Valor - April 6 ot April 13 Review

[cgmiller63]

This is my first review so be nice. I did a lot of research prior to the cruise and Cruise Critic was invaluable. I would not have known to do half of the activities had I not stumbled upon Cruise Critic. I also came across a Facebook page which was dedicated to the Valor April 6-13 sailing. I met a lot of wonderful people on there and made some life-long friends. We had a meet and greet on the ship. We even had t-shirts made up for the group. It was awesome.

One thing to mention. All of the ports of call have internet, some better than others. We had no problem keeping in touch with our loved ones back home.

DH and I arrived in San Juan on Saturday, April 5th and our friends took the red-eye and arrived the following day. It was a long flight from Los Angeles to San Juan (layover in JFK).

We decided not to stay in Old San Juan because I was using my Marriott Reward Points and there was nothing in Old San Juan. We ended up staying at the Courtyard San Juan Miramar. I used my Marriott Rewards so the room was free. You can’t beat that! The hotel was nice and the room was clean. We were in a room near the elevator, which was a little noisy but I slept fine and I’m a light sleeper. We had dinner at a local spot within walking distance (I forgot the name).

The following morning we had breakfast at the hotel and took a taxi to the ship. We arrived at the terminal around 11:30AM. One of the porters at the terminal took our bags and we headed inside to check in. The wait was not very long and soon we were at the counter checking in.

After checking in we were giving a boarding pass with Group 12 written on it and we were told to wait to board until they called our group. I mentioned to the agent that the ship was already boarding so he took our pass and said “oh, you don’t need this, go ahead and board the ship”. We walked past all the people waiting for their group numbers to be called walked right to the TSA screening. Before we went through TSA screening an agent asked for our boarding number pass and I told her the other agent told us we did not need one and to go ahead and board. She said “OK” and set us through TSA screening.

Soon we were on our way to the ship. When we boarded the ship we were notified that we needed to report to Deck 0 as there was something in our luggage which needed to be checked out. I was sweating bullets because I had packed a couple of Rum Runners in my luggage and I thought I had gotten busted. I was relieved to see it was DH’s suitcase they needed to inspect. Turns out he had a pocket knife in the bag and they needed to make sure it was less than 6” long. Go figure, they catch the knife but totally missed the Rum Runners, LOL.

After that we headed up to our room to drop off the carry-on bags and then headed to lunch. We were in room 8416 which is a balcony, Aft and directly under the buffet area. I was concerned about noise since I’m a light sleeper. At times we did hear chair moving and people walking but nothing too bad and I slept just fine.

After lunch, we got off the ship and went to explore Old San Juan. I had every intention to go see the fort but the weather was hot and humid to the point where I started feeling sick. I’m in shape and run 5 miles 3 to 4 times a week so this was unexpected. We headed back to the ship with a stop at the CVS for some soft drinks and water. We hung out on the ship until the Muster drill and the Sail Away party.

[MrBanana1240]

Cant wait! Looking at this cruise for this Thanksgiving week and I can't wait to see some pics. I'll defenitly keep up!

[jjdshoe]

Thanks for the review. I look forward to reading all about your trip.

[cgmiller63]

I'm trying to figure out how to post pictures. All the pictures I try to add come out tiny :mad:

[Cruising Golfer]

Can't stab anyone with a rum runner... I've heard they are a little lax in checking for booze in San Juan. Hope so!!!:eek:

[audcc77]

I'm trying to figure out how to post pictures. All the pictures I try to add come out tiny :mad:

 

Great start!

 

If you create an account on Photobucket, that seems to be the easiest. Once you've uploaded all your photos to photobucket, then look at this post, and that will help.

 

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1489481

 

See post #10 by Mach

 

 

Good luck.

[cgmiller63]

Monday - The next morning we woke up in St. Thomas. It was overcast but humid and warm. We took a taxi to Magen’s Beach. Although the beach was beautiful, we neglected to bring our towels and portable cooler so we were not as comfortable as we could have been. It was also a long drive from the port to the beach. In hindsight, I would have visited a different beach. This was probably my least favorite port of call.

Edited April 22, 2014 by cgmiller63

[cgmiller63]

We returned to the port around 3pm and rested a little before our 5:30pm dinner time. After dinner we hung at the piano bar and listened to the piano player (he wasn’t very good). We then went to the adult comedy show which was great. I suggest getting there early as the place got packed and it was standing room only.

 

We retired to our room and found that our steward had made us the infamous Vajayjay towel animal. LOL!

[cgmiller63]

Tuesday – We had a day at sea so we hung our around the adult pool. The chair hogs were in full force and I could not find a beach chair to sit on. The attendant refused to enforce the “no saving chairs” rule, which was disappointing. I finally found a chair to hang out. I lay out for a bit and then went in for lunch and to get ready for the Meet and Greet.

The meet and greet was great fun. We meet a bunch of really great people and shared rum punch and lots of laughs. After the meet and greet it was time to get ready for dinner. After dinner we hung out at the cigar bar.

 

Here is a picture from the meet and greet.

 

 

[cgmiller63]

Wednesday – We woke up in Barbados. The weather was warm and humid and a little overcast. We grabbed our beach towels and cooler and took a taxi to the Boatyard. What a bargain, for $15usd you get beach chair, umbrella, one drink and a ride back to the ship. This was one of my favorite days. There is a bar/restaurant on site and we were able to buy lunch and buckets of beer.

 

Edited April 22, 2014 by cgmiller63

[cgmiller63]

After spending the day relaxing on the beach, we headed to the ship. Departure was delayed for an hour or so. I don’t know what happened but we saw a couple of people getting taken off the ship (with their luggage) and getting into a police car. Note to self: Do not commit crimes while on vacation.

 

 

 

 

Dinner was at 5:30pm and after dinner we hung out at the cigar and whiskey tasting bar. The bar was hosting Karaoke, which was comedy in itself.

[cgmiller63]

Thursday - St. Lucia was the next port of call. We had booked Spencer’s Land and Sea tour directly with Spencer. We met the driver at 8:30am and proceeded to see the island by land. We visited an old church, a banana farm, the Pitons and several scenic overviews. Half of our group went to the mud baths and the other half went to the volcano. We were part of the group that visited the volcano. The volcano was interesting, but was not what I expected. It was basically an area where steam was being released. After the volcano we visited a waterfall.

Pitons

Volcano

 

Waterfall

Edited April 22, 2014 by cgmiller63

[cgmiller63]

We were then taken to the beach for lunch. The lunch was better than I expected. I really liked the green banana salad (it tasted like potato salad). The beach here was my least favorite beach of the trip. It was very rocky and, unless you had water shoes, you could not get into the water without hurting your feet. We spent a couple of hours at the beach and then headed to the ship by way of speed boat.

[cgmiller63]

The speed boat took us to the Bat Cave and the vajayjay cave (that’s what the guide called it, I swear!). Can you guess which one is the Vajayjay rock and which one is the bat cave? :D

[cgmiller63]

We also saw the Lady Slipper rock that was in one of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies.

 

Edited April 22, 2014 by cgmiller63

[cgmiller63]

In addition to the natural landmarks we got to see Howard Sterns, George Foreman and Sophia Loren’s houses. God I wish I had been born rich instead of beautiful! :confused:

After dinner we headed to the 80’s trivia and then the Comedy club. There were 2 new comedians on the ship and they were good, but not as good as the comedians on the first night.

[cgmiller63]

Friday – As we were pulling into St. Kitts we were treated to a beautiful rainbow. There were a lot of dark clouds in the sky but by the time we got to port the clouds were gone.

[poppadevan]

Great Job so far!! I am doing this cruise in June and have tentatively booked Spencer's Land/Sea tour. There have been alot of negative reviews for him lately on TA. How was your overall experience?? Thanks again for taking the time to share with all of us.

[cgmiller63]

We grabbed our pool towels and cooler and headed to the Marriott Resort. We did not pay the $35 for the day pass but we were able to snag a beach hut with beach chairs. The place was pretty empty and there wasn’t anyone checking for passes. We took a walk to the black sand beach and hung out in the water. It was a very relaxing day.

 

The Marriott has a couple of restaurants and a snack shack where you can purchase lunch. The snack shack does not accept cash so you’ll need to use a credit or debit card.

 

[cgmiller63]

Saturday – The ship docks on the Dutch side of San Maartin. We took a taxi downtown to do a little shopping. There wasn’t anything that excited us so we ended up not buying anything. However, there is a Yoda museum in town which was created by one of the guys who built Yoda in the Star Wars. It was pretty cool. There is also a nice beach and a few bars where you can hang out. The water is incredibly turquoise and clear.

Sunrise

Beach near downtown

[cgmiller63]

We decided to head to Maho Beach and watch the airplanes land. It was very crowded and all the beach chairs were taken so we grabbed a table at the bar/restaurant. It was awesome. In hindsight, I would forget the shopping and head to Maho Beach early to grab a beach chair and umbrella. Getting blasted by a jet engine was the highlight of the trip for my husband.

[cgmiller63]

We decided to call it an early night so after dinner we packed our bags and watched a little television. We had a 12pm flight out the next day so we had decided to self-disembark and needed to be at deck 0 at 6:30am.

[cgmiller63]

Sunday – We ordered room service and had breakfast one last time on our balcony. At 6:30am we took our luggage down to begin the disembarking process. It was uneventful and we were at the airport by 8:30/9am. The flight out of Puerto Rico was delayed for one hour, which caused us to miss our connection. We did not get to Los Angeles until 10:30pm. Thankfully, we had taken Monday off so we had a day to recuperate.

 

I have to say that this was one of the best vacations we have taken. The ports of call were amazing and the people we met on the Facebook page were great! I’m thinking of doing this same cruise but on Royal Caribbean because they hit a couple of different islands.

 

[cgmiller63]

Can't stab anyone with a rum runner... I've heard they are a little lax in checking for booze in San Juan. Hope so!!!:eek:

I don't know how lax they are because I did not attempt to take booze in our carry on. They do make all carry-on’s go through the x-ray machine.

[appfan99]

Great review. We were on the same cruise and also went to the Boatyard (we were on the left side of the "bridge") and were at Jalouise Beach around the same time you were (based on the sun and that blue yacht) with Cosols tours. We were also at Maho towards the end of the day! Defintely a great time! We missed the meet and greet but met some cool folks on the ship. We never saw you but saw Earle and his crew everywhere. My wife said he was the unofficial cruise director from the first day when he and his guys got the cruise going with "Happy"! The guy with his whistle was cracking us up.