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

[Ecshirln]

Eeeek! You have made me so excited for our cruise of this itinerary on the Liberty in June! Thanks so much for the awesome review PS1818, loved reading every minute of it [emoji2] We were probably least excited about St Kitts (no idea why) but your review and amazing pictures have us really looking forward to it now...we are even going to look at Javin's My Island tours now thanks to you [emoji2]

 

 

We were on the 1-25-15 sailing...awesome itinerary had a great time, crowd was FUN, ports were awesome. I was least excited about St. kitts too and we planned on staying on the ship for St. Kitts. We changed our minds and went to Cockleshell Beach. Looking back we would have rather passed on that beach. The beach was crowded,nothing special and there were a lot of bees (maybe they were yellow jackets) swarming around and the food was meh. This cruise overall ....fabulous. I would do this trip again in a heartbeat.

[brownies95]

Awesome Review!:) We are thinking about doing this exact intinerary aboard the Liberty in October. Now we have some great ideas of things to do!

 

Tim:cool:

[Martini Mom]

I think I mentioned the “control enthusiasm” that I suffer from. Some, like P, might call it a mild case of OCD. Whatever...I like things to be clean and organized. He is lucky to have me and he knows it!

 

LOL :D I say the same thing to my DH. It annoys him...until he needs to know something or find something and then he's happy I'm OCDish. ;)

[PS1818]

LOL :D I say the same thing to my DH. It annoys him...until he needs to know something or find something and then he's happy I'm OCDish. ;)

 

EXACTLY!! It's all fun and games until he can't find his shoes...

[PS1818]

Awesome Review!:) We are thinking about doing this exact intinerary aboard the Liberty in October. Now we have some great ideas of things to do!

 

Tim:cool:

 

You should do it! You will not regret it!

[PS1818]

Eeeek! You have made me so excited for our cruise of this itinerary on the Liberty in June! Thanks so much for the awesome review PS1818, loved reading every minute of it [emoji2] We were probably least excited about St Kitts (no idea why) but your review and amazing pictures have us really looking forward to it now...we are even going to look at Javin's My Island tours now thanks to you [emoji2]

 

Yay!! I'm so glad ! And you are welcome, thank you for the kind words!

We were least excited about St. Kitts too and I am so glad we found Javin's tour. It was awesome!! I hope you have a wonderful time!

[PS1818]

Enjoyed it. We would like to do this cruise eventually...

 

I'm glad you enjoyed it and I hope you do this cruise!

[PS1818]

My DH and I have 2 cruises planned on the Valor; one in April and one in May

Your wonderful review has made us very eager to go.

We have 68 cruise on lots of different lines (47 on Carnival) and I have to tell you this is one of the best reviews I have enjoyed

So go on another cruise soon so we can read more of your reviews

happy cruising to you from dot and harry

 

Wow!! My goal in life is to have that many cruises under my belt! Aww thank you so much, that is very nice of you to say! I can't wait to go on another cruise. I just promised the hubby that we could go on a land vacation to Hawaii after I graduate so it could be awhile for a cruise. :( .Happy cruising to you two as well!!

[RenoNanaOz]

Sorry, had to take a break and eat some cheerios because after our trip my body seems to think that if I don’t eat every 25 minutes it will die. I have no idea how that happened.

 

So I realized too late that I forgot to put the dates of our cruise in the title…stupid rookie. We were on the 1/11/15- 1/18/15 sailing out of Old San Juan. We flew out of Seattle on the 8th on the overnight flight. We stopped in ATL and had a layover then arrived in San Juan on Friday morning. We like to take the overnight flight because we sleep on the plane and don’t have to waste a whole day of our vacation traveling. Plus it’s usually cheaper. Our flight was smooth and uneventful. I usually have trouble with pain in my ears when I fly (like someone is stabbing my eardrum with an icepick) but this time I wasn’t in tears when we landed. Success!!

 

Here we are at the airport all excited to take off!

 

And here is my first official vacation drink!

 

We arrived at SJU and went to collect our luggage. We were very happy to find it all there. On a side note- the best $5 investment I have ever made was in one of these babies….a woman who enjoys shoes and clothes should never leave home without one.

 

Then we headed to the taxi stand. It is true what everyone says about the taxis at SJU. They are very organized and the line moves quickly. They ask you where you want to go and how many bags and give you a set price. In our case we were going to Old San Juan and had 4 bags (not including our backpacks). I know….I am an over-packer. Our fare was $25 plus tip.

 

I originally wanted to stay at the El Convento Hotel in Old San Juan. It’s a beautiful old building that was once a convent and then converted to a hotel in the 1960’s. It was pretty spendy at around $350 per night. What really changed my mind about staying there was after they add the tax and the “resort fee” and some other fees it ended up being well over $400 per night. I was reading a review and the reviewer said they stayed in an apartment. What a great Idea I thought!! So I got on VRBO and found the perfect place. It was in a gated area on the same street as the coast guard and had a beautiful view of San Juan Harbor. It had two balconies, a full kitchen, washer & dryer, and was about 800 sq feet, and it was in walking distance of everything in OSJ. It was perfect! We sat on the balcony and drank wine and watched the cruise ships come and go. The best part was it was only $125 per night and had no hidden fees. We paid a $100 refundable damage deposit which was already here waiting for us when we got home. The property manager (the owner’s father) was wonderful and told us about cool things to see and do. We will definitely do the apartment thing again.

 

I love VRBO, we go to San Francisco every year and stay in the same flat in North Beach we found on there. Looking forward to reading through your review. Sailing from SJ next year is on our list.

[PS1818]

Nice review 😄

 

Thanks! I'm glad you enjoyed it.

[PS1818]

I love VRBO, we go to San Francisco every year and stay in the same flat in North Beach we found on there. Looking forward to reading through your review. Sailing from SJ next year is on our list.

 

It couldn't have been more perfect! I am already looking for apartments in Hawaii for our next trip. I hope you enjoy it!

[kmarie10531]

im doing this same itinerary on the Liberty in late May. For St. Lucia, how long was the tour would you say ? I really want to see the pitons and also have time to shop back at port.

 

TIA

[Buffettfan 225]

Alright, so now I'm gonna rewind to embarkation day in San Juan. I honestly don't remember much of what we did this day. I know that the first thing we did was buy a DOD and went to find that our room was ready and our luggage was there, and our booze made it on. YAY! Great start to vacation. I think we went and found food after that and then back to the room so I could unpack us and get organized...I think I mentioned the “control enthusiasm” that I suffer from. Some, like P, might call it a mild case of OCD. Whatever...I like things to be clean and organized. He is lucky to have me and he knows it! So while I was milling about putting things away the Cowboys/Green Bay game was on. Before the game started I had no illusions that the Cowboys would win. But in true Dallas fashion they got me to believe, got me all excited, and then crushed me like a bug. I was devastated but I was in the Caribbean already having the best vacation of my life, so I got over it. So after the crushing of my little spirit we went and explored the ship. We ate dinner and then got back off the ship with an empty roller carry on suitcase. We walked to CVS to buy a case of water, an 8 pack of sprite, and a few snacks. We never did buy wine because we had all the other booze and we are not huge drinkers. We headed back and sent the suitcase thru the scanner fully expecting that they would want to open it and see what was in it. No one even batted an eye. It was almost ridiculous how easy it would have been to fill that thing with beer and bring it on.

We took it back to our room, unloaded it and then headed to the dreaded muster drill. Your S&S card and the door in your cabin will tell you which muster station is yours. The map is on the door. Ours was easy to find and we made the mistake of being there early. We were SO tired. The drill started on time and only lasted 12 minutes. I timed it. Some stuff they repeated in Spanish but not everything. It wasn't as bad as I was prepared for. This is one area where Carnival loses to NCL. On the Epic our muster stations were in places where people could sit down, and were air conditioned. It seemed more organized and less painful for all involved. But oh well, it is necessary. After the drill the sail away party started. We went to the “secrete” deck on level 10 to watch sail away. It was pretty cool to see the forts at night all lit up. One more thing I must compare to NCL is that Carnival is much better at getting the party started. Everyone was dancing and singing and having a great time. I realize NCL has a little different customer base but they were not good at getting people to join in. I wasn't even sure why they bothered having a sail away party. After we were out to sea we decided to go to bed. We were already exhausted from our time in OSJ and needed to sleep.

 

Sail away party

 

Side note here....

 

I have always had severe cases of motion sickness. Even on a straight road, if I am not driving or sitting in the front seat or the middle of the back seat, I will get really sick. I have tried sea bands, meclazine, and ginger pills and none worked for me. Last year on the Epic I started taking Bonine the day before our cruise. I know you are supposed to take it every morning. On the 5th day I decided not to take it because I felt fine and I could hardly feel the ship moving so I thought it would be okay. Well that evening I had to leave the table at dinner because I was so sick. It ruined me for the whole night. Well fast forward to this cruise and I was a bit worried because I knew there would be more noticeable movement on the Valor due to it being much smaller and I don't know if it has stabilizers like the Epic does. So I decided I would just take the Bonine and hope for the best. The Valor was rocking most of the time. It was actually surprising how much it moved. But it never once bothered me! I was so happy!! And now I swear by Bonine. It is the only thing that has ever worked for me. BUT you have to take it every single morning. EVEN is you feel like you will be fine. The thing about motion sickness is that you have to prevent it from happening in the first place because once you feel sick it won't go away. Okay....moving on.

 

Next up...Cruise day 2. St. Thomas, Coki Beach, and Scuba Diving!!

Wow on motion sickness- we were separated at birth with identical inability for motion. I live by Bonine too. I digress....my question if you recall what your balcony was facing as sailed away, nd in each port what you were facing (the pier with gangway people side, or water etc.) thanks we have same deck and cabin a few doors down but wi now be assigned to repositioned Liberty. Loving your pictures and commend for playing with settings.

[Buffettfan 225]

Glad it could help, stay safe! Haha yeah my selfies need some work as well! But my camera has a flip up selfie screen so it makes it much easier!

I recall reading water camera type. What type using for ship photos and selfies?

I am thinking of not bringing my Nikon Dslr but a point and shoot instead that is waterproof. Just wondering if would need the "better camera."

[PS1818]

I recall reading water camera type. What type using for ship photos and selfies?

I am thinking of not bringing my Nikon Dslr but a point and shoot instead that is waterproof. Just wondering if would need the "better camera."

 

I used the same camera for all my photos. The Olympus Tough 850 has a flip up screen that makes selfies easy. I took a few photos with my iphone as well but only a few of those were posted.

[PS1818]

Wow on motion sickness- we were separated at birth with identical inability for motion. I live by Bonine too. I digress....my question if you recall what your balcony was facing as sailed away, nd in each port what you were facing (the pier with gangway people side, or water etc.) thanks we have same deck and cabin a few doors down but wi now be assigned to repositioned Liberty. Loving your pictures and commend for playing with settings.

 

Sorry I won't be much help with this. A few I remember.... San Juan sail away we were on the people side (with the pier below our balcony) and our balcony was on the side opposite the forts as we sailed out of the harbor, which is why we went up to the secret deck 10. St. Thomas we were facing the water (we saw all the sail boats and not the Sr. Frogs building). In Barbados we were on the pier side. In St. Lucia we were on the side opposite the pier and the ship was backed in. St. Kitts and St. Maartin I don't recall...Sorry :(

[PS1818]

im doing this same itinerary on the Liberty in late May. For St. Lucia, how long was the tour would you say ? I really want to see the pitons and also have time to shop back at port.

 

TIA

 

It was about 6 hours. You will have plenty of time to shop because the port is right next to where you leave on this tour. And the port shops are super close to the ship.

[cruizinwithsoozin]

Thanks so much for sharing your Carnival Valor Southern Caribbean review!!! We sail on the same itinerary on March 15. We are so excited after reading your blog...14 sleeps :p

[BeakerR]

Do you remember what nights were designated as Elegant Nights? I'm assuming the first night would have been on the sea day but would like to know what the 2nd night is? I'll be on this itinerary May 10th on the Liberty and would like to know so I can plan my shore excursions appropriately. THANK YOU!

[PS1818]

Do you remember what nights were designated as Elegant Nights? I'm assuming the first night would have been on the sea day but would like to know what the 2nd night is? I'll be on this itinerary May 10th on the Liberty and would like to know so I can plan my shore excursions appropriately. THANK YOU!

 

Elegant nights were on sea day (Tuesday) and Thursday (St. Lucia).