Carnival Valor western Jun 11 Review

[luke1060]

I want to start by saying that this forum helped me a lot in planning for this cruise, the information was very helpful both the good and the bad.

 

I planned this cuise for my whole family, 16 people (8 adults, 6 teenagers, and 2 small children) ranging in age from 3 to 83. Everyone had a good time.

 

Embarkation: We arrived in Miami at 11am and took the Super shuttle to the pier, lines were not too long but moved pretty slow at first. We had some hassle getting the different CC on the same room for sign/sail for the kids sharing rooms. But we did work it out with the purser desk. The Miami terminal requires a lot of walking from the entrance until you finally make it to actually getting on the ship--- whole process took about 1 1/2 hours.

It was raining so we went to Rosie's for lunch and just explored the ship.

 

Life-boat drill--- don't get there first are you will be against the wall with 6 rows of people in front of you.

 

Food: We enjoyed breakfast everday at Rosie's ...sometimes there were lines... but don't forget to check all stations, some lines were longer than others. The made to order omlet line was never too long.

Lunch was at Rosie's, except when in port---- don't miss the Fish n Chips, the deli or the Oriental ...all are great and so is the pizza. On a couple of the port days we went to the Deli the night before and ordered sandwiches then put them in zip-locks in our fridge and then used a soft side cooler to take with us----this worked out great

Dinner in Lincoln dining room (upstairs) 615pm... this time for dinner worked great for our group. We always had to be back on the ship by 5pm anyway and then we could go to the early show and not be so full the rest of the night. Food in the dining room was a B, some dishes are better than others so go ahead and order two entrees...most of us did.

We had great service every night, and the kids were treated extra special---once they knew what they liked ---it was on the table in a matter of minutes. My niece had macaroni and cheese and chocolate chip cookies almost every dinner.

 

Entertainment: This could not be beat...Carnival does it right...something for everyone. The shows were OK... first night-not good, first comedian was good, but the second was bad, and so was the magic act with the CD ( he is really corny) Juggler was actually pretty entertaining. The hypnotist was a riot, my 17 year old participated so it made it even more fun for all of us. 80's show was enjoyable, better dancing than singing. Final night was not very good, but maybe we just did not have very talented passengers.

Some of our group really liked the casino--lots of variety there.

There was always a number of places that you could listen to music and dance.... the kids and teens stayed with us most evenings...only the disco would not let kids in after 11pm. We really liked the piano bar, and the band in Paris Hot was fun too. The guitarist in the lounge by the casion was also entertaining and the couches in that area were always open and comfortable.

The deck party on Thursday was fun...

I wish they would have had a Steel band during the day by the pool, I did not like the music played by the band during the day.

 

Ports: Grand Cayman--- we did the Snorkel and stingray city with MobyDick... it was great. We did the 930a tour which is for sure on the MobyDick boat and had a great crew. We had plenty of time at both stops and took lots of pictures. All 16 of did this. After they dropped at the beach and we ate our sandwiches from the ship and relaxed on the beach. We caught cab back to the boat ( negotiate your price--we paid $4 pp)

The line to get back on is terrible--- we stood in line for over an hour. Carnival really needs to do something about this.

Roatan___ another awesome day We booked our day with Victor Bodden and we did the Palmetto zip line. Luckily we got there pretty early and since there were 12 of us we went in 3 groups of 4.... we only had to wait about an hour for the first group to start, but I heard some people waited as much as three hours. When we finished Victor took us to the orphanage because we had brought some stuff for them, then he gave us a quick tour around the island--- again we ate the sandwiches we brought from the ship.

Belize--- Today we did cave tubing with Major Tom *********. The tender process here is much better and faster then in Cayman. Smaller boats and a longer trip but just more effient and we had calm seas so I guessed that helped. The van ride to the caves was little long but Tom was very entertaining. He let us bring the little ones with us and ride in their parents tubes for free. We brought our own life vests for them. The tubing part was fun... all 14 of stayed together and Tom gave us lots of information. Afterward the lunch was fantastic--- whole tour with lunch only $53...what a deal.

 

Costa Maya---- This is a great relaxing port... Get off the ship and walk thru the pool and shops and buy a bus ticket to town $4 pp. They drop you off right at the edge ...then just walk and find a place on the beach. Every restaurant has tables and lounge chairs set up across from them and as long as you eat and drink you can sit there all day. Beers were only 6 for $10 and big drinks $4-5, food was good and cheap. 16 of us spent $250 including tip, all day from 10-430pm, and we ate and drank alot. Massages on the beach for $20 an hour, less as the day went on. Cabs back to the ship were $2 pp.

 

Cabins: Most of had inside on Riveria, just fine for 2 people, very little motion. 2 outside adjoining cabins on Main, these were a little bigger and worked nice for the little ones to have a couch and bunk above. These were closer to the front and felt more motion. Cabin service was terrific.

 

We had no problem with unruly kids, or getting pool loungers. The pools are small but the slide is fun. Fitness center was adequate, we liked the outside jogging track better.

 

Our little ones did not use Camp Carnival, they just stayed with us.

All in all in was a wonderful vacation, and we would do it again in a minute. My sister would probably wait until her kids were older to do it again.

[HollyfromSC]

Great review! I can't wait until my Valor cruise November 26th, 2006!!

[marieadela]

Nine of us will be going on the valor on December 10th and we just can not wait. Thank you for the review. I was surprised to see that the deck party was on Thursday. I thought this would be on Sat. By did carnival still have the red, white and blue color game?

[Criscomia]

Good Review.......can't wait until mine on Valor (eastern caribbean) May 6, 2007

[caribbean dreams]

Thanks for the review, we will be sailing on the valor next week, can't wait to get some well deserved rest.