Embarkation

This went very quickly for us. Our plane was delayed getting into Ft. Lauderdale, so we didn't get to the port until 4 p.m. – and there were absolutely no lines! We were on board within 10 minutes.

Cabin

Our cabin was bigger than we expected. We have cruised with another line before, and cabin was much bigger than on the previous cruise. We did have a problem with noise, since our cabin (1269) was directly above the crew's bar. We heard very loud music (loud enough to vibrate our floor) every night (with the exception of New Year's Eve) until about 3 a.m.

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Entertainment staff

The cruise director (Dana) was so-so -- not outstanding. We didn't really see much of him (I actually saw him smoking up on the top deck almost as much as I saw him at any event.) The shows were OK. I don't think the dancers were very good (especially the females); it looked like they didn't have much training. The guys were much better than the females (especially the Russian guy - I think he may have spent a few years in the Russian ballet system.) I loved the guy from the Platters (don't remember his name). The New Year's Eve party was pretty much fun, although I wish they had kept the Caribbean band playing for the party instead of replacing them with another band (that wasn't very good).

Food

We ate in the Atlantic dining room every night for dinner. We loved our headwaiter and assistant (Allen and Rueben from the Philippines). They were wonderful! We had a six-year-old boy at our table, and both waiters did a great job keeping him entertained (dinner can be long for a child). We thought the food was good for the most part. There were a few things I didn't like, but Allen and Rueben were always happy to bring something else if you wanted it. Several guys at our table (my husband included) had two or three entrees every night. The Mediterranean restaurant on Lido was OK -- not outstanding, not horrible, just OK.

Cabin steward

We didn't see a lot of him, but he was very nice when we did see him. We had no complaints – the room was kept very clean, and we loved our towel animals.

Ship (overall)

The Carnival Victory was very nice and clean. We saw people cleaning and painting everywhere. If there was a mess anywhere, it was cleaned up very quickly. Seas were very rough on our cruise, so the staff had barf bags available at the elevators on each floor -- very thoughtful! The ship took a different course on the way back (between Cuba and the Bahamas) so the seas were much better on Friday and Saturday.

Ports

We didn't have a lot of time in San Juan. We didn't get there until 4:30 or so. Since we had early seating for dinner, we ate on the ship first, so we didn't even get off until 7 or so. We did some shopping and went to see a pretty neat old fort. I'm not sure why Carnival stops here, since we had such limited time and you couldn't really do any shore excursions, but we enjoyed it anyway.

St. Martin: We took a bus tour of the island and saw lots of neat things on both sides. It would have been more interesting if we could hear what the bus driver was saying.

St. Thomas: We went on the Trunk Bay snorkeling excursion, and it was very much fun! I wish we had more time in the water (we only had an hour or so, and enjoyed every minute of it). We enjoyed a very good banana rum punch on the way back to the ship (and they kept your glass full).

It was a very good experience overall, and we would definitely go again.