April 2016 Western Caribbean Valor questions

[docboy]

Hi everyone,

 

It's been a few years since our last cruise, but the family and I (wife and daughter) are thinking of going on the 7-day Western Caribbean departing April 2, 2016 from Port Canaveral. Ship is the Carnival Valor.

 

3 questions:

1) Carnival currently has a "special" of $762 per person including taxes/fees/port, room with window, for a total of $2,286; Special also includes $75 cabin credit. Is this a good deal? This deal and credit ends Jan 11, 2016.

 

2) Early dining has a wait list. We like to dine early. Anytime dining is still available. For those who have chosen anytime dining, is there a long wait?

 

3) How are the ports of calls? Belize, Roatan, and Costa Maya are places we've never before. Any fun excursions one can recommend? :)

Edited January 11, 2016 by docboy

[angela12345]

Not sure on pricing.

 

We had anytime on Pride and liked it. Wait at very most was 30-45 mins. Our group always wanted to eat at THE most popular time.

 

Isle Roatan was our favorite port. We did the 'extreme' zip line. Was my first zip ever, it was fun exciting and beautiful. After we went back to the ship for lunch then back into port to snorkel right off the beach. Go to the end of the beach past all the chairs setup. There's a long pier out into the water. Snorkel off the left side of the pier, you don't have to go very far past the end of the pier. We brought our own snorkel equipment we bought from Costco, should be on sale anytime right about now. We just walked over to the beach, we did not take the chairlift.

 

Belize is supposed to be pretty dangerous and they don't suggest you leave port unless in an excursion. We stayed in port and looked around at the shops and bars. Was our least favorite port.

 

Costa Maya was great. Search for mitsugirly's suggestion on where to go. We just hung out on the beach there. Free wifi. Taxi each way was cheapest way to go.

[amyh13]

Hi everyone,

 

It's been a few years since our last cruise, but the family and I (wife and daughter) are thinking of going on the 7-day Western Caribbean departing April 2, 2016 from Port Canaveral. Ship is the Carnival Valor.

 

3 questions:

1) Carnival currently has a "special" of $762 per person including taxes/fees/port, room with window, for a total of $2,286; Special also includes $75 cabin credit. Is this a good deal? This deal and credit ends Jan 11, 2016.

 

2) Early dining has a wait list. We like to dine early. Anytime dining is still available. For those who have chosen anytime dining, is there a long wait?

 

3) How are the ports of calls? Belize, Roatan, and Costa Maya are places we've never before. Any fun excursions one can recommend? :)

 

We just booked that cruise. I realize your sale has ended but Carnival seems to be changing them every day. We paid $3320 w/$100 OBC for 4 in a Balcony on the spa deck. We found a price of $3100 and it went up to $3320 overnight. Still seems to be hovering in that area but cabins are selling. I have watched this cruise all year and the prices have mostly gone up. If you want to go, I'd book it now because I think it will only go up.

 

We do anytime mainly because we don't like to be held down to a certain time for dinner. I will say that it worked GREAT on our Dream cruise. Not quite as great on the Valor last year.

 

We have been to Belize, Cozumel and Roatan before but we had a 2 year old and were very limited in what we could do. Looking forward to returning with a 10 and 6 yo and do a little more exploring.

Edited January 13, 2016 by amyh13

[angela12345]

Here is Mitsugirly's member page. The place in Costa Maya is Blue Kay. She has a link to her review on her member page. Costa Maya starts at post 462 of the Blue Kay link ... http://boards.cruisecritic.com/member.php?u=525401

[Kanyon71]

We are on the same cruise (have had it booked for over a year now). I don't remember exactly what we paid but I have a balcony room, it's my wife and our daughter. As for dining I have never done the anytime dining we usually prefer the late dining but have switched to early for this one because of our daughter and other family members with their kids that are going with us.

 

As for the islands they are all pretty fun with various things to do, in Belieze we really enjoyed the Zoo trip was a lot of fun. One thing there I will suggest is get a good tan on the legs or dip in the salt water they seem to have these bugs that love to bite peoples legs. We were told either make sure you're tanned or you take an ocean swim which should help. We WILL be trying that this time. :)

[Rumdrink1]

We booked a category 8E balcony on the Lido deck and paid 2562.00 for four people, but it is a five night cruise to Grand Turk and Amber Cove. We are going in May 2016 and we booked about a year ago.

 

Never had to wait more than 15 minutes for anytime dining. It was nice, but we prefer either early or late seating so we can have the same wait staff every night. You can always request anytime dining for now and then if you change your mind, head over to the dining room once you get on board. They will most likely be able to switch it for you.

 

Have never been to any of those ports, so I can't comment on that. I'm sure they are amazing, though!

[Ralphinsc]

We are on that same cruise!

 

We've been to Belize, Costa Maya, and Cozumel all before.

 

First, here's our Roll call thread: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2193534&page=4

 

Jump aboard and say "Hi!"

 

Second, I can tell you what I'm doing at each port based on my research:

 

Here's what we pretty much planned out last night:

 

Hotel: We are staying at the Comfort Inn in Cocoa Beach. We like the location and with our choice rewards program, we get a great rate. Arriving sometime Thursday, probably late. We stayed there for our cruise in 2013 and have no complaints.

 

Friday: I know we'll be having an early dinner at Fishlips to watch the ships leave out, enjoy some live music, and have fun. If anyone from the roll call would like to come and meet up, we'll be on the outside patio about 3:30 or so.

 

Saturday: We are booking ParkPortCanaveral for $6.95 a day and will be parking at about 10am to head over to the terminal. We have FTTF, our traveling companions do not. Not sure yet what plans we will have for sailaway, but I'm sure I'll be somewhere with some steel drums in my ear and a cold drink in my hand.

 

Sunday: Sea Day. We are probably doing the Sea Day brunch and have anytime dining. Nothing major planned besides that and dressing up a bit for dinner.

 

Monday: Cozumel. We are doing the AI day pass at El Cid at LA Ceiba beach. Right at $50pp for adults and $30 for kids 9-12 and first kid under 8 is free, additional kids under 8 are $25. 4 minute walk from the end of the pier. I'll probably also find a way to get over to the Hard Rock to get my guitar pin. It's an addiction for which I have no cure, lol.

 

Tuesday: Belize. This is our anniversary day for my wife and myself. We are going to go cavetubing with Cavetubing dot bz. $50pp and includes lunch. I think if we do any specialty dining during the cruise, we'll do it this night.

 

Wednesday: Roatan. After much debate and wringing of hands, we decided that we will stay near the ship and do the Relax on the Beach excursion through Carnival. We figured with it being the third stop in three days that we'd take it super easy. Wanted to do Little French Key but our friends couldn't afford that much for their five and still do all they wanted and hearing how the island closes at 4:30, we decided to make it a little less complicated. Package is $39.99 for two and is booked through the shore excursion link.

 

Thursday: Costa Maya. Ugh. 7am? Really? We loved Mahahual the last time we went and that's where we'll be going again. I was leaning towards Blue Kay but their website says that they do not open until 8. Thinking instead we'll just drop off in the middle of town and hang out at the Tropicante and the surrounding area. Basically, what we did the last time we were in town.

 

Friday: Sea Day. Pretty sure this will be just hanging out by the pool and enjoying the rest of the ship's amenities.

 

Saturday: Disembark. Not 100% sure yet if we will drive back on Saturday or stay another night in Cocoa Beach. We've seen a lot of the sights in the area already, but there's always time for one more night. We'll probably make that decision closer to cruise time.

 

For Mahahual, Blue Kay is heavily considered for us, but I don't think they open until 9am on the day we are in port.

 

In Roatan, I think we would of preferred going to Little French Key, but we settled on the day at Mohagany Bay because the cost for the family travelling with us would of been a bit high to go to LFK. So it was purely a money saving measure.

[Ralphinsc]

And I think our total for our three was running at a little over $1700 for an inside on Deck 6 when we booked last August. Prices dipped once, but have generally gone up since.

 

Only thing I can price out right now is a porthole on Deck two for $2365.66. Prices have been going up. All insides appear to be sold out and the porthole cabins were very few on the booking list. She's filling up.