Carnival Victory Review

3.5 / 5.0
0 reviews

Do not cruise with children under 3

Review for the Western Caribbean Cruise on Carnival Victory
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wakegirl125
First Time Cruiser • Age 40s

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Sail Date: Nov 2018
Traveled with children

We booked this cruise after talking to a travel agent and weighing options. I have three children- 10 years, 7 and 1. We wanted something family friendly as we were traveling with a one year old. My kids love to swim, even the 1 year old and we knew we would spend our time at the pools and hot tubs. Well we learned when it was too late that if your kid is not potty trained they cannot go in the pools- even in a swim diaper! This was strictly enforced and the life guards stopped us before we could get in the water on day one. There were NO activities for our one year old. There was a playground he could play on but wasn’t made for kids younger than 5. He obviously played on it but we had to watch him to make sure he didn’t fall off the sides. The location of the playground was tough as it was on the side of the ship and windy which made it cold. Basically our family was divided the entire time as my husband and I had to take turns walking the baby around inside because our baby would cry if he saw water and wanted to get it and couldn’t. We spent a lot of time walking up and down stairs as my one year old found that amusing. We were able to do a Dr Seuss read along play that lasted 30 minutes maybe. There was baby sitting offered but for added money only and honestly I just spent a ton of money getting on the cruise and wasn’t going to pay more for him to sit in a room with someone he didn’t know and honestly this was supposed to be a family trip where we are together doing stuff! There was a kids playroom for kids to play that were signed up for their camp program and I asked if I could take my baby in there and stay and play with him and they told me no I couldn’t do that. I asked for options for him then as he couldn’t swim and couldn’t be in the playroom and they told me there weren’t any options. There were staff on the ship that didn’t know babies couldn’t enter the pool yet when I questioned the policy and why it wasn’t advertised better and the answer I kept getting was it was in the contract. Obviously fine print as many staff didn’t even know!

My 10 and 7 year old had a good time as they swam literally as much as possible. They went to the night club once but mostly they wanted to swim so I can’t say too much about those services. One mom I did talk to said she was disappointed with the kids program as they didn’t take them to the pool to swim, just inside activities and her kids liked being outside.

There was a walking track and shuffle board but it was at the back of the ship near the smoke exhaust and that didn’t seem like the best lay out.

Cabin Review

Way bigger than I expected. We had an ocean view room. Very clean and beds were nice!

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