Our honeymoon story involving the Valor, 7/10/05

[detroitavant]

Yeah this is a month delayed, but better late than never. First part is our "experience" of getting on the boat.

 

The Valor left from Miami at 4:00 on Sunday. So, our plan is to fly to Miami and catch the boat.

 

Original flight plan: Grand Rapids -> Detroit, Detroit -> Miami. arriving in Miami at 11:00 a.m.

 

GR -> Detroit got delayed 4.5 hours ("Mechanical Problems"), so we won't make the boat. Got rebooked GR->Memphis, Memphis->Miami. Going to get in at 2:00 p.m. Fine, whatever, we still have time, so we go with this. The fun thing about this is that no one on this flight knew what was going on - we were standing in line for about 45 minutes before they told us why they were checking in all the 7:00 and later flights, and telling the 6:30 flight people to stand in a second line.

 

On the runway of GR, the plane gets stopped. We're held there for 2 hours while they try and do some paperwork regarding a redundant system that needed a repair.

 

Finally we land in Memphis. We run from one terminal to the next (~mile or so I'd say, it was a 10 minute run), get there 1 minute past the departure time of the Memphis->Miami flight. Plane was still there, dock was still there, but they wouldn't let us on. We even had them radio ahead about it and they said they would hold the plane. We weren't the only people that needed this connecting flight - there were about a dozen of us.

 

So, they are going to rebook us. Memphis->Miami, arriving at 6:30. Remember, the boat leaves at 4:00. They won't hold the boat. So after yelling at Northwest for around an hour (they claimed they only had to get people from point a to point b, I was arguing that there is a freaking time involved as well), we finally get to an agreement - we'll catch to the boat at it's first port in two days. So, new flight plan: Memphis->Houston, Houston->Belize. Only problem is that Hurricane Dennis was headed straight for Memphis. We flew out 2 hours before the storm hit.

 

So we did finally catch the boat. But that wasn't the end of it! Our return flight was Miami -> Detroit. Guess what? Mechanical problem! Ended up being booked Miami -> Philly, Philly -> Detroit, but that was full. Finally ended up getting home Miami->Charlotte, Charlotte->Detroit.

 

And we weren't the only ones. There was a another honeymoon couple that left with us from Grand Rapids that was supposed to fly from Miami to Honduras, which got screwed up. Oh, and now there is another hurricane that's near Cancun (one of our ports we went to).

 

Either all their planes are pieces of junk ("Mechanical Delays"), or the unions were causing a "slowdown" of some form (which we found out about when we got back). The only flights we didn't have problems with were ones that weren't Northwest - after they finally put us on a sister airline.

 

The other thing that got me was that if I would have known this, I could have driving to Detroit instead of attempting to fly to Detroit and there would have more than likely been another flight straight to Miami. There was yet another honeymoon couple that took the original flight from Detroit->Miami that we met when trying to fly back Miami->Detroit.

 

So onto the boat. I don't know what a standard "review" is, but I still have the capers and pricelists, so ask anything you want and I'll try and answer it.

 

So, from the five days we were on the boat (as first time cruisers):

 

1) I would say the "theme" the valor was inconsistant, tacky, garish, and way overdone. I seem to notice that is a common perception in these threads.

2) We had a two person table. Our waiter and assistant we very nice, although it took a while to get anything to our table. As for portions, I usually finished mine off, although the new wife usually didn't.

3) Exploring the boat was the most fun. As was narrowly avoiding a freak rainstorm by just making it to the clear stairs before it started to downpour. There was also a thunderstorm off the side one night, watching lightning dance between clouds was awesome.

4) Lifevests rub suntan lotion off.

5) Bring your own bug spray.

6) The portraits are a rip off. They won't sell you the 4x6, only the 8x10.

7) Room service was a joke as far as I was concerned.

8) The acts and such were average. Nothing exceptional.

9) We actually never went swimming on the boat, so I don't have any comments on that.

10) The way we embarked is not the preferred method of avoiding either the muster drill or the lines.

11) We never met our steward.

 

As for the ports, we did the following (all through the boat):

 

Belize - in addition to our time the day before there wherein our dinner was served to us on a 800 degree stone and we had to finish cooking it (interesting and fun!), we did the canopy tour. Enjoyable, although short, and it's a pretty long bus ride.

 

Isla Roatan - kayaking and then we got to chill on the beach for a while. Ended up finding ourselves a sea urchin. Oh, and edgar rocks. Make sure to tell him that if you see him.

 

Grand Cayman - Snorkeling. The key here is don't eat a big breakfast before snorkling. She had a fun time, I didn't not. Also, mustaches are bad for masks - it causes them not to seal right. The "snorkling" was done within full view of the ships, so there wasn't a long travel time.

 

Cozumel - just shopping. I wanted to mountain bike, but she was to pooped and afraid of mosquito bites after the canopy tour.

 

Again, ask anything and I'll try to answer.

[modnar]

Wow, what on ordeal making it to the ship. I'm glad you were finally able to make it. We're planning on cruising on the Valor in March, so I think I'll fly in a day ahead of time. :)

 

By the way, we were on the Conquest at Grand Cayman and Cozumel the same days you were there. The Conquest didn't leave New Orleans until 7/11, though, because of Hurricane Dennis, but we still had a great time.

[Wennfred]

What a crazy story, I guess you will fly in 1 day earily next time as recommended.

 

We too are going on the Valor this March 19th, Cant wait. Thanks for the review and the nightmare flight.

[Wennfred]

We're planning on cruising on the Valor in March.

 

Modnar when in March, we are sailing on the 19th of March. My roll call is here:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=186458

[cruzn buckeye]

Wow......

Our flight from CMH arrives in Miami at 12:04. We had originally booked full size planes but for some reason they switched that to a 50 seater out of CMH which appears to be overbooked. We were wondering what would happen if they held us up and we missed the ship since our first port is Belize. Did your airline charge you extra for flying you to the first port...also did they pay for your hotel?

Another question....what time after debarking did you make it to the airport in Miami?

We would have loved to fly in a day early but sometimes that just can't be done. Boyfriend's son is getting married the day before....hope we don't miss the ship!

[detroitavant]

Well, if you're flying Northwest anytime soon you *will* have problems; they are more than likely going to strike August 20th. Last time I heard, 40 out of their 600 planes were grounded due to mechanical issues. The union is dragging their feet to try and pressure northwest.

 

As for debarkation, I would say it took us roughly 2 and a half hours to get off the boat and to the airport. We spent probably 45 minutes on the bus waiting for them to fill every single freaking seat before they left, and then another 20-25 minutes for the person to unload the luggage off the bus before we were allowed off it. We ended up not doing the self debarkation, but chilled in the cigar bar and then cut through that and the lincoln room a after the first call and just got in line with no problems. Then we got to wait in more lines for customs and such. Wasn't a big deal at the airport since we did get our plane rescheduled since it was cancelled anyways, but we were cutting it close. Our original thought was we didn't want to the self thing since we would have 3 or 4 hours to burn, so we'd just chill on the boat. I think next time I'll just do the self thing just to get off and make sure there were no other problems.

 

The reason we didn't fly in one day early is because we got married the day before.

 

We had to argue with the airlines for about an hour or so before they agreed to fly us in. Their contention was that they only had to fly us from point a to point b, and once they got us there it didn't matter. I was arguing that there was a time involved, and they were getting us there 8-10 hours late and because of that we're missing a $4k cruise. After going through the chain of command, we eventually got them to fly us there at no charge. They paid for the hotel in memphis, but not the one in Belize. We ended up staying at the Radisson in Belize - nice hotel, with a shuttle between the airport and the hotel. We're trying to get them to pay for that as well, but we're getting nowhere on the phone.

[LUCY55]

A strike likely for Northwest?? Was looking at Thanksgiving tickets for DD from Minneapolis. For those who seem to know more than the rest of us--how long does a typical strike last and would you still book tickets several months in advance?

[detroitavant]

I live in Detroit, and since it's one of northest's hubs (60% of flights out of here are on NWA I think?), the papers are running stuff quite frequently. Like I mentioned before, they had some 40-odd planes down at the moment, which was twice the normal rate. August 20th is the strike deadline, they are in the "cooling off" period at the moment, and that ends the 20th. If they do come to an agreement, it won't be until the night before. I don't think they will come to an agreement though.

 

Northwest wants to eliminate 53% of the 4,500 mechanics jobs at Northwest and cut the pay and benefits of those who remain by 26%. I beleive they also want to elimate the jobs of all the airplane cleaners.

 

As for what northwest is doing about a strike, they've hired replacment mechanics and stewards to handle everything. They've also brought in charter planes on a few occasions, which pissed off the pilots union. They plan on attempting to fly during the strike anyways, but it'll be a crapshoot for passengers if they have problems or not. We had problems three weeks before the cool-off period when negotiations were still going on! So, get travel insurance, and make sure they cover northwest. I know some won't cover AA and UA since they have filed for bankruptcy before.

 

Quick link to more info:

http://www.usatoday.com/money/biztravel/2005-08-10-nwa-usat_x.htm

http://www.detnews.com/2005/business/0508/12/A01-278703.htm

[KenMo]

So, get travel insurance, and make sure they cover northwest. I know some won't cover AA and UA since they have filed for bankruptcy before.

 

Uh.....I just double-checked with my DH, who is an AA employee. AA has not filed banktruptcy. In fact, several years ago, they bought TWA. Maybe that's the airline you were thinking of??

[detroitavant]

Uh.....I just double-checked with my DH, who is an AA employee. AA has not filed banktruptcy. In fact, several years ago, they bought TWA. Maybe that's the airline you were thinking of??

 

I just recall reading an article recently about travel insurance (because of the NWA pending strike) and remember reading that most places won't cover two airlines since they have filed for bankruptcy before. I probably do have the names wrong then. Your best bet is to specifically ask if the airlines flying you are included since they may not be.

[LUCY55]

Thanks, shadowRuleZ. I am going to book United for thanksgiving. Our cruise in January-still waiting for the next round of available bookings for Southwest. Am not going to use Northwest!!!!