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

[PS1818]

I'm so happy you are giving us more pre cruise reading material!!!!

 

Thank you!!!

 

 

You are welcome! Have a great cruise!

[PS1818]

Why did you talk him out if it?

 

 

It's not the safest place in the world. I'm not in the habit of asking for trouble while 6000 miles away from home. I know that people go down there and it's beautiful and I'm sure nothing would happen but I also know that there is a very high rate of crime and I've read there is not a police presence down there. Now whether any of that is completely true or not... I don't know. So my thoughts were - why risk it? We could see its beauty from up above it so that worked for me!

[PS1818]

Subscribing! We are doing the same itinerary on the Liberty this April. Looking forward to your review! :)

 

 

Yay!! You will love it!!

[Nate123]

I'm on the Valor on Feb 1st. Hurry up and get to the ship :)

[deladane]

Thank you! I loved reading your review as well! I did bring copies of the Fun Times and they are already scanned and ready to go! I know... I get so disappointed after reading a good one and then they never finish. It is definitely more work than I had imagined (especially when it's your first time) but I will finish it!!

 

Aww thank you! I plan to write another review of this year's cruise, although I'm not sure if anyone will want to read it since it's the last time the Valor is sailing the southern itinerary haha

 

Thank you so much (in advance) for posting the fun times!! I have a few questions about the Valor, but I'll hold off on asking it until I see if you answer it in your review... If not, I hope it's okay if I hit you with a bunch of questions ;)

[PS1818]

I think I left off at our second trip to the Chicago Burger Co. . By now there were intermittent rain showers and a lot of people out and about. We got a table and ordered two cheeseburgers and fries. Of course I ordered a raspberry mojito and we both ordered water. It seemed that when you order water in most places we went to they bring you bottled water...which you are charged for. At the CBC it was Fiji water. I don't remember the exact price but it was spendy. We watched the part of one of the playoff games and ate what quite possible was the best burger I have had in a very long time. P looked pleased with himself because he knew he was winning the battle of the food.

We left and started walking back to the apartment. We passed some food vendors and bought some mini churros for dessert, which we took back to our balcony and ate while we watched some more ships come and go. We went to bed pretty early because tomorrow was the big day! And I wanted to try to get up and catch the Valor as she sailed into port!

 

CBC

 

 

 

I woke up really early because I was so excited to finally be getting on our ship! I went out to the balcony and realized I was too late. She was already here. But YAY! She was here!! I made some coffee and sat out there with my new friend the pigeon for a bit until it was time to start getting ready and packed for our next adventure.

 

 

 

[PS1818]

I'm on the Valor on Feb 1st. Hurry up and get to the ship :)

 

Haha I'm getting there! Patience my dear....patience. :)

[DevilDogsWifey215]

It's not the safest place in the world. I'm not in the habit of asking for trouble while 6000 miles away from home. I know that people go down there and it's beautiful and I'm sure nothing would happen but I also know that there is a very high rate of crime and I've read there is not a police presence down there. Now whether any of that is completely true or not... I don't know. So my thoughts were - why risk it? We could see its beauty from up above it so that worked for me!

I don't know anything about the area. Is it the cemetery or a city?

[Cruisegirl6]

Keep going love your review!

[beanies098]

I don't know anything about the area. Is it the cemetery or a city?

 

It's a neighborhood in San Juan near the cemetery. It has a bad reputation of being a rough area. Though I've heard it's mostly a problem at night, it's probably best to steer clear.

[DevilDogsWifey215]

It's a neighborhood in San Juan near the cemetery. It has a bad reputation of being a rough area. Though I've heard it's mostly a problem at night, it's probably best to steer clear.

Ohhhhh. See I thought she meant the cemetery. I'm from New Orleans so cemetery visiting isn't weird to me, I've even had school trio's to them lol and I was curious why she didn't want to go. :p

Edited January 23, 2015 by DevilDogsWifey215

[beanies098]

Ohhhhh. See I thought she meant the cemetery. I'm from New Orleans so cemetery visiting isn't weird to me, I've even had school trio's to them lol and I was curious why she didn't want to go. :p

 

Gotcha - I've heard the cemetery is actually an amazing place to visit and it's easy to see if you're already visiting the forts. Here's a map that shows you the area she was talking about.

[edsbiggbuck]

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.

 

You are absolutely correct with the Segway, Last year in the Bahamas I set up a Segway tour for myself (48) wife ( 40) aunt (65) Uncle (70) and my wife’s aunt ( 71!!!!) and we had the best time ever on an excursion. The ease of these machines are unbelievable.

[Stinger-pr]

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

 

 

 

FYI for those movie freaks out there: Part of the movie Assassins (Stallone/ Banderas) was shot right in front and inside the building in the top picture. The part where Stallone goes inside a bank to take his loot out and where Banderas sticks an orange on a spike on the fence in front to practice his "fatal" shot. To the left of the building on the lower picture, across the corner is the building where Banderas makes his stakeout waiting on Stallone to come out of the first building.

 

That first building, BTW, was the first casino built in PR dating back to 1917. It's now a special event/wedding venue (very, very, very expensive to rent BTW)

[Stinger-pr]

Having done my first review on my first cruise and after reading such wonderful Valor reviews before from some great reviewers I can relate to the hard work you're going through and the pressure of doing it right. I tell ya, you're on the right track!! Living in PR I always smile when people have a good time here (although I gotta admit... not even I would eat rice that looked like that!!). I'm just itching to relieve my cruise vacation through your review. Keep up the good work!!!

 

Oh, and BTW..... COWBOYS 2016 CHAMPS!!! LOL

[PS1818]

At 11 am We gathered all of our stuff , said goodbye to our wonderful apartment, and headed out the door. We stopped at the top of the stairs and lost a bit of our excitement when we realized we had to drag 2 -49.9 lb suitcases, 2 -30 lb. carry-ons, and 2-completely stuffed back packs down 4 flights of stairs in 88 degree heat with near 100% humidity. I know that doesn't sound too bad to you fine people down south. But to us folks from the Pacific Northwest it was HOT and HUMID!! But we did it in a few trips and after a short breather and some water we were once again excited and on our way. Our plan was to just walk to the pier with our suitcases. It didn't seem that far. But the last few times we had done it we weren't dragging an extra 180 lbs around on cobble stone streets. Plus it looked like the sky might dump rain at any moment, and the last thing I wanted was soaking wet suitcases. So after a little way we wimped out and grabbed a taxi. We were taken to the port and handed our luggage over to the porter. We tipped him and were quickly ushered into a line to show our ID's and boarding passes. This all moved very quickly. I wasn't sure how soon we would be able to board the ship because I'd read many different stories about times. Some people said they walked on as early as 11:00 and some people said not until 3:00. But we had to check out at 11 so we had no where else to go. We had purchased Faster to the Fun passes. It wasn't until after we bought them that I had read reviews saying we wouldn't need them when leaving from San Juan. Once we made it into the terminal and had our picture taken we were ushered into the line that checks in the FTTF pass holders (this is the same line that checks in the Platinum and Gold cruisers as well I believe). There were only about 3 groups of people ahead of us and in the other lines there were about 30. So I was thinking this FTTF thing is already worth it. We were checked in and given our S&S cards within 15 minutes of being dropped at the curb. We made our way to the seating area and waited to be called to board. I don't know if I was missing something but the seating area was not very big. At the Port of Miami their terminal is huge and reminded me of how an airport terminal is set up. Here it seemed very small and disorganized. We sat there until around 12:30 before they started to board. To top it off the power went out about half way through our wait. I was really starting to get a bad feeling. The power came back on after a bit thankfully and shortly after they started to board. There was a liquor store in the terminal that had pretty good prices. We didn't buy anything but planned on leaving the ship and going to CVS later for water, pop, wine, and snacks. I was very interested in how the whole smuggling booze thing worked on the ship. ****notice**** I used Rum Runners to smuggle booze onto the ship. If you have a problem with that...save your breath. I honestly don't care. To set your mind at ease I still purchased plenty of drinks. And so did everyone else on the ship. Trust me when I tell you that Carnival will not go broke from people smuggling booze. I used to be a manager at a restaurant and I know how much it costs and I know how much it's marked up. They know people smuggle booze and if they were that worried about it they would actually do something about it. Like not have there liquor check in table so far away from the xray scanner. Moving on...

Our plan was to see if our booze made it on and if it didn't we were going to buy some at CVS and try to smuggle it the old fashioned way (after it being tagged we would put it in our back pack and just walk on past the check in table that is literally WAY out of sight of the scanner. And that check in table is tucked away in a little corner right before you step onto the ship. You wouldn't hardly notice it was there if you weren't looking for it). So we were hoping our room was ready and our luggage was there so we could know if our booze made it on or not. Well we were very pleasantly surprised to find our room ready, our luggage there, and our booze made it!!

 

Also, our room steward stopped us in the hall and somehow knew who we were. His name was Joner (pronounced Joan-airrr) and he was the most adorable, friendly, helpful guy! We were so impressed with him. We had brought a soft sided cooler with us so we would have ice, cold pop and juice and he restocked it with ice twice a day and he kept our room perfect. This kid literally had a smile on his face and seemed so happy ALL the time. I loved him. I was already liking this way more than NCL. Our room steward took good care of us but he was no Joner.

 

I put the rum runners in multiple zip locks in case of leakage

 

Yay! They made it!

 

I bought a drink of the day the moment we stepped on ship. I used the cup to make my own drinks.

 

Our room number

[PS1818]

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

 

 

 

FYI for those movie freaks out there: Part of the movie Assassins (Stallone/ Banderas) was shot right in front and inside the building in the top picture. The part where Stallone goes inside a bank to take his loot out and where Banderas sticks an orange on a spike on the fence in front to practice his "fatal" shot. To the left of the building on the lower picture, across the corner is the building where Banderas makes his stakeout waiting on Stallone to come out of the first building.

 

That first building, BTW, was the first casino built in PR dating back to 1917. It's now a special event/wedding venue (very, very, very expensive to rent BTW)

 

 

I didn't know any of that! That's cool! We thought it used to be a casino but weren't sure what it was currently. It's very pretty!

[PS1818]

Having done my first review on my first cruise and after reading such wonderful Valor reviews before from some great reviewers I can relate to the hard work you're going through and the pressure of doing it right. I tell ya, you're on the right track!! Living in PR I always smile when people have a good time here (although I gotta admit... not even I would eat rice that looked like that!!). I'm just itching to relieve my cruise vacation through your review. Keep up the good work!!!

 

Oh, and BTW..... COWBOYS 2016 CHAMPS!!! LOL

 

 

Thank you!! People showing their appreciation makes it so worth it. And YES! GO COWBOYS!! 😍

[PS1818]

You are absolutely correct with the Segway, Last year in the Bahamas I set up a Segway tour for myself (48) wife ( 40) aunt (65) Uncle (70) and my wife’s aunt ( 71!!!!) and we had the best time ever on an excursion. The ease of these machines are unbelievable.

 

 

Yes they are so responsive and really easy!! We will definitely be looking to do it again on future trips.

[Bobkat26]

Loving your review. Thanks so much. Love you sense of writing as well.

 

Would love to know more about the apt you rented, we are looking at doing the same thing. I would love to get the contact information.

 

Did you feel safe walking around PR? We are going in October 2015.

 

Thanks,

Kathy

[Cruisegirl6]

I have one word to say More!! LOL

 

No worries about the smuggling booze, I have done it many times in the past (prior to the Cheers program) and never got caught and didn't use what you used. Its nice having liquor in the room but I did it because my daughter was 18, 19,20 and I wanted her to have her jack daniels, anyways, there is nothing wrong with her having drinks she isn't driving and the drinking age was 18 for me so her rights have been taken away from her as they changed the legal drinking age to 21 which I think sucks basically (if you can go to war at the age of 18 and buy tobacco....you get the point). I am also going to say for those of you who will have comments about this SAVE YOUR BREATH!! :)

 

More review please.

[ColKlink]

At 11 am I was very interested in how the whole smuggling booze thing worked on the ship. ****notice**** I used Rum Runners to smuggle booze onto the ship. If you have a problem with that...save your breath. I honestly don't care. To set your mind at ease I still purchased plenty of drinks. And so did everyone else on the ship. Trust me when I tell you that Carnival will not go broke from people smuggling booze. I used to be a manager at a restaurant and I know how much it costs and I know how much it's marked up. They know people smuggle booze and if they were that worried about it they would actually do something about it. Like not have there liquor check in table so far away from the xray scanner. Moving on...

Our plan was to see if our booze made it on and if it didn't we were going to buy some at CVS and try to smuggle it the old fashioned way (after it being tagged we would put it in our back pack and just walk on past the check in table that is literally WAY out of sight of the scanner. And that check in table is tucked away in a little corner right before you step onto the ship. You wouldn't hardly notice it was there if you weren't looking for it). So we were hoping our room was ready and our luggage was there so we could know if our booze made it on or not.

 

Awesome I love it! I love my Rum Runners they are the best invention. I am bringing more than ever this year when we sail the Valor in March. I am thinking of making green Jell-O shots for St. Patty's Day.

We are doing the Segway tour also - thanks for the pics it looks great.

Klink

[PS1818]

I don't know anything about the area. Is it the cemetery or a city?

 

 

It's a neighborhood that is next to the cemetery. We went into the cemetery and it is amazingly beautiful! The neighborhood next to it is a slum that is pretty because it's situated in such a neat area but it is dangerous.

[TiffyLtheDork]

So it's basically collapsible water bottles? Sorry. Can't see the picture

[PS1818]

Loving your review. Thanks so much. Love you sense of writing as well.

 

Would love to know more about the apt you rented, we are looking at doing the same thing. I would love to get the contact information.

 

Did you feel safe walking around PR? We are going in October 2015.

 

Thanks,

Kathy

 

 

Thank you! The apartment was great! The info is ... VRBO.com property # 968409. The owners name is Olivia. If you look up the property (it's called "la puntilla " I believe) and just send her an email about when you want to rent she will respond pretty quickly. She was awesome to work with.

 

We never once felt unsafe, even at night. The only place I would say to avoid is La Perla. It's next to the cemetery but the cemetery felt very safe.