" " Cruise Review: Carnival Victory 10-21-2006
Background We are a family of 2 adults, a physician aged 51 and an accountant aged 53, with 2 kids, a boy aged 16 and a girl age 12. We have been on 15 cruises, including 4 Carnival, 4 Princess, 3 RCCL, and 1 each on Cunard, Celebrity, Norwegian, and Holland America and have traveled all over the world. We also traveled with a friend, Linda Weinstein, who was with her daughter and 85-year-old parents.
Embarkation and Travel We arrived around 2pm and were at the pier for the 7pm departure. No need to arrive a day early since there are so many flights into Miami, if yours should be cancelled. Arrive a day early in winter though. We stood in line for 2 hours (typical Carnival embarkation) and one woman passed out from the heat, though she appeared to be drunk (also typical). The process was disorganized with many unnecessary lines and lots of confusion. I suggest arriving less than one and ½ hours before the ship leaves, as people who did this had no lines at all, and boarding occurs until 15-30 minutes before departure.