My AMAZING Birthday Cruise on The Valor June 8-15

Well I’ve been home for a couple of weeks now & suffering from Severe Post Cruise Depression, so I figured I’d relive my week to try to ease the pain. Let me start this off by saying I write my reviews as if I were actually having a conversation with friends which means sometimes I tend to ramble or temporarily get off track, plus post lots of pictures. So with that said, if that’s not for you I’ll cut to the chase & make it short & sweet….It was Amazing, the end!!!

A little background...

Every year me & my childhood friends get together for at least one girls trip & I’ve finally converted them all into cruisers. Last year we went on the Imagination in April for BFF’s birthday, In January I took my mother on the Glory for her birthday & since I think my birthday should be a national holiday I decided I wanted to celebrate mine on a ship. I had been eyeing this itinerary for a while, so when I saw it sailing on my birthday I knew it was the one. After a quick call to my girls we were booked. This cruise consisted of myself, 2 of my BFF’s & BFF’s coworker & husband.

San Juan Pre Cruise Day...

The plan was for us all to arrive a day early, however they got tickets to Mike Epps comedy show not realizing the date so they had to fly in the morning of. Me being a firm believer of arriving a day early, I stuck to my original plan. My flight arrived right on time at 11:20am & navigating through the airport was easy peasy. After watching the same luggage go round & round, my luggage finally came down & I was on my way to the taxi stand. I really like the way the handle it, you line up for a taxi & tell the attendant where your going, they then give you a receipt with the amount so there is no surprise fees upon arrival. It cost me $23 from the airport to the Sheraton Old San Juan…$19 flat fee, $2 surcharge & $1 per bag. After a short 15-20 minute ride was at he Sheraton & to my surprise was able to check in & go to my room. Yes the fee can be a little high, but I loved the convenience of the location…down the block from CVS & across the street from the port.

The Sheraton, next door to Senor Frogs, down the block from CVS & across the street from the ship...what can be better?

Decent sized room,serves its purpose

View from the roof, looking at the port

After getting settling in I decided it was time to venture out, I make my way to the Bacardi Factory. The ferry was right across the street & 50 cent each way. Wow I just realized there is no cent sign on the keyboard. Anyway after the ferry it’s a very quick $3 cab ride. Although I’m not a big rum fan, I thought the tour was interesting & actually enjoyed 1 of my free 2 drinks, something made with Bacardi Dragon berry. I must admit I was feeling a awkward being alone, but made the most of it. Once the tour was over I was back at the hotel I was debating if I wanted to keep my reservation at Barrachinas. At this point I was feeling some kinda way about being alone, but decided to put on my big girl panties & go. I had a 7:30 reservation & according to my phone it was only a 10 min walk , so I headed out the door at 7:10pm. Well me & directions don’t get along & its taking longer than expected. By now I’m thinking maybe I should just head back & grab something form touristy Senor Frogs. I notice a police officer on the corner & ask for directions, obviously he is just as bad as me. He had me walk in a damn circle, but I eventually found it a little after 7:30. So now that I finally make it, I tell them I have a 7:30 reservation for dinner & the show they look at me like I had 5 heads & proceed to speak in Spanish. I might not speak Spanish, but I know they did not have my reservation. Now lets back track…when planning this trip I wanted to come here, but being nervous about being alone I hesitated about making my reservation. I was told you can make dinner reservations on line but had to call for the show. About a month before I decided to just do it & when I went online to make dinner reservation they only had 6 pm & 8pm so I called to see if possibly something in between was available. Well the lovely lady on the phone took all my info & gave me a 7:30 reservation & I confirmed that it was for dinner & show, she said yes yes no problem. I have to say my first instinct was that she didn’t know what she was doing, but who the hell am I to say how she does her job, so I hung up happy with my reservation. OK… now back to present time, as I’m waiting in the lobby for a table they were very nice & kept telling me my table would be ready in a minute. Of course at this point I start feeling like it wasn’t meant for me to dine here, but then a couple came in after me also with a reservation & they didn’t have a table either. After about a 10 minute or so wait they have a table ready for me. I walk in & am seated all the way in the back, dead center against the wall. No tea light candle or flowers on the table like the other tables, just a lonely table cloth for a lonely girl. Yep you guessed it that feeling was back, but at this point it was too late to run out. I guess you could see iit on my face or the waiters were just generally friendly because they keep coming by saying I had the best seat in the house, because I had a clear view to the stage. Well they were kinda right, the view was great when they weren’t walking down the aisle with trays of food. Now once I got my Pina Colada & roast pork I was feeling much better because they were both delicious. By the time the show was over I was so happy I got over my fear, because it was great. Now its time to make my way back to the hotel & of course I’m getting nervous because 1 it took forever to get here, 2, its late & dark out…3, I’m alone & have seen Taken a million times. All that stress for nothing, took all but 10 minutes to get back. Once back at the hotel I ended my night with a Gasolina by the rooftop pool.

Whew I survived my solo day in OSJ!!

This is where you get the ferry to Cantano

1 of my 2 free drinks

Great start...

great start we are surprising our 15 year old he will turn 16 on the dream... :) not going to find out until we are on the shuttle to the ship :) :D

Thanks for the report!

Beautiful pictures and you hair looks nice. Looking forward to reading more.

I've been eyeing this cruise for a long time. Please post more! :D

Wow your not even on the ship and you have written up three things I am currently researching (how to get from the airport to the hotel, the Sheraton & Bacardi tour). I can't wait to hear the rest.

So the Bacardi tour was free? I was thinking of this as a time killer post cruise before our 4 pm flight. Do you think that would be a good activity?

Thanks for posting all the info!

Wow your not even on the ship and you have written up three things I am currently researching (how to get from the airport to the hotel, the Sheraton & Bacardi tour). I can't wait to hear the rest.

So the Bacardi tour was free? I was thinking of this as a time killer post cruise before our 4 pm flight. Do you think that would be a good activity?

Thanks for posting all the info!

Yes, the Bacardi tour is free & I think it makes for a nice time killer. The ferry is $1 round trip & then you need to take a taxi to the factory, it was $3 each way.

Following! I'm very interested in this cruise! Great start with good info. Thanks for taking the time to write it AND post pics!

Some pics from dinner & show...

Me @ my under dressed table

Yummy Pina Colada

OMG...delicious roast pork

This is great I would have been nervous too but I love eating alone so I'm glad it worked out!

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Enjoying your post! We are going on the New Years cruise and can not wait. Did you make the dinner reservations prior to arriving or did your hotel make them for you? Thanks in advance for the info.

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Of course like every cruise day I'm up bright & early like a kid on Christmas. It was 7am when I received the call from the BFF saying they were all on the plane waiting to take off. So I decided to get out & get my day started. I started with an authentic Puerto Rican breakfast that was good enough to kill for… ham & cheese mallorca with Puerto Rican coffee from Cafeteria Mallorca. After my delicious breakfast I decided to walk off some of my food & head out to explore the forts. I started out at Cristobal which I didn’t realize it was so close to the port. Then it started to drizzle & I thought no big deal, this is normal for PR, then came the down pour, so I decided to go to CVS to buy an umbrella & keep on exploring. Well by the time I got a few blocks to CVS the sun was out & I was dry so I saved my $10 & kept moving. So now on to El Morro, or so I thought. I walked along the San Juan Wall & noticed a sign that stated parts of the fort was closed due to construction & might not be accessible via the path & you would have to turn around to walk the trail back. Well today is “my day”, so they can't be talking to me….Wrong!!! I reached the roadblock, had to about face & make to journey back, well at least I walked off my breakfast.

Next thing I know its after 10:30 & time to get back to the hotel to check out & get the real party started. I make my way allll the way across the street to drop off my bags. You gotta love people with a sense of humor… a guy says to me while I was waiting for the light to change “taxi” & my response was sure, how much to cross the street, he said for you only $20, we both laughed & someone on the street said “ is he serious?“ Just as I was getting ready to walk into the terminal my phone rings, it’s the rest of the crew & they are just pulling up. Why was I boarding without them, you asked? Because when I’m ready to go I’m ready to go. It took a good 15 minutes or so to get from the curb to enter the building. It took me less time to walk from across the street. Once they got their bags settled with tags & all (I would’ve had that done already…IJS), they were handed over to the porters & now that a line has formed we go to get on line, when someone notices the porters unloading their bags…well, well, well, they forgot to tip & he obviously wasn’t haven’t it. Ok so after all that we are finally checking in, but its taking longer that usual because ½ of the group didn’t complete the online check in. So now were ready to get this party started…not so fast, agent says due to yada yada boarding wont start until 3PM !!! Yeah I got the email advising not to show up before 3, but I always get them I ignore them. Guess this time they really meant it!! Oh well back to OSJ we go. The gang is hungry & tired so we stay close by & go back to the Sheraton for a bite to eat at Chicago Burger Bar…we were here in 2011 & the BFF has been talking about those burgers since then. Being my birthday & with my girls I had to have my first birthday drink of the day, Strawberry Mojito…damn why didn’t I remember I don’t like mojitos. It wasn’t bad, I’m just not much of a rum drinker & really don’t care for Bacardi. After killing some time walking around, we head over to CVS so they can buy their water & then back across the street to Finally get on board.

Woke up to this beautiful sight

egg & cheese mallorca

Cafeteria Mallorca

Birthday Mojito

Gasolina on the way to board the ship

Enjoying your post! We are going on the New Years cruise and can not wait. Did you make the dinner reservations prior to arriving or did your hotel make them for you? Thanks in advance for the info.

 

 

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I made them about a month prior. The room they use for the dinner & show doesn't hold many, so I'd make reservations right away. Your gonna have a great cruise, actually I'll be getting on when you get off.

It's now a little before 3 and DING….Woo Hoo we finally made it!!! So now this is where we part ways because I’m all about drop the bags off & explore…they are all about I need to rest. While off exploring I somehow ended up in the right place & the right time, because our very small roll call had planned a meet & greet (that I forgot about) by the pizza place on Lido. I met the only 3 people that were there, Twinsees (2) & Honolulu Blue, we chatted up for a few. Tonight dining is open seating, so we went to the MDR around 8ish. For dinner I had the brisket, like I do every cruise & dessert crème brulee...the brisket was good as usual, but the crème brulee not so much. Of course during dinner they came around with shots & since I had on my birthday shirt & tiara, they twisted my arm & forced me to order one ;). After dinner its time for the dreaded muster, but at least it was nighttime & were not standing in the hot sun. Up next was the sail away party…OMG I have never seen so many people out on the deck before, it looked like everyone on the ship was out…except for my group, they were all tucked in. It's been a long day & we're in St Thomas in the am so I called it a night a little before midnight.

I HAD A VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!:D

On board & Happy

Ready for dinner

Food Porn...Brisket

Sail Away Party

Around Old San Juan

Great review Tee Tee! Can't beat the combo of OSJ and the Valor. Can't wait for the rest! kepp it coming!!!

I made them about a month prior. The room they use for the dinner & show doesn't hold many, so I'd make reservations right away. Your gonna have a great cruise, actually I'll be getting on when you get off.

Thanks for the info.n can you make them online or do we need to call. I am looking so forward to this cruise. I have had my eye on it for 5 years and the timing was not right. Love your pics!

The plan was to get off the ship by 10am, take a cab to Coki Beach, leave at 1 & then take sky ride up to Paradise Point, key word being...WAS!!! We had breakfast in the MDR & it was just ok, service was slow & food was nothing to write home about. So now its 11 am & we're finally all together & off the ship, but unfortunately to get to the taxis you have to pass the shops. And now we’re stopping in shops one by one looking for beach towels & souvenirs :mad:. Once we make it to the taxi, now it’s the waiting game, because our driver is looking for more passengers. Hey wait our driver looks mighty familiar, its Elvis our driver from 2011. We booked a tour with Sunny Liston & Elvis was our driver then. It turned out that no one else joined the tour so we had a private tour, we even went off the tour to his home to pickup his son. OK, back to the present…. We finally get to Coki a little after noon & tell Elvis to return for us at 2. The water was simply beautiful, so crystal clear & the fish just swam right up to you. I spent most of my time playing in the water. Around 2pm we were packing up & Elvis was there right on time, we did have to wait a few minutes for the other couple that rode with us though. Once back at the port it was 2:30ish & it was too late for me to go to PP, especially since I needed to buy postcards & find the post office to mail them. So I did my last minute shopping before heading back to the ship.

Never get tired of this view

So many little fish surrounded me

Our Driver Elvis

This is as close as I got to Paradise Point...no Bushwacker for me

Oops!!! Pressed enter way too soon, sorry.

Once back on board, I was still a little annoyed by missing Paradise Point so I headed to Serenity for some me time, until time for dinner. Now I don't usually like it over in Serenity, too quiet & serene for me but today I actually enjoyed it & stayed more than 10 minutes. Since tonight was our first night at our assigned dining we met our wait staff can’t remember any of their names for the life of me but they were all very friendly & 3 of our table mates, 3 generations...a daughter, mother & grandmother from Canada, also very nice. I don’t recall what I had for dinner but I know I enjoyed it, now as for dessert I had my favorite…Bitter n Blanc, 2 to be exact. Oh yeah, the waiters sang “Happy Birthday” tonight. After dinner is somewhat of a blur because I can't seem to figure out what the heck I did. I wanted to go to Game show Mania at 9pm, but also wanted to go to the comedy show at 9:15 & everyone knows if you seat arrive early. The comedian was Dean Gaines, he was funny. Then at 10 was the Welcome Aboard Show & the Reggae hour in the club, the majority wanted the club & honestly I had my share of Welcome Aboard shows, so club it was (even though after watching the DVD I wish I would’ve gone, because the CD did the bedtime story & I love that one). Anyway the club was ok nothing special, it was still really early. We didn’t stay the whole hour because we wanted to go back & see the next comedian Lester Bibbs & OMG he was side hurting FUNNY I laughed so hard I was crying. Afterwards the rest of the gang went to bed, while I went back to the club for a few before calling it a night.

Enjoying Serenity with the help of a Blue Margarita

Bitter & Blanc....my FAVORITE!!!

Making my Red Carpet entrance into the club..lol

Random pics from the day...

Ok so I have no idea who this is but heres the story... I'm sure you all are familar with GaPearl's fabulous reviews, if not search for them...they're great!!! Anyway she cruises solo & always has fab pics of herself, someone commented...for someone that travels alone you have alot of pictures of yourself. Well her reponse was...if someone is close enough, she does not have a problem asking them to take her picture. So with that said I channeled my inner GaPearl & ask this nice lady if she'd take my picture, well obviously she said yes & then said lets take a selfie.

Great start...

Thanks!!

great start we are surprising our 15 year old he will turn 16 on the dream... :) not going to find out until we are on the shuttle to the ship :) :D

Thanks!! Thats a really nice suprise. Have a great cruise!!!

Thanks for the report!

Thanks for reading :)

Beautiful pictures and you hair looks nice. Looking forward to reading more.

Aww, thank you:)