My husband and I traveled March 21-29 on the Carnival Victory. This was our first cruise and were happy with choosing this itinerary.

San Juan- We went a day early and stayed at the Courtyard at Marriott Miramar, which we booked through priceline for only $100 a night. The hotel wasn't in a great location if you wanted to walk around the city and explore. You have to take taxis everywhere and it really adds up. Our room was a basic hotel room, comfortable and good for a one night stay. There are a couple restaurants nearby if you are looking for authentic Puerto Rican food... we had dinner at Lima (moderate price and contemporary), a couple blocks further down we had breakfast at a more casual restaurant (El ??) which was satisfying. We were anxious to explore Old san Juan and left the hotel around 11am. Carnival glady accepted our early check in of our luggage so we could spend the day checking Old san juan out. We walked the outside of the El morro fort and had lunch at El Jibarete. My husband had goat stew and i have pork with plantains. The restaurant got packed after we arrived and the service slowed down with only 2 waiters, but we had time to spare. Before getting on board, we purchased a bottle of rum for $10 and that saved us tons of money on the ship. We bought one soda card between the two of us ($50!) and made rum and cokes all week. We boarded the cruise ship and got to know the ship better, this was our first cruise experience. We had open seating dinner at the pacific dining room- great views in this dining room! We attended the Welcome Aboard session and had our muster drill at 9pm. This was really no big deal, just have patience! The rest of the night we played Roulette with the $1 minimum.

St Thomas- We decided to take the ferry over to St John's Trunk Bay. I was a little disappointed bc it was very overcast that day. We ended up paying a lot to get to the beach- the taxis to Red Hook ($10 pp one way), the $6pp one way ferry ride, and another cab to the beach ($6 pp one way), and another $4 pp to get on the beach. It would have been more worth paying for an excursion to see St John and it would have been more fun. On the way back from St John, we spoke with another cruiser who told us about the $2 pp safari buses that come frequently. We took this back to the cruise ship and it was a lot cheaper! Back on the ship, we spent some time in the adults only section in the back of the boat and met some very nice people who became our friends for the rest of the trip. The hot tub is definitely the place to go if you want to meet people. As long as its not a pervert in a string thong- beware of spring break lurkers! Carnival should have kicked this man off the boat, he caught everyones attention exposing himself around children and made everyone uncomfortable. Every person i talked to for the rest of the trip knew about him. Read more