Our 1st day of our cruise was 09/27/09 & it was my 1st time on a cruise. However, my fiance has been on a few cruises in the past. We chose this cruise on the Carnival Victory because of its itinerary. It left from San Juan, PR & went to St. Thomas, Dominica, Barbados, St. Lucia, Antigua, & St. Kitts. We arrived in Puerto Rico (PR) somewhat early for our cruise, which wasn't set to depart until 10 pm that night. Our flight got in at around 11:30 am, which we found was a good thing. We took a PR taxi to the port where our ship was & saved some money doing so. Carnival offered a ride to the ship with your luggage, but charged $30. We just took a taxi to the ship & since PR is very regimented with their taxis, it only cost us $19. Plus, the taxi driver was very nice & informative. He told us about a free tour around the city, which will pick you up on a trolley in front of the piers.

Since we arrived early, there was hardly any line to check in. We turned our luggage over to the Carnival crew at the very beginning & they told us that the luggage would be delivered to our room & waiting when we arrived there. My fiance asked if the luggage would be placed inside the room or outside. The guy said that they only put the luggage on the outside. However, since we planned on doing some sight-seeing in PR, we wouldn't be returning until later that evening. The guy then mentioned something to the effect that they accept tips - so I gave the guy a tip, & when we did finally arrive at our stateroom, our luggage was waiting for us inside our room. Many other rooms had all their luggage just sitting outside of their rooms in the hallway. So, it seems the tip worked. We did a good amount of sight-seeing in PR. We went to El Moro and walked around all of the shops. We then returned to the Carnival Victory some time between 6 & 7 pm.

My 1st impression of the Carnival Victory was good. The ship appeared clean and nice. They had open late seating in the dining room & so we ate there that night. Our 1st impression of our room was that the size was ok. It was a balcony room, which I definitely thought it was worth it. It was nice to go out on our balcony, which was equipped with 2 chairs & a small table to enjoy the view. Only problem with our balcony is our balcony light did not work during the entire trip. The room seemed it was old fashioned with pink countertops & tiling in the bathroom. The bed was comfortable, but it was lucky for us that I prefer a different level of stiffness to my mattress than my fiance because our king bed was actually 2 twin beds pushed together. One side of the bed was therefore different than the other. I preferred the firmness on the left & my fiance preferred the right side. Of course, being typical for a cruise, the room is not big - but not uncomfortable either. The comforter was nice & soft, as well as the pillows. There was enough closet & drawer space. I liked that the bathroom had a lot of storage space in the medicine cabinet and below the sink as well. A little after settling in our room, our steward, Putu, came to our room to introduce himself & to let us know he would be taking care of our room. He assured us that if we needed anything to just call him. Read more