Valor Southern Caribbean review with pictures and Fun Times - better late than never

[pghsteelerfan]

Just for grins, Googled the 'Nirvana'. It's for sale . . .

 

Length: 290'

Beam: 47'

Draft: 13'

Year Built: 2012

Exterior Designer: Sam Sorgiovanni

Builder: Oceanco

Hull: Steel

Cabins: 6

Guests: 12

Max. Speed: 19.5 Knots

Cruising Speed: 16 Knots

Sales Price: (Approx $311,006,000USD *)

 

Ai, ai, ai!!!

 

John

 

Ai, ai, ai, is right. I'll have to pass. LOL!!!

[JohnTRN]

Also about the snorkel hut, is that an area where everyone has to go and snorkel, or can you just go in from the beach?

 

Visited here a couple of years ago. You can walk all around the island and hop in to snorkel just about anywhere.

 

John

[pghsteelerfan]

Are you stuck in a shaded area of Jalousie and the hotel occupies the 'nice' parts? Or do you have the ability to situate in a good spot? thanks....can't wait for April

 

I know I just replied to your most recent question but I am so sorry I missed this when you asked the first time. I'm still a "newbie" since this is my first review. I also haven't figured out yet how to answer multiple questions.

 

Yes you do have the option of a nicer spot on the beach. Believe it or not, we almost booked our cruise for last April and I'm so glad we didn't. The day Valor was in St. Lucia, no one, even tours, could get anywhere near Jalouise Beach. A Hollywood celebrity rented the whole resort for a wedding vow renewal so they had sole use of that whole area. The tours were turned away and it affected the Valor sailing that week.

[pghsteelerfan]

Visited here a couple of years ago. You can walk all around the island and hop in to snorkel just about anywhere.

 

John

 

I'm kicking myself right now for not snorkeling from the beach where we were and Isabelle let us have use of the snorkel gear the whole day. How was the snorkeling off the beach, did I miss much?

[JohnTRN]

I'm kicking myself right now for not snorkeling from the beach where we were and Isabelle let us have use of the snorkel gear the whole day. How was the snorkeling off the beach, did I miss much?

 

We ended up about half way around (counter clockwise, looking down on the island from above) and the waters were pretty, but may have seen more fish on the side facing Orient (the Preserve Area). Waters were a little rougher. My DW loves snorkeling, but not so much in slightly challenging waters. There were several paths across the island, as well as around. We also went the other directions, past the bars/restaurants (clockwise) and found several places to hop in, coming down off the rocks. Seems like we had some great snorkeling over there.

 

Thanks for the review. We're looking forward to our trip and replacing my desktop pictures borrowed from you, with some of my own! :D

 

John

[pghsteelerfan]

We ended up about half way around (counter clockwise, looking down on the island from above) and the waters were pretty, but may have seen more fish on the side facing Orient (the Preserve Area). Waters were a little rougher. My DW loves snorkeling, but not so much in slightly challenging waters. There were several paths across the island, as well as around. We also went the other directions, past the bars/restaurants (clockwise) and found several places to hop in, coming down off the rocks. Seems like we had some great snorkeling over there.

 

Thanks for the review. We're looking forward to our trip and replacing my desktop pictures borrowed from you, with some of my own! :D

 

John

 

When I went to the top from the trails and down to the other side, it looked like it would be a good area for snorkeling. There was a beach, to the left from where I was, that I did not go down to. I only had the camera and didn't take the snorkeling gear.

 

Are you planning to do a review? If so, I'm subscribed! Would love to see the pictures you get.

Edited September 29, 2013 by pghsteelerfan

[pghsteelerfan]

Holly, tell your friends I hope they have a great time on their cruise. They will be sailing with a few people who will also sail with us. There are some in our roll call doing a B2B on 11/23 and 11/30.

 

As for excursions, we have not finalized anything yet. We are thinking about day passes at resorts on a few stops, and some tours. I had knee surgery in July, so we won't be doing any excursions that require a lot of walking.

 

 

Dee

 

 

Dee, we saw our friends this weekend so I asked if they were on the roll call. No, they are not and haven't been on cruise critic at all yet. They are really getting excited for it and do have it all planned out. They are doing a couple of different tours but are planning to "wing it" on a few of the islands.

[Limeia]

Oh, I'd LOVE to see your picture. I use both Shutterfly and Photobucket, but am using Photobucket for CC since I wasn't able to post pictures through Shutterfly.

 

 

O.K. going to give this a try:eek: Have a few pictures on photobucket of Saba, lets see if I can make it go.

 

 

Yeh it worked! :D:D:D

[pghsteelerfan]

Oh, I'd LOVE to see your picture. I use both Shutterfly and Photobucket, but am using Photobucket for CC since I wasn't able to post pictures through Shutterfly.

 

 

O.K. going to give this a try:eek: Have a few pictures on photobucket of Saba, lets see if I can make it go.

 

 

Yeh it worked! :D:D:D

 

Wow!!! Those pictures are beautiful, I love them. Thank you so much for posting them and so glad it worked. Any more you want to share? Feel free.

[Alexlee]

Thank you for the review and all your BEAUTIFUL pics!!!! I really enjoyed it!!!

PS: If you want a ornament from PR I'll be more than happy to send you one, seeing that you were not able to get one when you visited here.

[brookeq]

Loved your review. Looking to book this cruise in January. Your review just makes me want to even more now.

 

Our steelers just lost again. 0-4. :(

[JohnTRN]

 

Are you planning to do a review? If so, I'm subscribed! Would love to see the pictures you get.

 

Hmmmm, flattery will you get you . . . somewhere! :D

 

That one was not a cruise, but we spent a week on St. Martin.

 

I'm trying to do a review of our TA this last March, but the thousands of pictures overwhelm me!

 

John

[pghsteelerfan]

Thank you for the review and all your BEAUTIFUL pics!!!! I really enjoyed it!!!

PS: If you want a ornament from PR I'll be more than happy to send you one, seeing that you were not able to get one when you visited here.

 

Thank you again and I'm glad you enjoyed it. The friend that I was also getting ornaments for has a daughter that will be in Puerto Rico for a vacation in January, right after Christmas, so she's going to pick one up for both of us while she's there. Thank you so much for offering, I do appreciate it. :)

[pghsteelerfan]

Loved your review. Looking to book this cruise in January. Your review just makes me want to even more now.

 

Our steelers just lost again. 0-4. :(

 

Oh, I hope you do it! This was one of our best cruises ever. January will be nice too and it's a great way to break up winter.

 

The Steelers are terrible this year, but we've also had a lot of great years so I can't complain. How about those Pirates though! I never would have imagined the Steelers going 0-4 and Pirates making the playoffs.

[Alexlee]

Thank you again and I'm glad you enjoyed it. The friend that I was also getting ornaments for has a daughter that will be in Puerto Rico for a vacation in January, right after Christmas, so she's going to pick one up for both of us while she's there. Thank you so much for offering, I do appreciate it. :)

 

Oh ok, thats wonderful....your welcome ;)

[pghsteelerfan]

Hmmmm, flattery will you get you . . . somewhere! :D

 

That one was not a cruise, but we spent a week on St. Martin.

 

I'm trying to do a review of our TA this last March, but the thousands of pictures overwhelm me!

 

John

 

A week in St. Maarten? How was it? We were in Negril, Jamaica for a week in 2007 and loved it and wouldn't mind doing that again.

 

LOL!!! I was overwhelmed with pictures too since I took so many. I normally upload to Shutterfly, which I did, and made a photo book. Since I can't seem to get pictures to upload to CC from Shutterfly, I had to use Photobucket. Now that I'm done with this one, I'm following a few other reviews that have just started and one of them (one of the current Dream reviews) mentioned using Shutterfly. I may have to ask her how she does it if I can't figure it out.

 

I noticed you were on Legend, how was it? Did you do the western out of Tampa? I know Legend is in Europe now and I know it was moved sometime this year, but forget when. We did Miracle out of Tampa (western) in 2006 and really enjoyed that one too. I really liked the layout of Miracle and the fact that the windows on the Lido deck opened and I think Legend is the same. If you get a chance to do a review, I'll subscribe. :)

[JohnTRN]

A week in St. Maarten? How was it? We were in Negril, Jamaica for a week in 2007 and loved it and wouldn't mind doing that again.

 

LOL!!! I was overwhelmed with pictures too since I took so many. I normally upload to Shutterfly, which I did, and made a photo book. Since I can't seem to get pictures to upload to CC from Shutterfly, I had to use Photobucket. (much good stuff deleted)

 

I noticed you were on Legend, how was it? Did you do the western out of Tampa? (more good stuff deleted) If you get a chance to do a review, I'll subscribe. :)

 

Enjoyed St. Maarten very much. We went with my brother and his wife. Tend not to stay on the resort. Rented a car and drove everywhere . . . including getting misplaced someplace we shouldn't have! :p It was the trip where the phrase, "It's all about the food" came into being for us. Looked for the LoLo's all over the island, found a several neat French bakeries on the Dutch side and enjoyed snorkeling. Don't remember if we got a dive in there or not . . .

 

I've got a Photobucket account and may have to play with that or Picassa . . .

 

Loved the Legend. Did the two week Trans Atlantic, Tampa to Barcelona, in April as our very first cruise ever and loved it. Two weeks, over two thouand pics . . . sigh.

 

John

Edited September 29, 2013 by JohnTRN

[marshalltp]

Thanks for your help.....can't wait for April.

[girlscruise2011]

I know I just replied to your most recent question but I am so sorry I missed this when you asked the first time. I'm still a "newbie" since this is my first review. I also haven't figured out yet how to ansewer multiple questions.

 

Yes you do have the option of a nicer spot on the beach. Believe it or not, we almost booked our cruise for last April and I'm so glad we didn't. The day Valor was in St. Lucia, no one, even tours, could get anywhere near Jalouise Beach. A Hollywood celebrity rented the whole resort for a wedding vow renewal so they had sole use of that whole area. The tours were turned away and it affected the Valor sailing that week.

 

To answer multiple questions, next to the post, instead of clicking the QUOTE, you want to click the square that has the "+ signs for each post you want to answer. Then at the last post you want to answer, click that square then the QUOTE square and they will all come up in a box for you to answer. Make sure you leave the

at the end of each statement. Start your answer after the

and you will be able to answer each one individually.

 

I'm not sure but I think you can only quote 2-3 statements.

 

I hope that makes sense to you. For your great review and wonderful pictures I wanted to do what I could to help you :)

Edited September 30, 2013 by girlscruise2011

[pghsteelerfan]

Enjoyed St. Maarten very much. We went with my brother and his wife. Tend not to stay on the resort. Rented a car and drove everywhere . . . including getting misplaced someplace we shouldn't have! :p It was the trip where the phrase, "It's all about the food" came into being for us. Looked for the LoLo's all over the island, found a several neat French bakeries on the Dutch side and enjoyed snorkeling. Don't remember if we got a dive in there or not . . .

 

I've got a Photobucket account and may have to play with that or Picassa . . .

 

Loved the Legend. Did the two week Trans Atlantic, Tampa to Barcelona, in April as our very first cruise ever and loved it. Two weeks, over two thouand pics . . . sigh.

 

John

 

Sounds like a great time for a week in St. Maarten. That's what we enjoy about cruising, getting a taste of places we may like to go for a week sometime. The downside about that is that it's getting hard to decide because there are so many we like and would love to see more of.

 

OK, you were actually on that Legend Trans Atlantic. That would have been really nice. Did you get to other ports in Europe. I don't know if you noticed yet or not, but deladane is currently doing a review of the Sunshine. She had a review of Victory right before they moved Victory to Miami and Valor taking her place in San Juan doing the Southern that I really enjoyed and now I'm currently reading her review of Sunshine. We may have to look into a cruise in Europe some day too.

[pghsteelerfan]

Thanks for your help.....can't wait for April.

 

You are quite welcome and if you have any more questions, please feel free to ask and I'll do my best to answer. Did you ever get any information on the mud bath in St. Lucia? I hope you have a great time next April. I wish we were going again. :)

[pghsteelerfan]

To answer multiple questions, next to the post, instead of clicking the QUOTE, you want to click the square that has the "+ signs for each post you want to answer. Then at the last post you want to answer, click that square then the QUOTE square and they will all come up in a box for you to answer. Make sure you leave the

at the end of each statement. Start your answer after the

and you will be able to answer each one individually.

 

I'm not sure but I think you can only quote 2-3 statements.

 

I hope that makes sense to you. For your great review and wonderful pictures I wanted to do what I could to help you :)

 

OK, I see it now. Thank you so much, that will really help in the future and yes, it definitely makes sense to me. I was trying to figure it our earlier in my review but I did something that ended up making all the font on CC really large. I guess that would have been good if I needed reading glasses. LOL!!! I finally got that back to normal after deleting cookies, browsing history, etc., then shutting down and rebooting the computer.

 

Thank you and I really appreciate your help and so happy you enjoyed the review. With it being my first, I was a little intimidated, especially after reading so many great reviews here. There are three new ones out now by others whose reviews I've always enjoyed that I'm currently following. :)

[dianel720]

Can you give me more information regarding being on the Starboard side of the ship please? I am currently booked on this cruise in March and have an ocean suite on the port side. Can you catch the sunrises on the starboard side? You mentioned that the ship backs into the ports on this itinerary. I'm assuming the port side can see port until the ship turns? I'm contemplating on switching my cabin to the Starboard side, but was looking for your opinion!

 

Thanks for the review. It was fantastic!

[pghsteelerfan]

Can you give me more information regarding being on the Starboard side of the ship please? I am currently booked on this cruise in March and have an ocean suite on the port side. Can you catch the sunrises on the starboard side? You mentioned that the ship backs into the ports on this itinerary. I'm assuming the port side can see port until the ship turns? I'm contemplating on switching my cabin to the Starboard side, but was looking for your opinion!

 

Thanks for the review. It was fantastic!

 

I'll do a day by day list so my answer doesn't get too confusing. :)

 

San Juan: When leaving San Juan at sail away that first night, the fort (El Morro) was on the starboard side, so we'd have had great views from our balcony, but were up at the Mega Deck Party on Panorama Deck 10 - also great views. Best views - Starboard

 

St. Thomas: The morning we were coming in, we were heading due east into St. Thomas. I got up at 6AM, just after the sun rose and went to the balcony. Looking straight out from the balcony we couldn't see much (besides Sail Rock), but when I looked towards the front of the ship I could see St. Thomas in the distance and also the sun rise. I missed what I think would have been a great picture, but my camera lens fogged up due to taking it out into the humidity from an air conditioned cabin. We docked at 7AM. Now when the ship is docked in St. Thomas, the port side cabins have the view out over the water and we (starboard) had the views of the land side and Havensight Mall. Best views coming in - either; docked - port

 

Sea Day: We were out in the middle of the ocean and we did not see any other islands that day, so it didn't really matter. For sunrise, my guess would be port side since we were heading south. We didn't get up that morning until 7AM, past sunrise. Best views (for sunrise) - probably Port

 

Barbados: We couldn't see from our balcony because the ship was heading straight into the island. Barbados does have higher points but is not as mountainous as the other islands. We were docked that morning at 8AM.

Best views: It didn't matter since we went straight in. When actually docked, Starboard had the view of the island (industrial area) and Port had view of the second dock and ocean.

 

St. Lucia: I got up at 5:30AM because I wanted to see if we could see anything that morning and we could. When coming up from Barbados, we were heading north along St. Lucia's western coast, with great views of the Pitons. The feeling that morning to wake up, go out on the balcony and having the Pitons being the first things we saw, was, hard to describe, but awe inspiring. Valor docked in port at 8AM. Best views - Starboard and while in docked, either side had nice views

 

St. Kitts: I got up at 6AM and went to the balcony and saw Nevis and St. Kitts from our balcony. The ship is heading north along St. Kitts/Nevis' western coast, so it's the starboard side that has the best views. This is also the side where you'd see the sunrise. Best views - Starboard for coming in and Valor also backed in here, so while docked, both sides had views of the island.

 

St. Maarten: I got up at 6:30AM but since I couldn't see anything from our starboard balcony at first, I don't know which view would have been best for sunrise or to see the island as the ship was coming in. We were scheduled to be docked at 7AM, so I'd only been on our balcony a few minutes before the ship turned and started backing in to the dock. Best views - Starboard while docked because that side had the views across the bay and of Philipsburg.

 

San Juan: I got up at 5:30AM since we were scheduled to be in port at 7AM, but the ship gets in early. Best views for sunrise and to see Fort El Morro as the ship comes in - definitely port.

 

I hope this wasn't too confusing and of some help to you. If you have any more questions, please feel free to ask or want more details or even pictures as the ship was coming into certain island, please feel free to ask.

 

Thank you for your kind words about the review and I hope it can be helpful to you in some way in planning your cruise. :)

[ibcnusoon]

on our cruise:

 

San Juan - I agree, starboard side has the best view when leaving.

 

St. Thomas: we were docked starboard side.

 

Sea Day: Sunrise on port side, sunset on starboard side.

 

Barbados: We dock starboard side again. The only good thing is that at the end of the day when guests were coming back to the ship, there was a steel band playing which was nice. The view was of the industrial area though on starboard. Port side would have a view out to the Caribbean Sea.

 

St. Lucia: We had cabins in the aft/starboard side specifically because we too got up early to see the Pitons as we passed St. Lucia at about 5:30am - breathtaking! We docked port side but I think starboard side had the prettiest views of the water and the small airport.

 

St. Kitts: We didn't back in :( and we docked on the port side. This is a late day, ship sails at 6pm. We caught sunsets on the port side when leaving.

 

St. Maarten: We were ported starboard side.

 

Figure this, port side is sun setting on your sea day. Once you get to Barbados, the ship meanders up and at night you get beautiful views of the lights on the islands if you are on starboard side. We passed so many islands that I also suggest you bring a map if you are starboard that will tell you what islands you are passing in the night.