The Victory II ship was recently renovated and they did an excellent job. The ship is fresh, clean, and very well appointed. Every staff member we have met is attentive and concerned for our satisfaction. Our cabin is more than adequate with one exception: the shower is extremely small. Meals are quite varied. On more than one occasion we have ordered doubles of items on the menu, or we have ordered multiple items from each category, with no questions asked from the staff. All of the tours has been enjoyable, informative, and worth the time. The cruise director has done a very good job of telling us what to expect for our next day of adventure. Going through the various locks along the way has been one of the most interesting parts of this trip. I would highly recommend this cruise. I have seen criticisms of where the ship docks and my only comment to that is: this is a ship and it has to be dock at a port, and the ports are not necessarily in the best part of town…. Why would you expect a ship port to be in a beautiful part of town? Read Less

Cruised several times on American Queen boats and loved each of those. Wanted to try their new acquisition, Victory Cruise Lines and their Great Lakes itinerary. As with the Queen and Duchess, we weren't disappointed. The ship is a small version of an ocean going cruise ship. 200 passengers, very intimate, easy to navigate. The ships decor is beautiful, very updated and did not experience a single problem or issue. The cabins are small, but very well designed with a lot of storage space. We found that by separating our beds, we had much more space and the cabin seemed larger. Beds very comfortable. Bathroom is very nice with ample storage, small shower, but we've had smaller. We call it a one person bathroom unless one of us was in the shower. Dining in the large dining room or the smaller casual Grill buffet. Never crowded and food was very good. Menu items displayed in the hallway entering the dining room for dinner. Nice to be able to see what you might want to order. Also 24 hr. coffee machine in the main lounge and coffee and ice cream machines in the Grill. Public areas are: the 1) main lounge where we met before dinner for cocktails, talks on next day's activities, daily activities, nightly entertainment and afternoon teas: 2) tavern with a pub type atmosphere behind the lounge with a bar and tables: 3) two separate seating areas on the top deck (note: the elevator does not go to the top deck. The itinerary and excursions were awesome. We were on all 5 Great Lakes with beautiful scenery and wonderful ports of call. The excursions were well planned, seamless in execution and all guides were interesting. Nightly entertainment was a three piece band made up of a piano player (also the cruise director), drummer and a guitar/trumpet player. They were very talented and played popular songs that we know and could sing along or dance to. Different theme each night. The staff aboard Victory I were excellent, hard working and their service was impeccable. This was right up with the best service we've ever experienced. If you're looking for a relaxing cruise on a great small ship with wonderful food, service and excursions, in or close to America, this would be a great choice. Read Less

Delightful - best cruise we’ve had out of 11 cruises! Chose it for the destinations and the excursions. Wanted to go through the St. Lawrence Seaway and the Welland Canal, as well as the cities involved. Ship was nice small size (200 passengers), crew was superb, food was great, and everybody was friendly. We enjoyed cruising without the hustle and bustle of large ships. We particularly enjoyed the personal attention of the crew, that they got to know you by name, and that there was no waiting in line for anything. The excursions were superb and included in the cruise price, as was the wine and beer. We enjoyed that there was no smoke-filled casino on board (and no smoking at all) and we were not bombarded by the many big ship announcements touting and hustling the many things and shops on board. It was just simple cruising in the most pleasant of circumstances. Read Less

This was an outstanding cruise in terms of service, food and places visited. The staff, aside from the captain, was very friendly and engaging. The captain, however, ate with his wife every night and seldom smiled or made eye contact with passengers. The average age of cruisers was in the low to mid eighties, many of whom had significant mobility problems or other visible skin conditions. Out of maybe 150 passengers about 110 were from Texas, some from southern from Florida and maybe 4 from the east coast. There was strong Trump support in the air as well as army loyalty. Customers did not mingle much and stuck to themselves most times. The Lounge was small and many times to me at least (I just turned 60) seemed lune I was in the lounge of my mother’s nursing home. Most of the people gathered to drink and do puzzles. There was a small exercise room which was good enough if you want to get your blood flowing on any given day. I wish there was a yoga class offered... but there was nothing along that natures offered. The cabins were nice but beware of the extremely loud toilet flushes which were heard throughout the decks at all times of the night. Read Less