering to answer questions!

 

Carey

[funkybbabs]

You are right...the ship was freezing!!! So much so that the crew members were even saying it was cold. The dinning room however was vey warm...go figure!!! As far as the other entertainment..the Artic Club was never hopping and while the Black & Red Lounge had great music...it to was never crowded!!! They had two different midnight comedians which only one was worth it. The other one actually walked off before his show was over...The kids seemed to have a great time in the disco when it was their turn but they get kicked out early...The sing a long bar was hopping until 1:30 every night!!!!!

 

Hope this helps....

PS Casino's were always packed:)

[gsb]

What were the bands like? Any Philippino 3 or 4 piece playing oldies with "Music" in their name?

How did you like the CD?

Thx for the info.

[funkybbabs]

Don't remember seeing any of those bands on board...The only three piece band was a jazz trio...And not quite sure what you mean about the CD:confused:

[marcyjane]

Good Morning,

 

Glad you had a nice cruise.

We will be on Victory Sept 25th sailing from New York to Halifax. 7 days.

I have been reading the boards over a year now about the ship being cold and all about the fog and how hard the ship is to get around on.

We have a near aft cabin port side "L" shaped 6424 and still worried about the movement at the back of the ship. We have always had a cabin mid-ship, this cabin was such a good deal and the Carnival PVP said these cabin sell quick and they are nice with a bigger balcony and a lot of people think because of the "L" weird shape they don't book them, but she said that after we have had one we would most likely re-book one for our next cruise.

When we booked this cruise we decided to go with the New England/Canada due to hurricane season and glad we did although (I don't know why) at the time I wasn't even thinking about the storms up the East Coast. As well didn't even think about fog as a factor either. I have found that out reading the boards.

I just hope that we will have good weather and the fog will be light. The cooler weather want be a problem, but I would like to be able to see the Ocean and not fog.

Oh well, being on the Victory will be wonderful no matter what the weather is.

Just any tips or hits you can give us will be wonderful.

We have tours planned for each port of call, just hope the ship don't change ports. A week or so ago I read a review on the Victory the last week of August I think the ship when to Halifax first.

Oh, well like I said just being on the Victory for 7 days will be wonderful.

Thanks:)

[Mila]

Glad you had a great time! Thanks for information!

 

Were you able to use pools and hot tubs or it was too cold?

What did you do in ports?

What were your favorite dishes (breakfast, lunch and dinner)?

What activity/show did you like the best?

Where did you have breakfast and lunch?

 

Thank you.

[Mask]

funkybbabs, glad you had a good time, but you need to be in Halifax when the weather is better. The day before you arrived was hot (high 80's) and sunny. You've got to remember we are affected by the hurricanes coming out of the caribbean. So don't discount this as a great port until you've seen in good weather. Hope you visit us again -- it's really a beautiful place.

[Sweetcharlotte30]

Would not give you two cents for Canada(just my opinion)

 

That was a little harsh.

[funkybbabs]

Sorry I the way I stated my dislike in Canada...I know it is a lovely country and would have loved to seen it in better weather:(

[jturner901]

One bad day in Halifax, does not a Canada make.

 

Come back and enjoy all of Canada, coast to coast. We truly are a beautiful land.

[serene56]

CD- is the cruise director

 

 

We had cabin 6440 on The victory. We went to the Eastern Caribbean and the cabi nwas wonderful. We didnt feel any motion at all.

BUt heard that waters leaving from NY are a tad worse the leaving from Florida. I loved the cabin and wont sail any other way now. It is a further walk to the elevator but the hallways are very quiet back there. THose steps you see are for crew only.

[funkybbabs]

Glad you had a great time! Thanks for information!

 

Were you able to use pools and hot tubs or it was too cold?

What did you do in ports?

What were your favorite dishes (breakfast, lunch and dinner)?

What activity/show did you like the best?

Where did you have breakfast and lunch?

 

Thank you.

It was cold, we did not use the pools but there were many that did. I don't think it was too cold to enjoy at all - the people who chose to use the pool seemed like it didn't bother them at all;)

 

We went to Moose head brewery tour - we honestly thought it would be different than it was, we were a bit dissapointed in that tour

 

Halifax - we did the hop on hop off, it was real nice, but weather really put a damper on site seeing, etc.

 

Favorit dishes - we actually loved ordering the blt's in room service (go figure)- and we liked the deli alot too (rueben)

 

We were without our children this trip - so we really enjoyed the late night, adult only comedians - very very funny. Also, the irish sea bar was one of our favorites. (The newly wed game was pretty funny too!)

 

We tried b'fast in the Pacific dining room and lunch one day - we prefered the buffet style - it just seemed to us (and everyone at our tables each time) that the wait staff just didn't have it together for lunch & b'fast - dinner was a different story - that was great service each night!!

[Joisey Guy]

We had a great time...with little or no complaints...

Funkybabs, we were on the Victory too! How come we didn't run into you :p ?

 

Seriously, I think many things are simply a matter of timing and luck and/or perspective. We also got to the terminal around noon, but even with my 85-year-old mother sitting in a wheelchair, I thought the embarkation took too long, particularly the wait at the area issuing "Sail and Sign" cards. I also think the port authorities should re-think how they provide porterage services; it was an absolute free-for-all trying to find a porter to schlep our luggage. Not a nice welcome to the genteel world of cruising. Disembarkation was a similarly unpleasant experience once we left the Victory.

 

We ate in the Atlantic (mid-ship) Dining Room, which surprised me because our Main Deck cabins were right below the Pacific Dining Room; I guess dining room assignments are determined by your sitting, which in our case was second main (6:15pm). I didn't feel portions were small and was very impressed with the presentation and quality of our meals. Perhaps I started with such low expectations about Carnival that I couldn't help but be pleased! My only food gripe was receiving powdered scrambled eggs one morning in the Pacific Dining Room (the Atlantic Dining Room was closed for breakfast and lunch) and little potato patties that looked as if they came straight from McDonalds. If you like eggs, stick with the real McCoys and order 'em poached or hard-boiled.

 

We had great wait staff in the dining room and they would chat with our eight-year-old and try to coax him to eat something other than his nightly serving of chicken nuggets. I did think it was a tad too cool where we were seated and we found the eight kids seated at a neighboring table to be loud and annoying, but the parents made only half-hearted attempts to control them and the staff didn't want to deal with it. Our cabin steward was wonderful.

 

We arranged our own tours in both New Brunswick (Bay of Fundy and St Martins) and Nova Scotia (Chester, Mahone Bay and Lunenburg) and while the weather was a disappointment, we had a good time. Make sure you try seafood chowder in both provinces!

 

Overall, I'd say it was a good vacation, and I'd consider doing Carnival again, even though I'm not too keen about these new-fangled behemoth ships.

 

 

 

 

JG

 

 

 

PS. Honorable mention to the Hotel chief, George, who sent several complimentary goodies to our cabins and was among the hosts at a private party we attended in the Irish Sea Bar.

[serene56]

JG- with your mom in a wheel chair she shouldnt have waited in the lines. Your mom and one other person coulda went elsewhere to check in. Someone for Carnival always came and took my mom who is in a wheel chair- and my dad . they took them directly to the front and they were onboard and in the cabin while we still waitied in the lines.

[HelenKNY]

I too just returned from the Victory Halifax/St John cruise. St John was ho hum. Not much to see or do, even though we went on the photography tour touring the highlights of the town - there weren't many highlights to see. I guess the heavy fog was a contributing factor to our not enjoying that port. To be perfectly honest with you, I dont understand why the ship stops there. However, if any of you going to Halifax - Peggy's Cove is a must see. It was incredible. Not much to do there but what a view! It's a sight I'll never forget. You'll think you're looking at a painting.

While there, someone said, it looked as though when God was done making the earth, he had huge rocks left over and put them on Peggy's Cove. I would love to have gone there on a bright sunny day (although the sun was out when we got there and then the sky got very cloudy) and in fact am comtemplating redoing this cruise for that reason.

Instead of doing the tour excursion, which would have cost us around $100 for two people, we rented a car and drove from the port to Peggy's Cove (about a 40 minute drive) for $45 Canadian (about $35 US dollars) and loved it. Enterprise has a kiosk right in the terminal when you get off the ship.

[TrinaLC]

We went in August and had a great time, though the weather was bad on our day at sea out.

 

tips:

 

Make sure you try the Reubens at the deli - to die for (and I'm a NYer!)

 

If you want to change dining times, go several hours earlier than the time they indicate on the materials you get embarking. I think ours said 3:00, and they clearly had started much earlier. (We did get changed though.)

 

We had an aft cabin (with wraparound balcony!) and no problem with the movement.

 

Halifax - don't book a tour, you can easily walk the major sites yourself. Don't miss the maritime museum and particularly the awesomely tragic story of the great Halifax disaster of 1917.

[OhioBeachBum]

We did the 4 day cruise in July and loved it. It was foggy but we lucked out and the fog lifted just as we pulled into Halifax. We also rented a car and drove to Peggy's Cove which was postcard beautiful. We used Budget who came and picked us up and brought us back to the pier. We also thought the ship was a little cold. They closed the roof at the rear of the ship and that's where EVERYBODY was swimming and hot tubbing. Don't let one bad experience discourage you from trying it again.

[nybumpkin]

We we on Victory's 6/28 cruise to St. John and Halifax. Without planning, we found ourselves in Halifax on July 1 - Canada Day. We had a great time, all without a shore excursion. My oldest son's (13) comments, after visiting both St. John and Halifax, was "Wow, I'd like to come back and see more." He wants to take a car trip through the Maritimes now!

 

I think that's one of the great benefits of cruising - you get a taste of something and want more!

[inforem]

I guess we were the lucky cruise. The weather in St. John and Halifax we were told was the best they had for the cruise this year. We have been up to this area 3X,,,,,,why,,,,,I don't know!!!!

My mother took the Jewish Heritage Tour in St. John and said it was the BEST excursion she had ever taken, she couldn't stop talking about it.

My wife and I participated in the Not So Newlywed game....it was pretty funny....don't miss it.

We are already booking a cruise for next summer...but after all these hurricanes we are waiting to see if Carnival starts sailing out of Wisconson somewhere...then it would just be a stray twister to worry about....maybe we can cruise the Great Lakes or Niagra Falls...it would be safer.

Good Luck Florida...

[Papermoon4]

Another two cents on Canada via the VICTORY...

 

I did the four night to Halifax (didn't figure that there was much to do in St. John and you all confirmed it, thanks). Weather is getting cooler, but there were still plenty of people sunning themselves and swimming on our two "fun days" at sea. Rainy and cloudy in Halifax but not continually, so I used the morning to walk the Halifax Harbourwalk (about 1.5 miles). At the end of the walk is a casino! My tip? Save your money onboard - the Victory Casino isn't as great as they claim and very tight (few winners). But the Halifax Casino? I went away with a nice profit (even in Canadian $$) :D . If you don't think you can walk it, there's rickshaw service by hale hearty Halifax hunks who will tow you to and fro. Some shopping and dining points along the way, too. They'll even take you around town on a custom sightseeing jaunt - stop and go as you please. As Halifax is a hilly town, you have to be in good shape to walk it. For those who must have the picture postcard experience, Peggy's Cove is still the most popular trip.

 

:( I made the mistake of booking the Carnival TITANIC TREASURES excursion for my afternoon. The guide was an amiable, but scatterbrained duffer who repeated himself constantly, used poor grammer ("them trees got re-routed by the storm...") and twice just plain lost his train of thought and stopped talking. You pay $49 US and all you get is admission to the Maritime Museum and bus transportation to the Fairview Cemetery where many of the victims are buried. At the museum there's not even time to see the main attraction, the TITANIC 3-D MOVIE. What a rip-off! Better to walk to the museum (it too, is on the harbourwalk) and then hire a cab out to Fairview. I saw several cabbies acting as tour guides and they were all much more concise and well-spoken than ours. The brochure says "see the church where the victims where memorialized" - well, true, you do see the church - through a bus window. A word of warning to those who book excursions: "See" means with your eyes, "visit" means with your feet. It's industry usage and the tourist usually fails to see the distinction.

[inforem]

Cruisers be warned that many of the Carnival excursions ARE RIPOFFS. I have been on some in the past and found most to be misleading and well below par.

One exception was a tour in St. John Canada called the Jewish Heritage Tour. My mother went on it and she raved that it was the only excursion that actually lived up to the brochures write up. The tour guide was a local person who knew exactly what he was talking about. The only confusing part was that it was never mentioned during the Cruise Director Dana's talk on the first day of the cruise.I wonder why....it was sold out though.

 

Carnival (and probably all cruiselines) like to use "scare tactic" to get you to use their excursions (usually inferior and overpriced). They tell you that their official excursions will be back to the ship before it leaves or they won't leave. C,mon does anyone know of a passenger who was left on the islands or in cities?

[gsb]

Should we take Can $'s with us? Can you use US $ about everywhere?