Victory to Canada

[bleuiz]

we were on this ship, carnival victory, to saint john, june 19-23; saint john was lovely, and the bus trip and seeing the sea caves at st martins and the reversing falls was awesome. those were the high points.

the carnival staff could not have been more inattentive, wait staff included. the lines in the buffet moved at a snail's pace, with people butting in line, or using their hands to grab food (feeding frenzy in a shark tank?) and nothing to do on-board...minimal activities, except for drinking and gambline, and bingo!

no thanks carnival, we are back to royal caribbean ..

jeff

 

Did this cruise last year, along with 2 other members of this board.......I remember Mr Pete would have agreed with your post..........15 of 15 of us enjoyed it, finding the wait staff attentive, cabin steward was present and a good provider for all of us..........my parents had previously been 'afraid' of Carnival.......they loved it, from boarding in NY to when we arrived back........interesting that the opinions for the same cruise vary......

[quest2best]

Gotta ask..was the photographer dark haired and French?

 

He was dark haired but I don't believe he was French. He wasn't obnoxious -- just didn't seem thrilled to do a group shot of us on formal night and told us we had too many people. He actually had my niece and nephew (both in their twenties) sit on the stairs like little children while the rest of us towered above them...Didn't go over too well with my nephew though he was a good sport. We did finally convince the photographer to take a couple with us all standing which turned out OK. That was it for the photos though...couldn't get my little group to pose anymore. But at least we got our group picture.

[hi2you]

I cruised on Victory to the Caribbean in 2006 and had a fabulous time. Nothing to complain about...and I would DEFINITELY accept a free trip aboard her...or any other ship for that matter. I can't imagine having a bad cruise, unless weather or fire or other catastrophe occurred. It is all what you make of it. Vacations are for relaxing...go with the flow.

[The Big Booper]

We did this trip in 2006, along with a group we belong to. We normally don't do the Victory/Conquest groups of ships since we don't like the overall layouts, so I will not comment on the ship since we are on the Carnival board.

 

We had a top deck inside (guarantee) and the thing I remember is the horn blowing one night every minute for 5 hours. Ouch. Talk about foggy weather.

 

As far as the tours, we did the maritime museum / Titanic gravesite tour which was very good. We also did the bus trip to Peggy's Cove where it is impossible to get a bad photo. And the reversing rapids trip was enjoyable.

 

I think these are the highlight tours.

[trock]

I cruised on Victory to the Caribbean in 2006 and had a fabulous time. Nothing to complain about...and I would DEFINITELY accept a free trip aboard her...or any other ship for that matter. I can't imagine having a bad cruise, unless weather or fire or other catastrophe occurred. It is all what you make of it. Vacations are for relaxing...go with the flow.

 

I am sure lots of people enjoyed this cruise.. I thought Canada and the people were fantastic! I am not a believer in the 'cruise is what you make it".. but thats my opinion

 

The ship at the time we were on it, was dirty, most of the staff we came into contact with completely disassociated from the guests and some were just ..I dont even know what the right word is...

We were friendly with one bartender..and he told us there was a problem between management and the staff.. the staff was disgusted for some reasons i now forget. Many of them were requesting transfers..

There was just a negative vibe through out.. out of 9 cruises I always thought. how could someone have a bad cruise.. well for us this was it.:)

[trock]

He was dark haired but I don't believe he was French. He wasn't obnoxious -- just didn't seem thrilled to do a group shot of us on formal night and told us we had too many people. He actually had my niece and nephew (both in their twenties) sit on the stairs like little children while the rest of us towered above them...Didn't go over too well with my nephew though he was a good sport. We did finally convince the photographer to take a couple with us all standing which turned out OK. That was it for the photos though...couldn't get my little group to pose anymore. But at least we got our group picture.

 

There was this one snob in the photo dept that would just ignore me and only speak to my husband - I noticed when waiting on line he did it to other women too.. he was just an obnoxious j.a.

[trock]

He was dark haired but I don't believe he was French. He wasn't obnoxious -- just didn't seem thrilled to do a group shot of us on formal night and told us we had too many people. He actually had my niece and nephew (both in their twenties) sit on the stairs like little children while the rest of us towered above them...Didn't go over too well with my nephew though he was a good sport. We did finally convince the photographer to take a couple with us all standing which turned out OK. That was it for the photos though...couldn't get my little group to pose anymore. But at least we got our group picture.

 

There was this one snob in the photo dept that would just ignore me and only speak to my husband - I noticed when waiting on line he did it to other women too.. he was just an obnoxious j.a.

[susiefay]

I was on the same cruise as jeff, june 19th to canada, and we had just the opposite experience. And we don't normally sail Carnival, so I was a bit leary. We were very pleasantly surprised and had a wonderful time. The staff was great, however we did stay away from the buffet for the most part, that was crazy crowded:eek: , food was better than we thought it would be, and the bed was very comfy:D

[andsail]

I was on the same cruise as jeff, june 19th to canada, and we had just the opposite experience. And we don't normally sail Carnival, so I was a bit leary. We were very pleasantly surprised and had a wonderful time. The staff was great, however we did stay away from the buffet for the most part, that was crazy crowded:eek: , food was better than we thought it would be, and the bed was very comfy:D

This will be my first time on Carnival. I begged Dh to try it this once and I hope we enjoy it. I am leaving on victory Monday. Are there any spots we should avoid besides the crowded buffet?

[nybumpkin]

This will be my first time on Carnival. I begged Dh to try it this once and I hope we enjoy it. I am leaving on victory Monday. Are there any spots we should avoid besides the crowded buffet?

I don't like to eat inside the buffet restaurant - it's too noisy. We prefer to get a table by the midships pool or all the way aft where you can look out at the wake. Breakfast and lunch are served in the Pacific dining room if you want to avoid the buffet area altogether.

 

If you want to look at the pictures you've had taken, I'd recommend going at "odd" hours to avoid crowds. The photo area is on deck 4 around the atrium and it can get just plain silly at times. I wish they'd find a better way to handle the pictures than having passengers do a scavenger hunt for their photos.

[maritimecruiser]

I have never sailed on the Victory. As far as weather, it is supposed to be hot this week, around 80-85F, not as hot as some places I realize but not cold. Although Saint John (I assume this is where you are going, I know the Victory is stopping there now weekly, I don't know about St John's - some ships stop there but I don't think this is part of Victory's itinerary) could be foggy if you stay where the ship docks. I used to live there and it is foggy by the shore even on hot days but if you're taking an excursion, it probably won't be. Halifax on the other hand isn't as cool and foggy. Just pack a light sweater. Some sad news about the carriage rides in Saint John. A couple of weeks ago I was there for the day when the ship was in port and one of the horses that pull the carriage rides slipped and fell (there are many steep hills) and had to be put down. Very sad. I can't help but think how it would ruin my trip to experience that. Although there are more than one carriage so there will still be rides, just broke my heart to hear that though. I am such a horse lover and feel sorry for the horses that do that stuff, I don't take horse rides while on any vacations as I feel badly for the horses being forced to do that all day, but that's another topic. Go and have a great time on your trip, I'm sure you'll love the Victory and welcome to Canada from a New Brunswick resident!

[wasiii]

.....we went to St. John and did the Jet Boat ride. That excursion was a blast. You will get wet. We booked it directly at www.jetboatrides.com and saved a lot of money.

 

:)

 

Bill

[andsail]

I don't like to eat inside the buffet restaurant - it's too noisy. We prefer to get a table by the midships pool or all the way aft where you can look out at the wake. Breakfast and lunch are served in the Pacific dining room if you want to avoid the buffet area altogether.

 

If you want to look at the pictures you've had taken, I'd recommend going at "odd" hours to avoid crowds. The photo area is on deck 4 around the atrium and it can get just plain silly at times. I wish they'd find a better way to handle the pictures than having passengers do a scavenger hunt for their photos.

Thanks for the heads up.:)

[nybumpkin]

Thanks for the heads up.:)

I hope you have a great cruise! We've enjoyed our Canada cruises on Victory.