Carnival Victory: Our Home for 7 Glorious Days!

Our first view of the Carnival Victory came early Sunday morning, September 13, 2009.  We decided to have the buffet breakfast (quite gourmet, I might add!) at the Palio in the Sheraton Old San Juan.  We sat at a table overlooking the port and the ginormous ship!  She was gorgeous and resting proudly at the dock, waiting for her next group of friends to join her for a FUNtastic voyage.

We could hardly contain ourselves as we ate breakfast.  The anticipation and excitement mounted with eat bite and passing second as we knew we were in for a vacation like none we've ever taken before.  We had many adventures during our 10 years of marriage but never on the high seas.  We were as giddy as school kids are on their first day of summer vacation.


As part of our vacation package, we were scheduled for transfers/transportation from the airport to the hotel, hotel to the ship, and from the ship to the airport upon debarkation.  We opted to make the "long" walk to the dock ourselves.  Oh, all less than a quarter mile of it.  It was humid, to say the least, as a brief morning rain shower flooded the air with unnecessary moisture.  It was gorgeous, though, with the beautiful sun shining and the flags on the ship waving as if to say, "Hello!  Welcome friends!"  We could hardly believe our eyes as we eventually came face-to-hull in an embrace that won't soon be forgotten.  She was absolutely enormous yet grandly elegant.  In just a short time, we'd be inside this gorgeous ship, awaiting the opportunity to see the world from a different view.  We could hardly wait!

As I mentioned in our previous entry, the check-in process was smooth and we were on the ship by lunch time.  Alan, the great adventurer that he is, decided to scout out the ship around the Lido deck while I relaxed with my first, of many, Drinks of the Day.  Today's Drink Special, as so called in the CarnivalCapers:  Your daily guide to FUN, is the "Funship Special."  It was a tropical drink of fruity goodness and one I truly enjoyed.


While I was sipping my tropical drink, Alan made his way around the upper levels of the Lido deck.  Here are some of his pictorial treasures.  He found the mini-golf but we never made it back for a round.  He also discovered a commercial ship slowly leaving port and a beautiful view of the capitol building, from the top of the Lido deck, looking toward the north side of Puerto Rico.

Once Alan got the roam-around bug out of his system, he came back and we hung out on the Lido deck for a couple of hours while the crew tidied up from the last group of passengers and prepared for this group.  We had lunch on the Lido which consisted of hamburgers, hot dogs, french fries, various salads and sides, fruit, etc.  It was a fun and relaxing way to start the cruise.

Around 2:30 PM, we were finally able to head to our stateroom.  We chose an aft (back of the ship) balcony for our first cruise as I'd heard that this was a prime location for cruising.  It affords spectacular views and is usually pretty quiet.  We only saw our neighbours once when we were on our balcony and only once did we hear some noise from the Lido deck.  It turned out to be the cleaning crew moving some chairs around, so that was quickly resolved.  The views however, were spectacular and never-ending.  Welcome to our home for the week, Verandah deck, aft balcony stateroom 8432.

Prior to our cruise, we'd ordered the anniversary room decoration for something fun.  Never did we expect something so beautiful!  We spent the rest of the afternoon enjoying our balcony, unpacking, and excitedly awaiting dinner.  Sail away wasn't until 10:00 PM so we had plenty of time to stay busy and check out the ship.  Our pictures of the interior of this beautiful ship didn't turn out so well so feel free to click the link for more information and great pictures of the Carnival Victory.  Take a tour of the grand gal and imagine yourself there.  Imagine yourself having fun like never before, being treated like royalty, and never having to use your GPS to find your next hotel or restaurant.  Everything you need for a FUN-filled vacation is right here on the ship. 

We were amazed at how spacious our living space and bathroom were despite what one might expect.  This room had two twin-size beds that were converted to a queen-size, by our room steward, before we even arrived.  There was a small love seat and table for enjoying room service or some in-room entertainment via the TV.  We ordered room service a few different times and the food was amazing, the service quick, and it didn't cost us a cent.

We had a great time sitting on our balcony, before dinner, and enjoying San Juan Harbour.  Being located in the tropics, it's common for thunderstorms to brew and rain down for a brief moment, only to add to the already stifling humidity.  As we sat on our balcony, we could see a storm brewing across the bay.  We didn't get hit with even a drop of water but you can see the deluge in this picture.  It was absolutely gorgeous!

So finally, dinner arrived and we headed to the Pacific Lower dining room for our 6:00 PM seating.  We were seated at a long table by a mirrored wall with two other couples (it could seat 8 people).  One couple was on their honeymoon and they were from Columbus, OH.  The other couple had decided to cruise just for the sake of cruising, which they'd done several times before.  They were from Texas.  The next night, we were joined by a friend of the Texas couple who was also cruising just for the sake of cruising.  I really can't remember what we had for dinner that night but I do know it was delicious.  It was the most gourmet meal I'd ever had and I was looking forward to more nights of such fabulous treatment.

There were two gentlemen taking care of us for dinner, our head waiter, Sudhir, from Indonesia, and our assistant waiter, "Joy", from the Philippines.  Now, I have to tell you, I don't think that "Joy" was our assistant waiter's name but that's what it read on his name tag.  Regardless, he was true to his chosen name and truly a joy.  Both Sudhir and Joy were so attentive and a lot of fun.  We never ran into any staff on the ship that wasn't friendly, warm, and eager to help.

After dinner, we went to the Ship, Travel & Shopping Talk with our Cruise Director, Lenny, and our Shopping Specialist, Geoffrey.  We learned a lot about what to expect in the coming days and it got us so excited.  After that, we moseyed our way back to the cabin and enjoyed the sail away.  We left the docks just shortly after 10:00 PM and were treated to some beautiful views of the harbour.  In these pictures, you can see the dock area and the Sheraton where we'd stayed the last two nights.  You can also see the fort.  Into the night we sailed, the start of a new adventure.  In the morning when we awaken, we'll be in St. Thomas, USVI.

Next entry:  St. Thomas, USVI ~ Monday, September 14, 2010