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My Awesome Valor Cruise review 08/21-08/28/11

MzShelle2U

By MzShelle2U,
in Carnival Cruise Lines

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MzShelle2U

MzShelle2U

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Okay…This is my first attempt at a ship review. I went on the Legend last year and never got around to writing a review because I was new to the boards. This is my second cruise. This time we tried the Valor. My DH and I were invited on a group cruise by his best friend. Of course we couldn’t say no to a cruise. I took time out during my cruise to keep a review of everything that I did, saw and ate. It took me some time to get around to writing this review because my grandpa passed away and I’ve been just keeping to myself. I’ve decided to write the review because I love checking up on reviews and photo’s on CC. I figured that writing this review and also reliving this trip would help cheer me up. Okay, so I hope that you all enjoy this review with pictures as much as I enjoyed the trip. Here we go….

Carnival Valor: Western Caribbean 08-21-2011

August 20th, 2011 – Saturday New York to Miami

I could barely sleep from the previous day’s events. My sister had just had my 3rd nephew on the 19th which also happens to be my father’s birthday. So this morning when the alarm went off at 5:30am I quickly jumped out of bed. I went to wake up the kiddies and get them ready for my mother-in-laws house. Surprisingly, my DH was up and out of bed at the same time. Normally he lollygags but today he was moving just as fast as me. We headed downstairs at 6:50am to start getting in the car. We got to my MIL’s house about 7:10am and stayed for a few minutes to give our hugs and kisses. My MIL, DH and I then jumped in the car and headed to LaGuardia Airport. We arrived around 8:00am and again we gave hug and kisses. We entered the airport and were shocked to see how crowded it was. We took American Airlines which my DH refers to Sardine Airlines. We checked in which we had already done online the day before but was told to do it again at the kiosk. Then we were told to wait on line to drop our bags off. Next was making it through the security check points. By the time we made it to our gate it was about 9:00am. We didn’t care. We were officially on vacation and we would be arriving in Miami.

We touched down at 12:45pm. Flight went by smoothly. It was our first time in Miami so we were extremely excited. Of course I had to do a little dance and I started singing “Miami” by Will Smith. My DH said that I was so “cheesy” so I stopped and went to the baggage claim area. After taking escalators up and down, then a tram and another escalator, we found the baggage claim area. After collecting our bags, we then made our way outside to catch a taxi and head over to the Holiday Inn: Port of Miami. The cab ride over cost us $26.50. I gave him $30.00 and made our way into the hotel. We arrived about 1:30pm and were allowed to check into our room early which was great. The receptionist was extremely nice and very helpful about what to do around the area. The overall appearance of the hotel was very nice for the price that we paid. My DH wanted a suite, which I thought made no sense because we were only there for one night. There was a restaurant, a fitness center, pool and a little sitting area. There’s also a kiosk where you can book tours at “cheaper” prices than the actual company. We stopped to pick up a Miami tourism book and were quickly approached by the man from the kiosk. He told us to book with them to get the cheapest rate and was kind of pushy. We said “okay” and jumped on the elevator to our room. We got to our room and found it hard to open the door with the keys. We tried a few times then we were able to get in. The room was extremely nice. The bathroom, carpet, bedding, fridge, furniture were all clean and to my liking. My favorite thing about this room was the view of the Bayside Market place and the Port of Miami. We were able to see the American Airlines Arena where the Miami Heat plays. I also was able to spot a Carnival Ship in port that day. I became very excited because we would be boarding a ship in less than 24 hours. I just so happened to glance down and look behind the couch. I could tell that no one had cleaned behind the couch prior to our arrival. There were half eaten cookies and rice cakes back there.

After freshening up, we decided to check out Bayside Market place. We didn’t really want to check out South Beach and once we crossed the street to Bayside, there was really no need for us to go anywhere else. Bayside had tons of clothing stores, little kiosks where you can buy little souvenirs and a few little eateries. We stopped to check out the huge Banyan tree which was right in the front of the Market area. We looked around by the water and decided to take a speed boat tour since we had a coupon. We picked The Thriller speed boat tour which was $35 per person for a 45 minute tour. We found a $5 off coupon in the Miami tourism book which was an extra bonus. *By the way, booking through the company itself rather than the hotel, ended up being cheaper. We were happy that we waited and compared prices.* Once we booked the tour we walked back up the stairs and decided to eat at The Latin American Café. We found our own seats and waited for a waitress. We looked at the menu and waited again for the waitress to come take our order. I ordered a Cuban Special (ham, roast pork, turkey, pickles and Swiss on Cuban bread) which came with plantain chips and a Coke. DH ordered a Miami sandwich (bacon, ham, turkey, Swiss, lettuce, tomatoes and mayo) and a coke. He said that his sandwich was “pure deliciousness”. He later admitted that my sandwich was way better and he wished that he had ordered it. I agreed that my sandwich was awesome.

After lunch, we made our way down the stairs to the boat tour. By this time everyone had started to line up for the tour and it had gotten very hot. We couldn’t wait to get on the boat to cool down. We were allowed to board the boat and I took a “window seat”, although there were no windows. We were given quick instructions about staying seated and about the life vests. Then we were on our way. It moved slowly at first because there were other boats in the area as well as jet skiers. Once we made it into open water the tour really began. It was so much fun. When we hit the waves it made the water splash up into the boat. I am so glad that I bought a water proof camera because I would have been in trouble. We took a tour of “Star Island” and we saw the beautiful waterfront mansions. We saws homes owned by Gloria Estefan, Naomi Campbell, Ricky Martin and the inventor of ******. We also saw the home where they filmed Bad Boys 2 and Scarface. We then rode past South Beach and just enjoyed the view and the breeze. Sadly, the tour came to an end. The tour guide was extremely funny and he looked a little like Adam Sandler. Once off the boat we stopped at the 4D Gelateria. We shared an Oreo and tiramisu gelato. It came out to $8 and that was a small. We laughed at the price but enjoyed it and just kept reciting “we’re on vacation”.

We went back to our room to freshen up yet again because it was rather humid. Then we decided to go to the CVS down the street to get our sodas for the trip. We wanted to store them in the fridge so that they would be cold by the time we boarded the ship. We went back to our room and hung around for a while before dinner. We caught up on some Jersey Shore and just relaxed. About 8:00, we crossed over to Bayside and went to Bubba Gump for dinner. I ordered the steamed mussel appetizer and DH had the calamari. The mussels were great but the calamari was fried too hard. The DH agreed. After dinner we walked through the Market Place. We saw one of the venders trying to get people to take pictures with his parakeets. My DH said “no” to the parakeets but wanted to take a picture with the baby gator that was in one of the tanks. I agreed as long as he didn’t try to talk me in to taking a picture with either of the snakes that were in another tank. I was a bit nervous but I nervously held the tail and the photographer snapped the picture. $20 to the vendor and we were on our way. By the way, it felt like a soft leather jacket. We decided to stand on the waterfront and listen to the music and enjoy the nightlife. Every evening they play live music. We watched the party boats get people on board and then head out. They didn’t look that fun but I guess it depends on the person. The highlight of our evening was seeing the dolphins swimming around near the boats. Around 10:00pm, we decided to head back to the room and call it a night. We both agreed that Miami was a blast and we would love to come back and stay in that area again.

 

Our room at the Holiday Inn: Port of Miami

 

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MzShelle2U

MzShelle2U

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The view from our room was wonderful!

 

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The Carnival Liberty was in port that day

 

 

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The American Airlines Arena: Home of the Miami Heat

 

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Heading out to Bayside

 

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Bayside Marketplace

 

 

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MzShelle2U

MzShelle2U

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August 21st, 2011 – Sunday/Leaving Miami

This was it! The morning that we’ve been waiting over 7 months for was finally here. I woke up around 7:30am and the first thing I did was run to the window to see if I could see our ship. There she was waiting patiently for our arrival, The Carnival Valor. I immediately jumped on the bed and told my DH to wake up. We both showered and packed up so that we could head back to CVS for some last minute things (a notepad, water and Blistex). We headed back to the room grabbed our bags and check out by 9:15am. We hailed a taxi which was waiting right across the street from the hotel and made our way to the cruise terminal.

 

When we arrived we paid our cab driver $10 although the cab ride cost $8. The porter met us curbside and we handed 3 of our bags over to him and tipped him. We kept our carry on size rolling luggage with us because we had soda in there. We were then pointed in toward the check in line. There was no one there, maybe 2 other families in front of us. Once through we went through the security check point where they opened my luggage to check my sodas. They didn’t even open the case to check thoroughly like most people say they are now doing. Either way, I am not a “smuggler”. We made our way up the escalator and were greeted with a “Zone 1” card. Yes! Zone 1 again, 2nd year in a row. Woo Hoo! We then went to a kiosk and checked ourselves in. It was pretty easy. Next step was to go to the counter and get our Sail & Sign cards. So we sat down and waited. We played quite a few games of Crazy 8’s and people watch. We watched the room slowly fill up with fellow cruisers and some people were still coming off of the ship. I was extremely excited. They passed around a note to all cruisers about the tropical storm which later became hurricane Irene. Around 11:30am they started letting people onboard. We saw a small group of either VIP’s or a wedding party board. Then they called Zone 1. We walked over to the line and made our way up the escalator. We snapped our embarkation photos and then zigged and zagged our way onto the ship. Once we stepped on the ship we waited in another short line to take our Sail & Sign photos then we headed to the Lido deck for lunch.

 

Lunch was pretty good. We chose to eat Italian and drank some lemonade. DH just couldn’t wait to have his Fun Ship Special. We made our phone calls home and sat for a while before walking to check out the ship. We ended up in the Ivanhoe Theater where we sat and played cards. We watched a mother who was so focused on learning how the use her new camera, that she didn’t see her children jumping all over the theater. They were all over the place. They were lying under the seats, climbing in the windows, just running back and forth. What did we think? Who cares “were on vacation”? This was our motto for the entire vacation. About 1:30pm we headed to our room. We had room 6383. They had not announced it but we decided to check for ourselves and get settled in. When we got to our floor, the doors we still closed. We decided to just wait and see if they’d come to open the door. While waiting, there was another family with 3 small children. The mother was in a daze and the father was just standing there looking at the wall. One of their children, a little girl, came over and repeatedly kicked my husband in the leg. He immediately turned to me and said “they don’t see this?” Their other child almost got her hand slammed in the door when she tried to run through as someone else was going through. Still, the little girl kicked my husband and the father only called her away once they decided to just go to their room. We followed decided to just go to our room and get settled in.

Once there we noticed that our bags had not arrived. We just hung around the room and checked out the balcony. They started to make the announcements and our bags still had not come. My DH was getting nervous because he loves his sneakers and they were one of the bags that we gave to the porter. Now it was time for the safety drill. After the safety drill we headed to the sail away party and we were on our way. By the time we made it upstairs, we had already begun to move and start to make the U-turn in the little waterway.

 

As we made our way down the waterway, we waved to people in their cars and they waved back. We also got a beautiful view of South Beach and the condos. We went down to join the deck party and we happened to bump into my DH’s best friend. We said “hello” and then watched everyone do the normal group dances (Electric Slide, Cha-Cha Slide, Cupid Shuffle, The Wobble, etc.). We then went back to our room because my DH wanted to check the bags. The luggage had arrived so we quickly unpacked and got situated. Then we walked around for a bit before going to the liquor tasting. When we arrived at the liquor tasting the line was extremely long. We could barely hear what the clerk was saying. We were allowed to try 1 or 2 things. I tried the Amarullo (I believe that’s what it’s called). It tasted like coffee with lots of cream. Not bad! I didn’t try anything else.

 

It was time for dinner and we had 8:15pm dining, so we made our way to the Washington Dining Room lower lever. Our table was 307 and my server was Taisiana. She was extremely nice and very friendly. On the first night we arrived earlier than the other people in our group. We had ordered already not knowing if anyone else was coming but she held our food back so that we could eat with everyone else in our group. There are no pictures of food from this night but I did have a chicken tender appetizer, side salad, the beef brisket (which was tender) and the crème brulee. DH had the same but opted for the WCMC. After dinner, we went to watch karaoke in the Eagles Lounge for a bit. It was rather boring so we walked out into the hallway and went into the lounge next door to listen to some salsa music. Of course, DH didn’t want to dance so we made a quick stop in the One Small Step Dance Club to see what they had to offer. Nothing much going on so we went back to our room and decided to order a late snack from room service. Tonight’s towel animal was a dog. We also met our room steward Rodel who was extremely friendly. I ordered a Reuben and a slice of chocolate cake. The Reuben was delicious. The cake was too rich for me. I took a shower and hit the sack.

 

 

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nathand95

nathand95

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Great review so far! I love your pictures and how detailed you are. It brings back such good memories. I can't wait to read more! I am also very sorry to hear about your loss.

One more thing, do you have a website for the boat tour? It looked like so much fun!

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MzShelle2U

MzShelle2U

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Great review so far! I love your pictures and how detailed you are. It brings back such good memories. I can't wait to read more! I am also very sorry to hear about your loss.

One more thing, do you have a website for the boat tour? It looked like so much fun!

 

Thank you for your condolences.

 

I am glad that you are enjoying the review. Here's the link to that you requested: http://www.thrillermiami.com/

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