Valor Southern Caribbean review with pictures and Fun Times - better late than never

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Hi Kimmilou!

 

Thank you for taking the time to read and comment on my review. This was my first and I had tossed the idea around then finally decided to do one. The main reason is because of the itinerary. Not only is it the most scenic (IMHO) but there is so much to see and do and I have never seen a Valor or Victory review that was the same. I am so happy that you found this helpful in planning your upcoming cruise. You must really be getting excited. I remember how I was before our cruise last year - drove DH nuts! :)

 

As you can see from my signature, this was our 5th cruise, 4th with Carnival and one on RC in 2000. We liked that one but Carnival is more for us. Our very first cruise was on Carnival Festivale (no longer with Carnival) in 1992 (our honeymoon cruise) and it was a very similar itinerary out of San Juan. We went to Dominica and Martinique instead of St. Lucia and St. Kitts. I had forgotten just how beautiful these islands were until I read Dirkgun's first Victory review and was sold and the Southern itinerary out of San Juan HAD to be the next cruise. We also stayed at an AI in Negril, Jamaica, for a week in 2007 and fell in love with that too and would love to do it again. How did you like the AI in Turks & Caicos? We were in Grand Turk on a cruise stop in May 2010 and liked it, but would love to stay at one of the AI's in Providenciales one of these days. Yes, I did mention GAPearl's review in mine. I read her whole review a couple of months before our cruise and it was the first review I saw of Valor on the Southern itinerary. She really does seem like a great gal and fun to cruise with and she's got some wonderful reviews. It was the other reviews that I found very helpful for ideas in planning our cruise.

 

I think your sons will love the Valor. We met a family last year that took their 16 year-old son to celebrate his birthday and I was talking to him a few times too and he LOVED it. It will be a great and fun experience for you sons.

 

Sounds like you've got some great plans in place for your cruise. We were in Trunk Bay, St. John on our Glory cruise in 2010 and loved it. I wanted to go back this time, but doing it on our own to allow more time there. DH wanted to stay in St. Thomas. We both wanted to do the Skyride to Paradise Point, but it closed down a few weeks before our trip for road construction and renovation of the building at the top. Next time. So glad you're doing a tour in St. Kitts - that is our only regret. Even though it was our rainy day, what we were able to see was just beautiful.

 

Oh the magnets, love collecting them. They are small, don't take up much space or weight and seeing them on our fridge brings back many happy memories. My magnet from St. Thomas is now broken. It's an iguana with a long tail. On of our 8 month old cats decided to get up there and get it, knocking it down to our ceramic tile floor and broke it (tail in 3 pieces and part of his foot). I super glued most of it but am still missing a piece of the tail and the foot. It's under furniture somewhere but I don't have time to go on a hunt for it. They broke two more, but it was just the magnets being knocked loose and I was able to glue those back.

 

I haven't had a chance to mention, but we are going on Carnival Liberty (Western Caribbean) this weekend and are so excited. It was last minute but after this cold, snowy, never ending winter, we had to do it. No family land vacation this year, so we decided to cruise. My only fear is that I loved Valor and the Southern Itinerary so much that I'm setting myself up for a let down. LOL!!! We've been to the Western before so we know what it's like. We are also flying down the day of, so I'm with you in worries about the flight being on time and getting our luggage. I've got most packed in my carry-on...just in case.

 

Oh, I know what you mean about that "vacation's over" part of the review. Honestly, when writing this, I felt the same way again. I've even gotten that feeling from other reviews I've gotten involved in too.

 

When we flew down to San Juan it was the day before but I had the window seat and I was able to see Old San Juan and the cruise docks but no Valor since she wasn't due till the next morning. My first glimpse was from the taxi from our hotel, but just that excitement.

 

Thank you again for taking the time to comment and share what you'll be doing on your Valor cruise. It's 10 days for you now and tomorrow you can start that single digit dance! I hope you all have a wonderful time, great weather and many happy memories. :)

Thank you for taking the time to respond. Somehow I know you will have a fantastic time on Carnival Liberty. I went on that ship in November 2007. I took a 6-day Western Caribbean to Key West, Grand Cayman, and Jamaica. Every day I dream of winning the lottery and booking the Carnival Splendor repositioning cruises this fall. I believe they are each an 8-day cruise hitting some of the exotic stops on the road less traveled. Of course I would do them B2B when that dream comes true...LOL back to reality now!

I have been to Grand Turk two times on cruises and I used to subscribe to a Caribbean magazine that no longer is in existence and the magazine was geared more toward land based vacations. That is what sparked my interest in AI's. We stayed at Club Med Turkoise in Providenciales on Grace Bay Beach. I would have to say Grace Bay is one of the most perfect beaches I have ever seen. It is so easily walkable, shallow, warm, and has a zillion shades of blue. Grace Bay is on the leeward side of the island and when you are sitting on the beach looking at the water you face west and the sunsets are just amazing. One afternoon/evening we sat on the beach until the sun set and one of the resort photographers caught us on our walk back to our room and snapped a few pictures. Of course we had enjoyed a few tropical drinks and we look a little toasted in the pics but the palm trees in the background with the ambient lighting turned out to be some of the best candid pictures I have ever seen. Providenciales is quite pricey and most of the hotels are not AI however Club Med is. It is also the oldest resort on the beach. I didn't mind. I did my research on Trip Advisor and new exactly what to expect and I was content. I don't go on vacation to stare at the room. I want an awesome beach. Incidentally Club Med Turkoise has two daily snorkeling excursions out to the reef (which you can see from the beach) that is included in your AI package. Nice bonus. And, they take you to 3 or 4 different spots. The snorkeling was some of the best I have ever experienced. Feel free to ask me any questions you may have. I am happy to return the favor!

I am glad to hear teenagers were having a great time on Valor. This will be the 2nd cruise for my sons. The boys are looking forward to the teen clubs and I am hoping they meet some nice kids so they can enjoy the ship from a "teenager" perspective. That's one reason I love cruising on Carnival.

I too have a cat but he is too fat to get up on the fridge. He turns 10 the day we set sail on Valor. We are going to have a little celebration the Friday before. My cat "Panther" is a big part of our family. :)

Well I will keep my fingers crossed for two weeks of good weather, smooth seas, and gorgeous sunsets. On April 15th there is a total eclipse of the moon. I'm hoping to see it while on Valor if the sky is clear that night.

Hope you have a wonderful time on Liberty and I'll look forward to your review! No pressure! LOL

Kim

I hope you have a great cruise on The Liberty!! I have friends getting off her Saturday. Let me know about Guy's Burgers. I've sailed her before but it was before the 2.0 upgrades.

Thank you for taking the time to respond. Somehow I know you will have a fantastic time on Carnival Liberty. I went on that ship in November 2007. I took a 6-day Western Caribbean to Key West, Grand Cayman, and Jamaica. Every day I dream of winning the lottery and booking the Carnival Splendor repositioning cruises this fall. I believe they are each an 8-day cruise hitting some of the exotic stops on the road less traveled. Of course I would do them B2B when that dream comes true...LOL back to reality now!

 

I have been to Grand Turk two times on cruises and I used to subscribe to a Caribbean magazine that no longer is in existence and the magazine was geared more toward land based vacations. That is what sparked my interest in AI's. We stayed at Club Med Turkoise in Providenciales on Grace Bay Beach. I would have to say Grace Bay is one of the most perfect beaches I have ever seen. It is so easily walkable, shallow, warm, and has a zillion shades of blue. Grace Bay is on the leeward side of the island and when you are sitting on the beach looking at the water you face west and the sunsets are just amazing. One afternoon/evening we sat on the beach until the sun set and one of the resort photographers caught us on our walk back to our room and snapped a few pictures. Of course we had enjoyed a few tropical drinks and we look a little toasted in the pics but the palm trees in the background with the ambient lighting turned out to be some of the best candid pictures I have ever seen. Providenciales is quite pricey and most of the hotels are not AI however Club Med is. It is also the oldest resort on the beach. I didn't mind. I did my research on Trip Advisor and new exactly what to expect and I was content. I don't go on vacation to stare at the room. I want an awesome beach. Incidentally Club Med Turkoise has two daily snorkeling excursions out to the reef (which you can see from the beach) that is included in your AI package. Nice bonus. And, they take you to 3 or 4 different spots. The snorkeling was some of the best I have ever experienced. Feel free to ask me any questions you may have. I am happy to return the favor!

 

I am glad to hear teenagers were having a great time on Valor. This will be the 2nd cruise for my sons. The boys are looking forward to the teen clubs and I am hoping they meet some nice kids so they can enjoy the ship from a "teenager" perspective. That's one reason I love cruising on Carnival.

 

I too have a cat but he is too fat to get up on the fridge. He turns 10 the day we set sail on Valor. We are going to have a little celebration the Friday before. My cat "Panther" is a big part of our family. :)

 

Well I will keep my fingers crossed for two weeks of good weather, smooth seas, and gorgeous sunsets. On April 15th there is a total eclipse of the moon. I'm hoping to see it while on Valor if the sky is clear that night.

 

Hope you have a wonderful time on Liberty and I'll look forward to your review! No pressure! LOL

 

Kim

Hi Kim,

Thank you! I’m sure we will have a good time on Liberty and are really looking forward to it. I’m just taking a break from packing and all of the other preparations, so much to do but I certainly can’t complain. We’ve been on two of Liberty’s sister ships, Glory in 2010 and Valor last year. When we were on Glory she didn’t have the 2.0 upgrades yet, so we are really looking forward to that. We did the Western itinerary on Miracle in March, 2006 (out of Tampa and to Grand Cayman, Cozumel, Belize and Costa Maya, MX). We really enjoyed it and are looking forward to Roatan – I’ve heard so many positive comments about it.

It’s funny that you mentioned the Club Med in Providenciales, T&C since that was one of the places we were considering for our 20th anniversary two years ago. The other was another trip back to the Sandals AI in Negril, Jamaica where we spent a week in September 2007. We really fell in love with it. It is also an older resort but I liked it and it had the “Caribbean feel” to it. The rooms were clean but we were hardly in there. It was there that we saw a brochure in the room (a hard cover book) featuring all of the Sandals resorts (adult only) and Sandal’s sister resorts, Beaches (families). They had a lot of pictures of the Beaches in T&C and that water looked absolutely gorgeous. Others we met said the same thing. We have friends with two young daughters that went to Beaches and they liked it but I saw too many mixed reviews (Trip Advisor) on it. It just seems that it’s too big and too crowded for our taste. I then found the Club Med and liked what I saw. That never happened since DH changed jobs. He was laid off, got another but didn’t have vacation accrued yet. Last year we took a break from the family vacation so we jumped on booking the Valor cruise. Itineraries are often changed and it was something we really wanted to do and so glad we did it. I’m so happy to hear positive feedback on the Club Med since that is something I’d really like to do. We were planning the family vacation to South Carolina this year but my parents had an opportunity for a vacation with some of their close friends, so that left us free this year, so we booked Liberty at the end of February.

We have four cats. Two just turned five and the younger two are around eight months old and we got them as kittens from a rescue in November. Very long story how this came about, but the one had a very heartbreaking situation and I couldn’t stop thinking about him and realized we had the home he would need. He’s all black and looks just like one of our older boys and it’s hard for black cats to find homes. I’m not superstitious and just love little black cats. We filled out adoption forms and were chosen. When I went for the “meet & greet”, another adorable little grey kitten kind of chose me so we got him too and all have adjusted just fine and are happy and ornery. They can all get on top of the fridge so it could have been any of them but since it never happened before, I’m guessing it was one of the younger two. In addition to packing, I’m also “kitty proofing” and removing anything that could be a temptation. When we get back, I’ll be faced with unpacking and “Mt. Washmore” (laundry) so I don’t need any messes from something broken or dumped houseplants (that has happened, more than once). It’s so nice to hear your Panther is a big part of your family. Our four “boys” are a big part of ours too. Happy Birthday to Panther. J

I still haven’t decided it I’ll do another review or not. With Valor and the itinerary, there is just so much to see and do. I have read some wonderful reviews on the Southern itinerary out of San Juan, but there really aren’t that many of them out there and none of the reviews I’ve read has ever been the same. Those that I read really helped me in planning and gave me some good ideas. The Ports of Call boards helped too, but the reviews are more in depth with personal experiences. I did it with the hopes that it would be helpful to others going on Valor in the future or thinking of booking Valor. There are tons of reviews of the Western itinerary and we’re doing pretty much the same things that I’ve read about in reviews by others. We’ll see though, I haven’t ruled it out…I just may need to relive this cruise again. J Are you thinking of doing a Valor review when you get back? No arm twisting here but if you decide to, I’ll definitely follow.

I will also be keeping my fingers crossed for great weather, smooth seas and lots of fun and memories for both of us. Isn’t today the day you’re doing that “single digit dance”? J Again, I hope you and your family have as good of a time as we did on Valor.

Holly

I hope you have a great cruise on The Liberty!! I have friends getting off her Saturday. Let me know about Guy's Burgers. I've sailed her before but it was before the 2.0 upgrades.

Thank you! This was planned very last minute but we had to escape this never ending winter. We're not doing the family vacation this year since other family members have other plans and that left us open for another cruise. :) We booked at the end of February, so this is our record for the shortest wait. It is starting to warm up here, but it was snowing, again, this past Sunday.

I hope your friends are enjoying their cruise this week. :) I'll be sure to let you know about Guy's Burgers. We are really looking forward to that since we both LOVE burgers (cheeseburgers for me). I've also heard a lot of nice things about Blue Iguana and Red Frog and can't wait to try them out too.

Thank you! This was planned very last minute but we had to escape this never ending winter. We're not doing the family vacation this year since other family members have other plans and that left us open for another cruise. :) We booked at the end of February, so this is our record for the shortest wait. It is starting to warm up here, but it was snowing, again, this past Sunday.

 

I hope your friends are enjoying their cruise this week. :) I'll be sure to let you know about Guy's Burgers. We are really looking forward to that since we both LOVE burgers (cheeseburgers for me). I've also heard a lot of nice things about Blue Iguana and Red Frog and can't wait to try them out too.

Was just reading you previous post about your cats. I have 6. A black one with a bad eye of course we named him Jack. I have always had black cats since I was little. This is my first male black cat though. All of mine too are rescues. I lost my 19 year old solid white deaf cat last October. It was awful. I had her since the day she was born. I am not looking for another but if a white deaf cat crossed my path she or he just may #7!! LOL

Hope you have a great cruise. Wow tomorrow, can't believe you have the time to post!! Maybe you will hit a slot machine and you can come join me on the Valor in November!!

Have fun on your cruise.... be sure to write another review. You are good at them. :D

Holly,

So sorry I wasn't able to jump on and respond yesterday. Hopefully right now as I type you are well on your way to that Carnival Liberty cruise. Hope you have/had a wonderful time. I will check in after my cruise and we will have a lot to talk about at that time!

I also wanted to let you know I have a photo album of the Club Med Turkoise trip on my fb page if you too have one and would like to friend me you are welcome to look at my pics. We can discuss when we return from our cruises.

Bon Voyage!!

Kim

Was just reading you previous post about your cats. I have 6. A black one with a bad eye of course we named him Jack. I have always had black cats since I was little. This is my first male black cat though. All of mine too are rescues. I lost my 19 year old solid white deaf cat last October. It was awful. I had her since the day she was born. I am not looking for another but if a white deaf cat crossed my path she or he just may #7!! LOL

Hope you have a great cruise. Wow tomorrow, can't believe you have the time to post!! Maybe you will hit a slot machine and you can come join me on the Valor in November!!

Gracie,

My "Panther" is solid black with two single white hairs on his body. One on his chest and one between his eyes. I love black cats too and have known my cat since he was two days old. His mother (who is black/orange) had 5 kittens. 4 out of the 5 were orange/white striped and my boy was the black sheep of the family and had violet eyes once they opened. It was love at first sight and I knew he was going home with me once he was weaned. He has been a pure joy ever since.

So sorry for the loss of your white/deaf kitty. I'm sure she had a wonderful life. It's so nice to know that there are people who love their cats as much as I do. :)

Kim

great review, thanks for the info!

AZmike480

Gracie,

 

My "Panther" is solid black with two single white hairs on his body. One on his chest and one between his eyes. I love black cats too and have known my cat since he was two days old. His mother (who is black/orange) had 5 kittens. 4 out of the 5 were orange/white striped and my boy was the black sheep of the family and had violet eyes once they opened. It was love at first sight and I knew he was going home with me once he was weaned. He has been a pure joy ever since.

 

So sorry for the loss of your white/deaf kitty. I'm sure she had a wonderful life. It's so nice to know that there are people who love their cats as much as I do. :)

 

Kim

One of my friends was just over for a few minutes. One of her dearest friends suddenly passed away of a massive heart attack. I'm a photographer so we were getting images together to get to the funeral home. She got upset and started crying. Jack was laying on a table by me and when she got upset he got up went over and started nudging her. It was so sweet, like he knew she was upset and he stayed there till she calmed down. He for sure has more personality then any cat I have ever had. I love orange one's too. I have two of those, two tortoises and a white colored with silver tips. I am for sure a cat lover!!

Does your black one still have violet eyes?

I sure hope Holly is having a great time on The Liberty this week. I saw some friends today and they just got off her Saturday. They missed Half Moon Cay because of high winds.

Thank you, great review and pictures, brings back memories. We did same cruise Nov 10, 2013 and loved it. We are also Steeler Fans originally from near Pittsburgh, now residing in Florida. Thanks again for all the time you put in to make this a great Review.

One of my friends was just over for a few minutes. One of her dearest friends suddenly passed away of a massive heart attack. I'm a photographer so we were getting images together to get to the funeral home. She got upset and started crying. Jack was laying on a table by me and when she got upset he got up went over and started nudging her. It was so sweet, like he knew she was upset and he stayed there till she calmed down. He for sure has more personality then any cat I have ever had. I love orange one's too. I have two of those, two tortoises and a white colored with silver tips. I am for sure a cat lover!!

Does your black one still have violet eyes?

I sure hope Holly is having a great time on The Liberty this week. I saw some friends today and they just got off her Saturday. They missed Half Moon Cay because of high winds.

Gracie,

Your Jack sounds like a sweetheart. As I was typing my previous sentence Mr. Panther jumped up to pay me a visit. Any "typos" can be blamed on him because he is head butting my hands as I type on my laptop. No his eyes slowly turned green when he was a kitten. He's still beautiful however.

I too hope Holly is having a great time on her cruise. That's too bad Half Moon Cay got canceled on your friends' sailing. That is definitely one of my favorite beaches and I have booked two of my previous cruises just to go back to Half Moon Cay. Four days until my sons and I board Valor! Can't wait!!

Enjoy your kitties. :) I will miss mine next week.

Kim

Was just reading you previous post about your cats. I have 6. A black one with a bad eye of course we named him Jack. I have always had black cats since I was little. This is my first male black cat though. All of mine too are rescues. I lost my 19 year old solid white deaf cat last October. It was awful. I had her since the day she was born. I am not looking for another but if a white deaf cat crossed my path she or he just may #7!! LOL

Hope you have a great cruise. Wow tomorrow, can't believe you have the time to post!! Maybe you will hit a slot machine and you can come join me on the Valor in November!!

Just got off Liberty yesterday and wanted to let you know that we both LOVED Guy's Burgers, they were the best. There are also plenty of toppings to choose from as well.

Believe it or not, our oldest black cat is also named Jack. I got him and his brothers (litter of three) from a good friend and they had given him the name Jack, we liked it and kept it. So sorry to hear about the loss of your other cat - that is never easy. Been there twice. Lost a 14 year old cat in 2008 from feline renal (kidney) failure, which us common in cats. We lost one of our Jack's three brothers while under anesthesia while being neutered in September 2009.

We did have a good cruise but missed Grand Cayman and the water was the roughest we've been in. It was calm leaving from and returning to Miami and the Gulf was calm, but for some reason the Western Caribbean was rough and very windy. We did make it to the other ports. Carnival Liberty is a beautiful ship. The Valor cruise is still my favorite, but mainly due to five port days and beautiful ports. I'm one of those who gets very bored on sea day. We didn't spend time in the casino as we prefer not to "donate" (yes, we never seem to get lucky), but will continue buying the Power Ball and Mega Millions and if we get lucky on that (doubtful), we'd love to join you on Valor this November.

Have fun on your cruise.... be sure to write another review. You are good at them. :D

Thank you again Dirkgun! We just got back from Liberty yesterday afternoon. I mentioned a little bit about it in my previous response to gracie65. I'm still tossing around the idea of doing a review and I still need to get the pictures uploaded to the computer. I think I got some decent ones but sometimes they look better in the camera's display than the do on the computer.

Holly,

 

So sorry I wasn't able to jump on and respond yesterday. Hopefully right now as I type you are well on your way to that Carnival Liberty cruise. Hope you have/had a wonderful time. I will check in after my cruise and we will have a lot to talk about at that time!

 

I also wanted to let you know I have a photo album of the Club Med Turkoise trip on my fb page if you too have one and would like to friend me you are welcome to look at my pics. We can discuss when we return from our cruises.

 

Bon Voyage!!

 

Kim

Hi Kim!

Just got back from Liberty late yesterday afternoon and I know that you are either on Valor right now or just getting ready to board. I looked at the Fun Ship Live webcam and so far it looks like a beautiful day in San Juan. I really hope you enjoy your Valor cruise as much as we did. That one is still one of my two favorites, along with our honeymoon cruise.

Yes, when you get back we'll have to compare cruises and I'd love to see your Club Med pics from T&C, so we'll be in touch. Again, hope you're having a great cruise on Valor.

great review, thanks for the info!

 

AZmike480

I'm glad you enjoyed the review and found the information helpful. If you have an upcoming cruise on Valor, I hope it's very enjoyable. If not, I highly recommend it. We just got off Liberty and had a great cruise, but our Valor cruise was one of our all-time favorites and would love to do it again.

Thank you, great review and pictures, brings back memories. We did same cruise Nov 10, 2013 and loved it. We are also Steeler Fans originally from near Pittsburgh, now residing in Florida. Thanks again for all the time you put in to make this a great Review.

So nice to hear from fellow Steeler fans! We're in VA now but originally from near Pittsburgh as well. I'm actually from Greensburg and DH from Murrysville. After this winter, FL is also looking very tempting to us, but I think we'll stay put for now. This is the first winter we've ever had in VA that reminds me of a Western PA winter.

I'm so glad you enjoyed the review and so glad you also enjoyed your Valor cruise last November. I'd love to do the Southern itinerary out of San Juan in November some year. From what I understand, it's not as hazy as it is in the summer months, allowing for even better views of the other islands. I really enjoyed that part of the cruise almost as much as visiting the islands.

Hi Holly,

It took me a few days to get my head above water but I'm back from Carnival Valor! We landed Sunday night 8:20 and I went right back to work Monday morning. It was tough shifting gears! I'm trying to stay positive by continuing to tell myself that I am going to work hard to save for the next vacation! :)

We had a fantastic time on the cruise! Sadly we too missed a port. It was St Kitts :( The captain said it was due to high winds and strong currents but he did try 3 different times to back us in with no luck. We were extremely bummed out because like you we get bored on sea days and had nothing planned especially with it falling so late in the cruise week.

To sum it up these islands were beautiful and I am already researching future Southern Caribbean itineraries. I would definitely repeat this cruise if I had the opportunity. The boys had a blast too. My older son spent hours at club o2 (15-17 year old's Camp Carnival) and misses all his new friends. My younger son hung out with me most of the time and still hasn't stopped talking about the cool stuff he learned on the Behind the Fun tour on-board. We met some wonderful people on the ship and on the flights too.

My email address is kimmilou143@msn.com. Feel free to send me an email at your convenience and we can exchange info to find each other on facebook.

I wondered what happened. I was watching the webcam feed last week when the Valor was pulling into St. Kitts...I could see the island...then it turned around... I looked at the deck cam and saw the island in the back and figured it was backing in. But when I checked back later, it was all ocean... I thought the camera feed was stuck... I'm sorry to hear you didn't make to land... St. Kitt's is one of the most beautiful islands in the Carribean! We were there last Oct. and fell in love with it!

-JKirkN

Hi Holly,

 

It took me a few days to get my head above water but I'm back from Carnival Valor! We landed Sunday night 8:20 and I went right back to work Monday morning. It was tough shifting gears! I'm trying to stay positive by continuing to tell myself that I am going to work hard to save for the next vacation! :)

 

We had a fantastic time on the cruise! Sadly we too missed a port. It was St Kitts :( The captain said it was due to high winds and strong currents but he did try 3 different times to back us in with no luck. We were extremely bummed out because like you we get bored on sea days and had nothing planned especially with it falling so late in the cruise week.

 

To sum it up these islands were beautiful and I am already researching future Southern Caribbean itineraries. I would definitely repeat this cruise if I had the opportunity. The boys had a blast too. My older son spent hours at club o2 (15-17 year old's Camp Carnival) and misses all his new friends. My younger son hung out with me most of the time and still hasn't stopped talking about the cool stuff he learned on the Behind the Fun tour on-board. We met some wonderful people on the ship and on the flights too.

 

My email address is kimmilou143@msn.com. Feel free to send me an email at your convenience and we can exchange info to find each other on facebook.

Hi Holly,

 

It took me a few days to get my head above water but I'm back from Carnival Valor! We landed Sunday night 8:20 and I went right back to work Monday morning. It was tough shifting gears! I'm trying to stay positive by continuing to tell myself that I am going to work hard to save for the next vacation! :)

 

We had a fantastic time on the cruise! Sadly we too missed a port. It was St Kitts :( The captain said it was due to high winds and strong currents but he did try 3 different times to back us in with no luck. We were extremely bummed out because like you we get bored on sea days and had nothing planned especially with it falling so late in the cruise week.

 

To sum it up these islands were beautiful and I am already researching future Southern Caribbean itineraries. I would definitely repeat this cruise if I had the opportunity. The boys had a blast too. My older son spent hours at club o2 (15-17 year old's Camp Carnival) and misses all his new friends. My younger son hung out with me most of the time and still hasn't stopped talking about the cool stuff he learned on the Behind the Fun tour on-board. We met some wonderful people on the ship and on the flights too.

 

My email address is kimmilou143@msn.com. Feel free to send me an email at your convenience and we can exchange info to find each other on facebook.

Hi! I'll send you a private email. :)

So glad that you had a nice cruise but feel so bad that you missed St. Kitts. This sounds crazy, but I'll often check out the Carnival webcams and noticed last week that Valor was pulling away from St. Kitts, then saw she was sailing back toward St. Kitts and after a while, sailing away again. We found another ship tracker so we could tell that Valor had made several attempts to dock. I was thinking weather related but wasn't certain. I just checked Liberty's today and they made it to Grand Cayman. We picked the wrong week but that happens. I'm curious, on your "unexpected bonus sea day", were the drinks stronger than normal? We spent some time on the Lido deck the afternoon that we missed GC and had a few of the drinks. I actually cut myself off because they tasted the same but they sure packed a punch. Even DH noticed they were a little stronger than normal. :)

I'll go ahead and send you an email.

Holly

I wondered what happened. I was watching the webcam feed last week when the Valor was pulling into St. Kitts...I could see the island...then it turned around... I looked at the deck cam and saw the island in the back and figured it was backing in. But when I checked back later, it was all ocean... I thought the camera feed was stuck... I'm sorry to hear you didn't make to land... St. Kitt's is one of the most beautiful islands in the Carribean! We were there last Oct. and fell in love with it!

 

-JKirkN

LOL!!! I was doing the exact same thing (watching the webcam) and seeing Valor leave, head back, leave again.

DH is STILL looking for a job but we have some savings and also got a tax refund (still can't believe that, but with no income the last 2 months of 2013 is probably why). He's had a few interviews recently that he's waiting to hear about. After the winter we had, he checked out cruise pricing. We were looking at Valor again but the airfare to San Juan would have been too much. He also wanted to do a western since it's been a while and the airfare to Miami the week we went was the best price we could get. We were also looking at the Legend out of Tampa, but the airfare was even more than a flight to San Juan. ??? I told him he was crazy to even think about this, but he said that right now he's not working and if he does get something soon, we probably won't be able to take a vacation for a while and with the family/friend land vacations that are the norm, who knows when our next cruise would be. Of course I took the "bait". I just hope it wasn't a stupid move on our part. Many of our friends said "go for it, you only live once and who knows what tomorrow will bring...", so we did it.

Would you be able to send the link to your Shutterfly Valor pictures again? Our "ancient" (2008) computer died on us in January and we had to replace it and lost all of our email contacts and also our bookmarked links. Our email is dgieh@comcast.net (still the same).

I hope all is well with all of you and I hope you get to cruise again soon.

Holly

Yea, I'm still addicted to watching the webcams... I do screen caps of it almost every day... I've only missed St. Lucia's cap a couple times.

We still had the vacation bug and ended up taking a week vacation in Cozumel last month. I'll send you a link to both shutterfly sites... (the cruise one and the Cozumel one.)

I'm sorry to hear that your DH hasn't found anything yet. But he's probably right about not having any vacation for a while when he does get something. So if you can do it, go for it! Like your friend said, you never know what could happen tomorrow... Enjoy life while you can!

-JKirkN

LOL!!! I was doing the exact same thing (watching the webcam) and seeing Valor leave, head back, leave again.

 

DH is STILL looking for a job but we have some savings and also got a tax refund (still can't believe that, but with no income the last 2 months of 2013 is probably why). He's had a few interviews recently that he's waiting to hear about. After the winter we had, he checked out cruise pricing. We were looking at Valor again but the airfare to San Juan would have been too much. He also wanted to do a western since it's been a while and the airfare to Miami the week we went was the best price we could get. We were also looking at the Legend out of Tampa, but the airfare was even more than a flight to San Juan. ??? I told him he was crazy to even think about this, but he said that right now he's not working and if he does get something soon, we probably won't be able to take a vacation for a while and with the family/friend land vacations that are the norm, who knows when our next cruise would be. Of course I took the "bait". I just hope it wasn't a stupid move on our part. Many of our friends said "go for it, you only live once and who knows what tomorrow will bring...", so we did it.

 

Would you be able to send the link to your Shutterfly Valor pictures again? Our "ancient" (2008) computer died on us in January and we had to replace it and lost all of our email contacts and also our bookmarked links. Our email is dgieh@comcast.net (still the same).

 

I hope all is well with all of you and I hope you get to cruise again soon.

 

Holly

Yea, I'm still addicted to watching the webcams... I do screen caps of it almost every day... I've only missed St. Lucia's cap a couple times.

 

We still had the vacation bug and ended up taking a week vacation in Cozumel last month. I'll send you a link to both shutterfly sites... (the cruise one and the Cozumel one.)

 

I'm sorry to hear that your DH hasn't found anything yet. But he's probably right about not having any vacation for a while when he does get something. So if you can do it, go for it! Like your friend said, you never know what could happen tomorrow... Enjoy life while you can!

 

-JKirkN

I'm so glad I'm not the only one. I still check out Glory's (when they do the Eastern/Western), Valor's and now Liberty. I see Liberty made it to GC today. :)

So glad you got a week in Cozumel last month. That was our first stop on Liberty and we went to the Nachi Cocum resort/beach club. The water was rough and kind of brownish, but it was rough everywhere that week. I hope you had great weather. Looking forward to seeing your pictures.

I keep thinking we are "crazy/stupid" for doing this cruise...but I have no regrets. After the freezing weather, snow, snow and more snow (even the weekend before our cruise), we were really itching to go somewhere. I suggested Atlantic Beach, NC, for a few days since it's off season and would be cheap, but DH said "what about a cruise?". Can't turn that down. He'd been looking at cruises and pricing, which were better than we thought they'd be, but maybe because it was only about 40 days out that we booked. It was the airfare that was the deciding factor of when and where. DH told me he thinks travel agents will buy up blocks of cabins and if not sold, release them back to Carnival, so that could have been some of it. Things will work out the way they are supposed to and if not, we will find a way.

Amazing review! Great pics and suggestions. We are sailing the Valor in June, our first cruise ever! So excited! :)