We are a couple in our 50's and 60"s that cruise a lot. We are generally not fussy and rarely do we complain unless something is VERY bad. We usually stay to ourselves and do not go to clubs or shows much at all. This was our 12th cruise and the 11th with Carnival. We actually did this cruise in 2007 and it is not our favorite. We used it to spend some more time in Old San Juan pre cruise and see an island or two and have the boat to ourselves the rest of the time. We are platinum/VIP so a lot of our cruise experience is not like it is for someone who is not. We will try to include observations pertinent to someone not Platinum when we can. As pointed out on previous reviews, Carnival NEVER has an empty cabin when the ship sails. Any "not booked cabins" are sold for very little money a day or two before the cruise. A big advantage to people who live close to a cruise port and are free to travel. The difference with this cruise is that the usual people filling the boat in other US ports in Florida for the most part are retired older people who take advantage and cruise a lot. They know the ins and outs and fit in well. On this cruise, the boat is filled last minute with locals from Puerto Rico, many of which are not aware of the typical pleasantries of cruising with their fellow passengers. They pack the maximum amount of family/friends in the cabins and a lot of children. Although we did not encounter anyone who was mean or deliberately disrespectful to us personally, there was a lack of the usual cruise etiquette which most did not appear to be aware of. If you have a poor tolerance for rudeness, cutting in line, witnessing many instances of blatant stealing of everything from ketchup bottles, salt shakers, other people's towels around the pool and anything else they could fit in the big bags they carried around and filled. (We even saw them walking the corridors and filling purses with the condiments, dishes, cutlery and cloth napkins left on the room service trays people put outside their door and empting the bathrooms for the public to use by the buffets of rolls of toilet paper) It is a wonder that Carnival has anything left at the end of the cruises. With that said , we will review the cruise as well as we can without repeating the above to often which is difficult as it does affect the overall cruise experience.. Pre-cruise We stayed at the Sheraton in Old San Juan, right across from the cruise pier. We arrived 2 days pre cruise for the Carnival Victory. We went on this cruise in 2007 and stayed at the Condado Plaza and paid a lot more for our room and we felt the Sheraton was much better and in a better location for pre cruise. We paid $155.00/night before taxes and we booked direct with the hotel via telephone. We arrived at 1:30pm via taxi from the airport (taxi fare is a set rate for all taxis-$19.00 for a trip from the airport to the Sheraton plus $1.00 extra per suitcase). Greeted at the door by doormen and they couldn't do enough for us. Everything was taken care of. We went to the desk and there was no problem that check in was not for another two hours, are room was ready and we went up immediately. The desk staff was very friendly and helpful, check in was a breeze. We asked for a recommendation for "real local Puerto Rican food" for dinner. They recommended the Raices, two easy blocks from the hotel. He even drew a map. The hotel is very nice, decorated plain but elegant. Everything was clean and in good repair. If you are very critical and choose to look for imperfections, they are there but you really have to look.. Ex.: some worn spots on carpet, evidence of previous paint layers etc-but they were hard to spot. Our room had a King bed which was very comfortable. The air conditioner is controlled in the room and worked well. There was a desk/chair- good size. An extra arm chair and foot rest that could easily sleep a child up to about age 7. The TV was new and a flat HD model with cable TV 30 channels and a pay per view movie channel, safe, ironing board and iron. Bathroom was standard for this type of hotel with the usual "goodies". There was a hairdryer and coffee maker in the room. Our room had a large window overlooking the port where the cruise ship would pull in. This hotel is in the middle of Old San Juan and close to the free trolley that runs all around Old San Juan on a regular basis. We walked to Raices as recommended and we were not disappointed. It is small, caters to locals, delicious, excellent service, and not too expensive at all (dinner for two with a beer/dessert came to $45.00 with tip.) As a nice touch, everyone dresses in authentic Puerto Rican dress. They spoke English well and all the dishes were Puerto Rican and not just the usual tourist dishes. Back at the hotel, they have a nice pool on the roof, small but adequate and very nice to swim in, there was also a Jacuzzi. The exercise room was with the pool and it looked well equipped. The machines looked new and they were in good repair. You do have to use your room key to access the elevator to the hotel rooms and pool area. The casino was on the small side but looked adequate. Saturday we ate at the Sheraton that has a breakfast buffet in the Palio Restaurant. Nice complete buffet and very good....the drawback was expense. It was $18.00 per person which we think is a little steep for breakfast. Luckily there is just two of us but, if you are a family with children, eat breakfast else where. We took the free trolley which runs all around Old San Juan. (Stop at an info booth to get a trolley map with all the trolley stops on it) We ate a late lunch and the Burger company which is also at the Sheraton-great food here...HUGE hamburgers and portions. $9.00 for a burger bigger than a Whopper, and fries that were too much for use to eat and we shared one order of fries. In fact this held us for the rest of the day and we never had dinner. Of note we saw A LOT of people waiting in the lobby today with luggage. All seemed to be pre cruise guests. I would recommend coming two days before the cruise and not the day before. I'm sure the people waiting a long time in the Sheraton lobby would not give it high marks for checking in. Checkout was easy although elevators got very crowded in the morning due to the crowds of people trying to leave and get to their cruise ship. The Sheraton will keep your luggage for you downstairs and next time we will bring our luggage down VERY early, say about 6 or 7 am and store it downstairs so the wait for elevators a couple of hours later with tons of people will luggage can be avoided. Another tip, forget valets for your luggage, it take them forever to transport the luggage in the elevators too so peak "time to go to the cruise ship time" you will wait forever for a valet and cart. Overall, this was a wonderful hotel and couldn't be more convenient for pre-post cruise stays. The staff was extremely helpful and we would stay here again regardless of what we had to pay. Embarkation: We have VIP check in so we checked in alone with other VIP passengers and were first on the ship. If you do not have this option, arrive by 11am-12 noon regardless of when they tell you. After that, I would wait until after 4pm to check in to avoid the crowds. From 1pm-3:30pm, the crowds are brutal! We had cabin 8428, aft wraparound with a huge balcony covering the aft all the way around the port side of the ship. Wonderful cabin, lots of room 3 electrical outlets and a nice desk (warning most cabins only have 1 outlet) Balcony was huge and everything was in good repair. (Note-I have seen reviews where people complain that their balcony lights were not working and no one fixed them - Balcony lights work only IN PORT. While out to sea there is some regulation /navigation thing that prevents having a light on out on the balconies while the ship is at sea - one of those nice "book reading lights" is a must if you want to read on the balcony in the dark at night) Our steward was Katuck and he was wonderful, did his job when we were out of the cabin and every time we came back, our cabin was wonderful. This cruise lacks sea days so the pretty much jam activities well into the night and for instance the slot tournament finals were at 11:40pm. After a day on the island, staying up for the night time activities is difficult. I suggest you pick which islands you want to see and sit out the rest otherwise, this itinerary can be extremely busy and not at all restful. You will pretty much have the ship to yourself while everyone else is on land. They did run a modified activity schedule for people who stayed aboard. Muster drill was late and the usual drill-not much to say here. We set sail at 10pm in the rain which put a damper on the sail away party we did not attend but we heard some weather related complaints the next day. We brought our laptop and were able to connect to the wireless in our aft cabin. (price .75 cents/minute or $55.00 for 100 minutes or 250 minutes for $100) We chose the 250 minute option as it tends to be a faster than dial up but slower than broadband connection so you use a lot of minutes. We pre-pay liquor coupons purchased from the carnival website pre cruise and they work well and save you about $1.00/drink from on board prices. As well reported, liquor is available at the duty free store at the port and can be brought on the ship with a "out of sight, out of mind" policy. They did have a liquor drop off as you came on the ship but your luggage/carryons were already scanned so it was the "honor system" to turn in your liquor. The table was empty which speaks to the honesty of the people boarding including ourselves who smiled and walked past the table with 2 liquor bottles in our carry on. First night was open seating in the dining room, after that it was assigned tables. We had a table to ourselves in the early seating and we were joined by 2 people from our CC board who changed their table and sat with us. We ate in the dining room every night and everything was delicious. This is a "dress down" cruise so even the dining room passengers who were suppose to be in "cruise casual" wear were "thrown together" as best. Formal night was not that formal, about 20% in formal wear that you would see on other cruise itineraries, 75% were in business office wear/ plain long dresses, suits for men - did not see the usual tuxs on men and a lot did not have jackets. We also ate at the buffets but did not see too many crowds as we have learned what times to avoid. The breakfast buffet is empty from 7am-8:45am and starts to get very crowded from 9am on. Same with the other "standard times", earlier the better is the buffet strategy. We also used room service for breakfast and selection is good and very prompt. Because they struggled to keep everyone up as late as possible in the casino mostly, there was a buffet every night except the last. Missing though, was the nice Gala Buffet with the ice sculptures and a lot of fancy food and desserts. They usually only have two "midnight buffets" on the 7 days cruises and one is always the big Gala one with the picture taking etc. They seemed to omit the big Gala buffet and settle for dinner type buffets) every night to feed the masses they were trying to keep up late into the night. Again the biggest rude guest problem was at the buffets where you got on line behind a mere 3 people. As you got your tray, the friends and family of those three people, numbering about 30 all joined them while the person ahead of you handed out trays, and dishes over heads and they all cut in front of you. Three people, now became 30 and they carried on conversations in Spanish as they slowly went down the line. Of course no one spoke English at this moment in time so they ignored your complaints and pretended not to understand the employees either. Their other buffet ploy was the "double line". Some speaking spanish only, but knew to say "excuse me" would, step in front of you "just to get a tray, they left the line, went up a few people said "excuse me"-got a plate. They worked this "excuse me line" in and out all the way down the buffet until their tray was full. Sometimes "mama" would hold the tray and send little kids in to do the in and out the line. Sometimes there were actually 2 lines, the one of people waiting the enter the buffet and the people who didn't speaking English, jumping in and out of the food line so the buffet line for the people waiting never moved. A rope barrier would be helpful here although they would probably have the 1 person in line dishing out to the people over the rope. ST THOMAS Been here before, got off, did some shopping and got back on. Safe port to go off on your own with a taxi driver you make a deal with. Always felt save here. This was the first night you were at your "assigned dining table" in the dining room. In the dining room tonight was a "table artist" - a magician who only disrupted your meal conversation, talking a mile a minute and did schoolyard magic tricks with cards - very annoying at the dinner table - thank goodness it was only one night. He mentioned he had a show at midnight and we could only think how bad it could be! DOMINICA Been here before and as a rule would not go off on your own with anyone!. Use a Carnival tour and if you get motion sick and your heart is not strong enough for speeding in a car on narrow winding roads with sheer cliff drops, stay by the port. There is a nice old church in walking distance and the usual street vendors. Ran into a lot of children on the street begging for money for "books for school" - must be the line that works the best with cruise ship passengers - we didn't see anyone giving anything but they were annoying. This was the first "formal night" and the Captain reception that on other itineraries had free drinks-this one was you pay for the drinks but that are $1.00 off) Slot tournament was very late starting at 9:00pm with the finals at 11:40pm. It is $20.00 to enter and is not well attended (they only had 5 tournament machines and that was plenty). Tournament entry is free for VIP passengers so our entry was free. As usual we didn't win a spot in the finals and the wild card spot drawn at 11:40pm was hard to stay up for (we didn't win a spot so we stayed up for nothing) BARBADOS Did the Snorkel and Pirate Party cruise excursion sold by Carnival (we booked everything on the Carnival website before the cruise) From previous experience, we know this to be a safe port where you can go off on your own with a taxi driver and negotiate your own deal/tour. This tour was pretty good for the money. It is NOT a cruise if you are looking for a real "pirate action cruise". The boat is a three story open deck party boat with a terrific slide that is not for the faint at heart. (It is not a pirate ship per se and even though the sailors wore pirate type shirts and banners, they flew pirate flags and threw in some pirate talk, the pirate theme was very vague.) Actually we were looking for a nice boat and a day at the beach so the lack of "pirate stuff" did not disappoint us, it was a great excursion in every other way for the money we paid. Plenty of seating both out of the sun, but still had an open deck and plenty for the sun worshipers too . Big bar and bar seating, drinks were reasonably priced and the rum punch was free after snorkeling. We were taken to a beach you could walk off the boat onto the sand, no need to get in a small boat to get to the beach. This would be a cruise that you could do if you had trouble walking or in a wheelchair and had some strong arms to move and assist you - (the only issue would be the bathrooms down a flight of stairs - they did have full size bathrooms and showers -private mens and womans on board.) There was three small tables of people selling jewelry on board but they were not at all intrusive.. They had snorkeling equip for everyone and once at the beach a barge type open boat took you to the shipwreck site in sight distance to snorkel. (Note-they took two groups out to snorkel and you used the same equipment, the groups were divided by the first group to board the boat and the second. We did not snorkel but it did seem the first group got a lot more snorkel time and less "slide time" that the second group. The slide was open when it was at the beach and everyone seems to have a good time on it.) Rum punch was plentiful but the problem with the cruise was there was No food available even to buy so people got VERY drunk quickly on empty stomachs. It is a little long to go without food especially if you are drinking so I would pack something to eat on the boat. ST LUCIA - This is a pretty seedy port although we had to admit, they cleaned up the shopping area around the port so at least that is without beggars like it was in 2007. Shopped and got back on the ship here ANTIGUA - Beautiful island, felt safe. Went on the Carnival excursion, Best of Antigua and it was a great excursion although they could have made the stop at the Dockyard longer than 45 minutes as there was a lot to see. The stop should be at least 1 ½ hours to see all the exhibits and museum. Got a rushed feeling here. Total tour was 3 hours and we went in the morning. After the tour we were picked up by friends who live there and saw things privately ourselves.. Tonight was the 2 "past guest" parties before each dinner time. Good party and not crowded, there were not too many repeat cruisers. Big disappointment for people here was - no ship pins. (Usually given out with your invitation) We already have a Victory pin so it didn't matter to us, but at the party many "new" past guest were disappointed that they didn't give them out (not sure what is going on with this-our planner didn't think it was discontinued and we got pins on the Destiny a few months earlier) ST KITTS - Went on the Brimstone Fortress and St Kitts tour through Carnival. First stop was at the barik clothing factory which was a waste of time to get people to buy some of these clothes - didn't see anyone buy anything but the grounds were pretty but it was a waste of time. The Fortress was great and it seemed more time could have been spent here. We didn't see much on this island except poverty and it lacked even decent Caribbean beaches. Everything is expensive here and taxis are too. People who went to the "best beach in St Kitts" were very disappointed - it is not a beach island and we would skip it if we ever had a cruise ship stop here again. DISEMBARKATION: We have VIP priority disembarkation so it was easy for us, we were the first off the ship and our luggage was separate from everyone else's so we can't comment. All in all, go on this cruise only for the itinerary only and hold your temper because you are going to need it. If this is your only Carnival cruise, you will probably get a very bad view of Carnival. We know that this is the worse cruise and not a "real Carnival cruise" so we already have 2 more booked.