2/9/2014 Carnival Valor Southern Caribbean Cruise

[cbell21219]

DAY THREE: BARBADOS

 

Ok, So as promised by the Captain we arrived in Barbados right on time, So as usual we are up and off to the main dinning room for breakfast. We have started to become very close to the wait staff and are only using them for all meals now no matter the time. So again, I ask if you are going on this Cruise ask for Arnold! Just an amazing guy along with his team Clifford and Clara. So after breakfast we go up to have a look at Barbados. Well this port is definatly not a pretty one lol. Not much to see here so I snap a few shots but nothing to really just stare at and drool.

 

 

See what I mean??? Ok so by now you have said "HEY why are some of these pics bigger then the others?" Well the smaller pictures are the ones I am grabing from shutterfly and the big ones are from facebook.

 

Ok, so Barbados is going to be a beach day for us, and where do you go when you want to party on a beach for the day in Barbados???

 

 

That's right The Boatyard. We had a BLAST, from just hanging on the beach in the chairs to imitating Tarzan on the rope swing or even getting myself ready for the Summer Olympics on the high dive...(Sarcasm anyone????) Here are a few snaps of the place that has something for everyone.

 

 

 

 

 

BE CAREFUL ON THE TRAMPOLINE!!! Very easy to roll an ankle because it really doesn't bounce, It sinks more then bounces and can cause you to lose your balance very easily.

 

 

 

[cbell21219]

Barbados had the clearest and cleanest water I have ever seen in my life. It was serene, I wanted to go snorkel with the turtles but I talked with several people who aid they went out and the turtles were not there that day so we stayed and just played on the facilities at The Boatyard. That didn't keep me from taking some pretty cool underwater shots just to be able to show an example of how clear this water is though.

 

 

 

It's crazy how you can still see our lower half almost as perfect as the part of us out of the water.

 

Before we headed back to the ship I got this shot of the beach. Just a perfect setting for such a great day.

 

 

 

We got back to the pier took a few pictures with the ship for fun.

 

 

[cbell21219]

Well we are back on board and head up to serenity to watch Barbados fade into the distance and gaze at a beautiful sunset that just made for some perfect pictures. So I am going to take you through a perfect sunset as we sail from Barbados.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

that closed out our day in Barbados and I have to say, It was quite an amazing day!

 

 

Edited February 20, 2014 by cbell21219

[scuddles]

Thank you for your review. Really enjoying it. We are planning this trip next summer for our daughters graduation so this is definitely a help in the decision making process.

[abisha]

Love your review! DH and I did this cruise last May and absolutely loved it. Best itinerary Carnival has IMO. I wonder why there aren't more cruises to Martinique? Does Carnival sail there? I don't recall an itinerary that includes it.

[cbell21219]

Love your review! DH and I did this cruise last May and absolutely loved it. Best itinerary Carnival has IMO. I wonder why there aren't more cruises to Martinique? Does Carnival sail there? I don't recall an itinerary that includes it.

 

We are on the Splendor re-positioning cruise in November that leaves out of San Juan and goes to Martinique. I have been trying to put together a catamaran excursion for a group of us and it has been like pulling teeth. Martinique has a very bad reputation of not wanting Americans to call on their port. That is why if you look at the port schedule of Fort-De-France there are very VERY few mass market American cruise ships that go to the island.

 

I would be just fine skipping Martinique and putting in place of it somewhere like Anguilla or Barbados.

 

What can you do though (/sigh) you know how the French are :rolleyes:

[BenjiRodney]

Love this itinerary, we have done it 3 times. Would do it again too.

[shark&minnow]

enjoying your review thank you! We also eat our meals in the dining room- it's so much nicer! Actually my DH goes and has a breakfast appetizer at the buffet while I get ready and then we go to the dining room;) I see people in a long line at the buffet and I want to let them know that they don't have to live that way:)!

[Gigi and Poppi]

We are taking this cruise again in December - can't wait -thanks for the great review

 

 

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[tmackel]

Nice review! Keep it coming.

[jjh9]

We will be on the Valor in May. Thanks for the review.

[seannyice81]

Cool review!

 

Great to see some more fun people ready for the Splendor's repositioning :cool:.

[MarriedInStThomas1807]

Keep it coming! We're in the middle of a snowstorm/blizzard right now and I need all the cruise pictures I can get! :)

[siestakeys04]

Nice start we will be on the splendor with you

 

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[abisha]

We are on the Splendor re-positioning cruise in November that leaves out of San Juan and goes to Martinique. I have been trying to put together a catamaran excursion for a group of us and it has been like pulling teeth. Martinique has a very bad reputation of not wanting Americans to call on their port. That is why if you look at the port schedule of Fort-De-France there are very VERY few mass market American cruise ships that go to the island.

 

I would be just fine skipping Martinique and putting in place of it somewhere like Anguilla or Barbados.

What can you do though (/sigh) you know how the French are :rolleyes:

There's so many other lovely islands that the ships do not go to ...probably for similar reason.

If you ever have a chance to return to Barbados and want to see the Turtles, look up Thriller Ocean Tours. Steve and his daughter Kim (Barbados natives) take you on their speed boat (small group of about 15 or so) to see the Turtles...in places without the crowds being there and they say the Turtles are always there...tons of them! We had a great time with them and they were terrific hosts and his price was much less than all the other excursion companies. He even picked us all up at the end of the road near pier. The boat was a lot of fun and fast, and they take you to a few other snorkel spots (all you can drink and gave us some snacks too)...I remember we zipped by the Boatyard in the speed boat.

 

Enjoy your repo cruise!

[kathy884]

We have a group doing the Valor out of San Juan on March 16th over DS 18 - a senior in High School's spring break. The hard thing about doing a cruise for me out of this port is that I love Puerto Rico and San Juan (would have no problem being there the whole week // we did a week long vacation here before, but that was quite a few years ago), but I did at least arrange it so we have 2 1/2 days there before the cruise, better than nothing. // Thank you for your review. We're looking forward to the trip. Three of the islands will be now ones for us too.

[riclop]

Thanks for the review.

[cbell21219]

Alright I am going to try to finish this thing out today!

 

DAY FOUR: ST. LUCIA

 

Ok so St. Lucia is the only port we had an actual tour organized. We booked with Spencer Ambrose for the "Land and Sea" tour which included a morning tour of the coast line cities of Castries (your port city and capital) all the way down to Soufriere. We had lots of stops in between the two cities with a couple of different overlooks to view the cities we were going through.

 

This is a overlook looking out over the capital city of Castries and the Port of Castries.

 

This is looking out over the small village of Anse La' Raye

 

This is another smaller fishing village of Caneries

 

Once we got through the cities we went to the Volcano. NEVER AGAIN, I have a very strong sense of smell and lets just say being there was a form of torture lol. It's really not that impressive anyways. Just a lot of mud bubbling. Gets a rating of MEH. Anyways, here's a picture of it.

 

 

Next up was the waterfall, Man it was so good to be away from that horrid smell they could have taken me to see the local dump and I would have been happy. But, the waterfall was much better then a dump I suppose. It wasn't all that cold either, just very refreshing.

 

[cbell21219]

We also stopped at a local banana plantation where they showed us how a banana grows from day one up until they are ready to be harvested. We got to try out all the different kinds of things they make with bananas as well, such as banana ketchup and BBQ sauce. Being from the south and knowing a thing or two about BBQ, I was very impressed with the flavors the sauce had. I could do without the banana ketchup though.

 

This is our tour guide Small. Great guy and a great tour guide, was willing to snap a picture whenever me and the wife requested. He is one of the younger brothers of Spencer and does one of the land base portions of the tour. This also is the banana plantation we stopped at.

 

 

Afterwards we stopped at a local restaurant where they had cooked up a local style lunch. It wasn't bad, just a lot of different flavors that I was not used to. The chicken was really good though.

 

 

After that it was off to the beach for some snorkeling and gazing at the majestic views. The beach is Jalousie Beach and can be very rocky so if your going there I highly suggest you bring along a pair of water shoes.

 

 

Once we got settled I took off to the water and snorkeled for a hour or so. Here are some of the shots of what you can expect to see.

 

 

 

 

[cbell21219]

Once our time at the beach came to a close we boarded our big speedboat to take our boat trip back along the coastline of St. Lucia back to Castries to meet back up with our ship. We actually got to have Spencer himself as our captain and he is just a great guy. Really loves his home and you can tell from the way he shows it off.

 

 

 

Where one of the seasons of "The Bachelor" was filmed.

 

 

This was coming into the Castries Harbor as we finished up our tour with Spencer.

 

 

 

[Mykal]

My first cruise was on the Valor, out of Miami at that time. My wife talked me into going, thought it would be too fancy for me, I am a backpacker, get dirty, no amenities type of person, I loved it. Go every chance I get now. Going on the Fantasy, out of Charleston in April to the Bahamas thanks to Carnival (a freebie). We went to Grand Cayman, Roatan, Belize & Costa Maya on that cruise.

[babsee101]

Great review! Thanks for putting it together. :)

[Island Hopper58]

We have a group doing the Valor out of San Juan on March 16th over DS 18 - a senior in High School's spring break. The hard thing about doing a cruise for me out of this port is that I love Puerto Rico and San Juan (would have no problem being there the whole week // we did a week long vacation here before, but that was quite a few years ago), but I did at least arrange it so we have 2 1/2 days there before the cruise, better than nothing. // Thank you for your review. We're looking forward to the trip. Three of the islands will be now ones for us too.

Kathy, we are the same cruise with you. and also have a couple days in SJ before we go.

We are in a B&B about 1/2 way between the airport and Old San Juan

Doing the Rain forest on Sat :)

3 weeks from today we will be in San Juan...it is getting so exciting :)

And this review is just making it all that much more exciting

[cbell21219]

DAY 6: ST. KITTS

 

Today was an easy day, we continue our daily routine of getting up and heading to the MDR for breakfast. The wife again gets the eggs Benedict and I get the ham and cheese omelette with hash browns. Again, we stay far away from any buffet food unless it is a absolute must. So after we eat we head back down to the room and get changed. Ready for a very quick tour of the island and then heading to the Marriott for a day by a nice BIG pool. We disembark and head to the port entrance and take a few quick shots. St. Kitts is a amazingly stunning island. It had the most wow factor in my opinion when you just look at it.

 

 

You can see Nevis in the background with its perminate cloud topped mountain.

 

 

We took a taxi to Brimstone fortress basically just for the view. I could care less about the history of some old stone fort that the French and British fought constantly at.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[cbell21219]

After Brimstone our taxi took us up to Timothy Hill to see where the islands peninsula runs in between where the Atlantic and Caribbean meet. The views were absolutely stunning and it is a must do for anyone who has never been to the island. At the lookout you will also find people selling their goods and people with monkeys who will let you take pictures with their animals if you give them a couple dollars.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After admiring the view for a few minutes we were ready to find us a nice spot by a nice pool. So off to the Marriott we went. When we got there we were greeted and shown in. The guy opening the doors of the taxis said if we wanted to use the beach just go right through but if we wanted to use the hotel faculties we would have to pay for a day pass. Here is where I made the biggest mistake of the cruise. I actually paid for it lol, I had to actually go inside and figure out where to buy the passes from and then after I did no one ever asked for it or anything. It's not like you wear a wristband or anything, and the entire day no one came up to any of us cruisers cause there were quite a few and asked to see our pass. Next time I will go straight through and hop on a chair. Anyways, I forgot to take any pictures of the grounds but I did take one shot of the pools so I got lucky there.

 

 

The beach was very nice they had some rocks as breakers a ways out because the Marriott is on the Atlantic side of the island and the water is a little bit rougher then on the Caribbean side.