Carnival Cruise Lines
Carnival Victory Cruise Review
Western Caribbean

Rita Yates
Age: 44
Occupation: Executive Director
Number of Cruises: 15
Sailing Date: April 9th, 2006

First I want to say this is my 9th cruise with Carnival (15th cruise)and usually I come home ready to book another. However, this time was different. One major point I would like to make prior to booking a cruise is be careful about bookings during spring break or summer vacations.

Getting on board the ship was simple and easy. Absolutely no problems. However, my first concern on the Carnival Victory was the lack of security. Since I took this cruise during spring break I anticipated the number of children would increase. Camp Carnival again was terrific – the problem was that of the 980 children on board only half utilized the program. This left over 400 children running the ship doing basically as they pleased with absolutely no parental supervision. I am not talking about the older kids causing the problems – it was the 6-12 year olds that were running the show. Late at night the children would run down the halls banging on doors and removing room service tags.

I had an incident at the swimming pool where children were playing with what appeared to be hockey pucks. They were throwing them as hard as they could. My daughter and other children were in the pool so I asked the children not to throw the objects – they looked at me as if I were invisible. Next thing I know my daughter comes to me crying. She had been hit in the head with the object and was bleeding and had a nice size goose egg. I immediately went to the bartender on duty for assistance who basically told me that unless she was unconscious there was nothing he could do. That was not what I wanted to hear. I proceeded to finally get some ice for her head and took her to the infirmary where I was again greeted by a not so friendly staff. After they cleaned up her cut I asked the nurse about ice and she said to me oh yeah that’s a good idea…. Duh! I went to the Purser’s desk to make a formal complaint and the purser on duty – Andrew – was very sympatric and was willing to assist me. Since I obtained the objects from the pool that hit my daughter, I gave them to security who later telephone me and told me the kids had removed the fountain covers from the back pool. Carnival later did check on my daughter to see if she was alright and gave her a nice note and stuffed animal. Nice touch.

If you are a non-smoker this is NOT the ship for you. I am a non smoker and really not a complainer but when people are smoking in the lounges specifically designated non smoking I have a problem. My husband and I on two different occasions had to get Carnival personnel to politely inform people of the non smoking policy. Don’t try and even enter the casino. You are unable to breathe and the non smoking areas at the bars are a joke since again nothing on this ship is enforced.

If you have teenage daughters beware. The ships “carding” process to get into nightclubs is touchy. My son who is 17 went with some of his new “girl” friends to one of the night clubs. The girls were automatically let in – not one of them was asked for ID – while my son was turned away.

The dining room service was terrible. We had late seating which we usually enjoy. I dropped my daughter off at camp prior to dinner and thought we would have plenty of time before having to pick her up at 10 pm. My husband and I were getting our salads while others were eating dessert! The orders were not correct and the waiter seemed in a daze. We did not return to the dining room.

As for the ports of call, I enjoyed them all. Since Cozumel was unavailable, our stop was Costa Maya. There was not much to do, however it was a beautiful area with shopping, bars and of course hair braiding. There was also a public swimming area with a swim up bar which was very nice.

Grand Cayman was also great. I took the island tour which included the Turtle Farm and the visit to Hell. It also stopped at the Tortuga Rum factory. I am not usually fond of tender ports but Carnival handled this well considering there were 5 other ships in port with us.

The last stop was Ocho Rios. This was a beautiful island. The people on the island are very intimidating and pushing. You are basically followed where ever you go asking if you need a ride or anything! I hear the falls were beautiful although I never made it there. The weather was absolutely beautiful and Margaritaville is a must see.

Getting off the ship was hassle free. They did a great job handling all the luggage and making sure that everyone left the ship in a timely manner. We were the last deck called and we were off the ship by 9:30 am. Carnival usually does a great job but this time they let us down. Since I normally do 2 cruises a year, I am not sure if Carnival will be in the rotation anytime soon. If anyone has any specific questions or concerns please e-mail me at ritayates2@aol.com and I will be glad to help.

Ask a Question About Carnival Cruise Lines

Ever thought about becoming a home based travel agent? Check out my web site for home based travel and cruise agents located at;

Home Based Travel Agent