Review: Carnival Valor - Southern Caribbean - October 5-12, 2014

[timenprayer]

For our day in St. Kitt's, I was very pleased to be able to go golfing at the Royal St. Kitt's Golf Club. I had really wanted to try and golf while cruising, but I had never done it before. This time, because we traveled with friends, I had one of my buddies with me to enjoy the round with. As I had mentioned before, the excursion sponsored by Carnival was canceled - so I had to go online and book directly with the Marriott instead. I am really glad that I did because the cost was much cheaper this way. The excursion through Carnival cost me what the green fees plus club rental cost - so I am glad that it ended up canceled otherwise I would have had to pay a lot more.

 

After we arrived in port, my buddy and I set out to find a taxi to take us to the golf course. There was no problem getting a taxi and it wasn't expensive. Once we arrived at the course, it pretty much seemed like we had the entire course to ourselves for the day. That was great!

 

For me, the experience of golfing anywhere outside of midwest Ohio was incredible. Some of the views from some of the holes were just incredible.

 

 

 

 

 

I took up golf probably about four to five years ago and I love the challenge of the sport. I also have a really good time with my golf buddies and we love to laugh at each other. This past season, I shot in the 80s for the first time ever - so when I played at St Kitt's I was happy to have a round in the 90s. As a newer golfer, I found that the course had a some good challenge to it but it was not overly difficult. Again, there was no one on the course on this day - so we played at a leisurely pace and if we hit a bad shot - we hit another! After all, we were on vacation!

 

At the turn, we had a nice sandwich and fries inside at the snack bar. The food was pricey for sure, but that was to be expected. When the round was over, we sat inside for a good while and enjoyed the free wifi inside the clubhouse. The staff at the course called a taxi for us and it arrived a short time later.

 

Once back at port, I saw that Disney Magic was also in port. When I was in the stateroom relaxing later, I heard the Valor and the Disney Magic having a horn battle. That was something new and was a neat experience. The horns were so loud! (You can see more of the horn battle in the youtube video in the first post).

 

For the evening, we went to dinner at our assigned time and had a nice meal. I don't remember any of the details at this point, but we never had a bad experience. After that, I think we may have went to a show, but honestly I also don't remember that. I just know that I had a great day golfing while on vacation with my friend.

 

My wife and my buddy's wife had a good beach day as well. They did the Carnival sponsored beach excursion and had a nice time. My wife and I had done the same excursion when we took this itinerary on our honeymoon, and the beach wasn't all that great - there was a lot of crud in the water that had been stirred up from a passing hurricane. This time, however, my wide said the beach was much, much nicer and that she really had a good time.

 

Next up: St. Maarten and the Accompanying Excursion

[timenprayer]

Wow. Almost two and a half years later and I realized that I never finished this review. I doubt that very many will care or take interest since the Valor is no longer in San Juan, but...my wife and I have booked another cruise for this fall with some good friends that that means that I've made my way back to cruise critic.

 

In so doing, I noticed my incomplete review, and I've once again allowed myself to be very excited to be part of the cruising world. For our next cruise, we will be on the Glory out of Miami and we will be cruising as a family of three, rather than just my wife and I. I'm so excited to be cruising as a family and I'm optimistic that taking our then nearly two year old daughter will not be a mistake and we will make many great memories.

 

October 11, 2014 - What I can remember about St. Maarten and the Accompanying Excursion:

 

I remember that we had booked an excursion through Carnival that was an island tour coupled with a glass bottom boat experience. I had never been on a glass bottom boat and I was intrigued about what that would mean.

 

Like many excursions, we left the ship and were able to board a bus a short walk away. More great views of the ship in port.

 

 

 

I remember that the bus tour took us around several places on the island and there were several stops for photo opportunities. I took several photos that overlooked the island.

 

 

I also was able to snag a quick photo as we crossed from the Dutch side to the French side (or vice versa, can't remember).

 

 

After a couple photo opportunity stops, I remember that the took us into town and did a longer stop for some shopping. Our group walked around for a little bit, but honestly we were pretty tired from such a port-intensive cruise, so we actually came back to the bus to wait in the air conditioning for most of the "shopping time." I took a couple pictures of the shopping area.

 

 

After everyone on the excursion had finished their shopping, it was time to make way toward the glass bottom boat part of the tour. As we boarded the boat, I took this photo - I am always stunned by the blue-ness of the water in the Caribbean. That's part of what keeps me coming back, for sure. I also really laughed about the name of this little boat.

 

 

Up next: More photos and details about the glass bottom boat portion of the tour.

 

(And it will not be two and half more years before the next section appears). :')

[timenprayer]

The part of the tour that I think was most enjoyable was the glass bottom boat tour. For the first part of the tour, you rode up on top of the boat as they talked about landmarks near the island. One of the first landmarks (and most memorable) was the "Sleeping Indian."

 

 

 

 

 

 

After a short ride to the "best" underwater location, they had everyone go down into the bottom of the boat. It was pretty cramped in there, so this would not be ideal for a person with claustrophobia. No one in our group minded though and it allowed for a close-up view of the terrific blue water.

 

 

We were able to see several fish, corals, and other types of sea life. There were even sea turtles that often came out on the left side of the boat. The tour guide repeatedly commented about "turtles on the left" such that I even made a witty comment about why there were no "turtles on the right." :p

 

 

As part of the tour, they had a diver go out to feed some fish and entice them to come closer for everyone's viewing pleasure. They even had the diver pick up (what I remember to be) a sea urchin and show everyone as he swam by.

 

 

I think this portion of the tour lasted anywhere from a half hour to 45 minutes. I don't remember it being too long as it was stuffy and cramped in the glass bottom portion of the boat. I still very much enjoyed it, however, as God gave me lungs and not gils - so it was a nice way to view underwater sea life up close. (I'm a terrible snorkeler and I would probably never try SCUBA).

 

After that, they took us back up to the top of the boat for a nice ride back to the dock where the tour bus was waiting for us. There was another short guided tour as the bus made it's way back to the cruise terminal. Overall, I really enjoyed this tour and I would consider doing it again if given the choice.

 

Great shot of the Valor when we walked back to board the ship.

 

Edited April 4, 2017 by timenprayer