Review w/ pics Carnival Valor 03/17/13 - 03/24/13

[rs12065]

How fast is the speed boat to the beach that Cosul tours operates, and is land always in sight? My wife detests very fast speed boats and doesn't like being in a small boat in open water with no land insight.

[Sfdtiller]

Thanks for the review, doing a similar itinerary for thanksgiving, lots of great ideas for excursions.....now for An odd question probably, but what kind of camera did you use? The pics are crisp and clean. Looking for a new camera and reviews are great.

[stoddaj1]

Cosol's boat stays very close to the shoreline so she should be fine. If does move along at a good clip though the ride lasts only for five minutes or so.

[Lyncoya]

How fast is the speed boat to the beach that Cosul tours operates, and is land always in sight? My wife detests very fast speed boats and doesn't like being in a small boat in open water with no land insight.

 

The speed boat is pretty fast...but there is always land in sight.

[Lyncoya]

Thanks for the review, doing a similar itinerary for thanksgiving, lots of great ideas for excursions.....now for An odd question probably, but what kind of camera did you use? The pics are crisp and clean. Looking for a new camera and reviews are great.

 

Thanks so much. I have a Sony Cybershot. This is probably the 5th Sony Cybershot I've owned. I lose so many cameras. But I LOVE these little cameras. They take great pictures and the zoom is awesome. The one I have has 10X optical zoom. It also has pretty nice features such as the ability to take panoramic pics and those black and white pics that only show the color you choose (red, blue, green & yellow) I love this little camera. :)

Edited March 30, 2013 by Lyncoya

[Lyncoya]

Loved your review and pictures - looks and sounds like you had another great cruise. Thanks for sharing!

 

Thanks! We all had such a good time.

[Ms. Fun Bunch]

St Maarten is BEAUTIFUL. I would love to spend a week there on a land vacation. sigh....one day!! :)

 

 

 

Lucky...I've done this itinerary twice and wouldn't hesitate to do it again. The ports are great.

 

I have traded my timeshare twice for a week in St. Maarten, this July will be my third time!!! I love it!!!!

[Lyncoya]

I have traded my timeshare twice for a week in St. Maarten, this July will be my third time!!! I love it!!!!

 

I wanna be like YOU when I grow up. ;) I would love to spend a week there. One day I'm gonna make that happen.

[Ms. Fun Bunch]

I called Customer Service to see if the Valor offered the FTTF program and unfortunately they don't. I then asked him what time can we start boarding.... he said about 3 hours prior to boarding (around 7PM). I found that extremely strange.... is that true?

 

No, that's not true we did this cruise last year and boarded the ship around 1:00 or 1:30.

[Ms. Fun Bunch]

We are planning to take The Valor in July. I see where Carnival starts another 7 night cruise from Barbados while we will still be on the ship, one of our ports for the port days. Is this something new? Or do they do this if ship has not sold out from original departure city of San Juan? At least the Carnival website was listing like this earlier this evening. Any one know why Carnival would do this?

 

People actually start their cruise in Barbados. They cruise from Wednesday to the next Wednesday. About 100 people boarded the ship and around 100 debarked.

[Chelleum]

Great review and pics!! I'm doing the same itinerary in October and I can't wait. I'm also planning on taking Cosol tour. I was planning on making St.Kitt a beach day, but I will probably do the same when I get off the ship. Find someone offerring a tour of the island.

[Orpheo]

Nice view .... room looks cool!:D

[Lyncoya]

Great review and pics!! I'm doing the same itinerary in October and I can't wait. I'm also planning on taking Cosol tour. I was planning on making St.Kitt a beach day, but I will probably do the same when I get off the ship. Find someone offerring a tour of the island.

 

You won't regret booking with Cosul. I would take a tour as well if you've never been to St Kitts. Next time, I'll be making it a beach day though.

 

Nice view .... room looks cool!:D

 

The room was AWESOME.

[lidodeckbound]

I love your review, and your attitude! You sound like a ton of fun! We sail her in June. Can't wait.

[Julia’s Journey’s]

It's gonna be so hard for me to go back to a regular old OV on our next cruise. Or even a balcony. I enjoyed that Scenic Ov room more than I liked our balcony last year.

 

Awesome OV, what category is the scenic OV??

[Lyncoya]

I love your review, and your attitude! You sound like a ton of fun! We sail her in June. Can't wait.

 

Thanks so much. :o You're gonna have a ball in June. Enjoy!!!

[Lyncoya]

Awesome OV' date=' what category is the scenic OV??[/quote']

 

THe category I had was 6J. Do a search for pics of rooms 9201 & 9200. Those rooms are even better and are a category 6K.

Edited April 1, 2013 by Lyncoya

[jsfromsc]

Thanks for sharing all these pics with us. Looking at pictures of other people's cruises keeps me entertained during the long stretches between my own cruises. We did the Cosol tour in St. Lucia and had a much different experience than you did. Perhaps if we'd been taken to a beach like the one in your pictures, it would have made a big difference, but instead we were taken to a dirty beach right next to a private resort beach and it was clear that we could not step onto that private beach for any reason. There were hardly any lounge chairs or chairs of any kind on our portion of the beach, and the ones that were there were dirty and falling apart. Almost no kind of shade was available. Some dirty public bathrooms that you had to walk quite a ways to get to and nowhere to get any kind of refreshment. The web site made the beach sound much more like the one you went to. Not sure what happened. It also didn't help that people on our tour had to keep stopping the driver to get out and vomit because of how much they drank and the way the roads kept winding in and out. One guy barely made it out of the van. I'm glad you had a much nicer experience. At this point, the only way I'd want to return to St. Lucia would be to stay in one of the private resorts. But for now, I'll get back to your review and pictures. :)

[battchief1]

Thanks for the great review.

[Vettebuf]

Thanks for the great review and all the tips - Banana Creme liquer, yum!

 

We're doing this cruise in 27 short days! Question - do you remember what part of Orient Beach you were on? We stayed on Maho Bay in Sint Maarten for a week in September and Orient Beach was my favorite place. I'd like to tell the taxi driver which beach club he should stop at.

 

We're looking forward to the Cosol tour in St. Lucia and the Beulah Welcome tour in St. Kitts. so that's covered. We'll be beachin' it in Barbados and St. Thomas with a ride up to Paradise Point for the dacquiri.

 

We usually book a 4J but splurged for a balcony on Panorama deck this time. We'll have to check out the 6J soon. It looks terrific!

[Lyncoya]

Thanks for sharing all these pics with us. Looking at pictures of other people's cruises keeps me entertained during the long stretches between my own cruises. We did the Cosol tour in St. Lucia and had a much different experience than you did. Perhaps if we'd been taken to a beach like the one in your pictures, it would have made a big difference, but instead we were taken to a dirty beach right next to a private resort beach and it was clear that we could not step onto that private beach for any reason. There were hardly any lounge chairs or chairs of any kind on our portion of the beach, and the ones that were there were dirty and falling apart. Almost no kind of shade was available. Some dirty public bathrooms that you had to walk quite a ways to get to and nowhere to get any kind of refreshment. The web site made the beach sound much more like the one you went to. Not sure what happened. It also didn't help that people on our tour had to keep stopping the driver to get out and vomit because of how much they drank and the way the roads kept winding in and out. One guy barely made it out of the van. I'm glad you had a much nicer experience. At this point, the only way I'd want to return to St. Lucia would be to stay in one of the private resorts. But for now, I'll get back to your review and pictures. :)

 

Believe it or not...the beach you're describing is the same beach we went to. The "private" side of the beach does have some rather beat up chairs and when we arrived they were all taken by the folks from Spencer Ambrose's tour.

 

The whole beach is public, you just can't use the chairs owned by the resort. We spread our beach towels out on the sand (on the resort side) and sat underneath a tree. I read on the St Lucia boards that you can even rent chairs from the resort if you wanted to. We didn't though. I hate to hear that your experience with Cosul was crappy though. That really sucks. :(

[Lyncoya]

Thanks for the great review.

 

Thanks for the great review and all the tips - Banana Creme liquer, yum!

 

You're welcome!! :)

 

We're doing this cruise in 27 short days! Question - do you remember what part of Orient Beach you were on? We stayed on Maho Bay in Sint Maarten for a week in September and Orient Beach was my favorite place. I'd like to tell the taxi driver which beach club he should stop at.

 

We're looking forward to the Cosol tour in St. Lucia and the Beulah Welcome tour in St. Kitts. so that's covered. We'll be beachin' it in Barbados and St. Thomas with a ride up to Paradise Point for the dacquiri.

 

We usually book a 4J but splurged for a balcony on Panorama deck this time. We'll have to check out the 6J soon. It looks terrific!

 

I'm not sure what you mean by "what part" of Orient Beach. I thought there was only one Orient beach. Perhaps someone will come along and correct me if I'm wrong though. I think that if you tell your taxi driver to take you to Orient Beach that he will know exactly where to go. It's a really beautiful beach. (minus the naked elderly men ;))

 

The beach was really busy...it was full of restaurants and stands as well as women trying to sell their wares. There is also a "clothing optional" side and a side where clothes are required. (women are allowed to go topless though)

 

I hope you have a great time. :)

[takevtr1]

Thanks for sharing all these pics with us. Looking at pictures of other people's cruises keeps me entertained during the long stretches between my own cruises. We did the Cosol tour in St. Lucia and had a much different experience than you did. Perhaps if we'd been taken to a beach like the one in your pictures, it would have made a big difference, but instead we were taken to a dirty beach right next to a private resort beach and it was clear that we could not step onto that private beach for any reason. There were hardly any lounge chairs or chairs of any kind on our portion of the beach, and the ones that were there were dirty and falling apart. Almost no kind of shade was available. Some dirty public bathrooms that you had to walk quite a ways to get to and nowhere to get any kind of refreshment. The web site made the beach sound much more like the one you went to. Not sure what happened. It also didn't help that people on our tour had to keep stopping the driver to get out and vomit because of how much they drank and the way the roads kept winding in and out. One guy barely made it out of the van. I'm glad you had a much nicer experience. At this point, the only way I'd want to return to St. Lucia would be to stay in one of the private resorts. But for now, I'll get back to your review and pictures. :)

 

is the beach you are referring to "between the pitons?" That is where Cosol took us too. While the beach was not the nicest, the water and snorkeling was awesome. It was attached to a resort, and there were no chairs where we were, which was fine since we spent a lot of time in the water.

[itravelalot]

Great Review and Wonderful Pictures!! Thanks for sharing with us!:)

[Lyncoya]

Great Review and Wonderful Pictures!! Thanks for sharing with us!:)

 

You're welcome. :)