Fresh off of the Valor ( Western Caribbean)

[Littlegoo75]

Dcass,

My husband and I really liked the Canopy Tour A LOT. It was our first time doing this sort of thing, but we like doing these kind of things, so we weren't nervous about it. I think everyone else in the group were first-timers as well.

The tour through the ship is about $100 per person, and I think it was worth it. There are three time slots, and only 22 spaces per slot, so it is very limited, so make sure you go to the excursion desk as soon as you board, or there is a good chance that you will not get in. We did the middle one, which was 10:30 I think, which got us on a tender right away, and allowed time to shop at the tourism village afterwards, and get back onto the ship with time to spare.

The bus ride to the site takes about an hour, and there is a really good team of people working at the place. They are very thorough in their safety checks, and give you an orientation on how the whole thing works. If you have no idea what you are doing, it's okay. They will help you out. The trek to the traverses isn't that strenuous in my opinion, but there are some uphill areas. It was raining the day we went, and was a little slippery, but nobody fell or anything. I kind of liked the fact that it was raining, because it added to the feeling of being in the rainforest, opposed to just a forest.

There are 5 traverses, and 2 rapelling sites. Even if you have never repelled, they show you what to do, and it is very controlled. Nobody was injured, or came even close to being injured. I doubt Carnival would offer this kind of tour if there was a chance for that happening.

The lines are suspended several hundred feet above the rainforest floor, and it is really cool. You just fly across it, you don't really need good balance or anything, but it helps if you keep your body tight and your legs up. There really isn't much to it.

Another thing...if you are on this tour, don't worry about buying the water from the ship before you go or bringing bug spray. The bus will stop at a little rest stop area that will give you bottled water or juice ( free) and there is a lady there that will spray you with bug spray. There will also be free bottled water available after the tour.

You can't really bring anything with you on the tour, such as a backpack anyway. The only thing I can see bringing would be a camera that you are able to secure in a pocket or something, or a small fanny pack. ANything else, you can bring on the bus, and the tour guide stays on board, so it should be safe. We kept our passports, credit cards, and cash on us, in a zipped pocket just to be on the safe side. There was a lady that claimed to have lost $100 because it fell out of her pocket, so be sure you have a money belt or a pocket that zips. If your money falls a few hundred feet, good luck trying to find it.

I think that's pretty much all I have to say on this. But don't miss out. It really is a lot of fun !

[dcass]

thanks for all your info-i'm looking forward to it!!

[edelfive]

Edelfive, sorry forgot what board I was on here is the link to my review

 

http://cruise-forums.com/forums/read.php?f=6&i=100237&t=100237

 

here is the link to to the pictures

http://www.cruise-forums.com/gallery/view.php?id=2273

 

Sue

 

Thanks for the info. but I did find your review on another board and loved it and the pics! My TA just sent me the Valor brochure and it sure looks fabulous! The "lobby" area looks huge. Our last cruise was on the Imagination which I thought was big. Looks like Carnival does get bigger and better.

 

Pam

[klfhngr]

We too just got back from a Carnival cruise, all you heard was, 'REMEMBER SHIP TIME"!!!! No more changing your clocks. This was on the 8 day Spirit cruise. Very confusing but you get used to it!

[angus33]

Is there a long line for the tenders going back to the ship from Grand Cayman?

[Littlegoo75]

Can't help you with that one because we were on the last one because we were late coming back from the excursion ( thank goodness it was a Carnival excursion!) but the tenders in Grand Cayman are very large, probably fit about 200 people. I noticed that many of the other cruise lines use their life-boats to tender in, which don't fit as many people, but at least with the ones Carnival use, I wouldn't think the lines would be that long getting back to the ship.

[angus33]

Thanks for the info. Last year the lines were long and I was almost late for the past guest cocktail party.

[parmus]

I came back on the tender about 1/2 hour before the last tender and there was no line at all. As a matter of fact, we had to wait for a little bit in order to fill the tender before it left for the ship.

 

Just a side note, we got our tender tickets and thought we had to wait quite a bit. There are a lot of staff on the way down to the gangway, and NO ONE checked our tender stickers. We weren't wearing them, and proceeded down. Maybe they checked on the earlier tenders, but not for us. It was kind of a bummer cuz we followed protocol for tendering and I think people were just going down whenever they felt like it. If Carnival is going to make you get stickers, they should enforce allowing people on the tenders when their number is called.

[dawnmarie123]

I was wondering how the cave tubing experience was. Does it require walking up steep hills? I am scared of heights. We are going on the valor on june 26,2005. Any other excursions to recomend?

[Littlegoo75]

If you are afraid of heights, then definately do not do the canopy tour! I think you will be fine doing the cave tubing as long as you do not have a fear of water, caves, or bats. If I remember correctly, when we did the cave tubing in Belize a few years ago, it wasn't a steep climb, but the time of year you are going, it is going to be HOT and HUMID! Taking a dip in the river will probably be very refreshing. One thing I do recommend to those who plan on doing the cave tubing is to bring an old pair of tennis shoes that you don't mind getting wet and dirty or throwing away at the end of the cruise. Every time we are going to cruise and do very active shore excursions that may involve getting wet and dirty, we bring a pair of old shoes that we are just going to toss at the end of the cruise. That way, you will have a little more room in your luggage at the end of the cruise, and you don't have to worry about renting water shoes, or getting a good pair of shoes dirty.

[mjforfunca]

Hi Sue, on your other post, you stated the Valor will be at Cozumel from 10:00 am to 10:00 pm local time. Did they allow people to get off at 10:00 or later?