It's tough to get around on Victory, especially going from front to back of the ship. All public spaces below deck 9 are blocked amidships, so that the only way to get from front to back is through the starboard corridor of deck 5, or outside on deck 9 or above. To make it worse, the corridor on 5 is often blocked by photographers with their backdrops and equipment. Once, rushing to dinner, we had to thread our way through a line dance class in front of the casino stage. On deck 9, all paths lead through the dance floor in front of the midship pool.

Outside decks on level 3 have been reduced to spaces on either side which can only be reached through the lobby - no chance of going aft here. There are nice, covered side decks on level 4, even shown on the deck plan, but every access is marked "crew only" or the like. This is the only ship I've seen where you can't pass back to front along a deck space under the lifeboats.

On our first day, we tried the "serenity deck", but a group of passengers had filled the hot tubs and brought their own boom box, blasting the two starboard "serene" decks with rock music. When I complained later to customer relations, I was told that I should have notified the crew member supervising that area. If there was in fact a crew member there, he didn't need anyone to tell him; he should have told them to put away the boom box as soon as he heard it. Read more