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

[PS1818]

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

 

 

Haha great idea!! Have fun on the segways!

[PS1818]

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

 

 

Yes... They are plastic containers that collapse when empty. They are well sealed so it's unlikely they will leak and they have no metal so they're difficult to detect. The colored one I bought at the dollar store to see how it would hold up. It leaked a bit so I'm glad it was in a zip lock.

[PS1818]

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.

 

 

I think it would be very easy to smuggle on this cruise without rum runners. We left the ship with an empty carry on suitcase and went to cvs. We filled it with bottles of water and pop. When we went back thru security they didn't even open it. It could have been filled with beer and bottles of vodka. No judgements here. :)

[PS1818]

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

 

 

We really like pretty old cemeteries. I've never been but my husband loves the ones in New Orleans.

[PS1818]

My first impression of the ship itself was that I thought it was very pretty. From the images I had seen from other reviews and other places on the internet I was prepared to not like it. In fact we chose this cruise based solely on the itinerary. We decided we wouldn't worry too much about the ship because we would be so busy with all the ports. We actually loved the ship. Yes, it is older and it may be time for a refurb but it was very clean, pretty, and easy to navigate. The thing I liked better about the Valor over the Epic was that it felt much more like a ship. The Epic was so big and so “closed” that you didn't even feel like you were on the ocean. We also liked the design of the cabin much better than the Epic. The cabins on the Epic are in a wave like design which makes the room feel really small. And there was so much more counter space and shelving in the bathroom. You can see in one of the photos that I have a hanging shoe rack to use as storage and organization for small things. This was completely necessary on the Epic but definitely not needed on the Valor. The bed was large and comfortable. Maybe a little too much on the firm side for me but I realize that is totally a preference thing. The bedding was comfy, the pillows were great, and the shower was AMAZING!! There was really good lighting as well.

 

 

Before unpacking

 

 

 

 

 

[PS1818]

And after unpacking....

 

 

 

[lmares1968]

Just started reading your review. I love it! Your husband's palate and my husband are the same. That of a 3 year old!

[PS1818]

And the all important Fun times...

 

Sunday, January 11th 2015

 

 

 

 

 

 

[PS1818]

Just started reading your review. I love it! Your husband's palate and my husband are the same. That of a 3 year old!

 

Haha it makes it difficult to take them to restaurants lol.

[kpatterson721]

Looking forward to your review! Leaving on the Valor on Feb 22nd with my mom! This is helping to ease the wait. So excited! BTW loooove rum runners! Greatest invention ever haha :)

[lmares1968]

Haha it makes it difficult to take them to restaurants lol.

Haha! Yes it does! My hubby doesn't cook often and when he does it inevitably involves ground beef. [emoji488]

[PS1818]

Looking forward to your review! Leaving on the Valor on Feb 22nd with my mom! This is helping to ease the wait. So excited! BTW loooove rum runners! Greatest invention ever haha :)

 

 

They are a great investment! Have a great cruise!!

[PS1818]

So the next few posts of this review will have two sections, photos of the ship, and photos of food and drinks. I am doing it this way because I did take a lot of pics of food but I don't remember when we ate certain things. So I will post a photo of food and what it was and whether or not we liked it. So it may not be in chronological order.

 

Starting with the ship...

 

Water slide

 

Serenity whirl pool

 

Playing with my camera settings

 

Washington dining room

 

Rosie's

 

 

Whale tail and mini golf

[Cruisegirl6]

Oh goodie here it comes lol

[PS1818]

Serenity Selfie!!

 

Our balcony...meant to include this in room pics.

 

Casino stage

 

Ivanhoe Theater

 

Bronx Sportsbar

 

Glass elevators

[PS1818]

 

Paris Hot club....a note about this space- I really liked this place, it was very pretty and comfortable but you can smoke in there. So it smelled pretty bad.

 

Rosie's Buffet

 

 

These maps were at all of the elevators

 

[PS1818]

Serenity

 

Laundry room-there is one on each deck I believe, and it is $3 to wash &$3 to dry.

 

Adults only pool

 

Casino bar

 

Casino

 

One Small Step night club

[PS1818]

 

Our hall way...in the other direction we were right near an elevator.

 

More Serenity

 

More Bronx Bar

 

Winston's...I think

 

Lobby

[IslandBound79]

Great pictures!!! Can't wait to see it myself !!!! 50 days to go!!!

[Cruisegirl6]

I want more can't get enough lol

[pghsteelerfan]

I finally just got caught up with your review. I have to tell you, I am really loving it and your pictures. The pictures you got from the interior of Valor are spectacular. I'm still practicing on the interior pictures. LOL!!! I loved the part about your smuggling and I see nothing wrong with it. :D

[gizmo911]

Enjoying review, will be on Valor in March. Does Serenity have a pool?

[PS1818]

This was my very first drink on the Valor-The Fun Ship Special. It was yummy!!

 

This is a Corona and (I think) A Kiss on the lips?? Not positive but I know it was good.

 

Pomegranate Lemonade-my second favorite

 

I took that drink everywhere...

 

 

This was my own concoction.... Raspberry Lemonade with a shot of Malibu rum, ½ shot of Triple Sec, and a shot of Pinnacle whipped cream vodka. I like to call it “Relax”.

[PS1818]

And of course my favorite...The Raspberry Mojito...

 

The Miami Vice. This was very good as well.

 

I also drank Bud light but I am sure everyone knows what that looks like. The drinks on Carnival were MUCH better than NCL. During the breakfast buffet they always had coffee, juice, and milk available for free. During lunch they had lemonade and Iced tea. Coffee was always available. They even had POG. For those of you who are not lucky enough to know what POG is, it is a magical mixture of passion fruit, orange, and guava juices. It is very commonly served in Hawaii and its AMAZING!! It is really good as a mixer for drinks also.

[jtwitch]

Serenity

 

I'm puzzled by this picture... can you help me out? Is that hottub new (since 2012)? What deck is this on? I don't remember a Serenity hottub from our previous cruise on the Valor... and I can't find that hottub on the deckplans.

 

I don't suppose you remember?