We were fortunate enough to be able to take our second cruise this year. We took our first in the spring and I am addicted! We decided to take this cruise because it worked out with me taking time off work over the holiday. Our original plan was to fly down Wednesday and come back Monday after we debarked however Thanksgiving airfare was horrendous. We ended up taking a 6 am flight from IAD to MIA and staying an extra day on South Beach. Our flight was uneventful, we stopped at a Walgreens to buy 2 12 packs of soda which were a whopping $5 each. The cab fare was prorated to $25 to the port from the airport, we paid him a couple extra for taking us to Walgreens. We got to the port around 930 and were one of the first ones there! We easily used the kiosks ( they didn't have these in the San Juan terminal) and were given our sign and sail cards along with zone 1 boarding pass. It didn't get too packed until 10:30 or so and they started allowing us to board around 10:45. Embarking was easy, we headed to the lido grill to eat and then laid out on the aft loungers until our rooms were ready. They were finally ready around 1:30 and so we took a nap before the muster drill ( I was up all night doing some last minute packing). The muster drill went by fairly quickly and then we went to the Lido again for sail away. Everyone was waving to us from the cars as we left and it was really nice to go past South Beach as we were leaving.

After sail away we walked around and learned our way around the ship. The Victory and the Destiny are pretty identical so it was pretty easy to get used to. We preferred the decor on the Destiny than the Victory but we preferred the Victory overall. The ship is showing some wear but is still overall a very nice ship. The pizza was a lot better on the Destiny, but the ice cream suffered as it was more a frozen yogurt consistency and just never seemed to be ready. My boyfriend enjoyed the buffet but the lines were quite long, while during the day I mostly ate at the grill or had pizza. We had dinner in the MDR 3 of the 4 nights, all except the formal night. We did the Pub Crawl in Key West so we napped and then didn't feel like getting a gussied up. The food in the MDR was pretty good, not as good of a selection as I remember the last cruise having but that may be because this was a 4 day. We had ATD which we have enjoyed both cruises. We were seated immediately every night and had average wait staff. Night 1 was Thanksgiving and I wasn't in the mood for the turkey so I had the fried chicken from the southern comfort section. It was good but the mashed potatoes side is small (do not recall the appetizer i had) and my BF had the steak and ribs. 3rd night I had the gazpacho which I didn't realize was chilled but was still good and the lasagna which was terrible, it didn't have much of any sauce and had a lot of spinach. My BF had the escargot which I also tried and thought it was very good and had the fried chicken for dinner. The 4th night I had spinach & artichoke dip and meatloaf which were both good. My BF had the sushi plate and steak. Sushi was a huge point for him on this cruise as he had at least 2 plates a day, the last night he had 6 including the plate in the MDR. I do not care for sushi but he says its delicious. We had room service a couple of time which was slow sometimes and other times came right away, always exactly what we ordered and great. We had the deli a couple of times which was also good and the line was never too long.

I heard a lot before this cruise that the short 3 & 4 day cruises were "party/booze cruises" but we didn't encounter that at all. I'm not sure if it was because it was over thanksgiving but besides the casino bar they were never really packed and there wasn't a lot of people up late in the disco where we spent a couple of nights. We went to one of the adult comedy shows for Louis Ramey which was really funny and also caught the Love & Marriage show which was also good. We participated in the scavenger hunt on the day at sea but it was pretty unfair. They gave people points for things even though they got them wrong but didn't do it for everyone. The list for the scavenger hunt was pretty good and some things you need to think outside the box for. Read more