My wife and I decided to take a quick 4 day cruise on 4th of July weekend in 2013. It was our second cruise so we had learned a few good lessons about cruising, which made the Embarkation and overall trip smoother. First, be sure to pay the extra $50 for the Faster to the Fun upgrade. Well worth it! Especially for debarkation you can be off the ship and to the airport by 9-9:30.

So the Victory is a bit worn, but overall well-maintained. It lacks the upgrades found on newer ships, such as the Guy's Burger Joint, but is a upper-midsize to large ship with more balconies to select than the other older ships that make these 4 days trips. The ship was definitely not as nice as the Legend, but was fine for a relaxing getaway. I wasn't expecting luxury, so we were fine.

The rooms - need an upgrade, but were clean and the crew did a great job of taking care of us. I do not know this for a fact, but it seems like Carnival uses this ship and the 4 day cruises to train new crew so there was a fairly large variation in the level of service. For example, room stewards were great, servers in the Main Dining Room were a total disaster. The "fun crew" and cruise director were great, the bar staff and cooks left a lot to be desired - it was hard to get pizza, burgers or a drink at times and they sure didn't seem in a hurry to help. Read more