Valor review 10/4-10/11

[DreDay]

Foreword: Let me preface this review with a little background about our trip, myself, etc. First, this was our fifth cruise; all on Carnival. But, this was my first time on the Valor and I really liked this ship. It is identical to the Conquest which we have been on before, so we took to the layout well.

This was our first cruise with our new baby. (Well he’s 15 months, but he’s still new to us) I was totally worried about how this would work out, as my other kids were all over five when they first cruised. For the rest of the review I'll just refer to him as Baby. Baby is an angel at home. He is well behaved, and so easily entertained. However, I’m no fool and I know a new environment can break even the most well adjusted infant. Since we are not parents who would allow our child to scream in public and ignore it, I’d mentally prepared myself that I might be spending more time than usual in our room, and trading dining room dinners for lido deck food. Oh, this was SO NOT THE CASE…but I'll get to more of those details later.

We were with a group of 14: My family, (kids aged 14,10,8 and 15 months) my sis and her two daughters (12 & 10) , my parents, my brother, and a niece (18 months) and nephew (9). Just for the record, we probably won’t be traveling with a group this size again anytime soon…but again, I’ll get to that later

With all of this in mind, I will try to load the review with all things essential to a great review like tons of details, info on shows, capers, and some pics. But since we are family cruisers I am also going to add some tips and tidbits of how we dealt with the two infants in our party. I hope nobody minds, and I double hope it’s helpful to other family cruisers out there.

[DreDay]

Okay now on to the really good stuff…. Embarkation (& the Journey leading up to it)

We had a redeye flight out of Phx with a layover in Atlanta and an arrival time of 9:20am in Miami. Once at MIA it was super easy to get our bags. One person in our party had a bag missing but after a few tense minutes (the bag had medications in it), it was brought out to us, and we were on our way.

Just outside baggage claim was a line for taxis, so we asked for three vans and we all piled in. The attendant at the taxi line confirmed that we had a car seats for the little ones. We would not have been able to use the taxi without it. We brought flat portable car seats so we were good. I believe it was $25 to the cruise terminal, plus tip of course.

We were at the terminal by 10:45 and let me tell you, it was feverishly hot. I’m from AZ so I’m used to the heat, but this was icky icky hot and HUMID!!!

A porter promptly helped us get our bags down. I magic packed so I only had two suitcases and a garment bag. I carried on my laptop bag ( I know, I know…but it was essential), a small stroller, and a backpack/diaper bag. Security was a breeze and we were making our way up the elevator to the check in!!!!

By this time it was around 11:15 and there wasn’t a lot of people yet. Check in for us was a little bit of a hassle because we had two of our kids booked in other rooms, so we had to do a bit of running back and forth between agents. We were give zone 6 and we parked ourselves in some seats to wait. Not long after they started calling zones and by 12:00pm we were on board!!!! W H!!

[giftcard]

Looking forward to reading more!

[TakeMeAway1001]

Great start, can't wait to read the rest

[WAcruisers]

Cant wait to read the rest of your review!

[CMM]

Wow you have a family of 6 and only had 2 suitcases & a garment bag? You must be a very organized packer.

[letsgocruz1]

I was on this sailing and had a great time. Looking forward to reading your review

[DreDay]

Originally Posted by CMM

Wow you have a family of 6 and only had 2 suitcases & a garment bag? You must be a very organized packer.

I'm still really shocked about that still, myself!!! I made it a point to get everything into those bags, and it was not easy...lol!!!

I'm normally an overpacker, but after five cruises I knew I came home with stuff we never even wore. I packed very light, thin sundresses for the girls and I, and mostly swimtrunks and light shirts for the guys. I also backed some "staples" that we all wore more than once througout the cruise, like jeans for all of us, black slacks for my boys, etc. I also did laundry I think on Thursday and this really helped.

I did take one of my collapsible carnival bags that I had, as I knew I'd come home with more than I left with.

[DreDay]

Originally Posted by letsgocruz1

I was on this sailing and had a great time. Looking forward to reading your review

Oh Cool, wonder if you saw our mega clan somewhere on the ship!!!

Originally Posted by WAcruisers

Cant wait to read the rest of your review!

Originally Posted by TakeMeAway1001

Great start, can't wait to read the rest

Originally Posted by giftcard

Looking forward to reading more!

I'm working on some more right now and will have it posted soon!!!

[DreDay]

We tried to heady straight to our room, but the halls were still sealed off so we made our way to the Lido for some food food.

Okay, here’s another part that I feel I need interject some explanation. I love food. I am not afraid of food, and I will try just about anything at least once. I don’t consider myself finicky or snooty about food, but it must, must, must be tasty.

Now with that said, I would estimate that 50% of the Lido deck buffet food I tried was scrumptious and the other 50% was terrible. I don’t remember it being that way on the last four cruised I’d been on.

For this meal I had some type of chicken marsalla (yummy) and some kind of pickled salad (not so good). The kiddos had burgers and dogs, so they were good to go!

DH found his beloved ice cream machine he was in heaven!!

We did another check at about 12:45 but the rooms were still sealed off, so we did some exploring. We found the arcade and the DH and kids hung out in there for about 30 minutes. Baby and I sat out on the Promenade couches and relaxed.

Around 1:30 we made our way to the cabin. We were in room 8270 on the Verandah deck. This was our very first balcony, and I can never, ever, ever, ever go back to OV. The balcony was spectacular!!!

I started to unpack and try to get organized the best I could. First order of business though was to empty all the liquor and cans out of the fridge. I stuffed it in the cabinet that houses the safe. It all fit, and now the fridge was ready for milk and juice for the baby!!

[gypsyrose]

Hanging on your every word Are you gonna post pics???

[horn hi aces]

We are on Valor Christmas week with group of 17, my family of 6, with kids 19, 12, 6 and 3, my parents, sister and fiancee, other sister and her 3 kids, mother in law, and 2 nieces of my wife. So I am very interested in hearing all about your adventures.

I have the role of picking out shore excursions that will be suitable for everyone!!! yikes. If you did the western itninerary, I am especially interested in your take on the islands and recommendations.

[DreDay]

Hi Gypsyrose- Yes, I am trying to sneak in a few bits here and there between getting my work done. My brain is still in cruise mode, so focusing on work is not easy!!!

Did you ever get capers? I know you and I were waiting for some a couple of weeks ago, but they were not posted before I left...

I will resize pics and go back to insert them a little later this evening.

A little more soon....

[DreDay]

Originally Posted by horn hi aces

We are on Valor Christmas week with group of 17, my family of 6, with kids 19, 12, 6 and 3, my parents, sister and fiancee, other sister and her 3 kids, mother in law, and 2 nieces of my wife. So I am very interested in hearing all about your adventures.

I have the role of picking out shore excursions that will be suitable for everyone!!! yikes. If you did the western itninerary, I am especially interested in your take on the islands and recommendations.

Oh how fun!! It was intersting traveling with my big group. We've actually done it before but I don't remember it being so...well dramatic at times.

I always take charge with the excursions and I do lots of research before I will book anything with my kids. Please stick around as our excursion experiences were AMAZING!!!!!!

[gypsyrose]

Originally Posted by DreDay

Hi Gypsyrose- Yes, I am trying to sneak in a few bits here and there between getting my work done. My brain is still in cruise mode, so focusing on work is not easy!!!

Did you ever get capers? I know you and I were waiting for some a couple of weeks ago, but they were not posted before I left...

I will resize pics and go back to insert them a little later this evening.

A little more soon....

Work You have work to do after a cruise???? The horrors.
Yes, Fofita posted the capers. Think they are buried somewhere after page 5 by now. But, I already printed them off and highlighted the things I was most interested in doing. I know, crazy huh? Well, when you still have almost 200 days you have to do something to pass the time

[DreDay]

Originally Posted by gypsyrose

Work You have work to do after a cruise???? The horrors. I know, huh???? I actually had to work while on the cruise!!! Talk about horror

Yes, Fofita posted the capers. Think they are buried somewhere after page 5 by now. But, I already printed them off and highlighted the things I was most interested in doing. I know, crazy huh? Well, when you still have almost 200 days you have to do something to pass the time

Not crazy at all, I'd would have done the same!!

[DreDay]

Before long, there was the announcement calling us for the muster drill. We found our room steward and told him we needed an infant life jacket. He was a bit confused because our son was booked on a different floor, with my parents. We explained that he would be in our room with us, and he immediately got us an infant jacket.

Side Note: As I mentioned before my two of my kids were booked in other rooms, as you can only book four to a cabin. However, we all stayed in our cabin. I know that sounds crazy, but my kiddos are small and for us it was fine. We had plenty of room for all of our things, and they never complained about the sleeping arrangements so I guess they were all comfortable.

We were off to Muster station D. Did I mention earlier that it was HOT???? Well imagine holding an infant, with a life jacket on, while you’re wearing a life jacket, and huddling in like sardines to the msuter starion. Eeeeewwww – sticky and gross!

Hey, we know that’s the drill so we toughed it out. After about 15 minutes of standing there and listening to the drill, one of the crew pulled me and baby out of line and into the hall where it was air conditioned. THANK YOU!!!! About 5 minutes later he said I could go back to my room – the baby was sleeping. I told him I’d wait for my DH and kids. He let us all go back up. This was a real blessing as we were able to avoid the frenzy going back up to the room.

We stood on the balcony as we set sail and now it truly felt like our vacation was official!!!!

[Smoke_1]

Enjoying the review. We're on the Jan. 10 sailing (I've been waiting to say that ). Looking forward to the rest of it.

[Smoke_1]

I'm enjoying the review so far, can't wait for more. We're on the Jan. 10 sailing (I have been waiting to say that ). Looking forward to the rest of the adventure.
John

[Daliaha]

I am loving your review... Hubby and I leave on Nov. 1st and can not wait...!!


I'm Looking forward to reading more of your adventures on Valor, and any excursions y'all took..

-Dolly