Valor June 7 - 11, 2018

Just returned yesterday from a 4 day on the Valor! This was my second cruise, first one being on the Triumph. We were a group of almost 30, all coworkers that traveled to this cruise via bus from Oklahoma.

Will give a few quick highlights:

Check In - Was a breeze! We arrived at our scheduled check in time of 1:30, went straight through to the boarding area. Since we were a larger group and some of us had earlier boarding zone #'s they actually let us all board at the earlier zone time! :D My roomie and I went straight to our cabin to rest for a few minutes after our long bus ride to Galveston. Our luggage arrived about 15 - 20 minutes later then we went to locate our Muster Drill area location. Muster Drill was mad chaos as usual, hot, crowded and couldn't understand anything being said, once that was done we went straight to Guy's burger, was no line thank goodness because we were starving and it tasted delicious!

Shows - I saw the 70's, Hasbro Game Show and the Rock show and we also went to the towel animal making class, which I was not very successful at. :') All were good and it was nice to sit down and be entertained after so much walking around the ship. Only thing is if you are cold natured like me bring a jacket and long pants to wear to the shows or bring a beach towel to use as a blanket, you won't regret it I promise. :halo:

Food - All of the food that I had was mostly good. There were a few things that I did not like but that's ok, not everybody loves the same thing. My favorites were Guy's Burgers, Salmon from the dining room, salad selections from the lido buffet, sugar cookies on lido buffet, hand scooped ice cream during the chocolate extravaganza (whatever it's called lol) they had vanilla, chocolate & strawberry ice cream, pulled pork and cole slaw from the bbq place, cheese pizza from pizza place. I know there are more but I'm drawing a blank right now. We did do the Steakhouse which I am not a big steak eater. I had the crab cake, Caesar salad, rosemary chicken, baked potato, creamed spinach (did not like) and the caramelized apples for dessert (did not like). Several of the people I dined with that ordered steak did not like it, least favorite seemed to be the ribeye which had a lot of fat on it. :confused:

Crew - All of the crew members I had interaction with were great. All friendly and hard working. Our cabin steward was great however on the first day he came to our cabin three times to get our names and ask our preferences on times to service our cabin, etc. First time he wrote down our names and we requested to have our cabin serviced morning and evening and requested lots of ice and extra towels. A few minutes later he came back and asked us again for our names and we told him he was just there. Then later that evening he came back again like he had never seen us before lol. I know they are very busy and it gets confusing having to take care of so many cabins, we just laughed it off and he took very good care of us and kept our cabin spotless, ice filled twice a day and plenty of clean towels. We tipped him extra at the end of the cruise for a job well done. The cruise director Brandon was also great! That man works non stop, we saw him at different areas from morning until night always friendly, high energy and making sure everybody was having a good time.

Disembarkation - We decided to carry off our own luggage and were a little confused on exactly were to go so we ended up on the third deck originally in the lobby area then were told we couldn't be there and saw people going to the theatre so we followed the crowd. Turns out it was a very large group of people that had priority disembarkation but there was still room for us so we stayed put. Once their group disembarked we were told to go ahead after them because they had to clear the theatre out so off we went. We were the first ones from our group to get off the ship and a quick check in with Customs, I paid my alcohol tax on my free birthday champagne from John Heald and off to the bus we went. :cool:

All in all it was a good cruise, weather was perfect except for a small shower which didn't last long. Cozumel it was extremely hot! Didn't do much there but do some shopping right off the pier. If anybody has any questions please feel free to ask and I will do my best to answer. Have a great day! :)

I'm glad you had such a great time!

I was on the same cruise with you - Also having a great time. Glad to hear your big group had so much fun.

A ribeye is the fattiest cut of steak you can get. My daughter loves to eat the fat on the them.

Glad to see you had a great time.

A ribeye is the fattiest cut of steak you can get. My daughter loves to eat the fat on the them.

 

Glad to see you had a great time.

I don't eat steak so I had no idea lol. I do know the steaks were huge especially the cowboy one! :eek:

what were your favorite spots on the ship? did you try the deli? How packed was Guy's during embarkation?

I too was on the same cruise. We had been on the Valor several times through the years. And we found it in desperate need of dry docking.

Loved the steakhouse. My cowboy ribeye was incredible and my wife lamb even better. Our two Servers had major attitude but we got over that quickly.

Guy’s was great but condiments were always empty.

Seaday brunch, is one of our favorites was horrific. Bad service and cold, over cooked food (except for the warm fruit plate).

6 hours at Mr. Sanchos was heaven.

And with all the bad we had a terrific time. Any cruise is a good cruise!!!

Thank you for reviewing you cruise.

Glad you had such a good time.

Wait, free birthday champagne? How did you get that ? Our first ever cruise will be next Monday on the Valor, on my wife’s birthday....how do we get something like that ?

what were your favorite spots on the ship? did you try the deli? How packed was Guy's during embarkation?

To be honest my favorite spot on the ship was the balcony outside our cabin lol. This was only my second cruise and the first one we only had a window which I loved to look out of but no way compared to having the balcony to sit out on and enjoy the sunrises, sunsets and just sitting and watching the water. :hearteyes:

Sorry, did not try the deli. Hopefully next time!

We didn't hit Guys on embarkation until after the Muster drill and there was barely a line at all. I'm sure it was a lot busier before then though but definitely worth the wait.

Wait, free birthday champagne? How did you get that ? Our first ever cruise will be next Monday on the Valor, on my wife’s birthday....how do we get something like that ?

If you cruise on your birthday you will more then likely receive spa and pixel gift card however I sent John Heald a message on his Facebook page the day before my cruise saying I was cruising on my actual birthday but would be without my husband and children and anything he could do to make my birthday special would be appreciated.

I know a lot of people frown on this but I didn't beg just asked nicely and said thank you and really wasn't expecting much but received a bottle of champagne, chocolate covered strawberries and a ship on a stick. It really did make me smile! :D Be sure to give him your Name and Cabin #.

We were also on this cruise. It was our first one.

We had a great time. We ate at the steakhouse on the first night and it was great. As others have said, the ribeye is the fattiest steak you can get. They are great if you like a fatty steak. :p:p:p:p

My favorite things on the Valor were: Guy's Burgers, Blue Iguana breakfast burrito's, the comedy shows, and the productions in Ivanhoe Theater.

It was very hot though.

Thanks for the review.