Just returned from Valor- review with 17 month old

[scrappinheather]

I just returned from cruising the Western Caribbean on the Valor on March 22nd. Overall great cruise.

 

Embarkation: went smoothly. It only took about 15 minutes to get on the boat from arriving at the pier. We had preregistered so everything was easy as pie. Once we got on board, we went to the Lido deck got something to eat & our room was ready. My luggage was already there so I was able to able to unpack.

 

First night dance- they had a fun first night dance at the disco for the families & they played different music & different games. The camp carnival staff seemed very friendly.

 

Sea day- there is a kids pool on the top floor where the baby was able to get his legs wet but not go in because of swim diapers. Nobody enforced the no going in the pool rule though. We mostly just walked around the decks, hung out & got to know the ship. It is a confusing ship to get around as a lot of the floors don't go through all the way. Plus the elevator to get from deck 11 to deck 12 was broken so it was a real pain in the neck for us to get up to the upper decks or to camp carnival with the stroller. Also from deck 9 to the upper decks can be a pain with a stroller as there are stairs everywhere & it's hard to move around.

 

I really liked the band music around the pool. The pools were a lot smaller then I thoguht they would be but seemed good. I liked the big screen where you could watch movies.

 

The room was HUGE compared to the NCL rooms that I have had. We had an outside stateroom- room 8284 & our room steward was excellent. Always cleaned up everything, cute towel animals every night & there was plenty of space to put our stuff.

 

Costa Del Maya- we went to the beach in town & hung out. It was windy but the beach chairs on the beach are free. We just set up camp and went in the water. There were some OK restaurants to eat at. Right by the pier is a huge pool that was very clean & fun to hang out at. Also there was a water fountain my son loved playing in. There were some good shops but not much else to do there & that was the day we had the longest time in port. We had fun because it was a relaxing day but not the most exiting stop.

 

Belize- the barrier reef in Belize is the 2nd largest in the world. We went snorkeling to Goff's Caye that day. The ride was a little rough and we had some waves to snorkel through but the reef was beautiful. I don't think I've ever seen such beautiful coral and I have been a lot of places. There were a lot of people on the Caye with us but it was still a lovely trip (we dropped the baby off at Camp Carnival while we snorkeled). They pick you up right from the boat as you tender several miles from shore. We then went into town & took a city tour of Belize- just hired a horse & buggy when we got to town. That was very interesting. There is definitely a lot of poverty there but I really wished we overnighted in the port so I could see more.

 

Cozumel- we learned to Scuba Dive in Cozumel which was amazing. We got to hold rays, saw sea horses, barracudas, tons of stuff. I highly recommend learning to dive. We then picked up the baby and went to Chakkanab for the day. A lovely park with some nice snorkeling, a pool & a rocky beach. There are also dolphins there. The stuff at the children't playground was too old for my child but he had a good time just playing in the water. It was very clean there. We then shopped at some local shops. Again I wish I had overnight there.

 

Grand Cayman- loved it. My child was having a bit of a difficult day so it made it challenging but we went to the turtle farm which was awesome. You get to hold the small turtles. Although we didn't have time for it they even have a snorkel spot there with 15 turtles in the snorkel lagoon and over 3000 kinds of fish. I want to go back. We went to Hell. You just stop there for 10 mintues. It's a lava formation that looks like what hell would look like. We then took a boat to Stingray City. We were the only cruise ship in port that day but it was still busy there. We had some rough seas & it took a while for our boat to anchor. There were about 200 people in the water in different spots but there were still tons of stingrays that just come right up to you & glide over you, feed from your hand and you can hold them. My child loved it too. He was not afraid just loved being in the water. It was a little challenging getting him back to the boat with the waves being a little high.

 

I would have loved to spend a week in Grand Cayman.

 

Main restaurant- our waitstaff was excellent, the ribs were awesome, the rest of the food was good to OK. Nothing excellent. The pizza on the lido was good, the buffet was good, again noghting amazing but good. The icecream was good.

 

I never won at the slots but they were fun. Bingo was fun. The music on the boat was really good, camp carnival did well for the times we could use them. Overall, it was a great trip & I would cruise with Carnival again. There wasn't a ton for my 17 month old to do not that I expected there would be on board, but still it was fun. They brought the food in a timely manner at dinner so we could eat all of our courses. There was a good variety food. Room service would even deliver milk cartons for us so we could keep them in our fridge so he would have mile for the mornings & nights. The staff was very friendly, there were places to walk, but this ship does not have a great layout.

[floridacruzin]

Glad you enjoyed your cruise!

 

Thank you for sharing your experience...Can not wait until May