stevegotl

Hello... We too are on the February 24th Cruise and would love to see a Daily Times prior to departure. It's the best way to prepare for all that happens once you're aboard.

let me throw my 2cts in...

I have always had late dining until this cruise. On past cruises, we were constantly missing some shows. This cruise we opted for the early dining and it worked out perfectly. We did all our excursions in the morning and had the whole afternoon to explore the islands or get back to the ship a little early. It was much more relaxed doing it this way and we saw all the shows we wanted to. Most of the ship departure times are around 5pm and you had to be on board by 4:30.... that gave us plenty of time to get ready head to dinner by 6:00 and then enjoy the evening shows afterwards....

Just saying... :)

We had an awesome time and really enjoyed this itinerary.

Sounds good and makes alot of sense.

No problem sending questions. :)

 

I think you should stick with late dining. It's all I have ever done and I love it. Because you have excursions planned, you won't feel rushed to get back on the ship and get dressed for dinner. If you don't eat in port, get something small from the lido buffet or room service to hold you over. You'll be able to watch sail away from each port, take a shower, maybe get a quick nap (you'll be tired from those excursions, trust me), and have a pre-dinner drink. You won't miss any of the late night entertainment. I was still able to see 2 of the 3 adult comedy shows every night. I would leave dinner and head straight to the promenade to see what was happening. If you plan on seeing any of the production shows, they have a showtime of around 7 pm for people with late dining. Because late dining isn't as popular as early or anytime, you won't feel rushed and you'll have a bit of extra attention from your servers. I'll never not do late dining. Hope this helps!

Hello all...I just returned from a Valor Cruise and I have to say it was the best one yet.... The itinerary, the weather, the crew, the food, the shows...all were awesome! Here's some of what I liked best....

San Juan.... We flew in and arrived at the dock around noon and were able to check in at that time. We thought we could go on board, drop off our carry on bags and then go out and do a little shopping and pick up some wine (at least that was what one crew member said. Well, we found out that while we could do that, we could not bring any alcohol back on with us. So get your wine before you check in! The cruise port area was very busy all afternoon with both cruise passengers and locals. It was fun just walking around Old San Juan. Once on board we made reservations for the Steakhouse for the first night and indeed were treated to a free bottle of wine. It was a delicious meal with great service. It was the first time we ate in the Steakhouse and decided to make reservations for later in the week also. Try it, you won't be disappointed. Another dining option during the cruise was the "Chef's Table" which we did Thursday night. It's an extra $75 per person but it's an experience you will never forget. You get a tour of the galley by the head ship Chef and then you get a 7 course gourmet meal in a private dining room with all the wine or champagne you can drink. It's a once in a lifetime dining experience and only about 12 people can be served. They only offered it twice during our cruise. Now here's what we did at the ports of call...

St Thomas - Went on the Carnival snorkeling shore excursion. We loved it....

Barbados - Hired a taxi and did an island tour. We loved it.....

St. Lucia - Went Ziplining...that we booked on our own with Treetop Adventures..We loved it....

St. Kitts - booked a rainforest hike with Greg Safaris... It was ok but an island tour with beach time would have been nicer...

St Marteen - Took the water taxi ($7) to downtown....and stayed on the beach and wandered around town most of the day.... We loved it....

We are also geocachers and grabbed caches on all the islands....

While we were on board we found the quality of the crew much improved over the last couple of cruises. The comedy shows were much better (there were 4 different comics), the stage shows were enjoyable and professional, the magic shows were quality, and the food was delicious. The one only downside was that the wait crew in the dining room was not as attentive as previous cruises. They were ok, but I think Carnival has cut back there a little and they seemed over worked trying to take care of too many cruisers.

Well that all for now and as I said before, we had an awesome time. This is a great itinerary and the Valor was a great ship.