Quick Valor review

[natefish95]

Hey everyone! As I sit here in the New Orleans airport waiting for my flight back to DC, I figured I would take some time to jot down some notes about my quick cruise on the Valor. 

 

Background

I booked this cruise several months ago using a casino rate that I couldn't pass up (all I'm saying is that my flights were more expensive than the cruise...). Seems a bit silly to go all the way to New Orleans for such a short cruise, but the timing actually worked out really well for me and I really needed a quick getaway from work. 

 

I always travel solo and am content to just do my own thing and read my books, but I met some great people and crew members! 

 

As far as pre-booking things, I had drinks included in the casino, but I bought Cheers because I knew I would be spending time at the Alchemy Bar and Serenity Bar. I also got the "Value" Wifi plan. I usually prepurchase bottles of water, but I actually wish I did. It was easy enough to get bottles of water at bars, but I really like having water readily available in my cabin.

 

Getting to the Port

Flights have been a disaster lately. My nonstop flight from DC to MSY was the last flight of the day. It was delayed two hours and I was really getting anxious because if I missed this flight, I would miss the cruise since everything the next morning was completely booked. Thankfully, the missing flight attendant showed up and we eventually landed in MSY about midnight. So glad I upgraded to First Class because I really needed those drinks y'all. 

 

Took a quick Uber to my hotel down after I landed. I stayed at the Q&C Hotel and Bar downtown, which is part of the Marriott Autograph collection. It was a nice hotel in an older building with what looked like original floors and some exposed brick. Definitely my style of hotel! The room was fine, but the lobby is literally just a bar, so checking in was really loud (and the front desk staff was a bit rude). Probably wouldn't stay here again unless the price was right. 

 

As a quick note, this isn't going to be chronological, but want to get all of this out of the way first. If y'all have any questions, feel free to ask away!

[natefish95]

Getting to the port, I honestly could have walked and it would have taken about 20 minutes. However, Satan himself has been breathing on New Orleans and it was hot and humid as hell. The uber was like $8 so no big deal. If you take an uber, I'd recommend coming in from the south by Mardi Gras World. We had to go all the way down and then make a U-turn and turn into the port. Thankfully, traffic wasn't a huge deal. 

 

Since I follow directions and know how to act right, I had my vaccination card, COVID test, and whatever else they needed in Verifly. The woman I saw only looked at Verifly and then sent me on to security and said I was good to go and thanked me for being organized. 

 

Now let me to y'all, some of these people in the security lines I swear to goodness, left their brains in the parking garage. If you're thinking about bringing a giant, checked bag size, bag through security, please don't. The people in front of me had about 5 giant bags that took them forever to maneuver up onto the conveyer belt. Next came all the backpacks. Then they forgot to take all their phones and keys, and change. WHY DO YOU HAVE SO MUCH LOOSE CHANGE? Did you dump a roll of quarters into your pockets on the way to the port. Some people....

 

Upstairs it was a bit of an organized zoo checking in. They had people directing the lines. On the right there were lines for suites, diamond and platinum. To the left, was all the common folk. Anyone else feel like they'll never reach platinum after being at Gold for so long? Ugh... By the time I made it through the line, they were already boarding my zone thankfully.  

[natefish95]

Overall, I thought the Valor was in good shape. The cabins are old and dated (and still only had one plug), but updated cabins and Carnival just don't go in the same sentence unless you're talking about Mardi Gras. The other big issue is that AC in many cabins did not seem to work very well. My cabin was fine, but the last night I was sweating and couldn't sleep. A few people were able to get fans, but if you have the space in your big bag that you'll leave with the porters outside and not hold up security with, you might want to bring your own fan. 

 

All the public spaces looked to be in good shape though! The gym had good equipment. The water fountain worked and actually had cold water. The spa seemed to have new tiling. Word of caution though, the sauna would get really hot sometimes, like dangerously hot. Don't cook your insides. That's not covered by trip insurance. Second word of caution, the spa ladies would waltz into the men's locker room whenever they pleased and without warning. UHMMMMM...don't love that. Reverse the genders and there would be an uproar. Had the same issue on the Freedom last year and Guest Services and the Spa Manager couldn't even pretend to care, so I didn't bother voicing my concerns this time. 

[CruiseBro16]

How was the beer sitch?

[cruisinsly]

On 6/23/2022 at 12:19 PM, natefish95 said:

Now let me to y'all, some of these people in the security lines I swear to goodness, left their brains in the parking garage. If you're thinking about bringing a giant, checked bag size, bag through security, please don't. The people in front of me had about 5 giant bags that took them forever to maneuver up onto the conveyer belt. Next came all the backpacks. Then they forgot to take all their phones and keys, and change. WHY DO YOU HAVE SO MUCH LOOSE CHANGE? Did you dump a roll of quarters into your pockets on the way to the port. Some people....

 

As someone who once worked for a very popular theme park or two in FL, we call that Vacation Brain!!  It seems like some forget their brains at home. lol

[Purvis1231]

On 6/23/2022 at 12:19 PM, natefish95 said:

 

Now let me to y'all, some of these people in the security lines I swear to goodness, left their brains in the parking garage. If you're thinking about bringing a giant, checked bag size, bag through security, please don't. The people in front of me had about 5 giant bags that took them forever to maneuver up onto the conveyer belt. Next came all the backpacks. Then they forgot to take all their phones and keys, and change. WHY DO YOU HAVE SO MUCH LOOSE CHANGE? Did you dump a roll of quarters into your pockets on the way to the port. Some people....

 

 

We had the same people in Galveston last week!  Thanks for your report.