Carnival Victory Review

3.5 / 5.0
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Amazing Itinerary!

Review for the Southern Caribbean Cruise on Carnival Victory
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wadecruiser
First Time Cruiser • Age 20s

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Sail Date: Jun 2009

Flew into San Juan on June 12 and stayed at the Caribe Hilton Resort. Beautiful hotel and grounds!  Loved it except for food and drink prices.  Got to cruise port at around 12 noon and only waited in line about 30 minutes.  Went to Liquor store in the terminal and put it in carry on and got through security.  They will ask you when you get on board if you have alcohol, well lie because one woman in front of us told the truth and they took it all.  We just walked on by.  When we got onboard our rooms were already ready, so we dropped off carry on luggage and got lunch. Our first balcony room did not dissappoint.  We had a connecting room with our bestfriends.  There were 2 adults and 2 teens in our room, so I used the spa showers every night, and never once had to fight for the bathroom to get ready for the evenings.  The only drawback to the room is we were on the top balcony deck, so the miniature golf was just above us and people could see down onto our balcony and there were not any cover for shade, but we still loved it. The buffet was fine.  I don't expect buffet food to be great so I was never dissappointed.  They do have a lot of variety though, with the asian buffet, deli, pizza, and hambuger grill on top of the regular buffet line.  Breakfasts were the same generally, but again, I knew that already.  I always got an omelet, and those were hot and delicious.After lunch we got off the ship to explore Old San Juan and shop.  Well, it was so hot and humid and our walk was so long that after shopping we decided to go back to the air conditioning of the ship.  We went to Coach and Dooney & Bourke and some clothing shops, and had fun with that.Our muster drill was horrible.  Our capers said to be there at 9:15pm and we were and they did not actually even start it until 9:45 and we werent done until about 10:15, so we were on the outside deck sweating for an hour.  So here is a hint...don't go down until they announce it over the P.A. system.  We went up on deck right after to watch sail away and around 10:30 they announced that a crew member was found dead and the authorities were coming onboard to investigate so sail away was postponed.  Well, I woke up around 2am and we were starting to leave port.  We received a letter in the morning that a crew member had committed suicide during the muster drill and they were sorry for the inconvenience, and to pray for the family of the crew member.  Very sad!1st port:  St. ThomasWe woke up at our leisure because we were just getting a taxi and doing a beach day at Sapphire Beach.  Taxis are $10 per person each way.  The beach was incredible, snorkeling on the right end of the beach is like swimming through an aquarium...so cool!.  It showered on us a few times, but we just went under cover and then it was sunny a few minutes later.  Lounge chairs are rented for $5, quite a deal for the day.  They also have someone come and take drink and food orders.  So, we felt very taken care of! We prearranged for our taxi driver to be back at a certain time and he was there not problem.  The first official dinner night in our assigned dining room was great.  We had a window table in the Pacific Dining room at the back of the ship so we were watching sunset and sail away every night!  The food was awesome every night!  Not sure why people say the food was mediocre.2nd port:  DominicaOur excursion was cancelled to go to Champagne Reef so we woke up at our leisure again and went ashore to go see local vendors.  Lots of people approach you here to take tours and we politely declined and they let it be.  Spent the day at the pool onboard and just relaxed, and we loved it!  This is the first elegant night and the captain's cocktail party.  Lots of free drinks, so make sure you go to this.  3rd port:  BarbadosOne of our favorite ports!  We took the ship's excursion: 5 star catamaran with Tiami cruises and loved it!  The only drawback is they had too many people on the catamaran so we felt crowded.  The stop to swim with the turtles was amazing, and we saw some stingrays and eels too.  They fed us a really good lunch on board. After that we went to a beach stop and snorkel stop.  That is when the rum punch flowed!  After that we had about a 45 minute cruise back to the ship.  AMAZING DAY!  The beaches are like white sugar.4th port:  St. LuciaOur favorite excursion!  COSOL TOURS is the way to go for this island!  Our driver was Jn Claude and he was amazing.  I collected apples every morning before this stop and gave them to Cosol and he was very appreciative.  They pay about $6 for 3 apples on this island, and they love them here.  I can't even begin to say how much we loved this tour, you see almost all of the island, I will give a short itinerary:  Picked us up at 8:30, were put in an air conditioned van.  Banana plantation, fishing village, breakfast of local foods (my favorite: love apples), many sightseeing stops, drive in active volcano, jalousie plantation between the pitons, waterfall stop, local bread and cheese and lots to drink throughout the day.  I highly recommend this to anyone going to this beautiful mountainous island!  This is the second elegant night and past cruisers party.5th port:  AntiguaIsland of 365 beaches.  Woke at our leisure and took a cab to darkwood beach.  Exquisite beach, but the reef is dead, so not good snorkeling.  However, it does have some fish and is starting to grow new brain coral, and fan coral.  I believe any beach is a good one at this island.6th port:  St. KittsWoke at our leisure and took a cab to Cockleshell Beach.  This is the beach with the 600 pound pig wilbur.  Loved it here for the reggae beach bar and the great service and music throughout the day.  However, the water on the left side of the pier is terrible for water clarity and rocks.  We went on the other side and the water was clear with less rocks and even saw several star fish.  Great beach day!Woke the next day at 6:30 had breakfast and we were off the ship by 8:30.  Got a cab quickly and were at the airport by 9am.  We were afraid because we heard nightmares about the airport on Sundays when two cruise ships are in port.  Well, maybe it was because we had an 11:50 flight but we checked in quickly and were at our gate will tons of time to spare.  Hint....when you get to the airport make sure you go to the Agriculture check with all your luggage first or they will send you out to do it before you can check in.  We were told this before our vacation and it went smoothly.  Many people in line to check in had to get out of line to do it first.All in all an amazing vacation and I would highly recommend this.  I would like a few sea days in the future though.  So, we may try the Royal Caribbean cruise out of San Juan next time.  They go to Aruba and Curacao with a few sea days.

Cabin Review

Cabin 8G

Quiet except for some lido deck music, but I went right to sleep so no worries.  Amazing views!  No cover on balcony, so always sunny.  Great location to use the ship spa showers, sauna, etc.

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