Hi everyone! Just got back yesterday from the Carnival Victory, Southern itinerary. Some back ground- traveling with me were my two DD's (14 and 10) and my DD's friend also 14. This was our guest's first cruise and my 13th and my kids 11th I think. close enough. Anyway this is just my take on the week, I am pretty low maintenance so this is just a person that is happy to pleases point of view. So we get off of our flight from Philly around noon on Sunday and all 4 of us ladies have to run to the rest room. As I am standing in line I am eavesdropping on a conversation from a woman who just got off of the Victory. Basically she is saying, worst cruise ever, not going on Carnival anymore, blah blah blah. I was thankful the girls did not overhear her. I just decided to pretend like I didn't hear her and boy am I glad I did!! So we took a cab ($25) as opposed to Carnivals transfers which I believe are $15pp. we got to the port around 1 and were on the ship by about 2:30. Not too bad, could have been quicker but I was fine with it. We went to check out our room, we had an outside quad. Man this room was HUGE compared to RCL. It had a bunk and two singles, really space was never an issue. The two 14 year old girls are almost adult size and we really were comfortable. The 10 year old took the top bunk and we were all good to go The beds were great! They beat Princess on this point for sure. Now the ship is definitely showing it's age from the outside but once you got inside it really is such a pretty ship. I loved the decor and found it very attractive. We explored, got soda cards, and found our way around. We had asked for late dinner and much to my dismay we got early. So we figured we would give it a chance. We stuck with early seating and it worked out. A few evenings one of the teenagers was at the table with wet hair but at least they were clean LOL. The first night was open seating and the 2nd night we met our waiter and assistant. we were so LUCKY to have Phillip and Yuni. They were FANTASTIC. we were at a table for 8 but nobody was sitting with us. I guess alot of people wanted the later seating. So the third night a couple comes to the table and says that they had been on a B2B and had been asking to be moved to Phillips section. I guess they finally told them well we have a table but there are kids there. Our dinner mates did not mind and ended up being some of the most awesome people we have met on our cruises to date. First day- St Thomas- I chose this cruise for the itinerary and not for this particular port. We have been there at least 6 times so we decided to make this a sea day. We slept in, had something to eat and hopped off the ship for about an hour to some shops. 2nd day- Dominica- we took a tour with Beno. We had Joseph as our driver. The tour was really great. We went to the Emerald Pool, Trafalgar falls, Mr. Nices fruit stand, etc. Joseph was a sweetie but one thing you should know is he did not accompany us on the hikes to get to the two attractions. It was a little more intense at the falls than I had anticipated and I could have used a little help with my 10 year old but we managed and it was a nice day. Mr. Nices was an experience not to be missed. One thing I must stress to anyone doing this type of tour SIT IN THE FRONT OF THE VEHICLE. We were lucky to be in the front but not on a later tour. more on that in a bit. 3rd day- Barbados- we went to a place called the Boatyard. I chose this because I had been to the beaches in Barbados years ago and remembered how nice it was. Also they have a water trampoline, another climbing thing in the water called an iceberg and they were ours to use all day. For $20 pp we got to use those things, got chairs and umbrellas and one free drink. We took a taxi there and they have a "free" shuttle on the way back. They charged us $2 pp for the free shuttle. Not a biggie but a little of false advertisement. So this place was PERFECT for the teenagers but I would not recommend it for everyone. The music was really loud, 80's rock and such, you don't need an ipod! There were some older folks there that left because of the music. Myself I was fine with it and the girls LOVED it there. Alot of crew from the ship hang out there. Day 4- St Lucia- we used Cosol tours here. This was a long tour but very good. We had a few older people get in our vehicle so we decided to be polite and take the back seat. UGH what a mistake. I was green after about 20 minutes of going up the winding roads. My 10 year old had to go sit in the passenger seat with the driver. PLEASE do your best to sit in the front. So we had Adrian as our driver. Cosol was also in the caravan with us but not our driver. Adrian was nice and knowledgeable. we saw Castries, Piton mountains, Marigot bay, the volcano, etc. During the morning we make a stop and they have this great buffet of some of their local foods for everyone to sample. Then later in the afternoon they stop at a bakery and bring everyone this delicious warm bread and cheese. they also have beer, rum punch, sodas and water available all day. The last part of the tour is supposed to be about an 1 1/2 hr of snorkeling. The skies opened up and we ended up watching it rain the entire 1 1/2 hours and then went back to the ship. Poor Cosol he felt so bad, I said hey you can't control the weather. Day 5- Antigua, again chose a beach day here because of a prior visit. We used a company called Serenity tours, basically your paying for transportation to the beach and back. It was 20pp and we chose to go to Long Bay Beach. This is about 1/2 hour away but well worth the trip. There were two ships in port but hardly anyone at this beach. It is known to be the best for snorkeling because it was shallow and crystal clear. We did have to pay for chairs $6 pp and an umbrella $15. I know that sounds like alot but the umbrella covered 4 chairs it was huge. So the gentleman came back on our agreed time. There are drinks, food and souvenirs available at this beach. Another great day. Day 6- St Kitts- we were wiped out at this point so made this another sea day. Again slept in and hopped off for some shopping. There were locals there with these adorable little monkeys that were wearing diapers that you could get your picture taken with. So they come up to you and set the monkey on the kids shoulders, heads, etc. It happened so fast and I was holding two cameras that I had no idea that they had charged my daughters friend 5 dollars for me to take the picture. I would have taken more had I known. I was kind of pissed that they took advantage of us but I should have known better by now with how they are so aggressive on these islands. Lesson learned! Day 7 back at San Juan, this was an action packed cruise. I did miss having a true sea day but really enjoyed these ports as I haven't done them in about 15 years. A little about the Ship itself, we went to most of the shows and were pretty impressed with them all. The CD was Malcom Burn (woo hoo) I really liked him but he wasn't around much at all. Our food at dinner was good for the most part, a few things here and there could have been better but overall it was good, better than I remember on my last Carnival. I was disappointed in the buffet for breakfast- little variety there., My advice is hit the omelette station. For lunch we really liked the deli. The only true complaint I have is that the kids club was really not good. Here is my take on this. Apparently there were only 40 children on the ship. So in my opinion the counselors thought they had the week off. Several evenings the older girls went to the club and the scheduled things weren't taking place, and they even closed early a few times. so the kids on the ship were stuck hanging out in the arcade every night. They made the best of it but you would think with so few kids they could have made more of an effort to do things. So in closing I was quite happy with my cruise and am taking another Carnival cruise out of Baltimore next Nov. (no airfare WOO HOO)