Valor Review-July 16 (eastern)

[Cruise Queen II]

Here's my review of the Valor:

 

Embarkation was pretty smooth, it took about 35 minutes. We arrived at 11:00 am. Embarkation staff were not very friendly, but efficient. Make sure you complete your Bahamas' form before arriving. They will set you off to the side until it is completed. Lots of walking in circles to board ship. It may be too much for elderly passengers.

 

During this cruise there were a lot of teenagers on board. The were over 40 quineneras (sweet 15) parties. Lots of girls with big white dressess and lots of friends. They weren't bad, they held alot of there events early in the day in the disco and the theater. We saw alot of family members dress up during the day.

 

One problem: When I recieved my sail and sign card it was red, white, and blue, not gold. Gold is for past guests. This was my seventh cruise with Carnival. My husband and daughter both received gold cards. My daughter is 10. Everyone kept saying my daughter had the wrong card, this was her 5th cruise with Carnival. Pain in my rear. Didn't recieve invite to past guests reception ;(!! My husband and daughter did. Complainted to pursers desk, told to told to fill out form, answer in 24 hours. 48 hours passed and no answer. Went again to ask and told they couldn't find my request. The lady at the desk finally looked me up and found me and reissued me a card. I was not pleased about this incident. It didn't n my cruise though.

 

On the first day-went to buffet. It was good. We also ate at the grill, burgers, minute steaks, chicken sandwhiches. All were good.

 

Went to dinner-Got early seating (5:45), not what we requested. WE were thinking about changing time. We stayed the first night. We were seated at a table for 8. Not others showed to our table. We ended up staying with the time. We really liked our waiter, Oscar from Guatamala. Food was served hot and fast! We were in and out in 40 minutes. We had 3 appetizers, main course or 2, and dessert. This was our 15th or 16th cruise never had we had such great service and fast. Loved this!!!

 

Went to the Show-Can't remember the name. But it was surprisingly good and entertaining. The dancers were actually in sync. It had great props, not cheezy or cheap looking. Another surprise.

 

My daughter participated in the Camp Carnivial. She gave it high marks. If she doesn't like a program she won't go. She definitely wanted to go. They had spin art, candy art, computers, and boys to rent. They also had a kind of build a bear activity (14.99). My daughter and husband had a great time.

 

The second day was in Nassua. A very short stop, didn't do an excursion. Went on our own shopping. Went to the market. Good deals on cheap souveniers. Don't pay what they ask, walk away they will drop prices fast. You can get 4 t-shirt for $10. They have thousands of knock-off purses. THis is the place to get things for people back home or at the office. We walk down the main strip and stopped in a couple of shops prices are high. We bought t-shirts for us at Del Sol. Two were $50.00, but they threw in a canvas bag for free. They also have great Bahamas shirts. They are celebrating 30 years of independance. Spent time looking for a soccer jersey, but all sold out.

 

After dinner did a spa treatment-wrap with full body massage $189.00. It was very good. It relaxed me. Through out the week I used the fitness center and steam room, both were execellent. Did not have a problem getting a tread mill or bike. Did a body analysis. Attended a seminar and got two analysis for $30.00, usually $30.00 each.

 

Day at Sea-Slept most of the day. Didn't do any organized activities.

 

St. Thomas-Hated the immigration!!! Had to wait in a line for 45 min. with the whole family with passports to get a sticker to then go to exit. Note: Children must accompany you though immigration even though not getting off ship. We then waited in another line of 0 deck to exit ship. We get outside to a giant crowd of 3000 passengers having to exit the dock through a single turnstyle. A nightmare in the HOT SUN! People were not happy, and not polite.

 

After exiting, we decided to take a taxi to Megan's Bay. Taxi's are $8 per person to Megan's Bay. We walked a bit before asking for a taxi and negotiated $6 a person, but you have to exit the shopping dock area. It was $3 a person to get in to beach and our daughter was free. It was nice water and beach, but crowded. My daughter brought cereal from the ship and was feeding the fish at waist level. Large angel fish. SHe got a real kick out of it. So did many other she shared her cereal with. There is a lady walking the beach to get you drinks and a steel band played. The ship charged $39.00 per person for what we did on our own.

 

NOte; Taxi's are open air pick up trucks with benches and an awning. We enjoyed ourselves. When we came previously we took a ferry to ST. John and a taxi to Trunk Bay (BEATIFUL). After about 4 hours at the beach went back to ship to shower and eat. We intended to go back out and shop, but we were to tired. We also did not want to miss dinner. Note: Our waiter told us if you miss dinner because of early seating, wait until 8:30 to your dinning room and asked to be seated somewhere there is a no show.

 

I need to fix dinner. I will continue later. If you have any specific questions I will try to answer.

 

Cyndi

[HollyfromSC]

Thanks for the review!! I am looking forward to reading the rest!

 

Holly

[Stevie17]

They had spin art, candy art, computers, and boys to rent.

 

 

Huh? Not sure I'm going to be sending my girls to Camp Carnival!!! :)

[prideofpride]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cruise Queen II

They had spin art, candy art, computers, and boys to rent.

 

 

 

Huh? Not sure I'm going to be sending my girls to Camp Carnival!!! :) Today 08:33 AM

 

LOL!!!!!!!!!! I read that and did a double take too!! I'm quite sure the O.P. meant TOYS to rent. Of course she could've meant "BOY TOYS!" LOL!!! Looking forward to the rest of the review. We are on this trip in APRIL.

[TRACY&CHRISTY]

what ship please? and how was it

[FliLady]

I didn't recieve my gold card either on my cruise in April and never received my past guest invite either!!! I didn't inquire at the purser's desk about it though. I'm wondering if they will get it right on my cruise in a few weeks on the Valor....

[FliLady]

What time did you end up getting off the ship in St. Thomas? What time did you get in line? Did they start the immigration process at 9am or sooner? Just trying to work with planning our own excursion. Thanks for the info!

[RyanMFitz1]

I too am cruising on Valor in a couple weeks, I become more excited with every review that i read. I am looking foward to the rest of the review and will be anxiously awaiting to see if i get the "gold" card or not. I haven't cruised since 12 years ago, on the Holiday.

 

And despite the weather, as long as we get on the ship, the rest is in gods hands and will roll with the waves..LOL

[BeachgrL2L]

does anyone know what night the past guest reception is usually on? any free drinks? ;)

[Cruise Queen II]

I was on the Valor.

 

Sorry, it was Game Boys to rent! ;)

 

The past guest night was Tuesday. Lots of good drinks, but the finger food was yuckie.

 

We lined up at 9:30 am. We did not get off until almost 11 am. They did call for people to line up early who had tours through the ship.

 

The sushi bar was good but didn't get to it until late in the week. I would sit and wait until it opened at 5:00 pm. Again, we had dinner at 5:45. It was a little inconvenient. The type of sushi would change each day. I tried them all execpt the mussel. It didn'tt look to appetizing. It was very popular with long lines. The fish and chips place also served cheviche, fried zuchini, and other types of things. Everything was very good. I did not go there until the last day. The late night buffets were pretty much non-existant. Your choices were the deli (only until 11 pm), the pizza/cesear salad, and the grill. They would set-up a table with apples and cookies. Also keep in mind that there is little food options after 3 pm until dinner. This is usually when you return to the ship and are hungery.

 

Like in other reviews I read the beef/steak options at dinner were very tough. I did like the prawns and seafood plates. There was something like bananas foster, it was fantastic. The beef wellington was good. Ask your waiter what he would recommend. They know what's good that night. Our waiter was pretty honest.

 

We purchased a soda card for my daughter and myself. We found it very easy to get refills and staff was nice about it. The only bad experience with it was at the martini bar. My daughter and I approached after coming out of a camp carnival activity in the disco and asked for refills. The lady there said she doesn't have soda. We I told her we wanted juice. She scolded us for asking. I look young for my age and I thing she thought I was a teenager. I was going to report it, but it was a first day on the ship and did not want to get off on a bad note. So stay away from the martini bar for refills. The card was worth it. Even in the dining room the bar staff...Mary Grace would have our drinks waiting for us when we arrived. That was great. We gave her an extra tip at the end of the cruise. We gave extra to each of the dining room staff.

 

The comedians on the ship were good. If you can stay up late, see the adult shows. They were hilarious. During one of them the comedian came out and throw out some underage kids in the front row. They were drinking and had there own bottle to boot. Security came and escorted them out. Let me tell you that shocked everyone. Slowly other kids left on there own. So don't bring the kiddies.

 

There was one thing that really bothered me, it was my fellow passengers. Many seemed rude and aloof. Many did not care to wait in line and cut others off. I kept asking myself: What make their vaction time more important than mine??? Others aslo were very rude and condesending to ship's staff. I can see hope we Americans get a bad rap.

 

Overall, I had a great time. There were a few things that I did not care for, and may bother others and ruin there trip, but I am of the philosophy a bad day on cruise is better that a great day at work!!! I would not hesitate to recommend to anyone to take this ship or the itenerary. Just be patient and have fun.

 

Any other questions??

 

Happy Cruising Everyone!!!

 

Cyndi

[Voyagers]

Thanks for your additional comments, Cruise Queen. My family was on the Valor that week also. I have posted a review on this site. We had a great time! Sadly, though, I have to agree with your comments about the behaviour of some of our fellow guests. It seems as if some leave their manners, as well as their jobs and worries, home when they go on vacation. We especially noticed this during the evening shows, when some guests would let their young children run around, make noise, etc. while people were trying to watch the show. I guess when you have 3K vacationers on a ship you will find all kinds of people.

 

As for St. Thomas, we got in line for immigration at 8:45 and made it on the dock by 10:10.

[nybumpkin]

I didn't recieve my gold card either on my cruise in April and never received my past guest invite either!!! I didn't inquire at the purser's desk about it though. I'm wondering if they will get it right on my cruise in a few weeks on the Valor....

Last year on Conquest, one son and I received red, white and blue cards while DH and other sons had gold. We just stopped at the purser's desk right after boarding, they found our past guest numbers in the system, and issued us new cards. The past guest party invitations arrived with no problem (except they scheduled DH and I for one party and sons for another; it probably wouldn't have mattered which party we attended, but sons weren't interested in going anyway).

 

Cyndi - Thanks for a great review and for giving me the best laugh of my day with "boys to rent"! (I knew you meant game boys:) .)

[mississauga]

When I recieved my sail and sign card it was red, white, and blue, not gold. Gold is for past guests. This was my seventh cruise with Carnival. My husband and daughter both received gold cards.

 

Thanks for the great review. Cyndi, have you checked your personal info online since you returned from your cruise? Check to make sure that all your cruises are under the same past passenger ID. This should eliminate any future problems for any future cruises you go on. I found out that Carnival had me under 3 different #'s and it took some work to get all my cruises under one #. My DH went on the exact same cruises and all of his were under one # and ok. Go figure.

[Shar27]

Hi Cyndi,

 

Thanks for the review. My 11 year old daughter and I are on the Valor in 3 weeks. I'm glad to hear that your daughter liked CC. My daughter is the same and won't go unless it is really good.

 

I was wondering what you did in St. Maartin?

 

Thanks again.

[Cruise Queen II]

I check the web page and they have all but my 1st, which was my honeymoon in 1990. I looked up my husband's and his are all there. Go figure, he just shows up to the vacations. I am the one that does all the planning. I email Carnival to see if they could correct the problem.

 

Shar27- In St. Maarten, we took a cab to Dawn Beach. We own timeshare in St. Maarten and never been there to check it out. We always trade our week for another place, usually for Florida. The airfare was alway so high to go there. Especially to place we didn't know. It was beautiful. It had a great reef to snokle right off the powder sand beach. It was not very crowded. It had chairs and umbrellas to rent. It also had a nice restuarant. THe pool at the resort was great. IT had one of those infinity pools. It costs us $7.00 per person to get there because there was 3 of us. If you have 4, it goes down to $6.00 a person. Nice place to hang out, if you don't want a tour/excusion. The snokling was good. It was off to the left. Literally right off the beach. THe water was exceptionally warn. Saw some good fish. Again, we brought cereal from the ship to attract them.

 

We did not do any real shopping, except when we return to port. The few shops that they had. There was a shop lady at the very end that sold African looking carvings. She tried to guilt us into buying a small mask for $20.00. She said if we weren't with her we were against her, or that if we weren't buying from the vendors we were against her people. I told her that was a bad attitude to have and left. I did buy a painted lizard at another shop.

[mississauga]

Go figure, he just shows up to the vacations. I am the one that does all the planning. I email Carnival to see if they could correct the problem.

 

Same here. Isn't that the way it always is? If you don't hear from them soon, email again. I had to email several times before I got a response.

[Cruise Queen II]

Here's the message I got from Carnival:

 

Thank you for your e-mail. In response to your query, Carnival only started keeping track of past sailings and issuing past guest numbers in 1995; guests who sailed with us prior to that date would not show up in our database. We will be happy to enter these older sailings into the system manually and update your cruise history but we will need to verify your past sailings with Carnival Cruise Lines.

 

Please provide one of the following:

 

 

 

Payment receipt (credit card statement; invoice; confirmation)

Boarding pass

Cruise documents

Sail and Sign card with your name

Sail and Sign statement

Embarkation Photo with ship and sailing date and current photo ID.

 

 

If there is anything else we can do for you please don't hesitate to ask. Thank you for choosing Carnival Cruise Lines and we look forward to welcoming you back aboard another one of our "Fun Ships" soon.

 

 

 

Cordially,

 

 

 

Carnival Cruise Lines

 

 

Yeah,

 

I'm sure I have all that stuff laying around from Sept 2, 1990.

I am going to email them again!