detroitavant

Welcome home!

I wasn't able to get a hold of OraganizedChaos before the cruise was done but since it seems like we've got a few people in here that are going on this ship in the near future, could someone help me out?  This was the first ship that we went on (on our honeymoon) and since then, we've started collecting the ship ornaments from each ship but we've never made back to the Valor.  If anyone wouldn't mind picking one up and mailing it to me, let me know at my username at gmail! Thanks!

I just reserved our tour tonight with DSRR for the waterfalls this spring and she told me right now they're only doing 12 waterfalls since it's dry.  Not sure if you've heard this or not.

Valor was our first cruise on our honeymoon years ago! Hope you post some pictures!

I was hoping you'd bring your own ketchup to the steakhouse for your steak!

38 minutes ago, Saint Greg said:

 

Nets have holes in them. I saw a picture of a guy and it looked like his mouth was awfully close to where other mouths have been. I'm glad I thought of this. I remember the pictures I've seen of people doing the water falls have them wearing helmets. I have another purchase to make.

It's hard to explain, they remind me of the ones you wear at the hospital but they aren't as thick.

At the local kart tracks around here you get a fine mesh hair net to wear under the helmet.

Excited since we'll be doing this boat in the spring.  We're looking at going through DSRR for the waterfalls, from my research it sounds like all tours just essentially get you to the national park and then the tours are done by the park, not your tour guide.  I agree that the website for DSRR leaves a lot to be desired.

14 hours ago, mtu_huskies said:

This is hows it worked on all of our cruises except the last one.  On Allure, no need to recharge the Seapass card, each swipe at a game charged the card $2 or whatever.  I couldn’t figure out why they’d have a different system and a system that wouldn’t allow a set arcade credit to be placed on the Seapass that would run out. Kids could just charge and charge with no credit limit, but there was a large daily limit.

This was my experience on the Allure, as soon as the kids credits were done (we were counting) we used it a few more times ($7 or $8) without recharging. We also had to initially activate the cruise planner credits through the casino.

Edit: This is with charging turned off on their cards.

I'm curious if they have any miniature ship ornaments yet, they didn't have anything in April when we were on it.

1 hour ago, Crunchymom said:

We leave next week. I had assumed every cruise has a lobster night, so I was confused when I saw it for a charge on the menu. I don't eat it, but hubby is looking forward to it! I don't know if I should break it to him before we go or let him find out during the cruise. 😞

 Isn't the upcharge a cold water Maine lobster vs. the formal night warm water?

And there is a kids menu in the main dining room although this was the first cruise where my kids decided to try the adult menu.  They picked from both on some nights.

We were on the 5 night a few weeks ago and no lobster on formal night.

Lyft.

We saw a short clip on one of the royal channels last week on the Indy that showed how they replaced the bearing on the Allure azipods.  The dry dock couldn't lift the entire ship so they built two rooms around where the azipods were going to be, lowed the dry dock water level to below the top of those rooms, pumped out all the water from the rooms, and worked in those to do the work.  

Skypad was closed on Independence last week when we were on it, they cancelled all reservations and had signs out blocking the steps.

We just got off the five night and had both Grease and Once Upon A Time.  During Once Upon A Time we overheard some of the Grease cast members in the crowd that weren't involved in Once Upon A Time talking about how their stints were done in about a week.  To us it sounded like there was a cast change coming.

8 minutes ago, Saman said:

Also what happens if when on shore you buy a small bottle of water and have it in rucksack when go back on ship ,would it be taken away? Even if only half left

Anecdotal but I just send it through the xray machine and get it back on the other end.  Haven't had it taken away yet.

I think that it depends on the age of your kids.  We've done Disney Dream and Fantasy when our kids were younger and I think it was perfect.  Now that they're older, all of the physical activities that Royal offers are more their speed - they spent a ton of time on the rock wall and flowrider on the Allure.  I preferred the shows and food on Disney but not enough to pay more anymore (and I've got a 10% placeholder we're probably not going to use).  We have the Indy lined up next.  I'd love to get on the Harmony or Symphony but I think Royal is pricing them on the high side.

I'm interested if you find a place since we'll be there in a few months too!  Since they're on eBay I don't think that Cozumel is too difficult compared to some places.

Haven't ever really been looking when fares are first released, is this typically as good as they get?  Tempted to get a refundable fare just because it's so far out.

We were looking at the exact same time period for our family.  We ended up with the Independence since I thought the price was really good the other week with kids sail free.  We've been watching airfare for a month and it's ridiculous, GRR or DTW were all 2500-2700 (more than the cruise!).  I just booked flights tonight out of Columbus on Southwest for less than half that and one of the flights was a nonstop.  I figure a 3 hour drive is a small trade off, you might want to consider it.  Since we did Southwest I figure I can always change it if I see a better date/time/price and use any credits later this year on the fall vacation.

Edit: We were strongly considering the Anthem as well but the family said no way to sailing in the cold and no interest in the itinerary either.

6 hours ago, beachbum53 said:

There is lots of info for hotels in FLL in the Florida departure boards (listed under "North American Home Ports"). We've stayed here before: https://www.valuetrips.com/AMS/FL/F17.htm

and will be again on our next cruise out of FLL. 

This one, process seems shady but it worked out.  Included shuttle as well although they tried to charge us again in the van.

That's a neat cabin, I didn't know they had ones like that.  Our first cruise was the valor for our honeymoon with a porthole cabin, I'll have to remember this if we ever sail her again! 

I also had a request, is there anyway you might consider buying and shipping one of the ornaments of the ships (the one that's a model of the ship)? I can send paypal before you leave with something for your trouble, my e-mail is my username at gmail.  We've been collecting them on our cruises since, but we didn't think to get one on our first cruise and I've been watching eBay with no luck for a year or so.  No worries if you're not interested, enjoy your trip!

I'm curious how crowded it feels, I've seen a lot of comments about it since they added so many new rooms.

Our waiter brought us the little cartons of milk, skim and once or twice by accident whole. Not sure what other types are available.

On another cruise line we caught the cruise at the first port of call two days later. No muster drill for us!