Valor 8/19 review (long) with room 2202 pics

[st3]

It’s taken me a few weeks to get this whole thing together. I’ve separated my write-up into two parts. The first is a review of the ship, accommodations and ports of call. I’ve made an attempt at keeping that portion relatively neutral. The second portion is more of a commentary (and in some ways a rant) and is fairly opinionated and reflects some of the experiences directly related to my sailing.

 

Overview: A lot of people don’t seem to like the layout of the conquest class ships although I didn’t think it was particularly objectionable once you realized that decks 3 and 4 were not through and if you wanted to walk fore or aft you had to do so on another deck. The décor was fairly flamboyant and the themes for most of the public areas worked quite well (Winston cigar lounge and the Bronx bar were two areas that I think really stood out). Some people complain about the ship feeling crowded, which I think is largely undeserved, at least based on my experience.

 

Ports of call: Our ports of call changed due to Hurricane Dean (which I have talked about below) so I am going to cover where we actually went to.

Nassau (Monday): Due to the very long day on Sunday my friend and I unfortunately slept through most of our day in Nassau, especially considering that we had to be back on board at 1:30. We managed to walk to the straw market and take some photos but otherwise didn’t get a chance to venture far. Many people that we ran into raved about Atlantis, however as we didn’t have a chance to do any shore excursions I can’t offer any further insight.

St. Thomas (Wednesday): Due to a medical emergency the previous day our arrival and departure from St. Thomas were shifted a few hours. This affected some people’s shore excursions, but thankfully not ours. My friend and I decided to do the helmet dive, following a recommendation from another friend of mine. We had an excellent time on the dive; I would say our complaint, if we had one, was that we would have like to been under for longer. We returned to the ship a little after 5:00, which was a little unfortunate as we had a few hours before the ship left (I believe the new time was 8:00) and most of the shops downtown close at 5:00. I’m not sure if this is the case with all Carnival boats, as I had only been to St. Thomas when I was on the RCCL AoS, but our boat docked at a newer port on the island which is further from the downtown shopping district.

St. Maartin: Having been sick on my only previous foray on to the island, my friend and I decided that we would spend the day walking around the shopping district, taking the water taxi etc. I find the shopping to be very similar to St. Thomas, although with the added benefit of being easier to navigate on foot without so many of the pushy taxi drivers that seem to plague St. Thomas.

 

Stateroom: Our room was 2202 which is the furthest room fore, on the starboard side. The layout of the room was a little bit different than that of a traditional inside stateroom. Due to the narrowing of the ship at this point, the room was much wider than a traditional room (as you are looking at the door from the outside. I have attached pictures, which were taken mid-cruise (so please excuse the mess) to help give an idea of the layout of the space. The best way that I could describe it would be to say that it is laid out in an S shape with both beds on opposing ends. This room certainly had its advantages: being at the end of the hall meant there was very little noise from neighbors and passersby, and the room configuration while being a little bit different actually worked quite well for two guys traveling together as we had more privacy and more room. On the downside, we found the motions of the boat more noticeable here than further down the hall, and when we tied up on our side of the boat that was quite a noisy and unpleasant affair.

 

Dining options: On our first evening we ate at an 8 person table in the Lincoln dining room. By the second night we had managed to get a table at the second seating (what we initially requested), although this time in the Washington Dining Room, and at a 4 person table. The food in the dining room was very good, and met my expectations spot on. I can be a bit of a picky eater (I don’t eat anything that comes from the water), and always managed to find something on the menu, I never found the selection lacking. We ate in there for lunch a few days as well, when we were at sea, and formed very similar opinions about the lunch service. We never ate dinner and only ate lunch maybe 2-3 times at Rosie’s (the lido deck buffet), which I found to be very average, although precisely what I expected based on previous experiences. We did not go to the Supper Club so I can not comment on that.

 

Entertainment/Shows/Activities: The sea days were appropriately chock full of onboard activities, although some of these did have fairly limited hours, so my advice would be to plan carefully. We attended nearly every “Vegas-style” show and performance in the theater. It seemed that the quality of the shows and entertainers did vary quite a bit and ranged from what I would consider to be very good to somewhat poor. There was Karaoke in the Eagles’ lounge nearly every night (I did not participate but did spectate a few nights) as well as live music. The band in the Paris Hot lounge was pretty good but their selection was rather limited. Lorraine in the piano bar was good on the piano, and very friendly, but her singing had me running for the hills. The casino was a fairly decent size for a boat and featured a new (albeit electronic) Texas hold ‘em table. I managed to get into a game one night, although that was the only night on the cruise there were people playing which I found both rather disappointing and perplexing.

 

 

Personal experience(s)/rants

 

Itinerary: Unfortunately, due to Hurriane Dean our itinerary was changed from its original plan of Grand Cayman, Roatan Island, Belize City, Costa Maya to Nassau, St. Thomas, St. Martin. I do think carnival did the right thing by changing the itinerary, and I do agree with the mindset that cruising during hurricane season brings risk with it. However, having said all that, part of the reason I booked our particular ship was the ports of call, and more notably having 4 ports of call versus three. I would have appreciated if Carnival could have arranged for a fourth port, so even though we wouldn’t be going to the same ports we would have at least gone to the same amount of ports.

 

Transfers: This was nothing short of a nightmare and a HUGE bone I have to pick with carnival. This was the first (and last) time I did pre-paid transfers with the cruise line as previously I had taken a taxi or other form of transport. Getting to the boat for embarkation was needlessly long and arduous. It was waiting after waiting after waiting. Had I not prepaid for the transfers I would have taken a cab and saved myself over an hour. Getting back to the airport after disembarking was the real problem. We had an 11:10 flight out of MIA so we decided that it would be in our best interest to do the self-disembark, as if we waited around for the general, even if we were in the first group off we might not make our flight. They called our number for the self disembark and we lugged all our luggage upstairs to begin the process. A good 30 minutes of waiting around on the lobby level (not sure why) and I began to get worried, as this point it was already after 9 and we were still on the boat. I spoke with a crew member (one from the US, so they clearly understood what I was saying) and told her that we had an 11:10 flight and didn’t want to miss it, so was there any way to get ahead of the line. I was ushered back in line like the rest of the cattle and we continued on our way. Once we got physically off the boat it was fairly easy getting out of the terminal, until once again, we had to wait for the bus, or should I say wait on the bus. 9:30 passed us by and 10:00 was quickly looming when we informed the bus driver (and the carnival rep outside) that we had an 11:10 flight and had to get going. I’m not sure if their English comprehension was poor or they just didn’t care but I was assured we would be underway shortly and would have no problem missing the flight. The bus managed to roll in around 10:30, although despite staring at my watch constantly I don’t remember the exact time. We sprint for our airline’s ticket counter once we can get off the bus (another fun thing is that they won’t let you get off the boss until all the luggage is removed, which they apparently have to do for you). We’re informed from the airlines that even though our flight hasn’t left yet, we can’t get on it as there wouldn’t be enough time to get our luggage on, or some other nonsense. They did get us on the next flight with available seats which was at 6:55pm, a good 8+/- hours from when we should have left, and getting us back to NY so late that my friend would miss his connection. We find the carnival rep, explain the situation and start the process of trying to get back to NY earlier than 10pm, as the cause for missing our flight was not our fault. The rep was fairly helpful, but ultimately lacked any real utility as carnival would not pay anything to get us rerouted and the airlines were unwilling to help us out without paying. Our travel insurance covered the cost of our food while we were stuck there but ultimately would not be able to help us with any larger expenses (like switching airlines and flights). In the end we simply wasted 8+/- hours of our day at the airport and didn’t get back to NY until 10pm. My friend missed the last connection and was forced to fly out the next morning. In the next few weeks I plan on sending out a letter to Carnival, as this incident I feel is clearly unacceptable.

 

Compensation: For the change in itinerary everyone was given a $25 shipboard credit. I put this towards my sizeable sail n’ sign bill I had waiting at the end of the trip, although a little bit more would have been nice. Not so much for going to different ports of call, but for going to 1 less port of call. Another interesting thing I will point out was the information produced among the rumor mill on the ship. Not surprisingly, there were many people on the ship that were upset/annoyed about the change in plans, although in carnival’s defense these people did knowingly book during hurricane season. There were a few rumors that began to circulate, which I am still investigating whether they had any validity or not. The first would be that customers who booked after the itinerary change (within the last few days) were getting rooms for $199. The second rumor being that one of the RCCL ships (MoS maybe) that had a similar change offered their customers a credit of like $300pp. Naturally with these rumors circulating many other cruisers became more annoyed. I’m still (personally) looking into these to see if there is any validity to them, although regardless Carnival should have made some attempt to head them off at the pass whenever possible to save some face, especially if these rumors were face.

 

Closing notes: If you would like a copy of the capers or any of the other onboard flyers please let me know.

 

 

 

 

[rickt4du]

Were going on Valor on 10-7...I would appreciate a copy of the Capers if you have them available, Please.

[wwakla]

I don't know how much investigating you did prior to booking your airfare but any departures before noon are not a good idea. Also it is stated here alot that the Carnival transfer buses do not leave until full and this is griped about alot.

Cabins running for a lot lower prices are normal if the ship is not full they do sell them to the locals real cheap. I think the best way to deal with price changes is like dealing with your co-worker making more than you.....ignore it. I may get the deal of the century while you pay a high price and next time you may get the deal and I won't..

Stinks that your itinerary was changed but at least your got to go still. Like you said it is put right out there that you are traveling during hurricane season.

It seems like you had a great time other than that. Thanks for taking the time to do a review.

[st3]

Were going on Valor on 10-7...I would appreciate a copy of the Capers if you have them available, Please.

I'll see if I can scan them in at work, if not I can snail mail them to you.

[gcollins22]

I would also like a copy of the capers.