My wife and I are going on our second cruise in March. We went on the Inspration for our first cruise last March and we absolutely loved it. If you have been on the Victory, would you please tell us what to expect? It will be an Eastern Caribbean cruis to San Juan, St. Thomas, and St. Maarten.

I haven't been on the Victory, but in San Juan I would go to El Morro for a bit of history....St Thomas....Shopping of course and St. Maarten...The Beach:-)

Have a Great Cruise..

Bob E

Not sure what you want to know here. The Victory is a bigger ship than the Inspiration. You should like it. The only trouble with the Victory is it seems to be lacking a buffet line. Meaning that it needs and additional line to be able to comfortably serve all the guests. So I would stick to eating my meals in the main dinning room or you will be standing in a lot of buffet lines. But that is the only drawback that I can think of for the Victory.

Hi papa55, and welcome to cruise-chat.

One thing that struck me about Carnival Victory was that the color scheme was more subdued (read: less gaudy) than it appears in the online photos. I was suprised by how well the decor worked, actually.

As for more practical matters, my only issue with the ship was finding my way around certain parts of the ship. The galley cuts off access on Deck 3, and the Atlantic Dining Room (mid-ship) cuts off access through deck 4 during non-dining hours. After a few days of getting lost, I jotted down the following tips:

(1) For the Pacific Dining Room (decks 3 and 4, aft), take the aft elevator to either Decks 3 or 4. Alternatively, take the amidships elevator to Deck 4 and cut through the Internet Café and Ionian Bar.
(2) For the Atlantic Dining Room (decks 3 and 4, miship), use either the forward (lobby) or amidships elevator.
(3) For the photo shop, library, main show lounge, shore excursion desk, pursers desk and lobby bar, use the forward elevator only.

Hope that helps. Enjoy!

Hello there
I don't know much about the Carnival victory, but by the pics it looks, the same as the Carnival Destiny, the only change are the colors a little more depressing than the destiny has...
I hope is like you say Lisa P
because I am planning to cruise on it next year and I really love carnival Destiny …
as for San Juan there are a lot of things to do that depends on the time you have on the island,
I am from PR if you want to know just let me know.

I will find out in less than 30 days!!!

I don't do buffets....so that is one problem I won't have to contend with.

Of course, we are doing the 7 day Canada/New England run...but we have been to St Thomas and St Maarten several times and love it!!

St Thomas has Megan's beach if you want a beach day or Coki's beach if you want to snorkel on your own.

St Maarten is beautiful. We always just walk around the town.

Have a great cruise!!

Thanks all for the tips on the Victory! It sounds like a wonderful ship. Do you experienced folks prefer the smaller ships over the large?

You're welcome, papa55. I prefer smaller ships (50K gross tons or less), so the fact I liked Carnival Victory speaks well of it.

I was on Carnival's Sensation (same class ship as the Inspiration) and the Victory. I preferred the Sensation because I felt the Victory design had approximately the same number of public spaces as the Sensation with 1,000 more people. I rarely felt crowded on the Sensation yet almost always felt crowded on the Victory. Decor on the Victory was pretty, with green, ocean tye themes. However, I still think you will have a great time because being on any cruise is better than any other type of vacations.