Carnival Victory Review

3.5 / 5.0
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Underwhelmed with the Carnival Victory

Review for the Bahamas Cruise on Carnival Victory
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galaxieman63
2-5 Cruises • Age 40s

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Sail Date: Jun 2016
Cabin: Balcony

Just of the 6/19/16 4 Day out of Port Canaveral. I have mixed feelings about the cruise.

This is my third cruise with Carnival. The two prior were both 5 day cruises on the Fantasy when it was sailing out of Charleston. I loved both cruises on the Fantasy, and using those experiences as a yardstick, I didn't enjoy my time on the Victory nearly as much.

Now, I'm really not a complainer. I tend to take things with a grain of salt; and I don't like it when I see overly demanding people giving service industry employees a hard time over minor details. I tend to think people like that are going to be miserable by default, and if you let the little things slide on vacation, you are going to have a much better time.

Cabin Review

Balcony

Cabin 8F

We were in 6246 and 6234. Two balcony rooms on the port side forward.

This was my first Balcony experience. It was not an updated room. It still had the pink bathroom and CRT TV. The balcony made for a different cruising experience. Whereas in my prior cruises I felt like the room was just a place to sleep, having the balcony made the room a retreat. I spent a good deal of time hanging out on the room's balcony, whereas on past cruises I probably would have been out and about.

The room had the dated interior and showed its wear. The faux leather on the couch was worn through in a few spots, the edge of the desk showed signs of being battered by suitcases over the years. The old standard definition CRT TV was very dim and fuzzy.

We actually had two rooms booked together, one for my wife and I, and one for our two sons, age 19 and 15. When booking the room class stated the rooms had two twin beds that could be pushed together to make a king. We requested one room be configured as a King, the other with two twins. When we got there both rooms were configured the same, the couch was converted to a twin bed and there was a "king" between the couch and the balcony window. There was a gap of only a few inches between the window and the bed on one side, and the bed abutted the couch on the other. I did not see how the beds could be separated without some serious rearranging of the furniture.

I actually found the bed to be quite comfortable and a big improvement over the ones on the Fantasy. The bed and the balcony were the best parts of the room.

Port Reviews

Port Canaveral (Orlando)

Embarkation and debarkation was easy. My only complaint was that customs was not fully staffed for debarkation and that caused delays in getting through the line.

Freeport

I have been to Freeport three times. There are some nice excursions. I've done the Grand Lucayan resort and a snorkeling excursion. This trip we decided to stay on the boat most of the day, so we just walked around the marketplace they have built for tourists at the dock and got back on the boat. They seem to have put some restriction on who sells in the market. A few years back there were people inside the market with just folding tables for stands selling coconut drinks and liquor by the shot. Now they are gone and only the vendors with actual stalls or shops are left.

Nassau

After three visits I'm ready to say I don't like Nassau. The waters in the port are filled with trash. The entire port is setup to force you to run a gauntlet of overly aggressive vendors shouting to get your attention. This culminates in the chaos when you actually get out to the street and are harangued by a throng of taxi drivers, who will and do get into fights over potential fares. If you turn them down and start walking to the downtown shops, it seems like they want to exact their revenge for not riding in a cab by trying to run you down. Concepts like crosswalks and pedestrian right of way don't seem to exist. Then there's the row of horse and buggies, which despite smelling god awful from the collected animal waste is notorious for the poor treatment of the animals. If you survive all of that, you well then get harangued by an all new set of people trying to get you on their boats, be they water taxis or tour boats. Clear of all that you now can enjoy the broken concrete and uneven bricks of Nassau's sidewalks as you move from shop to shop pitching their genuine made-in-china Bahamian T-shirts and knick-knacks. If you were unlucky enough to fall for the on-ship shopping presentations you have your choice of overpriced jewelry and clothing stores to choose from. The former advantage of tax-free shopping is now a thing of the past, as the Bahamas have enacted a VAT.

Keep in mind that you are not to leave the heavily policed tourist zone, as crime rates are through the roof elsewhere.

The other option is to head over to Paradise Island, dominated by Atlantis. It is more upscale than Nassau proper, and the prices are equally upscale. (A Banana and a 1 Liter Bottle of Water cost $12) You will pay through the nose for day passes to the Water Park, Aquarium, or any of the nearby beaches.

Your best bet here is to have a planned, pre-purchased excursion to a private beach away from town.

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