2nd Carnival Cruise After 15Yrs!!! (Carnival Valor Review)

[jcruise20]

 

(Disclaimer: My grammar is probably horrible.)

 

 

Travelers: Me (20’s) and my mother (60’s)

 

I booked this cruise because my roommate was having family over and it would be too crowded in the house, it was also time to see my mom. I found the Valor out of SJU with no single supplement rate and pack n go rate. Which meant me and my mother each would have our own cabin, YAY!!! I booked inside guaranteed about a month before sailing. When I checked the booking the day after I was surprised to see we were all the way up on deck 6 (Upper.)

 

5/3-Pre-embarkation day *** I did not sleep at all during the night, so 6 am rolled in, I got up and started getting ready for my flight. I had a 10 am flight out of MCO, with a layover in MIA and finally arriving at SJU. My first flight was my worst. I sat in my lovey window seat and waited for takeoff. I then screamed in horror when I found out two boys between the ages of 10-14 were sitting next to me. To make things more interesting the family behind me had a baby, which they did a good job entertaining. Unfortunately, it was with a movie on their Ipad without headphones. This family also tried to bring a huge stroller into the cabin because their connection was tight. The stroller made it all the wait to the last flight attendant before anyone noticed, which baffled me because there were 4 other flight attendants before her. My second flight was uneventful and I made it to SJU. I got my luggage, headed for the taxi area and was on my way to the Sheraton Puerto Rico (Convention Center) in less than 10mins after getting my bag.

 

MCO AA

 

FLL Port (phone pic)

 

SJU landing. (Oh hey RCCL)

 

Sheraton Puerto Rico (Convention Center) *** I booked this hotel as the Sheraton by the Carnival pier was all booked. Since this was the next closest Starwood hotel to the pier and I was using the free night I won in Feb, it didn’t matter to me as it was still a cheap cab ride to the pier.

 

I arrived at the hotel and my mom was already waiting for me at the lobby. We did the usual hugging and greeting and headed to check in. The staff was friendly and efficient. I got the keys and headed to our room. I was beat so the first thing we did was just rest, but not before going to the window in the hallway and looking at the RCCL ship (I think Explorer?)

 

The room was nicely decorated with some orange accents (at least the wall behind the beds was orange.) The bathroom door is a sliding frosted glass (or plastic?) in the middle with wood framing. Don’t worry you can’t see anything through the frost.

 

The hotel had a Texas de Brazil, which was where we ate dinner (there is not much around the hotel.) It was good, but not worth the price tag for us, as we don’t eat till we explode. After dinner, I went back upstairs, grabbed my camera and went to the pool area to take some photos of the RCCL ship before heading to bed.

 

Pool Area

 

RCCL

[Andoria]

You're off to a great start. I really enjoy your writing style and I'm looking forward to reading more.

[jcruise20]

5/4 Embarkation Day – We woke up at 7am and started to slowly getting ready. I went out to the hallway window to see the Valor docked and take some photos. Headed back to the room to keep getting ready and watch some TV. Around 10:30am we decided to depart the hotel and head to the Valor. Went to check out and headed outside to grab a taxi. We got in the taxi about 10:50am and arrived at the port at 11:05am. There were already people coming in for the cruise when we arrived. At the front we got out boarding passes and passports checked then headed to the terminal. Arrived at check- in and WOW! only 3 groups in line this was a first for me. We skipped the embarkation photo and just stood in line. After 5 minutes we were checking in, we received boarding group 8 and then sat to wait. I was surprised that a few minutes after we sat they were already calling groups 1 & 2. Less than 5 minutes later we were also called. Got our S&S and passport checked after security screening and onto the gangway we went.

 

Valor from the hotel.

 

 

We walked into the ship and looked at the lobby said “How pretty. Now time to get some food.” So we headed to Rosie’s. My mom grabbed some “Italian” food and I headed straight to the Mongolian Wok, after reading so many good reviews here I wanted to try it. Although there were only around 5 people ahead of me the wait was looonggg. I can see why people like the Mongolian Wok, but it just wasn’t for me.

 

After lunch we went exploring and taking some photos, before more people arrived (I prefer my photos without strangers or photobomb, lol.) Before we knew it 1:30pm had rolled in so it was time to head to our cabins and drop off the carry-ons. My mom’s suitcase was already waiting and mine arrived shortly after.

 

I think they skipped lunch

 

 

 

Cabins- We got assigned to those random cabins in the middle of the ship 6301 and 6305. I got excited when I read that they seemed a little bigger than the standard cabins. The cabin do in fact feel spacious especially if is configured to a king bed.

 

6305 Photos

 

 

 

 

After getting all settled in we headed to CVS to buy soda (pop) and water. It was around 5pm when we arrived and the packs of water were running out fast. We headed back to the ship and started getting ready for dinner. After dinner my mother headed to bed and I walked around a little more and watched a bit of the same old sail-away party.

[cjknox]

Enjoying your review so far!

[jjdshoe]

Thanks for the review. I am enjoying all the pictures:)

[jcruise20]

Thank you for the comments :)

 

Ports – Since we stayed mostly in the ship and just went to the islands for some souvenirs there is not much for me to review. I found St.Kitts locals a little pushy near the dock (even with a policewoman shooing them away) but once you walked farther it was no problem. I’ll just post some photos.

 

 

San Juan

 

 

 

 

St.Thomas

 

 

 

 

Dawn all up in our biz.

[boaterette]

Nice pictures.

[092306]

Enjoying your review and pictures so far. We loved the Valor! Looking forward to the rest, thanks for posting.