Victory Cruise Lines Avis 

Service, very good staf.
Excelent attention at front desk

Let's start with the positive: I loved the bathrobe and slippers in the room! Food was excellent. Wait staff and housekeeping staff were terrific. Senior staff could spend a bit more time mingling with passengers even if it's just to say hello in the dining room.
Critique and suggestions: There are no bathrooms on the dining room level deck....thought that was odd. A crew member should be at the top AND the bottom of the steps on and off the ship at all times. Regular meal times should be set for the entire cruise, not changing....an extension or reduction of those times on a particular day could then be announced, but regular times hold (except the day of disembarkation). The staff at the Pursers desk should be kept up-to-date on everything.....too often they did not know what was going on and it wasn't their fault. My BIGGEST complaint was the lack of information about the areas we were traveling through. The Lakelorian herself, and her lectures, were excellent, but almost nothing related to where we were sailing. The sound system on the ship was good.....telling us about a surrounding area at any given moment would have been great, like info about the fjord, Canso canal, and others. Personally it was a huge disappointment to me, especially since we had a number of days just sailing.

The service and tours were outstanding. Also we really enjoyed The Lakeorian talks every day.

Very unique cruise. Service staff were excellent and did whatever they could to make your cruise eady and enjoyable

The crew on the Victory II was wonderful!! They could not have been more friendly, more helpful, or worked any harder than what they did.

The staff was great. Several coach tours were not very good. To rushed and several not very informative.

all of the staff were wonderful.

Great service! Staff was attentive to any needs. Delicious food and entertaining music!

Service was friendly, yet professional. Food was excellent.
Very poor speaker system in the cabins made it impossible to hear announcements.

We chose this trip specifically for the itinerary and were not disappointed. The ship size was nice so we had privacy. but still got to know many passengers. Staff was friendly and did their jobs well. The ship was large enough to handle the open water and we were never uncomfortable with the smoothness of the water. The dining room menu was varied and tasted well; the buffet was also appreciated. The excursions were varied and the guides knowledgeable and accommodating.

After we had paid for the cruise, 2 of the 8 ports were removed from the schedule. This meant that of the 12 excursions we had planned to do, only 7 remained. So we wound up experiencing only 75% of the locations and 58% of the additional experiences we had based our decision on. Neither the entertainment nor the onboard classes were of the quality we enjoyed on our previous Victory cruise, and many of the detailed instructions given were either incorrect or confusing. Even the final statement we requested was not up-to-date and did not match the amount we were actually billed; there was no breakout of the billed charges given...
Thankfully the food and accommodations and especially the onboard staff responsible for them were awesome, just like on our previous Victory cruise.

Infection control was not visibly present. No one wiped handrails , table tops. The coughs and colds was everywhere . I lost 3 days that I could not eat much. Four more days of coughs. Not how I want to remember a vacation.

We read the USA Today article like everyone else (disclosure I'm in the travel industry). My experience was NOTHING like the reporter's and I question his. Let's start with the obvious. This is not a "See All 5 Great Lakes" voyage. In Sault Ste. Marie you are offered a realtor's view of Lake Superior from the Soo Locks. The passenger demographic was a huge shock. We dubbed our cruise "Assisted Living at Sea" which is putting it kindly. Not a lot of like-minded active passengers.

The pros - excellent crew (room steward and dining staff). Not so much Purser's Office but I'll get to that later. Our outside cabin with veranda was a misleading description as it does not "offer direct access to the promenade deck", IT IS the promenade deck. Our steward, Sid, was excellent and deserves extra kudos. Jeff and Marvin in the dining room went above and beyond every day and impressed everyone. The food was good, not Oceania great, but better than most mass-market lines offer. Our captain, Gary Kerr of Scotland, made our cruise and was what you think of when you think of a captain. Scottish lilt, always smiling, an instant mood lifter.

The cons - old and extremely noisy ship. We were in cabin #402 upper level and had water-knock and bilge-pump noises all night as did our neighbor in #401. The HVAC system is not able to adjust the fan speed so we had cold air from 2 vents directly over our bed and blasting down on our heads. Maintenance was able to partially block one off but the problem remained the duration. This may explain why most of the ship got sick. It started early on with one passenger visibly ill with a respiratory infection. At Mackinac Island we spoke with 3 different couples headed to the pharmacy for meds. By the time we early-disembarked, nearly everyone had been sick. I don't know if the dated HVAC setup allowed germs to spread. Nonetheless zero protocol for isolating ill passengers.
Shore Excursions were very disappointing. Toronto was our 1st clue that the included excursions would be base, which they were. We spent the 1st 15 minutes getting from the ship to city center expecting to hear history, etc but only heard complaining from the excursion guide about the growth and subsequent problems the city has experienced. We got off at the 1st stop and never returned since it was a beautiful day and walking the city was perfect. We met up with the 2nd excursion group at the CN Tower for the ride to the top and again chose to walk back to the ship.
Niagara Falls, an included excursion, was the big highlight of the trip for most passengers. After listening to the bus guide point out where she was born, previously worked, the homes she couldn't afford, we arrived at the lake. The problem is the tour only stops at the Canadian side and only for 2 hours. We stayed with the group through the lake "rain poncho" cruise then went on our own, passports in hand, across the Rainbow Bridge to the American side then returned to the ship at our leisure via Uber. It was the perfect way to see both sides. Sadly, no one onboard was aware that this self-guiding was an option.
Next stop Cleveland. R&R Hall of Fame was a glorified Hard Rock Cafe excepting the special exhibits (SNL's 50th Anniversary and Paul McCartney and Wings - excellent). Without these it would have been fine to miss. Utilizing Uber, we went on our own to the Cleveland Museum of Art which was a highlight. Excellent.
Detroit, what can I say? We took the excursion to the National Museum of the Great Lakes with a very ill-informed bus guide. The museum was so-so. My husband added the Henry Ford Museum to his day and really enjoyed the tour.
Next stop Sault Ste, Marie, aka your realtor's view of Lake Superior. We are avid kayakers but weather caused cancelation of our kayak excursion. Other than that, there is little to see other than the locks. At this point that we decided to jump ship, only problem, there are no Ubers or even taxis to get you to the closest airport. This was the same for St. Ignace (Mackinac Island) trying for Traverse City Airport. Heads up, if you opt to disembark early you will get zero assistance from the Purser's Desk. You will get very tired of hearing "It is not possible".
We decided to fly home from Milwaukee, a sure thing. Next stop Escanaba but disappointment awaited again after we learned that the ship would not be leaving at 2 PM but later that evening (weather) making the next day flight impossible. I didn’t care, I wanted off the ship. Again the answer “It is not possible”. Knowing I had already received this information from the Purser but seeing my frustration growing by the minute, the shore excursion rep finally shared the number for a taxi who was able to get us to the small airport 4 miles away to rent a car then we were off to Milwaukee and flight home. Lesson learned...do your homework!

We loved our cruise through the Great Lakes. The staff are friendly and helpful. The cabin is small (we knew that) but the bed was very comfortable. Food and wine was great. Excursions were good (Toronto was just okay, but Milwaukee was fabulous with John as the local guide). The LakeLorian was very knowledgeable and his presentations were informative.

the food was excellent the service was excellent
the room was small and crowed with my walker
the daily cookies were poor except oatmeal raisin

The food was wonderful. The staff was very accommodating. The boat was more than I expected. The tours were very good and interesting all in all I would give you the best highest rating I could.

The excursions were good since we had never been to the Great Lakes before. The staff on the ship were phenomenal!! Your customer service training worked.

The crew, the food, the entertainment, the excursions

We had a great cruise. Staff was first rate and food outstanding. It was relaxing and stress free.
If I had any criticism of the cruise it would have been on the Detroit excursion to the Ship Museum. It was a long trip and we would have been able to see a ore ship docked right next to us in Escanaba. It would have given us more time at the Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village. Also on the Milwaukee dairy excursion, the food was outstanding but at our age, we didn't need to sample a full size brat or a large glass of beer or a huge scoop of ice cream then come back and go to dinner. Maybe have them reduce the samples a little.
Again, the food and service on the ship were first rate. Please don't change a thing.
As I told the one of the staff my biggest complaint is that Victory doesn't do the Inside Passage in Alaska.