Valor Review - 2/15 to 2/22

[pjcoach]

My family and I just returned from the Valor and had a great time. I will provide a pretty quick overview, if you have any questions I will try to answer. Just some background, this is my ninth cruise (I think), sixth with Carnival. I am not very picky and my expectations I feel are pretty reasonable. I go on vacation assuming theer will be issues and things will not be perfect, I am not one to look for things to ruin my good time, that being said, I do expect things to be clean,and well run.

 

We arrived in San Juan on Saturday and spent the night at the Milano Hotel on Fortaleza Street. This is a great location for Old San Juan and walking distance to the pier. The room is very small, but clean. Go into it with the expectation that it is the location that is most important. We ate dinner at Barrachina (Birth Place of the Pina Colada). The food was very good. The next day we got up went for a quick breakfast and checked out of the hotel at about 11:30am and walked to the pier. We were eating on the Lido deck by about 1pm. Very easy boarding process.

 

ALthough we had late seating (8:15) the first night is anytime dinning due to the lifeboat drill at 9:30. We went to dinner at 7pm so that we would not be rushed through dinner due to the drill. We set sail at into the fog.

 

I will continue with our arrival in St. Thomas shortly.

[IslandBound79]

Thanks for taking the time to write a review!!! We leave in 18 days so this is very appreciated!!! Last minute obsessing!!! [emoji12]

[groundhog59]

Who was the Piano Bar player? was he good? How about the comedians? Thanks in advance.

[pjcoach]

We never made it to the piano bar, so I don't know who was playing. Theer were a total of four comedians, 2 were on the ship at a time for a total of 2 days for each pair. They were all good, but one was very good (Jim Brick). He he is on your cruise, be awre if you sit in front, you will be fair game.

 

Monday - St. Thomas

 

We woke up at 7am so we could go to the dinning room for breakfast before we met our Kayak, Hike and Snorkel tour that we booked with Carnival. The meeting time was 8:30am in the Ivanhoe Theatre. The skies were cloudy and it was raining, but I assumed it would clear up. When we got to the Ivanhoe, we were told that the tour was not going out as scheduled due to the weather, we could get a refund or see if it would be able to happen at 11am. We decided to wait, ans were told to meet on the pier at 11am. When we arrived at 11am we were told that the tour ws cancelled and we could book another tour going out at noon or just get a refund. We thought we would get a refund and head to the beach, but the tour operator said that they expected heavier rain throughout the day. So, we just got the refund and decided to go downtown to just walk around. We hoped on one of the safari buses for $4pp (one way) and spent about an hour and a half just walking around. We are not big shoppers, but it was good to just walk around. After returning to the ship, we did some of your typical onboard activities and got ready for the evening. I won't spend much time talking about activities on teh ship or meals, but if you have specific questions, please ask.

 

Tuesday - Sea Day

 

Beautiful day. We did a lot of laying out on deck and took advantage of some activities.

 

Wednesday - Barbados

 

Woke up to another beautiful day, still a little windy, but no problems. I had booked us on the Calabazza lunch cruise. If you don't know about Calabazza, look it up for specific details, but it is a catamaran with a crew of 3 an dthey limit the numbe rof guests to 12. We met the transfer company of the pier at 9am and got transported to the Calabazza. The drive was about 10 minutes. So, the lunch cruise is 5 hours long, 9:30 to 2:30. As soon as you step on board, theer are snacks available and a full bar. We sailed down the coast and back. During the sail the crew provided some delicious fish cakes to snack on and got you a drink at any time. After cruising back up the coast, we stopped to go snorkeling over some ship wrecks for about 40 minutes and then moved to the snorkel spot to see the sea turtles. We only saw about 3 sea turtles during our time theer, but it was pretty amazing. After that, lunch was served, and was very good. We spent teh remainder of the time anchored in this spot so you could go swimming or just realx on the deck. The crew is also taking pictures the whole cruise, which are then sent to you via email. This excusrsion was probably the highlight of our entire vacation. FYI, teh cost was $110pp, well worth it.

 

After returnning to the ship we got ready for the first formal night.

 

Thursday - St. Lucia

 

I booked a private tour with Island Man Taxi (Kurt). We woke up early and got off teh ship as soon as we could after eating berakfast. Kurt was waiting for us as we exited the terminal. We were with Kurt from about 8:15 till he returned us to teh pier at 4pm. He took us to see the Pitons, the mudbaths, a waterfall, a local restaurant for lunch and a beach near Souifere (teh town right next to the Pitons). Kurt was fantastic. The ride out to the Pitons is about 1 1/2 hours. He stopped at various spots and told us about the island. Some of the spots included vendors, but I never felt pressured to buy. Kurt loves his island and will tell you all about it. He also might be the safest driver on the island. It is a long day, and not my familiys typical excursion, we like to be very active. However, this was a very good tour and we all enjoyed it. The price for Kurt's services was very reasonable. We paid $40pp for the entire day. The additional costs were entrance to the mudbaths ($5.50pp), waterfall ($3pp) and lunch (I think our bill with tip was about $35 for the four of us.

 

Next up is St. Kitts.

[pjcoach]

Friday - St. Kitts

 

We woke up to some cloudy skies in the mountains, went to breakfast and then met up in the Ivanhoe at 9:30am fro the Skyfari Zipline Tour that I booked with Carnival. It was nice that they had you do all paperwork in the Ivanhoe so that you did not need to do it at the loaction. We were escorted outside to a van that drove us about 20 minutes to the zipline. After a safety presentation and equipment orientation we were ready to go. My family has ziplined before, so we were familiar with the process. I would say that I felt extreemly safe with the equipment that they used, si if you are hesitant, I would think you would feel very comfortable compared to some other equipment that I have used. That being said, there are only 5 lines, including the first line which is only about 50 yards long and is used as a training run and equipment test. After doing the first line, the group piled into a pickup truck for the ride up the mountain. As we got higher, it started to rain. By the time we were ready for the second line, it was pouring. This is the longest and best line. On a clear day, the view must be great, in the pouring rain, not so much, but it was a different experience. Overall, my family enjoyed this excursion, but we all wish that there were a couple of more lines.

 

We got back to the ship, had some lunch and took a nap in one of those big oval shaped longe chairs on the serenity deck. This was very realxing.

 

Saturday - St. Martin

 

This was originally going to be a beach day at Divi Little Bay, but since our kayak excursion was cancelled in St. Thomas, we decided to do the mangrove kayak tour here. Our tour was scheduled for a meeting time of noon on the pier, so we had the chance to sleep in and relax in the morning. After we met on the pier, we were escorted to a van that took the group on about a 20 minute drive to I believe Simpson Bay. We were briefed on teh tour and giving a quick lesson in kayaking. We paddled for about 30 minutes towards the magroves, on the way we passed through the marina where all the private yachts were docked. It was pretty cool going by all of them. Some of the paddling was strenuous, due to the wind and current, but not crazy. Once at the mangroves, teh guides told us about teh ecosystem and some history of St. Martin. We then headed back the same way we came, but now headed across the bay to a greta beach (I believe Simpson Bay Beach). We spent about 30 minutes swimming here, the water was fantastic. We wished we could have spent much more time here. We then paddled across the bay to our strating location and the guides bought us a drink at the bar. Very nice way to end the tour.

 

Got back on the ship, ate lunch and went for another nap in the serenity area.

 

 

Overall, this was a great trip. No major complaints. Boarding and disembarkation was easy (we did self assist and were off the ship and in a taxi by 8am). I'd be happy to try and answer any questions about something I described or if you hav eother questions about the ship, meals or activities.

[Lafayette99]

Thanks for the great review...

 

We leave in 5 days for the VALOR!!

 

Cannot wait, this AM on my drive to work, my car read -21 degrees!!!

[Cruisegirl6]

Thank you for the reviews just a few questions if you don't mind:

 

1- I realize she missed her dry dock last year and there are no plans for a future one yet, did you find the ship to have lets say stains on the carpet, and look like she needs to be updated, how are the mattresses on the bed?

 

2- How were the lunch buffets, did you find there weren't many choices?

 

3- Past 11pm besides room service and pizza was there anything else to eat?

 

4- How did you find the food in the MDR?

 

5- Was there live music at night?

[Texasgalsa]

Pictures please!!

[pjcoach]

Lyndamr

 

The only thing I noticed that I felt needed repair/touch up were spots are the hull that were rusty. In the past I felt that at every port we were at, someone was always painting the hull. In terms of other parts of the ship there was nothing that stood out that seemed as if it needed repair.

 

The lunch buffets were fine, but keep in mind with this itineary, we were usually out of the ship until about 4pm, so when we came back, we typically grabbed a sandwich at the deli, or something from the grill to just hold us over until dinner.

 

After 11pm, I really can't speak to eating. We had late seating, so I was pretty stuffed after dinner, and was usually in bed by midnight. I know there were a couple of late night parties on the lido which I believe had food.

 

I thought the food in the MDR was good. SOme things were better than others, but plenty of choices every night. However, I am not very picky. My expectations are that it should compare to good dinner food, and it is usually better than that. I am also pretty easy since I enjoy steak, an dif I wanted, I could get some form of it every night.

 

Yes, theer was live music every night. Before dinner, teher was a band in Winston's, there was also a band outside the casino, and on some evenings there was a band later in the evening on the lido deck.

 

Texasgalsa

 

Sorry, no pictures, I am technologically challenged.

[Cruisegirl6]

Perfect glad to hear and thank you!