Review of Valor 5/29/2005

[SunFunCruiser]

1. There is a small sign in the terminal that says "Funpass this way" either due to the crowd you missed it or they failed to put it up. Thats the way you go, you dont have to wait in long lines, We alway go straight through after running our carry ons through security and the xray machines.:confused:

.

 

 

Okay, so can you ask for that line? Did anyone try asking whre is the "Fun Pass" line?

[Joedog]

I can sum up in one word why everone flocks to the ship early...... FOOD! You have to start eating early if you want to get your money's worth. Who wants to show up to an "all you can eat" buffet 15 minutes before it closes.

 

I am paying for 21 meals plus snacks and that's what I want. Not 20...and heaven forbid.....never 19. The thought makes my stomach growl in pained protest.

 

We are flying in the day before just so we can get to the ship early and perhaps somehow get aboard early enough to have breakfast on embarkation day. Now wouldnt that be something...22 meals.

 

 

44 days and a wake up!

[dms_cruisers04]

It's obvoius that there were many CCers on this cruise, wouldn't it be constructive for those planning on commenting here later to get together the last day/night of a cruise and compare notes and develop a consolidated & agreed to review? Instead of battling it out here. It would carry a lot more weight, everybody could talk their personal ups and downs and the review would be more balanced and not (as always) turn into a snip fest. Every one of these type threads end up with comments like; I have a right to my opinion, I'm not talking to you, you have no right to say that, you weren't there, you just like to be-little, shame on you, its on record that you don't like carnival, that's not want I meant, you don't know me, pot calling the kettle black, etc.?

Okay, I'll save everyone the trouble of writing up most of your review later. Just cut, insert and paste after your next cruise:

 

HI! Just back from _____ (insert ship name here). Having spoken with my fellow CCers that were onboard it has been decided that everything was average. Have great cruise when you go on ____ (insert ship name again) too. Bon Voyage!

 

Imagine the writing and reading time it will save.

[K.T.B.]

Okay, I'll save everyone the trouble of writing up most of your review later. Just cut, insert and paste after your next cruise:

 

HI! Just back from _____ (insert ship name here). Having spoken with my fellow CCers that were onboard it has been decided that everything was average. Have great cruise when you go on ____ (insert ship name again) too. Bon Voyage!

 

Imagine the writing and reading time it will save.

You need to trademark that and make some money off of it..... :D

[dms_cruisers04]

You need to trademark that and make some money off of it..... :D

Note to self: Contact US Patent office in morning. :p

[sugar n spice]

Review of the Carnival Valor May 29, 2005

 

vacationaddict,

 

Thank you.

[sotadragon]

I can sum up in one word why everone flocks to the ship early...... FOOD! You have to start eating early if you want to get your money's worth. Who wants to show up to an "all you can eat" buffet 15 minutes before it closes.

 

I am paying for 21 meals plus snacks and that's what I want. Not 20...and heaven forbid.....never 19. The thought makes my stomach growl in pained protest.

 

We are flying in the day before just so we can get to the ship early and perhaps somehow get aboard early enough to have breakfast on embarkation day. Now wouldnt that be something...22 meals.

 

 

44 days and a wake up!

It's funny because it's TRUE! :D I know that a lot of people really do go on a cruise for the different dining experiences and I do enjoy the food, I just try not to make that my main focus (If I let myself do that they'd have to roll me off the ship :p ).

[big_duck]

I can sum up in one word why everone flocks to the ship early...... FOOD! You have to start eating early if you want to get your money's worth. Who wants to show up to an "all you can eat" buffet 15 minutes before it closes.

 

I am paying for 21 meals plus snacks and that's what I want. Not 20...and heaven forbid.....never 19. The thought makes my stomach growl in pained protest.

 

We are flying in the day before just so we can get to the ship early and perhaps somehow get aboard early enough to have breakfast on embarkation day. Now wouldnt that be something...22 meals.

 

 

44 days and a wake up!

 

7 Day cruise and eating only 21 meals? I admire your restraint. :p

[halos]

I can sum up in one word why everone flocks to the ship early...... FOOD!

 

I think everyone starts off their vacation week as early as possible. If you're taking a cruise for that vacation it just means deadlock at the port...LOL!! I don't think everyone is ravenous for goodness sake, although it's nice that you enjoy your cruise food that much that you want to get a jump start!! ;)

I think people are just anxious to start their week and get away from life for a while......at least, that's why when the alarm bell goes off on cruise embarkation morning in my house, everyone gets up quickly with a smile..instead of hitting the snooze button 6 times!! :D

[K.T.B.]

7 Day cruise and eating only 21 meals? I admire your restraint. :p

Well, each meal lasts approximately 2.45 hours..... Depending on wind resistance, number of little critters, er, children milling about, etc.

 

:D

[dms_cruisers04]

Well, each meal lasts approximately 2.45 hours..... Depending on wind resistance, number of little critters, er, children milling about, etc.

 

:D

Put the calculator down and step away slowly. :eek:

[frigid_B]

I think LindaJSteele's review was right on. My wife and I had a wonderful time, so much so that we had serious withdrawals afterwards. Maybe it was the time we spent together that made us overcome the negatives. We certainly didn't sweat the little stuff. Maybe it was that I didn't set high expectations. (It's like my view of the movie Sideways; everyone said it was good, but when I finally saw it I probably expected too much because in the end I thought it sucked).

 

Here's my review for what it's worth...

 

Embark/Debark: Horrible, as everyone mentioned. Even with 3000 people, there's a huge window of time. Just horrible, including the transfer from the airport. The skinny: Get there early, and have all of your paperwork filled out.

 

Food: The meals were good overall, the lobster was excellent and cooked just right. The Supper Club was a notch up and very good. The buffets were mediocre but not bad. The skinny: expect cafeteria food and you'll be fine. (BTW, my last cruise was 13 years ago on the Fantasy, and I remember the food was MUCH better then)

 

Food Service: All of the service was very good, except the bar service. Not inconsistent with many of the reviews. At dinners, we didn't get pampered like in the best land-based restaurants, but hey, it's a BOAT! Okay, the supper club service was better than expected... there they did a good job. The skinny: Try the supper club at least one night... it's worth it.

 

Room: Outstanding. We knew we'd spend little time in our room (sleeping time and ;) nocturnal activity only), so we didn't need anything fancy. We had an ocean view on Deck 2 just forward of the forward elevators. Nice and quiet, but rocked a little bit during the ride to Grand Cayman. If I had to do it again, I'd pick a deck 2 room in the middle of the ship; don't need a balcony. The front and back were rocking. The skinny: Get drunk, have wild sex, and you won't care how you sleep.

 

Entertainment: I loved the shows. I didn't see the un-sync'd dancing, or the half-rate quality. I saw a lot of energy, great music, smiling dancers, great production. The comedian turned us off. He had Cerebral Palsy and made fun of himself. I can understand making fun of one's race, but not a disease. The hipnosis show was the best - My wife and I were rolling on the floor. The CD Brent was... somewhere. He was rarely around - what do they pay him for? The Lido Deck band was horrid. HORRID. And the lounge singer in the Supper Club must've had too much to drink Wed night because she was BAAAAD. Of course, for both... I just shrugged my shoulders, turned to my wife and had a great time. The skinny: Have fun; some of it has got to be good. If it's all bad, you have something to complain about.

 

Ports: I'll admit we didn't plan all of the ports like we should have. Cave Tubing in Belize was great, but there were 435 folks from our ship... Made the caves look like Interstate 10 in LA. We just tooled around town in Roatan (didn't mind folks trying to sell us stuff - welcome to the real world). In retrospect, we should have gone snorkeling as folks told us it was wonderful. Grand Cayman was a huge miss - tender process bad, weather horrible, excursions canceled. But we got a local to drive us to a beach that we had to ourselves, so we made the best of it. Cozumel - did the snorkel thing and regretted the money we spent. Next time, we'll try something different and still end up at Carlos & Charlies! The skinny: Do what you enjoy doing... don't do what everyone else is doing, and don't be afraid to ask the locals for cheaper alternatives.

 

Overall: We had heard that RCCL and other lines pamper you more, and focus on service. I talked to two folks at the end of the cruise, both of whom had cruised at least 4 times before. One said it was so-so, and hated the level of service and food. The other said it was the best so far because of its focus on fun. We even met some folks at the airport who had sailed on Victory and they were very disappointed. One of them said it was due to the large number of kids on their ship.

 

This was truly a fun ship, and we had a blast, mainly because we didn't sweat the little stuff, we didn't set high expectations, and we valued our time together above all else. Thumbs up on Carnival, but sounds like we should try other cruise lines as well.

 

- Brian