Recent Valor reviews

[umpisoccer]

Has anyone cruised on the Valor the last few weeks who is willing to post a review and/or updated photos?

[jordanaire]

We just returned last Saturday from a 5-day Valor cruise to Amber Cove and Grand Turk. Although I haven't posted any pictures yet, we did have a great time and the ship was in great condition.

 

We sailed with my wife's cousin and her husband. We flew from Louisville to Melbourne, FL and arrived on Thursday. Picked up a rental car (Hyundai Sante Fe) upon arrival. Nice SUV! We stayed 2 nights prior to the cruise at the Melbourne Days Inn. It was a nice place to stay, only 3 miles from her cousin's apartment. Had no problems at all with this motel. We had dinner at the Pineda Place restaurant where we enjoyed a great seafood meal.

 

Friday morning we went to a local flea market, drove around "millionaire's row" to look at mansions that we could only dream of owning and spent the evening together, putting final packing together and signing medical documents.

 

Saturday morning, we packed our luggage into their car then drove to the airport to turn in our rental car before heading towards the port. It took us about 45-minutes to arrive at the Park Port Canaveral parking lot. Here we unloaded our luggage, went into the office to pay for our parking ($63.40 for 5 days) then loaded onto the shuttle to the ship. We arrived at the terminal around 10:45 or so. My wife and I checked in at the VIFP lounge while our cruise mates checked in at the counter (first cruise for them). We all boarded immediately at 11:12am. Very quick embarkation.

 

We had inside cabins (1365 & 1369) which were just fine for us. Just around the corner from the elevators. No noise at all from them! The ship is very easy to get around on, very clean and the staff is one of the friendliest we've had. There were a couple of days when there wasn't much as far as activities to do, unless you like trivia (which I do. Won 3 "ships-on-a-stick"). Our "rookies" thoroughly enjoyed their cruise. The cruise director is Chris, from Austrailia. He was OK. The entertainment staff was just OK, with Kevin being the worst of all of them. He was new and it really showed. The guy that did the sports trivia had no business doing it, as he knew absolutely nothing about sports. Couldn't even pronounce the team names right.

 

The menus are still the old ones, but the food is still so delicious! We ate in the steakhouse once and, as always, really enjoyed it. The lines at the Lido restaurants were typically busy, but it didn't take long to get your meal. We enjoyed the Mongolian Wok, the Fish & Chips, the Taco & Burritto bar and the Deli. But our favorite of all was Guy's Burgers! SO good!!!

 

We had table 423 in the Washington Dining Room. Our head waitress was Argentina from Romania. She was, by far, the BEST we have EVER had! She was suppose to have 2 assistants working for her, but we never seen them. She did all of the work by herself and did an extraordinary job! We doubled our tips and handed them personally to her.

 

At Amber Cove, we stayed at the huge pool at the port while our cruise mated took an island tour. The pool was fantastic! Very large pool with a lazy river and swim-up bar. Zip liners sailed overhead all day! I believe they could zip line all day for $12. Our friends liked the island tour, but said they wouldn't do it again. Oh yeah...when you get off the ship at Amber Cove, you have to walk about 500 yards or so to get to shore. There are pedicabs there that will take you that distance for tips only. We used them both ways.

 

Grand Turk found us renting a clamshell cover over 2 lounge chairs on the beach while our friends did another island tour. We love the beach here and had a great time swimming in the ocean. Before heading back to the ship, we visited the shops to find the t-shirts necessary to complete our cruise vacation.

 

After another day at sea, we reached our homeport. Here it gets a little confusing. Our cruise mates were able to disembark with us (we're Platinum), so after stepping off the ship, we headed towards Customs. We didn't realize that you MUST stop, get your luggage then head towards Customs. So we had to back track in order to pick up our luggage. Just a minor inconvenience, as we were out of the terminal and headed to the shuttle to the parking lot by 7:45am. The shuttle was right there outside the terminal and we were on our way to the car within 3 minutes. It was 7:58am when we arrived at our car. We were back at our cruise mate's apartment at 9am!

 

After picking up our next rental car (Jeep Cherokee), we headed to our next hotel (Comfort Inns & Suites) in Palm Bay. It was about 8 miles farther down the road from our first motel, but it was well worth it. This place was VERY nice. After checking in, we drove back to Melbourne to have lunch with our friends. We then headed back towards to port to spend the evening watching a rocked launch from Cape Kennedy. As we were waiting for the launch, we got to see the Valor set sail for its next cruise. It sure was a little bittersweet watching the ship that we had just gotten off a few hours earlier setting sail without us. After watching the scheduled liftoff pass then waiting another hour, the launch was scrubbed.

 

Since her cousin had to return to work on Friday night, we met up with them that morning for breakfast, then said our goodbyes. It sure was great spending 8 days with them! They really enjoyed their very first cruise, and have already looked at booking their next one!

 

My wife and I had another day to kill before flying home on Saturday, so we drove over to Haines City to see the home that her parents owned until recently. Her mom has had 2 strokes and cannot travel from northern Ohio any longer, so they sold the home back in January. We took several pictures for her mom, as she was worried about whether or not it was taken care of. Afterwards, we drove to Titusville to watch the rescheduled launch of that rocket. We found a park along the road (Kennedy Point Park), which is directly across the river from Cape Kennedy. Here we found a bench to sit on as we watched the rocket lift off on schedule. It was a childhood dream to see it actually take place.

 

We flew home from Melbourne on Saturday. For those that are thinking of flying down to Florida for a cruise out of Port Canaveral, I highly recommend considering flying to Melbourne instead of Orlando. This airport is only 45-miles from the port and is less hectic than MCO. The motels are a little cheaper in Melbourne too. This will be the route we will take from now on.

 

Edited May 31, 2016 by jordanaire

[Harborfamily]

Thanks for your review! I know absolutely zippo about this ship & "accidentally" booked it today for a September 5 day Journeys cruise to the Bahamas - w/a girlffriend. Super excited - never sailed this class before and looking forward to it!

[Harborfamily]

Thanks for your review! I know absolutely zippo about this ship & "accidentally" booked it today for a September 5 day Journeys cruise to the Bahamas - w/a girlffriend. Super excited - never sailed this class before and looking forward to it!

 

I'm on a Live cruise, not Journey's cruise. I'm so excited, I don't even know what I'm talking about!

[cruizinrican]

Beautiful review Jordanaire and thanks for taking the time to post. We board Valor July 29th and couldnt be more excited!

[umpisoccer]

Thanks for the review. Do you have any pictures you can post

[mesci14]

Thank you for the review! Was the restaurant in Melbourne that you mentioned on the ocean or inland? Did it serve more than just seafood? Thanks!

[jordanaire]

It was inland