My boyfriend and I (55 and 46 years young) booked a southern Caribbean cruise only 10 days before the sailing date, so I had many things to work out in a short time. Everything came together wonderfully! Carnival Victory: Having been on two Alaska cruises on Princess, I was reluctant to sail on Carnival because I have heard that the ships are old and dirty - and are only full of loud, drunk partiers. After speaking with a travel agent, she confirmed that some of the ships that do sailings from Los Angeles down to Mexico are the older ships and sometimes have a wilder crowd, but that the ones in the Caribbean are first-class. She was right. I was afraid of booking the inside cabin but the price was too good to pass up. I never felt cramped or claustrophobic like I thought I might and would book another inside with no hesitation. We were on the Lido deck, cabin 9236, which I would recommend - anything on the Lido deck. It was a very short walk to the pool and the buffet - with the 24 hour ice/water/tea/lemonade/coffee station. That came in handy when I was in my cabin and wanted a glass of something but didn't want to wait for room service. I also liked the outdoor area all the way forward on Lido deck. It was empty every time we went out there and was a wonderful place to take in the stars and lights from the islands we were passing. The deck was directly on top of the navigational outcroppings (one deck below us), so from this area, we could walk out 'past' the edge of the ship and watch most of the ship cutting through the water. Outstanding views! Flight and hotel: We took a Friday night red-eye from LAX to San Juan (American Airlines), arriving at 9:30 am Saturday morning. We found a cab easily and went to our hotel (cost around $24). We chose one that was recommended by cc members, the Sheraton Old San Juan. While we could not check in yet, they held our luggage for us until the 3 pm checking time, allowing us to eat breakfast in their dining room (nothing special at their breakfast buffet and it seemed too expensive to me - we didn't eat there again). The hotel was comfortable and clean and we were given a view room looking out towards the harbor. The rate was only about $124 per night. We especially loved that we were able to watch our ship come into port early Sunday morning since the dock was right across the street! Embarkation: Boarding the ship was a breeze because we were so close to the dock. Even though the hotel checkout was before noon on Sunday, they held our luggage and we were able to tour San Juan before returning to pick it up. We were able to wheel our luggage right across the street and about 1/2 block away and ended up fully checked in and on the ship by 1:30. We were tired and hot so ate lunch in the cafeteria until our room was ready at around 3 - then it was nap time! We followed the advice of cc members and bought a few bottles of flavored vodka at the duty-free shop prior to going up the escalators (after we gave them our checked luggage). We just put the 3 bottles in our carry on with some clothes and stuff. No one asked us about it even though I'm sure they saw it on the x-ray scanners. I also did with cc members suggested (as well as the lady in San Juan at the duty free shop) and brought an empty water bottle with us - used it to carry around the vodka on the ship. We mixed it with the free 24 hour lemonade and lots of ice and it was a pretty tasty - and cheap - drink to carry around the ship. Since we had seen San Juan most of the day Saturday and Sunday morning, we opted to stay on the boat until it left at 10 pm. Lifeboat drill quick and no big deal. Food and wait staff: The food was great throughout the trip, not a "10" every time, but comparable to what I had on Princess. Our waiter was great and most of the people in the dining room seemed to have excellent service also. We were in the Atlantic dining room at 6 pm. The singing/dancing waiters were great. One difference I noticed is that the waiters - at least ours - was not 'stuffy'. I appreciated that as my sister and I had a bad experience on Princess when our waiter reprimanded my sister for using the wrong fork - and he wasn't kidding either. Hey, we're on vacation - lighten up! Anyway, no stuffiness, just friendly and catered to anything we wanted. Funny too. We did visit the 24 hour pizza and ice cream almost every night at around midnight, and they made burgers and fries from about 11:30 until midnight or so every night - cookies too. Issues and advice: The last morning, we woke up to our toilet not working. All the water worked so it was a minor inconvenience when we had to go to a common area to use the toilet - but the shower still worked. Maintenance said the entire system in our area was down and they were working on it. Since we left the cabin at 7 am, I don't know when it was fixed. Knowing we might have an issue with disembarkation (we had a noon flight to catch), I went to customer service the 2nd day on board and explained my concern and asked them to ensure that we would be some of the first off the ship. They cheerfully handed my luggage tags marked '2', which was great. The last day, they delivered tags marked '16' even though they had my flight info, so I was glad I took care of it early. You should have seen the horrible line at customer service once the tags were passed out! Better to ask about it in the first couple of days of the cruise then wait in line to sort it out later. Bring earplugs if you are a light sleeper - I'm glad I did. The cabin (an inside on the Lido deck) seemed much noisier than on the Princess ships. Everything anyone said in the hallway seemed to come right into our cabin! I forgot the advice on cc about going through the USDA scanners prior to checking in at the airport. After waiting almost an hour to check in, sure enough, we had to double back and clear USDA. We may have missed our flight had not an airport agent taken pity on me. Even though the agent at the desk had no sympathy (and was pretty snotty to be honest) and told us we would have to stand in the hour long line again, the other agent I approached sent us right to the front of the line when I explained that we had come in a terminal entrance door that had no signs about the USDA requirement (the doors to the far, far right of the American Airlines counters). Summary: All in all, we loved this cruise. We took advantage of almost everything they had to offer (the shows, the pool, karaoke, and the snacks) with the exception of bingo or gambling. We did stay up late several times, but since we had early shore excursions in every port, we were usually in bed by midnight or so. We didn't see many people in the disco, but after talking to some people, it seems that those places didn't really get 'started' until we were long since asleep. We would recommend this cruise, both for the amenities on the ship and the friendly crew members, but especially for the excellent itinerary. Each island was different and unique. We had just enough time in each port to see and do what we wanted to do and be back on board for a short nap and shower before dinner each day.