FINALLY FROUFIES ESP (extra special pictorial) REVIEW OF THE VALOR - JAN 24-31/10

[Froufie]

FROUFIE!

 

Your review was fantastic! Valor will be my 4th cruise and my HONEYMOON with new Hubby the day after we are married. It will be his first cruise, so it was fun to hear your review of everything ON the ship, things that we will like or find annoying.

 

We are doing the exotic Eastern Caribbean, but your port reviews are fun to hear as well!

 

I cruised Destiny with my mom in January, so I can't wait to see your take on it compared to what she and I thought.

 

:p

 

Congrats on the upcoming wedding and honeymoon - I am sure you will LOVE the Valor.....

 

....and you will see how much MORE FUN I had on the Destiny (is that even possible? :D:D)....hope you enjoy that review as well!

 

Happy cruising!

[pcrum]

Your reviews have given us so many good experiences. Because of you, we did Nativeways' Reef, Rays and Rumpoint Tour, experienced the beauty of Nachi Cocum and have had two port hole cabins. I even gave a shout out to your reviews in my latest two (with the port hole cabins) because it was your photos of the port holes that convinced me to book a PT.

 

Because of your obvious expertise, I have a question for you. In Roatan, why did you seek out the Mayan Princess? From the photos and reviews I have read, the Mahogany Beach area where you disembark from the ship seems to be very nice. From the reviews I've read, I get the impression it is a bit like the cruise center area of Grand Turk (minus the big pool). I had thought we'd just enjoy the beach area, but I wanted to know what made you decide to forgo that for the Mayan Princess.

 

Thanks so much for your reviews and photos!

[Froufie]

Wow!!! I am thrilled and honored by your remarks and so glad I was able to provide you with some good excursion choices! :D (and you gotta love those adorable porthole cabins - I have another booked for my January cruise!).

 

As for Roatan - my rationale is: if I am visiting a port for the 1st time I like to get out and see stuff, tour the island, take some pics, get the local flavor and feeling of the place......yes I could have just gotten off the ship and enjoyed Mahogany Bay - nothing against the place - but in my mind I could be at 'any' beach in the Caribbean if I stayed there - no real 'feeling' of Roatan or knowledge of the island.

 

Now if I have been there a few times and had felt I had seen all that I wanted to see or was trying to stay 'cheap' and/or had little ones with me that may have changed my decision. And of course I had heard of and seen pics of the Mayan Princess and it did sound lovely! (which it was).

 

And you're right about Grand Turk - quite similar - and if you read my Destiny review you will see we headed out down the beach to Jack's Shack for a more 'relaxed' atmosphere and less people. But nothing wrong with Margaritaville pool/area - we hung out there on another cruise when we had the 3 kids with us and all enjoyed ourselves! :D:D (kids loved the access to pool and beach and being able to go back and forth to the ship as required!).

[pcrum]

Wow!!! I am thrilled and honored by your remarks and so glad I was able to provide you with some good excursion choices! :D (and you gotta love those adorable porthole cabins - I have another booked for my January cruise!).

 

As for Roatan - my rationale is: if I am visiting a port for the 1st time I like to get out and see stuff, tour the island, take some pics, get the local flavor and feeling of the place......yes I could have just gotten off the ship and enjoyed Mahogany Bay - nothing against the place - but in my mind I could be at 'any' beach in the Caribbean if I stayed there - no real 'feeling' of Roatan or knowledge of the island.

 

Now if I have been there a few times and had felt I had seen all that I wanted to see or was trying to stay 'cheap' and/or had little ones with me that may have changed my decision. And of course I had heard of and seen pics of the Mayan Princess and it did sound lovely! (which it was).

 

And you're right about Grand Turk - quite similar - and if you read my Destiny review you will see we headed out down the beach to Jack's Shack for a more 'relaxed' atmosphere and less people. But nothing wrong with Margaritaville pool/area - we hung out there on another cruise when we had the 3 kids with us and all enjoyed ourselves! :D:D (kids loved the access to pool and beach and being able to go back and forth to the ship as required!).

 

Thanks for the quick reply!! It definitely doesn't hurt to have options in Roatan! Your review was the first I saw that mentioned the Mayan Princess, so that does seem to be a good option!

[Froufie]

I had read about the Mayan Princess in other 'reviews' of Roatan and it sounded lovely so glad we got to visit. I am now hearing about 'parrot tree plantation' in roatan - I believe they offer a day pass for $10.....and seems to be very popular and gorgeous! http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g292019-d1723520-Reviews-Parrot_Tree_Plantation-Roatan_Bay_Islands.html

 

http://www.wunderground.com/wximage/viewsingleimage.html?mode=singleimage&handle=RoatanRules&number=3&album_id=2&thumbstart=0&gallery=

[Islandr67]

Hi Froufie - I know it's been a while since this board was active, but about 9 of us are cruising on the Valor in November and I really enjoyed reading your review and seeing your pictures... it has really peaked the excitement level!! I was wondering if you could answer a question for me - our TA advised us that we should book our excursions through Carnival so that if we get delayed for any reason we would not get left. It seems you have lots of experience with Carnival and excursions so I was wondering your opinion of booking outside of Carnival? It looked like most or all of your excursions on this trip were booked outside of Carnival. I can tell you the 3 excursions we have pinpointed so far are Stingrays in GC, zipline in Roatan, and cave tubing in Belize. I really appreciate your input!! Thanks so much! Btw - we have one person booked in room 1212 and other than hearing the anchor drop I think she will be quite pleased. On another review of the room there were complaints of hearing the water crash against the boat all night... was that any concern for you? Thanks again!

[Froufie]

Hi Froufie - I know it's been a while since this board was active, but about 9 of us are cruising on the Valor in November and I really enjoyed reading your review and seeing your pictures... it has really peaked the excitement level!! I was wondering if you could answer a question for me - our TA advised us that we should book our excursions through Carnival so that if we get delayed for any reason we would not get left. It seems you have lots of experience with Carnival and excursions so I was wondering your opinion of booking outside of Carnival? It looked like most or all of your excursions on this trip were booked outside of Carnival. I can tell you the 3 excursions we have pinpointed so far are Stingrays in GC, zipline in Roatan, and cave tubing in Belize. I really appreciate your input!! Thanks so much! Btw - we have one person booked in room 1212 and other than hearing the anchor drop I think she will be quite pleased. On another review of the room there were complaints of hearing the water crash against the boat all night... was that any concern for you? Thanks again!

 

Hi there!

 

Glad you enjoyed the review and you should definitely be EXCITED!!! :)

 

In regard to excursions in general I do prefer booking independently due to lower cost and better, more personal experiences - and being able to choose where we want to go.

 

I would definitely encourage you to do the same if you feel comfortable doing so - yes you can be left behind should your independent tour come back late (altho this rarely happens - it may...). In my opinion it may depend on the port in question. I would not hesitate to book a Stingray city tour in GC, or ziplining in Roatan with an independent- my concern would lie with Belize. First of all I would ALWAYS suggest taking a tour there as I don't think this is somewhere you want to wander off alone out of the port area. Also since it is a tender port - and a long ride at that - it takes a while to get back to the ship.

 

If the 'excursion' is a long one I would also always recommend taking a ship's tour - the extra $$ is worth the 'insurance' of knowing the ship will be there no matter what... In the case of cave-tubing I would want to know how long to/from the port, type of transportation and backup should anything go wrong (traffic, breakdown, flat tire, etc). That being said most reputable tour companies are very diligent in getting their cruisers back in time however as you may have noted my previous trip to Belize was a bit too exciting as we had booked a Lamanai tour with an independent tour company and were late getting back to the port!!! This time as per the review we used a ship's tour and even with that were back late but at least no worries.

 

I guess you have to do what feels comfortable to you - and as mentioned some ports are more amenable to independant tours and just heading out on your own, than others!

 

As for the cabins - yes those PT ones are a bit noisy and 'bumpy' but that's part of the fun! Not a deal breaker for me tho (and yes I have a couple more booked on upcoming cruises!).

 

Have fun on the Valor :D:D

[Islandr67]

Thank you so much for your reply! I really appreciate the advice from a seasoned cruiser! There are so many opinions on these boards and so much information to absorb! Thanks again for taking the time to reply!

[amyj23]

Thanks for the review, Froufie! I was looking for pics of the Valor as we just booked last weekend for B2B on it in November. We have been to Nachi Cocom every time we've stopped in Cozumel, and I just booked our third trip there! Our itinerary will be different than yours (except for Cozumel), but I really wanted to see pics and info on the ship, so this was helpful. Thanks again!

[Froufie]

Thanks for the review, Froufie! I was looking for pics of the Valor as we just booked last weekend for B2B on it in November. We have been to Nachi Cocom every time we've stopped in Cozumel, and I just booked our third trip there! Our itinerary will be different than yours (except for Cozumel), but I really wanted to see pics and info on the ship, so this was helpful. Thanks again!

 

Glad you found the review and the pics! You are so lucky to be doing a b2b (I am jealous!!)....and I too LOVE Nachi Cocum! Have fun! :)

[cruiseclues]

Thank you for your Valor Review... :):):):)

 

Too bad about what Webshots did to millions of people...were you able to move your Valor photos to Photobucket or any other photoclub?

[Froufie]

Thank you for your Valor Review... :):):):)

 

Too bad about what Webshots did to millions of people...were you able to move your Valor photos to Photobucket or any other photoclub?

 

No not yet - have to find the 'right' pics and perhaps repost them - sorry :(