My Carnival Valor Southern Caribbean review!! With 2 days in Old San Juan !

[JulieMcCoy]

I have one month to go until my Valor vacation, so I'm going to live through your experience for a while! And then I'll turn my head and look outside at the snow again...

[PS1818]

On the day we arrived in OSJ we had a 2 hour Segway tour booked. While we were in the taxi on our way to the apartment I received a text from Jose (the tour guide) asking if we would mind postponing until the next morning. He thought it was going to rain. We didn’t have anything planned that we couldn’t move around so we agreed. It didn’t actually end up raining. So after we got settled into the apartment I put P down for his afternoon nap. I allowed him to sleep for about 20 minutes until I couldn’t stand it any longer. Didn’t he know there were things to see and do and taste out there?? We had to get to it. We started by walking along the Paseo de la Princesa. There were lots of locals selling there crafts and many beautiful fountains and parks. This was on Friday and we walked along here again on Saturday evening because there were a lot more venders. I wanted to try all the local treats. I tried a piragua, which is shaved ice with flavored syrup poured on it. I wasn’t impressed. I asked for cherry and it just tasted like ice with flavorless sugar syrup poured on it. And it was really messy, I ended up tossing it as soon as I saw a trash can. I think maybe I just got the bad piragua guy because later I saw what looked like a much better one and the people eating it looked happy about it.

 

I read a great review that talked about a guy who peels oranges and how good they were. I saw this guy and there were so many people lined up to get one of these oranges. They were 50 cents each and ugly. I mean if I saw these oranges in the grocery store I would not buy them. They weren’t even orange! But of course we got in line and bought two of them. They cut the top for you and leave a lot of the white part. I guess you are supposed to eat the insides out. I had to watch the locals do it to figure out what to do with it. It sounds funny but it wasn’t easy! But they were very juicy and flavorful oranges! By the time we were done we were covered in orange juice and pulp. I’m sure we looked ridiculous!

 

 

 

Back to Friday…. I sniffed out the Coach store and pretended like I didn’t know its exact coordinates, open and closing time, and the names and addresses of all who worked there. I purchased a gorgeous bag that was 80% off !!!!! I was pretty happy.

 

 

Then we continued on and explored the San Juan Cathedral. This is next to El Convento hotel and is the second oldest church in the Americas. They began construction on it in the 1500’s. It also houses the remains of Ponce de Leon. It’s very pretty and unfortunately I didn’t get very good pictures of the inside.

[jmwg49]

looking forward to this! We did the Valor last August and must say it was right up there as our favourite cruise! All the ports are amazing...and we stayed 2 nights in OSJ...Anyone sailing from SJ HAS TO do that! It is an amazing place and we look forward to doing it again one day!!! Keep up the great work with your review! Can't wait to read more!

[kelkel2]

Well the only thing that made that loss semi- not -crushing was that I never in a million years expected us to win. Aaron Rodgers is a machine. The way it ended was a tad heart breaking. I'm sure you know all about that after Sunday. Sorry...I was rooting for you guys.

 

We visited St. Thomas, Barbados, St. Lucia, St. Kitts, and St. Maartin. It was a busy cruise!!

 

I was actually on day one of a cruise when Kentucky mens Basketball team lost in the final four. Ugh I can relate to teams losing being a crappy way to start a cruise. But then I thought about at least it's a nice way to drown the sorrows (no pun intended) instead of being at home. Good god I so badly wanted to beat those Sea Hawks (I call them sea craps) wasn't our day though. We blew it. I think had Aaron been up to par we could have. A few times you could tell he wanted to run but didn't. Poor guy.

Ok, back to cruising :)

[SMSACE6]

I am loving your review! I fell in love with San Juan on my cruise last November, and have vowed to do the cruise from San Juan. I have a cruise booked already for later this year, but my plan right now is to do this cruise in 2016 to coincide with my retirement. Looking forward to the rest of your review, and thanks for taking the time to post.:)

[PS1818]

Really?!?! Thank you so much! I've seen so many great reviews here and I'm glad to know that you enjoyed mine. :) I've only done two & my Valor out of San Juan review was my very first. I'm really enjoying your review and I've gotten two great ideas already...the apartment and the luggage scale. I've heard of luggage scales but didn't know what they looked like, but that is something that we (well, I) need. So happy to hear you had a great time and it was your best vacation so far.

 

Yes!! There are a lot of good ones and yours was one of the best! The apartment was great and the luggage scale is very handy. We normally get $29 hotel rooms at Hilton, Hampton, and Doubletree because my aunt is a regional manager and she gets a really good discount that she passes onto us. But she doesn't get the discount in PR. So I'm glad I found the apartment deal. It worked out great!

[PS1818]

I was actually on day one of a cruise when Kentucky mens Basketball team lost in the final four. Ugh I can relate to teams losing being a crappy way to start a cruise. But then I thought about at least it's a nice way to drown the sorrows (no pun intended) instead of being at home. Good god I so badly wanted to beat those Sea Hawks (I call them sea craps) wasn't our day though. We blew it. I think had Aaron been up to par we could have. A few times you could tell he wanted to run but didn't. Poor guy.

Ok, back to cruising :)

 

That was the exact attitude I had! P looked very worried that I was gonna have a breakdown or start throwing things off of our balcony. But I shook it off and said "well...what better way to get over something than being on a fabulous vacation? Lets get a drink!". He looked stunned but was happy to oblige.

[PS1818]

I am loving your review! I fell in love with San Juan on my cruise last November, and have vowed to do the cruise from San Juan. I have a cruise booked already for later this year, but my plan right now is to do this cruise in 2016 to coincide with my retirement. Looking forward to the rest of your review, and thanks for taking the time to post.:)

 

I am glad you like it! I fell in love with it too and have to go back! Congrats on your retirement!!

[PS1818]

Do you have the VRBO property number, the place looks great for the price...

 

Edit:

Found it, thanks, never thought of VRBO.

 

I do have the owners contact info if you need it. Her name is Olivia and she was really easy to do business with. The only downside of the apartment was that it was on the fourth floor and there was no elevator. It wasn't as bad as it sounds, we counted and I believe it was only like 48 steps, plus we figured we needed the exercise! But it wouldn't work for anyone with mobility issues.

[PS1818]

It is snowing here...***? Annnddd I just had to do laundry and prepare my own meal. This is BS! And to add insult to injury my laptop is not working very well so I had to switch to P's laptop which doesn't have word installed on it. So if things get a little crazy you will know why. :(

 

Anyway, where was I? Oh yes. Having a wonderful time in OSJ. We were starting to get hungry so we decided to check out the El Convento Hotel. I knew from my research that there were a few restaurants here. We walked around inside for a bit to check it out because I want to stay there some time. It is a beautiful boutique style hotel. We decided on Pizza E Birra. We sat outside on the terrace that looks out onto the street. The sun was going down, the pizza was delicious, the wine was perfect, and it was fun to just watch the local scene unfold.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After dinner we walked around a bit more and poked our heads into a few shops. We walked back toward the water and found the CVS. This is the drug store that everyone goes to to buy their wine and liquor to bring on the ship. It is a couple blocks from the pier where the Valor docks. Some people will say it's right across the street....it is not. But it is close and convenient. We bought some wine and snacks and walked back to our apartment.

 

I know that I said at the beginning that P doesn't drink. I didn't mean he doesn't drink at all, he just doesn't drink very often or very much. I just didn't want you all to think that he was on the wagon and I made him jump off lol.

So anyway...We got back and opened up all the shudders and balcony doors. The apartment is a corner unit so the cool breeze was amazing. We sat on the balcony and had a glass of wine and watched ships come and go. Then we went to bed because we were exhausted!!

[PS1818]

We woke up bright and early and found that the shower in this apartment was fantastic. This would be a continuing theme on this trip. All the showers were the kind you don't want to get out of.

 

Back to my story...

So I wanted to try really hard to experience local food. I knew this was going to be a challenge with a man who eats like a fussy 3 year old. I'm not kidding people...the only veggie he will eat are green beans from a can in the french cut style. Any variation from that and it's a no go. I had read about mallorcas and I wanted to try them. I thought there may be a chance he would eat it because he likes ham and cheese sandwiches. So maybe they aren't exactly the same...but close. If you don't know- a mallorca is a sweet bread sandwich with any combo of ham, cheese, bacon, and egg, squished and fried with lots of butter on a panini-type looking machine. When it's done they sprinkle powdered sugar on top. So We went to Cafeteria Mallorca and I had bacon, egg, and cheese, and P had ham and cheese. They were pretty good. P didn't love it but he ate it all. So it was a success! We also had coffee, which by the way, isn't refillable like most coffee at breakfast places. We thought "wow! $1.25 is cheap for coffee!" but then we realized we'd been bamboozled. Oh well...was still fun and cheap!

 

 

The Press thingy...

 

 

 

[familyfuncruise]

Great review. Can't wait for more :D

[PS1818]

looking forward to this! We did the Valor last August and must say it was right up there as our favourite cruise! All the ports are amazing...and we stayed 2 nights in OSJ...Anyone sailing from SJ HAS TO do that! It is an amazing place and we look forward to doing it again one day!!! Keep up the great work with your review! Can't wait to read more!

 

It is a great cruise! And I agree, if you are going to OSJ anyway, you owe it to yourself to stay for a couple days!

[PS1818]

I have one month to go until my Valor vacation, so I'm going to live through your experience for a while! And then I'll turn my head and look outside at the snow again...

 

Hang in there! It will be here before you know it!

[PS1818]

After Breakfast we walked around some more and took some pictures. There are so many cool buildings and neat shops and cafes here.

 

 

 

Today was our segway adventure! For those of you who have not ridden a segway- you should!! We booked with Segway Tours of Puerto Rico. Our tour was to last 2 hours and take us to 28 different sites. It cost $93 plus tax each and it was worth every single penny! There were 5 of us on the tour plus our guide, Jose. Jose was awesome. He explained how to ride and gave us a little training course. At first it feels a bit awkward but within literally 4 minutes I (and everyone else) was comfortable on it and zipping around as if I had always ridden one. Trust me ...almost anyone can do it. We rode all over OSJ stopping at lots of cool sites to learn about them and take pictures. We went to El Morro and Jose paid our entrance fee. He gave us a short tour of the fort and was very knowledgeable about all the sites. This was really fun. P is now obsessed with segways and is looking for 2 to purchase...no joke.

 

 

 

Segway Selfie!! I got the feeling that the people in the background make an event out of watching people learn how to ride them. They were cheering and laughing at us.

 

[PS1818]

Here are some more pics of OSJ and the segway tour.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[PS1818]

And more....I warned you there would be lots of photos. I took 1300. Don't worry tho, they aren't all gonna be posted ;).

 

 

 

After the tour we were hot and thirsty! So we decided to walk across the street and have a drink (hey it was after noon now...don't judge!) at the Chicago Burger Co. which is in the Sheraton. I had the best Raspberry Mojito of my life!!

 

 

 

[PS1818]

After cooling off and resting for a few minutes we decided to head back out and check out a couple things a little more. On the segway tour we got a short look at the cemetary but we wanted to walk around in it. And we also wanted to see La Perla. Don't worry, P wanted to go down into it but I talked him out of it. It is very pretty.

 

Got this delicious treat from a street vendor on the way

 

 

 

Standing on the wall that Separates La Perla from OSJ.

 

 

[rob6465]

Wife and I are going to be on breeze 12/5 and one of the ports is san juan. I'll be docking into san juan on 12/8 my birthday. I was born in PR and haven't visited since 1998. Wife will be dragging me to coach store. She said for u to post pic of purse....ohhhh noooo

[malibudez]

Great review. I was at that Packer/Cowboy game. It was awesome, in more ways then one. The next week, not so much. GO PACK!!! Anyway, we are on Valor March 8, in a room just down the hall about 10 rooms fore of yours. We are spending 1 day before and 1 day after our cruise in San Juan. We have sailed out of there 2 times on the Celebrity Summit and LOVED it. Now we will have kids 12/9 in tow for their first cruise. I,m excited to see what the Valor has for the kids. I just cant wait and your review is making my wait a little more tolerable.

[rzyjzq]

to see your review. Thanks for taking the time to post. I'll be on the same itinerary in April on the Liberty and this is making me even more excited. I've been looking at doing the Segway tour in OSJ and just hoping I can talk my friend into it. Beats walking around in the heat! Can't wait to read more of your review. Thanks again!

Susan

[beanies098]

Glad to hear that the drinks are good at the Sheraton! That's where we'll be staying pre-cruise.

[PS1818]

P here...

 

That didn't sound right at all... but, I thought I should interject a little for the male species into this review. I'd start with the Segway, this could be one of man's grandest inventions! I'm a gadget and machine guy who spent a lot of years at the wheel of blown alcohol funny cars and altereds, and the guy who created this thing is a genius! It literally takes about a minute and a half to be zooming around on one of these things. After that it is one of the most effortless forms of motion since Whamo brought us the slip-n-slide. You stand on it, lean forward an almost imperceptible amount and before you know it you are chasing the cute girl (S) in front of you. We tackled 7% grades, up and down, speed bumps, hairpin turns and dodging envious onlookers with grace and speed. The exhaust note needs a little work, more of a whine than the hemi rumble I Prefer. But that's a minor detail for a machine so well conceived and executed. Most fun I've ever had while fully clothed and limited to 12 MPH. Yes, I'm shopping!

 

I'd also have to add a little plug for the guys we booked the tour with... Segway Tours of PR. Jose was our guide and a wealth of historical knowledge. I pretty much slept through the Spanish American war part of history and now I wished I had been more attentive. The history of this place is amazing and Jose rattled of dates and statistics like he had lived it! The rich history of this area is all around you during this tour. One of our best adventures yet.

[Arizonagirl14]

We were on the December 28-Jan 4th Valor cruise and also spent 2 extra days in San Juan. I am already looking at when we can book again. We fell in love with San Juan and truly loved this cruise.

 

We can not wait to return to beautiful San Juan!

 

 

 

 

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[rmh661983]

Going on the Valor in July. I can't wait to see what you think of the ship.

 

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