We are a family of 8 ranging in ages from 20 to 81 and have cruised Hawaii, the Caribbean, Europe, and the Greek Isles. First time aboard Carnival. We arrived one day early and spent the night at the Sheraton Old San Juan. Great hotel in a great location, although the hotel is VERY crowded at check-in and check-out. Next morning were able to do a segway tour (so much fun) and boarded the ship by 1:30. Long line, but moved quickly. Extremely friendly staff and crew aboard the Victory. We were a little apprehensive about cruisng on Carnival, but were pleasantly surprised. Quite honestly, we couldn't tell much difference between Royal Caribbean, Princess, Norweigan, and Carnival. They all have long lines, lots of people, noise, but lots of fun ---- hey, no way to avoid putting several thousand people on a ship and having total peace and quiet. I do recommend getting balcony cabins. We always open the dividers and have one long veranda to ourself. We had early seating and sat in the Atlantic Dining Room on the lower level. The food was good, but the service was even better. The waiters couldn't have been nicer .... our favorite was Milen our headwaiter !! He was the most attentive and sincere waiter ever !! Equally wonderful was our cabin steward, Joshua. We were on the Upper Deck in balcony cabins. Nice bathrooms and I think the cabins might even be larger than Royal Caribbean. Definitely more closet space. Again - we were pleasantly suprised.

The shows are average and entertaining. The normal activities of bingo, karaoke, trivia games, etc. We went on this cruise for the ports which were wonderful. We were disappointed to hear Antigua was cancelled and St Maarten was substituted. We booked our own tours on the islands to avoid some of the crowds.

There has been much said about the Puerto Rican population on the ship. It is true that it is mostly a Latin cruise. But, again, you are cruising from Puerto Rico. They were loud and travel with lots of children and family members. On our cruise, we had 640 children!!! Yes, they were pushy and sometimes rude. However, you can choose to let it ruin a trip or accept it and move on. If you want these ports .... deal with it! The ship staff is wonderful, cabins are as large as any I have seen, food was adequate, but the ports were great !!!!! Read my individual reviews below. Don't worry about the negative reviews of this ship - we have travelled so many of the ships and I don't think it was any worse than the Italians in Italy, the Mexicans in Mexico, The New Yorkers in New York, etc........ get the message? Enjoy your vacation !! My port reviews are listed below.