We sailed on the Victory Jan 18th 2009. Embarkation in San Juan was a breeze, sat in a VIP room while they printed our cards and were on our way in a matter of minutes.

Next stop duty free, grabbed a few bottles of Goose <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Groovin.gif" alt="" /> for the room and three bottles of wine. For any wine drinkers out there the wine available in the duty free in San Juan is barely drinkable, either bring it from home or buy it in the dinning room.

Stopped by the room to take a peek, before heading out to the festival of San Sebastian.

First the room, we booked a category 11, just like on the Liberty, but, the room was about 25% smaller than the Liberty and no bidet. Well, that bothered us for about 30 seconds, then hey, it's not 20 degrees outside so YEAHHH we're finally here!! Whoo Hoo!!! The beds were arranged a bit different, again due to the smaller room, but it actually worked out better for us...the kids each had their own bed instead of sharing a queen, this means less bickering! Our room was spotless, we were in the room less than 5 minutes when we get a knock on the door. It was Neville our steward coming to introduce himself, he already knew all of our names and greeted us by name every time we saw him, an absolute doll!

By the time we got to the ship my DH and I had been up for about 36 hours, so even though we were shot, we decided that this may be our only chance to see the Festival of San Sebastian, so back off the ship we go. The festival was crowded but we never felt in any way bothered or unsafe, everyone was there to have a good time. We sampled some authentic PR street food and listened to a great 11 piece band, really glad we went!

Back on board dinner was open seating so we went around 6:30 when we got back on the ship and had a great waiter, even though we would never see him again, service was excellent!

The ship itself is smaller than any we had been on before but very clean, and never really felt crowded. This is a port intensive cruise so it is not so important. What I really did miss was the fish and chips and the Mongolian BBQ, they provide some healthier options for lunch. I cannot really comment on the lunch buffet because it was always closed by the time we got back on board. That being said, our options for lunch were hamburgers, hot dogs, pizza, or Caesar. That did get old real fast. We used the buffet for breakfast but there was no variety, ever. Not bad, but not good either. The lines were never all that long, so it allowed us to get off the ship quickly. We ate dinner in the dining room every night, so again, I cannot comment on the buffet dinner. Did walk by once and it didn't look bad. As for the dining room the service was excellent! The food was just mediocre. After two nights we realized we just needed to order sides of whatever veggie they had to make things a bit healthier. I am sure that a lot of people enjoyed the food, but we are spoiled in that DH is a high end chef. So for us it was a big step down, but I must stress, we are spoiled. I really missed the supper club option, where on other Carnival ships the food is much higher quality than that in the main dining areas. But again, we are here for the ports, not the food. Our waiter was Okto and his partner was Oscar. You are in for a treat if you are lucky enough to get them as your servers!

We did not go to any of the shows, however the entertainment options were plenty. We loved the Latin band, the piano bar, and the girl that sings outside of the casino. The music on the Lido deck was not as frequent now that they have the big screen, yet when it was there it was also top notch. The guy singing in the atrium was also very good and so was the jazz band. Even if you never go to a show and are not a gambler, there is plenty of good music to be found every night.

I have read other reports that complained of the PR's on the ship. Yes the constant double announcements did get old, but other than one group of horrible teenage boys, there really was no problem. As for the horrible teenage boys, I blame their parents, not the fact that they were PR (they were four brothers). Security had their hands full with these four, but they did pretty much handle it. I think with other's complaints of rude PR's they expect them to be the same as us mainlanders. We tend to have a larger view of personal space (about an arms length) than our island neighbors do. So what people may view as rude is just a different comfort level with much smaller personal space. Remember, a smile is universal and will get you a lot further than a sour puss! Go, have fun, enjoy new cultures. Actually the only really rude people we encountered were from Minnesota, now they were loud and very ignorant.

St. Thomas
shorebilly Rating: 5+
We had been here before and were not terribly impressed, the first time. On this trip we decided to try a different area, it was beautiful! On our first trip we went to Coki, great snorkeling, but the beach was dirty and we drove through some rather nasty areas to get there. This trip we went to Sapphire Beach, the ride there was beautiful, the beach was great and so was the snorkeling, I would go back in a heartbeat and would highly recommend it!


Dominica
shorebilly Rating: 5+
This is a beautiful, wonderful island, very different from most cruise ports. Anyone considering staying on the ship in this port is really missing out! We booked a tour with Bumpiingtours.com and ended up with a guide for just the four of us. We went to the Emerald pool, Mr. Nice (what a trip this guy is, a do not miss), trafalger falls, and the hot springs. Every corner you turn is more breathtaking than the last. There is a lot of poverty on this island but the people are really trying to pull themselves up and are not beggers. Buy local, Buy Dominica signs are everywhere and the people we met were charming. Our guide knew and shared a great deal of island history, lots about all of the wonderful flowers and plants and culture in general. This is a DO NOT MISS island!

Barbados
shorebilly Rating: 4.0
We arrived on Barbados on the day of their national holiday, I forget the name, but everything was pretty much closed. I had planned to go to the beach near the ship, but our driver advised us against that and so we went to Rockly Beach. Again, beautiful! Not so great for snorkeling, but a great beach all the same. We take our own snorkel equipment with us because renting it all the time with a family of four can grow expensive very fast. We bought our own about 2 cruises ago and it has more than paid for itself several times over. We had an excellent lunch of redfish at one of the lolos on the beach along with some seriously yummy rum punches. Another perfect day in paradise!


St. Lucia
shorebilly Rating: 3.0
This is another breathtakingly beautiful island, I gave it the lower rating due to the people. This is another very poor island that is plagued with 20% unemployment and a lot of crack. Not a good combo. The vendors were all over you everywhere, even on the kids, hard! Several places that we stopped to take pictures had police to try and control the number of vendors attacking people (trying to keep it to 3 vendors per tourist). Aside from that this is again beautiful. We walked about a block from the ship and hired a guide that was very sweet and quite knowledgeable about his island, also very honest. He did a great job. We were joined by a group from Minnesota that was so rude and condescending to this poor guy that by the end of the tour I am surprised he didn't kill them. I sure wanted to! The Pitons are a DO NOT MISS as well. He also stopped by a fishing village where we were treated to a local fisherman bringing in a HUGE swordfish, line caught. Stopped by the active part of the volcano, more waterfalls, several local snack spots as well. Very worth it! I enjoyed the island, but would not go back for a week's vacation due to the constant begging and harassment from the vendors. Not sure of our safety had we been on our own.


Antigua
shorebilly Rating: 5+
OK, when can we go back for at least a week? This place is beautiful, serene and we felt very safe, even when we wandered off into very locals only areas. We went to Darkwood Beach and it was really great. Some of the prettiest water I have ever seen. Not great for snorkeling, but an amazing beach!


St. Kitts
shorebilly Rating: 5+
Another amazing day on a beautiful island with gorgeous beaches. We went to Cockleshell Beach. There is a pig that lives on this beach named Wilber that the kids loved feeding bananas to. The snorkeling here was amazing, saw a really cool octopus. I would go back to St Kitts to stay for a week or two anytime!
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