Just back from Valor :)

We had a great time, on a GREAT ship.

Here is my quick review, please forgive the spelling.

My wife and I flew from Chicago to Miami on Saturday 4/2/05, and stayed at the Doubletree Surfcomber Hotel in South Beach. We had been to South Beach in Feburary for a long weekend, and stayed at the National Hotel. We scouted out hotels for this trip, and the Surcomber looked nice, and it was. The weather in Miami on Saturday turned colder with a strong storm in the afternoon, so we did not get to enjoy the pool. It is right on the beach, and I highly recomend it.

Took a cab Sunday Morning to the ship, around 35.00 with tip. Arrived at the pier at 11:30, and breezed through and on the ship by 12:15. A very simple process. They ask that you NOT go to your stateroom until 1:30 so the rooms can be cleaned, and we played by the rules. Others would wonder around trying to get to their rooms, and be mad if they were not ready.

Had a nice lunch at Rosies, good selection, typical cruise fair. Sat by the pool for about 15 minutes, then off to check out our room. We had room 7258 on a Suite. Very nice...a large bathroom with jacuzzi tub&shower, and double sinks. The room is actually 1 1/2 times the size of a regular balconey room. Wonderful furnishings, and wood trim everywhere. This was the nicest room we have ever had. We had a mini-suite on the old Ocean Princess years ago, but this room was better.

Monday - Full day at sea. We slept in till about 9:30, went up to Rosie's for Breakfast, not a long line, maybe 10 people in front of us. (hint: there are 4 lines, the 2 lines farthest back seem to have the shorter line). Again usuall cruise buffet, lots of fruit, scrambled eggs, bacon, etc. In the middle of the line they have an omlett station, they will also fry eggs. Also a cereal station. And in a seperate station fruit and pastries. The pastries are WONDERFUL!!!!!!!!!!

Went up on deck around 10:30 to begin the hunt for 2 deck chairs, and surprise, no problem. As long as you don't have to be right in the thick of things by the main pool, we always could find deck chairs on deck 11, especially the area between the 2 main pools....We did see alot of chair saving, just seems no way to control that.

Tuesday - Grand Caymen - Had schedule a tour with NativeWay, for the Sail, Snorkle, Stingrays & Rum Point. That tour was scheduled to have us back in port by 3:00, but per the capers, and signs, the last tender was at 2:30. So after a quick call to Sharon at NativeWay, (there were 20 other Valor folks on this tour) she changed the tour and cancelled the lunch and rum point portion, we did get a cheeper price. Snorkling was great, Stingray City was interesting, but VERY croweded. Overal a very nice excursion. We were panicked gowing back that we would miss the last tender, but we got back to the docs at 2:28, and found a line for the tender a MILE long. It was insane. Some people had already been in line over 2 1/2 hours already! Needless to say, rushing back was not needed, and we could have done the longer tour. Instead of waiting in the LONG line for a tender, we walked around the shops close to the pier, keeping an eye on the line. We hopped on a tender at 4:30!. The tender process in Grand Caymen is a joke, and the only downside to our hole trip. Grand Caymen needs to build a pier like all the other Islands are.

Tuesday night was one of the big production shows, DO NOT MISS. We had 6:15 dining in the Lincoln room, and enjoyed it every night. The severs do a little dance number after dessert. Very entertaining. Overall the dinning room food was good to excellant. And the service was impecable.

Wednesday - Isle Roatan - Belize. We booked a horseback ride, and beach combo through Fosters. Had a GREAT time. Conway from Fosters (the owners son) picked us up at the pier, and drove us to the horseback ride section. A very nice leasurly paced ride along the beach that ends at Fosters Resort. A beautiful slice of paridise on the beach, had a great day.

Thursday - Cosa Maya - Mexico - Booked the speed boats and beach break through the ship. A short bus ride (1/2 hour) and we arrived at Ureo Beach, an OPEN BAR and great beach awaited. Good thing we also booked the little speed boats/snorkle portion. This was Jellyfish season (lasts 2 - 3 weeks) and there were literally MILLIONS of these TINY ( the size of a dime) jellyfish along the shore. They warned about going in the water as they may sting, but it would be a little sting, like a misquitto bite. Out were we snorkled, away from shore, no jellyfish. Overall a great day. But a word of warning. They have an OPEN BAR, and ANYONE could get served. If you don't want your child/young adult to drink, keep an eye out. We saw SEVERAL very drunk and very young teens.

Costa Maya also has a neat little shoping area and pool/bar right next to the pier. Best way to describe the pool/bar.....Girls gone wild video comes to mind. Girls (YOUNG) dancing and grinding to music, tops coming off, bottoms comming off.....It was crazy. I'm no prude, and would have thoroughly enjoyed this if I was 12-30, but now in my 40's, I kept thinking, thank God I have no teenage daughter. I can't explain, but imagine your 15 - 17 year old daughter drunk, and stripping to nothing infront of screaming boys/men. Later that night on the ship, there was an "incident" when a Father came back to his room to find his daugher and another teen in the throngs of "it" and went balistic, security was called and saved the young man, it was the talk of the ship....My moral here is watch you kids.

Friday - Cozumel - We had scheduled the Bike and Snorkle through the ship, and they offered a full refund since the snorkle portion was cancelled, again due to the ZILLIONS of jelly fish in the water. We took the refund, but still wanted something, and were able to get on the catermaran sail and snorkle and beach break. We thought at the very least we would at least get a nice boat ride. The snorkle part was first, and not far from the ship, and again it was at your own risk due to the jellyfish. And at this spot they were EVERYWHERE. We decided to risk it and went in, NO STINGS, they just freaked us out a bit....again not one sting, and you literally were swiming amoung thousands of these things.

Friday nights show was another big production, not to be missed. The Shows were great on all nights.

Friday we ate in Scarletts. I had a GREAT steak, it was a wonderfull meal, but did not "WOW" me like some others have reviewed..

Saturday - Our last sea day :( Again we slept in, and had very little trouble finding deck chairs. I actually snagged two by the back pool, a very good spot. Heard others complain about chairs, but all you had to do is walk around a little and you could easily find a few together.

Overall a great time, great ship, great food, and except for the jellyfish problem a very nice cruise.

BK

Thanks for the nice review

Wow, sounds like things have gotten a little more rowdy in Costa Maya then they were when I was there in Nov '03. Perhaps it was the spring break crowd combined with the party that is Carnival?

Glad to hear you had a great time, I am looking forward to my Valor trip in another 34 days!

Thanks for the review!

Just one question - did the ship changed its clocks from Eastern daylight savings time at all, or did ship's time stay constant for the whole cruise? The reason I'm asking is that Grand Cayman does not switch to DST, and I have an independent tour booked for that port and I need to know how the ship handled the time difference. Thanks!!!

Great review. Do you have any pics you could share by chance?

Hey willy......I was on the Valor with you. Great ship, loved the shows. You are right about what went on in Costa Maya, It was wild. I enjoyed myself there but I cant beleave these kids parents let them get up on stage and do that, one girl keep falling off, she is lucky she didnt get seriously hurt. Some of the girls parent were there watchin them. But thats the way things get in mexico, the same thing went on in cozumel at carlos and charlies. Had a great trip. Im in depression, I miss the ship.

We changed in Miami to Daylight Savings on Sunday Morning, 4/3/05, prior to getting on the ship. The ship stayed on Miami time (now eastern daylight savings) the WHOLE trip. At times we were 2 hours off of the local time.

bk

That's just what I needed to know. Thanks a lot!!! :)

On some of the other post, some cruisers had notice a vibration throughout the aft part of the ship, assuming it may be coming from the engines. Did you experience the same feeling while you were on the Valor? We notice some vibration on the Glory last summer and we were on the Verandah deck, room 8234 and the bed was actually shaking at times!

Wow, DHB. Do we have to pay extra for that? :D

Glad you enjoyed your cruise. I had a great time on the Valor 3/20. We got so lucky in Grand Cayman, we had absolutely no wait for a tender. When we got to the pier we had just missed it and were first in line for the next one that arrived in 5 minutes. This was on a completely sold out sailing too! Strange! You must have had an off night at Scarletts because it was really outstanding. Like I said before, better than Mortons, Ruth Chris, etc. We had the bed shaking as well in the aft.

Yes, the boat does tend to "shake" a bit more so in the aft section of the ship. All ships I have been on exhibit this "shake" Usually when docking and pulling out of port, the thrusters kick in to help steer the boat, creating quite a "shake" for a few minutes. If you pull into port early, this could easily wake you up from sleep.

Again, I have experianced this "shake" on every cruise.

BK

Willy and Jeffy

Great to see you on here so early after our return. It was great to meet both of you while on board. The only thing that I can offer differently in Costa Maya is to by-pass the "Ship area" immediately and go get a cab for Majahaul(sp) it is only a $3.00 ride down there and $2.00 ride back. Great place with a real flavor of the area. We snorkeled with (Enrique for an hour for $10.oo per person.

If you ever end up in our area of Michigan, please feel free to give us a holler.

Bob and Cathie

Isla Roatan is in Honduras. Belize is it's own country. Did you skip Belize or Isla Roatan. I see you made two stops in Mexico. That is not on the normal western itinerary.

The western itin for the Valor changed this month. It is Belize, Isla Roatan, Grand Cayman, and Cozumel. We are doing this itin in September.

It made the stop in Isle Roatan-Honduras an Island about 80 miles of the coast of Honduras....not Belize......This particular cruise did have a different route than the regular Western cruise, an extra stop in mexico.......at Costa Maya....A VERY nice, and new port. The area is very undeveloped, I'm sure that will change rapidly as new cruise ships call on this port, it has a pier, and they are planing on expanding it so more ships can come in.....so much for unspoiled paradise!!!!

BK

Thanks for the review, Willy & Jeffy. I'm glad to finally hear some positive reviews. I was getting kind of worried with all the negative reviews.

Wow, sounds like things have gotten a little more rowdy in Costa Maya then they were when I was there in Nov '03. Perhaps it was the spring break crowd combined with the party that is Carnival?

 

Glad to hear you had a great time, I am looking forward to my Valor trip in another 34 days!

Dennis, we have always had a CRAZY time in Costa Maya!! LOL! But we'll save those stories for another thread ;)

BK, thanks for the review!!! We'll be on the Valor in October and cannot wait!!!!!

Willycruise,

Thanks for the update. I've been to Belize twice and it is a very new port that has not been spoilt by big hotels. The only think is that you must tender into Belize because of the vast reefs. No cruise ships will ever be allowed to dock in Belize because of this. Thanks for the excellent review.

Dave

we just got our cruise docs today for Valor 55/15 Western and there was an added slip that said passports are necessary??? Is this correct? I have one but husband does not... am calling carnival in the manana to find out for sure.

Tortugas - join our Roll Call thread for the 5/15 sailing by clicking on the link in my signature...

Passports aren't supposed to be necessary until 12/31 this year.

Now is the time to get his passport if you do need it. You'll have to select express processing but you should get it just in time for the cruise...

We had a great time, on a GREAT ship.

 

Here is my quick review, please forgive the spelling.

 

My wife and I flew from Chicago to Miami on Saturday 4/2/05, and stayed at the Doubletree Surfcomber Hotel in South Beach. We had been to South Beach in Feburary for a long weekend, and stayed at the National Hotel. We scouted out hotels for this trip, and the Surcomber looked nice, and it was. The weather in Miami on Saturday turned colder with a strong storm in the afternoon, so we did not get to enjoy the pool. It is right on the beach, and I highly recomend it.

 

Took a cab Sunday Morning to the ship, around 35.00 with tip. Arrived at the pier at 11:30, and breezed through and on the ship by 12:15. A very simple process. They ask that you NOT go to your stateroom until 1:30 so the rooms can be cleaned, and we played by the rules. Others would wonder around trying to get to their rooms, and be mad if they were not ready.

 

Had a nice lunch at Rosies, good selection, typical cruise fair. Sat by the pool for about 15 minutes, then off to check out our room. We had room 7258 on a Suite. Very nice...a large bathroom with jacuzzi tub&shower, and double sinks. The room is actually 1 1/2 times the size of a regular balconey room. Wonderful furnishings, and wood trim everywhere. This was the nicest room we have ever had. We had a mini-suite on the old Ocean Princess years ago, but this room was better.

 

Monday - Full day at sea. We slept in till about 9:30, went up to Rosie's for Breakfast, not a long line, maybe 10 people in front of us. (hint: there are 4 lines, the 2 lines farthest back seem to have the shorter line). Again usuall cruise buffet, lots of fruit, scrambled eggs, bacon, etc. In the middle of the line they have an omlett station, they will also fry eggs. Also a cereal station. And in a seperate station fruit and pastries. The pastries are WONDERFUL!!!!!!!!!!

 

Went up on deck around 10:30 to begin the hunt for 2 deck chairs, and surprise, no problem. As long as you don't have to be right in the thick of things by the main pool, we always could find deck chairs on deck 11, especially the area between the 2 main pools....We did see alot of chair saving, just seems no way to control that.

 

Tuesday - Grand Caymen - Had schedule a tour with NativeWay, for the Sail, Snorkle, Stingrays & Rum Point. That tour was scheduled to have us back in port by 3:00, but per the capers, and signs, the last tender was at 2:30. So after a quick call to Sharon at NativeWay, (there were 20 other Valor folks on this tour) she changed the tour and cancelled the lunch and rum point portion, we did get a cheeper price. Snorkling was great, Stingray City was interesting, but VERY croweded. Overal a very nice excursion. We were panicked gowing back that we would miss the last tender, but we got back to the docs at 2:28, and found a line for the tender a MILE long. It was insane. Some people had already been in line over 2 1/2 hours already! Needless to say, rushing back was not needed, and we could have done the longer tour. Instead of waiting in the LONG line for a tender, we walked around the shops close to the pier, keeping an eye on the line. We hopped on a tender at 4:30!. The tender process in Grand Caymen is a joke, and the only downside to our hole trip. Grand Caymen needs to build a pier like all the other Islands are.

 

Tuesday night was one of the big production shows, DO NOT MISS. We had 6:15 dining in the Lincoln room, and enjoyed it every night. The severs do a little dance number after dessert. Very entertaining. Overall the dinning room food was good to excellant. And the service was impecable.

 

Wednesday - Isle Roatan - Belize. We booked a horseback ride, and beach combo through Fosters. Had a GREAT time. Conway from Fosters (the owners son) picked us up at the pier, and drove us to the horseback ride section. A very nice leasurly paced ride along the beach that ends at Fosters Resort. A beautiful slice of paridise on the beach, had a great day.

 

Thursday - Cosa Maya - Mexico - Booked the speed boats and beach break through the ship. A short bus ride (1/2 hour) and we arrived at Ureo Beach, an OPEN BAR and great beach awaited. Good thing we also booked the little speed boats/snorkle portion. This was Jellyfish season (lasts 2 - 3 weeks) and there were literally MILLIONS of these TINY ( the size of a dime) jellyfish along the shore. They warned about going in the water as they may sting, but it would be a little sting, like a misquitto bite. Out were we snorkled, away from shore, no jellyfish. Overall a great day. But a word of warning. They have an OPEN BAR, and ANYONE could get served. If you don't want your child/young adult to drink, keep an eye out. We saw SEVERAL very drunk and very young teens.

 

Costa Maya also has a neat little shoping area and pool/bar right next to the pier. Best way to describe the pool/bar.....Girls gone wild video comes to mind. Girls (YOUNG) dancing and grinding to music, tops coming off, bottoms comming off.....It was crazy. I'm no prude, and would have thoroughly enjoyed this if I was 12-30, but now in my 40's, I kept thinking, thank God I have no teenage daughter. I can't explain, but imagine your 15 - 17 year old daughter drunk, and stripping to nothing infront of screaming boys/men. Later that night on the ship, there was an "incident" when a Father came back to his room to find his daugher and another teen in the throngs of "it" and went balistic, security was called and saved the young man, it was the talk of the ship....My moral here is watch you kids.

 

Friday - Cozumel - We had scheduled the Bike and Snorkle through the ship, and they offered a full refund since the snorkle portion was cancelled, again due to the ZILLIONS of jelly fish in the water. We took the refund, but still wanted something, and were able to get on the catermaran sail and snorkle and beach break. We thought at the very least we would at least get a nice boat ride. The snorkle part was first, and not far from the ship, and again it was at your own risk due to the jellyfish. And at this spot they were EVERYWHERE. We decided to risk it and went in, NO STINGS, they just freaked us out a bit....again not one sting, and you literally were swiming amoung thousands of these things.

 

 

 

Friday nights show was another big production, not to be missed. The Shows were great on all nights.

 

Friday we ate in Scarletts. I had a GREAT steak, it was a wonderfull meal, but did not "WOW" me like some others have reviewed..

 

Saturday - Our last sea day :( Again we slept in, and had very little trouble finding deck chairs. I actually snagged two by the back pool, a very good spot. Heard others complain about chairs, but all you had to do is walk around a little and you could easily find a few together.

 

Overall a great time, great ship, great food, and except for the jellyfish problem a very nice cruise.

 

 

BK

Great to hear you had a wonderful time. The Jelly Fish are small and generally are always around during the month of April. Normally by the end of April beginning of May they will be gone!

We are very happy to hear about your great time. Thanks for the review!

Aren't these the jelly fish that can get into your bathing suit and sting you after getting out of the water and when you rinse with fresh water?