Carnival Valor--tell All Thread !!!!

[Susky]

Yep, it's Thursday (Grand Cayman day). I was quite thankful I had the late seating that day, because getting back and ready would have been a little too stressful.

[ladycaveat]

Two years ago when I booked my Destiny cruise, the Destiny-Past, Present and Future Thread (which is still going strong) was so full of helpful information and reviews that my Destiny cruise went off without a hitch and we had the best time ever, thanks to all the information given.

Now since we have booked a cruise on the Valor for next year, I would like to start a Valor thread. So please post your Reviews, questions and any other helpful hints here so that we can all find the information in one place. If you are a future cruiser, please feel free to let us all know when you are sailing, so we can say BON VOYAGE and then when you return, please post your REVIEW!!!!

ME AND HUBBY AND ANOTHER COUPLE ARE SAILING APRIL 23, 2006.......

Thanks

ToniH

 

Oh my goodness . . . I just booked the Valor today . . . for April 23, 2006. Can't believe I've already found someone that I'll be cruising with. Toni . . . hope you get lots of replies to this thread and look forward to meeting you in April . . . Tammy

[luckydogone]

Hope this helps out, we had a great time on the Western cruise. Can't say enough abiut it, hope your is as enjoyable as ours was.

 

Pictures of the Valor and of some of the places we went during our shore excursions

http://community.webshots.com/user/luckydogone

 

My review of the Valor during July 10th sailing

http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=11982

[Eliot Ness]

Hope this helps out, we had a great time on the Western cruise. Can't say enough abiut it, hope your is as enjoyable as ours was.

 

Pictures of the Valor and of some of the places we went during our shore excursions

http://community.webshots.com/user/luckydogone

 

My review of the Valor during July 10th sailing

http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=11982

Great PICS and a nice review, thanks for sharing!

 

For anyone else going on the Valor (Western) here is a site with some great videos:

 

http://www.gatorclaw.com/voyageofvalor

 

John

[kelz66]

I was just on the Victory and thought the food was great, and had no problems avoiding the long lines....there was plenty of choices for places to eat and there is always room service.

 

Aren't the Victory & Valor similar ships? And shouldn't the food on These ships be the same? I mean they are the same cruise line, both leave from Miami, and should be getting thier supplies from the same place. Are those people complaining just a isolated incidents?

[Susky]

Pictures of the Valor and of some of the places we went during our shore excursions

http://community.webshots.com/user/luckydogone

 

Thanks for the pics...<sigh>. Seems like a lifetime ago.

[jerick]

I was just on the Victory and thought the food was great, and had no problems avoiding the long lines....there was plenty of choices for places to eat and there is always room service.

 

Aren't the Victory & Valor similar ships? And shouldn't the food on These ships be the same? I mean they are the same cruise line, both leave from Miami, and should be getting thier supplies from the same place. Are those people complaining just a isolated incidents?

 

I was on the Valor recently, and my experience and opinion is probably similar to yours. The food was great and the lines, for the most part, were short or easily avoided. You are always going to have differences of opinion. Also, people go in with different sets of expectations. Some people also get hung up on a single negative instance and let it color their entire experience.

I'm guessing that there was someone on your cruise that hated the food on the Victory. There may also have been someone who has decided, based on their experience on your same cruise, that they will never cruise on that ship or with Carnival again. It is also possible that with any large number of people, SOMEONE had a week in which everything that could go wrong did go wrong, and that could also be a factor.

 

That being said, I do try to weigh positive AND negative comments to get an overall feel for the quality of a cruise (or anything else for that matter), because even though the cruise line, source of food, etc., are the same, the crew is different, the Captain, chef, cruise director, etc. are different, the ship is different in many ways, and the itinerary may be different.

 

I hope this helps.

 

Jeff

[kelz66]

Thanks Jeff! That was what I thought. It just seemed that nobody was posting anything good on this thread...LOL

 

If all goes well and my wife gets her vacation schedule cleared we will be booking next week for the western itinerary in May!!:D

[KMSCRUISER]

Great PICS and a nice review, thanks for sharing!

 

For anyone else going on the Valor (Western) here is a site with some great videos:

 

http://www.gatorclaw.com/voyageofvalor

 

John

 

Where was this shore excursion with the Dolphins? We have been looking for something like that. We want to actually swim & ride with the dolphins. This video was awesome!

If someone can email me I would really appreciate it. kristinmcnicol@aol.com - Cruising on the Valor 10/16/05!

[Jakes_wife_63]

we are honeymooning . we just booked cave tubing in belize. we want to do stingrays in grand cayman.

 

any suggestions?

 

Email me at jakes_wife_63@yahoo.com:p

[MRSHONEYBUNNY]

September 4th 2005:

 

Embarkation took 1 hour from the time we arrived at port of Miami to actually walking into the ship. We went straight to our room (7368) to drop off out formal wear since we had decided to carry it on just in case (there was 1 case of someone losing their luggage for the entire trip) WE WERE UPGRADED!!! We got a balcony room when we paid for interior room! Anyway from there we just decided to just walk around and then went to the muster drill which wasn’t bad at all. After the Muster drill went back to our room to watch Miami get smaller and smaller. We ended up with the 6:15p dinner in the Lincoln dinning room (we had requested the late dinner but had to be bumped up for a convention that was going on that wanted to late seating) where we met Marlene and Victor a couple who was celebrating their 1 year anniversary. We got along great! We were super lucky to

 

September 5th: Fun at Sea

 

 

1st day at sea we just decided to walk around the ship and see everything that there is to do. We ended up signing up for the Auction and for every day you go you get a free piece of art which I loved!! We just hung out around the ship then had to go get ready for formal night which we nice. The dinner in the Lincoln was good. Angel had the lobster which I HATED!! But all the other dishes were great since 1st they gave me the wrong order which was some kind of fish…very very good!!! The next was to tour of Japan or something which was ok but I liked the 1st one better. Anyway we ended our night in the Karaoke bar like always except this night DH decided to sing…too too funny!!

 

 

September 6th: Belize: Cave Tubing & Rainforest Exploration

 

Tendering was not bad, since we booked through carnival it wasn’t a big deal. From the port we had to get on a bus that took us to a rest stop where people changed into bathing suits and rented water shoes. Then the fun began…. The hiking was a lot but once you get to the top you get to go into the caves and that was nice. Very relaxing but not really much fun if you’re looking for some rapids or something like that, we had in Jamaica for our honeymoon. I think this was our least favorite excursion. Anyway they took us back to the rest stop and gave us lunch.

 

September 7th: Isla Roatan, Honduras:

 

No tendering!!! We were on a tight budget and didn’t really like anything so we just ended up going to the port shopping and back on the ship for our 3pm Couples Massage which was very nice but I’ve had better and don’t think I will be using the spa on any future cruise for more than maybe 1 massage (we did 1 couples and on Friday we did hot stone massage) after the massage they try to sell you a bunch of stuff which we bought all but then ended up returning since they were so expensive. This night we ended up at Carnival Valor’s Supper Club Scarletts. AWSOME!!!! DH had the lobster bisc & 24 oz porter house steak and I had the crab cakes and the surf and turf which was the best meal I’ve ever had in my life!!!! </p>

 

 

September 8th: Grand Cayman: Snorkeling and Stingray Safari

 

2nd and last Tender Port. We booked this excursion through Carnival as well. The only part I didn’t like was the walking from the port all the way back to where the busses were. But other than that it was our favorite excursion!! On the bus we were oriented to the area then we had to get on a boat out to the sandbar where the stingrays were. The only bad thing was we forgot the sunscreen and we got toasted!!! When I was told that kissing a stingray was good luck we gave the stingrays like 6 kisses lol. Anyway one of the tour guides took a camera and for $20 we got all our pictures with the stingrays we wanted although she said she usually only lets you get 3 or4 pictures. After a good 45 minutes we went Snorkeling which wasn’t a big deal at all. We just spent our time taking pics of each other. It was not the best area to see the coral reefs…but it was better than nothing. After we got back to port we did some shopping and then back to the ship to get ready for the 2nd formal night. I can’t complain food was always great!!!!

 

September 9th: Cozumel Mexico: XCaret

 

We woke up at 6:30am for our 7a, Hot Stone Massages (be careful with this because if you have to postpone or cancel they only let you do it 1 x or they will charge 50% which they did not tell us about.) after that we did our first trip to Rosies for buffet breakfast which was great. When we got to port we had to take a boat from Cozmel to the mainland. Once at Xcaret we were told we would only be there from 1:30-5:30p there is no way to do much with only 4 hours. DH refused to go to the underground river since it’s below 60 degrees and we had done the cave tubing so we just went straight to the aquarium, turtle farm, snorkel area (be prepared to pay $10pp for gear) and then saw the pumas and leopards. Then we went to the butterfly aviary and then just ate lunch at a nice restaurant el mexicano. That’s all we had to time to do!!! Then back to port and we found my beautiful wedding band for work ( I have my regular one that goes with my engagement ring but it gets caught on my gloves at work) we got it for $240 when on the ship it was $400 so I was happy. That night we didn’t have any time to have dinner on the ship so we went to the midnight buffet that was good. PSA: Turn your clocks 1 hour forward when you get back on the ship!!!!

 

September 10th: Fun at Sea

 

Another day to just relax we were extremely tired so we slept in and then went by the auction and got another free piece of art. I finally go around to go to the pool for about 1 hour and we missed our early seating so we just went to the late dinner at 9pm when the maitre’ d knew what tables were available for the 8:30p seating. You can do that every night.

 

September 11th: Disembarkation

 

We had joined the Carnival Vacation club the day before and told that if we meet up in the disco at 8:30a we would be the 1st off but if we didn’t we could still get off first. Well we decided to have breakfast with Marlene and victor our table mates and missed the 8:30 meeting and ended up being able to skip the line on the ship but not the one at port so it still took us at least 1 hour when it would of taken like 2 hours so all in all it wasn’t that bad.

 

Pictures:

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8AcuGLRk1btWXH

 

Gretel

[sunrise&set]

We are going on the Valor President's week 2006. Dh and I, 3 kids (17, 15 and 12) and my parents. I am so glad I found this thread! Great reviews with just a few negatives that certainly don't outweigh all the positives.

We have a 9A booked and my kids are across the hall. My parents are down the hall in an aft facing cabin.

 

Eliot Ness - I have only watched one of the videos so far - looking forward to watching more of them!

 

Dolphins - We swam with the dolphins in Cozumel in Chankanaab Park 2 years ago with the kids - best experience on any of our cruises!

 

Looking forward to the 80's show - I'm still an 80's fan! My daughters will love it too.

 

I'm pretty much decided on Excursions, need to start getting in touch with the private tours. Any suggestions for Roatan?? In Cozumel, plan to go snorkeling then to Paradise Beach. In Grand Cayman - we'll try the Stingrays again - last 2 times we went the water was too rough. Belize - we'll probably try the cave tubing.

 

Dawn

[ToniH]

Hi Tammy--Looking forward to the cruise and meeting you also. April seems so far away and yet it's almost the Holidays. I'm sure the time will pass quickly. Especially if I keep reading these boards. There will be 6 in our group--DH and I, SIL's and friends. Maybe we can set up a place to meet on the first day.....

When the Valor first sailed there were so many problems with getting off the ship at St. Thomas due to customs. Can someone please comment on that part of the cruise? It seems like it was taking hours and if you didn't have an excursion booked, you were the last to get off. Any comments are appreciated.

Toni

[I'mReadytoSail]

Toni and Tammy - I just booked the 4/23/06 cruise on the Valor. Thanks for starting this thread, Toni. It'll just be me and my dh. We've been on 3 Carnival cruises and sailed last year on Princess for the first time. Hope to meet the both of you in April.

 

 

Denise

[Kubet]

Toni,

We sailed the Valor 9/25-10/02 to the Eastern Caribbean. You will love this cruise, the ship, and the employees. They are very well organized and I was surprised that with over 3,000 guests that we rarely had to wait in a line for anything and if there was a line it moved along quickly. With that being said, Immigration in St. Thomas was a breeze. We arrived around 9am and were off the ship by 10:45. It could have been earlier, bu we were not in rush. They do have everyone with early excursions meet in one area and process them first, then the rest of the guests went to the Eagles Lounge to show identification to the Immigration Officer. You move into another lounge area and recieve a sticker with your name on it, and then off the boat you go. It took less than ten minutes. Have a great cruise, relax and enjoy.

[funinthsun]

Thanks for all of the good information about the Valor. We are booked for New Year's Day to Eastern Carribbean.

Any information that you may want to share regarding this huge ship would be greatly appreciated. The size is a little intimidating for me, but I'm sure I'll get over it once on board. We have requested the 6:15 seating. Which Dining Room is that in?

Thanks in advance for any "tips":D

[funinthsun]

don't know if it posted, sorry if it's twice

[lynyrd]

Toni,

We sailed the Valor 9/25-10/02 to the Eastern Caribbean. You will love this cruise, the ship, and the employees. They are very well organized and I was surprised that with over 3,000 guests that we rarely had to wait in a line for anything and if there was a line it moved along quickly. With that being said, Immigration in St. Thomas was a breeze. We arrived around 9am and were off the ship by 10:45. It could have been earlier, bu we were not in rush. They do have everyone with early excursions meet in one area and process them first, then the rest of the guests went to the Eagles Lounge to show identification to the Immigration Officer. You move into another lounge area and recieve a sticker with your name on it, and then off the boat you go. It took less than ten minutes. Have a great cruise, relax and enjoy.

 

 

 

We were on the sailing also. This was our first cruise. I had the time of my life. All the nightmare stories of long endless lines I have heard were so untrue.

 

Embarkation = less the 45 minutes

 

Immigration = 10 minutes (at the most)

 

Debarkation = 1 hr (we had a post-cruise excursion booked) This included the time we had to sit and wait in Winstons for everyone to show up.

 

If anyone has any questions I will try to answer them.

[lynyrd]

If you have a 6:15 seating time it should be in the Lincoln dinning room.

[augie]

I've just heard from my TA that Carnival will be switching the port days of Belize( from Tuesday to Thursday) and Grand Cayman, ostensibly to give us more time in port.

 

I'm not sure if that will apply to all future sailings (we're on the January 22, 2006 one) or when it's supposed to take effect.

 

When our final payment is made I'm supposed to receive an updated itinerary.

 

Right now the Carnival web site shows the same itinerary as before.

[augie]

Sorry - I didn't realize that this was old news - I just found out today.

 

:(

[tarababy18]

i started to read these posts and realized that i should be doing my school work, but i wanted to thank all in advanced for the info.

 

my bf and i are looking to cruise again and i'm not sure which ship/itineray we/i want to do... so i'm looking for all the info and reviews i can get...

 

i'll post if i have any questions :)

[PA Dutchman]

We are on the Valor 11/06/2005,:D We have also learned that a cruise is what you make of it,;) we know what to expect, and everything will not be perfect but we live with it, and have a good time, life is to short to be complaining about everything,:rolleyes: We look at it this way when you cruise you have to put up with the good the bad and the ugly.:) :cool:

[Starz723]

Hi everyone..Im sailing the Valor on July 9, 2006..weeee I cant wait

 

Do they have Talent show, like on the Carnival Legend..

 

Im so excited about this cruise!!!!

[lynyrd]

Hi everyone..Im sailing the Valor on July 9, 2006..weeee I cant wait

 

Do they have Talent show, like on the Carnival Legend..

 

Im so excited about this cruise!!!!

 

They had what they call "Valor Idol" (singers only). They held auditions for it in the kereoke(sp) bar a couple of nights before the show, which was on Saturday night.

 

They didn't have any kind of theme nights to speak of on the ship. The Disco had a couple of theme nights as far as dance music goes.