REVIEW: Carnival Valor 4/10 - 4/17 detailed with pictures

[TwoSue]

A little about us: Two adults in our mid 40s and two kids, ages 10 (Girl L) and 13 (Boy G). This was our first cruise! We usually go on active vacations, camping and visiting National Parks. My husband is not a "lay around on the beach" type of guy. Also, we don't drink and don't enjoy the nightclub scene. Because of these things, we weren't sure how much we were going to enjoy a cruise, but it was absolutely the best vacation we've ever been on. So many things for us all to enjoy!

 

We booked this cruise back in October with Early Saver. We never saw a price drop, but were happy with our deal ($1800 for four of us for an oceanview cabin). My in-laws gave us the miles to fly to Miami, so the whole thing was looking like a bargain! I do love a bargain, which is why I booked all of our excursions using private groups recommended by people on Cruise Critic. I'm willing to pay for something if I think it's a good value, but hate to pay big for something cheap! We did very well keeping our expenses down on this trip.

 

I read so many trip reviews while planning this trip that I tried really hard to write down what we did each night so I could do a report when we got back. I hope all these details will be helpful to someone!

 

Our Arrival

 

We arrived around midnight on Saturday, April 9 in Miami. We were staying at La Quinta East but I knew the free airport shuttle ended at 10 pm. We grabbed a cab ($10) and were ready to check-in at 1 am. Unfortunately, when I called weeks before, we were told that we couldn't sign up for the shuttle to the port until we arrived. So, we got the last shuttle the next day, 1 pm. However, the guy that checked us in told me that in fact, if you call the day you're set to arrive anytime after noon, they will put your name on a shuttle for the next day. Hopefully someone else can use that tip!

 

When we got to the room, we noticed it was on a smoking floor and stunk. Since there was a "sold out" sign at the reception desk, I figured there was nothing they could do about it so we went to bed.

 

Day One

 

In the morning, we got up at 9 to have free breakfast by 10. LOTS of cruisers having breakfast and milling around the lobby waiting for the shuttle. I asked at the desk to make sure that when we returned to this hotel in two weeks I was definitely going to get a non-smoking room. She made a note of it in the computer and then gave me a 20% discount for our smokey stay. I hadn't even asked or really complained, so I thought that was great service.

 

We hung around the hotel for the morning. I rearranged the luggage so we had backpacks with swimsuits and dinner clothes to carry on and the rest to check at the port. There wasn't anyplace around to buy bottled water or soda so I gave up on that idea.

 

We boarded the shuttle at 1:00. There were three ships in port that we were going to, Carnival Valor, Carnival Glory and Norwegian Pearl. We hit some traffic going through Miami because there was a Heat game. We were the last stop. We handed over our luggage to the porters, filled out the forms, and walked right up to the kiosks to check in. We waited only 5 minutes or so to get our S & S cards and we were on the ship by 2:00.

 

We wandered all over the ship, exploring most of the levels and checking where everything was. We checked out Camp Carnival and had the first of many ice cream cones. Stopped for lunch... three of us had a burrito from the burrito bar, and one had pizza. Then we explored some more. By 5:00 our luggage was in the cabin. Kids went to some activities while we checked out Trivia and Gameshow. After that we had our first dinner in the Lincoln Dining Room. For appetizers we had chicken tenders, shrimp, and tropical fruit salad. The entrees we chose were tilapia, flatiron steak, and ribs. We all had chocolate melting cake for dessert.

 

We had chosen Anytime Dining, which meant we were seated in the upper level of the Lincoln Dining Room. This option worked out fine for us, because we ate dinner at different times each night.

 

After dinner, the kids went to the Welcome Party for their clubs for a bit while I unpacked. G came back pretty quickly. Then we went in the hot tub for a little while then went to the Welcome Aboard show. Our towel animal was a stingray/seal. At midnight, Dad and G went to a Circle C activity while L and I went to bed.

 

 

 

We're here!

 

Overlooking the Lido deck during the Sail Away party. Miami in the background.

 

Our ocean view room on Deck 2. There was plenty of room for the four of us.

 

You can actually sit up in the window. This was a very popular spot! We also put the bathing suits in here sometimes during the day in the sun and they would dry out pretty nicely.

 

The first of many warm chocolate melting cakes!

[h_blond2]

Can't wait to read more!

[enveno1]

Great review so far! Looking forward to more.

[Noreno]

Thanks for the tip at the La Quinta Inn was it at this address 3501 Northwest Le Jeune Rd

Miami, FL 33142

[TwoSue]

Thanks for the tip at the La Quinta Inn was it at this address 3501 Northwest Le Jeune Rd

Miami, FL 33142

 

Yes, that's the one!

[TwoSue]

Day Two - Fun Day at Sea

 

Awoke to Josh our cruise director's announcement at 10:00. L had wanted to do some activities in the morning but slept through them. She dragged herself out of bed and left us, not to be seen again until 1:00. We went and had a little breakfast and walked around. We came back and met up with L and then changed clothes for swimming. We tried out the water slide, the pool, and the hot tub. Chatted with a guy from Australia who was traveling all over the place. L left us again to do some activities. She was really enjoying Camp Carnival and had made some friends.

 

G, Dad, and I played minigolf on the very windy upper deck. Sometimes the ball blew around without us. We joined a volleyball game for a while, which was also tough in the wind. Then we played a rousing game of shuffleboard. Dad then took a nap on the Lido deck while we went back to the room to shower and dress for elegant night. Went to dinner around 7:40. G misplaced his Sail and Sign card.

 

G was looking forward to lobster, but suprisingly, did not like it at all. He thought it was going to taste like shrimp, but it didn't. He had pasta carbonara for his appetizer, and the lobster dinner. I enjoyed the rest of his lobster along with my own. L and I had stuffed mushrooms for an appetizer. L had grilled caviola (fish) for dinner and Dad had duck. Dad had the best dinner. Unfortunately, Dad had the worst dessert. He accidentally ordered the fruit plate. G got talked into the cherries jubilee because we thought it would be flaming, but alas, no flames. L had the melting cake again, and I had caramelized apples. L shared her cake with G and then left us again to enjoy a class.

 

L came back to the room with her friend A and we arranged to take them both to the show. G headed off to a Circle C activity. He was supposedly going to something not in the Circle C room, but up at the pizza kitchen. The Circle C supervisor never showed. Some kids started teasing G about something and he couldn't take it and came back to the room by himself, upset. He was really disappointed that the kids were acting "just like school" and had already arranged themselves into groups, none of which included him. He decided he was done for the night.

 

Dad, me, L, and A enjoyed the nightclub show, especially getting beaned with the streamers at the end. We had front row seats again. I had warned them ahead of time about the outfits with the thongs, but they said those were definitely their least favorite costumes!

 

Afterwards, we went for an ice cream snack. Busy day at sea. Lots of ice cream. Thankfully, our steward found G's S&S card in the room and put it on his pillow. Phew!

[KirkNC]

Great review and pictures. I look forward to more.

 

Kirk

[TwoSue]

Day Three - Grand Cayman

 

G thought he heard the alarm at 5:30 so some of us were awake and stayed awake. But the alarm really went off at 7 and it was time to get ready for our day. We had breakfast on the lido deck and then headed down to the cabin to get ready. We packed up some stuff and were ready to be on the tender at 8:30. It was quick to get on the tender and it was only a five minute ride to Georgetown, Grand Cayman. The Carnival Destiny was also in port and it was neat to watch their tenders coming and going while we had breakfast.

 

Today was our Stingray City day and we were very excited! This excursion was the only one where it seemed confusing about ship time vs. island time. Because of daylight savings (or the lack of it), they were actually behind us, so although we needed to meet them at 8:15, it was really 9:15 for us. I was glad we didn't have to get up super early! All of the excursions at other ports just dealt with ship time for everything, and we never had to think about it.

 

We were supposed to meet up with Chip from Stingray Sailings at 8:15 (island time). But we actually were there by 7:45. We were the last of the group, so he said we could get an early start. We hopped on his bus and headed out of town, driving on the wrong side of the road! About 20 or so minutes later, we arrived at his catamaran. There were 21 of us... 13 in a group from California, another couple from California, a couple from somewhere else, and us. Nice size. We hopped on the boat and immediately went up to the front to lay on the trampoline. G and L changed into their bathing suits so they would be ready.

 

On the way to the sandbar, we stopped to see some large turtles swimming by. When we got to the sandbar, there were two boats already there. One had a ton of people on it and the other one was a bit smaller. As soon as they started to drop the anchor, we could see the stingrays gathering around. G was off the boat in a flash, and Dad followed right behind him. It was incredibly clear water, and you could see the rays swimming all around. The only weird part was when you weren't looking and they would bump you from behind. L didn't like that. Dad put on snorkel gear and looked at them from underneath. We all had a chance to feed them with little fish, and give them a hug. G even kissed one because he heard it was seven year's good luck. One of the crew was taking pictures with his underwater camera and showed them when we got back on the boat. There wasn't any pressure to buy and I was satisfied with our own photos, so we passed.

 

After about a half hour there, we got back on the boat and drove a very short distance to the edge of a reef. We got to snorkel here for another half hour or so. There were not as many fish as Hawaii, but just as colorful. There was some very colorful coral, including blue fans. L wore a life ring and seemed to like snorkeling a little better that way. When she headed back to the boat, Chip threw some dead fish in the water so she could see all the other fish come over to eat. Dad grabbed the dead fish and went out to feed by the reef. I wish I had some pictures of the fish swarming around him, but G had used up all the pictures on our disposable underwater camera already.

 

We climbed back up on the boat. I was looking forward to sailing back to port, but because it was such a beautiful calm day, there wasn't enough wind to sail. Instead, we motored back while enjoying some fresh pineapple. Chip gave us the option of going back to port or dropping us off at 7 mile beach. It was about noon and we decided to head back to the ship instead of going to the beach because we had already spent a lot of time in the sun. We were doing our best not to sunburn ourselves and the kids, at least at the beginning of the week! While we were on the tender waiting for everyone to load, the kids threw some Lucky Charms down to the fish and watched them swarm.

 

After getting back on the ship around one, we headed for lunch on the Lido deck. G had pizza, again! I tried the fish n chips, Dad had the Mongolian Wok, and L had a hot dog. Then up for some shuffleboard. By three o'clock, L was ready to head out for some kids' activities so off she went. I had to sleep so I took a nap in the room while G and Dad walked the ship and talked about the previous night's events at Circle C. G went swimming and watched the show on the Lido. I showered and L and A showed up and tried to arrange a sibling switch for dinner. We found G and met A's brother but he wasn't interested. We talked G into trying Circle C again so he went to watch charades.

 

L ended up going to dinner with A's family while G and I went to dinner. G had french onion soup and the pasta with shrimp, scallops and calamari while I had the french onion soup and the flatiron steak. We both had the warm chocolate melting cake again. We enjoyed talking to the people at the next table who were from Colorado. The waiters also got up and danced around 7:00, which was the first time we had seen them. Dad was too full from lunch and had a nap instead of dinner.

 

After dinner, G, Dad and I went to the family friendly comedy show and really enjoyed it. G then went to give Circle C another try. He went to Wii Bowling, Glow Party, and Karaoke. He mostly sat to the side to observe, but said it was fun. L and A went to Camp Carnival and did a towel-folding class and some other things. Dad and I went to “in the bag” game, then “60 seconds or less”. We then bumped into L and wandered around while we were waiting for G to be done. We had some ice cream. Then we went to a small magic show (the waiter L had for dinner in the other dining room). The magician (Rakesh) was very good. By then it was 11:45 and L and I couldn't stay up anymore. Dad and G headed to ice cream and watched the end of the movie outside on the Lido Deck and then came back to the cabin.

 

The Carnival Valor at Grand Cayman

 

Stingray City with Stingray Sailings. They were awesome!! Highly recommend.

 

The catamaran with Stingray Sailings

 

I'm hugging a stingray!!

 

Other boats at Stingray City

[oncruisecontrol]

Nice start; keep it coming.

[LBumb]

great job so far

[TwoSue]

Day Four - Belize

 

We had to get up early again today... 6:45. Those early mornings are tough after the late nights! I had read here on Cruise Critic that if we wanted to get off on the first tender, we needed to get there early. We got a quick breakfast and headed to the Eagle's Lounge by 7:45 to get a tender ticket. There were a few people in there but they weren't handing out tickets yet. The directions in the Fun Times said the first tender would be at 8:30, but I was sure we needed to be there early. A little after 8, they said, “if you're going to the tender, follow me” and we headed down the stairs. They filled the first tender and stopped just a few people ahead of us, so we were on the second tender. The port was about a 15-20 minute ride.

 

When we arrived at the port, we walked out and were again accosted by vendors wanting to know if we had already booked something, asking us to buy things, and asking about braiding hair. We waved them off and headed to cavetubing.bz. We had to wait 10 minutes or so for some more people to arrive, but then we headed off on an older bus. We drove through Belize City and headed out of town. Once we hit the “secondary highway”, the potholes were so big that the bus drove on the shoulder instead of going through the potholes. As we drove, Vitalino entertained us with facts about Belize. Then Gilbert got up and told some jokes, sang some songs, did some trivia questions. It made the 1 hour and 15 minute ride go faster. When we arrived at the departure point, we changed clothes, got a tube, helmet, and lifejacket and headed out.

 

Our guide for just the four of us was Jorge. We walked about 30 – 40 minutes to the river. It was an easy, slow walk, stopping to talk along the way about the plants and animals of Belize. G, Dad, and I even tasted live termites! A little minty, a little like carrots.

 

When we arrived at the river, we plopped backwards into the tubes and then linked together. L first, G with his feet under her arms, then me, then Dad. Jorge took the lead and paddled. Tough job! We floated through a very long cave which didn't have very many formations in it. We were surrounded by hundred of other cave-tubers. Most were in much bigger groups.. the smallest I saw was 8 and the biggest 16 (with two guides). We stuck with our group of four and Jorge took us on a couple of little sidetrips (like to a waterfall) because we were easy to maneuver. Cavetubing.com, which was my other choice, was mostly around us. They had the same tubes, headlamps instead of helmets, and orange lifejackets. I noticed later that they also had much nicer buses. But they were in a slightly bigger group.

 

We entered into a second cave which had more stalagtites and stalagmites. Jorge took us over to where a river entered at the side and there was a neat waterfall. When the water got shallow, they yelled 'butts up” and we lifted our bottoms so as not to get a “butt massage”. The guides pulled us through the shallow part. After the second cave, most of the tour companies got out. But ours and cavetubing.com continued to float for another 20 minutes down the river. We had water fights with a couple of other tube trains. Towards the end, we disconnected and had some fun hooking up all different ways. Right at the end, Dad dunked G right out of his tube.

 

After a short walk back to the bus, we changed into dry clothes and headed out to a van. We hopped in and drove down the pothole road to a covered patio/restaurant where they served us beans & rice, cole slaw, and chicken. We all gobbled it up! G said it was the best rice he ever had. We bought some fiery hot sauce for one of Dad's co-workers.

 

On the bus ride back to Belize City, L slept on Dad's lap while Dad slept sitting straight up. I wished I could sleep, still not feeling that well. We got back to the port at 3:30 and the last tender was at 4:15. The busdriver told us that the area right around the port buildings was a safe place to shop. L got her hair braided while G and Dad walked down to the flea market and bought a wooden carving. We walked through the gift shops and boarded the tender at 4:00.

 

When we returned, we all took turns showering and getting ready for Elegant night. For dinner, L had the Caesar salad and the pasta. G ordered escargot and the pasta appetizer. Now that we are experienced cruisers, we know we can order more than one! His entree was the grilled shrimp. Dad ordered the cherry soup and the baked eggplant for appetizers, along with the grilled shrimp. I ordered the corn chowder, and two entrees – the grilled shrimp and the cinnamon squash pot pie. G and I tried the escargot, but didn't really like it. G didn't care for the sauce on the shrimp. But it was all better once we had three orders of chocolate melting cake (more cakey tonight) and a banana split. The waiters did the singing and dancing again around 7:10 which we all enjoyed.

 

Right after dinner we hit the family friendly comedy show which was okay. L and I then went to the 80s production while G and Dad hit another comedy show. Afterwards, we met up in the lobby to watch the break dancers. We then walked around the ship upstairs, enjoying the balmy wind. We headed down the cabin and then I pooped out. They took a deck of cards up to the Lido deck to catch a movie under the stars at 10:30.

 

Right after they left, Nyi Nyi, our steward, came by. Earlier in the day I had asked him if he had seen L's teddy bear because we hadn't seen it since yesterday. He went sometime today and looked in the laundry to see if it had gotten tangled in the sheets. Nobody found it and he was feeling really bad. Anyway, when I opened the door this evening, he had a mermaid doll for L. I told him he didn't have to do that, but he insisted.

 

We haven't done any of the photo sessions. It's amazing to me how many pictures you could get taken, and people seem to enjoy doing it! I was hoping to at least get someone to use our own camera to take a picture of the four of us all dressed up, but that didn't happen either. Oh well. I'll just have to remember how we looked. We took pictures of each other in pairs.

 

I don't have any pictures from cave tubing yet. We took a disposable underwater camera with us and I haven't gotten it developed yet. If any pictures turn out, I'll add them.

 

 

You can see the Valor in the distance to the left of G's head. That's how far out it was anchored from Belize City.

 

 

Dancing waiters. They danced downstairs and we were upstairs in Anytime Dining. We did figure out that the dancing usually happened a little after 7:00, after everyone downstairs at the 6:00 seating had their entree.

[Handsome58]

doing a great job with this review!!!!!!

[TwoSue]

Thanks! I'm glad I wrote it all down while I was there.

[TwoSue]

Oops, I just realized I skipped Roatan. Day FOUR was Roatan, Day Five was Belize. I'll get back on track.

[Texalana]

I'm really glad you are posting this review. Thank you! :) My DH and I are going on the Valor next month and I love reading about what awaits us!

[David7621]

Nice job!! We were on the cruise also and I was wondering if you slept through Honduras as you jumped right to Belize..lol. Trying to get my wife to help me with a review as well...wish me luck.

[NavarreCruiser]

A very nice and detailed review, thank you for your efforts. DW and I have been on the other 4 Conquest class ships but are going on the Carnival Valor for the first time in 13 days.

[TwoSue]

Day FOUR - Roatan

(Belize was actually Day Five)

 

We slept in today, not getting up until around 9:30. Dad went to “future cruise information” while we got ready. We met up with him and had a late breakfast/brunch. We docked at Roatan at 12:00 and got off the ship. It was amazing to watch the Valor squeeze its way in there. It went in backwards, squeaking between the buoys of the channel. There was a nice view of Mahogany Beach, which is the manmade Carnival beach. The whole shopping area around there is owned by carnival and you have to go outside to contact any other vendor. We weren't really interested in spending the day at a manmade beach, so I had made arrangements for a tour through Bodden Tours. We wanted to see the real beach and the rest of the island.

 

After working our way through the gift shop, up the hill and out of the complex, we met up with Bodden Tours. There were lots of other tour operators wanting our business. We met our driver Tex and headed out. We told him we wanted to see the island, the monkeys, and snorkel. We drove for a while through Roatan, which is 21 miles long and 4 miles wide. After about 20 minutes or so, we arrived at Victor Bodden's place to see the monkeys. What a thrill! We paid the $100 for the driver and $20 to see the monkeys. We were assigned a guide. First stop was a cage with a spider monkey inside. The kids handed him peanuts and he happily took them. The next stop was another cage with two small white faced capuchins. Much to our surprise, the guide opened the cage and we all went in! The guide told Dad to put up his arm and the two monkeys crawled right on to him. One was riding the other one's back. They were six and ten months old. Dad held them for a while and then passed them over to G. Then they went to L and they actually fell asleep in her arms! This was the absolute highlight of L's vacation.

 

We continued on through the compound, looking at a toucan, parrots, a coatimundi, roatan rabbits, and deer. At one point, there was a monkey on the outside that went in someone's backpack and stole their sunscreen and gum. We had fun watching him try to get the sunscreen open. After a while, the guide offered the monkey a peanut in trade for the sunscreen which the monkey took. The monkey then jumped on Dad's shoulders and then passed along between all of us. At one point he was sitting on my shoulder, leaning over to hop on someone else. He wrapped his tail around my face to hang on! Everyone enjoyed the monkeys. We found out we could zipline there and L really wanted to, but we wanted to continue on and said maybe we'd come back later.

 

Next Tex drove us to the water down a very bumpy road to a place where you could look out to where one of those dolphin experiences was going on. We could see the dolphins out there doing tricks. G really wanted to go. Tex drove us to the place that ran it (Anthony's Key) to find out how much. It was $112 to participate and $25 to observe. We opted out, much to G's disappointment. Instead, we kept driving.

 

He drove us down the beach past people's waterfront houses. We saw one area with rich American homes. We drove through West End, which is a touristy town on the other end of the island. Lots of small shacks with t-shirts, hammocks. bars, seafood stands, lots of tourists. We then headed to West Bay to go snorkeling. Tex took us to the beach near Bananarama. We used the restrooms to change and got snorkeling gear from a lady on the beach for $10 each. Tex took our passports, sail cards and wallet and waited at Bananarama.

 

We went down the beach, put down our stuff, and went snorkeling. While we were walking down the beach, we were accosted by lots of vendors selling everything from necklaces, sunglasses to cigars. Once you said no they continued on, but there were lots of them. We tried to put our stuff down near Tabynana, but the security guard told me I couldn't. Later, Tex told us that the beach was public and we were actually allowed to use whatever we wanted, but at the time, we just moved on.

 

The snorkeling was good a bit off the beach. The water wasn't super clear, but the reef was not out too deep. After L did a little bit, she stayed at the shore while we headed out deeper on the South end of the beach against the cliffs. The coral was really great... lots of blue fan coral and brain coral. Lots of fish, but not as many as Hawaii. Dad brought out some cheerios and fed the fish. Mostly the little fish came for Cheerios, but one big blue fish came too. By the time we made our way back to shore, and back to Tex, it was five o'clock and we needed to get moving.

 

He drove us back down the other side of the island and down through some “native” areas. The houses were small and worn-down. Worse was the big town of Coxen Hole. Lots of shops all jammed together with people selling anything and everything. We even saw two sets of policia... they carry what looks like machine guns! We arrived back at Mahogany Beach at 6:00, tipped Tex and returned to the ship.

 

After showering, we headed for dinner. We ate with another family... a group of two parents and their grown daughter. We all ordered a different appetizer... Dad the potato soup, L the beef with noodles, me the wilted spinach and portabello salad, and G the fried mozarella sticks. Then we all had the lamb for dinner... delicious! During dinner we saw the waiter deliver a banana split to the next table. When they brought the dessert menu, there was no banana split on there so we asked. Apparently it's on the kids' menu (which we've never seen). So G ordered one plus a warm chocolate melting cake. L had a wcmc. I had bitter and blanc bread pudding with vanilla sauce. Dad had a banana split.

 

After dinner, L went to A's cabin to watch a movie. Dad, G, and I went to the magic show entitled “More than Magic.” During the second trick, he looked for a woman volunteer and Dad and G volunteered me! I helped him with a card trick and won a bottle of champagne. The show was good, with lots of comedy. Later while we walked around on the lido, I was carrying my champagne. Someone said, “Susan, right?... good job”. I'm famous!

 

Back to the room early 10:00 because we need to get to the tender early tomorrow in Belize. L came back and we watched Night of the Museum on tv.

 

 

Mahogany Bay from the ship

 

 

L and the monkeys. She was in love!

 

 

 

The dolphin bay at Anthony's Key. We just looked from the shore, but it looked like a really neat place to do a Dolphin Encounter. We could see them leaping out of the water!

 

 

West Bay beaches with beautiful, clean water. Those water toys were in front of Tabyana.

[TwoSue]

Day Six - Cozumel

 

We slept in again this morning, since we didn't need to be anywhere early. I woke up around 7:30 and we were still at sea. I read for a while and the next time I looked out, we were docked. Everyone didn't get up until around 10. Dad and I headed out for breakfast while G and L woke up. At another nearby dock was a Royal Caribbean Allure of the Seas, which was a huge ship with a rock-climbing wall on the back and a lot of balconies. As we were heading up for breakfast, the Carnival Conquest pulled up right beside us. That was pretty neat to see it head in.

 

After breakfast, we hemmed and hawed about what to do today. We were tired after all these adventures! We decided to go ahead and go to Paradise Beach. We packed up and headed out around 12, knowing we had to be back by 4:30. We grabbed an ice cream on the way down to the gangway, but then found out you had to actually eat the ice cream before you exited! We gobbled them down and got off. It was quite windy on the dock and we were wondering how the beach would be.

 

Cozumel had a much larger shopping/port area than the last few places we were. They actually did have some cheap t-shirts and stuff, but we walked by. After we got out of the port shops, Dad wanted to walk around a bit in real Cozumel. We barely walked out and had people yelling at us about buy this, buy that, so we headed back and caught a taxi. $13 for a trip to Paradise.

 

When we got to Paradise, about 10 miles away, we just walked right in. We tried to find someone to pay, and finally did. It was $12 to play with the water toys and $2 to use the chairs, pool, and bathroom. I had read that there was also a ten dollar minimum spending tab, but nobody mentioned it. I was glad about that, because I didn't want to spend $40 on food since we have so much food onboard! We put our stuff down and headed right out to the water toys and trampolines. Because of the wind, the water was not crystal clear at the shore. It took some effort to swim out to the toys because we were swimming against the waves. We had a great time climbing on the slides, trampolines, iceberg, and rock-it. We swam for a couple hours. Next, L got bonked in the nose and got a big bloody nose... I took her to the bar to ask for napkins and they gave us some sterile pads and a bag of ice. When you're walking around with blood running down your face, you definitely get attention! She was fine after a few minutes. She spent a little time jumping on the land trampoline with a girl named K that she met on the ship. G spent some time with another boy finding conch shells and coral under the water, but they weren't allowed to take them.

 

By 3:00, we knew we had had enough sun and should head back. We took a dip in the pool to rinse off.

We caught a taxi back to the port and were on by 3:45. We dropped off the backpack at the room and went straight to the Lido deck to eat. Everyone had a large snack and we decided to eat a late dinner. We walked around a bit and decided to go on the water slide. After the slide, we hit the hot tub. Not too much later, we were heading out to sea. We hopped out of the hot tub to wave goodbye to the other ships. It was neat to look straight across at the Conquest which was the exact same ship (no Serenity deck yet though). People were in their balconies waving.

 

G and L watched ping-pong for a while. Dad and I went down to take showers, and that's when we discovered we were really sunburned! We thought we had done a good job with the sunscreen, but apparently not good enough. We were doing so well until today! We had some time to kill before dinner, so I did some laundry. 26 minutes to wash one load ($3.00) and 99 minutes to dry (another $3.00). L ended up eating with her friend on the Lido deck and then going to Camp Carnival to watch Diary of a Wimpy Kid. She returned at 10:00. G, Dad, and I went to dinner after 8. For appetizers, Dad had tomato/mozzarella and chicken noodle soup, G had fried shrimp, and I had fried shrimp and cream of mushroom soup. For our entree, Dad and I had filet mignon, G had veal parmesan and penne. For dessert, G had apple pie and warm chocolate melting cake, Dad had a banana split and I had a chocolate/raspberry/vanilla cream cake. We had Churchill for our waiter again, which was nice. When the assistant maitre 'd came by, we asked about the chocolate buffet. It's tomorrow after lunch! We were done but asked Churchill if they were going to dance. He said in a few minutes so we waited to watch the last show. Very fun!

 

We came back to the room and put away laundry. Our towel animal was a cute monkey hanging from the lights! L came back. She wanted to go to the after-hours party (until 3:30 am) but we didn't want to spend money just to let her stay up. Good thing since she pooped out anyway. We headed over to watch Bingo in the Ivanhoe Theater. Right after Bingo was a show, so we decided to stay and watch. It was a soul singer who was excellent. After the show (11:30), we headed up to Lido to look at the late-night Mexican buffet. I couldn't believe people were eating again! L got some strawberry shortcake, but the rest of us couldn't eat. We were going to leave when we came across the deck party by the pool. Chris, G, and L joined a conga line of 176 people. We listened to one more song/dance, but the crowd was kind of wild and I thought I thought it would quickly deteriorate, so we decided to come back to the room. After midnight again!

 

 

 

The toys at Paradise Beach. We had lots of fun here and quite a workout doing all that swimming and climbing!

 

Sailing away from Cozumel. That's the Allure of the Seas on the left and the Conquest on the right. Check out the size difference!

 

The water at the port was this amazing color. I couldn't stop staring at it!

[New2Cruising24]

Thank you so much for taking the time to review! Excellent job!!

[TwoSue]

Thanks! I'm glad someone is reading and enjoying it. I learned so much from the reviews before our trip!

[TwoSue]

Day Seven - Fun Day at Sea

 

I was hoping to keep everyone busy with inside activities today to keep our sunburned skin out of the sun. There were lots of activities to do and L wanted to start at 9:30 with a towel folding demonstration. However, once morning came, she didn't want to get up! So Dad, G, and I went to the Ivanhoe Theater and learned how to fold towels while she slept. We made a dog, a rabbit, an elephant, a stingray, and a swan. Afterwards we came back to check on L but she was still asleep. So we moved on to TriBond Trivia at the Casino Stage. We won our first Ship on a Stick! Yahoo!

 

We then went to the American Lobby and learned how to do some magic tricks by Rakesh. Back to the cabin to check on L (11:30 now) and she was finally awake. We headed off to lunch – having skipped breakfast. We knew today was the “chocolate buffet” so we were ready! Dad and G started at the chocolate buffet, while I had a burrito and L found a taco bar. After eating dessert first, G had a burrito and Dad found some turkey. The chocolate bar had lots of candies and desserts, including chocolate milkshakes and a large chocolate fountain. We enjoyed chocolate-dunked doughnuts.

 

After lunch, we watched the ice-carving demonstration and then a round of mini-golf. It was a little easier to control today with slightly less wind. Then it was off to Turbo Trivia in the Ivanhoe at 2:15. We didn't do so well at that one, but stayed for the Country Dance Lesson. G, L, A and I got up on stage with a bunch of other people and learned a line dance from one of the Valor dancers while Dad took pictures. We caught on pretty quickly, but it was tricky in flip-flops and tiring under the lights! By the end, the theater was filling with people for Bingo, so we performed for an audience.

 

After that, we quickly headed over to the Washington Dining Room for a tour of the galley. The maitre 'd talked for a while about how much food is used each week. Pretty amazing huge numbers! Then we walked through the galley, stopping to admire stacks of chocolate melting cakes. After that, L and A headed off to A's room while the other three of us headed back out to the Lido deck to watch the afternoon show, which wasn't very exciting. We had some chips and salsa while Dad took a nap sitting straight up. When the show was done, I headed back to the room to take a real nap. G and Dad played ping pong and basketball. We all met up back at 6:00 for dinner.

 

Dinner service was slow again tonight. For appetizers, L had caesar salad, G had crab cakes, Dad had fruit plate, and I had crab cakes and a grilled portobello mushroom. For the main course, L, Dad, and I had prime rib, and G had panko-crusted fried shrimp and cornish game hen. For dessert, Dad had cappucino pie, everyone else had warm chocolate cake and L had strawberry jello with hers. The waiters sang “Leaving on a Fun Ship.”

 

Unfortunately, dinner took so long that we missed the 7:30 family comedy show. L went back to camp and the other three of us went to the 8:30 comedy show. We giggled our way through that and then went to see “Beat the Hosts” game show. Afterwards, Dad and I went to the adults comedy show which was filled with four-letter words but wasn't that funny.

 

At 10:30, I began packing. I did a sloppy job packing, but we'll rearrange after more laundry tomorrow at the Hampton Inn. At 11:45 pm, G and Dad went to take in one more magic show and get some hot chocolate. Nobody got to bed until 1am!

 

 

Our steward helping G with the towel-folding class

 

 

Mini-golf on the very top deck

 

 

A tray of warm chocolate melting cakes on the galley tour

[TwoSue]

Debarkation

 

I really didn't have a clear understanding of the debarkation process. We could have easily taken our own luggage, but the time for self-assist on our deck was 7:30 and I didn't want to have to get up early and eat breakfast and try to get everybody out by then. Our zone's time was supposedly 9:30, so we decided to pack the bags the night before and do that. Now I realize that we could have used self-assist anytime after they called our deck, which was about 8:30. But instead, we had a leisurely breakfast and hung around until they called our zone at 10:15. Headed down to get luggage, go through customs, hit the sidewalk at 10:45.

 

We didn't have a plan for picking up the rental car at the airport. Even though we had reserved through Budget, Dad hopped on an Alamo shuttle and we agreed to wait, thinking it would take him an hour. 1 hour and 45 minutes later, he finally showed up with the car. Luckily, we were so relaxed from the cruise we didn't care. Nobody was stressed.

 

We spent five more days in Southern Florida, exploring the Everglades and the Keys. Afterwards, all four of us agreed that our first cruise was the best vacation we've ever had (and we've taken some pretty cool trips!). I'm hoping that we'll cruise again in the future. Thanks for everyone's help and advice on Cruise Critic!!

[Dirkgun]

Thanks so much, this is a geat review. We are on the Valor at the end of May for our son and a few friends High School Graduation Cruise. We can hardly wait. Reviews are great they make you relive the trip all over again, while you choose the pictures and tell the stories. Thanks for taking the time to do it.

[luvtravel38]

I really enjoyed your review it brought back memories of my time on the Valor almost 2 years ago. I have a question not related to your cruise but a comment you made a few times. You mention that the snorkeling and fish are better in Hawaii. Can you tell me what islands you visited and where you found great snorkeling. Thanks