CARNIVAL VICTORY November 4, - November 11, 2007 Well here goes my first review I hope everyone enjoys. Just before we get started remember while you read this that I am no writer and cannot spell worth a hoot and I type with two fingers and will occasionally throw in a little finger so there will be some typos. I will use spell check but sometimes it don't understand me. Enjoy!! My wife I have been on two cruises this was our second. We were joined by a couple that was also with us on our first cruise. My wife and I are 40ish and the other couple 30ish we have 28k to 40k a year paying jobs. THE FLIGHT My wife and I were 90 percent packed for the cruise a week and a half before we set sail. On Sat morning we left our house a little ahead of schedule (which was amazing) and we drove to our friend's house where we switched to their vehicle to take to the airport. They were waiting in their drive way on us so we were all ready and eager to go. We packed out bags in their jeep and off we went. Our flight was a 1:15 PM and it was 10:30 we have a 30 min drive. We ran into a construction traffic jam on I-85 where the traffic was being shrunk down from 4 full lanes down to 1 it was at a stop at times. We got off at the next exit and took the back way into the airport. We were still on schedule. It is only about 30 miles from their house to the airport 50 from mine. I had booked our flights on the internet through US Airways. I was worried about the weight thing on the suit cases so I had purchased at wal-mart a fish scale that weighs up to 50lbs. for $4.50 they sell them a as a luggage scale for $14.95 or higher looks exactly the same. I had one bag weighing in at 46lbs. When we got to the airport we parked in long-term parking and the shuttle picked us up right away the 4 of us and another couple were all that was on the shuttle. We arrived at the entrance of the airport and walked straight to the kiosk to print off our tickets and weigh our bags. There was a nice older gentleman working the kiosk and he was helpful in telling us to weigh the heaviest ones first in case we had to re-arrange. Boarding passes printed off and the heaviest bag 46lbs (like my little fish scale said) we were good to go. We got to the security check and it was not crowded and we started the take our metal stuff off and placing it in the tubs so we could be searched. Everybody went through with me bringing up the rear no belt no shoes empty pockets no problem as the county song would say WRONG!!!. I set it off why nobody knows I got sent into the little glass room then hand searched. It was not bad did not reveal any metal in my body that had been placed there without my consent. The TSA agent was very nice and we were joking and talking while he searched. Once it was over and I was cleared I got dressed and off we went to wait. Flight was on Time and we arrived in Miami. No wait getting off the plane our luggage was first on the belt at baggage claim. On to the outside to get the shuttle to the motel. THE MOTEL We were staying at the Days Inn International Airport Motel. They offer free shuttle pick up to and from the airport and free shuttle to the port. I called while we were waiting on the baggage to come from the plane we went to the second level like the clerk said and we waited and we waited and no shuttle for 30 min we say many other shuttles a couple of times but not ours. We called again and the clerk said he is there now and he was he came by with a van load. We called and they said he will be back after waiting and hour and a half he showed up and we caught the ride to the Motel. Once at the motel no problem checking in, rooms were ready had booked them on the internet through the Days Inn web site. We scheduled out shuttle to the port was told to be out front to catch the ride at 1045 for the 1100 shuttle. We went to the room and they were newly remolded and very nice. New carpet on the floors and clean. We rested a bit and went out for a walk to find somewhere to eat for supper. We walked 3\4 of a mile and could see a Wendy's but chose to go back to the motel and eat at the restaurant there. Nice walk back to the motel and went into the restaurant and decided that was not the place to eat it was not real inviting and they definitely set their prices to there was nothing around and you were forced to eat there. We called Dominoes Pizza and ate in the room. It turned out to be the best route. Special was 19.95 two large one topping with a 2 liter drink. We were full and ready to sleep tomorrow we set sail. Had a good night sleep. We got up and went to the restaurant to eat the continental breakfast for $6.50. They were out of coffee so the wife was not happy. We ate cereal and Danishes with orange juice. My buddy that was with us squeezed out a cup of coffee from the bottom of the coffee thing and made wife happy. It was over priced but did not have any other choice if we wanted to eat something before we left. There was a little convenience store a block away if you wanted to go there to just grab a snack. Embarkation Left the port on the contract shuttle at 11:30 they were 30 min late arriving. One enroute we laughed and had a good time with the other passengers. When we pulled into the port I saw the BIG SCREEN TV on the deck. That was a big question would it be there? IT was wooh whoo I was thrilled. We got to the port and they pulled to the side and the porter came out and got our bags from the trailer. We made sure they were on the dolly and we went into the terminal. The line moved fast through security. There was a line upstairs and we waited for about 30-40 min for processing we got our sail and sign card and off to the ship we went. The new port is very nice and clean like it should be since it's only a month old. We had to wait again for about 10 min in line on the ship deck to check in on the ship. Ready for the Boat Ride Once on the ship we went to the buffet line. There was a short line at the buffet but it moved pretty fast the food was good. We went to the burger stand and got a hotdog for seconds then of course we got some ice-cream for desert. We went to our room to check it out and it was ready. The ship had been in dry dock. The room had new carpet but no flat screen TV. It looked just like the balcony room on the glory that one of our friends had on our first cruise. Our room steward came in and introduced himself as Wyan and I requested that the divider be opened between the balconies and we need two extra pillows. Off we went to look at the ship. We went up on deck and looked at the BIG SCREEN TV it was showing a football game which was fine with us. We went to the pacific dinning room to look at where we would be dining and done some general getting to know the ship. It looked great! There were a few rolls of new carpet sitting around out of the way in a few stairwells. It appeared that a lot of carpet had been replaced in the public areas but you really had to look close to tell what was new and what was not. The staff was always cleaning the ship throughout the entire cruise. After exploring the ship we returned to our room to see if the luggage arrived and it had not we just chilled on our balcony until time for the muster drill. When the time came we made pics with the orange vest and out the door to the left down the steps 3 decks and we were there it was painless and kinda fun we had a good group to be standing around we laughed and made it a fun experience. Back to the room no luggage. We went up on the top deck for the sail away party and we sailed away from Miami. We returned to our rooms and had my luggage but not the wife's she was getting worried because she wanted to change before dinner. We chilled on the bal and waited after I put my clothes away. The one with her shoes and bath products in it showed up in time for her to get ready. The one with her clothes showed up after she showered so we were good to go. Dinning Room We went to dinner and met our wait staff our head waiter was named Redi and our asst waiter was Bagus. We were in a booth with just the 4 of us. That is what my wife wanted so she was pleased. All the meals were delicious every night. Redi figured out that I was a big eater and I always chose two appetizers no salad and two entrees every night. He even brought me a third entrEe on several occasions. Like a second lobster tail which was great a second piece of prime rib one night and there was something else I can't remember what but he brought it without me asking. Redi was not very talkative but he did his job very well. Bagus was very personal he wanted to know about our day talked about his family wanted to know about us and our family. He was funny and always had a smile on his face. Dinner was always good. Of course we had chocolate melting cake every night. Along with another desert. We returned to our room to find that we had our extra pillows and the divider on the balcony had been opened and it stayed open the entire time. We went to the Caribbean lounge for the opening show. Jorge Solano was the CD and he was great. He was funny every time he spoke and very witty. He was fighting the flu and was not up to par for himself and he was still great. He is not assigned to the Victory he was just filling in so I do not know what ship he is usually on. We went to the karaoke lounge every night to see the not so talented perform. It was entertaining and there was a few with some talent. As for the other shows we did not attend but the last part of the magic show which good and the Legends show on the last night which was entertaining. We had Three days at sea. During the voyage they all three had beautiful weather for laying out in the sun. On the deck the capers said that CNN would be on the bigscreen from 8-10 in the morning but it was never there on the sea days. The decks were always crowded on the sea days but we were up early and out there before it was crowded and we got our 4 chairs together on the deck above the pool so we could watch the pool activities and see the BIG SCREEN TV. The TV showed some kind of fish screen saver over and over and over and over etc............ It got where you could predict what fish was next they did not show anything on it during the day. That was a disappointment to me. At 1200 the steel drum band came out and started to play. They had a synthesized piano that played the majority of the music for them and the steel drums that they rarely touched it was the guitar and the piano. There was more talent in the karaoke lounge with the alcoholics than they could sing on the deck. They even let other people sing on the deck like karaoke at times. When they were not playing there was nothing on the deck it was quiet with the fish swimming on the TV. No DJ music no nothing. When the pool/deck activities were happening I thought that they would be aired on the big screen TV but they were not you had to gather closely to watch. We were where we could see but everybody crowded around us so they could see. They showed movies and concerts every night on THE BIG SCREEN TV the only one I watched was Spiderman 3 one night I enjoyed it but I was not there to watch TV in the evening and there was a decent crowd watching. On the last sea day they showed the stuff that would be on the DVD you can purchase or what you could watch on the TV in your room. Hairy chest contest, pool activities, formal night etc. That was better than the fish but it got old after about the third time. Ports of Call We did not do any excursions. We got off the ship at every port of call. The first stop was Cozumel we were planning to spend the day on a beach but it was raining and we ended up shopping and just walking around town. The next stop was Grand Cayman and we had to tender just as all ships do there. We got in no big hurry to get off the ship since we were not doing anything planned and we went shopping. The tender was only a short wait both ways. It was very crowded in town due to 4 ships being there. We just shopped and walked around town. The third port was Ocho Rios Jamaica We had planned once again to go lay on a beach but guess what it rained. We got a Maxi taxi tour van from the parking lot with a driver named Dannyboy and for 10 buck a person the four of us he drove us around showed us some sites told us some history of the island and took us downtown to the duty free shopping. We were approached by several other cab drivers at the pier but did not get a good feeling about them but Dannyboy spoke good English and was clean. I liked him right off so we said what the heck. He waited while we shopped and spent about 4 1/2 hours with us for 10 dollars a person. The Bad but not so bad things On the ship there is very little I could gripe about. I am sure there is a lot I could have found wrong if I was looking for all bad things. I have mentioned the big screen TV issues that I have but you can not please everybody. Some people my have enjoyed the fish over and over. The buffet lines were usually backed up but just wait a bit and they would trim down to a manageable level. It was not like you would go hungry. Just be patient. I was on vacation with nowhere to be I was on a ship with nowhere to go besides where the captain was taking me. We did use room service twice during the late evening the first time was fairly quick 15 min wait and it was good. The second time was the last night and it took an hour to an hour and a half to get it but was good once it got there. The ice cream machines were often out of ice cream but a lot of people were eating it. I was patient and waited a min and they had it serviced and going again. There was a couple of the ice dispensers that were out or would not work at the fountain drinks but once I learned which ones usually did not work I just avoided them. Probably the biggest inconvenience was the interactive TV would not work so you could not check the sign and sail card balance in your room. You could call the purser desk or ask when you walked by. They said that the satellite was down was the problem. There was a line from the purser desk to the Caribbean lounge stage on Sunday morn with people disputing their bill. Mostly because of questions and mistakes that could have been found earlier in the week if the interactive system had been working. Debarkation Well it's Sunday morning and time to get off the ship. In the Caribbean lounge at 7 o'clock there was a lot of people for self debark. They had told us the night before that nobody would get off till the NSA gave us the green light. Well of course everybody thought they should be first. I stayed away from that mess once I went down and seen that I was not going to self debark anyway. We finished getting ready and checked the room for any missed items and went to the pedestrian cafe for one last meal on the ship. There was no lines and hot breakfast food. We ate and waited on our # 18 to be called. We sat around after it was called walked to the third level and off the ship. We went to baggage claim our luggage was some of the first on the belt and we were about 20 deep in the customs line a 10 min moving line and out the door. Once outside we planned to catch a cab to the motel. We waited and the van cabs were few and far between and I thought there was going to be a fight to get the few coming through so we decided to use the transport that took us which was Doral Transport. We gave them a call they said some vans should be there just stop one so we did it was 10 dollars a person the to the motel we loaded up and off we went. We were at the motel at ten min after 11. The rooms were not ready and check in was not until 4 o'clock they said it would be around 1:30. We had already planned to rent a car so they allowed us to place our luggage into a storage room and we rented a car at the office at the motel for 45 dollars and had it 24hrs and 200 miles. We went rode around ate at Wendy's and returned to find our rooms were ready. Took a nap and went to supper. When we returned there was no mint on the pillow and the bed had not been made and turned back. Got a good night sleep. The next morn I drove to McDonalds got breakfast and went to lobby to wait for transport from motel to airport. Turned in rental caught shuttle and was at airport by 1120 for our 1 o'clock flight. Check in at the airport was easy and I made it through security without having to go through the glass room. The couple traveling through with us had a Christmas scene snow globe they did not want to put in check luggage and they stopped them but then the supervisor approved it to go onboard with them and we were waiting at the door to get on the plane at 12:00. Smooth flight home no delays no problems getting our luggage waited outside less than 10 min on shuttle and to our vehicle. No traffic problems to their house and we are back to where I started.

We had a really great time. We were on vacation to have a good time. I try not to let the little things bother me and move on. There were a lot of people griping and grumbling in the lines about things but they were petty or at least to me. I WAS ON VACATION with 2700 strangers and 900 people to try to make it a pleasurable time on a ship in the middle of the beautiful ocean. I enjoyed it and am ready for the next one. Thank you for taking the time to read my review. I hope it helps you in your decision or at least you enjoyed reading it.