hhoyle1

Yes, this ship is older.  Yes, there are things that need repair and/or updating.  However, considering its age, I think it is in great shape.  It does not have the more "exciting" on-board activities that the newer ships have, but I knew that going in because I had done my research.  I will agree with those that commented on the service in the dining room.  We have cruised Carnival many many times and this was the slowest service we have ever had.  Not bad service (they never got our orders wrong and were friendly), but slow.  To the point that I complained at guest services and had some of the gratuities removed.  We had children of all ages with us (teens, middle schooler, elementary) and everyone really enjoyed themselves.  In my opinion, those that say this was the worst cruise of their life or that they will never cruise with Carnival again because of this ship either are looking for something to complain about or they had one of those "once in a lifetime" bad experiences.  There is nothing about this ship or the crew that should ruin any ones vacation.  As with any vacation, it is what you make of it.  If you depend upon others for your happiness you will always be disappointed!

 

Just got off the Victory. Our group had 15 people (ages 7 to 68). While we had a wonderful cruise, this was in SPITE of the ship. The age and condition of the ship were not an issue. My brother’s cabin did have a septic issue in their bathroom but it was fixed quickly. This is the first cruise I have ever been in where I never met my cabin steward. Also, I think our room got cleaned 2 of the 4 nights. All the bar staff seemed slow and on several occasions we ordered drinks and were not brought anything close to what we ordered. Same thing in the dining room, repeated instances of being brought the wrong dish or not brought a dish altogether. My father asked for tea every time the waiter came to the table one night and was never brought any. The entertainment staff was fun and enjoyable. However, unless you play trivia or just want to sit and listen to music, there is not much else scheduled. I thought the piano bar guy was horrible. He did not seem to know the words to anything, could not really sing, and if you requested the song he wanted you to get up there and sing instead of him. We had a big issue at guest services because my father, who was paying for the trip, wanted to get all the gratuities for all the rooms transferred to him to pay. The guy at the guest services desk told him it was impossible to do that. My dad argued that he had done it on past cruises and the man told him that the only way he could do it was that if my dad paid him in cash. Well, obviously that seems very sketchy, so my dad declined. The man then tells my father the only other option he had was to not pay the gratuities at all. It was ridiculous. There were several nights in the dining room that several of us could not find anything on the menu that was appealing. That’s never happened before. I was under the impression that the Macy’s Thanksgiving day parade was going to be shown on the ship from other things I have read. That did not happen. The Thanksgiving day meal was subpar at best, especially the desserts. Overall it just was a lackluster cruise but we still made it enjoyable.