Carnival Victory Reviews

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Arriving in San Juan many hours before cruising was a nice bonus as we got to trek through the quaint streets of Old San Juan for the whole afternoon; it is quite close to where the Victory docks. The Victory is smaller than I anticipated, but just as nice as any we have enjoyed previously. It was quite pleasant recognizing familiar faces and "getting to know" more of the guests with the smaller number of passengers aboard. Carnival IS the "Fun Ship," where you can be older, but not stodgy! The food was good, a little less than I anticipated, but nonetheless GOOD. ALL the service personnel were friendly and helpful. The ship was kept perfectly clean and sparkling and the party rooms and casino were entertaining and open late. I did miss not having a separate room with a lively band to dance to that wasn't a disco; there was music in the corridor by the casino, but not quite the place to stop and spend the evening dancing. The karaoke was REALLY entertaining and the young man in charge was a hoot! Delightful! James, at the piano bar, was fun and kept up a lively pace of singing; I spent a lot of time in there! All of the music was loud! I have found that with a group of 17 a cruise has something for everyone. There are the after dinner shows, the comedians, karaoke, piano bar, disco, dancing at the casino bar, and lots of bars! Those who want to go early to bed can go OR and you can stay up as late as you want! I LOVE CARNIVAL!

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Boarded Carnival Victory on April 29th, 2012. Have travelled many times with Carnival. This ship was just O.K. While it was clean, it is a bit dated. The biggest disappointment was the meals in The Dining Room. There were 5 adults travelling in our group and we all agreed that the food on Lido was better and you didn't have to take nearly 2 hours each night to complete your dinner. The service was slow and the selections were not like they have been on past trips. Many nights the same selections in the dessert and appetizer categories. The quality of food on CARNIVAL or at least this ship was not good. Don't know if it is the chef on VICTORY or CARNIVAL is cutting back. The flavor just wasn't there. Many people on our excursions said the same thing. Don't waste your time...just eat on LIDO but the dining experience of course will not be the same. CARNIVAL needs to improve the entertainment as well. Tired of the NEWLYWED games and BATTLE OF THE SEXES. Come up with some new ideas...please. Went to see 3 comedians and only 1 was funny. Hardly anyone laughed for the other 2 and people got up and left. The ship was noisy and alot of people on our trip were rude running up and down the halls all hours of the day and night. That is not CARNIVAL'S fault obviously. The only quiet place on the ship to really relax was on SERENDITY DECK. My husband and I enjoy music but it is so loud you have to scream to each other to talk. CARNIVAL needs to provide a place where there is relaxing music where you can converse while relaxing. Overall, very disappointed with our experience this time with CARNIVAL. The stops we made were amazing and we planned some amazing excursions. Loved the Islands...St. Lucia, St. Kitts, St. Maarten, St. Thomas and Barbados.

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We took our seventh Carnival cruise on the Victory, sailing from San Juan, P.R. with 5 other friends. This was our first time on the Victory and our first time visiting this side of the Caribbean. We flew from Boston to San Juan on Saturday, the day before the cruise, as we usually do. We all stayed at the Embassy Suites & Casino in Isla Verde, which was only a short ride from the San Juan airport. The hotel was nice enough, but dated. Clean, nice pool area, an Outback Steak House inside the hotel, small cramped casino which we walked through but didn't play in. The rooms showed the hotel's age, nothing terrible or "Oh my God, we need to leave" but clearly in need of some upgrades and TLC. One room our party got didn't have a shower curtain -- how do you miss that? To the hotel's credit, they bent over backwards after remedying the problem, offering free dinner or lunch (which we couldn't use because we'd already eaten and wouldn't be there the next day for lunch) but that's something you think would be noticed when cleaning the rooms. The Manager's reception was ok, free drinks and snacks are free drinks and snacks. The breakfast buffet -- you should skip that. Eggs were uneatable, potatoes cold and bacon barely cooked. Thank goodness for cereal and fruit! We taxied to the port around 1130am Sunday, and checked our bags and headed up to check in. We were literally one of the first 25 people there so check in went quickly. We only had to wait about 35 minutes before they allowed us to board the Victory. Once on board, we went to the purser's desk and put cash down on our Sail & Sign account, which we always do. Work off the cash before the credit card (and interest) kicks in. Then it was up to the Lido deck to eat lunch and sun -- we decided not to leave the ship once we were checked in. Our cabins were ready around 1pm, which was nice. Our luggage showed up while we were still looking at the room, which was better!!! Our cabin steward greeted us while we were moving our bags into the cabins, and throughout the cruise he (Famir) was seemingly ALWAYS right there when we opened our doors. We had three cabins in a row (6395, 6397 & 6399) and had the balcony partitions opened up to create a huge balcony. We all changed and cleaned up and went to the open seating dinner around 8pm and had a nice dinner. Lifeboat drill went smoothly after dinner and at 10pm we sailed. This was another first for us, something other than an afternoon departure. Not sure if I care for it but at the time it was nice seeing San Juan's light fade behind us as we sailed away. We all turned in around 11pm and slept nicely as the sailing was smooth. Monday morning (4/30) we woke up in St Thomas. We had breakfast in the Pacific dining room (our MDR) and then headed off to meet our excursion. We booked the Downtown Shopping & Magen's Bay Beach Getaway through Carnival and it was nice. We were taken to Magen's Bay Beach first, a bit early in the day for me but it was a nice beach. I don't know about it being ranked as one of the world's best but it was clean, lovely scenary and even a short shower didn't spoil it for us. We were then bussed back to the downtown area for shopping. There was a "tent city" of vendors right where we were dropped off, with other shops close by. We stopped in at Bumpa's Cafe -- we're from MA and we'd seen a TV show on St Thomas that featured Bumpa's, which is operated by two transplanted MA residents. Great food and Roland and Bonnie Spell, the owners, were friendly and happy to greet other MA citizens. You should stop in if you're in St Thomas. We met up with our bus and headed back to the ship for Frozen Rum Runners and some relaxing. Monday night we met our waiters in the Pacific dining room for the first time. Linton (head waiter) and his assistants Jericho and Kadeck took great care of us all week, and couldn't have given us better service. The food all cruise was very good, with no complaints about options, portions or taste, and that includes the Lido deck fare. We all went to the show in the Caribbean Theater, which was fun and well presented. Our only complaint about any of the entertainment on the cruise was the policy of late dinner seatings (we had an 8:15pm seating) going to "their" show BEFORE eating, which means y ou have to run from one end of the ship to the other to make both the show and dinner. Monday night was the only night the main show was at 10:15pm -- something that makes sense to everyone. Eat first, then show. Tuesday (5/1) was our day at sea, and we spent the day sleeping in a little, breakfast in the MDR, playing in the casino, catching some sun on deck and exploring the ship. I went to the talk covering excursions in the remaining ports and actually won stuff in a drawing. I won a bottle of champagne, a book on making towel animals, and a litho print from the art gallery that Felipe, our CD, said was worth $100.00. It's nice, came with a COA and we'll frame it. It was formal night so we got all gussied up, had photos taken and had a nice dinner (lobster was on the menu). One thing I really have to say I don't like about Carnival cruises is having to walk the gauntlet of photographers on Deck 5, especially trying to get to the MDR. People lined up for photos and people trying to go to or from dinner gets very crowded. But we had fun, won a little bit in the casino and then relaxed on the balcony with coffee and drinks. Wednesday (5/2) we were in Barbados, and this was the lowlight of the cruise. We hadn't seen any Carnival excursions we liked so we thought we'd go shopping and maybe a beach on our own. The port area has a little mall that was nice, and we took a shuttle downtown for $2.00. How we survived that maniac's driving still surprises me -- twice we were almost in head-on collisions. Downtown -- dirty, run down and very little actual shops you'd go into. We couldn't get out of there fast enough. We were going to try a beach but when we got back to the port it started pouring so we said the heck with it and went back to the ship for lunch and drinks. Lesson learned, I guess. Another nice dinner followed, with more casino time and then bed. Thursday (5/3) we woke in St Kitts. Very pretty coming into port, very hopeful of putting Barbados' bad day behind us. But..... We booked the Beach Extravaganza but what we got was a drive to the beach that was more like a vacation/time share tour. The driver made sure we knew ALL about the new condos and resorts going up and how to find out more, but told us almost nothing about St Kitts other then maybe it's an island. The beach we went to looked NOTHING like the photo on the web page, it had loose trash near the "snack bar", thick lines of seaweed on the beach that hadn't been cleared, and a constant diesel oil fumes smell. The locals kept trying to push 10 year old CDs and massages on us, actually waking me up twice to see if I wanted a massage. One of our party went to the snack bar and looked into the kitchen and came back warning us NOT to order anything. When we returned to the ship, we went to the excursion desk and spoke to one of the staff there. We weren't looking for refunds but wanted Carnival to know how bad THEIR endorsed excursion was. We showed them our photos and the staff was great. They took notes and called our staterooms later to tell us they were refunding 25% of the excursion cost. Some may say that wasn't enough, but our pupose wasn't to get anything, but to let Carnival know what people were getting for their money. The port area was clean and pretty with plenty of good shopping, though and we enjoyed walking around it. Dinner again was great, and we won some more in the casino before bed. Friday (5/4) -- St Lucia. The absolute saving grace of the cruise. From the minute we neared the island and we could see the hills and mountains, then the new, clean port shopping area we knew the day would be great. We booked the Catamaran Cruise to the Pitons excursion and it was the best excursion of the cruise. We had a wonderful guide on the bus, and we saw banana plantations, small towns and villages, stopped several times for photo ops and visited Diamond Falls Botanical Gardens -- beautiful. Then we met up with our catamaran, had lunch while seeing the Pitons and then stopped for a nice swim at a small beach, the catamaran anchoring about 20 feet from the beach. Then a short but nice ride back to the shopping area/port for some shopping and then back on the Victory. It was the best day so far. Saturday (5/5) was our last port, St Maartens. We booked the Best of St Maartens Island & Beach Combo and it was well worth the money. Our guide, Dennis, was a wealth of information about both sides of the island, and the scenery was gorgeous. We toured all over the island it seemed, and then were taken to Boo Boo Jam Beach -- simply a beautiful well maintained beach. We paid $10 for the "special" and got two nice loungers, an umbrella and two rum punches. The sun was strong and the view beautiful. After 2 hours Dennis drove us back to the port, again giving us great history and stories of this beautiful island. The port area again was modern, clean and well laid out with plenty of nice shops to visit. Negatives?? I suppose the only one was that at the beach, it abuts a topless beach and a woman who shouldn't have been topless and a man who shouldn't have attempted a Speedo walked over to our side of the beach, but our supressed laughter made it tolerable! Saturday night was our last dinner with our great wait staff, photos were taken, Facebook IDs exchanged, then it was off to pack. Sunday (5/6) we had booked the Rain Forest Drive excurion back in San Juan, since our flight home wasn't until 5:15pm. Getting off the ship was a breeze, checked the bags to the airport and boarded our bus. The rain forest was interesting, very pretty, had a nice visitor's center and we took an easy 25 minute walk along a trail. Sadly a torrential downpour hit and we didn't/couldn't leave the bus to get photos of a rain fed raging waterfall or a stone watch tower but by then we were ready to head home. The bus took us to the airport and there were our bags, secure and ready for us. Our flight and connecting flight were uneventful and we arrived back home at 2am Monday. Once again we found the service of the Carnival crew to be friendly, professional and always eager to make our cruise as good as it could be. Our cabin was always spotless, we always had ice and towels. Room service was prompt and friendly, our waiters were fantastic, the bar staff at every one we visited we quick and courteous, and everyone had a smile and "hello" for us. Other than the switch of the show times, we had NO complaints. We'll be booking our next Carnival cruise shortly.

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This was our second cruise with Carnival and it did not let us down. Embarkation: really quick. We live in Puerto Rico so it only took us a quick drive to get to the port. It was a little before 4pm when we got in the line and by 5pm we were inside of the ship, no problems at all. Our room was ready but bags were not there so, we just wandered around the ship, ate at the main diner, and went to the welcome party on the pool deck. By the time we went back to the room, our bags were there. St. Thomas: we had been to St Thomas before so this time we decided to take a ferry boat to Tortola and swim with dolphins. It was a fun experience but I wouldn't do it again, at least not there. The area is surrounded by mangroove and the water was not clear. The dolphins looked well taken care of but it didn't seemed right to me. Back in St. Thomas we did a little shopping in the port and headed back to the ship. Day at sea: relaxation all the way. In the morning we had breakfast at lido deck, then headed to gym for a short workout. The rest of the day was spent at the pool deck, sunbathing, playing mini golf and relaxing. Barbados: We are amateurs surfers so there were no questions here: we went to Barbados to surf! Took a 20min taxi to Barry's Surf School, rented our surfboards (30$ for the day!! VERY inexpensive) and off the waves we went. Really awesome with a side of win. I have to say, the guys from Surf Barbados were very helpful, from the minute we contacted them through email till we returned the boards. They even offered rash guards!!! St. Lucia: Sea & Land tour that included, the pitons, volcano, waterfalls, snorkeling, and Marigot Bay. One thing we didn't like about St. Lucia was getting bombed by all the tour companies right in the port. St. Kitts: We didn't do much here, took a taxi to the beach, and relaxed. St. Marteen: Rented a 4 wheeler and explored the island ourselves. It was great. There is only ONE traffic light in the entire island, and many roundabouts. We did Orient Bay and Maho Beach, both really beautiful. The views in St. Marteen are breathtaking. I was very amazed by how different the french part was from the dutch part. Food: simply delicious. Large variety for breakfast, eggs, fruit, cereal, pancakes, toasts, bacon, sausages... you name it. I don't think we ever had lunch in the ship but we did have sandwiches and those were addictive. The burger station, by the pool deck, did it for us on the day at sea. The dinner menu was great and tasty. Everything I ate was delicious, specially the chocolate melting cake. Heaven on earth! We always felt very welcomed in the dinning room, and the waiters were very attentive. Our stewardess were super nice, and attentive as well. The party crew was very funny and they made sure everyone had a great time. There were plenty of shows and activities for all ages. I would definitely recommend this cruise ship to anyone.

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Post Cruise -- We flew to San Juan on Saturday and stayed at the Marriott Stellaris that I booked on Priceline for $115.00. The cab ride was funny because the cab driver didn't understand where we wanted to go. There was a Celebrity ship in port and although we said Marriott Stellaris she kept heading to the Celebrity port. The whole time we kept saying we were not going to a ship she just kept driving right up to the ship. When she stopped we said no "Marriot Stellaris Hotel". Speaking loudly must have worked because she said "Oh Marriott, OK", and off we went. We just shook our head and laughed. We were very happy with the resort. I wanted something on the beach and it was great. The room wasn't ready when we arrived so we changed in swim suits and had lunch at the resort. It was pretty pricey but we were starved and didn't want to waste time looking for something else. We wandered the beach and before we knew it the room was ready. They moved us to a pool cabana room and we were worried about pool noise, but there was none. It actually worked out great because as any family knows it seems like you make 40 trips a day to the room so having a close room to the beach was very handy. To save suitcase space & weight I decided to buy sunscreen and bath products at Walgreens in San Juan. It was a good idea, but it didn't work as well as I had hoped. The selection of shampoos and such were quite picked over and I had more trouble than I thought I would have getting what I wanted. So in hindsight I would not do this again. We had dinner at Orozoco's that was recommended on the San Juan board and we loved it. It was very good and nice and close. We just did breakfast at Starbucks. Embarkation Day -- After Starbucks breakfast we laid out on the beach for a little while then headed to ship. No problems getting on. Lines went well. We left the luggage with the porters and went to CVS for wine. Got our cards and got a few mini bottles of vodka for DH in the duty shop. We put the mini bottles in his short cargo pockets. Then at the security gate we put them through the x-ray machine then reloaded the pockets then on the ship. We got on the ship, ordered a bucket of beer, and got our first lunch on Lido. By the time we finished our cabin was ready and we dumped our carry-ons and left the ship. We spent the afternoon tour El Morro fort then made our way to Barrachina for a Pina Cololda (which was delious). Back onto the ship and our luggage was delivered and we unpacked, showered and dressed for dinner. The muster drill, which was not adequately announced, was at 9:30 then sail away. We did not like the late sail away. All evening we just wanted to move on from San Juan and seemed so late. St Thomas -- DH & DS scuba dove with Blue Island Dive and had a great dive. They were up and off the ship right away and there was only 1other person on their dive so you couldn't get more personal than that. DD & I slept in and wandered off the ship to head to Sapphire Beach. It would have great if it wasn't down pouring rain. We got there and no sooner got our chairs then the first downpour began. It let up after a while and did some of the beach snorkeling and that was wonderful and despite no sun was worth it. Then just as we got back out of the water it began to down pour again so we decided to go shopping instead. So we shopped for a while then met DH & DS for lunch. Then we did the port shopping then back on the ship. By then the sun came out so we laid out by the aft pool and got a drink of the day. Not bad. Showered, dressed for dinner, then did our nightly sushi and cocktail hour followed by late dining. At this point I say we wished we did Anytime Dining. Our last cruise late dining was fine, but for some reason this time 8:15 was just too long. Unfortunely when we inquired they said that there was a waitlist of 100 people wishing to switch to Anytime so we stayed with 8:15. Sea Day -- Slept in, worked out, ate on Lido, and then went to get a chair. We did not have any problems finding chairs for us. It was about 11:00am and we wanted toward the Aft Upper Level on the side. Quiet, great sun, and perfect for all day sunning. At one point we went to the Serenity Deck to check it out. It was very full and there was no room to sit. Most people were napping up there. The kids wandered here and there and except to get lunch we just stayed, read books, and chilled. Perfect sea day. Barbados -- We spent the day with Gina and her crew on Calabaza. This was the best day. If you can book with Gina I can't recommend it enough. She and her crew did everything to make our day great from wonderful rum punch, great food, to beautiful snorkel locations. The boat was great and there were not too many people. This was a memorable day for my family and the one we were looking forward to the most and it did not let us down. St Lucia -- This is such a beautiful island. We were in awe of the mountains, rainforest and beautiful little towns. On this island we did Cosol's all day tour. This was not the best fit for my family. While during the planning part of trip everyone thought the tour would be a good idea, it didn't quite workout that way. We are more of a do/action family where we like to participate in our tours and not just driving tours. So while the tour was everything that was promised, it wasn't a good match for us. Plus this is very long. It begins just after you pull into port and goes right up to when you need to get on the ship. This island also was not our favorite beach island. The location of Jaseclouse beach was beautiful, the beach and water was the rockiest. St Kitts -- We booked the ? 1/2 rainforest tour with My Island Tours with Javin. This was better because we got to do things and get out of the car for activities. Plus it was a shorter tour and we got spend our afternoon a little more on our own schedule. Javin was a great tour guide. He was interactive and personal which was so nice. It was great getting to know him and his island. St Kitts is so cute and just lush and green. We got to climb onto the black rocks for some amazing sea pictures that reminded us of Hawaii then we hiked in the rainforest. We were a little disappointed the hike ended so soon, but it was beautiful seeing the bamboo forest and all of interesting plants of the rainforest. St Maarten -- Orient Beach Day on our own. Last day we just slept in, worked out, and wandered off the ship on our own. This was such a relaxing way to spend our last day on our cruise. We loved Orient Beach. It was like a picture postcard with crystal blue water and white sand beach. I had picked Orange Fever for our beach location and we had a little problem finding it since we were dropped off at Bikini Beach instead of Pedro's. I know where it was located from Pedro's not Bikini Beach. Eventually we found it and were very happy. We parasailed and had lunch and drinks and called it when the clouds moved in. By the time we got to port it was raining. We wandered port to clear out the last of the kids souvenir money then went back on the ship for our last night. If you are worried about naked people, don't. Kids don't notice them, just us adults do. This beach is too beautiful and fun to miss it because you may see some boobs walk by. General Thoughts: Ship -- We loved the ship. Our last cruise was on the Valor and DH did not like the patriotic theme for that ship. We did like the sea motif of the Victory. It is circa "Kathy Lee Gifford Carnival Commercial" so it was fun and bright and we like it. The layout was similar to the Valor so we found everything very well. The Photographers set up everywhere caused traffic headaches on the Promenade deck, but we managed. Room -- We were in a category 4J cabin. It was great. It was our first window cabin and we liked it. No noise from the theater above us. We could not hear anything from outside or any noise from the door that leads out to the deck. We did very careful checking for what people could see from the outside and you cannot see in. It was strange opening the curtain in the morning and seeing people right outside our room but we knew they could not see in. Staff -- Everyone was so nice and pleasant. Our room Stewart was great; our servers were very attentive and knew what we asked for regularly, cocktail servers were happy and pleasant. We always like to find a bar where no one is there and we always end up talking to the bartenders. Everyone we spoke to has worked for Carnival for over 9 years. They say that they like Carnival and are happy with the company and how they treat them. They do rotate ships and like different things about each one and they go home every 6 months. They all seemed very genuine in their comments. Food -- We were happy with the food. Buffets -- For breakfast some mornings were worse than others with the lines. I had trouble getting an egg white omelet. One morning it was no problem and I had it fast, the other 2 mornings, both at a different omelet station, it was a problem and took a long time. If I didn't want an omelet I just went to the aft food stations and got my food really quickly, then went to the desert station and got my fruit and I was out. The lines were for the main buffet lines. For the bacon lovers, and there many, bacon was served by staff in the main buffet line but at the rest of the stations you could serve yourself to your little hearts content. I was amazed by the amount of bacon people got. We did eat in the MDR on the last morning and that was fine. Lunch - no problems food was good and fast. Snacks -- We had sushi every night and that is our favorite. Some afternoons we hit the French fries for a midafternoon snack. Dinner -- We at in the MDR every night. We enjoyed dinner. I would say our steaks were hit a miss with how they were cooked, and the flavor of something's were a little bland, but I didn't have to cook or clean up and had great service. So that made dinner great no matter what the meal was. I didn't see any big attire mistakes and my DH & DS did wear shorts every night except for formal nights. Miscellaneous --Workout Facilities (Spa) --We used them almost every day. There were fine and the classes where OK. I did a total body class, yoga class, and ab class. They were all doable for a novice person for those types' classes. The machines where fine and usable, although I did struggle for balance using them while we were at sea ?. Entertainment -- We a couple of comedians and the Welcome show. They were OK. I don't remember the names. I do like the addition of the Punchliner's club so we can see the comedians right away that are new from our last cruise. The past guest cocktail party was different than our last cruise also and we really were happy on how they handled it on this cruise. Having it in the theater with drinks and hors d'oeuvres being handed out was very nice. Last time it was in the disco and we had to stand in line trying to get drinks and food and didn't get much of anything. This way we could sit and relax and there was plenty of food and drinks being brought to our table. Club O2 -- My DD loved the club. She joined the first night and enjoyed all of the evening activities that they had. It took no time till she and her new ship friends spent all of the on board time together. One issue that we had is that the sign up for Club O2 was at 11:00pm on the night that we set sail. My husband said that the hallway was jammed packed with teens that didn't have parent with them so they were not allowed to sign up for Club O2. We believe that since it was so late most parents went to bed or were already involved in their own activity. These teens are not allowed to bring the paperwork with them since they could forge their parent's signature so they were stuck till they could bring their parents another time. I believe if they sign up could have been earlier in the evening much of this could have been avoided. Now for my 18 year DS he did have problems meeting kids. The first couple of nights he hung out with us, how lame, and even went to bed early after seeing a comedian alone, even more lame. Eventually he got to know my daughters friends, many who were close to his age and grade since he is a senior in high school, and hung out with them when they were not in the club. While I do get all of the arguments for not allowing 18 year olds in the club, it was rough. One girl turned 18 while on the cruise and she was not kicked out of the club. The only 2 things I would do differently is do Anytime Dining, and make sure to skip the car ride tours, otherwise it was great.

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