Carnival Valor trip report: Sept. 9-14, 2019 (Lots of images)

[Buckimion]

Prequel - 4 days in New Orleans

 

Shortly after our trip on the Triumph (See the link in my signature below for the trip report), we started planning our next cruise. We had decided that we pretty much wanted a ‘do-over’ due to some of the difficulties experienced, as well as the fact that it was still a lot of fun. We ended up booking the Carnival Valor, receiving $50 onboard credit and we selected a fully handicap accessible balcony room this time. 

 

 

We flew into New Orleans four days in advance so we could spend a good amount of time in my wife’s adopted hometown, allowing her to go on yet another swamp tour and for us to see the zoo and aquarium, sights we had yet to experience. We originally only planned two days, and the best hotel rate we could find was at the Doubletree on Canal, but when we expanded it to four days we were able to get the first two at the Hilton Riverside. We were unable to change it to all four days because of a Baptist convention there.

 

Paw! Cat's in the henhouse again!

Edited September 16, 2019 by Buckimion

[Buckimion]

Carnival Valor sailed past our hotel about 5am on the morning of the 9th

 

 

[Joebucks]

I'll be doing this one soon. Excited to see all of what you did!

[mlipreston]

Looking forward to reading your review.

[pamici]

Nostalgia attack! The Valor was my first cruise (and only 6 month ago) so I'm really looking forward to those images. Thank you!!

[Buckimion]

Boarding Day (Part 1)

 

I had found out that because I hold an ADA transportation card for my local transit company, it is also honored by most other transit agencies. (If I had known this further in advance, I could have also saved about $20 on shuttle transportation to/from the airport as well but I had already paid that and it was non-refundable.) Still, it wasn't too late for me to make arrangements for transportation to the zoo and to the cruise port. We were picked up within our allotted 11:30am-Noon window, although I would have preferred to have gotten to a port just to hair earlier. we dropped our bags with a porter and quickly moved through the terminal and on to the ship. 

 

First observations - I don't think I would ever want to book a ship larger than the Conquest class as there was barely room to move around the Lido deck. It was quite apparent that some passengers refused to relinquish any of their luggage to the porters as they were fighting for space and I thought for sure somebody was going to end up getting shanked. The other observation was that it looked like somebody had emptied the populations of three or four nursing homes. As I said, I booked this cruise about a year-and-a-half in advance and reserved a fully ADA-accessible balcony cabin. I am not particularly fond of Cruise Critic's disabilities board. I have less problems with the general public that I do with other handicap people who decide they want to judge others. One recent topic there even suggested that a grading of handicap should be established, with priority for rooms given to those deemed ‘more handicapped.’ Fact is, I know what I need and I'm willing to book well over a year in advance to get it. If I can't find a cabin that meets my needs, then I move on to another sailing. (On a side note, I am currently sitting on a booking for the Miracle to Hawaii in 2021. I count myself lucky that I managed to score a fully accessible 4K room way back in February because every single higher class was already gone and there were few accessible interiors left, which have also long since disappeared.)

 

 

After we had secured a table, my wife sent me out in search of food. I ended up trying to get Reubens from the deli, but there was a long delay as they had to bring up more meat for the sandwiches. There were further delays as some of the people in front of us wanted to debate the contents of the sandwiches, unhappy that the sandwiches now have a fixed ingredient list and they were NOT going to change things. They had also apparently ran out of truffle fries because those weren't available either. I still managed to get the two sandwiches back to our table and after about four bites, they announced that the rooms were ready. (Remember, we were on board at Noon. That’s an hour and a half between getting a table and food.) Just as well, oven-baked is no way to make a Reuben. I never thought anything could be worse than the old panini press, but I was wrong.

[Buckimion]

Boarding Day (Part 2)

 

 

We got our rooms and dropped are carry-ons, with the main luggage arriving sometime after dinner. The room had been set up in a two bed configuration as per requested, but they left the space for my scooter between the bed and the balcony window. My dear wife (grumble), decided that she wanted that bed and simply told me to make it happen. Unable to find a room steward (She was a sweetheart except this one time), I managed to growl, kick and curse the area between the two beds further apart so I could pull my scooter up into there. My wife was sensible enough not to complain about me taking the center space. She then asked me to go down to the bar and get her Bottomless Bubbles sticker. (Yes, she complains constantly about my wheelchair and scooter, but she's not above asking me to run errands for her.) While I was out doing that the room steward came and she's selected morning cleaning. (We've got no problem with once a day cleaning, but I'm more of an afternoon guy.)

 

After I returned, we spent some time on the balcony watching the shore roll by. I had to grit my teeth a bit because the family on the adjoining balcony identified every single large house as a plantation home, including mis-identifying the Jackson Barracks and even the entirety of the Chalmette battlefield. Ok, the Beauregard house on the battlefield grounds was a plantation house, but claiming that slaves cleared the entirety of the battlefield site to this day was a bit much.

 

Headed off to dinner at Scarlett’s Steakhouse, which I had booked because this was not only our first chance with a steakhouse on board, but to also take advantage of the wine promotion. My wife, who has not outgrown her Louisiana swamp roots, froze momentarily when she saw the place, but relaxed a bit when she spied another customer sporting a Skynyrd t-shirt and Confederate flag-emblazoned ball cap. Okay, I'll admit that I'm not completely sophisticated myself, and it was readily apparent in my wine choice. I know enough that red is the choice wine for beef products, but neither my wife or I are particularly fond of red wine so we opted for the white. I also decided that the free wine wasn't that much worse than half price on anything else. I went through the motions of sampling the wine without embarrassing myself, but my wife stopped after the first glass and I only drank a couple so about half a bottle was never requested or wanted.

 

The amuse-bouche was a thin roasted tomato soup that was actually pretty tasty. For appetizers, my wife had the bone marrow and beef tartare while I selected a shrimp cocktail and Caesar salad. For mains, my wife went for the surf and turf while I had the five spice ribeye with sides of mushrooms and wasabi mashed potatoes. My wife was quite pleased with her selections, but for my part, my steak while tasty, was overcooked from the medium-rare requested. the wasabi in the mashed potatoes was overpowering, and the red wine sauce to go if the steak had no flavor at all. The overcooked steak was not an isolated incident as the next day at the brunch, the filet mignon while still tasty was also overcooked. During the brunch on the final sea day, I asked for a rare and it came back perfect. After dinner, I was just too tired to do anything else so we turned in early.

[Buckimion]

Day 2 (sea day)

 

When we awoke, we decided we'd go ahead and have the buffet early and then save the brunch for lunch. After a quick breakfast, I convinced my wife to stop at the morning show which featured cruise director Kevin Donohue and his protege, Georgia from Australia. We sailed with Kevin on our first cruise on the Elation in 2016 and he's still as flamboyant as ever. Still, I have to give him points for calling out “O-H” after learning we were from Ohio, and I nearly tripped over returning the call with “I-O”. (We were the furthest one present at the show, shouldn’t there have been a prize for that? No prizes at this show though.) In addition to an extensive plug for shows on sales in port and other stuff that WERE awarding prizes, we were introduced to a few staff members including the hotel director and the ship's personal trainer, who apparently was photographed astride a jaguar in nothing but his shorts and a smile, and Kevin questioned the existence of the shorts.

 

 

On the way back to the room after the show, we crossed paths with Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head doing a photo up. The room stop was a brief as we then headed for the brunch in the lower level of the Washington dining room. In addition to the previously mentioned issues with the overcooked steak, I also wanted to point out that they changed the potatoes to frozen crinkle cut french fries. The sauce they also served with it has also changed dramatically. After brunch, we stop by the casino where my wife turn $10 into a little over $16 playing penny slots. However, on the last seaday I managed to lose about $15 back. She says I overthink things, trying to outsmart the machine while she just pushes buttons blindly. She may be onto something.

 

I had started the day wearing a t-shirt she picked up for me in New Orleans with the legend “World's Okayest Gator Wrestler”. It includes a shadow figure that is clearly missing a hand and his right leg, something that I found highly amusing in light of my own prosthetic. A couple of other prosthetic wearers also found it amusing and we all hooked up for a late morning beer. By mid/late afternoon, I was determined to take part in the ship’s tea party and my wife was equally curious to join in as well. The two of us had a great time with me splurging for a couple of packs of tropical Art of Tea. As the evening rolled around, I had made it clear to my wife that I intended to take part in the elegant night dinner but first I would be willing to join her for a light bite at the buffet. She absolutely refuses to get dressed up for elegant night and I'm tired of missing them, but sure enough she talked me into eating a full meal with her instead. In fact, our “Your Time Dining” was a complete waste as we skipped dinner all five nights in the dining room. Exhaustion set in right after dinner, and I was in bed by 8.

[Hockeydad1972]

We are in the 11/9 sailing.. Thanks for the preview!!!

[wickky]

GREAT INFO! We are sailing on the Valor 11/18/19. 61 days. but who's counting....  🙂

[jimbri]

Looking forward to your review!

[MEUB1112]

Looks Great!! Our favorite port.

Edited September 18, 2019 by MEUB1112

[canes20]

Boarding on the 28th. Following

[Buckimion]

A few (more) words on handicap access...

 

Valor was a definite upgrade over Triumph, but it wasn't without its own issues. As previously mentioned, There were a LOT of wheelchairs and scooters on this trip and not a few ended up in the hallways or in stairwell alcoves. More interesting was that the ship apparently 'lent out' a few of its own wheelchairs for the cruise duration. People have long argued over such a thing being possible and now I've seen it actually done.

 

One of the issues I complained about the Triumph was steel plates over the seams of the ship which made crossing in a manual wheelchair difficult.  This problem may be even worse on the Valor and extend to some of the elevator entrances. My scooter balked more than once at some of these. 

 

One advantage that Valor did have was in the passageways between the buffet and Guys/Blue Iguana. There was definitely a couple of feet extra width on Valor which made it much easier to pass though. 

Edited September 18, 2019 by Buckimion

[Buckimion]

Day 3 - Cozumel!

Towel animal invasion day!

 

 

My mobility scooter is a 2006 model that I bought used for $250 in 2012. Since then, it's been hauled all over the world and I really don't sweat if anything were to happen to it in transit. After a vacation last year, I misplaced the battery charger that came with it so I've just been using a standard charger on the batteries themselves. However, this method is cumbersome as it requires me taking apart most of the scooter to get to the battery compartment so I rigged a couple of quick-connect cables to make things easier to charge. I usually start one battery just before bed, then switch the charger to the second one in the middle of the night. under normal operating conditions I can go all day on only about 20 to 25% of a charge. when I plug the charger on to the second battery, I found it needed a full charge from 0%. needless to say this scared me a little bit and canceled my plan for an extended run to Mega after our Kun Che Park excursion. 

 

We did Carnival’s excursion to Kun Che Park on our last trip to Cozumel and liked it so much that it was one of the things we were looking forward to doing over again. The park features a Mayan ball game, village life with tortillas, tamales and chocolate making and finishes with a buffet lunch and Mexican dancing.  To our amusement, we also had an encounter with Mexico’s version of the racoon family, which came begging for handouts near the tamale stop. Something that was added apparently not long after our previous visit was it tequila tasting demonstration & sale. Following a presentation on the history and manufacturer of tequila, we were given six samples of various types of tequila. Prices to actually buy it seemed a bit steep, so we took a pass on that. 

 

 

Back on board, we relaxed on our balcony and watch the pier runners come in just as the ship was wrapping things up. More than one had to be carried onboard by their companions. Another one just kept right on strolling without a care in the world despite being urged to hurry up. The last family on board was hustling but we also felt sorry for them since they had a couple of kids in tow. Afrah buffet dinner to close out the night the wife decided she wanted to turn in early knowing that she had a busy day at Chichen Itza coming up. just before turning in myself I checked my battery level and it had only discharged about 21% and I never had a problem the rest of the trip.

 

[Buckimion]

There are times when my wife Tammy makes me want to scream....luckily, about half of those times are from laughter. Here, she gets her groove on after 6 shots of tequila...

 

* Knowing what was coming, she told me she wasn't going up this time, but she couldn't resist the dancer that came over for her.

Edited September 18, 2019 by Buckimion

[Buckimion]

Food Porn!

 

I see I skipped the actual pictures of the food in the steakhouse so lets go back to that, plus a couple of other strays...

 

Amuse-bouche was a thin roasted tomato soup

 

Bread plates - 'Moss butter' in the dish.

 

Tammy's bone marrow appetizer. The shrimp cocktail didn't last long enough for the picture.

 

Wasabi 'Yukon Gold' mashed potatoes. I'm fond of wasabi but this was overpowering.

 

Side of mushrooms. 

[Buckimion]

Steakhouse main dish, dessert and a few stray pictures

 

Tammy's surf & turf

 

My 5 spice rib eye...I tell ya, this steak still had marks where the jockey was hitting it. 😁

 

Dessert - We both had the chocolate extravaganza. Tammy would have nothing to do with 'The Art at the Table' dessert after I explained it to her.

 

Tammy's seaday brunch frittata.

 

[havanadaydreaming]

loving the thread, keep it going! 

 

only nitpick is that O-H-I-O is in Athens.   You are STATE.    HA!

 

[MINILvr]

Thank you for your report. 

 

We will be on the Valor later this year in an inside accessible and again next year in a balcony accessible (6208).  We have not been on Carnival since we have needed the wheelchair.

[wickky]

We will be sailing on November 18th in an ocean view accessible #2465.

[spleenstomper]

I dislike Conquest class ships. The layout is the pits with traffic jams and congestion. I had a nice time on Valor though despite that.

[Buckimion]

3 hours ago, MINILvr said:

Thank you for your report. 

 

We will be on the Valor later this year in an inside accessible and again next year in a balcony accessible (6208).  We have not been on Carnival since we have needed the wheelchair.

6208 was our cabin. 😁

[Buckimion]

Day 8 - Progreso / Chichen Itza

 

After yet another buffet breakfast, I joined my wife in the Lincoln dining room with the other Chichen Itza excursion participants. I believe most of the other shore excursions met another lounges are in the theater. Knowing that she wasn't going to pack a bathing suit on this trip, I went ahead and signed her up for the regular Chichen Itza Excursion instead of the deluxe one. her group was called and they went on their merry way, leaving me to my own devices. 😈

Taxi pickup area. Busses load just to the left.

 

I started things off of a short hop off the ship, perusing the port shops. I don't know when it started because it was not in effect the last time we were here, but they do allow taxis on the plaza area with the shuttle buses in the town now. I toyed with the idea of going into town, but I had other plans on board. Port days are my favorite time to play trivia games because there's not 20 people teaming up and/or hiding their phones looking for answers. The first couple of games were for the heck of it, knowing that I wasn't going to finish any better than middle of the pack. The third game was Movie Music trivia, where I picked up 18 of 20 questions and walked away with the solid gold plastic piece of ship on a stick.

 

As it was lunch time, I decided to go to where the barbecue place was on the upper Lido area on 10. I had the chicken , baked beans, mac & cheese and coleslaw which were pretty tasty. the beans get a bad rap because they use kidney beans in some of the mix although not all of it, but actually I thought it tasted all right. The chicken could have used a dollop of BBQ sauce though. After a cruise around the ship taking various pictures, but now it was closing in on 3 o’clock and superhero trivia. I have kind of a loose rule that I if I win a ‘ship on a stick’ and then I let others take over, but I really wanted to test my nerd card here. Yup, still got it. My original intention was to go ahead and give the trophy if I were to win to a child, but there were none hanging around. The games were hosted by Georgia (from Australia) and I asked her if they by chance had any of the ribbon awards that I have seen on other ships. Sure enough, she was more than happy to trade me for a ‘boat on a rope.’

 

Tammy eventually returned from her excursion, reporting that she had a lot of fun. They had a bathroom break there in a little gift shop, which she viewed more as an oasis than a tourist trap. They handed out a sack lunch of a ham sub as she described it, chips an apple, water and cookies. She had fun at the ruins, but she also had just about as much fun at the vendors around the place. She did complain about the heat somewhat, but did say that a vendor took pity on her and let her sit down for a few minutes. 

 

For dinner  we decided to order room service, with Tammy picking up a Philly sandwich, while I had a couple of baskets of chicken wings. The buffalo wings were good enough, but I would take a hard pass before ordering the garlic parmesan wings again. they came back very dry and tasting more of Teriyaki than garlic, although it was clearly what it was supposed to be because they sprinkled parmesan cheese on top.

Edited September 20, 2019 by Buckimion

[Buckimion]

Some of Tammy's Chichen Itza photos