Continuing with my travels, I spend the first week of October on board the Carnival Victory cruise ship for a trip around the Eastern Caribbean. The hope was to get away from the cold and rain of the Pacific Northwest, trading it for sunnier climes and warmer temperatures. That goal was largely achieved, but perhaps one of the bigger challenges for me was to completely unplug from the matrix. There was Wi-Fi on the ship, but access was charged at 75 cents a minute for presumably some really slow Internet.
The Carnival Victory is perhaps one of the older ships in the Carnival fleet as it had its maiden voyage way back in 2000. I believe it had a refresh some time around 2006 and it’s due for another update next year. The ship did feel quite dated, looking like one of those hotels with a not-so-gentle worn-in kind of look. We noticed some unidentifiable stains in the carpets and the very pink bathroom looked like it needed some work done.
That being said, I was impressed with the size of the stateroom. You might remember the last time I went on a cruise, it was on board the Royal Caribbean Monarch of the Seas and that stateroom was barely bigger than a walk-in closet. By comparison, the oceanview stateroom we had on the Carnival Victory was comparable to a standard hotel room, though not as posh as somewhere like the Four Points Sheraton Chelsea in New York. There was enough room for not only the king size bed, but also a (very pink) couch, a couple of closets and a desk.
An “oceanview” room is an upgrade over the cheaper “interior” room, but I believe they’re all roughly the same size on the Carnival Victory. Even if you were to pay quite a bit more money to get a balcony room on one of the higher decks, the room itself is still mostly identical in style and size. Considering the five-day cruise cost less than $400 per person (before beverages, excursions and gratuities), I’d say we scored a pretty good deal.
I’m still making my way through all the photos and videos we took during the trip, but you can probably expect another blog post or two with some highlights. In the meantime, here’s the video tour of our oceanview stateroom aboard the Carnival Victory cruise ship.
UPDATE: I’ve also posted up another video with some highlights from the Carnival Victory cruise ship itself. Check out the food, casino, pool and more.
It sounded a little noisy in your room Michael. Were you aft toward the engine being on the 2nd level?
Yes, we were aft on the second deck, but the boat in general was noisy. Could hear creaks, conversations in the hallways, etc. Easily tolerable, but definitely noticeable.